Act I: Chapter 1
Rarity's curls swayed gently as she pranced away from the market. The morning was off to a wonderful start; in addition to purchasing her usual cereals, fruits and vegetables, she'd arrived at Sugarcube Corner just as a baker's dozen of Pinkie Pie's new orange-pomegranate oatmeal muffins were leaving the oven.
The only drawback, of course, was that Pinkie Pie had decided to accompany her back to Carousel Boutique. The mare had been up and baking since an hour before dawn, and she was brimming with the wakeful energy Rarity was so sorely lacking. She loved Pinkie Pie dearly, of course, but in the early hours of the morning their friendship tended to be... tenuous.
“...But then she was like, 'Pinkie, you can't mix pomegranate seeds and orange juice! They cost more than you make in an hour!' and I was like, 'well, just charge extra!'”
That she did, Rarity thought with a frown. She kept up her jaunty stride in spite of her sluggishness and irritation, because that was what Ponyville demanded of a mare like her. Her sagging saddlebags tugged at her sides with every step.
Pinkie hopped along beside her, her frizzy mane and tail bobbing in syncopated time. “But then I gave Mrs. Cake one of the muffins and she was absolutely positively blown away!” the filly squealed. She was so excited she seemed fit to burst.
In fact, Rarity almost expected her to. “I know, Pinkie,” she muttered. “I was there...”
“They looked sooo good. I might just buy one myself when I get back. I've never tried one before. You'll have to tell me how good they are!”
Rarity's breakfast had been very light, and her little chat with Pinkie wasn't doing her any favors. A growling stomach was rather unbecoming, after all. Her mind dove once more into her bags, where a half-dozen of the very muffins Pinkie was going on about waited. However, those muffins were meant for her brunch with Sweetie Belle, so once more she ignored them.
“I'll be sure to,” she agreed. “But what is it that you needed from me at the Boutique?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Pinkie said casually. “I was just hoping you could design matching Hearts and Hooves Day outfits for Pound and Pumpkin...”
That certainly perked her up. “Could I?” she said excitedly. The possibilities immediately began to parade through her mind. After all, this was Ponyville's most adorable pair of twins Pinkie was talking about!
“...and Gummy,” Pinkie concluded.
Rarity's smile melted. “And Gummy?” she repeated, appalled.
“Yep!”
“Your pet alligator.”
“Yep!”
“I... I can't see why not.” Aside from the fact that the twins' and Gummy's palettes didn't match up at all... and the fact that Hearts and Hooves Day was a day for cute pairs, not a pair and their alligator friend... She would usually be more willing to consider the idea - if nothing else, Gummy was certainly an adorable little creature in his own way - but the idea simply struck her as an unthinkable breach of holiday fashion protocol. It was one of her best friends asking, though, so consider it she did. “What did you have in mind?” she tried, hoping that this time, at least, Pinkie's ideas could be called 'outlandish' and 'exotic' and not, well, 'horrifying' as usual.
Luckily, she was saved from Pinkie's wild imagination by a rather commonplace noise from a rather unexpected place. Everypony knew that Ponyville's librarian and her number-one assistant were out of town for the week. After all, it wasn't every day a friend or neighbor was called upon to visit the Princesses in Canterlot, even if that friend was Twilight Sparkle. Rarity herself had seen them off at the station seven days past, and the train upon which they would return from Canterlot wasn't due at the station for two or three more hours. In fact, it said so on the note pinned to the library's front door.
So why would somepony be knocking at the door to the library at this hour?
She wandered around to the front of the tree that housed the building; the chipper baker followed, chattering all the way. The mare waiting at the door was the last pony she'd expected to see there. “Applejack, was that you knocking?” she asked.
Their orange-pelted friend knelt to peer under the door. “It weren't me.”
“Good morning, girls,” a soft voice called from overhead.
“Hi Fluttershy!” Pinkie called back. “What're you girls doing at the library? You know it's still closed, right?”
