What… what the heck is going on with Celestia!? Lauren looked at the alicorn meters away from her. She shifted her gaze to Twilight, who was still motionless in shock. Once again, she looked at Celestia. “What… what’s going on!?” she yelled.

“I told you. You two are not going anywhere.” Celestia’s horn glowed, enveloping the giant doors of the throne room and violently closing them with a slam.

Twilight was still speechless. What was the Princess doing? Why was she acting like that? She didn’t know what to do. It was Princess Celestia, her mentor, her friend. She kept looking at her eyes, trying to find the tiniest spark of kindness in them, but there were none to be found. Celestia was engulfed with anything but kindness. “P-Princess…” she finally mumbled.

“I don’t know how you managed to struck me with that little bolt of magic,” Celestia said, looking at the frightened alicorn. “But there will be trouble for you if you do it again,” she snickered as she once again walked closer to Lauren.

Huh? A bolt of magic? What is she talking… oh! Now I remember, a little beam of light emanated from me just when she was about to touch me with her horn. Lauren gulped and analyzed the current situation. She took few steps backwards as Celestia approached her, but there was no way out. What… what do I do now!? She wanted to keep backing off, but she found herself surrounded by Celestia’s magic once again.

“Now, be good and stay still,” Celestia chuckled as she approached closer to Lauren, who was struggling to free herself from the magical aura.

Twilight was still motionless, staring at the situation without being able to do anything at all. What do I do? What’s going on? She knew she couldn’t stand and do nothing forever. Lauren was in trouble and Celestia was acting strange. She collected her thoughts and cleared her mind. With determination, she shook her head to snap back to reality.

Celestia stood in front of Lauren and smiled at her. “As I said, it will be easier if you cooperate, mother.” She leaned and moved her horn closer to Lauren’s. Suddenly, she felt a magical force fighting against her own. The golden aura around Lauren slowly became pink. “Huh!?”

Lauren was now fully enveloped in a pink aura. There were no traces of Celestia’s aura anywhere around her. The Princess shifted her gaze towards Twilight, who was moving Lauren back away from her with her magic.

“Twilight!” Lauren exclaimed as she hovered right next to her. Was Twilight really defying her mentor?

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia yelled, striking her front hooves on the floor. “What do you think you’re doing!?” She looked at her student; her face showed nothing but determination and it was free of any signs of doubt or fear.

“Princess! What’s wrong with you!?” Twilight exclaimed as she cancelled the magical connection between her and Lauren.

Instead of answering, Celestia let out a chuckle and grinned at Twilight. “Do not interfere!” Her horn glowed one more time and she shot a golden beam of magic at the unicorn.

Twilight’s eyes went wide open as she looked at the beam coming at her. She couldn’t move or do anything to avoid it. She gasped; the last thing she saw was a bright flash of light in front of her eyes. In less than a second, the beam struck her and violently pushed her back, knocking her out. The papers and the Blue-Fire match fell out of her saddlebag.

“T-Twilight!” Lauren yelled, running to her friend’s aid. She looked at the unconscious unicorn, shaking her with her hooves. “Hey! Wake up!” she said. In a matter of seconds, she realized of the other presence that was still in the room. She looked back at Celestia and the smug she had on her face. “Why would you do that!?” She didn’t know what was happening anymore. This was not the Celestia she created. Something was very wrong with her.

“She got in the way, mother,” Celestia simply replied, smiling at that last sentence.

“Tsk.” Lauren frowned. “Stop calling me mother!” As soon as she yelled, another beam of magic shot from her horn, directly impacting Celestia and sending her flying once again across the room, heavily crashing against the floor. Lauren gasped, amazed by what just happened.

“Ugh,” Celestia moaned from the other side of the room, sloppily trying to get back on her hooves. “Enough!” she yelled, fully standing up and spreading her wings. Lauren cringed, looking at the angered Princess. All of a sudden, Celestia whimpered and her body fell onto the floor with a big thud. Her usually wavy and sparkly mane rested motionlessly all over her body. Her crown dropped off from her head, clanging a few centimeters from her.

Lauren gulped, clueless about what just happened. Did she really knock out Celestia with that beam of magic? She didn’t have time to think about that, though. She turned back to Twilight, who wasn’t showing any signs of life. “T-Twilight...?” She couldn’t help but fear the worst. She slowly pressed her ear against her chest, feeling her warm and furry coat, hoping to feel even the slightest heartbeat.

Celestia! Stop it! It wasn’t me and you know it!

