Twilight Sparkle
No, that one wasn’t it… neither is that one… not this one either.
Dang, mare’s root was turning out harder to find than I thought. I mean, it was supposed to match, in the eyes of the pony viewing it, the color of their coat, so you would think it would be easy to find, but…
Oh well, I hadn’t been looking for that long, anyways. It had only been… what, an hour? Maybe two? At this point I had completely lost track of time. I glanced up at the sky. What I could see through the trees was still blue, so it must have still been daylight. Still plenty of time left to find that plant.
Not that it mattered. I needed to find that plant at all costs. I wouldn’t be able to finish my research without the intelligence boosting aspects of it, and I’d rather chew off my own leg than let Lyra win after what she had done.
“Twilight! Where are you!?”
My ears perked up as I heard the sound of my name. It sounded like…
“Rainbow Dash! Is that you?” I called in the direction that the voice had come from.
“Twilight!? Oh, thank Celestia!” Rainbow said as she burst out from between two trees. “Are you all right?”
I smiled. That was just like Rainbow, always worried about me. I was so happy that she was unerringly on my side. Especially after what my other so-called friends had done. “I’m fine, Rainbow, just a little frustrated. I can’t find that plant anywhere. Could you help me look?”
“We don’t have time for that, Twilight! We need to get you to the guard station, right away!” Rainbow said, a note of panic in her voice.
I tilted my head to the side, puzzled. “Why?”
“To get you help!”
“Rainbow, unless the guards are going to help me look for mare’s root, I don’t need any help. But now that you’re here—“
“Yes, they’ll help you with anything you need! You… uh… you just need to come with me! Then you can tell all of them what it looks like, then they can help you look!” Rainbow said, her voice still edgy for some reason.
I clapped my hooves together in cheer. “Great, but I have a better idea! You can go tell them what mare’s root looks like, while I keep looking! You already know where the guards are gathered, and you’re faster than me, so that way we get the maximum number of eyes searching in the least amount of time!” I said, grateful to Rainbow for setting this all up.
“No! I need you to come with me! Listen, Twi, please just come with me! You’re not thinking right, and you need to get help!”
Okay, I was starting to get a little annoyed. “Rainbow, I know I was upset at what Lyra and Rarity had done, but I’ve put that out of my mind for the moment. I just need to find that plant and everything will be all right. We can talk to the guard about what the two of them did later.”
“That’s… argh, that’s not what I mean. I just need you to…” Rainbow suddenly trailed off. Her eyes went out of focus for a second, but then she looked at me determinedly. “Okay, fine. Twilight, I think I saw the plant at the edge of the forest. If you follow me, I can take you to it.”
My eyes widened. “You saw it? Are you sure that it was mare’s root? You know, it’s supposed to look different for everypony that sees it. For you it would look mostly blue, with a rainbow flower. Does that sound like what you saw?”
“Yeah, blue with a rainbow flower. That’s… uh, that’s exactly what I saw. Follow me and I’ll take you right to it. Just, stay close to me, please,” Rainbow said, looking at me oddly.
“Sure thing,” I said happily, and began to walk in the direction that Rainbow had come from. She scrambled a little to keep up, but soon she was walking slightly ahead of
me, glancing back at me every so often.
This was great! After what Lyra had done, I had expected to take forever to find the mare’s root and get back on track with my research. But this was a stroke of luck. I mean, with the mare’s root boosting my intelligence, I could do in a few days what had taken me weeks to do before and then I could present it to the scientific judges and they could judge it. Then Rainbow could, uh, go with me to visit my parents in Canterlot and Canterlot has good food like bread and bread is made from wheat. And the heat is made from summer and Celestia does it with the sun and Celestia would be proud of me for everything and Lyra—
“Twilight!”
“Huh?” I said, snapped out of my train of thought. “Sorry, Rainbow, I was just thinking.”
“Twilight, you stopped walking, and I’ve been trying to talk to you for, like, the last five minutes! You were muttering weird stuff, too! Are you all right?” Rainbow said, sounding panicky.
“Listen, Rainbow, I know you like to look after me, but I’m just fine. You worry too much. I’m perfectly healthy. I mean, I’m purple, right?” I said.
