Sparkyll and Hyde

by Dragon Spire

Act II: Chapter Five

Act II: Chapter Five:
When the Mask Falls

"Thank you kindly for agreein' to this on such short notice, Your Highness. If anypony can get her to listen, it's you."

Princess Cadence followed Applejack off the train and to the entry point where 'public officials' were being examined by the Royal Guard. Consisting of both divisions, a Solar guard was casting spells on each pony that passed before being allowed clearance into the city, while the Lunar simply stood by as grunt force, his kind lacking the horn needed for these spells.

She paid close attention to this particular spell. The unicorn lowered his horn on the small of the back of the pony ahead of her, a turquoise shimmer seeping from the tip and crawling all over his barrel and forehead, as though searching for wings that existed under his coat and verifying his horn's authenticity. The magic warbled as it, after a long minute of this searching, dissipated into nothingness. Both guards motioned him to move along before facing Applejack.

"'Mandatory examination', I know," she cut them off before they could say anything. "You'd think after three times of goin' through this you'd know it was me." Still she stiffened her body to prepare herself.

"They are simply doing their job, Applejack," chided Cadence. She watched her reactions to the magic, seeing the discomfort brought to the earth pony from lacking both wings and a horn, though it was meticulous in looking for signs of them.

"I know that. Doesn't mean I gotta like squat 'bout it, though." She suddenly grunted when her forehead was prodded, painfully, Cadence guessed by her reaction. "Hey, ya mind?"

The guard withdrew his magic, but not for her complaint. "You're clear, miss. And you'll have to forgive us if we happen to find a changeling using our methods, like it or not." His tone sounded like he couldn't care less about her comfort, which Cadence suddenly understood. He didn't have time for comfort when so few ponies dared come outside, Canterlot feeling little more than a ghost town lately. "If you please, Your Highness," the guard turned to her.

She nodded. "Do what you must." Her eyes averted from her company and to the sun being pulled below the snaggletooth of Canterlot's peak. Less than an hour of daylight was left before curfew would be initiated for the night. They had that allotted time left to make their way to Twilight's study, speak to her, and deliver her to the Crystal Empire.

Unless the curfew did not account for her, given her status? Or did it enforce it tenfold? Was there a platoon supposed to escort her if this was so?

She winced from the spell placed on her. She understood why Applejack disliked it; the magic pressed into her back forcefully and pulled at the feathers on her wings as they coursed over them. This discomfort made her unfurl her wings, the sensation alike to water pouring over them, minus the wetness.

To distract herself from this, she brought up the subject heavy on her mind. "Applejack, about what you told me about Twilight. Was it true?"

She knew exactly what she was talking about. "I wasn't exaggeratin', if that's what'cha think. I simply told you and Shinin' Armor what I saw when I'd gone to see her. Nothin' more and nothin' less."

Cadence nodded, jiggling the magic on her forehead a bit. When she had come to her and her husband some few hours ago, a saddlebag reeking of fresh earth and incense on her back and a desperate plea on her lips, she described Twilight's deteriorating state - how thin she'd gotten and how many times she'd stumbled from lack of sleep - all from overworking herself on her experiment.

Shining Armor had looked shaken by this, at once proposing to go and speak to her. Cadence, however, felt the wiser to get her to open up and listen, and Applejack agreed. As she was more familiar with her work, she could convince her to leave it behind, just long enough for the killer to be dealt with.

"I believe you," she said, drawing a deep breath to quell the demons that made her imagination run rampant. "And if it is as desperate as you say, then you were wise to come to me when you did. Twilight and Spike both will be taken from here and be well cared for until Canterlot's troubles have passed. Surely she will understand this."

Yes. She would first see to Spike, make sure he was secure, then, with Applejack at her side, confront Twilight to the best of her abilities.

The guard finally extinguished the spell and backed up to give a steep kneel, as though apologizing for simply fulfilling his duty. She gave her silent thanks in response, moving on to rejoin Applejack, who waited on the main road, and walked alongside her once reunited.

"Several good nights' rest, some good food, and not a word 'bout the killer for them to hear," she sighed. "It's exactly what they need. Thanks again for considerin' this."

Cadence thought for a moment before replying. "Of course. But this is what I don't understand: why did Twilight so suddenly lock herself away? When I had last seen her, she had the completed formula in her hooves, and I thought she couldn't be happier." She was going to see her mother again so soon. But she omitted this additional thought.

Applejack said, "I never got myself a straight answer. All she told me for sure was that she'd gone and tested her formula, and it failed. Somethin' went haywire, but she's doggone against tellin' me what did. That's partly why I came to you."

