There it was again... that title.

Goddess.

Just what did that even mean? What kind of Goddess was I supposed to be? How old was I? What was I? Where was I before? What did I look like before I became Twilight Sparkle?

Pinkie's statement just brought all these questions back to the surface of my mind. Well, she knew some things about me that I didn't know myself.

She may have said she didn't know everything, but she definitely knew more than I did.

"Pinkie," I began, levitating Spike over to the bed above us, "I know you said we could work together to figure things out, but at this point, I don't really know anything about myself—or rather, who I'm supposed to be."

Pinkie frowned, tilting her head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "you saying you lost your memory or something?"

"I..." I hesitated a moment, "I... well, I guess I must have. All I remember before waking up under a tree was complete Darkness, then these strange dots of light, then the lights moved, then... I was Twilight Sparkle."

"Huh," Pinkie replied, furrowing her brow and raising a hoof to her chin, "well that's weird. I guess something must've happened during your transition from the Black Dimension into our world."

"Pinkie, what is this Black Dimension?" I pressed, almost desperate for any kind of answer, "you said something about a White Dimension, now there's a Black Dimension, and apparently that's where I was, but I don't remember any of that.

"I know I wasn't always Twilight Sparkle, but at the same time, I don't remember ever being anypony or anything else," I continued, beginning to pace around the room, "sure, things were strange and new at first, but as time went on, I started to feel more... I dunno, natural."

I stopped pacing and turned to Pinkie with my forelegs outstretched.

"...And now here we are," I exclaimed, "I don't know who this 'Goddess' is that I'm supposed to be, and yet I found out that I have the power to bring ponies back to life and... control them or something—make them subservient."

I shook my head rapidly and took a step towards the wide eyed mare in front of me. My own eyes were wide and panicked as I reflected back on everything that happened today.

"Pinkie," I whispered hoarsely, "I killed Rarity... in cold blood. I snapped her neck like it was nothing, and then I brought her back to life with nothing but my words!"

I barely even noticed the shaking in my hooves as I confessed to what I had done.

"It wasn't even hard! All I had to do was tell her to wake up, and she did! And she wasn't even the first!" for some reason, my eyes wandered over to where Spike was resting on the bed, "...what kind of pony am I? I didn't used to be able to do these things."

"You've always been able to do those things, silly!"

I whipped back around to glare at the pink earth pony, but my glare faltered when I saw her warm, understanding smile.

"I... then why don't I remember?" I cried, "what happened to me? All I remember, everything I am, everything I know, everypony I know, has to do with Twilight Sparkle!"

"I don't have any real answers for you, Twilight," Pinkie replied calmly, "I can only make guesses."

I stared at the other mare for a long moment before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I released it and opened my eyes, willing my panic to subside with mixed results.

"Fine," I replied wearily, "make a guess then... please."

"I thought about it a lot after I ran into you earlier," Pinkie's smile faltered, "sorry about what I said by the way, I wasn't expecting to see you and I said something super mean without meaning to."

"It's fine," I replied impatiently, "just tell me what you think is going on."

Pinkie looked at me for a moment before shrugging.

"Alright then," her expression turned slightly more serious, "like I said, I thought about it, and I think something interfered when you tried to possess your host."

"Host?" I asked furrowing my brow, "are you saying I'm possessing Twilight Sparkle? Or am I the one being possessed?"

"I don't know!" Pinkie replied cheerfully, "I don't know who you are right now, so I've just been referring to you as both in my head!"

I was so messed up I didn't even know if I was the invader or the invaded, though I felt more like Twilight, and it was her memories I held on to... or were they my memories?

"Oh sweet Celestia," I muttered weakly as I fell to my haunches, "I... I think... no, I don't know what to think. I just... I just wanted to make friends! At least... I think I did..."

I was spiraling.

Things still weren't making sense, and Pinkie wasn't helping. A headache was coming on, and even as it hit, I could feel it already growing past that and into a full blown migraine.

Pinkie was saying something, but I couldn't hear her over the sound of my beating heart. In fact, that's the only thing I could hear. It drowned everything else out, and it was all I could focus on.

Why is it so loud?

My eyes clenched shut and I fell to my knees as I felt something writhe and throb and twist inside me. It didn't hurt, but it scared me.

It scared me so much I felt as though I was going to be sick from it. I was supposed to be asking Pinkie Pie these questions. I still had so many more questions to ask.

So many questions.

The migraine faded away and the heartbeat slowed further and further until it stopped altogether, leaving only silence behind.

So many questions.

What is this?

Another sound cut through the silence.

