“No! Help me...” Twilight's voice faded as the glowing sphere of pure magic slurped her up like a multi-million megacorporation absorbing a promising startup.

The power smothered her. Her mind raced about like a drowning swimmer trying to find a hole in an ice-covered lake. All of reality was twisted, warped by raw force, one that she didn't understand, and who's meaning she couldn't grasp, no matter how far she swam or how hard she beat on the surface. It seared. She was too feeble. Like a wave of raw sewage, the magic overwhelmed her.

In that instant, a glass that was half full overflowed.

The human mind was never meant to house magic. Every synapse, axon, and neuron fired for a specific purpose, and for a specific reason. Throwing magic in that mix caused sheer confusion. The magic poked, prodded, pulled, and stimulated her mind in ways that it was not meant experience, leading to a wide variety of erroneous sensations.

The magic felt like ice being rubbed across a blistering sunburn. It sounded like a chorus of crickets popping in the microwave. It looked like the kaleidoscopic view of a Christmas tree mixed with the evolutionary history of mankind. It smelled like freshly-cut grass sailing the ocean. And it tasted, it tasted like peaches.

While assaulting her mind, the magic seeped through her skin, down through her flesh, past her bones, beyond her soul, and into the very nothingness in the fabric of the universe which her body displaced. Her form crackled and warped, darkening, changing, twisting. Wings of nether sprouted from her back, her eyes were wrapped in glowing blue halos, and a warped and notched horn sprouted from her head. This was Midnight Sparkle, and she was living...

Twilight Sparkle nervously shuffled into class. The room was already packed with bright and cheery wide-eyed students, indicating that she was the last to enter. A few sidelong glances and stray eyeballs was all it took for her cheeks to flush. Normally, she was always punctual, but an aura of dread clung at her heart. She'd checked, and double checked her homework, and even checked her list to ensure that she'd checked off her double-checking, yet something still felt terribly wrong.

“Spike! Are you there?” She nearly panicked when she felt something squirm in her backpack, but it was empty. “What?” Where where her books? Where was her homework? Where was her absolutely-positively-cannot-be-late science project that was due in twenty-seven point six seconds? “No!”

“Twilight, you can borrow mine.” A melodic whisper brushed her ear.

Swiveling around, Twilight jumped at the sight of a wide smile on the school's pinkish staff member. “Dean Cadance, what are you doing here?”

Cadance brushed her fingers through Twilight's hair, and leaned down to whisper, “To use you, of course. You see, I still like to invent things, but the school doesn't allow faculty members to participate in science projects. Since your project's gone missing, tsk tsk, no idea how that could have happened, I thought I'd let you borrow mine.” She winked.

Twilight felt a chill, but there was nothing she could do without creating a scene. She gulped and whispered back, “What do you mean? What invention? I don't see it.”

“Why it's my wireless inseminator, of course.” Dean Cadance pressed her hands together and bounced with joy.

“Wireless WHAT? Why would you ever invent something like THAT?”

“Don't you see? All of these people are so dead-set in their studying and worrying about grades, grades, grades. They need a little something extra to find that spark of life. My invention will literally fill the air with love! Plus, it will empower women!”

“How can THAT empower women?”

Cadance shrugged. “Don't ask me. It's your job to explain it. Oh look, you're up.” She pushed Twilight out of her seat, forcing her to tumble to the floor. “P.S. It's in the sprinkler system. Good luck!” She smiled and waved.

Twilight felt cold and nervous and shivered as she pushed herself off the floor and walked to the front of the classroom. It grew in size, from a small room of about twenty students to an amphitheater that held hundreds. Her clothes also vanished, and she stood before them in her underwear. “...” she said, too soft for even herself to hear her own voice.

The class grew restless.

“That was a lovely speech,” Cadance said from the back. “It's time for the practical demonstration.” Holding up a cigarette lighter, she lit the wall on fire, and flames quickly wrapped around the room. Black smoke billowed to the ceiling, and the fire alarm started blaring. The sprinklers—

Clenching her eyes shut, the sliminess of what hit Twilight was too much to bear.