A cold breeze swept through her wings. "There must be a viable reason why she's chosen not to explain herself." All ponies, she contemplated, had their own secrets and failures that they were too ashamed to be let known to any but themselves.

"Or she's just bein' a stubborn ass," Applejack chuckled grimly.

She lead her off the main road and started for the shopping district. Although this path would shortcut them to Twilight's house and, by extension, her study, Cadence felt a weight in her heart. Dead leaves scattered on the breeze and across their hooves as they trudged on the hollow street. There was no one here - no one running the stores, and no one looking to purchase. She may have blamed this on the oncoming curfew, but the truth was in the dust and the veins of ivy that had long since made homes on doorknobs and sills and benches.

The princess looked for any exception to this, a child looking into the toy stores, wanderers trying to savor daylight before having to return to the homes that had become prisons as of late. But the only audience to her and Applejack was of curious squirrels and lizards that nested in the empty window frame of a fashion store, broken glass shards jutting from the upper corners like teeth about to snap shut on them.

Dismayed by the sight, she hurried along, spying Twilight's house on the side of the road. The indoor lights were out, yet Cadence knew Spike was inside, recalling Applejack telling her of his poor treatment as of late. A victim of neglect without his sister to comfort him, perhaps Spike was the one in greater need. There was no chance that his father could help him; Night Light had, just the same as Twilight, thrown himself into his work at the observatory to escape a home with little to do but embrace panic and despair.

With a small nod to her, Applejack walked past and went inside. Cadence waited, deciding that Spike would only be overwhelmed if he saw her with Applejack. Naturally sharp in wit, he would know something was wrong and insist on helping to get through to Twilight.

But he didn't deserve to see her as she was. Even by description Cadence felt blame for not caring for her sister - someone like Spike, whose job was to care for her needs, would only feel that tenfold.

Another minute passed, and another, before Applejack came back out, locking the door behind her.

"Is he alright?" She trotted over to meet her halfway.

Applejack's answering expression was grim. "As best as he can be. He's asleep, the poor thing dreamin' 'bout something. But at least he's at peace."

"Good. Then let us go," she said, bringing herself to her friend's side to teleport themselves to the base of the study tower.

They climbed in silence, the wind getting colder and colder the higher they went and the last rays of the sun piercing into Cadence's eyes. Exhaling a shaky breath, she mentally practiced the words she would say to her sister, tweaking the ones that she feared would set her off. Applejack had made no mention of coming to her when last seeing the doctor, so it was expected that she wouldn't take her presence well; much less with her on Applejack's side of the coming argument.

Reaching the twin doors, Cadence faced Applejack, gave a curt nod, and rapped four quick times. Hollow echoes followed, but an answer didn't come. "Twilight?" she called. She always answered her door, regardless of what time it was or what new assignment she was tearing into. "We have your ingredients, Twilight!" she tried again, looking to the saddlebags that Applejack wore.

She was again answered with silence and wind bristling her coat.

"What now?" she turned to Applejack.

Applejack nudged the door, the hinges squeaking in response. "It was unlocked when I came this mornin', too. Guess we can show ourselves in." Like so, they pushed the door open and stepped inside. The staircase going to the second floor, the main area of the study, had little lighting to rely on, and Cadence thrice stumbled on steps she thought weren't there. One of these days she had to ask Twilight about hanging a lantern here.

Making the last step, Cadence looked over the room for her sister. Nothing looked much different from the last time she had visited her sister here, albeit it was a while ago, long before Twilight had found the completed formula. The bookshelves surrounding her were undisturbed, as they should have been in a quiet home, the chaise set beside one of them, and that peculiar structure that Twilight used for her equipment was still in working order. A crossbow rested beside it, and in her curiosity Cadence went to inspect it, though her hooves slipped several times on her way there.

What she held was meant for a filly's hooves, but it was understandably made by one. The bow itself wasn't secured correctly - it swayed to one side when she picked it up - and the sight to aim with was literally a flap of paper taped on. The trigger, however, was in working function, complete with the necessary safety latch. It was clumsily-made, yet could work in a desperate time.

A note was taped onto it. Scrawled on it in ink that was almost still wet was Spike's name, and a short request to help him practice if Twilight had the time.

"Oh, that figures."

Cadence set the crossbow back in its place, and turned to Applejack, hearing her exasperation. "What is it?" She moved to join her where she stood beside the chaise lounge. At first seeing nothing save for Twilight's favorite sweater cast over the arm, the hair on her neck then bristled, the small form's barrel rising and falling ever slowly registering in her sight.

