The Twilight Effect

by X3n0heart

One Step Foward, Two Steps Backwards

Twilight laid there in Fluttershy's hooves, tears streaming down her face. It did not take long for Fluttershy to feel empathy for her good friend and soon tears formed in her own eyes. She just sat there next to Twilight doing her best to comfort her as she just let it all out. She was afraid of saying something for she did not know the reason why Twilight was hurting so badly.
"Why....? Why must it be this way!" Twilight cried still laying on that cold floor as her tears fell upon the dust making droplets of muddy stars. Twilight sniffed a few times and wiped her eyes before looking up at her good friend.
"Oh, Twilight." Fluttershy said softly as she helped Twilight sit up. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked kindly. Twilight just shook her head as she wiped some of the dust off of her muzzle. The purple alicorn leaned against her friend and closed her eyes, feeling drained. She reached her hooves around Fluttershy and gave her a gentle hug.
"Thank you." she said quietly before pulling back and getting to her hooves and ruffling out her wings. "But I am not finished yet. I can fix this. All I have to do is go back a bit farther this time. I can fix this..." Twilight turned away from Fluttershy as the pale yellow pegasus got to her hooves as well.
"Fix what, Twilight?" she asked the Princess.
"Yes that will work. Just a little bit farther in time and everything will be alright." Twilight said to herself as she prepared to cast the spell once again.
"Oh, hello there Fluttershy." said Princess Celestia as she returned to check on Twilight.
"Hello, Princess Celestia." Fluttershy replied bowing to her.
"How is she doing?" Celestia asked her as she looked towards Twilight who was moving slowly away from them towards one of the windows.
"Umm...I am not sure. When I first saw her she just collapsed and then when we came to she was crying really hard." Fluttershy still had tears in her eyes as she explained it to Celestia.
"I see..." Celestia seemed to be thinking when magical energy filled the room as the two ponies watched Twilight cast the time spell again as her body went limp and fell to the floor a second time that night. Fluttershy rushed over to her friend and made sure she didn't hit her head on anything as she looked back towards Celestia who seemed to not be there anymore. Turning back to Twilight, Fluttershy just remained by her side until she came back around.

Twilight found herself in a dark room with a light shining down on her from up above somewhere. She saw a note book laying on the counter in front of her as she took the pen out of her mouth and set it down next to the book. This is... she thought as she took a closer look around the room she was in. I thought so. I'm back at Pinkie's slumber party.
"Wow, what was I thinking?" Twilight asked herself as she looked at the page with notes and scribbles all over it.
"Hey Twilight." Sunset called from the door way as she then entered the kitchen. "You're up late." Oh my gosh, it's her! And she looks so healthy. Twilight thought as she watched Sunset make her way over to the fridge.
"Just looking over the counter spell. We only get one shot at this, it has to be perfect."
"We really are lucky you're here." Not as lucky as you might think, my love. Twilight thought as she just watched Sunset look through the fridge. "Who could possible need this much whipped cream?" She asked as she took one of the canisters out and sprayed some on her thumb before licking it off. Twilight quickly turned away for that brought back memories of them together which made her blush. Closing the fridge, Sunset turned and gave a shriek as Pinkie's sister, Maud, seemed to pop out of nowhere.
"Boulder was hungry." was all she said before grabbing a box of chips and walked back off into the darkness.
"I can't believe she's related to Pinkie Pie." Sunset said after Maud had left the kitchen. She is actually a really nice person once you get to know her. Twilight thought as the two girls smiled to each other. Yawning, Sunset added, "I'm going to get some sleep. Good luck with the counter spell, not that you'll need it." As she made her way to the door Twilight called out to her.
"Sunset Shimmer?" Stopping Sunset turned and looked back at Twilight for a moment. "Never mind. It's not important." Twilight told her as Sunset gave her a soft smile before disappearing around the doorway. Twilight sighed to herself as she added quietly, "I love you..." before placing her head into her hands doing her best to not cry.
The following day, over at the Apple farm, the girls were setting up to get some practice in on Twilight's counter spell. Twilight sat on one of the hay bales and looked over the notebook she was using. As the girls called her over, Twilight hopped off the bale and made her way to the mic as she smiled to her friends. Her gaze stayed on Sunset the longest before she tapped the mic to make sure it was on. As the girls started up the song, Twilight just stared at the note book before the girls stopped playing and Rainbow Dash got her attention.
"You can start any time now, Twilight."
"I'm sorry girls." Twilight said as she closed the note book and handed it back to Fluttershy. "Thanks for letting me use your note book." Turning back to the rest of them, Twilight addressed them all together. "This isn't going to work." All the girls looked shocked and started to talk among themselves. It was Rainbow Dash that brought up the question.
"What? Why not?"
"No, I mean the counter spell will work. This just won't." The girls just looked at her like she was crazy so Twilight explained her reasoning. "Listen, I know you probably won't believe me but we don't need some kind of special magical spell to beat the sirens. We just need our friendship and play the song to the fullest."
"So you're saying that all we have to do is play any song and do the whole ears and tails thing?"
"That is correct. As long as we have fun and play from our hearts then we will have all the magic we need to defeat them and free our friends." Twilight told Rainbow. The rest of the girls seemed to take it all in without any hesitation which made Twilight smile.
"That sounds like a great plan, sugar cube. Let's all show those Dazzlings how to rock!" Apple Jack commented as the other girls cheered together. Twilight caught Sunset's eye and quickly turned away from her, blushing slightly. She's so pretty...I hope this works and things turn around for us. she thought to herself as she over heard Sunset saying that they need to get to the school for the first round of the Battle of the Bands.
As the girls entered the gymnasium they held their heads high as they made for the back of the stage to get things ready for their song. Not a single one of them felt any pressure, even with all the glares and hissing they were getting from all the other students. As the Rainbooms waited for their turn, Twilight was a bit nervous for the last time she was here things didn't turn out so well for them.
It was horrible to hear Snips and Snails rap for a second time. Twilight did her best to not cringe as they finished up and walked off the stage. The girls then made their way onto the stage and started to get everything set up. When they were all ready, Rainbow looked to Twilight who reminded them quietly with a hand over her mic.
"Remember girls. We need to play with all of our hearts and souls. Let's free our friends and defeat the sirens!" The girls got them psyched up as Twilight nodded to them as Rainbow Dash got into position and the Rainbooms began their part in the battle of the bands.

