MLP: The Spirit of Secession. Part 2

Maud Pie trudged her way through the streets of Ponyville, on route to Twilight's abode and Ponyville's local library. Throughout the short journey, her mind was attempting to piece together the knowledge she had gained since she had witnessed Pinkamena for the first time, attempting to discover what set this chaos in motion. However, these thoughts were temporarily put aside as she stopped before the closed entrance to the library and knocked loudly, before leaning closely for any signs of approaching inhabitance.

Currently, Twilight and Rainbow Dash currently resided in the unicorn's bedroom when the loud knocks echoed throughout the building, though they fell on deaf ears. While Rainbow Dash was lounging lazily on a leather couch, Twilight was busy writing in her study book, and had been for the past two hours.

Maud, growing impatient, suddenly burst through the door in a rush, startling Rainbow Dash enough for her to tumble off of the couch. "Is Twilight here?" Maud asked the dazed pegasus. Rainbow Dash was preoccupied with getting up from the floor before answering "Yeah, she's here. But what's going on? Are you alright?" Maud helped her to her hooves before she replied "I'm fine, but it's my sister. She's locked herself up inside her house and she wouldn't let me in".

"Well, she's in the study. I'll go get her" Rainbow Dash replied before becoming airborne and soaring to the second floor balcony and into Twilight's bedroom, gaining the unicorn's attention and providing a brief explanation of what Maud had told her. Oddly, Twilight's response was to step backward nervously, prompting a raised eyebrow from her informer; Twilight then warned "It sounds like Pinkamena to me... I'll come, but we'll need to watch our backs".

Meanwhile, a certain depraved damsel had barricaded herself inside her home and hidden within the confinement of the prison she had created. All of the windows were blocked by furniture, and all of the doors were locked. Pinkamena was currently weeping to herself in the bedroom, and had been ever since Maud had left for the library. "I don't want to take over…" she rasped schizophrenically, "I don't wanna get rid of you, cherub".

Upon her out-of-character sobbing, Pinkamena had spent the whole time hoping Pinkie Pie would sporadically return, which unfortunately had yet to occur. "I… I'm so sorry, Pinkie Pie! I didn't mean for this to happen! I don't even know how this happened!" Pinkamena's exclaimed, her mind in shambles from this heartbreaking outcome, and it was only going to further deteriorate. She sat up from the bed and leaned forward, "Please, you can't leave me alone… not here with those disgusting monsters. All those things they want to do to us… and Maud wants to do as well" she whimpered before sniffing distraughtly.

"And that unicorn… electrocuting us and putting us in the hosp-".

Pinkamena's eyes widened in sudden realization, before she leaned further forwards the rest her arms against her knees. "That spell…" she whispered in shock, "Ever since she casted it… my cherub's been…" Her jaw dropped open in shock as she began fitting the pieces together, though the final solution was less than satisfying.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, followed by "Umm… Pinkie Pie… Hello?" Pinkamena's heart ceased motion for a second as she recognized the voice. Soon, she heard the sound of a creaking door and hoofsteps emanate from the stairs, and she slowly followed the sound to the outside of her door. She slowly dragged herself from the bed and stood upon her four legs, before the door slowly creaked open to reveal her three guests.

"Pinkamena?!" Twilight shouted in surprise before the group began backing away on instinct. Pinkamena merely stood motionless, staring at them with a soul piercing gaze. Eventually, the malicious personality simply muttered "Well, you did it". The group remained wary, but were confused by this statement. Pinkamena lowered her head as her lank hair slid from her shoulders and over her eyes, before continuing "I knew it all along… but she didn't believe me"; Pinkamena then suddenly screamed "WHY DIDN'T SHE BELIEVE ME!"

"W-what are you talking about?" Twilight questioned with concern. Pinkamena raised her head and replied "It doesn't matter anymore… She-" before pausing to shut her eyes and loosen the building tears in her eyes, "Sh… She's gone now… Pinkie Pie's gone". "GONE!?" Maud suddenly yelled and pushed passed Twilight to approach Pinkamena, shouting "What have you done to my sister, you monster!"

This action proved to be an immense mistake.

Before she could fully comprehend what had just happened, Maud found herself laying upon the carpet floor, struggling wildly under her attacker's grip. Pinkamena laid on top of Maud and stared down into her terrified eyes, applying more and more pressure to her hooves as they weighed down against her throat. Maud desperately thrashed and attempted to escape this devastating fate, though her former sister's strength proved to be increasingly overwhelming.

"I'M GONNA TEAR YOU TO PIESCES! ALL OF YOU! I HATE YOU!" Pinkamena screamed hysterically, "YOU TOOK MY CHERUB AWAY FROM ME! YOU FREAKS THINK IT'S FUNNY TO TORMENT ME AND MY CHERUB?! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS, YOU SCUMMY HAGS!" By this time, Maud was slowly beginning to weaken, and her vision begin to blur into a single color. However, contrary to her expectations, the peaceful realm of unconsciousness failed to claim her, as the pressure against her throat had suddenly been relieved.

