I paced about the bedroom nervously, wondering just what to do next. I still wanted to maintain at least a façade of normalcy, and to that end I'd already sent Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine back to the hospital. They of course, didn't protest, but I could tell they were unhappy with the decision.

I felt bad when they'd told me of their imprisonment in the room, so I told them to feign a loss of memory in the hopes that Celestia would allow them to leave. If the princess really could sense that something was wrong, I doubted we could fool her by acting completely normal, so that would have to be the best we could do.

I didn't want to go against Celestia, and though it was probably an inevitability, I wanted to hold it off for as long as possible. In the meantime, I wandered about my room, trying to decide what to do with the unconscious mares and Spike.

Pinkie and Rarity stood by, the former with bemusement, and the latter with a small amount of worry on my part. I knew she was worried for me without having to look in her direction, and that was another thing I found odd.

It was like I could sense Rarity, like I could sense her thoughts, feelings, and presence, and that had most definitely not been the case a few hours ago. I wasn't completely sure, but now that I thought back on it, I felt as though it'd been happening gradually ever since I woke up.

It was the same for the other three mares I'd sent back to Canterlot. Even though they were gone, I could still feel them as though they were right next to me, and I could sense their displeasure at having to remain in the hospital room, and not by my side.

The only one I couldn't seem to sense was Pinkie Pie, and I began to wonder if Awakened ponies grew some kind of intimate, unnatural connection to me, and I to them. Pinkie had only just been Awakened, and I resolved to watch the mare closely to see if my guess was right.

The new sensations made me shiver slightly, and as I listened to Pinkie complain for the fifth time since Spike had returned, I wondered just what else would change in the near future, and to what extent.

"I still don't see why we can't just Awaken them all now, Twilight," Pinkie was saying with a mock pout, "I get where You're coming from, but it's not like death is actually death when it comes to You. In fact, it's kinda like a new life more than anything, a way, way better life, full of happiness and joy and parties and cake and servitude to our all powerful Goddess and—"

"That's the problem, Pinkie!" I cried, whipping around to face the surprised mare, "I still don't know how any of this works for one thing, and even if I did, I don't want servants or slaves or worshipers or any of that nonsense. I just want things to be normal for now, at least until I can..." I gestured towards myself and the blacked out group on the floor, "...get this all sorted out."

I paused and turned back to the unconscious group laid out on the floor, biting my lip with worry and indecision. After a moment Rarity spoke up, her tone slow and deliberate and her eyes fixed on the sleeping mares.

"Twilight, darling," she began, looking back to me, "night has already fallen, and everything has returned to normal as far as everypony but ourselves are concerned. Why not simply bring the others downstairs and leave Spike in bed until it's time for Celestia to raise the sun?"

"Oh, that's right!" Pinkie agreed enthusiastically, "there's a party we never got to finish waiting for us downstairs, and thanks to the Servant, we don't gotta worry about Dashie, Fluttershy, and Applejack freaking out!"

Before I could give my own opinion on the plan, Pinkie had already vanished from the room completely, no doubt to rekindle the party downstairs. I wanted to protest, but found no reason to. Rarity's plan was a sound one, and I was rather embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it in my panic.

Unfortunately, that left the matter of the gap in Applejack and Fluttershy's memories. That new worry grabbed at me, but Rarity was quick to reassure me with an encouraging smile, nodding in my direction as she teleported Spike into bed.

"No need to fret about the memories, dear," she said, making her way over to where the rest of the mares lay, "I will personally see to the others, so you can just relax and enjoy the party."

"I... okay, alright," I finally conceded with a heavy sigh. I smiled wearily at the white mare, "thanks, Rarity. Maybe I do need to just relax for now."

"Think nothing of it, darling," Rarity chuckled, waving the matter away, "it's my pleasure to serve, whether you like it or not. Now, go on, leave Spike to his rest and leave the others to me. I'll meet both you and Pinkie downstairs with the other girls in a moment."

I would've found this extremely worrisome, and would've remained wary of Rarity's intentions, had I not been able to sense said intentions. As it was, I could tell Rarity had nothing sinister planned for the mares, save for maybe some more twisting of memories here and there.

