"I knew this kind of thing would happen. I knew it would."

All morning, the majority of Twilight's dialogue had been variations on that sentence. The hectic rush of the previous evening, from the initial panic to the repressing dourness of the medical wing's waiting room to their eventual unwilling retirement, had died slowly, leaving nothing but... that.

Now, they'd regrouped in the medical wing. She'd gotten there first, of course. If anypony in the room could argue that they were Applejack's best friend, it was her. She'd been standing around the bright white bed for a while by then, always glancing over. She seemed very, very dead, and it was only the heart monitor nearby that kept her from believing it.

Each of them had left sometime earlier to discuss with the Princesses the matter of returning to Ponyville. The only two left were her and Twilight, who was sitting nearby on a bench on the wall.

The medical clipboard was levitating silently in a pink glow while Twilight muttered to it. "Conditional aethyric aperturism. I figured it would happen. It's a different kind of magic. It's touchy. Of course it is."

"Twilight!" Dash said finally, whipping her head around. "Just stop for a few minutes! A few minutes."

Twilight looked over at her, and dropped the clipboard. "Alright. Fine."

Finally, silence. She looked over at Applejack one more time, and then out the window. Through the bottom of the three panes, there was a great view of the inner city. Through the middle, the great violet mountain range. And through the top, sky. It calmed her down.

"... Is it the Princess' fault?" she asked quietly. The question came out of nowhere - she didn't really mean to ask it. That was the second time in 24 hours that had happened. Strange.

There was a pause. Perhaps she really shouldn't have asked that. Twilight and Princess Celestia really had a strong bond. Maybe she shouldn't push her, in this state especially.

"It is."

She turned back towards her, this time on the receiving end of the shock. "Huh?"

"It is, definitely. The Elements aren't the safest artifacts we have in Equestria. Plus, friendship-centered magic and stuff gets really unstable. That was never a good combination." She was staring down at the floor, a thick scowl on her face. "Why did she do it?"

"They."

"What?"

"Princess Luna was involved, too."

Twilight sighed heavily, appearing ready to respond, but never did. She simply opened her mouth, decided against it, and sighed, leaning back against the wall.

Dash knew she really had no idea what was going on in her friend's head. Some huge, conflicting mess of thoughts smarter than her own. Perhaps she was right, and it really was the fault of the Princesses. Princess Celestia certainly did have a way of letting Twilight figure things out herself, but this seemed a little off.

"I have to go," she heard, muffled against her own thoughts, as Twilight slipped out of the room.

She should go, too. One final glance to her friend, the errant, false cutie mark seeming to throb on her flank viciously, and she took her leave.

It was only a few steps down the hallway before her heard her name behind her, and turned. She was standing there, her head low, her mane partially covering her face. Ever since they'd figured each other out, the stance had taken on an entirely new meaning.

"Dash," she repeated, a little bit of a question mark showing up at the end.

"Shy, I'm going to leave the Elements."

Fluttershy said nothing, but looked away.

"Look, I can't stand for this. If the Princesses are going to use us like they have, I'm not staying."

"Alright."

Dash turned fully, and walked up to her. "What's up?"

"We're going back to Ponyville."

"Cool."

"They're going to send Applejack to the hospital there."

"Okay..." She paused. "Why are you nervous?"

"Nervous?"

Dash smiled. "Nice try," she replied, starting to walk to her room. "I can read you pretty okay by now."

Fluttershy sighed. "Twilight told me earlier that she did research, and... sometimes ponies who get an overdose of magic, like AJ did, don't come out of unconsciousness."

Dash's breath stopped short for a moment, her heart skipping a beat. "As in -"

"I mean, they just don't come out of it. They don't die."

"Oh. Okay." She shook her head quickly, and grimaced. "Warn me."

Fluttershy dropped her head even more. "She said she doesn't think there's necessarily a cure, except fighting it."

"Oh. We're good, then. AJ's a fighter."

Fluttershy looked up. "How are you so calm? Aren't you still worried that she'll be in a coma forever? Isn't she your friend?"

"Shy, please," she said, trying not to snap at her. "Of course she is. But I know AJ. As long as it's not going to kill her, she'll get out of it alright."

Fluttershy shook her head. "Okay."

"Hey," Dash said as they reached Fluttershy's room.

"Yeah?"

