It was a beautiful day (or at least as close as it came to that, deep in the Everfree Forest), and Twilight had just shared a most enjoyable visit with Zecora. It wasn't often that the two had the opportunity to visit, but Twilight had an excuse: she was currently working on a project studying zebra magic and its similarities to the magic possessed by earth ponies.
It was really a fascinating subject. The zebra shamans' magic came primarily in the form of alchemy. They were adept in the creation of potions, poultices, and herbal remedies; this skill also extended into finding new ways to use plants and fungi. Indeed, the tea Twilight had shared with Zecora had been one of the zebra's own creations. Twilight wasn't entirely sure what was in it, but the rhyming zebra had assured her it was safe, and that it would also make her resistant to magical illusions for a time. Almost all of Zecora's creations had some similar trait, from boosting immune response to improving memory.
The interesting thing about the zebra magic was that its effects could often be replicated without magic. The main magic involved was actually imbued within the shamans themselves, allowing them a perfect understanding of their craft. Once the zebras had made a recipe, anyone could follow it and achieve similar results.
Likewise, the magic possessed by earth ponies was similarly imbued within the pony. Applejack was a great example of this principle, as her magic provided her with strength and endurance, along with the skill to make her apple trees grow with greatly increased health. Any pony could grow an apple tree, but Applejack's grew faster and stronger than they would otherwise, and produced quantities of fruit far in excess of the normal amount per season…
A sharp glint in the shrubs beside the path caught Twilight's attention. There was something there, a piece of golden jewelry, at first glance. Perhaps somepony had dropped it here by accident. As she pulled it free from the bushes, she realized that it was no ordinary two-bit item. No, this tiara was no less than the priceless Element of Magic itself. The powerful magic radiating from the artifact was more than enough to confirm her identification.
Twilight moved to put the tiara in her saddlebags, only to realize that she hadn't brought them with her. The visit to see Zecora had been a social one; there had been no need. Twilight sighed, putting on the tiara. She could simply wear it until she reached the library. As the pony who now guided its power, she had the right, after all.
The rest of the walk back was uneventful. The library itself was empty, but this was not particularly concerning; Spike was helping Rarity today. Twilight took a moment to wonder exactly how Spike could help Rarity. He couldn't very well model for her, being the only creature in existence with his particular body shape, and he wasn't well-suited to manual labor. After a moment, the unicorn shook her head, putting the matter out of her mind.
PONYVILLE LIBRARY
Twilight quickly wrote a letter to Princess Celestia. It was simple and direct, informing her that the missing Element of Magic had been found, and not to worry about it. There would be no need to continue the search. She left it on her desk where she knew Spike would see it - he'd know to send it to the princess.
In the meantime, a new shipment of books had come in from Canterlot, including a few texts on magic sent by her mentor. Twilight couldn't wait to see what mysteries might lie within, so she hurried through taking inventory and settled down to read.
She never saw Spike come in, so focused she was on her reading. She never saw him accidentally knock down a pile of scrolls, and she never saw him put back one more scroll than had fallen.
Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia, multiple-time savior of Equestria, and bearer of the Element of Magic, woke up.
"Ugh, I feel terrible," she grumbled. "If I look as bad as I feel, I must be a sight to behold right now."
Even with her head aching as it was, she still tried to make the joke. The purple unicorn found it much less amusing after Spike cried out and bolted when she walked out of her bedroom and into the library proper.
"Very funny, Spike. Now come out from wherever you're hiding so we can have breakfast."
There was no response.
"Spike? Spike! Cut it out!"
There was still no response. Clearly, something had the little dragon truly afraid. Perhaps he'd had a bad dream or something. Yes, that must have been the problem. A bad dream.
"It's okay, Spike. Just come out, and we can talk about whatever scared you."
There was still no response, but Twilight saw something move underneath the table in the kitchen. The unicorn sighed. As much as she cared for her assistant, she didn't have time for this. Using her magic, she dragged the struggling dragon out from under the table.
"Now, Spike, what's gotten into you today?" The dragon trembled in fear, even as she tried to comfort him. "Was it a bad dream? Or…"
Twilight had a sudden realization, finally making the connection. Spike, hiding, and afraid to come out, the day after he had been helping out Rarity. The mystery of exactly what he could have been doing to help Rarity. The common knowledge that he was infatuated with the white pony. Suddenly, everything made terrible sense. Everything fit together. Twilight knew exactly what was wrong, and she was furious. Rarity would not get away with this.
"Don't worry, Spike, I'll make this right," she reassured him. "Rarity won't hurt you again, I'll make sure of it." How her friend had fallen to such a low was beyond Twilight, but the evidence spoke for itself. Using Spike like that… it was beyond horrific. Rarity would not have another chance to hurt her assistant.
Twilight Sparkle, full of anger, stepped out of the library and began the walk to Carousel Boutique. She was so focused on her anger at her friend that she notice the terrified looks she was receiving from other ponies, or that streets were rapidly emptying the moment she came into view. No, these things were not important. Only the fact that Rarity had a lot of explaining to do, and then probably a lot more explaining to do - the latter in a courtroom. How could she have fallen so far? Was she really so desperate that she would take advantage of Spike? If only she had known, Twilight thought to herself. Twilight herself would have gladly taken Spike's place in the matter, had she only known the matter existed. She'd always felt a sort of attraction towards the white unicorn anyway.
Why hadn't Rarity said something? The two unicorns were close friends. Twilight remembered that Rarity had once told her that she felt there was nothing that should ever need to be a secret between them. So why would she do this to Spike, instead of asking for help? Some ponies might say opportunity. Spike was vulnerable, and it probably hadn't taken much convincing on Rarity's part for him to agree to "help" her.