“Yeah,” Applejack said absently as she tilted her head for a better view, “but I swear I can hear somepony inside.” The brim of her hat bent against the front step and it flopped to the ground. AJ glared at it.
With a delicate gust of wind a pale yellow pegasus touched down beside the farmer and brushed her long pink locks from her face. “The windows and balcony doors are all locked,” Fluttershy reported. “I don't know how anypony could have gotten in.”
“Through the front door, silly!” Pinkie Pie bounced over to the door and turned the knob.
AJ watched her with all the patience a farmer could muster. “We tried that, Pinkie.”
The filly stared intently at the door with a hoof pressed to her chin. “Huh. Well, I'm stumped.”
Applejack plopped her hat back onto her straw-colored mane and wandered to one of the side windows. “If they didn't use the door or the windows, how in the hay did they get in?” she asked.
Rarity met her there and peered about. The library was dimly lit by the morning sun; unless somepony was hiding among the bookshelves, the building was empty. “Are you quite sure somepony is inside?”
Somepony knocked three times.
“Pinkie Pie, even if somepony is inside, they aren't going to answer the door.”
Pinkie eyed her from the stoop, where she stood with her ear to the keyhole. “That wasn't me.”
Rarity looked from her to the window and back. “Are you sure?”
Applejack shook her head. “Me neither.”
“It wasn't me,” Fluttershy agreed. “So that means...”
“The library is being visited by the ghost of a pony that needs to borrow a book?” Pinkie supplied.
AJ facehoofed. “Well, you tell your ghost friend to read the sign on the door,” she said blandly, pointing a hoof at the door-length scroll covered in the clean and crisp calligraphy of the library's own Twilight Sparkle. “As if anypony could miss it,” she chuckled.
“Maybe she can't read!”
“Then what would she need a book for?”
“Maybe she can't read Equestrian,” the pink pony corrected herself.
“Pinkie Pie, there is no ghost,” Rarity scoffed. “Girls, we should do something. For all we know, the pony inside could be an overlooked visitor who has been locked in the library all week!”
“Oh no,” Fluttershy said nervously. “The poor thing must be hungry.”
“Hungry enough to develop a taste for pony flesh?”
Rarity simply pointed to a clump of grass two yards away. With a self-conscious grin Pinkie Pie bounced to the spot and plopped down on her haunches, sitting silent and perfectly still with her eyes pointed straight ahead. “Thank you. Now, does anypony know where Twilight keeps her spare key these days? The last I knew, it was buried precisely two inches deep in the second flowerpot from the left, behind the magenta hydrangea.”
“Nah, she moved it to a string tied around this little branch above the bay window,” Applejack argued. “Or was that the one before?”
“I thought it was under the smallest root poking up from the eastern point of the library.” Fluttershy glanced at the other two mares. “Angel found it there when we were playing hide-and-seek last month.”
“Angel plays hide-and-seek?” the farmer said incredulously. “I never thought I'd see that bunny play a game like that.”
“Well, he was hiding and I was seeking,” she allowed. “I suppose it wasn't actually a game.”
Pinkie raised a hoof.
Rarity looked up from the flowerpots, which, it seems, had been reorganized once again. “Yes, Pinkie?”
“We could just use mine,” she said, waving a familiar key in hoof.
The other mares nodded and moved on without question. “Now, we don't know what to expect when we open that door,” Applejack began. “Could be a burglar, or it could be somepony that got overlooked, like Rarity said.”
“Or it could be the product of a magical experiment gone wrong!” Pinkie said excitedly.
“We should be ready for anything, just in case.”
Fluttershy whimpered. “I'll be right behind you,” she said bravely. True to her word, she took a step back.
Key in hoof, Applejack approached the door. Rarity was at her side, her lips set in a determined frown and her horn alight with a blue aura. “Alright, girls. Here goes.”
The door swung open and three and a half ponies strode, bounced and crawled purposefully into the library. Fluttershy peered from side to side with a nervous frown before she finally left the warmth of Ponyville and closed the door behind her. “Um...” she called. “Um, h-hello?”
