Twilight knocked gently on the wooden door. The hut before her was small and cosy, although the placement wasn’t the best. In the middle of a forest full of manticores and timberwolves is not a good place to live. The alicorn had to commend the zebra’s courage.

The door opened and a striped head poked out. Blue eyes grew wide in surprise.

“Twilight Sparkle, what a surprise! Or is this a changeling I see before my eyes?” the zebra gasped.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, although I fear I am not the Twilight you seem to know.” The alicorn sighed.

“I can see you have much to share, but can you give me a reason I should care?” the zebra asked distrustfully.

“I’m having problems.” Twilight hesitated. “I’ve been having anger issues and I think I’m under some sort of enchantment.”

The zebra gave her a scrutinizing gaze been stepping back and opening the door. Twilight trotted inside and settled, unsure, by the wall. A cauldron sat in the middle of the room, bubbling with… something.

“So can you help me? Do you know why this is happening?” the alicorn asked hopefully.

The zebra continued to stare into Twilight’s eyes, causing the purple mare to shift uncomfortably.

“Well, I can see that you do not lie. As for your question, no, I don’t know why.” The zebra frowned, trotted over to the cauldron.

“Do you always speak like this?” Twilight smiled nervously.

“Zecora is my name, and rhyming is my game.”

“…”

“Pinkie Pie, while good at heart, is not one by whom I should’ve been taught.”

“Pinkie Pie… they sound familiar.” Twilight mused.

Zecora tensed. “They shouldn’t. I can sense dark magic here; the very same our armies fear.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Twilight stammered.

“I wish I could’ve helped you more, but for now we must adjourn. For a few days you must wait, by then you’ll have met your fate.” Zecora paused and looked away with grief in her eyes. “Only then can I truly help you.”

“Zecora, what are you-” before Twilight could finish she had been forced through the door and back into the forest.

Twilight stood there for a moment before she could fully comprehend what had happened. In a few days she’d meet her fate? What the buck was that supposed to mean? With her thoughts still scrambled, there wasn’t much chance of her teleporting home. Instead she settled for taking a walk to clear her thoughts.

It wasn’t long before she heard a roar. The alicorn gulped and dropped to a defensive stance. She had managed to avoid monsters so far, which was good as she didn’t have her sword on her; she had meant to put it into her magical pocket but hadn’t had the time thanks to her argument with Nightlock.

The purple mare glanced around rapidly, trying to look everywhere at once. The swipe came from behind her, the tip of a claw scratching her flank. Twilight whirled round to see a manticore looming over her. She charged her horn, only for her concentration to be broken as blood began to trickle across one of her cutie marks. The feeling was… familiar?

Twilight recognised the way her world suddenly darkened. She tried to stay awake but she soon fell victim to her enchantment.

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself once again in a new body/prison. At least she was an alicorn. She was lying in a large room, decorated with bookshelves and desks. The room was empty of life, however.

Despite her urge to look around and read all day, Twilight was stuck reading a book on dark magic. The alicorn tried to walk away and find something more interesting – she’d learnt all sorts of dark magic as a filly – but her host found the book rather intriguing.

“Wow, I never even knew the Royal Archives had books on dark magic!” Twilight’s host cried excitedly, briefly looking up from the book so that they could grab another in their magic. “I wonder if Celestia would be okay with me reading these… Though she did say she wanted me to research all the types of magic I could find… It should be fine!”

Twilight couldn’t help but pay more attention after this. Her host worked for Celestia? That meant that it must be the same pony who’d known Rainbow and the dragon, judging by what she knew of alicorns. Speaking of which, hadn’t her mother said there was only five alicorns? That meant… this must be Equestria’s fallen princess!

Twilight could only watch in shock as her host stopped on one of the pages. She rested a lavender hoof on the paper, just below the instructions for a spell. She felt her horn lighting up, and heard her host whisper the instructions to herself.

A quick burst of pain lanced through her horn and a black crystal shot up from the ground. Twilight’s host stared at it in shock before grinning widely.

Twilight blinked and had an urge to throw up as the ground shifted behind her. She blinked a few more times and found herself in the same pony’s body, just a few years older. She was looking down from a cliff at a large valley. There were a few plants and a river running through the middle. Batponies were sparring at the bottom of the valley, blissfully unaware of what was about to befall them.