“Purple? What does that have to do with anything?” Rainbow asked, sounding puzzled.
I rolled my eyes. I love Rainbow and all that, but sometimes she could be frustratingly obtuse. “All purple ponies are healthy. Just like all white ones are liars, and blue ones are earth ponies.”
Rainbow glanced down at herself, then looked up at me, looking even more worried. “What… whatever you say, Twilight. C’mon, let’s talk and trot, okay?”
“Fine by me!” I said, and let her lead the way. “Let’s hurry, though, I want to get started on my research as soon as possible. I need to do it in the basement though, out of the sunlight.”
“Oh? Why?” Rainbow asked.
“Because sunlight makes everything heavier. That’s probably why I feel so good, all the shade from the trees. I mean, without all that light pushing me down, I feel so energetic!”
Rainbow gave me an unreadable look, then turned away. “You know I love you no matter what, right?” she said very quietly.
“Aww, I love—“ I stopped.
Rainbow would never say anything as mushy and sentimental as ‘I love you.’ Then why did…
Oh. Oh no.
This was an imposter.
It was the only thing that made sense. Somepony or some creature had taken Rainbow’s appearance and was using it to try to trick me.
And if I remembered correctly, this Not-Rainbow had said I love you a few weeks back. Had I really been fooled for that long?
And what happened to the real Rainbow? Was she all right? Was she d—
No! I was going to have to proceed under the assumption that Rainbow was okay. The alternative was just too much to bear.
So Rainbow was alive and well, probably being held someplace. I had to find her… and that probably meant following this imposter to wherever she wanted to take me.
Well. It wasn’t like I’ve walked into danger before. And this Not-Rainbow didn’t know I was on to her.
Just then, I caught the Not-Rainbow giving me an odd look. Shoot, I had to act normal or it would find out that I had found her out.
“I love you too, Rainbow,” I said, putting on my biggest smile despite the almost physical pain that the words caused me.
That must have satisfied the Not-Rainbow somewhat, because she gave me one last lingering look, then turned and began trotting in the same direction that she had before.
I let out a sigh of relief. That had been a close one. Who knows what she would have tried to do to me if she knew that I knew. I shuddered. Nothing pleasant came to mind.
Whatever. I had to do this, for Rainbow, the real one. I would just have to be careful.
We trotted along in silence for what seemed like hours, but I could tell that it was much shorter. The sun hadn’t moved much, from what I could see between the trees. And lack of sunlight weighing me down or not, I would have been tired after a trek through the forest for hours.
The whole time, the Not-Rainbow shot glances back at me every minute or so. It probably wanted to make sure that its prey hadn’t escaped. And every time it did, I had to act like I hadn’t been staring at it.
But I had been. I had been observing it very closely.
That had let me get a better idea of what it was. Every so often, I could see… something moving beneath the skin of the Not-Rainbow.
It was… unsettling to say the least. But it gave me a clue about what this creature might be. It suggested that this Rainbow mask was more like a suit, to be shed at the first sign of trouble. It also said that—
“We’re here,” the Not-Rainbow said, stopping suddenly.
I glanced around. We had just barely cleared the edge of the forest, with the outskirts of Ponyville within sprinting distance. “What’s here?” I asked. “I thought you were going to take me to your—I mean, the flower.” Shoot, I almost said ‘your hideout.’
“Listen, Twilight, I’m sorry about this,” the Not-Rainbow said, pulling a stone out of her mane. It was small and I think the only reason I didn’t notice it before was because it was just as multicolored as her mane. In fact, it looked like a—
“No!” I shouted, an instant before the stone was crushed and all the magic fled the area.
The loss of magic was disorienting, but fortunately not crippling. I turned and ran towards Ponyville as fast as I could, but there was a rustling in the bushes, and several stallions jumped out and blocked my path. They all wore the armor of the royal guard, but I could tell they were imposters just like the Not-Rainbow.
Because the flesh beneath their skin was twisting and writhing in a way that made me almost sick.
I changed direction as fast as I could, sprinting back at the Everfree Forest, more confident in ability to get past the single Not-Rainbow than in my ability to dart past all the Not-guards.