Applejack muttered, "I say she's gonna tell me everythin' when I got back with her stuff, and what's she do? Sleep for once just to avoid it longer."

But Cadence hardly heard; she was preoccupied looking at the floor. At the blood that trailed in front of the chaise and dotted the floor.

Those weren't scattered papers she was slipping on before . . .

Bile rose in her throat as she was at last aware of the stinging, coppery scent coming from her stained hooves. "Applejack . . ."

Her friend followed her gaze, seeing the blood, too. She jolted, barrel hitting the arm of the chaise as she retreated, Twilight's sweater falling in a blue heap. "She wasn't like this when I saw her just this mornin' . . ." She shook her head rapidly, as though this would disregard the image as a hallucination.

Snick.

Both mares flinched, turning to the source of the sound. Twilight's eyes fluttered, making similar sounds before they shifted to Applejack and Cadence. "Who . . .?" she tried to say, her voice rough through a layer of phlegm. Rising into a sitting position, her bones popped and crackled, and her eyes shifted to Cadence. "Oh. Now you're here." As she stepped off the chaise, her jaw tightened, her lips forming a thin line as though she'd tasted something vile when expecting sweetness.

"Twilight? You okay, sugarcube?" said Applejack, starting to approach her.

But she didn't break her sight from Cadence, simply answering her with, "Twilight Sparkle isn't available."

Cadence, in assuming this was Twilight despite only seeing her silhouette in this lighting, went to the table where she lit four candles, the mare's sight drilling in her back.

An inkling of recognition spurred in her upon seeing the mare now in clear view. But with this was an awareness of horror in spotting oozing red blood on the side of her grey barrel.

Another attack of copper flooding her nostrils confirmed what she feared; that it was of fresh blood.

She lost her breath, blue light eating the tip of her horn as she aimed it at the pony.

The mare sensed her hostility and looked to the source of her unease. "Oh, that? You don't have to be scared of me for that," she chuckled. "My bae and I were just having a little fun." She smoothed a hoof over her barrel, drawing it away wet.

Cadence trembled as she forced herself two steps forward. Fear was the last thing she could afford to show at this crucial moment. "Where is this 'bae' of yours now?"

"The Altrotta, I presume. Most likely sleeping off all the fun he had today."

"And where's Doctor Sparkle?" Applejack asked. If she wasn't already three feet away from them, she would have been standing directly in between the two ponies. Cadence wanted it to stay that way, if her suspicions were correct.

The mare, meanwhile, walked around the far side of the table, dismissing Applejack's question. "Why bother? You wouldn't believe a single word that came from my mouth if I told you exactly where. Rest your mind with knowing that she's out at the moment."

". . . I don't think I believe you." A part of Cadence wanted to bargain with this pony, make a compromise to settle matters peacefully. But another, the part that took in the sight of fresh blood, felt that there would be no peace so long as her sister was missing. With a small breath, and a suppression of her instinctual want, she let her aura consume a quarter of her horn in warning. "I will give you a chance to tell me where she is. If you choose not to cooperate, I will use necessary force."

"I'd listen to her, ma'am," Applejack concurred.

The mare couldn't seem to care less about Applejack's presence, ignoring just about everything she said, but she was fixed on Cadence; she was playing with her. This was especially true when pausing behind the cube structure and cocking her head, a beaker bloating one eye and a smile that was all teeth stretched on her face. "Would the Princess of Love really attack another living thing? What's 'necessary force' to you? Poking me with that horn until I beg for mercy?"

"I won't warn you again," Cadence pressed on. "I think we both know that it's in your best interest to not keep your colleague's location to yourself."

"Ooh. You opened your letter early, didn't you?" She tsked. "You naughty horse, ignoring Twilght's instructions." She was past the corner, now directly in front of Cadence.

Applejack saw this and wedged herself in between the ponies, one hoof pushing the princess back. "Twi gave us plenty reason for openin' our letters, mainly because of you."

Cadence had been suspicious enough when instead of an explanation, she had found a bequeathing to a pony she had never heard of in her letter, her concern for her sister-in-law too great to ignore. And now this same beneficiary was here, alone, refusing to cooperate with giving Twilight's location? It was too much for her to take in, even without bringing the blood in account. She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought that came from picturing all those components together.

She focused on Applejack again, who had them both backed three more steps. The mare - mentally going over the letter, she fished the name out from the borderline of discarded information - Nightfall only closed that distance with the same number of steps, forcing them into the wall.

"Since you and Twi are apparently so chummy," Applejack asked, trying to distract her, "How'd that work to you bequeathin' everythin'?" Her voice was edged with sarcasm; she didn't seem to care why Nightfall was to bequeath Twilight's work. It was, Cadence believed, a raw, itching frustration that wouldn't go away so long as Twilight was missing.