Other ponies might cite instability. Twilight knew that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were very much the embodiment of the Elements they bore, but that came with severe weaknesses in other parts of their personalities. Rarity was vain and narcissistic, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were proud, Pinkie Pie was somewhat bipolar, Fluttershy had difficulty expressing herself, and Twilight herself was prone to overreaction. This, though, this was no overreaction, Twilight was sure.
It was with thoughts such as these that Twilight reached the Boutique. She rang the bell, and Sweetie Belle answered the door.
A moment of dead silence passed.
"Rarity! Heeeeelllp!" Sweetie Belle's exclamation was not what Twilight had been expecting. Nor was the cowering attitude, or the abject fear written on the filly's face.
There was no response from the filly. When Twilight approached, she suddenly stopped moving completely, and it took Twilight a moment to realize the poor thing had fainted dead away. What could be so terrifying, Twilight wondered.
It was only a moment later that the villainous Rarity came down the stairs. She saw Sweetie Belle, lying unconscious on the floor, and Twilight standing in the doorway. Her voice filled with rage.
"Get away from my sister, vile monster! You will not corrupt her with your evil! Away with you, fiend!"
Twilight blinked. Monster? Fiend? This was unexpected. Doubtless a distraction to make her get off track and forget her purpose in coming here. It would not work. Twilight would not be so easily defeated.
"My evil? How dare you accuse me of evil after what you did to Spike? How could you? He was shaking with terror this morning, from nightmares of what you did!"
"Nightmares?" Rarity shot back. "The only Nightmare around here is you! If I woke up to see that, I'd be afraid too! Look at yourself!" The white unicorn magically dragged a mirror before Twilight, forcing her to see herself for the first time that day.
Twilight recoiled. "No! That's not real! It's a trick!"
In the floating mirror stood a Nightmare. One with Twilight's own cutie mark.
There was no way that Twilight was truly seeing herself in the mirror. She had not succumbed to evil, she knew, therefore she was not a Nightmare. The only explanation was that the image in the mirror was actually a vision of how Rarity was seeing her at that moment.
Long moments passed, in silence. Rarity continued to stare at her, her face still full of hate, though now mixed with a touch of confusion.
"Who the hay are you, anyway?"
Twilight blinked. "What do you mean, who am I? I'm your friend-"
Rarity's response cut off the transformed unicorn mid-sentence. "You are no friend of mine, monster!"
The door slammed shut, and Twilight distinctly heard the sound of a heavy bolt sliding into place. It was a silly precaution, against a pony who could teleport, but Rarity was clearly not at her full mental capacity. Teleporting inside would only destabilize the poor mare further, and possibly put Sweetie Belle in danger.
Clearly, Rarity had snapped at some point during the last twenty-four hours, resulting first in her abuse of Spike, then her perception of Twilight as a twisted monster. If Twilight didn't act quickly, Sweetie Belle might be in danger.
Quickly, Twilight ran to the Town Hall to warn Mayor Mare and get backup, but there didn't seem to be anypony there. In fact, there didn't seem to be anypony anywhere, for that matter. Had there been some holiday scheduled for today, something Twilight had not known about? It wasn't likely, but it wasn't impossible, either. This was one problem with an obvious solution. Twilight changed course, heading for Sugarcube Corner. If there were something going on, Pinkie Pie would know about it.
As Twilight walked in the door, she saw a flash of pink as Pinkie Pie hid behind the counter, her tail still quite visible. Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Pinkie Pie, you're very bad at this whole hiding thing." Twilight paused, before going on. "So, where is everypony today, anyway?"
Pinkie Pie pulled her tail back behind the counter, out of Twilight's sight.
"Please don't hurt me…" her voice was tinged with a certain degree of fear. 'I didn't mean to do anything…"
The normally bubbly pony seemed to be begging for her life. But why? Twilight was unsure. Why would Pinkie Pie fear her? Unless…
Twilight looked at her reflection in the display case. Her fur was a little too dark and her legs a little too long. Her eyes had changed, developing slits, and as she raised a hoof to her face, she saw that it was fitted with a silver horseshoe.
The mirror had been no illusion, after all. Speechless, Twilight backed out of the bakery, then fled. It was true, what Rarity had shown her. Twilight Sparkle was now a Nightmare, whether she liked it or not.
This left the question of what to do about the whole matter. The question wasn't one of who she could trust, but of who would trust her. Surely at least one of her friends would believe her. Maybe Fluttershy…
Twilight heard a squeak from ahead of her, then a pink and yellow blur vanished down the road.
Okay, not Fluttershy.
Who among her friends was utterly without fear? The answer came quickly. Rainbow Dash. Twilight looked around for clouds, and sure enough, the blue pegasus was napping on one nearby.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out. "I need your help!"
The pegasus woke up, then looked around. "What's the matter, Twilight?" Then she saw her. "Foul demon! Nopony messes with my friends!" The unicorn managed to dodge the attack just in time.
"Wait, Dash, no! You don't understand!"
The pegasus laughed. "Do you take me for such a fool, demon? Do you think you can trick me just by copying Twilight's voice? Now tell, me, what have you done with her?"
Rainbow Dash dove again, and Twilight rolled out of the way just in time. "Dash, stop! I am Twilight!"
The pegasus was undeterred. "Enough with your lies!" she yelled as she dove a third time.
Twilight Sparkle ran for her life, with one of her best friends close behind her, apparently intent on taking it.
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.