“Aaaaaa—”

...a nightmare.

She drew sharp breaths and hovered in the air. Suddenly back outside, floating above Canterlot High School, she was at a complete loss for, well, everything. Then it struck her. The magic was self-teaching, and it also changed her mind so she could almost understand. Almost. Just a little more...

“It all makes perfect sense! I didn't understand magic before, but I do now!” With a flick of her finger, she struck the equine statue with a bolt of pure energy. It Exploded into rubble. Students and faculty alike screamed and ran, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was the magic. Twilight cackled, driven mad by the itching at the edge of her mind.

Power. It was power, but it was also incomplete. She very nearly understood, but something was in her way. Something was holding her back. It was absolutely exhilarating, but it was absolutely infuriating at the same time. Struggling to think straight, she forced herself to wrack her brain. What was she missing? If only she had a little more power, a little more energy, then could she understand. But where could she get more power?

The portals! Of course!

There was indeed more magic out there, ripe for her picking, but the pesky universe was in her way. All she had to do was destroy it, and she'd have more magic than she could ever hope to contain! Blasting at the ground, the sky, and the school building, glorious holes burst open and she could see the magic realm beyond. It was like tearing into a birthday present and slowly exposing the gift contained within.

Sunset Shimmer was yelling something, and she may have even said something back, but a throbbing pain choked at her consciousness. The magic was exhilarating, but the world couldn't hold it. It couldn't hold her. She felt as if she'd grabbed a fistful of cookies and gotten her hand stuck in the cookie jar. Letting go was unthinkable. It was the cookie jar—the universe—that needed to yield.

She blasted the ground, creating the widest and most glorious portal yet. The students who hadn't fled yet scrambled about the edges, struggling not to fall in. Why would they resist? Being bathed in the raw magic of Equestria would more than make up for falling to their deaths. Even the briefest touch of magic was a miracle.

Sunset Shimmer started talking. Another speech? How droll. Why bother wasting breath? Twilight was never going to give up. This universe was going to end, and the magic would be unleashed, forever fueling her hunger for it. And it was a never-ending hunger. Her throat ached and her mouth drooled. She longed for more magic—to drink it, slurp it, chew on it. It was a longing like something from...

Twilight carefully adjusted her goggles. Being in the desert required careful preparation, and one needed water, food, water, protection from the sun, water, cover from sandstorms, water, general living supplies, and water. This archaeology dig was a rare find. It would make her famous, but she needed to survive.

With a broom, she pushed at the sand dune, sweeping and stirring up dust. Her tightly-wrapped mask protected her lungs, and the haze helped keep the sun at bay. But still, she sweated like a sieve. Grasping at her canteen, she tilted it up, but nothing came out. Water. How could she have forgotten the water?

Her thirst grated her soul, but the find was too important. Crawling on her hands and knees, she pulled out her trawl, and carefully dug. The sand shifted, filling in her hole as soon as she dug it, but she persisted. Her thirst for water was nothing compared to her thirst for knowledge.

The desert wind had a whine to it, like it too wanted something, but she couldn't understand. She kept digging. She was so thirsty, but she kept digging. She wasn't getting anywhere, but she kept digging, scratching, digging. Then, she struck true. All her hard work paid off. She uncovered the ancient treasure!

It was a steaming fresh dog turd.

“Yes!” Twilight held up the poopy. She was on top of the world. It stunk like high heaven, but she'd done it! She's uncovered the...

Why did it feel so real, so squishy? Why did it taste...?

“Aaaaaa—”

...a nightmare.

“Spike?” Twilight blinked. Her dog looked up at her with wide puppy-dog eyes.

Her concentration faltered, and her beam lost ground. Sunset Shimmer pushed back with incredible force. Wait, when had that happened? She had no time for contemplation as the beam overtook her. She screamed and the entire world washed out in a field of white. She no longer felt the rush of magic, as her portals were gone. The hunger was driving her insane. She'd do anything for a another taste. Just one more bite, just one more mouthful of magic.