"I am more than just a colleague of hers, little Applejack," Nightfall answered, finally looking at her. "No simple colleague would go out of their way to provide the clandestine wants that Twilight had, but I did because I am more. I am her flesh and her blood; the only one who could act accordingly just for her."

Cadence's aura faltered, and realized that she had unconsciously backed up. "You cannot be her sister." She hardened her resolve, returning to her previous standing.

Nightfall wasn't Twilight's sister. It wasn't a denial; it was the absolute truth in knowing her sister-in-law as though she were her own blood. For this parasite to slink in and claim herself as a blood relative . . .

She trembled, pin-sized beads of sweat needling at the base of her horn, which began to darken.

Nightfall seemed to sense the thoughts racing in her mind - or she predicted just what she thought - for she could swear her teeth looked more like needles. "You don't know Twilight Sparkle at all, Cadenza. How could a usurper like you ever understand her?" She spat the word "usurper" with little more love than one regarding Discord or a changeling brood. "You're not the one who helped her cry herself to sleep every night without a mother there to comfort her. You are not the one who stayed with her, sitting in the dark while she spoke - every daydream, every tantrum, every ambition to be great. And when those governors turned against her? I was finally able to escape from the shadows then, and was able to do exactly what she, helpless without me, could not.

"And you? All you ever did was sidle in and woo her brother to steal her away." She clicked her tongue, then running it along the tips of her incisors.

"That - that's not . . ." Her stance faltered, and she felt as though she couldn't draw her breath in without it cutting the insides of her throat. Questions, outrages, regrets, it all flooded her mind, and she had half of one to go find Celestia and seek her help to deal with this creature - whatever it was.

But Nightfall had forced her choice with one little smirk, black, thin shadows rising on either side, and, "If you cared at all for Twilight Sparkle . . . you would have come here to be what a sister is . . . before she decided her fate with me."

Cadence hurled the magic in her horn before she could stop herself, the room plunged in light the color of onyxes. The second the spell had been released, something unlocked deep inside of her. She felt a rage spur in her that she'd never tasted this fervent.

She launched herself at Nightfall, who had stumbled back in the wake of her magic, and recovered only a moment before falling once more. Cadence pinned her down, three hooves on her barrel and one pressed firmly against her throat.

"What did you do to her!" she demanded. "I don't know how, but it's you, isn't it? Did you cut up her face, too, or did you just snap her neck?"

Nightfall's gasps vibrated the hoof that steadily pressed down on her larynx. All she had to do was squeeze a little harder, and the Canterlot Murderer - this lockdown, this terror coiling itself around the city and her dear aunts - would be finished.

Applejack was crying out, something about not being able to find Twilight, but she drowned out her negligible words. Fire wreathed at her heart, at the hoof that could shatter this creature's larynx and end its merciless existence right now. Whatever it did to Twilight, Cadence had the chance to make it endure tenfold.

Yet Nightfall began to laugh. Tears sprang and slid down her face as her mouth opened and closed with faint titters. Fear crossed over her features, and she wheezed out, "Y-you . . . I knew you c . . . couldn't be the pretty pink p-princess . . . so inno . . . innocent and pure . . ."

Click-twang.

Cadence's ears shot up at the unfamiliar sound, and she looked up, the source before her. Aimed right between her eyes was the dull tip of an arrow rested on Spike's crossbow, Applejack's hooves wrapped clumsily around the trigger. She had moved around her and Nightfall and taken up the weapon.

Her lips were moving, but Cadence couldn't focus. The words sounded smothered, a heaviness blanketed onto her brain. She focused instead on Applejack herself, discerning the tremble in her stance as she lowered the weapon slightly, but not enough to quite fully take her aim off of her. She didn't want to shoot; the pain in her expression showed that she had become desperate.

The haze over her was fading, for she heard her words clearer as she started, "Applej-"

The farmpony retreated, raising the crossbow once again.

Confused, she looked back to Nightfall, who was crawling away, hoisting herself up with the table before a grey hoof clutched at a darkened throat, her face pale.

Cadence blanched back, her hooves scattering until she banged herself against the wall. "A-alicorns! What did I . . .?" She shook her head rapidly. That wasn't supposed to happen! What did she even do?

She heard hoofsteps, some kind of sloshing noise and magic particles twinkling, and Applejack's gasp and another click-twang. "I don't know what the hell you did to her," she snarled, "But I know a half-decent weapon when I see one. Takin' you down'd be easy; a quick shot to your, say, fetlock or spine would do it. Somewhere that won't quite kill you, but it'll sting worse than a rattlesnake bittin' ya."

