The day I lost my mind

by Aether Spark

Joyfully ignorant

In Twilight’s study, Spike showed Rarity the vibrant dark purple crystal. As he was talking it glowed with inner magic that gave it an air of beauty yet at the same time mysteriousness.

“Oh my… it’s beautiful!” Rarity said dreamily, interrupting Spike as she was entranced by the glowing crystal.

“Um, Rarity?” Spike said snapping her out of her trance.

“Oh! Oh dear, I’m so sorry it’s just that I can picture a crystal of this… luminescence on a dress!” Rarity said already dreaming up the possibilities.

“It contains Twilight’s mind though!” Spike quickly protested holding on to the important crystal protectively.

“Yes yes dearie, I apologize for that… now we should begin our search. Hopefully, Twilight was accurate when she informed you of the qualities of the book.” Rarity said

“Yeah.” Spike agreed

“Spike you should look over there on the north side of the book stack Twilight had brought up with her, Pinkie you must look on the east side, and I will check this area over here. Only look in the 100’s pages and let everypony know if you found anything got it?” Rarity strategized

“Yes, ma’am! / Yes ma’am!” Spike and Pinkie saluted before running off to search, as Rarity began searching through a book on the table she heard Pinkie exclaim.

“I FOUND IIIT!” Pinkie squeed waving the book back and forth in the air.

“Whoa! already?” Spike said with surprise

“My my Pinkie, I seemed to have misjudged the timing! Good job-“ she paused when she saw a book labeled ‘foreign cupcakes and how to prepare them’ “…That’s not what we’re searching for Pinkie…” Rarity deadpanned.

“Oh… ok! Then what are we looking for again?” Pinkie asked with a tilt of the head and Rarity facehoofed and sighed.

***

For the next 3 hours the group goes around the library searching all the books at pages 100 to 999 with no luck, a few times they had to take breaks or Pinkie walked off to bake them snacks, and they had to remind Pinkie what they were looking for because she kept losing focus. Finally, they stacked the last of the many books Twilight brought up with her initially.

“Any luck you two?” Rarity said tiredly and hopefully

“No…” Spike said glumly

“Nope!” Pinkie said with a slightly deflated mane

“I don’t get it!” Rarity exclaimed “where else could it be? She should have brought it up with the rest of these! If we cannot find this book, then Twilight will remain unintelligent forever! Oh, this is simply dreadful! Awful! The most horrible thing!” before Rarity could conjure up her self-pity couch Pinkie got up to her.

“Don’t get all pouty wouty Rarie! We can still find it!” Pinkie chirped with her usual optimism.

“I wish I could share in your infinite optimism Pinkie dear, but I don’t see what else we can do.” Rarity said sadly

“Yeah, she always brings the book upstairs…. Unless… Twilight…” Spike said growing increasingly annoyed as he spoke

“Hmm? What is it dear?” Rarity asked

“She tried to memorize it and left it downstairs…” Spike said frustrated at the lost time.

“Then why are we still here? Let’s go look for it downstairs!” Pinkie cheered

“That’s going to be hard Pinkie, judging by the lack of books around the spell area she most likely moved them downstairs… so we got a lot more looking to do…” Spike’s stomach rumbled “Maybe after dinner? Anypony?” Spike said hopefully.

“This is hardly the time to be thinking of food Spike…” Rarity said with a frown.

“Well, this is going to be a pleasant few hours then…” Spike said as he slumped in disappointment

“We could get Fluttershy and Applejack to help out; it’d make things easier.” Rarity inquired

“I guess… let’s check out what we’re facing first while we’re here.” Spike offered as they went to the basement door they suddenly heard a massive explosion coming from the library.

“Aah!” Spike said in surprise as he fell over.

“What in Equestria was that?!” Rarity looked on in shock

“It came from the library!... you don’t think-“ Spike began.

“Oh dear….” Rarity groaned in dread, the group got up and bolted in the direction of the library, when they got there they found a hole in the wall, several destroyed furniture items, and a half-conscious Rainbow Dash under a bookcase.

“Oooww…..” Dash groaned

“RAINBOW DASH!” Rarity yelled as she galloped over, using her magic to lift the bookcase slightly and Spike and Pinkie pulled her out from under it.

“Is she ok?” Spike asked

“Quick! How many hooves am I holding up?” Pinkie said raising a hoof

“One.....” Dash said plainly

“I think she’s good” Pinkie grinned confidently.