As the girls started the chorus each one started to transform slightly like they have done a few times in the past. Each girl, even Twilight, glowed with the magic of friendship as they received their ears and tails while they played. As they continued with their song, Twilight kept her eyes on the sirens and noticed how they were actually standing now, wondering what is going on and why the other students were coming out of their spell.
The three sirens got off the bleachers and walked towards the front of the stage while glaring at the Rainbooms. Their magic over everyone was fading quick as the girls started the second verse. The crowd started looking around at each other and at the band playing on the stage before starting to get into the groove of it all.
"What is happening?" Aria asked as she waved a hand around them.
"They are using a counter spell against us!" Adagio stated as she glared at the girls on stage. "We must regain control of everyone before it's to late." The three sirens started singing trying to recast their spell but it was useless against the magic of friendship the six friends had among them.
"It's NOT working!" Adagio screamed as she felt the power in her pendant began to quiver before all three of the girl's pendants shattered, the pieces falling to the ground. "We need to get out of here...." Adagio said to the other two and they left the gymnasium without a look back. Twilight watched them leave, giving a huge smile as the girls finished up their song.

The crowd cheered for the Rainbooms as Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna wrote down their scores. As the girls walked off the stage, Twilight stood next to Sunset and just beamed with happiness, knowing that she will change things for the better. Hearing the girls congratulate themselves a flash of light over took Twilight and she knew she was heading back to her own time now.
Slowly opening her eyes, the first thing Twilight noticed that it was still night out. Getting slowly to her feet she shook her head a few times getting ride of the grogginess of time travel as another pony helped steady her on her hooves.
"You okay, Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight blinked a few times as she looked at her friend then looked around the room. Everything was pretty much the same except for the pony next to her.
"Where's Fluttershy?" she asked.
"Fluttershy? She's still on that mission with Rarity, remember?"
"But she was right here with me, not you, Rainbow." Twilight seemed a bit lost as suddenly a shape pain bounced around inside her head and made her fall to her side, holding her hooves to her head. "Ahhhhhhh!" Twilight saw memories of her and Sunset fade from her mind as what seemed like visions played out in reverse. The happy moments they shared together, gone, the first kiss they shared, gone, even the first date they ever went on faded from existence.
It was then that new memories started to appear but not over write the old ones. Sunset fading into the background after the siren's defeat, the rest of Twilight's friends some what forgetting about her as they continued to win round after round in the battle. Another one replaced Twilight with Flash Sentry getting back together with Sunset as she ran to him for comfort. Then it was Rainbow Dash taking Sunset's place in Twilight's heart as she poured her feelings out to her and Rainbow returned her own feelings towards Twilight.
There were no more messages from Sunset. All the happy times were now replaced with Rainbow Dash. Everything that Twilight remembered seemed to be wrong, yet at the same time right. She couldn't explain it but it seemed like for the last year she has been with Rainbow instead of Sunset, yet in her heart she knew she still loved her and still could remember their times together.
"Twilight! Are you okay?" Rainbow called to her trying to do anything she could to help her. After a few scary moments the pain stopped and Twilight opened her eyes once again.
"Uggghh. Well that was new..." she said as she regained her breathing and let Rainbow help her back to her hooves once again. "But this isn't right. What happened to Sunset? It doesn't make any sense."
"Not again, Twilight. You promised that you wouldn't talk about her." Rainbow complained as she stomped a hoof on the ground upsetting some of the dust.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked her.
"Do you not remember?" Rainbow replied a bit annoyed.
"I'm sorry Rainbow. Things seem a bit fuzzy at the moment." Sighing to herself and shaking her head, Rainbow explained like she's done this a hundred times before.
"Look, Twilight, after you came back from going to the other world last time you were hurting. Things weren't going well for you and even going back a few times, things between you and Sunset never worked out." She placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "But I was there for you. I listened to you and comforted you when you needed it and we felt a bond then. Something that we both agreed on and it grew deeper and deeper. You also promised me that you wouldn't talk about Sunset anymore because it hurt you to much."
Twilight just looked at her friend and everything seemed to match up in her mind what she was saying, yet there were the other memories that seemed to be coinciding with her old ones. Twilight just couldn't wrap her head around it and started to tear up once again. Is all of this true? Did nothing changed for the better once again? she thought to herself as she sat down, Rainbow sitting down next to her.
"But WHY?" she cried out as the tears started to flow down her cheeks. "Why must it be like this? Why can't I make anything right?" she asked nopony in particular as Rainbow placed a hoof around her shoulders and hugged her. Twilight cried into the night as the ponies just sat there as the first rays of sun began to appear over the horizon.