Cadence saw that she had the crossbow level with Nightfall's foreleg, and that Nightfall herself was eyeing the tip warily as those . . . things - she could only identify them as tendrils - withdrew into the floor.

Nightfall drew in several quick breaths, eyes darting in between pony and weapon as if trying to work out a way to escape. Once, she tried to move, but Applejack cocked the weapon and she shriveled into a ball, head poking out as she glared.

She . . . she was afraid.

After a long minute, she exhaled and snarled, "Fine. You want your precious 'sister' back, O Highness?" She coughed, kneading the skin at her throat. "Take her. She's sided you, anyway." She rose, flinching as the arrow followed her movement, then suddenly teleported.

"Where did - hey!" Applejack cried out. Cadence only just spotted the mare rip off her saddlebags before teleporting again, this time reappearing at the table. She threw the ingredients for the TS8 out before her, emptying the vials and cloth pouches into a flask, bringing that over a Bunsen burner.

Cadence risked a small step, curiosity titling her head. "What is it that you are doing?"

"Allow me to show you just where the good doctor is." She paused, then added spitefully, "Cadenza."

Her horn flared a deep green that attacked the vial, veins of electricity scurrying around the glass like a devious cockroach that was poisoning the contents. Nightfall giggled to herself, her magic lighting that sickly-sweet grin she bore as she worked, faint zapping and bubbling filling the remaining silence. About two minutes passed before she halted, the aura cutting out and bringing her back into darkness, save for the silhouette from the nearby candle.

Burnt wood and soil and lavender clouded the air, and Cadence's eyes watered from the heavy smell. There was something all too familiar about it, and she suddenly found herself in between places; still here, but simultaneously in a hospital room, faint beeping on the edge of the memory.

It wasn't until Nightfall had taken the flask away and held before her eyes a concoction clear as water with tiny, rainbow-colored bubbles floating about that she knew why it was familiar.

She was looking at Twilight's TS8 Formula.

"Just what are you planning to do with that?" Cadence demanded, approaching the mare, careful to staunch her hostility with a much firmer grip. "And what exactly did you do to me?"

"What's the matter?" Nightfall chuckled. "Are you afraid of science? Afraid of the truth? And if you really want to know what I did, why don't you ask your 'sister'?" Twirling the vial once, she popped the cork off and downed half of the contents.

At once she visibly shivered, her muscles contracting beneath her ashen skin. The vial was set on the edge of the table in time; she collapsed onto the floor, howling laughter following her.

Applejack dropped the crossbow and pushed Cadence behind her. "What the hell is this!"

Cadence could only watch as Nightfall squirmed in place, bones pulsing and snapping as they affixed to a slightly thicker frame, and incisors dulling to equine teeth. When all sounds but her laughter ceased, splotches pricked the center of her mane, tail, and back, spreading color over her body like spilt ink and even taking away the discoloration of the bruise that Cadence had given her. Rising moonlight poured over her body, revealing a light shade of purple.

Heat pricked Cadence's ears. "No . . . th-this isn't . . ."

But then a starburst formed where Nightfall had no cutie mark. And pink and purple streaks trailed into her mane and tail. And lastly, Nightfall's cachinnation lightened to an airy voice that Cadence recognized from all the late nights when she had to soothe her nightmares away.

Nightfall's final, guttural growl let way to the scream of one in terrible pain as her body stilled.

Cadence and Applejack screamed simultaneously, "Twilight!"

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Soarin was the last thing she remembered before truly passing out.

Specifically, his soft moan and a wing clutching at his barrel, angry red dribbling between the feathers.

Twilight wanted to reach out to him, scream his name, run with him to escape Nightfall, anything! She as Nightfall saw to it that she as Twilight could only drown and watch. The memories flickered in and out, very faintly, and any words or sounds perceived lost their meaning underneath what felt like gallons and gallons of water rushing between her ears.

Nightfall took in a sadistic glee in knowing her good self could do nothing; Twilight was all too certain of this when she, in response to Soarin crying out, dove her head in and smothered his lips, taking it too far with running her tongue over his teeth.

Vomit boiled in her gut in recalling this. But she shouldn't have felt this if she was still in her dream state. After this thought made itself known, she felt the mental pull to consciousness, and she heard voices at the edge of her awareness.

Was there something else to this dream that Nightfall wanted to show her? She didn't remember this part of the dream at all. She strained her ears, listening for some clue as to what had happened.

". . . gical explanation . . . can't be! She's . . ."

"You're seein' . . . saw that thing . . . her! . . . hidin' from us!"