Dash smiled. "Nothing. I'll see you in the main hall in a few hours."

Fluttershy opened her mouth for a moment, hanging back to think through her words once more. "One more thing."

"Hm?"

"About... the marriage."

Dash's ears perked up. "Yeah."

"Are you leaving the Elements... for that?"

"Wh - no, it's - it's like I said it was -"

"Don't lie to me, Dash," Fluttershy's interrupted, her eyes solid and intense, locked on to her own.

Dash faltered for a moment, the thought coming suddenly into her mind. Did I want to? Really? Was that it?

But it wasn't. It really wasn't. It was for a mess of things, but that wasn't one of them. She looked straight up at her marefriend. "No."

Fluttershy looked at her for a moment. "... I trust you," she said finally, and kissed her before closing the door behind her. Dash was left alone in the wide, cold stone hall, with her thoughts. Sometimes, she felt like a little filly, like what she wanted didn't matter anyways. She kicked at the ground for a second, lost in nebulous thought, before taking off for the Princesses to inform them of her decision.

The door swung open with a bust of pink magic. Twilight shifted to let the saddlebags settle with the weight of the textbooks.

"Hey, Twi," she heard from the bed.

"Hi, Pinkie," she responded without looking.

"I'm having a bit of trouble."

The sentence alone, and the quiet, wavering way she said it, ran a cold shock through her. Immediately, the saddlebags fell to the floor and she was at her bedside. "What do you mean? How do you feel? Where's the problem? Is there any stress in your back or head?" The questions tumbled out of her mouth one by one, a stream of anxiety and terror.

"I'm just - I'm just a little under the weather," she replied, interrupting her. "I'm just getting weird little thingies, uh, like little starbursts of happy and sad and stuff in my head."

"Oh, no, no," she mumbled quickly, "I'm gonna go get a medic."

"No, Twi, it's fine, I was reading up a little," Pinkie replied, shifting Twilight's mood almost instantly. "It's just a bit of an effect of the thing we did the thing on. Can't talk, sorry. I was just telling you so you, you know, kept away until I feel better."

Twilight sighed out of relief with a hint of annoyance. "If you think it's fine, I'm sure it is. I feel like I should take you to the medical wing anyways, though..."

"No, really, it's okay," she replied, shifting her hooves under the covers. "I'm just gonna stay here, and you can... go to the library. Away."

Twilight looked at her, deeply, just for a moment. The bright blue eyes were telling the truth - I don't want you to see me like this.

She reached out and patted her gently, before thinking twice about it and kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Did your reading tell you when it was going to go away?"

"No."

"Okay. I'll be back soon, when we can get on the train to Ponyville. You packed?"

"Yup!" she replied, suddenly enthusiastic, her eyes brightening.

Twilight smiled and almost rolled her eyes. It felt more like Pinkie being Pinkie than anything having to do with the malentro, but she trusted her marefriend. "Bye."

"Bye-bye!" she heard as she closed the door. Her face dropped from a smile to a determined scowl again as she thought about the research she had to do. There was so much of it and so little time.

She was thinking about staying to work on it, and compare notes with the Princesses. But the thought rather made her feel sick, so she decided it would be best to head back to the library with the others. Hopefully she had books on magic and anatomy, magical creatures, magical afflictions, friendship-based magic, artefacts of m-

Stop. Rewind.

She closed her eyes for a moment and stopped where she was to cross over to the windowsill for a place to lean. You shouldn't feel like that about the Princesses. They're your friends. Your mentors. Your -

They almost killed your friend because they were being careless. What could get me out of thinking th- maybe I could cut them a break? How? They're immortal, sometimes it slips their m- no, that's not very strong. Everypony makes mistakes, but not that big, so no. How do I defend against myself?

It's really cute how Pinkie was "reading up".

Okay, brain, if we're gonna decide on anything, we have to focus.

Her mind was on overdrive. There was so much to think about. Applejack, the Princesses, the Elements.

She opened her eyes for a moment and stared out of the window, down at the castle grounds, where a small, familiar-looking carriage had pulled up.

No way.

Out of the carriage, one at a time, stepped a light blue stallion and a light gray mare.

Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle.

She pressed the side of her head against the window and groaned. Loudly.

Author's Notes:

I am following my plans exactly. I'm not doing this off-the-cuff. It'll come together. I promise.