It was faint at first, but grew louder and louder until I could make it out clearly. It was... humming. Somepony—no... something was humming a tune.

It wasn't equine.

I knew it wasn't equine.

What is this? What's making that noise?

The writhing, twisting, and throbbing sensation hadn't gone away, and somewhere in the distance, I could hear a scream, then more screams, but I ignored them all and focused on the humming.

I felt the ground shake, but I paid it no heed as I tried to figure out the source of that maddening sound.

It was so loud, so haunting, so... familiar.

Make it stop...

Everything sank back into Darkness.

Make it stop... please...

The motes of light were back.

I was once again back in my Darkness, confronted by those horrible shimmering lights. They moved and swayed in a hypnotic rhythm, horrifying as they were graceful.

I shuddered and felt the world quake violently—the sound like booming thunder in my ears. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it all falling apart.

It was all falling away, just like before.

Before? What happened before? What's happening now?

It didn't matter.

All that mattered now was the humming—the tune so haunting and familiar and relentless. I could hear it getting closer and closer.

The light continued their mocking dance and I felt myself growing angry. The lights, the humming, the shaking, the fear, the lights, the confusion, the lights, the lights, the lights...

The lights.

I just want it all to stop.

"As you wish it, so shall it be... my Goddess."

"Twilight!"

My ear twitched and I heard myself groan. Disoriented, I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt far too heavy and I gave up.

"Twilight! Can you hear me?!"

I could feel something slipping away and, like a half remembered dream, it was fading fast. I tried to hold onto it, but I couldn't... and it pulled away from me, leaving me with a feeling of emptiness, fear, desolation, sorrow...

...and a strange sense of satisfaction.

"Twilight!"

I groaned again and managed to open my eyes just a fraction, seeing a large pink blob through the blurry haze.

"Buh... Pinkie?" I croaked, reorienting myself as I attempted to rise to my hooves. With the movement I became aware that I was lying on my back on something soft, "I... what happened? Where are—"

My questions were cut off by a surprised yelp as I felt myself get pulled into a tight embrace.

"Twilight!" screamed a familiar voice, "ohmygosh, Twilight! Are you okay? What happened to you? You were starting to freak out and I tried to calm you down but then you suddenly fell over and—"

"Pinkie, for crying out loud, give her some space would ya?" came a raspy, irritated feminine voice, "I know she's got some tough hide under that fur, but if you squeeze her any tighter she's gonna pop."

"Oops... sorry, Dashie," I heard Pinkie reply as she released me, "just got a bit carried away."

With Pinkie no longer supporting me, I fell onto my back. I blinked away the remaining spots in my eyes and took a moment to look around.

I was in the bedroom above the library, specifically laying atop the bed where Spike had been before. It was darker than I remembered, and, facing the window, I could immediately see why.

The sun had nearly set in the sky, and night was fast approaching.

How long was I out? Why was I even out in the first place?

"Geez, Twi, you really know how to freak a pony out, don't ya?"

I turned and saw Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and—to my shock—Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine all standing around my bedside.

"You girls," I began, looking around in bewilderment, "what are you all doing here?"

"Worrying about you, dear," Rarity replied, taking a step forward, "when Pinkie told us you'd had a panic attack and collapsed, Rainbow and I both rushed up here as soon as we could."

"I... collapsed," I repeated, furrowing my brow, "that's all that happened?"

I didn't know what it was, but something told me there was much more to it than that. I could feel the beginning of a memory stirring in my mind, but the image wouldn't come, and the feeling disappeared as soon as it had come.

"What? Yeah, that's it," Rainbow replied with a raised eyebrow, "we didn't really know what to do, so we just kinda... put you in bed until you woke up again."

Something wasn't adding up here, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I was still groggy and couldn't focus my thoughts.

Then the nausea came.

"Bucket..."

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked in confusion, "bucket? What do you need a bucket—"

"I got it!" Pinkie cried, shoving Rainbow and the others out of the way, "sorry, Dashie, but this is an emergency!"

Pinkie pushed a small trashbin in front of me and I barely had time to grab ahold of it before the bile rising up my throat erupted from my mouth.

I ignored Rainbow's cry of disgust as I heaved into the bin over and over again. The others looked on in grim silence, some of them shifting uncomfortably and frowning with worry.

After what felt like an eternity, I spit out the last of the vomit and hoofed the bin back to Pinkie, who looked inside and gasped before quickly slamming a lid on top of it.

Without a word she completely sealed the lid of the trashbin shut with duct tape she pulled from somewhere and threw the bin into the closet nearby before slamming the door shut.