Three quick knocks sent her running back to the door.
“Where did it come from?” AJ said quickly. “I know it was down here somewhere.”
“I'm going to look in Twilight's room,” Fluttershy squeaked as she buzzed between her friends.
“I don't think it came from upstairs,” Rarity called after her.
“I know!”
Applejack shook her head. “Hey!” she shouted to whoever was listening. “We ain't gonna hurt you. Come on out.”
Somepony started rapping at a door.
As one the three mares swiveled toward the sound. “Is that...?”
“Yep,” Applejack agreed hesitantly.
“The basement,” Pinkie nodded. A muffled shout reached their ears from beyond the basement's threshold. “Isn't that where Twilight does her experiments?”
Applejack took a deep breath. “I sure hope you're wrong, Pinkie Pie,” she said. “Do you have a key for that too?” After a long few seconds of jingling the filly hoofed her a little cast iron rod. Applejack smirked as she crossed the room. “One of these days you'll have to tell us where you get all these.” The smirk didn't last for long; the aura of apprehension filling the room grew with each step she took toward the basement door.
“If it really is a burglar, I'll be ready for him,” Rarity assured her.
“Be careful, Applejack,” Pinkie said in a hoarse whisper. “It probably has sharp teeth.”
Rarity cocked an eyebrow at her. “You have no idea what Twilight really does down here, do you?”
Pinkie shrugged.
“Ready, Rare?”
She lowered her horn. “Ready!”
Applejack slid the key into the lock and twisted it; the pins of the lock fell back with a loud clack. Applejack stepped back and tried to look friendly. “It's unlocked,” she called. “Come on out.”
The door swung slowly inward. An eye wrapped in old white bandage was the first thing to appear around the door, but it was immediately followed by the rest of the pony, who sauntered confidently from the top of the basement steps as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
“Thanks, girls!” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity gasped. “Where have you been?”
“Oh my goodness, it's Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie squealed as she bounced in for a quick hug. “This is better than anything I could've imagined!”
Applejack stepped forward and grabbed her friend's head, turning it this way and that. “What happened to your eye?”
“Noth–”
A little yellow bullet took Rainbow around the withers, knocking the wind from her chest. “Rainbow Dash! We've been so worried,” Fluttershy said excitedly. “Have you been down here the whole time?”
The other pegasus pried her hooves away. “Yeah, yeah, good to see you too,” she muttered, but her attention was elsewhere. “Have you girls seen Miss Sparkle?”
“Who?”
“What in the hay?”
“Um...”
“Twilight's still in Canterlot, silly!” Pinkie beamed.
The pegasus frowned. “She said she'd only be gone for a week!”
“Her train won't get here until half past noon,” Rarity said slowly.
“What time is it now?”
“It's only ten, sugarcube.”
“Oh,” she muttered. “I guess I should have stayed in the basement, but it's kinda hard to tell time down there.”
“What'd you do to your head?” Applejack said softly. “Did you have another accident?”
“Omigosh!” Pinkie gasped. “Did you black out in mid-dive and hit the ground so hard you broke your head open and died so Twilight had to drag you down into her basement and put you back together again and strap you to the table and wait for a big thunderstorm and then lift your body up to the clouds through a big hole in the roof so you'd get zapped by lightning to restart your brain?”
“Um...”
The four of them stared at the excitable earth pony, who stared back in terror at the thought.
“What?” Rainbow finally asked, her head tilted to one side.
“Pinkie Pie, that's crazy talk,” AJ said dismissively. “You can't fix dead.”
“Ponyville hasn't had a big storm since last month,” Fluttershy added.
“But can you remember what really happened, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked. “A head injury is no laughing matter, and if Twilight has been keeping you down in her basement for two weeks...”
“Pinkie's right about one thing,” Rainbow said as she flew to a nearby couch. “Miss Sparkle did have to fix my head.”
“I was close!” Pinkie said with a smile.
“So did you hurt yourself flying again?” asked Applejack.