Unfortunately, one of the Not-guards was faster than me, and I felt a heavy weight crash into my back, pining me on the ground. I struggled, but it twisted and got my right foreleg into some kind of grip.
“Stop struggling!” it said, malevolence dripping off of every word. “You might hurt yourself,” It said, and I could taste the sarcasm dripping off of every word.
I ignored it, and fought back with all my might. It apparently didn’t like that, and gave a little twist.
My right shoulder made a popping noise, and my world became an ocean of pain.
The Not-guard sprang back, his job evidently done. I tried to pull myself to my hooves, but my right foreleg wouldn’t respond to any of my commands. I fell back to the ground, letting out a sob of pain and fear.
I didn’t want to die, but I had made so many foolish decisions. I shouldn’t have followed Not-Rainbow. I should have stopped her from crushing the stone. I should have… should have…
I was going to die.
I didn’t want to die.
I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die!
I did my best to pull every bit of magic I could together, pushing as hard as I could against the dampening effect of the stone.
It hurt. It hurt a lot, right behind my horn.
But I had to do it. The alternative was to roll over and let them do whatever they want to me.
“Some pony stop her!” I dimly heard somepony yell. I ignored them. I pulled together the components for a teleport…
There was a flash of light that blinded me.
When I opened my eyes, I found that my magic had completely deserted me, and I was still surrounded by the Not creatures. Only now, there was one that looked like Princess Celestia standing right in front of me.
“Sleep,” the Not-Celestia said, and her horn lit up.
There was a horrible pain in my head.
I screamed.
Then darkness washed over me.
Stats
Page generated in 0.04 seconds
Total duration
1,057 users online
1,443,001 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
poor twilight. her mind runs a mile a minute and all the thoughts are tilted and confused...... that not pony thing though. back in the velvet chapter she was convinced her mother was something else. a good way of keeping it consistent.
though that arm is gonna hurt like hell. but at least she isn't going to hurt herself or others.
also thanks for doing it in twilight's tilted point of view.
Dam, so heavy! Hope the next ch. comes out soon
I suppose you meant fled.
Twiligt is going to be very unhappy with Rainbow Dash when this all shakes out...
Schizophrenia is a horrible, horrible thing, and you captured that very well, from her weird trains of thought, paranoia, and hallucinations.
I think we all know who did this to her, as well...
Great job in the PoV of a near insane mare. Very good portrait !
And yes, please, more soon...the anxiety is killing us, no-readers !
5267613
Which Twilight? Crazy Twilight or medicated Twilight?
5267613
Uh I think she's gonna be a tad bit more upset at whoever switched her meds for placebos........
seriously, why didn't dash have something to knock her out with as soon as she found her? it'd would have been so much easier. but hey! still excited to see things progressing!
I was curious as to whether Applejack would see her at her worst or not. I wonder how long it will take for medications to get her back to some semblance of control, or if she will have to be committed for a while.
It's comforting that even though she was clearly viewing Dash as an enemy imposter, her thoughts were about outsmarting her and not about hurting anyone. She might have gone on the attack eventually regardless, but even deranged she didn't instinctively go violent.
5267642
Whichever of the two appears when Twilight awakes.
Sa, maybe she can hang out with Luna, get some dope, relax, chill with the Princess of the Night.
5267723
Leaving now...
I imagine there will be more than sufficient amounts of anger to cover enemies, friends, and Rainbow Dash.
Maybe for Dash there will even be like more. Say, 20--
...
THIS IS TERRIBLE! I didnt have this in a bookshelf some how so I missed the last two updates
But now this horrible mistake has been caught and all is well
Well not for Twilight right now
Yeesh, I can understand why Twilight is so concerned about a relapse if this is what she's like off her meds. Hopefully She can get some treatment now, and they can track down whoever did this.
Good grief I wonder if the one who swapped Twi's meds for placebos even knows what they almost unleashed. Seeing things move under pony's skins, I have a feeling she was very close to "getting them out" and that would have been... well I think we all know. Twilight is terrifyingly powerful and to remove logic and restraint from her is a recipe for biblical mayhem.
5267988
Here's the scary part when you think about it:
Basically, she was going to POWER THROUGH IT ANYWAY, before the cavalry came.
5268081 logic, restraint, and her magic not being hindred by her medication.