Twilight felt confusion at hearing both. The first voice, the older one, spoke as though her voice was raw; she was trying to quell the second's bloody screaming, but she shared fresh horror that couldn't be hidden from her voice.

Recognizing the voices, she drew up their faces. Yet when she grasped for names they slipped away like shadows in hooves. Any further effort sent an electric throb through her skull, and she moaned. It hurt too much, she wanted to rest. She instead focused on their words, trying to discern what they meant.

She didn't remember seeing them at all in her dream state; it was just Soarin and their . . . erotic kiss. Was there something Nightfall didn't want her to see when she possibly interacted with them? That had to be, because they were still here when she as Twilight woke . . .

Horror spiked in her heart. They had seen her revert. If she woke up immediately after Nightfall receded back into unconsciousness - and she always did, discovering this from previous transformations - and if the visitors had been here long enough to be having this conversation, then they had seen before their eyes a grey mare morph into the renowned Doctor Sparkle.

Hooves clopped behind her. Louder, louder, coming for her.

"She's awake," the older one said. "Let's just hear what she has to say first, Applejack. Please."

Applejack. She was who had screamed. Who had seen a murderer shift into the friend she'd been trying so hard to pry the truth out of.

Pulling her legs in and rising carefully, Twilight prayed to Alicorn after Alicorn that this was another dream Nightfall meant to torment her with. She would open her eyes and see they weren't here, only her and a demon out to break her down in a fight that was her own. No one else's.

Wishful thinking. That was all it ever was.

When she opened her eyes, there Applejack stood, her expression convulsed as a thousand lost words were a maelstrom in her irises. Standing beside her, with a long, pink and purple wing extended to separate her from Applejack, was her sister-in-law, Cadence. Quavering with horror scarcely suppressed, the smell of her sweat was heavy in the air.

Both stares told Twilight two vital things. One, they had seen enough to learn what she wanted to be left to the past when she was through with Nightfall. And two, her fate was now left to their hooves, and their hooves alone.

Applejack, the Element of Honesty, couldn't keep this to herself if she tried with all her might; neither her element nor her morals would ever let this go quietly.

And Cadence - Princess Mi Amore Cadenza - had no choice but to turn her in, or else turn against her own kingdom and everything her aunt raised her to be.

When they left this room, that would be the end of her work and of her mother's last chance. It was over.

So in submission, Twilight exhaled, approaching her friends and watching as they scurried back like shadows from light - rather, like light from an insatiable black hole. "Well, you wanted to know everything," she croaked, pausing to clear her throat. "Right, Applejack?"

Her friend breathed shakily, and moved around Cadence with the same trembling. Afraid of her, she yet drew out one last shred of trust to voice her question. "Y . . . are you really the Canterlot Murderer?"

Part of her wanted to say "no", as the Canterlot Murderer was Nightfall, not her. But she knew who she was by extension. "Yes," she said, keeping her voice monotone to keep out of it the satisfaction of seeing her enemies gone, and the pain therein of admitting that. "In a way, I am."

"Wh-why?"

She gulped. "They may as well have killed my mother in shutting my work down. I became desperate, I wanted to hurt them. When Nightfall came to be, she was the outlet that fulfilled my want to do so." She felt Cadence coming close to her, and she moved away. "Please, don't. I don't want to hurt you."

". . . I . . . just want to understand. You did something to me. You made me attack, and I couldn't control myself to stop it. And then you . . . she said you could explain just what that was."

Twilight winced, hesitant to answer. Nightfall's influence was spreading over everyone she was close to, more and more as she got stronger. "Princess Celestia always said that I have a natural talent for bringing ponies together." She waited for a question that didn't come, then continued, "I apparently bring out the best in everypony by just being me. So . . . you could feasibly understand that Nightfall does the opposite; she brings out the worst in ponies just by being near them. The things they wish they weren't . . . the vices they never knew they had, they come out and overtake their morals.

"Do you remember, Applejack, how you snapped at me, and tried to pry more information by refusing to help? And I believe Spike told you something about how angry he'd gotten when close to her."

She heard a soft gasp from her. And Cadence was breathing hard.

Speaking to the latter, "I guess she revealed something about you that you wish wasn't there."

Cadence seemed to hesitate. She didn't seem to want to discuss it - understandable - for she instead said, "You speak of her as though you are two different ponies. Is Nightfall another soul trapped in you?"

"No." She turned away, her eyes glazing as she stared into space. "She's me. Specifically, my darker side - my essence of evil. But we've both gone so far off the brink that she's set herself apart from me; we could be completely different ponies and be none the wiser about it.