Deciding that it may have been for the best in this situation, I nodded and headed downstairs, leaving Rarity to her work with the three mares. In the meantime, my mind was still somewhat preoccupied with the other major issue of what I'd do once Celestia arrived in Ponyville.

How would I explain myself to the princess, and what would she say? Would she even allow me to explain myself and what happened to me and the others?

All I can hope is that she still sees me as her faithful student...

As I made my way downstairs, I could hear Pinkie humming some kind of tune I didn't recognize, and when I actually saw her, she was darting about the room, making the decorations even more elaborate than earlier.

More streamers were placed throughout the main room and library, balloons were scattered here and there, and there was an entirely new three layered cake on a platter on the table. I reached the bottom of the steps, my eyes longingly glued to the cake.

I wasn't hungry, and I knew from my experience earlier in the day at Applejack's farm that I wouldn't be able to enjoy the oversized confection. I idly wondered if Rarity and Pinkie suffered from the same issue now that they'd changed into something more like me.

"Oh, heya, Twilight!" Pinkie cried, waving me over to the table with a wide grin as she spotted me, "c'mere, I wanna show you something neat!"

I furrowed my brow, wary, but curious all the same of what the mare wanted. All the while, my eyes never left the cake, and I was beginning to feel as though there was something strange about it.

"Pinkie," I asked distractedly, "what is this cake? Where'd you find it?"

There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about the cake as far as outward appearance went, but there was still something about it I couldn't quite put my hoof on. I was so focused on finding out just what the thing was made of that I almost didn't notice my stomach rumble suddenly.

"Find it?" Pinkie replied, snapping me out of my transfixed state with a high pitched giggle, "I made it, silly!"

I whipped around to face the mare, my eyes wide with surprise and incredulity. Pinkie simply gave me that same wide, encouraging smile. I looked from her, to the large, if somewhat ordinary looking vanilla cake, and back to her again.

"You made this?" I finally asked when I found my voice again, "but... how? When? You were only alone for maybe four or five minutes at the most!"

"I'm a baker, it's what I do," Pinkie replied with a simple shrug, "and if you don't mind me saying, I'm reeeaaalllly good at it. I mean, if I didn't get a cutie mark for my penchant for planning parties, then I probably would've gotten one for baking sweets."

"I... you... alright then," I replied, still uncertain and slightly stunned, "but that doesn't explain how you m—mmph!"

My confused rambling was cut off as Pinkie shoved something into my mouth, something I realized a nanosecond later must've been some of the cake.

"Here, try it! I guarantee it won't be like anything you've ever had before," I heard Pinkie say as I tried to chew and swallow the confection, "since you don't, and can't eat like the rest of us, I made this especially for you!"

"Pinkie, I..." I paused as I tasted the cake, and my eyes slowly widened once more as I realized I could actually taste it, "Pinkie... this... you... how did you..."

It was strange.

Pinkie was right in that I'd never tasted anything like it, and yet it was still somehow the best thing I'd tasted in a long time. To my further confusion, I found the odd flavor almost... nostalgic for some reason—so much so that it almost brought tears to my eyes.

"Pinkie... what is this cake made of?" I asked, tearing out another chunk of cake in my magic and digging in, "I can actually taste it, and it's..."

"Wonderful? Spectacular? Splendiferific?" Pinkie guessed, sidling up to me and throwing a hoof around my withers, "the best darned cake you ever tasted in your life?"

"Y-Yeah," I replied, most of my focus still on the cake, "something like that. How did you pull this off? I thought I couldn't eat anymore because of..." I paused in my consumption and grimaced as I looked down at myself, "...all of this. Because of what happened to me."

Pinkie pulled her hoof away and stepped back to fully face me, a proud smile on her own face.

"I'm pretty sure the Servant already knows this," she began, "but once I fully become a denizen of the Black Dimension, I won't just be any old pony-turned... something-that-isn't-pony. As the Chosen Child of Skal-Gazaath, I'm gonna replace the current 'Servant' one day."

"I... what?" I asked, blinking stupidly, "what does that mean? And what does it have to do with the cake?"