You… you harmed my sister! I hate you!

Celestia! You’re leaving me no choice! Please, stop now!

I hate you!

Lauren felt the soft heartbeats of Twilight, making her sigh in relief. She shook her once again, this time finally getting a grumble as an answer from her. “Twilight! Hey! Wake up!” she called.

Twilight’s body began to slowly come back to its senses. She groaned and opened her eyes. She was greeted by Lauren’s face. “Uh… what… what happened?” she mumbled, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

“Oh, Twilight! I’m so glad you’re okay!” Lauren sighed in relief once again. She was relieved that she wasn’t hurt or anything. She looked across the room and saw Celestia still lying unconscious on the floor. “I… uh,” she muttered, trying to explain her actions.

“Uh, what’s the matter?” Twilight quickly remembered the moments from just a while ago. She shifted her head hesitantly to where Celestia was standing, but instead of looking at the Princess in front of them, she saw her lying on the other side of the room. “Princess!” she exclaimed, raising herself from the floor. She began walking towards the Princess, oblivious about what happened moments ago.

“H-hey, Twilight! Wait! Don’t get near to her!” Lauren said, but Twilight didn’t listen and she galloped until she stood in front of the Princess. What will we do if she wakes up!? She didn’t have a choice but to stop Twilight from causing something they’d regret later. She began running towards them.

“Princess Celestia! Please, wake up!” Twilight exclaimed, shaking the Princess body just like Lauren shook hers moments ago. This time, she was really worried about the Princess, despise her previous actions. She was sure there was a perfectly logical explanation to it. “Princess Celestia!” she exclaimed. She felt her eyes were getting teary as she kept shaking her mentor’s motionless body. She turned her head to Lauren and looked at her. “Lauren! What did you do!?”

Lauren stopped running and looked at Twilight. “She… she was going to cast that spell-thingy on me again! And I just… I don’t know! That beam-thingy came out of my horn again and it hit Celestia!” she explained, but Twilight shifted her head back to her mentor. “Hey! I’m not the bad… pony here!”

Celestia opened her eyes and looked at Twilight, who was about to drop a tear on her face. “T-Twilight?” she mumbled, blinking a few times.

“Princess! Are you okay?” Twilight hesitantly asked, helping her mentor to stand up by grabbing her hoof. “You are not harmed, are you?”

Huh!? What’s going on now? Lauren clenched her teeth, looking at Celestia.

“What… what happened?” Celestia asked, pressing her head with her hoof. “What’s going on in here?”

“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed. She immediately thought that the Princess’ weird behavior was gone. This time, it was the real Celestia talking to her. Her mentor, it was her, she was sure of it.

“Huh… Princess?” Lauren asked, approaching closer to her and Twilight. She still had her doubts, since everything was too sudden. Was Celestia really back to her normal self? “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Celestia claimed, sighing in relief. “But I don’t know what happened here.”

“You were acting strange, Princess,” Twilight said, “but I knew you weren’t evil!” She smiled at her mentor, who returned her the smile.

Maybe… maybe Celestia wasn’t bad at all. Maybe she was just… possessed or something? Lauren tilted her head in confusion, walking closer to the two ponies. As soon as she stood in front of Celestia, she snickered. What?

Celestia took a deep breath and let out a chuckle. “Fools!” she yelled.

Twilight gasped and jumped back, standing right next to Lauren. “P-Princess!” she exclaimed, surprised about her sudden change. Was everything a lie?

I knew it was a set-up! Lauren began walking back, looking at Celestia who still stood there, staring at her. “Everything was a façade!” she said, taking a few steps back along with Twilight. Before too long, Celestia’s horn glowed and she disappeared from sight within a flash of light.

For less than a second, Twilight and Lauren thought she was gone, but they didn’t expect her to appear right before them with the same evil grin on her face. Both mares jumped back in surprise and ran to the other side of the room, back to the doors. The sweet and warm smile Celestia always had was now gone.

“I’m tired of you, mother. If you keep throwing those beams of magic at me, you will ruin everything,” Celestia said as she walked closer to them.

“T-Twilight! What do we do now!?” Lauren asked, nervously looking at the unicorn who was breathing heavily and uncertain of what to do. She had just been deceived by none other than her mentor.

“I…” Twilight didn’t know what else to say. She had given up all hope. There was no escape. She knew they were going to be at Celestia’s mercy, even if she still didn’t understand what was going on. What was the issue with Lauren? “I don’t know,” she muttered.

