The Form of Evil

by RainbowsAreMagic

Flight

As Twilight fled through the streets, she realized that running would not be an effective tactic against Rainbow Dash. The blue pegasus was faster, stronger, and had more endurance that Twilight - any physical competition was doomed to failure.

Having determined this, she turned around a corner and teleported inside a house next to her. With a sigh of relief, she dropped to her knees as she caught her breath. Rainbow Dash flew right past the building, oblivious.

A young filly screamed, shattering the fragile silence. Twilight turned, seeing the filly, a light blue pony with a lavender mane and a horseshoe cutie mark. Quickly, she covered the filly's mouth to stop her from giving away Twilight's location, but it was too late. Even as a parent ran into the room, there was a crash as Rainbow Dash broke down the door.

"Get your hooves off that filly, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Trying to take hostages won't do you any good!"

Twilight panicked, quickly teleporting back out of the building into the alley she had been in before. Back inside, the filly bolted for cover as Rainbow Dash looked around. It was only a moment before the blue pegasus was back outside again, but by then Twilight had made good on her escape.

Twilight's mind was blank. All she could think of was running. Getting away from Rainbow Dash. Hiding. Where could she hide?

Sweet Apple Acres. The apple trees' foliage would make seeing her difficult from the air, and their nearness to each other would make it harder for Rainbow Dash to fly between them if Twilight was discovered. After several minutes of sneaking through Ponyville, she finally got there, sitting under an apple tree to catch her breath after her flight.

"You might as well give up, demon creature! You will not escape again!" Applejack's voice rang out in the still air.

Twilight had underestimated Rainbow Dash. It was understandable, given her state of mind, but it was her undoing. The pegasus must have known she wouldn't be able to find Twilight on her own, so she'd come to ask for Applejack's help. Twilight had walked straight into discovery by Applejack.

On the other hoof, this was Twilight's one chance to get Applejack on her side. If she could explain what was going on to the farmer, Applejack would surely help her.

"It's not what you think, Applejack! I'm not a monster, I'm Twilight!"

The farmer's response was cold. "I don't care who you claim to be. Rainbow Dash told me you attacked a filly, and that's all I need to hear in order to know that you're bad news!"

"It's not like that! I can explain!" Twilight was frantic, now.

Applejack's voice didn't get any warmer. "There's nothing to explain. I know everything I need to already."

It was futile, the unicorn realized. The earth pony had made up her mind, and her stubborn nature was legendary throughout Ponyville. Twilight turned to run, but a rope caught around her trailing hoof and she promptly fell flat on her stomach.

Applejack laughed. "Did you really think I'd let you get away so easily? You won't get away from me like you did Rainbow Dash. There are no little fillies to use as hostages here."

Twilight flinched at the hate in that voice, but there was nothing she could do. Her chance to win over Applejack had already been lost, it seemed. Calling on her magic once again, she burned through the rope and leapt to her feet.

Fleeing Applejack was as futile as running from Rainbow Dash, but the same tactics wouldn't work here. There were no buildings to teleport in or out of, the trunks of the trees were too narrow to use as cover, and though she might be able to teleport into a tree, she'd disturb the leaves by doing so, revealing her location. Desperate, Twilight fell back on her earliest magical efforts, the very first spell she ever learned.

When a unicorn horn charges with magic, part of that magic is expended as an involuntary side effect that produces light; this is why unicorns' horns glow when they are preparing to cast a spell. There is one spell, thus, that any unicorn can cast. Even young unicorns know it. Light.

Applejack flinched back, blinded. Shaking her head, she squinted as her vision slowly returned. The monster was far out of range now, beyond Applejack's ability to catch up to her.

Twilight galloped away. Away from Ponyville, and the maddened ponies therein. Against such madness, she headed for the only place they still would not dare to follow. She would head for the old Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, deep in the Everfree Forest, where the Elements of Harmony had defeated Nightmare Moon. There, she would be safe.

There were still intact portions of the old palace, after all, and the ancient wards still held strong, even after a thousand years of neglect. The magic of the princesses tended to produce permanent effects. The more dangerous inhabitants of the forest would still avoid the place, and the nearby foliage should be safe to eat as long as she was careful.

It occurred to her that Princess Celestia should be told what was going on, but Twilight had no means of contacting her mentor without Spike, who would no doubt be being guarded by her friends in case she returned. Then again, the princess would find out about it soon enough when she came to retrieve the Element of Magic, so it wasn't that much of a problem after all.

Twilight had escaped Ponyville, and had a safe destination in mind. She could hole up there until she found a way to return to her normal self, and then return.