Rarity was surveying the damage, and the apparent lack of the mindless Alicorn was an evident reality of the situation.

“What happened here?...” Rarity said in shock of how much damage had been caused by Twilight.

“She went nuts… that’s what.” Dash groaned sitting upright and rubbing her throbbing head “I tried to get her to hold still, but she kept getting distracted and blowing things up with her magic.” Rainbow moved to stand up but winced and sat back down.

“What set her off?” Spike asked

“She kept saying she wanted to play, but I told her it would be best that she stays in one spot considering she has almost no control of her magic at the moment and I’m not good with dealing with unicorn OR alicorn magic. Then she freaked out, called me a “blue meanie” and then blew the whole room up…” Dash winced again checking her head for any signs of a concussion, sure enough, there was a lump growing there.

“It makes sense I suppose… unicorns who lack proper focus tend to over-surge their magic…. and given that she’s an alicorn now…” Rarity shuddered at the thought of the magical damage she can do now.

“We gotta find her!” Spike said getting ready to bolt for the door, but Rarity stopped him

“You must continue your search, the quicker you find that book, the quicker, we can save Twilight from herself.” Rarity assured, but Spike shook his head.

“We can't just let her remain loose throughout town! She could get hurt or she could hurt others!” Spike protested

“That is why Pinkie and I will go, you and Dash will search through her collections downstairs.” Rarity said calmly while folding up her sundress and putting it on a counter nearby.

‘To avoid it getting filthy, I’ve learned since last time…’ Rarity thought.

“Oh no!... you’re not leaving me out of the action!” Dash said stumbling a little and leaning against the wall “I gotta help save Twilight…” she said stubbornly as stumbled forward a little.

“You are going nowhere in that condition Rainbow Dash; you’ll do better to sit and nurse your injuries, perhaps help Spike out?” Rarity said casually.

“I’m not-“ Dash started but was cut off by Rarity.

“You're staying whether you like it or not.” Rarity said as Dash frowned.

“You should find some help.” Spike offered

“I will be dear,” Rarity said turning to Pinkie “let’s go.”

“You got it chief!” Pinkie saluted as the two mares galloped on out of the castle.

***

Twilight clumsily fluttered through the air. A blissfully ignorant look on her wall-eyed face, seeming content with just flying aimlessly and humming even as she bumped and ran into random things, a few ponies stopped and noticed Twilight’s bizarre state.

“Is that the princess?” one mare asked.

“What’s with that weird look in her eyes?” a random filly said

“Why is she flying like that?” a Pegasus colt said

Twilight paused and glanced out at the ponies looking at her weirdly, and a grin came to her face as she wanted to go play with the ponies and she decided to go down to them. Instead of flying down she just stopped flapping her wings and she landed face first in the dirt before getting up and skipping over to a filly and her mother, The filly hid behind her mother’s leg.

“Umm…. Hello princess Twilight Sparkle, is everything all right?” the mother said slightly uncomfortable as Twilight stared at her with one eye while the other stared at the filly.

“YYYUP!” Twilight cheered before getting in her face “you two wanna see something cool!?” she said with a wide grin.

“Um, well that mighty kind of you princess but we have to get home and-“ the mother attempted before Twilight got in her face.

“OK GREAT! Watch this!” her horn lit up, and several ponies and objects were lifted into the air including the mother and the filly.

“Aah! Mommy!” the filly cried frightened.

“P-put us down please!” the mother begged, but they fell on deaf and most likely not very attentive ears as she spun them rapidly around her until they were a blur.

“Woo hoo! Round an round you go! When you stop- oh hey what’s that?” Twilight beamed falling on her back and laughing in amusement before being distracted by a pebble causing everypony to fall in a dazed heap, several got up and galloped to the nearest trash can to empty their lunch into.

After losing interest in the pebble, Twilight skipped on while a stallion hid behind a tree to avoid the path of the princess who just threw a bunch of ponies in a tizzy.

She looked for something else to entertain herself when suddenly her stomach growled, and she stopped and looked around for the source of the growling.

“Huh? Where’s that noise coming from?” suddenly the noise came again, and Twilight looked down realizing it came from her stomach and poked her grumbling tummy curiously.

“Hmm? Why is my tummy growling? Is it mad?....” she poked it again, and it rumbled again, and she jumped looking very scared “Oh no! it might try to hurt me!”

Twilight bolted screaming until she ran into the shopping district and ran into a sign over by a food stand in the market knocking it over and startling Carrot Cake and Cup Cake who was walking away from a stall.