Silence followed, and she guessed that the two ponies were exchanging uncertain glances.

She sighed, "I will explain to the best of my abilities."

And she thusly recounted how she became Nightfall, beginning at the night of the Altrotta's opening, when she decided to make herself the test subject for the formula. She explained that although the formula was put through many evaluations before facing the ultimate test, doubt had begun to seep in, and she asked herself, "What if?"

"What if I fail?" haunted her, reminding her that she was setting everything on the line - her tutelage under Princess Celestia, her work, her reputation, her mother. She couldn't afford a second chance. So on a whim and the curiosity of the properties of dark magic used for good intentions, the Alicorn Amulet became her solution.

She had paused her story to see her friends' reactions; Applejack looked appalled, as though asking, "What have you done?" Cadence had grimaced, her frown sympathetically deepening as she described her seizure after drinking the corrupted result and being reborn as Nightfall Hyde.

She explained the true purpose of the letters; to tell what she was telling now. But Nightfall had deceived her, altering the letters to become wills; perhaps to further distance her from her friends.

It seemed to work, given Applejack's reaction.

Nonetheless, they would buy her time until Nightfall was dealt with, believing that she could get a fresh batch of ingredients by the end of the week, thus negating the need to ever read her confession and damn herself.

But all that changed when Octavia was murdered. Even if the ingredients were brought when expected, Nightfall wouldn't give up so easily; she had become dangerous, both to herself and everyone around her. As long as a Canterlot Murderer was around, Twilight couldn't risk coming out and bringing her friends to harm. And as long as she stayed secluded, unable to fetch the ingredients, Nightfall was free to drain her magic, ensuring that she, not Twilight, would be the one to see the end.

Finished with her story, Twilight rested her head on the table. She couldn't bring herself to see the disgust on her friends' faces. As Princess Celestia's student, there was no chance to go quietly; the news would swarm all over her like flies over filth, bringing ruin to everyone she cared about. Not just her princesses, but her family, and those associated with Nightfall Hyde.

It was unfair, society punishing others for something that was all her doing. They would accuse Princess Celestia of poisoning her mind with dark magic, drag her father and brothers in the vortex of media and never leaving them alone for a moment, and Soarin . . .

Soarin. Soarin. He had an association with Nightfall Hyde! An unwilling one, but an association nonetheless! Would the authorities think he was a part of her serial murders?

Twilight jolted from her place, groping in the dark for a quill. She couldn't let that happen! She wouldn't. Alicorns damn herself and Nightfall to Hell before she would let him share her fate!

"S-sugarcube? What are you -" Applejack began.

"One moment," the doctor cut her off. The quill twisted and tilted in her clumsy hooves, but she was able to touch the tip to paper and write coherent words that strayed off in askew streams of ink. She heard her friends behind her. They were watching, but she didn't care. Cadence once tried to help her by writing with magic, but she stopped her with a quick "no".

A minute, perhaps two, passed until she finished, marking her signature at the bottom before swiping a blank flash card and signing that, too. She turned to Cadence. "I have no right to ask anything from you," she sighed. "But this is something that I'm asking for my friend, not myself."

Her sister-in-law hesitantly took the papers and read the front where the recipient's name was. "Soarin? The Wonderbolt?" She wasn't as familiar with the stallion as she or Applejack were.

"What's Soarin got to do with this?"

"More than you'd think, Applejack, and his life may be in danger because of that. There's a city pass with this letter; I need you to make sure he gets it, and that he leaves Canterlot at once." She wanted to explain further, but there wasn't any time left. Nightfall could come back at any moment, even with the small amount of the TS8 she'd consumed.

Regardless of what little explanation she could give, Cadence tucked the papers away for safekeeping. "I'll do this for you, but . . ." She glanced at Applejack, who suddenly found interest in the blood stains marking the floor.

Twilight knew exactly what she was going to say; it was what was going to be said again and again before she could be allowed penance for her crimes. A part of her wanted to stop her, say that she knew what it was, but it was not in her right to demand anything. She listened.

"We cannot ignore what is now known. You used dark magic, became the Canterlot Murderer, and . . . and c-caused all of this to happen. I can't . . . can't keep this secret, Twilight. You know what must be done when we leave."

". . . I understand," Twilight nodded bitterly. "But you don't have to go to the authorities."

Applejack started to say something, clearly misinterpreting that, but she stopped her.

"That's not what I mean. You don't have to go because . . ." She swallowed. There was only one place to go for madmares like her. "When this is finished, when I've taken the formula and rid myself of Nightfall, I'm going to turn myself in."