Pinkie giggled again and moved to sit over in one of the chairs before speaking again, her tone surprisingly calm and measured as she gazed at the cake she'd made.

"The thing that took over Spike?" she continued, "it was probably another one of Your Chosen Children at some point, and overtime, it grew in power, serving You faithfully until it became the 'Servant'.

"That's what Skal-Gazaath does, She chooses creatures to eventually become Her Most Faithful Servants, giving them awesome power above all others except Herself in order to carry out Her will, whatever it might be," she shrugged again and turned back to me with that same proud smile, "and now it's my turn, I guess."

I stared at the pink earth pony, my meal all but forgotten in the face of this new revelation. She still hadn't answered as to how she'd exactly managed to make such a cake, but that didn't matter to me nearly as much as this 'passing of the Servant mantle' business.

"Pinkie," I asked slowly, "how do you know all of this? I've never even heard of Skal-Gazaath or this 'Black Dimension' until now. I'm not even sure Celestia's heard of any of this, and she's thousands of years old."

"Oh, that's easy," Pinkie replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof, "my family's been in commune with creatures from the Black Dimension almost as long as Celestia and Luna have been ruling Equestria. Some of my ancestors wrote a bunch of texts and we have all kinds of rituals and other crazy stuff that we do. Of course, my sisters and I didn't really get to participate in any of it, or read a lot of the texts because it was 'not yet time'."

She raised her hooves in air quotes before blowing out a raspberry and rolling her eyes. I simply continued to stare at her, baffled as to how a family could be so devoted to an entity from another dimension, and keep it a secret for all these years.

Then something she said suddenly clicked and I furrowed my brow.

"Wait... did you say Luna? Who's Luna?" I asked with a bemused frown. My frown deepened as I thought, "you said she ruled alongside Celestia... then that means..."

I thought back to the story I'd read of the Mare in the Moon, and I shook my head in disbelief. The thought had also brought back the memory of how I'd acted when I was first possessed by Skal-Gazaath, and I winced at my careless and ignorant behavior towards everything.

It felt like that had happened so long ago, and now that I had time to reflect on it, I realized that I'd more or less gradually changed back to the mare I was before—no doubt due to my own memories coming back, and the absence of Skal-Gazaath's memories.

"Pinkie," I continued, getting my mind back on track, "are you telling me that Luna is the Mare in the Moon... and that she's real?"

"Well of course she's real," Pinkie replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "why do you think the moon looks like it has a pony in it?"

"Well, I assumed it was just an... oddly pony shaped jumble of... craters," I replied, feeling incredibly stupid all of a sudden, "I mean, it's possible, but when you put it like that, I don't know..."

Then I remembered something else I'd read, and my eyes widened again, this time in alarm.

"Hey, wait a minute," I cried, rising out of the chair I'd sat in, "on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars shall aid in her escape... that's..." I turned towards Pinkie, who looked back at me expectantly, "Pinkie, that's the Summer Solstice, and the Princess is bringing it about in a few hours! You don't think—"

"Terribly sorry for the wait, darlings," came Rarity's voice from behind Pinkie and I. I turned to see the mare heading down the stairs with the other three mares in tow, "it took me some time to, ah... rouse the others."

"Whoa, Pinkie, you baked another cake? Sweet!" Rainbow Dash cried, spotting the cake in question on the table, "hey, you guys don't mind if I dig in, right?"

Without waiting for a response, she spread her wings and flew down from the steps towards the table. It only took me a second to realize that what may have been good for me, may not have been good for a regular pony, but before I could say anything on the matter, Rainbow had already grabbed a piece.

"Rainbow, wait—"

She shoved the slice into her mouth before anypony could stop her, and I watched with no small amount of trepidation as she ate. The others, meanwhile, had come down the steps and were heading our way. Both Applejack and Fluttershy looked around the room in a slight daze, like they didn't quite know or understand where they were.

I ignored that for the moment and focused on Rainbow as she hummed in delight and grabbed another slice of cake before she'd even finished her first. That was when I started getting suspicious, and as I turned back to Pinkie, I could see she was eyeing Rainbow Dash with a thoughtful frown on her face.