“And why didn't Twilight tell anypony you'd been hurt?” Fluttershy added.
Rarity had more pressing issues on her mind. “Rainbow Dash...”
The pegasus looked over her shoulder at her.
“Why are you calling her Miss Sparkle?”
Her expression shifted to an easy smile. “'Cause she told me to.”
Three muzzles dropped open.
“So... what do you mean when you say she fixed your head?” she continued. “You're not talking about your eye injury, are you?”
“No,” Rainbow laughed. “I mean my brain. Miss Sparkle had to go in there and fix a bunch of stuff that wasn't working right.”
Rarity's white-furred cheeks somehow looked paler with every word. “Such as?” she pressed.
“Well... I never used to listen when she told me to do something, and now I know better!”
The unicorn's eyes widened. “No.”
The pegasus floated off of the couch and threw her hooves wide. “And now I can be the best marefriend ever, just like she wanted!”
“No!” she yelped, pupils dilated in horror. Fluttershy fell back a step. Applejack could only stare.
“Um, Rainbow?” Pinkie said slowly. “You don't love Twilight. Why do you want to be her fillyfriend?”
“But I do love Miss Sparkle,” the weather pony argued. “She made me better.”
“She couldn't have,” Rarity whimpered. “Not our Twilight!”
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. “What, you think she's not strong enough to fix a pony like me?” she said aggressively. She closed the distance between them. “You don't know how good she is with her magic! Hay, she could take you blindfolded!”
“I've heard enough,” Rarity said sharply.
The pegasus's wings snapped to her sides and she fell indelicately to the floor. “Hey!” she barked. “Let go of me!”
Rarity shook her head. Her horn glowed a soft blue against her pale fur. She shook out her mane and turned to her friends to take charge of the situation. “Girls, this can't wait for Twilight. We have to take her to the hospital,” she said. “Applejack?”
AJ nodded. “Sorry 'bout this, Rainbow.” She set her shoulders and allowed Rarity to levitate the hoodwinked pegasus onto her back.
“I can't leave the library!” Rainbow yelled. “Miss Sparkle said–”
“'Miss Sparkle' didn't say anything of the sort,” Rarity said certainly. “Twilight would never do something like this to her friends. Now, calm down and keep quiet. We don't want you to hurt yourself any more than you already are.”
“Come on, I'm not a foal,” her friend whined. “I can walk!”
“Until we know the extent of the damage, we shouldn't take any chances,” she said firmly. “After all, we don't know how you injured your eye, or the extent of other injuries you might have.”
The pegasus writhed on her friend's back, but Applejack continued to move as if unburdened.“My eye's fine,” Rainbow insisted. “Better, even! Let me down!”
“Oh, I do hope it's not as bad as it seems,” Rarity breathed as they wound their way to the door.
“Who could have done this to Rainbow?” Fluttershy wondered.
“I don't know, Fluttershy.” She tried to swallow a lump in her throat. “That train can't come quickly enough...”
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I guess I'll keep an eye on this.
Full of yes.
Interesting.........
Very nice! I look forward to more!
i'm actually kinda wishing i hadn't read this until the full story was due to be out. now i'm really excited to know what's going on!
More.
Would be nine if not for one simple thing; I WANT MORE!
That one word says everything that needs to be said.
You get eight mustaches out of ten
4060307 I agree more................................
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I second this notion.
Viva Namida
i.imgur.com/VfvEi.gif
Please!
Looks promising!
Making Twilight a proper psycho? Well shit, I'm starting to be excited for this one
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When I got home from work I didn't expect to see... well, this! 'Miss Sparkle' is up to thirty-seven likes and fifty faves... It even managed to find its way into the Popular Stories box on the main page! My stories have never gotten this much attention before. You all made my day. Thank you so much, everypony!
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Thanks for the kind words! I hope the next segment will be all you hoped it could be.
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That's exactly why I didn't post it until a week after it was written. I'm glad you're that excited, though. I'll try extra-hard just for you!