“Darn it!” Celestia was getting closer now. She was walking rather slowly for somepony who claimed to be tired of ‘fooling around’ with her. She looked at her surroundings, trying to find anything that could aid her, when she noticed the Blue-Fire match on the floor. Sudden memories began to run through her head in a matter of seconds. Luna had given them that match so they could send her a letter. “Twilight, the match!” she whispered, loud enough for Twilight to hear.

Twilight realized what Lauren was talking about. She looked at the match. She had brought it with her in the first place so she could send a letter to Princess Luna after talking with the Princess. At least, that was the original plan, but with the sudden twist of events, the match had only one purpose now. “Distract her,” she whispered back.

“H-how?” Lauren asked. Does she want me to be the bait?

“If you could like… shoot another beam of magic that can knock out the Princess, I could write Princess Luna a letter for help,” Twilight explained, keeping her voice low enough. “I don’t understand how your magic can be so powerful against her, though, but that’s not important right now.”

Before Lauren could answer, both mares felt a weird sensation all around their bodies. They were enveloped once again with Celestia’s magical aura. They both struggled to free themselves, but it was futile.

“I’m quite growing tired of you, mother.” Celestia looked at Lauren, immediately looking at Twilight. “And you, my faithful student. Rebelling against your own mentor? I am utterly disappointed,” she sighed, looking back at Lauren. “Well then, I hope that this time there are no interruptions.” Her horn glowed once more, ready to make contact with Lauren once again.

Lauren looked at Twilight, who nodded as if she were saying ‘do it’. She tried to release another beam of magic, but nothing came out of her this time. She gasped, as Celestia’s horn approached closer and closer to her. She couldn’t feel anything coming out of her horn. Twilight gulped as she witnessed the scene.

Both horns finally made contact. It was too late. There was no beam of magic. Lauren had failed. Their plan to call Luna failed as well.

Lauren felt a jolt running all around her body. She could fell a pulse in her horn, very similar to Twilight’s heartbeats she felt a while ago. She closed her eyes, still trying to shoot a beam of light by any means, but she was feeling weaker. She was losing consciousness, but she had to do something, fast.

Twilight gulped. She still had one option, but she didn’t quite think about it. The sole thought of it never came across her mind until that very same moment. It was the only way out now. Even if it was her mentor, she couldn’t leave Lauren like that.

“It’s almost over, mother, just relax,” Celestia’s soothing words echoed through Lauren’s head.

Lauren heard those words and found herself even more tired than before. It was nothing compared to those late work nights back at her world. She had never felt that tired before. All she wanted to do now was to rest her head on a soft pillow and close her eyes to sleep.

Twilight closed her eyes, thinking one last time about the decision she had just made. It was for Lauren’s sake, and the Princess would have to excuse her. “Princess!” she shouted.

Celestia didn’t bother to turn her head. Instead, she rolled her eyes and looked at her student. The last thing she knew was that a flash of magenta light burst right in front of her.

Twilight had shot a beam of magic from her horn. It wasn’t as powerful as Lauren’s since Celestia only crashed against a wall without the strength of one of Lauren’s beams. The magical aura surrounding her and Lauren disappeared instantly, causing them to hit the floor.

“Ugh… my head…” Lauren muttered, pressing a hoof against her forehead. All of a sudden, she wasn’t tired anymore. She looked at Twilight, who still couldn’t believe what she had done. “Twilight?” She shifted her gaze to the point she was staring at. “Oh, whoa!”

Twilight still sat there, speechless. She had attacked the highest authority of Equestria, none other than the Princess. She feared what fate was going to fall upon her. Banishment, imprisonment, banishment AND imprisonment. She deserved it. She deserved that and even more. She attacked her beloved mentor. The mentor she trusted the most. The one who was like a mother to her.

“Twilight! Now’s our chance! The match!” Lauren said, looking at the match lying a few centimeters from her hooves. However, Twilight was still in shock. “Hey, Twilight!” She waved her hoof in front of her. This was probably their last chance, and Celestia could wake up at any moment. “Snap out of it!” she yelled, shaking Twilight’s shoulders with her hooves.

“Huh?” Twilight blinked. She looked at Lauren who was wildly shaking her. She stopped as soon as she realized Twilight came back to her senses. “What?” she asked.

“Twilight! The match! Hurry and write the letter!” Lauren exclaimed, pointing her hoof at the match and the few papers lying behind her.

Twilight suddenly remembered everything. The reason why she attacked Celestia in the first place, it was just to win some time and call Luna for help. She immediately levitated the match and a piece of paper in front of her, taking out a quill from her saddlebag.

