Twilight’s hopes were extinguished upon noticing drops of blood leading either to or from her mother’s personal laboratory.

Twilight gulped before pushing the door open. Her jaw dropped.

“M-Mom?!”

Mrs. Velvet looked up from her research papers and smiled. “Hello, dear!”

It was as if a tornado had passed through the room; vials and test tubes were smashed and scattered, furniture was flipped over, papers were torn, screwed up and scattered around the room and Mrs. Velvet’s mane was a horrible mess. If a non-descript Pony whose interests included fashion and mane styles were present, they would be aghast. However, Fancy Pants was not present and, as such, was not aghast.

“Mom!” Twilight cried again. “What happened here?! Why is the front door smashed open?! Why is there blood in the hallway?! What the hell happened to your lab?!”

“Well…”

Mrs. Velvet was sitting her desk, looking through research papers as she prepared a few test tubes. Behind her, a dark figure approached - a dark figure with a conspicuous metal pipe. After walking up behind her in a truly spooky and dramatic way, the figure swung the pipe with all their strength at the head of Mrs. Velvet.

Unfortunately for the attacker, Mrs. Velvet was very health and safety conscious and had cast a special kind of shield spell, giving her an invisible, magical hard hat. The pipe bounced off of her head harmlessly and, instead, whacked the attacker in the face.

The attacker, who happened to be a Dragon, was also unharmed thanks to their scales - though they were a little disoriented. Upon regaining their bearings, they were greeted with the smiling face of Mrs. Velvet.

“Hello!” She greeted cheerily. “You’re just in time! I needed a test subject!” Before the Dragon had a chance to react, Mrs. Velvet impaled a syringe into their left eye and injected them with the fear poison she had managed to reverse engineer from Cloud’s DNA.

The effect was immediate, and flashes of horrific images appeared in the Dragon’s mind: Insects digging through their scales and burrowing into their flesh, a psychopath taking them apart piece by piece, the feeling of being buried under the bloated corpses of their friends and family - the images seemed endless.

Mrs. Velvet sipped at her coffee.

The Dragon ran around the room, screaming and clawing at themselves as they did. They trampled furniture, smashed vials and test tubes, knocked Mrs. Velvet to the ground and generally caused a large mess. Finally, now covered in a variety of Cloud’s bodily fluids, they ran out of the room, smashed through the front door and escaped into the streets, not noticing the trail of Cloud’s blood they had left behind.

Twilight blinked. A Dragon? She grit her teeth as she felt anger overtake her. Princess Ember…! I never expected her to stoop so low!

“Oh, calm down, dear!” Mrs. Velvet waved her hoof dismissively at her daughter’s scowling face. “I’m quite alright! More importantly, the Dragon was an ample test subject! I’ve solved you little anomaly!”

That got Twilight’s attention. “You did it?”

Mrs. Velvet nodded. “I did! And it’s quite fascinating!” Her smile faltered slightly. “Also… I only needed blood, dear. I appreciate knowing that I don’t have to give up the idea of grandchildren, but I didn’t need you to send me-”

“I-I sent you that because I didn’t know how the poison was administered!” Twilight exclaimed, her face as red as a babboon’s asshole. “The more varied the samples, the more chance I had of finding the results I needed! It was purely for work related reasons!”

“You shouldn’t mix work with ‘fun’, dear,” Mrs. Velvet continued. “You’ll risk mixing ‘the sample’ with-”

“No! No! Stop!” Begged Twilight. “This is gross! Stop it!”

Mrs. Velvet didn’t stop.

Twilight ran screaming in the same direction of the Dragon.

“...Livin’ in a lonely world~!” Cloud sang.

“You know you’re a crap singer, right?” Asked Mawr. “Making me deaf isn’t gonna make this go any faster.”

“We’re walking through a desert,” said Cloud, “trying to get to the other side of the planet. Would you rather we walk in silence?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Mawr stared straight ahead, suppressing her urge to murder.

Cloud sighed. “Fine.”

The two walked in silence. Not a word was said and not a sound was made. The sky was empty as ever, save for the sun, and the landscape was drearily boring.

Ten minutes passed.

Mawr rolled her eyes. “Three months of winter coolness-”

“-And awesome holidays~!” Cloud grinned.

Deep in the streets of Canterlot, Twilight finally stopped running. She stood still, panting for breath and trying to erase the previous conversation from her memory.

“That was...” Twilight shuddered. “That was horrible.” She shook her head before walking. Why does she always do this? Whenever I’m doing work with a guy, she always has to… go there. She did it with Wobbling Shuffles, she did it with Whooves Line-Is-It-Anyway, she did it with Sunburst and now she’s doing it with Cloud…

Twilight groaned and shook her head again. “I need to focus, I have more important things to think about.” She took a deep breath and straightened her posture. Princess Ember attacked my mother. Using deductive reasoning, I can safely presume that she intended to abduct her and use her as a deterrent against the Spirits of Harmony - my friends and me. She stopped walking. The first thing I should do is tell Shining Armour to station guards around our family members. Once the poison wears off, I don’t doubt she’ll try it again.

Once coming to a stop, Twilight turned and began walking towards the Ponyville shelters. A worried frown worked itself onto her face. As chaotic as things are here, I can only imagine how horrible things must be for Cloud...

“Winter wrap up, winter wrap up~!”

“Let’s finish our holiday cheer~!”

“Winter wrap up, winter wrap up~!”

“‘Cause tomorrow spring is here~!”

“‘Cause tomorrow spring is here~!”

Twilight reached the shelters to find a certain yellow Pegasus waiting for her.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy exclaimed, her voice shaking with fear.

“Not now, Bumblefly,” Twilight muttered, still deep in thought. “I need Spike to send a letter.”

“Something is horribly wrong with Spike!” She cried, getting Twilight’s attention.

“Wait, what?” Twilight felt panic returning to her. “Where is he?!” Did Princess Ember get to him?!

Fluttershy ran inside and Twilight followed. They quickly reached Spike’s room.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted, her voice full of worry. “Spike, what’s wrong?!”

Spike was rolling around in his bed, clawing at his scales and moaning. The words he was saying were impossible to understand; a deep, guttural groaning. Before Twilight could do anything to try to get through to him, Spike opened his eyes.

His left eye was red and bloodshot.

Author's Notes:

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If a non-descript Pony whose interests included fashion and mane styles were present, they would be aghast. However, Fancy Pants was not present and, as such, was not aghast.

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I forgot how much I enjoy making up stupid Pony names!