“Yikes!” exclaimed the stallion

“Eek!” Mrs. Cake exclaimed she noticed it was a disheveled Twilight curled up on the ground shivering “oh dear! Are you all right princess?” she asked worriedly

“No! you gotta help me!” Twilight exclaimed out

“Um… what can we do for you?” the Mr. Cake asked

Twilight grabbed him and pulled him close locking only one of her eyes on him.

“You’ve gotta help me! My tummy’s making weird noises, and I feel dizzy! I think it’s trying to hurt me!” she wailed earning some confused looks from the two ponies as well as some surrounding ponies.

“Umm… pardon?” Mr. Cake said

“My tummy is evil, and I think it’s trying to hurt me!” Twilight wailed again waving her hoof’s wildly, and the two exchanged confused expressions before the stallion takes an apple out of his bag and hoofs it to Twilight who stops her wailing and stares down at it confusedly.

“Um… perhaps your just hungry? Y-you can have that one we’ve got plenty…” Mr. Cake said now eager to get away from the loopy princess.

“What do I do with this?” Twilight asked innocently

Now they just stared at her as if she had just asked the stupidest question ever.

“What do you mean what do you do with it? You eat it; It’s an apple.” Mrs. Cake chuckled, hoping it was a bad joke.

“Ooohhh” she nodding thinking she understands… So she throws it in the air, and it ends up impaled on her horn, and she giggles and claps as apple juice runs down her face.

“….” The two are speechless and turn to each other whispering quietly.

“Ok… now I know something is wrong with her… should we call somepony?” Mr. Cake asked

“I-I'm not sure.” Mrs. Cake glanced at Twilight trying to bite at the apple on her horn and falling over as a result.

“I think we should… I’m no expert on royals, but I’m sure royals don’t act like this.” Mr. Cake insisted

“Oh, very well” Mrs. Cake turned back to where Twilight was “um pardon us Princess but would you care if we’d take you to the hospi-” the words died in her throat when they saw that she wasn’t there. “wh-where did she go?!” the mare exclaimed as the two glanced about.

---elsewhere in town---

Twilight popped out of thin air and plopped onto the ground and proceeded to clap joyfully “again again!” she exclaimed, but when nothing happened she seemed disappointed and took to the air again yanking the apple off and tossing it aside.

“That didn’t help me… liars!” she stuck her tongue out at nothing in particular and hovered on.

---meanwhile---

Rarity and Pinkie galloped through town looking for Twilight, as they ran on they saw a group of dizzy ponies being helped by passerby’s Rarity took a guess and approached a mother and a crying filly.

“My word, what happened here?” she asked the mother.

“Princess Twilight went crazy! She was flying nearby before coming up to us looking like a brain trauma patient and then she levitated and spun us faster than a bullet train on a circular track! She scared my daughter half to death.” The mother said while she was comforting the crying filly.

“We assure you she’s not in her right mind right now; this was not done purposefully.” Rarity assured

“Well do find and stop her before any more of this happens please.” The mother said

“Will do! Come Pinkie!” Rarity said galloping off.

“Okie doki loki!” Pinkie said bouncing after her.

---meanwhile with Twilight---

Twilight hovered on rubbing her groaning stomach “Oooohhh…. I don’t feel good… also, my tummy sounds so angry!” she flittered onto a cloud collapsing with a groan both pupils drooping unevenly “I’m not gonna make it… finish me now tummy….”

As she laid there groaning a shape went through the air falling towards her exclaiming “look out!”.

“Huh?” Twilight looked up just in time to see a figure crash into her knocking them both off, and they luckily landed on another bigger cloud, the thing about clouds is that their super soft and comfy and provide better cushions for falling pegasi, the two got up and the other mare looked up and quickly apologized.

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened! I was getting some muffins, and I was heading to work to collect mail for my next delivery then I got a wing cramp, and I fell and i-… oh hey, Twilight!” The grey pegasus had been revealed to be Derpy Hooves smiled seemingly immediately forgetting about what she was apologizing for, Twilight looked up at her and their eyes locked….er…they sort of locked.

“Can’t talk… cant move… tummy angry for some reason…..” Twilight groaned, the grey pegasus ’hmmmd’ for a second trying to keep her cross-eyed eyes locked on the wall-eyed alicorn before gesturing and exclaiming.