“Remember everypony, we are not going to kill anyone.” Twilight’s host commanded. “We are only trying to drive them back – to stop Sombra’s army spreading.”

The armoured white ponies around her nodded and murmured their agreement. Twilight’s host reached into their magic pocket and drew a long, gem-studded sword. Twilight watched in surprise – that was her sword!

“Charge!”

Twilight’s host’s first victim was a blue batpony with a black mane hidden beneath the traditional night guard armour. A slash to his side sent the batpony running, which Twilight watched in disgust. Her guards were supposed to be tougher than that!

Twilight’s host continued around the valley, sending batponies running wherever she appeared. Whenever one of her guards cried out she would rush to their aid. As she had ordered, no batponies fell, and neither did any Celestrians thanks to her help.

Somepony cried out behind them, and Twilight’s host whirled round to see a white pegasus with a batpony’s fangs buried in his neck. As he struggled, his helmet fell off, breaking the enchantment and revealing a purple pegasus stallion. Twilight watched in shock – she knew that pony!

“Comet Trail!” Twilight’s host gasped, lunging forward. Twilight watched, dumbfounded as her host chased after the batpony, who dragged the purple pegasus with them through a dark tunnel in the side of the valley. As Twilight chased them down the tunnel closed. The alicorn stomped their hoof in frustration before freezing.

“I hope this works!”

Pain shot through her horn, making the alicorn stumble. Her horn glowed brighter and the pain grew until she collapsed on the floor.
She looked up slowly and the tunnel had reopened, surrounded by black crystals. Twilight’s host stood and plunged into the darkness.

She soon arrived in a dark room. She flinched as the light above her died, leaving her in complete darkness.

The tip of a blade sliced her flank, and she redrew her own sword and spun around to see a dark unicorn smiling at her.

Twilight woke with a start, sitting up on the low wooden bed she was on. She looked around and realised she was back in Zecora’s hut. The zebra herself was back at the cauldron, but glanced over when she heard Twilight get up.

“It would seem I was a little too hasty. I should’ve known a manticore would find you tasty.” The zebra sighed guiltily.

“Oh, uh, i-it’s fine.” Twilight frowned. “I only realised it after clearing my head a little, but I really needed to get home anyway.”

“I believe I have something to prevent your doom, if you’ll accept the odd fume. Look at something and drink this potion. If it works, it’ll understand your notion.” The zebra offered, dipping a bottle into the cauldron before handing it to the alicorn. Twilight reeled at the smell, but was able to focus enough to grab the bottle in her magic and create a pinkish-purple bubble around it, blocking out the stench.

“Thanks.”

“Think of it as an apology for… sending you towards that manticore.” Zecora sighed.

“There’s nothing to apologise for, Zecora. I shouldn’t have let my guard down.” Twilight insisted.

The zebra looked briefly sad before giving the alicorn a knowing glance. “I can tell that our time grows short; may I suggest that you teleport?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly, pulling the bubble containing the potion towards her and lighting her horn. “Thanks for this, Zecora.”

“Think nothing of it, dear friend. I simply wish for your life to not end.”

“Wait, what?”

“Not important.”

“If you say so…” Twilight cast her teleportation spell and, with a flash, was gone.

Twilight trotted slowly through the halls of the castle, potion and folder in her magical grasp. The folder opened and a bunch of photos flew out. They were all of her as a unicorn with various ponies. Except for one. The last one was her. The real her! She was an alicorn, with her hair styled and wings fully spread. She wore a beautiful pink dress decorated with yellows and golds. Her hooves were clad in small golden horseshoes, and a crown rested atop her head. Both were embedded with small star-shaped gems.

“This should do it.” The alicorn smiled, bringing the potion to her lips. She tipped it up and took a few sips before lowering it again. “So how does this…”

Twilight paused. Her vision was blurring. Her magic cut off and the pictures fell to the ground. The potion hit the ground and smashed, spilling the liquid across the hallway.

“C-crap…” the alicorn stammered as her legs buckled. “Bucking z-zebra…” Twilight fell, her head hitting the floor and sending waves of pain through her body. The last thing she saw was an ebony hoof, clad in a light blue horseshoe, stepping in front of her.

Then there was only black.