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I tend to write random pieces of a story whenever the mood strikes, so I never know when the next scene in order will be finished. Thankfully, this one shouldn't take much longer! Once I pin down what it's missing I'll be sure to post it for you!
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Ah, but the tears are yet to come.
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I'm so glad you like it! That means a lot to me. I loved 'Listen and Learn' and 'Självdestruktivitetens Emissarie', and knowing that an author I like that much enjoys my work makes it feel even more fulfilling!
Well, I suppose I should give the viewers what they want. I'm off to write some more! Wish me luck, everypony.
Feh.
Now this is promising. When's the first chapter coming out?
Three hundred thirty views.... Sixty-six likes and ninety-one faves... Sweet Celestia, where are you all coming from?
I've never had this kind of attention on a story before. This is a little overwhelming. Not that I'm complaining, of course!
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Welcome back, Oobie! I hope you found something you like this time around.
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Thanks, Microgam3r! Don't worry, the next part should be up very soon. I'm about to walk to work, but if all goes according to plan I should be finished with the next couple of scenes tonight.
Actually, this was meant to be a one-shot but each scene is about as long as a chapter of some stories I've read... Is that a bad thing? Maybe I'll break it into chapters just to make it easier to read. I mean, I've nearly broken twenty thousand words and I'm nowhere near done. I don't think I can call it a one-shot any longer, haha.
4062404 You're a monster! A MONSTER!!!
Why would you do that?! but I want MORE!!! 
A good start, can't wait to see more.
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All in due time. I'm nearly finished with the second scene. In the meantime I'm open to suggestions for a hundred-fave thank-you special! See blog post for details: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/296606/one-hundred-faves
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Aww, thanks! Maybe you won't have to wait for long. I haven't decided yet. Details for that are also in said blog post.
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Eh, it's better...
But I still don't like it.
4068108 Cosplay as someone with a more useful comment. GO!
(JK)
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Good enough for me!
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"Cosplay! Go!" *stares*
"...Staaahp!"
No worries, Snuggly, Oobie's harmless. Thanks for having my back, though! Haha, I can't shake the image of your avatar staring at him until he gives it a shot.
Seems kind of strange Twilight would slip up so severely after so long. She plays the role of hero perfectly and then mindrapes Dash into being her marefriend and just expects that everyone's going to accept it without question? Something's amiss.
This is sounding kind of fishy. Especially once I googled "psychopathy" to refresh my mind on what it's about and realized that Twilight exhibits none of the signs of one--she's not reckless, bold, overconfident, etc. It could be acting, but that would require a level of acting ability that no one could possess, especially given the fact she'd have to play the "role" for a decade (considering this would have to go back to her time as Celestia's student). She'd have stumbled and imploded long before this point.
it's a win-win, either way. Either there's some conspiracy shenanigans going on (which substantially raises the likelihood of a [Grimdark] ending to Tough Love levels) or evil!Twilight will get a great villainous breakdown.
feelthefilms.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/psycho-anthony-perkins-as-norman-bates.jpg
Why, Twilight wouldn't even harm a fly...
I'm finally getting around to reading this, took me long enuf.
As you've asked, I'm not reading the comments, but seriously, if the rest is as good as this, it's no wonder you won! I'm nowhere near the romance part, and it's already freaking amazing! The interactions are priceless! Every line feels right! I'm gonna continue... after English class.
Finally getting to this. Only took me forever...
Why do I get the impression the fourth wall just got a crack in it?
Wow, so Twilight lobotomized Rainbow? I'm usually vehemently opposed to OOC behavior and you didn't supply an AU tag... but I'm going to continue on the assumption that there's something deeper going on that will make sense of this. If it's going where I think it is then I'd like to see it in action. Well, not like to see it, but you know what I mean.
Ooh, good chapter, Adda! Take a four hundredth like, and a favorite! I'll read the rest later.
When I liked a story so much that I read it a second time.
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Or a fourth ^_^. (Fourth re-read for me).