“Ohmygosh! You look different Twilight!” she rushed over…. And smoothed out her hair “your hairs all messy!...hmm…..aaaand done! Just like before!” the cross-eyed pegasus smiled, and her ears perked when she heard Twilights tummy growl loudly. “wow, you sound like your very hungry Mrs Twilight!” the Derpy exclaimed

“Whatever that means…. Then yeah…” Twilight said locking the other one of her eyes on the Pegasus while the other drifted and she caught sight of the pony reaching into her bag and pulling out a muffin and putting it at her hooves and Twilight glanced down at it.

“Here! I was going to eat it but you look like you need it more, I guess I'll just have to handle only nine muffins for lunch instead of 10” Derpy said kindly

Twilight only stared at the confection, and Derpy frowned “do you not like blueberry? I also got honey wheat and chocolate and-”

“What do I do with this thing?” Twilight said giving her a clueless look and Derpy cocked her head to the side, and the chuckled a little thinking she was kidding, so she played along.

“You eat it silly!” she chuckled.

Once again Twilight looked down at it and then grinned before grabbing it and smushing and mashing it against her face getting crumbs all over her face and ruining the muffin which caused Derpy to jump and exclaim.

“Oh no! the muffin! Why’d you do that?” Derpy exclaimed, and Twilight just shrugged cluelessly. Derpy seemed a bit concerned now before shaking it off and wiping the crumbs off of her face “that was silly of you miss Twilight, don’t you remember how to eat?” Derpy said chuckling jokingly.

Twilight just stared at her dumbly.

“Oh… oh no! you HAVE forgotten how to eat!” this startled Derpy, she never expected Twilight of all ponies to forget such an instinctual thing as eating. However, the princess needed somepony now more than ever. And the fact that she could help let Derpy puff up with pride.

“Alrighty then! I’ll help ya!” Derpy said joyfully hopping up and down, and this made Twilights face lighten up.

“You can help me? Yay!” she got up and hopped in joy with her seemingly forgetting her previous tiredness.

---meanwhile with our two protagonists---

“You didn’t see her leave?” Rarity said with an exasperated expression.

“No, we took our eyes off of her for a second, and she was gone.” Said Mrs. Cake that was talking to Twilight earlier.

“She was acting a little… off, what happened to her?” Mr. Cake said

“It’s a long story, we’ll talk about it later… well, Pinkie it seems our search continues…” Rarity sighed

“Don’t worry! We’ll find her!” Pinkie hopped in place “I’m sure she’s not going to destroy the town and cause a ton of problems because some crystal absorbed her intelligence and it made her act all loopy and funny and-“ Pinkie was cut off by Rarity dragging her by her tail.

“Let’s not cause a panic too early Pinkie!” Rarity said through clenched teeth on Pinkie’s tail.

---a half an hour later with Derpy---

Twilight is happily yet clumsily munching on a muffin, and Derpy grinned victoriously at the extraordinary effort it took to reteach the princess how to eat.

“Nummie!” Twilight beamed as the muffin satisfied her and she was happy her stomach stopped growling at her she ran up and gave Derpy a bone-crushing hug “thank you! Thank you! Thank you! My tummy is happy again!” Twilight squeed

“No…pro-…problem…” Derpy strained to respond, gasping in relief when she released her, and she fell down dizzily.

“I’m going bye bye now! Bye bye!” and she took off leaving Derpy to poke her head up and shrug at the interesting turn of events in her day, and she took off to continue her errands.

---Currently with Rarity and Pinkie---

Rarity and Pinkie galloped through the town until they have reached the edge of town, and they [mostly Rarity] had to stop to take a breather.

“We… may…need to get…help… after all” Rarity panted after all the running she did while Pinkie was still looking energetic.

“Come on Rarie we got this!” Pinkie said bouncing with her usual vigor.

“Not all of us have boundless energy Pinkie….” Rarity sighed “perhaps we should go retrieve our friends Applejack and Fluttershy, the more hooves we have in this, the better.”

“Okie doki loki! BRB!” Pinkie went to hop off in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage, and Rarity ran after her

“Wait! I was going to suggest you get Applejack since she’s farther away from here than Fluttershy and you have better stamina than me!” Rarity called after her.

“Unfortunately, I can’t!” Pinkie called back

“What? Why?” Rarity cocked her head confusedly

“Because my Pinkie sense is saying we should get our plots heading in this direction!” Pinkie called back

Rarity deadpanned at the random comment and sighed.

Author's Note:

And at last, the story continues.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.