"Hang on, sugarcube," Applejack begged. "If you just tell the authorities what you've just told us, you could still save your work! Cadence and I can help ya get right back on your hooves."

But Twilight shook her head. "No. Everypony will know my story and how the formula went wrong. If just that little bit of dark magic could make me what I am, they would fear it. And the doctors would never let it anywhere near my mother, either."

Her work, she thought, was doomed the moment she had submitted to her fear and let that damn amulet clasp itself around her neck.

She felt Applejack's hoof on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Twilight. If I'd know that much sooner -"

"You did what you thought was right. And it was. Anypony else would have been pushing for answers just the same." She sighed, "I don't deserve to ask, but please, wait for me to turn myself in. Nightfall is dangerous as long as she is still here, and being around authorities could spill more blood than ever."

She saw Applejack nod out of the corner of her eye. "I swear it, sugarcube. I'll wait for you however long it takes for you to take her down."

Twilight nodded her thanks, turning to take the formula in her hooves. "You should go. Do what you have to, and take care of my family for me."

She heard Cadence say, "We will, Twilight. And even if it takes the rest of my natural life, I'll find a way to help your mother get back, through your formula or some other means. There are a hundred other mothers out there who need saving, too."

"Yes." She didn't want to think too hard about what this meant for her own.

As she listened to eight hooves clicking away, her eyes skimmed over the insides of her formula. The moonlight swam over the tiny bubbles there, reflecting blues and greens and yellows on her coat. This liquid would be one of the last things she drank before being confined to a new, physical prison, and then before only a rope would be the last hug she'd feel.

She stared into the open mouth, only to hear hooves pause. "Twi?"

This last question. She'd answer it as best as she could. "What is it, Applejack?"

She sense her close behind her, enough that they could speak in whispers. "You . . . you said that Nightfall's been feedin' off your magic. Usin' it to save herself from you."

"Mmhm."

Hesitation lingered in her voice, and several times its cracks echoed off the bookcases. But she finally managed, "If that's the case . . . what will happen when the formula supposedly kills her?"

Twilight didn't answer immediately. She had been overthinking things lately, so to overthink this would also be unwise. It put her in this place, after all. ". . . We'll just have to find out, won't we?" She didn't have to listen very hard to know this did nothing to comfort Applejack's fears. But it was the best she had. "I pray that someday, somepony will forgive me for this."

A sigh and retreating hooves were the last thing she heard from Applejack.

How Twilight wished she could say she was alone, now. But never; not since the last month. Now she could only hope this mouthful of liquid could bring the temporary solitude that would comfort her until she turned herself in.

And then? Then, when Rarity was freed from her false accusations, when every last one of her interrogators and betters had their fill of questions and saying how disappointed they were in her and wanted her gone, she would find true solitude in a length of rope and empty air below her.

This would be the legacy of Doctor Twilight Sparkle.

"I'm so sorry, Mother," she said, her voice barely a decibel above a whisper. "I couldn't keep my promise. I couldn't save you."

She tipped the mouth over her own and downed the contents in two dry-tasting gulps. Heat prickled down her spine and her head felt light as though she could fall over with a breath. The TS8 churned in her gut, and she knew it wouldn't be long at all before the effects began to kill Nightfall. She would be little more than a forgotten memory, and Twilight would be alone to face her crimes. In a way, she was showing Nightfall a mercy by sparing her from facing her superiors herself.

Setting the vial down, she pulled herself to the sink and washed the blood off her barrel. Tainted water dripped on the floor, but she felt little concern for it.

She dried herself, went to the chaise lounge, reached for the bundle that was her sweater, and slipped on the sleeves that hung too loosely around her legs.

She buried her face into the collar, inhaling the scent of lavender and roses - her mother's favorite flowers.

It was the scent of past, broken promises.

Comments

[HylianTabby]

I feel like I'm repeating myself now with each new chapter, but this is really well written. I honestly believe that you've managed to out do the source material here. Twilight is a lot more easy to connect with than Henry Jekyll was and by not including the love triangle between Jekyll, Lisa, and Lucy (who you used Soarin to represent with great affect) you are able to really focus on the turmoil between Twilight and Hyde and how they interact with each other, something that the musical and original novel only lightly touched on.
This is a seriously underrated fic that deserves far more attention than what it currently has.
I anxiously await the next chapter.

[Nikolas]

Its so sad
I hope there is salvation to Twilight and her mother

[Dragon Spire]

8051029 Don't worry, I don't mind you repeating yourself at all. Honestly, I get paranoid about losing readers when I take over a month to update so these type of comments are more helpful than you may think. So thank you for sticking around and giving so much support, it means so much to me.