Lauren looked back at Celestia, who was still lying unconscious next to the wall. She gasped, as she noticed something was missing from her mane, as well from her tail. Wait… something’s wrong here. Her… her mane… her tail. Ah! She finally noticed it. Her usual multicolored mane and tail were missing something. They were missing a color. Blue, purple, green… but no pink! She looked back at Twilight, who was ready to write the letter. “Twilight! Look at Celestia’s mane and tail!”

Twilight quickly shifted her gaze towards her mentor. She quickly noticed it and gasped. “There’s no pink on them!”

“Exactly! What does that mean?” Lauren asked, confused about the matter.

“I… I’m not sure, but that’s not important now,” Twilight said, looking back at her paper. She began to write with the quill. She had no time for formalities, so she went directly to the point.

‘Throne room, help!’

As soon as she was done. Celestia’s body began to react again. She was recovering consciousness.

“Hurry!” Lauren said.

Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the match levitating right in front of her. A tiny bolt of light came out from her horn and struck the match, lightening it. A blue flame of fire began to light from it. She finally burned the piece of paper. It was quickly consumed by the blue flames, turning the piece of paper into blue magical dust. Pretty much similar to Spike’s purple dust when he burns a letter for the Princess. The blue flame on the match disappeared, leaving it back to its previous state. As Luna said, no matter how many times you used it, it would never be consumed.

Celestia opened her eyes and slowly raised herself from the floor. It was the third time already that she was knocked down by the two mares. It was funny, but now there was no time for games. “You two…” Both mares quickly looked at her. “I won’t tolerate any more of this foolishness!”

Hello! Who are you?

Wow, you’re an alicorn too!

I love you, girls. Never forget that.

A buzz of magic ran inside Luna’s horn. She had been sleeping for who knows how long. She kept moving around her bed, sweating heavily as she mumbled a few noises. She was hearing voices inside her head. A weird kind of familiar voices. Maybe it was all a dream? Or perhaps just a repressed memory?

Luna began to breathe heavily as she rolled her head around her pillow. Those voices… who were they? What did they want? But most importantly of all, why was she hearing her own voice?

The buzz within Luna’s horn grew stronger as she kept moving around her bed. It was not a nightmare, but it sure looked like she was having one, like the worst of her life. And for an alicorn, ‘whole life’ is a very long time.

“N-no…” Luna’s sweet voice squealed. She didn’t have time to say anything else or dream. The buzz in her horn was too heavy. Suddenly, a bolt of magic emanated from it, materializing into an item of some sort.

Luna’s head stung. She wildly woke up and moaned. She was breathing and sweating heavily, even more than when she exercised. She tried to recall the previous events of the day. The weird ‘dreams’ she had, along with the voices she heard. Why did she dream that in the first place? She looked around her room, but it was empty. The only thing different was the piece of paper lying right in front of her.

Luna gasped, hovering the piece of paper to read it. ‘Throne room, help!’ was everything that was written on it. The alicorn then remember what just happened a while ago. She was with her sister in that very same room. She remembered she told her that Lauren was her mother and after hearing a shattering sound, she fell asleep until a few seconds ago.

She could think about that later. For now, she had to answer to that letter. It was the Blue-Fire match magic without a doubt. That could only mean one thing; Twilight Sparkle was somehow in danger at the Throne Room. She shook her head and quickly uncovered herself from her silk sheets. “Twilight! Lauren! We are coming!” she exclaimed as her horn glowed and a flash of light enveloped the room, leaving nothing but a few sparks left shining a top of Luna’s bed.

Lauren and Twilight began to step back as Celestia once again approached them. Her face showed nothing but pure evilness. She was no longer the fair and kind ruler of Equestria.

“Very well then,” Celestia said, enveloping Twilight with her magic. “I shall get rid of you first.”

“What!? Get rid of me? Princess, I-I’m sorry I attacked you! Please! Forgive me!” Twilight cried as she fought to escape of Celestia’s grip, once again, futilely. She began to shed tears.

“Sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but you are no longer my student,” Celestia said as she levitated Twilight in front of her. She was shivering and crying. “In fact, you are no longer my friend, not even my subject.”

Those words made Twilight’s heart sink deeply into her chest. Those words stung her more than anything else. She immediately regretted attacking her with her magic. She didn’t want to lose her mentor; she still had a lot to learn about the magic of friendship. “P-Princess… please…” she whimpered, looking at the blank expression on the Princess’ face.