Comments

[The Kings Man]

I have read all of the chapters of this story. It was better then okay, but not great. A few miner mistakes here and there. Your chapters need to be longer. I kind of like the concept it has potential.

[RainbowsAreMagic]

1431610 What kind of mistakes?

[Cursed Ship]

1431993

>Thanks for reminding me; I was going to remove that tag.
The other option would be to add some funny, if you are inclinded to go that route. The core concept has great potential for assorted humour.

Discord escapes, takes one look at Twilight, screams like a little girl and runs for the border.
Twilight finds she now has an evil villain laugh, so whenever she hears a joke, you get a malevolent "Mwhahahaha!!!".
A cult decides to worship Twilight, and tries to interpret everything she says as an evil commandment.
Twilight's very presence causes corruption, an evil aura gradually warping the surrounding area into a gothic horror show. The library becomes a twisted spooky tree with crows on the branches and all other nearby plant life dead. Ponies get a chill walking past the place, animals flee, and milk curdles. Obviously, this means a cheese maker sets up shop next to the library to take advantage of this, and produces a best selling "Nightmare Cheese". (A pinch of evil in every bite!)
When Luna sees Twilight, it frightens her so badly that Nightmare Moon is able to emerge and reassert control. Nightmare Moon then falls in love with Twilight, and spends all her time tying to get Twilight into bed.
Twilight gains the power to command bats and snakes. Needless to say, she commands them to "Aaaaaargh!".

>I think I'll re-write the last chapter, then, if it's that bad.
The main problem is that it just doesn't resolve anything. What was the thing Twilight found? It's obviously some other artifact, but does it do anything other than making her look scary? Can she remove it? Can she cast an illusion over herself?
What about that tea Zecora had? Couldn't she use that to show she's still herself?

[RainbowsAreMagic]

1432404 The whole idea is that Twilight isn't evil; she only looks evil. And the comedy tag was left over from a prior story concept that I discarded.

Regarding the tea, she could indeed do so... if she could convince anypony to drink it.
The problem with casting an illusion is that the Nightmare form is bigger. Twilight would have to cast something that would make her look like her normal self, while also covering the illusory Nightmare. This isn't spatially feasible.

Twilight pretty much just found an artifact that makes her look like she would if she were to develop a Nightmare form. That's all it does, but the illusion is very powerful, even standing up to magical examination - even Princess Celestia is fooled.* The tea, of course, is alchemical, bypassing the protections completely.

Twilight may go to Zecora, who also drank the tea and thus can also see through the illusion. With Zecora on her side, everypony should believe her, right?

*This is not unreasonable, as Queen Chrysalis of the changeling swarm managed it quite readily.

[Stelith]

This is good, but it lacks a description other than the cover image...

[Iron Nebula]

I'm interested to see where you want to take this. Hope you update again soon!

[SpurBrony21]

after reading the last sentence and look for the continuation,
I was like,

I WANT MORE!!!!

[Field_Marshal_Luna]

I REQUEST MOAR interesting chapters on my desk ASAP......if you don't mind

[Decepticon Barricade]

MOAR!

[JBL]

Well I see this story is abandoned, a shame

[Fourpony]

I think this whole thing could use a rewrite. It is too fast and all Twilight's friends seem a little OOC.

[DarkParable]

3600622

That it is, that it is... Shame really, was a great concept.

[Fourpony]

3600782
I don't see why it had a dark tag as seeing how Twilight was only wearing an illusion or something like that as revealed in the comments.

[RainbowsAreMagic]

3600789 It has a Bad End that makes the tag necessary. I never finished writing that part though. I keep meaning to come back and finish it, but I never have the time or motivation to do so.

[Fourpony]

3607515
She looks so much like NMM that she is executed or banished? That seems pretty OOC to me for her friends.

[RainbowsAreMagic]

3607532 There's a reason I never finished it... Even those decent parts of it are not very good, and it's not really worth the time it would take to fix the thing.

[Fourpony]

3607577
It did seem to have issues. I could see the premise being comedic but not tragic or dark. I guess if you ever wanted to take such a premise you could run with it.

[Dr Freaky]

THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!!!! Keep doing it!

[LEGION55]

.....I hate it when I find a story I like only for the author to have left before hand.

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

Hey, there gonna be more, or is this it? Cause it would be a rain shame if this is it.

[xenomorph1987]

will you releas more

[JBL]

10158016
Nigga, you're really replying to a SEVEN year old comment? How dunce can you get?
(FACEPALM)

[Kurai_Moon2002]

Hello are you there