I barely even noticed as Rarity took up the chair next to mine, and only turned towards her when she tapped me on the shoulder. The fact that she was looking from me to Rainbow Dash with a mixed expression of worry and puzzlement didn't help matters.

"Twilight, dear," she muttered, leaning in close to me as she watched the cyan pegasus finish off the second slice of cake and reach for another, "I'm not quite sure how to put this... but there's something... not quite right about Rainbow Dash."

"What do you mean?" I muttered back, already aware that something definitely wasn't right, "what happened up there, and why do Fluttershy and Applejack look like they suffered a botched lobotomy?"

"Well, you see," Rarity began, turning a nervous glance towards the two aimlessly wandering mares in question, "the thing is—"

"Oh wow," Rainbow suddenly exclaimed through a mouthful of cake, "I don't know what you put in this cake, Pinkie, but it's freaking amazing! You gotta make another one of these!"

"Sure thing, Dashie," Pinkie replied with another cheerful giggle. She stood up and made her way over to where Rainbow was before grabbing the entire platter of cake and tossing it onto her back. Rainbow began to protest, but Pinkie cut her off, "can I talk to you in the kitchen for a sec though? I'll bring the cake so you can eat it there."

Rainbow looked from the cake, to Pinkie, to Rarity and I, then finally over to where Fluttershy and Applejack were sitting, staring at nothing in particular.

"Fluttershy? AJ?" she asked, frowning in concern, as she took a step towards them, "hey, you guys okay over there?"

"I think they might just be tired," Pinkie said, trying to catch Rainbow's attention, "Rarity and Twilight can take care of them, but I reeeeaaallly need to talk to you. In the kitchen. Now."

Rainbow bit her lip, eyeing the two dazed mares worriedly for another before relenting and letting Pinkie drag her off towards the kitchen. Just before she moved out of sight, she turned to both Rarity and I.

"Hey, I think something might be wrong with the others," she called back, "see if you can find out what's going on with them, they're kinda freakin' me out here."

"Will do, darling!" Rarity called back with a reassuring smile, "just leave it to us, and go have your little talk."

Rainbow turned to give Fluttershy and Applejack one last look before following after Pinkie. With the pegasus gone, Rarity turned back to me, all semblance of calm reassurance gone, and more worry in its place.

"Twilight, darling, I think, the thing that took over Spike might've done more damage than we thought," she began, "I was able to rouse Applejack and Fluttershy, but apparently, they've lost more than a few hours worth of memories, and I can't seem to... reverse the effects on my own."

"What?!" I cried, panic rising quickly in my chest, "how is that... we have to—"

"Please, calm, down, my Goddess," Rarity hissed, before letting out a deep calming breath herself, "I mean, Twilight... I know it seems bad, but I'm fairly sure you have the power to fix it," she shook her head, "that's not really what worries me however. There's something else that bothers me more."

"I take it, it's about Rainbow Dash?" I guessed, turning towards the kitchen, "she's been acting... off ever since I met her earlier today. Well, not off, it's more like... she isn't affected by all this weirdness. That in and of itself is weird... and then there's the cake."

"Cake?" Rarity repeated with a bemused tilt of her head, "what about the cake?"

"Pinkie made that cake especially for me," I explained, "apparently, I can't taste normal food anymore, probably because I'm no longer a regular pony, but I could taste the cake she made, and it was amazing. That probably means that was no normal cake, but Rainbow Dash..."

I trailed off, my gaze drifting towards the entrance to the kitchen. Rarity remained silent for a few moments longer before giving a quiet reply.

"I see," she muttered with a grimace, "I suppose that makes sense then..."

"You suppose what makes sense?" I asked, turning back to the white unicorn, "just what the hay is going on with Rainbow?"

"Rainbow Dash, she..." Rarity looked from me, to the kitchen, then sighed and turned back to me with a troubled and slightly bewildered frown, "about Rainbow Dash... I don't think she's... entirely equine, darling."

Author's Notes:

I apologize about this particular cliffhanger guys. I couldn't really find a good place to stop, so I kind of kept going until I got to this point, and it was getting a bit too long, and I have other things I need to do. I'll try to release the next chapter a bit sooner.