Maud leaned upward and coughed into the open air while simultaneously gasping for breath, before steadying her gaze in order to regain her hindered vision. She soon discovered Pinkamena between Rainbow Dash and Twilight, the duo restraining the violent psychopath as she kneeled in defeat. Maud arose from the floor and stumbled clumsily towards her former sister, the latter beginning to swoon in her captors' grips. Pinkamena leaned her head upwards and muttered faintly "What… what are y-… you gonna do to… me?" before suddenly passing out and being carefully laid upon the floor.

Maud turned to Twilight and asked "What happened?! What did you do?!" Twilight raised her hoof and explained "I have her under a sleeping charm. I was practicing it this morning on Rainbow Dash before you came by", while Rainbow Dash glared towards the unicorn in annoyance. The trio stared down at the comatose maniac before Twilight concluded "It should help us against Pinkamena if something like this happens again".

---

However, unlike the others, Maud had lost all comprehension that the pony laying before her was still her sibling, and that her true sibling possibly no longer existed. Although surprisingly, Maud felt little sorrow from this discovery, and her emotions were purely encompassed by rage. "What has that… 'thing' done to Pinkie Pie!?" Maud tensed with boiling frustration, before Twilight stepped in front of her. "Why are you blaming her? She probably had nothing to do with it!" Twilight argued. "Why blame her?! She's taken over my sister's mind!" Maud shouted.

"What are you talking about?" asked a nervous Rainbow Dash. "That's what happens…" Maud replied, before her anger was finally replaced with her sorrow. Maud shivered as she continued "In cases of split personalities, one of the personalities has to eventually take over". Maud then fell to her knees in despair and sobbed "What if Pinkamena's won?" before her tears began to pour upon the floor. Twilight then stated "Well then why was Pinkamena blaming us for it? She probably doesn't know what's going on either".

"Pinkamena is a liar! I spent years watching Pinkie Pie do bizarre things, thinking she was just lonely and upset. But Pinkamena was manipulating her into doing it the whole time!" Maud turned and stared angrily into Twilight's eyes, "All those years of watching my sister lose herself to this… thing! She's already suffered enough of this torment, and so have we! I'm going to fix this, if it's the last thing that I do!"

Twilight then interrupted "And how are you going to do that?! Tell me", while staring back into Maud's eyes, "How are you possibly going to help her when you have nothing to help her with?" Twilight argued with an intent to prove herself in front of a rivaling intellect. "Well, for one thing, I'm not going to electrocute her" Maud sneered spitefully.

Now, this was on a personal level.

"If I didn't electrocute her, your 'sister' would've ripped you apart!" Twilight shouted. "And yet, you were perfectly willing to endanger my sister's life to avoid this?!" Maud fumed in frustration. "You are such an ungrateful little… Ugh! Now I can understand the real reason why Pinkamena was her only choice for a friend" Twilight spat with overflowing hatred. "And how about you? Do you think that you can fix all of this on your own, Twilight? Face it, you've done enough damage as it is, but you're too much of a wimp to admit it" Maud growled with spite, "And you know wh-".

Suddenly, Maud stopped in the middle of her rant and fell silent. Maud attempted to speak again, only to find that she couldn't emit a single sound, and the cause of this soon made herself apparent. Twilight sat silently in the center of the room and stared at Maud intensely, her horn glowing an abnormal shade of black all the while. Twilight had casted a jinx on Maud that prevented her from speaking. Twilight fumed with rage as she breathed heavily to feed the raging storm, before muttering between heaving breaths "Never… say that… to me… ever… again!"

Rainbow Dash stepped in from the sidelines and questioned "Twilight, what are you doing?" Twilight's frown soon subsided into a deranged grin as she replied "What does it look like I'm doing. I'm shutting her up!" "Twilight! Are you out of your mind!? Jinxes are black magic! STOP IT, NOW!"After suddenly coming to her senses and realized her actions, Twilight quickly released Maud from her curse and relented her rage-fueled assault. Twilight stepped away from the pair and stuttered breathlessly "I… I didn't just do that… Did I?"

Twilight had always detested the practice of jinxes, and was no less than devastated with herself for using them to accomplish something as insignificant as winning an argument. Twilight then sat on the floor, wallowing in self-loathing for these actions. "Um, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash began, watching Twilight's actions with concern. "I've had enough!" Twilight suddenly jumped to a standing form and shouted angrily, "I've had it with this! All of this madness and drama; I'm literally going insane just from being a part of it!"

Twilight staggered to her desk and slammed her head against it, prompting the two witnesses to silently watch and question Twilight's own sanity. Twilight was often found to be obsessed and somewhat irritable, but she never had any intent to force her superiority upon others. As she continued to grind her forehead against the desk, she grunted "All just Pinkie Pie now! It's all about her health! JUST HER!"

Twilight slammed her head against the desk a final time and continued "Pinkamena beats me and Applejack to a pulp, and nopony cares! But I go and electrocute her, and everypony loses their minds! Now Pinkamena's taken over Pinkie Pie ever… since…" Twilight lifted her head from the desk in sudden realization, "Ever since I electrocuted her"; Twilight turned the face the other two occupants of the room.

