Twilight jolted awake in a panic.

She couldn't feel her magic.

In fact, it was almost as if her mana wellspring was completely missing. There had always been a warmth she could feel from within, a warmth she could feel even with an anti-magic horn ring on. Sure the feeling was muted, but it was still there.

Now it was gone.

She began to hyperventilate -- uncaring of where she was or what was happening around her. Every single ounce of her attention was taken up by the fact that her horn was completely useless.

I need to remain calm.

Twilight's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened in surprise. Her heartbeat picked up and she began to shiver slightly.

Just stay calm and analyze the situation. There is no heart to pump my blood, and there is no blood to be pumped.

It took a few seconds of panicking, but Twilight's breathing gradually evened out and eventually stopped altogether. She waited for several moments to see if anything would happen.

Nothing did.

There was no building pressure in her lungs, and when Twilight went to check her pulse she instead felt something else. Rather than the rhythmic pulse that indicated a healthy, beating heart, she felt as if something was slowly, but restlessly moving around under her skin.

It was a very slight sensation, but still just enough to be noticeable if she focused on it.

She shivered again, mindful of the implications of what that meant. On top of that, she still couldn't feel her magic at all, and remembering that caused her non-existent heart to start beating rapidly once more.

I am the master of my own physiology.

The thought caused Twilight relax once more.

I control everything within me, not the other way around.

She allowed the heavy thumping in her chest to die down to nothing. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on trying to regain the familiar warmth of her mana wellspring.

She didn't know much time passed, but eventually she felt it.

A spark of warmth ignited within and though it was small, it was still a sign that her magic had not completely left her. Out of pure instinct, she breathed a small sigh of relief. For whatever reason she couldn't summon anymore magic than the tiny bit she had managed to dredge up, but she decided to worry about it later.

Trying to take her mind off of the mystery of what was going on with her magic, she finally took the opportunity to look around. She was lying on a large bed in a rather small and somewhat empty room. The walls were made of a reddish brown wood and there were different instruments hanging from one of them.

She didn't recognize some of them, but one thing did stand out to her. Bolted to one of the walls was a white box with a red plus symbol indicative of some kind of first-aid kit. She frowned and turned her attention to the rest of the room.

Directly across from her was another bed with a dresser and a small stool next to it. Sweeping her gaze to the left, she took note of the other two empty beds -- one to the right of the bed opposite her, and one to her immediate left.

Am I in some kind of hospital room?

Twilight started at the sudden sound of a drawn out groan to her right. She snapped her head around to see a familiar shape stirring in another bed next to her. Her eyes widened in surprise and she felt a mix of relief and worry at the sight of her butter yellow pegasus friend.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked tentatively, leaning closer to the bed the yellow pegasus was lying on, "Fluttershy, are you okay?"

Fluttershy rolled onto her back and blinked a few times as she tried to focus on the lavender unicorn next to her.

"Twilight?" she croaked, "W-What happened? I..." she groaned again and shook her head before sitting up, "I don't remember what--"

she suddenly gasped -- her eyes widening in realzation.

"What did I do?" she whispered, "I... I was..." she turned to Twilight with a look of abject horror, "I was a monster... literally," she slowly shook her head and brought her hooves to her face, "I am a monster... I'm a monster, Twilight!"

"Fluttershy--"

Twilight was cut off by a pitiful moan as Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves. She wasn't wasn't full on sobbing, but the soft whimpers and sniffles were getting to the lavender unicorn. She sighed and eased herself off of her own bed.

"I r-remember... I turned into some kind of... feral beast," Fluttered muttered into her hooves, "back... back there... I was -- was just so... angry. I didn't think, I just... acted."

She continued on, even as Twilight pulled her into a comforting hug -- one the yellow pegasus returned eagerly.

"E-Everything hurt so much, a-and then," she sniffed and pulled back to look Twilight in the eyes, "and then things started to turned red. A-After that, all I could think about was h... h-hurting -- killing the thing that was trying to hurt me and my friends."

"It's... it's okay, Fluttershy," Twilight replied, pulling the distraught pegasus back into a hug, "we're all monsters now, but we don't have to let it change who we are completely."

The words rang hollow in Twilight's ears. She didn't know the full extent of the changes they had all gone through, but she knew they weren't who they used to be -- not anymore.

She doubted they ever would be again.

"We may not be able to feel remorse for those we... those we kill," Twilight continued, "but as long as we can at least remember who we are, and as long as we know that it isn't right to do what we did, I think we'll be okay."

"Y-You really think so?" Fluttershy asked as she pulled back again, "I don't want to be a monster, Twilight."

"I do think so," the lavender mare replied with a reassuring smile, "and the fact that you don't want to be a monster is what separates you from the true monsters. Hold onto that feeling, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy wiped her eyes and gave Twilight a small thankful smile before climbing down off the bed.

"Now, what do you say we go find the others?" Twilight suggested, already making her way towards the closed door, "maybe they can tell us where we are."

"That would be... nice," Fluttershy replied as she followed after her friend, "I really want to see if Rainbow is okay."

"Yeah," Twilight agreed, "same h -- whoa!"