She turned to see all of us staring at her in confusion and chuckled nervously.

"It was... really gross?" she tried, shrugging her shoulders innocently, "you really don't want to see it, trust me."

"Well with a reaction like that I kind of do," Rainbow replied, taking a curious step forward, "was it really that—"

She paused at Pinkie's blank face stare.

"No, Dashie, you really don't."

Rainbow stared back at Pinkie for a moment before grunting and shuffling back to the bed.

"Alright, alright, sheesh," she muttered, "didn't really wanna see it that much. I mean, it's vomit."

I looked at Pinkie for a moment, then turned to the closet with a frown.

Was it really that gross?

...No, Pinkie's hiding something.

But what was she trying to hide? Just what did I puke up? I shook my head and grimaced in disgust.

Maybe that was something I didn't need to know either.

Instead of worrying about it, I turned to Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine. My thoughts were clearing enough for me to guess as to why they'd be here, but something was still bothering me.

"I can understand Pinkie and Rainbow," I began, looking between the three other unicorn mares, "but when did you three get here?"

The three of them gave each other uncertain glances before Lemon Hearts spoke up.

"We only just got here recently," she explained, "We... ah...," she glanced at Rainbow Dash before speaking again, "we were on our way here for the Summer Sun Celebration when we... er..."

"When we ran into Spike!" Minuette finished quickly, "he told us you started freaking out and that we needed to come quick."

"Wait, what?" I replied, furrowing my brow in utter bewilderment, "but... how is that... I thought Spike was—"

My eyes widened in realization and I swept a panicked gaze across the room.

"Where's Spike?" I asked, sitting up straight, "he was here with me and Pinkie, he was supposed to be asleep and... where is he?"

"Calm down, darling," Rarity said, pushing me back down onto the bed, "he's not here, but wherever he is, I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"Pinkie?" I asked, turning to the suddenly nervous looking earth pony, "you were here with us. He was asleep, wasn't he? What happened to him? When did he even wake up?"

"Gee, Twilight," Pinkie muttered, flicking her eyes over to Rainbow Dash, "I don't think—"

"I actually saw him leave," Rainbow Dash exclaimed, causing everypony to turn to her in surprise, "yeah, I just happened to be looking out one of the windows earlier and saw him walking away from the library."

She frowned and tilted her head slightly in thought.

"Don't know how he got outside without coming down the stairs and going through the door, but I figured you'd just sent him on some kind of errand for Twilight or something, Pinkie."

"Ah, that's right, I did!" Pinkie replied with a vigorous shake her head, "I nearly forgot I told him to pick up something special from Sugarcube Corner for Twilight as a get well present!"

"Huh," Rainbow replied with a shrug, "well I guess that explains why he left, but that still doesn't—"

"So how long ago was that?" I pushed, cutting Rainbow off, "shouldn't he be back by now?"

"He, uh... when we met him earlier he said he had something to take care of," Twinkleshine offered, "he said he'd be back by the time the Summer Sun Celebration started and not to worry."

"Wait what?" Rainbow asked, blinking in surprise, "but what about Twilight's present?"

"Nevermind that, Rainbow," I answered, "it's fine, whatever he's doing, it's probably more important."

A knot of dread was forming in my stomach.

Something was very wrong here, and I had no idea what it was. It was clear the others were all trying to hide something from Rainbow, but as long as she was listening, we weren't going to get anywhere.

There was something going on with Spike, and I think Pinkie knew what it was. Did Rarity wake him up, or did he wake up on his own? In either case, why did he leave? What was he doing?

I had to find a way to get Rainbow Dash out of the room so we could all talk without making her suspicious... but there was something else...

"Wait," I looked around and a small frown crossed my face, "where's Applejack and Fluttershy? I don't see them here either."

"Oh, them?" Rainbow replied airily, "they left not long after Spike did. Applejack said she had something important she had to go do and Fluttershy decided to go with," she paused, "now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure they were headed in the same direction as the little guy."

The knot of dread in my stomach tightened, then it tightened again as I caught sight of the uneasy glances the others gave one another.

That was it, I was done waiting.

I had a strong feeling something very bad was going to happen soon, and I needed to find out what it was before it was too late.

"Hey... Twi?" Rainbow asked worriedly, "you okay? You look a little—"

"Sleep, Rainbow Dash... now."

A dull thud echoed through the room as Rainbow's unconscious body hit the wooden floor. The others all breathed audible sighs of relief, but snapped back to attention as I spoke again, my hardened gaze passing over each of them in turn.

"Now... what happened?"