"We need to wake her up. Now!"

As she said this, Rainbow Dash stepped forward and yelled "Twilight, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you!?" "Yes I am!" Twilight grunted through gritted teeth, "Are you going to help me or not?" "Twilight, I'm not going to let you hurt her!" Maud shouted angrily before stepping beside the defiant pegasus. "Do you want to see your sister ever again?!" Twilight asked as she glared towards Maud, taking the silence as an invitation to conclude "I'll wake her up, then we'll see what we can do". "Um… girls?" Rainbow Dash suddenly intervened, diverting the pair's attention.

"I don't think you have to worry about waking her up".

---

Pinkamena stood before the trio as they simply stared back in surprise, though she hadn't any intent to attack them. She could've if she wanted to, but to what point and purpose? Pinkamena muttered plainly "You win" and sat upon the floor, prompting Twilight to ask "What? What do you mean?" "I only ever wanted to be with her, and to keep her safe from sick freaks like you" she continued, "She meant everything to me". Pinkamena then huffed and lowered her head in resignation, before she concluded "And now… I've got nothing left".

"Why should you care, anyway? Being a split personality, I thought you wanted to take over her mind" Maud accused, though Twilight cringed from this outburst and the possible response from the psychotic pony. "WHAT!? Never! I'd never do that!" she screamed hysterically, "It's not true… I didn't mean to take over her body!" she pleaded pitifully. "I know you didn't" Twilight answered cautiously room as Pinkamena continued "I would sometimes come out, but only if somepony hurt her… so I would hurt them back".

Pinkamena turned to face her consultant, revealing a pair of tear-stained eyes for a true sight of despair. "But I would never hurt her! You know that! I just…" Pinkamena paused before shaking her head. "Nevermind… What are you gonna do now?" Pinkamena sneered in a poor attempt to remain intimidating, despite her current display of emotional anguish.

"I think I know how to bring Pinkie Pie back!"

Pinkamena's eyes shot open in surprise before shouting "WHAT!? YOU CAN BRING HER BACK?! HOW!?" Pinkamena stood up from the floor and stepped in front of Twilight, listening eagerly as Twilight explained "I have a theory that last night, when I shocked you with electricity, it may actually have affected you in some way! You may not have taken over her mind yet, and she's probably still in there; but she just can come out anymore".

"Y-you actually wanna… bring her back?" Pinkamena asked, to which Twilight nodded in confirmation. Pinkamena then asked quizzically "Well, what are you gonna do?" before a short silence filled the bedroom; "Well, I… may have to..." Twilight muttered awkwardly. "You're gonna shock me again?!" Pinkamena questioned in horror, to which Twilight nervously nodded; "What kind of a plan is that?! What if it just makes it worse!?" "What choice do we have?!" Twilight answered, clearly displaying intent to get this ordeal over with.

Pinkamena was flustered by this incredibly dangerous decision. Does she continue on as the new host of her best friend's body, or risk a worse fate for a chance to bring her back? Finally coming to a decision, Pinkamena plainly answered "Alright, just do it". With the appropriate permission, she started channeling energy to her horn as it began to grackle with sparks of electricity.

As she prepared her spell, Pinkamena then explained "Understand this, Twilight. Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't even be letting you do this! I don't like you… and I definitely don't trust you… but I have no choice but to believe you!" With that, Pinkamena sighed in defeat and tensed her muscles to brace herself for the oncoming ensemble of pain. Eventually, the last thing Pinkamena was a witness to was the blinding white flash and the loud crackling fizz of electricity. Before suddenly, everything went black.

Five hours later.

Despite how Twilight's colleagues desired to question her antics, they found that all that could be done any longer was wait to see if Twilight's theory was as likely as she had claimed. All of her friends had come to see Pinkie Pie as Applejack had informed them of the previous events, or at least what Twilight had desired her to tell them. The loyal group soon debated whether to return her to the hospital or allow her to recover in her home.

Eventually, they agreed to leave her in her home, and that Maud would watch over her. For the following two hours, Pinkie Pie had not awakened and simply lay in a dormant state; concerning Maud all the more. "That Twilight had better know what she's doing; because if she doesn't, I'm gonna…" this rant was soon interrupted by a sudden groan, emanating from the bed. Pinkie Pie opened a single eye and slowly sat up from the bed. "I… Wh…" was all there was to say, as Maud suddenly leapt onto the bed had hugged her sister with excitement.

"PINKIE PIE! YOU'RE OKAY!" Maud shouted with a rather peculiar level of joy, for which she was rare to emote. "Yeah… I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be alright?" Pinkie Pie mumbled cluelessly. Maud then pulled away from the embrace and sat with a quizzical expression on her face, asking "You mean… you don't remember?" Pinkie Pie rubbed the back of her neck with confusion and answered "Um… no… not really. Did something happen to me?" For whatever reason, Maud suddenly began snickering, confusing Pinkie Pie even further before she lay her head on Pinkie Pie's shoulder.

"Well, now… you see… That's kind of a long story".

The End?