She had to feed!

“You don't have to do this. There's another way.” Sunset Shimmer in her glorious angelic form reached her hand out to Twilight.

She slapped it aside. “You're right! There is another way. I know what magic tastes like now. I know where I can get more!”

Blasting through the void, Twilight shattered the sky. She flew back into the real world, and punched right through the side of the school. Wasting no time, she tore into the bowels of the rival academy, going straight through the walls. Soon, she found what she was looking for: the school's cafeteria.

Chairs were stacked on tables. The janitor jumped and ran away. Refuse had missed the trashcans and laid on the floor. None of that bothered her. She simply reached for her prize on the fruit stand.

It was a peach, a soft, fuzzy peach. She bit into it, and her mouth was filled with delectable juices. The soft flesh yielded to her sharp, pointy teeth, and the tropical fruity flavor danced on her tongue. This taste she knew well, for it was the one that she'd been drinking all along. It was the taste of magic.

“I thought for sure that would work.”

Someone else was speaking, but Twilight didn't care. She had her peach, and that was everything in the world to her. Biting, tearing into it, she greedily devoured it like a wild animal. But her hunger would not be sated. She discarded the pit, grabbed another and began anew.

“What is she doing?”

Twilight stuffed her mouth as full as possible. Chewing was an euphoria. Dribbling down her face, delectable peach juice covered her body and stained her shirt. It was the flavor that she craved, the taste sensation, the deliciousness of magic, but she couldn't resist swallowing. How else could she make room for more peaches?

“She's eating peaches.”

Magic, peaches, what's the difference? They both tasted the same, so they had to be the same exact thing. Her mind had been broken, but it was healing now. Peach. That was the answer to life. That was the answer to the universe. That was the key to happiness. Peach. Peach. Peach.

“I hate to have to do this, but...”

Something unpeachy happened. A glow surrounded her, and Twilight felt as if the peach was torn from her body. She groaned woozily, and doubled over. Her mind swam with a fog that was every sensation except for peaches. That is to say, it was pure agony. She grasped at a peach, and bit into it.

“Is she going to be okay?”

The texture was rough. The bite was slimy. The juice was too tart. It was peach, but it lacked the pure essence of peach. It wasn't magic. She spat it out. “What have you done to me!?”

A familiar dog ran up to her and slurped her face. Twilight winced, but the wet, sandpapery tongue triggered a memory that had been locked away. She may have thought that she'd known magic, but she'd known nothing. It was too wild a force to be trifled with, and the old Twilight knew that. She knew that.

Eyes wide, she sat up. She was covered in juices, dog slobber, and even plaster dust from when she'd punched her way through walls. Surrounding her was a large group of students, a mix of locals from Canterlot High and her classmates from Crystal Prep. Most were wide-eyed or wary, but Sunset Shimmer had a look of sadness on her face. In her hands, she held Twilight's magic analyzer in a white-knuckled grip. Purple lights danced around the rim. It was full. It had eaten her peaches.

Twilight winced and clenched her head. She only had vague notions of what had happened, and that was blurred together with old nightmares. The experience was slowly coming back to her, and she felt an idle desire to bite down on another peach. But no, she'd eaten too many, and couldn't stand the taste any longer.

“Twilight, I—” Sunset Shimmer shut her mouth when Twilight held up her hand.

She couldn't possibly redeem herself for what she'd done. Releasing the magic was an obvious, stupid error, and one that could have doomed them all. She should say something. She should apologize. She should thank them for stopping her.

But her mind wasn't stable. Her head still spun. There was that dream where the school's fire alarm went off, and it was really her alarm clock blaring. She'd awoken to Spike licking her face. Another day, she'd—

Dozens of eyes were watching her. Everyone waited with bated breath for her to speak. She knew in her heart that her words were going to be important. She couldn't mess this up.

In a moment of weakness, she picked up her dog, and stared into his big, puppy eyes. “Spike, you pooped on my bed!”