Lauren was looking at the whole situation, still shocked of what Celestia said. She… she can’t be serious! Did she tell Twilight that she is no longer her student or friend!? She tried to protest, but she knew she couldn’t do much in her current situation. This… this is not Celestia! That was the only thing she could think. That Celestia in front of her had to be an impostor, a fake, a double. There was no way the real Celestia would do everything she had done so far.

“Princess… please… I love you. Don’t do this to me…” Twilight begged as she tried to contain herself from crying even more. Her mentor was crushing her little heart, and she couldn’t handle it.

“You’re pathetic,” Celestia said, with a blank expression on her face. Those words made both Twilight and Lauren gasp in surprise. “Just look at yourself. You always thought books were your only friends. Element of Magic? Yeah, right.” She tilted her head and moved Twilight closer to her. “You’re nothing but a worthless unicorn! You dared to attack ME, the Princess of all of Equestria. Do you know what kind of punishment I enforce against that?”

Twilight couldn’t help but whimper. She was being verbally attacked by none other than her mentor, or ex-mentor apparently. There was nothing she could do but accept everything Celestia had to say. She was too crushed to protest or even reply to her.

“No words left, Twilight? How about if you give me one last friendship report? Why don’t you tell me how wonderful it was to befriend that alicorn? Look what that got you!” Celestia pointed her hoof at Lauren, who clenched her teeth in anger. “Thanks to her, you’ve lost your mentor! And now, you don’t need to live in Ponyville anymore, you’re coming back to Canterlot! How about that?”

You… stop it! Stop it now! Stop talking to her! That’s not true! Lauren wanted to shout that to Celestia, but she found herself unable to do so. She was flustered with anger.

“What do you have to say, Twilight?” Celestia asked, looking directly at the crushed unicorn’s eyes. “Look at me!” she ordered. Twilight immediately looked at Celestia with her teary eyes. Those eyes begged forgiveness, but Celestia was going to give her anything but that.

“P-Princess… d-don’t do t-this to m-me… please…” Twilight whimpered. “I… love you… please…”

“I loved you, Twilight!” Celestia yelled, furiously looking at her ex-student. “I loved you more than I’ve loved anypony in my life! But you failed to yourself!” She could feel her eyes were getting teary, much like Twilight’s. “You… you failed me…” she muttered, lowering her head to look at the floor.

“P-Princess… I didn’t fail you!” Twilight exclaimed. Celestia quickly raised her head and looked at her with hate on her eyes.

“You failed me, Twilight! You don’t know how that makes me feel! You were my very own protégé! The only one I’ve had in my entire life! And you failed me! I hate you!” Celestia exclaimed, finally shedding tears. “I loved you, Twilight… but traitors are traitors… and you will receive your punishment!”

Twilight cringed. Celestia’s words felt like a thorn to the hoof. Her heart was broken in thousands of pieces now. She had lost her mentor, and only because she decided to help Lauren. It was her fault… everything that was happening now was Lauren’s fault.

Lauren’s eye began to twitch due anger. She had enough of Celestia badgering Twilight, she was finally going to protest when Twilight looked at her.

“Look what you’ve done to me!” Twilight yelled, whimpering. “Y-You made me lose my home… my friends and my mentor!” Celestia let out a chuckle.

Lauren gasped in surprise, totally shocked by Twilight’s sudden breakdown. “Twilight! I didn’t-”

“Thanks to you, the Princess hates me! Thanks to you, I’m going to leave Ponyville! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” Twilight fumed, furiously looking at Lauren. She had never been so mad in her life. She had practically lost everything in her life. Her mentor, friends, all gone now.

This is all a set up! This is all a trap! Twilight would never say that! Lauren tried to reply, but she found herself unable to do so. Twilight was sick with anger and there was probably no good answer.

“Now then,” Celestia interrupted, levitating Twilight to a certain distance from her. “Twilight Sparkle. It was nice to meet you, but now, you must disappear.”

“D-d-disappear!?” Twilight yelled, “but… but… you said you were going to exile me from Ponyville and take me back to Canterlot!”

“Oh, yeah… about that…” Celestia tapped her chin with her hoof and smiled at Twilight. “I was lying.” Her horn glowed and she took aim at Twilight.

Lauren couldn’t move or speak. She was still too shocked and her body didn’t respond. I must save Twilight! But my body doesn’t respond! Where is Luna!? She could only look at what it seemed the unavoidable.

“ENOUGH!” A voice echoed through the room. “THOU SHALL NOT HARM TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”