Oh... I can't WAIT for Blood Work to get it! She damn near ruined Twilight, and thanks to her all of her hard work has been destroyed for the fair, and she almost had a psychotic breakdown!
I want to hug Twilight right now.
5267776 You can't actually just knock people (or ponies, I would think) out all that easily. It's pretty easy to give someone a concussion, or hurt them pretty badly.
And assuming Dash tried to knock her out and failed... best case scenario would be Twilight just teleporting away. Worst case? Yikes. Waiting till she had help was the smart move for Dash.
5269140 i meant like ask her doctor for a knock out drug or something. quick, painless (sorta), and easier on the other ponies.
5269147 In addition to the magic surpressor, I suppose?
Would be one way to go about it. They had one magical anti-unicorn weapon already though. They could have always given Dash half a dozen magic dodads, but I think one was plenty for such a story.
5268283
Twilight was, to put it mildly, bat shit crazy at the time. I expect when she wakes up, well medicated, she'll be very sorry. But until then, Twilight is far down a very unpleasant rabbit hole and everyone is lucky she focused on Mare's Root. Rather than something like eating the brains of other ponies because they've been stealing her thoughts.
5269501 what about tranquilizers?
Twilight was still crazy after the stone was crushed... that's unsettling.
5269504
Dosage problems, the time it takes the drug to kick in, possible interactions with her current medications. It's like chloroform. Every one thinks that a single sniff will put someone out. It actually takes a few minutes and you're more likely to kill whoever you're dosing.
Also, theres usually a period between being dosed and falling unconscious. Do you really want crazy, drugged up Twilight trying to power through an anti magic zone?
Sure, they could have done it that way. Hell, could have loaded up a blowgun and given her a nice dose of curare, or the drug of your choice. It'll still take awhile to put her down and she'll still be a danger to herself and others. This also applies to convincing her to take something laced with a sedative. It'll take awhile to kick in, might make her even crazier and so on.
If it were easy, police would be carrying tranq guns to handle criminals.
5269530
"Crazy" isn't something you can just turn off and on, it's more about dialing it back to manageable levels. Twilight's problems are caused by a fundamental flaw in how her brain works. Her treatment allows her to manage her crazy thoughts, identifying when something doesn't make sense or clearly isn't true. She still has the thoughts, she's just lucid enough to not listen to them.
I just found this fic earlier today, and have now caught up.
I wanted to say that I love the way you characterized the mental illness, Twilight's difficulties with it, interactions with other ponies who don't either understand it or don't know about it... It all hangs together so well and is very believable. Especially the way her friends reacted.
Add in the comedy elements that keep it a bit lighthearted without taking away from the actual hardships, it's all around a very good read, so, thanks for writing it and I'm looking forward to the next installment (and wondering if they'll actually figure out that Blood is responsible... That 'how are you feeling' line a couple chapters back gave it away to me).
5269489 she would probably have just kidnapped them and figured out how to get her thoughts back into her heads, knowing twilight.
still twilight being like that is unfortunately very dangerous.
5269531 A taser might work. And if you wanted to trick her into eating something make it look like mares root.
5269702
I think medication results in not having the crazy thoughts most of the time, but the stone is to help subdue her, not restore her mind.
5275881
I've only had limited personal experience with psychiatric medication, an extended hospital stay made me very depressed, and medication does not "fix" symptoms. It reduces the "bad thoughts" and allows you to deal with the ones you still have. That said, yes the stone was a magical restraint measurement, meant to dampen Twilight's power so she could be physically subdued, not effect her mentally. Twilight's power is a cause and consequence of her condition, it's effects would remain even if she was cut off from it.
I laughed. Hard.
Also, that whole imposter thing is something I've wondered if it would eventually happen to me. Would I ever go that crazy to the point where I think everyone around me is an imposter? I don't doubt the possibility.
Hey wait, how did Celestia use magic? That should all have been in the suppression effect.
6442241 Well, she's a demigod or something.
If one paltry stone were enough to bring her down, there would've been a revolution years ago.
Oh my lord Jesus its juicy!
Twilight in this chapter started out borderline funny and then got very creepy, especially these two parts.
Definitely getting Heaven’s Feel flashbacks with this chapter.