The lavender unicorn took a startled step back as the door swung open.

"...has the most adorable little nurses gown I've ever -- oh!"

Twilight and the white unicorn mare stood frozen, eyeing each other in surprise for the briefest of moments before a pink blur shot past the white mare and latched onto Twilight.

"Twilight!" the chipper voice cried, "you're finally awake!"

"P-Pinkie?" the lavender mare gasped, stumbling further back from the force of pink pony's tackle hug. After a minute she smiled and returned the hug with a small chuckle, "it's good to see you're okay, Pinkie."

"We could say the same about you, darling."

Twilight turned to face a relieved looking Rarity as she stepped inside the room.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight greeted as Pinkie removed herself and yanked a squeaking Fluttershy into a tight embrace, "Fluttershy and I just woke up a little bit ago."

"And I'm glad to hear it," Rarity replied, giving Twilight a quicker and much more gentle hug, "I myself awoke about an hour ago. When Applejack told me what happened, I was worried sick for the two of you, and you can bet the others feel the same."

"I can imagine," Twilight replied, backing out of the hug with a frown, "a lot happened before we... wait," Twilight furrowed her brow in bemusement as she remembered her blind long range Teleportation, "where are we? I didn't have a chance to pinpoint a position when I Teleported us away from the facility."

"Well..." Rarity began somewhat uncomfortably, "I think it'd be best if we gathered everypony together to talk about it, as well as what we're going to do from here."

Twilight wanted to argue, but she knew Rarity had a point. She'd just have to wait and meet up with the other girls, but in the meantime, she had another question for her fellow unicorn.

"Hey... Rarity?"

"Hm?" Rarity replied curiously, "what is it, dear?"

"When you woke up," Twilight began hesitantly, "did you... have problems with your magic? Like you couldn't... feel it anymore?"

Rarity frowned in both confusion and concern.

"I don't believe so," she answered slowly, "when I awoke, I honestly felt rather refreshed. Of course there was that little panic attack I had when I remembered what happened and didn't know where I was, but other than that, I felt fine -- magic and all."

"Oh... alright then."

"Is something wrong, Twilight?" Rarity asked worriedly, "did something happen with your magic?"

"Well..." Twilight hesitated, not sure whether she should tell Rarity or not, but in the end she decided to voice her concerns, "when I woke up, I couldn't feel my magic... at all," she shook her head and shuddered, "it was like I never had any to begin with -- even now I can only feel the barest hint of any magic at all."

"Oh my," Rarity muttered with a frown, "that is rather strange."

"I know," Twilight replied with a worried grimace, "it may have just been all the magic I used in the Teleport on top of keeping that shield up. I'm really hoping it's just temporary."

"Let's hope so," Rarity responded with a nod before turning to the other two conversing ponies, "in the meantime I believe we should all return to where the others are. We do have a lot to catch up on, after all."

"Okey-dokey-loki!" Pinkie replied as she began pushing Fluttershy out the door, "come on, Fluttershy, you've got to try the apple strudels AJ and I made!"

"O-Oh, okay..." Fluttershy answered quietly, "t-that sounds like a wonderful idea, Pinkie."

"I know, right?"

And with that, the two were out the door and trotting down the hallway.

"Oh, that mare," Rarity mused with a small chuckle, "it's good to see her in high spirits again."

"Why? What happened?" Twilight asked, "was she not feeling well?"

"I'm afraid not, Twilight, dear," Rarity answered with a heavy sigh, "it seems Pinkie was feeling rather melancholy while we were unconscious."

"Oh," Twilight responded, "well, we're all awake now at least, and now that we are awake, we can start figuring out what's going on and what happened to Equestria."

"About that, darling..."

Twilight didn't like the tone of Rarity's voice, or the fact that she refused to look her in the eye as she spoke her next words.

"It appears we've, ah... strayed a bit farther from home than we realized."

Despite knowing she probably didn't have one, Twilight felt her heart sink at Rarity's statement.

She didn't want to know, but she had to ask.

"How much farther from Equestria are we, Rarity?"

"Well..." Rarity bit her lip nervously before turning away, "maybe we really should wait until--"

"Rarity," Twilight pressed, frowning as she took a step forward, "how far are we?"

The white mare sighed and looked Twilight in the eye.

"We're on the continent of Griffonia."

Twilight gave a heavy sigh of her own.

She had suspected the Teleportation spell wasn't enough to get them all the way back to Equestria, but to hear it confirmed only served to dampen her mood further.

Still...

"Well, did we at least arrive somewhere near the border?" Twilight asked hopefully, "are we near a place where we could board a ship heading back to Equestria?"

Rarity shook her head sadly.

"Quite the opposite, dear."

"W-What do you mean?" Twilight replied, now afraid of the answer, "where exactly are we?"

"The northeastern edge of Griffonia."

It hurt Rarity to see the defeated look on her lavender friend's face as she fell to her haunches in shock, but she finished her reply nevertheless.

"I'm sorry, darling, but we're the furthest we could possibly be from the Equestrian continent."

Looks like we got ourselves one hell of a Journey to undertake, boys and girls!