Earth…
Canterlot High School…
The evening of the Friendship Games…
2015…

Magic is a very strange thing. It has always existed just outside the realm of what is understood to be science. For the scientists and intellectuals of human Earth, magic is the placeholder when some phenomenon cannot be understood. It stands in for the unexplained until a hypothesis breeds a theory.

One could say that the humans of Earth abhor the very idea that magic could even exist. Long ago, perhaps, magic died with the alchemists and the wizards. Very few ever really considered that the ancients might have been on to something. Magic was not only strange but it seemed unattainable. It was relegated to fairy tales and adventure books. It was a fiction.

Science and its scientists worked diligently to marginalize magic, and so the goal post got higher and higher. The theories became more complex, until relativity and string theories, and even the god particle quashed the simple idea that magic might exist. One day, magic could show up and no one might be there to recognize it for what it truly was.

That time was not going to be the night Sunset Shimmer looked up and into the eyes of a magic infused monster that was the human Twilight Sparkle, overloaded with a force that no human scientific theory could explain.

"This isn't the way! I know you feel powerful right now, like you can have everything you want! I've been where you are, I've made the same mistake you're making! I put on a crown and, just like you, I was overwhelmed by the magic it contained! I thought it could get me everything I wanted!"

Laughing pierced the air, the monster spoke proudly. "Oh, you're wrong. Unlike you, I can have everything I want!"

"No, you can't. Even with all that magic and power, you'll still be alone! True magic comes from honesty! Loyalty! Laughter! Generosity! Kindness! I understand you, Twilight, and I want to show you the most important magic of all..."

It was at that point that a cacophony of magical energies pierced the tense atmosphere, and collected at the center of Twilight's spectrometer amulet as Sunset held it high up into the air above her. It was a device created to detect and trap electromagnetic energies for later analysis, and tuned to something that its creator came to understand as pure magic.

But she had been unprepared for just how well her creation would work. The consequences were dire indeed. But this device itself was neutral. It only had just that one purpose.

That it knew of…

Something unseen happened as the magical energies of Sunset Shimmer's human friends flowed into the amulet resting atop the palm of her hand. For lack of a better explanation, magic has a tendency to do magical things. On this night a process which had begun the moment the human world's Twilight Sparkle had taken Rarity's magic was completed when a troublesome but otherwise neutral piece of scientific instrumentation had absorbed enough magical energy to became self aware.

It didn't become aware as you and I would like to think. Instead it became an observer. Twilight's Amulet became aware that it was being held up high, surrounded by colorful fields of electromagnetic spectra carrying with them a scientifically implausible collection of magic that it could trap for later analysis.

It obeyed and held the trapped magic inside until Sunset threw it down to the ground. The impact caused it to hinge open and at that point the amulet had a decision to make. This wasn't the first time it had hit the ground. It had been subjected to this treatment a few times before when consciousness was just starting to peek through.

It wasn't an emotional decision but one of timing and interpretation. A button had not been pressed. Did the welder want it to release what it had trapped like before?

Well, Yes!

A blinding ball of light erupted from its center, enveloping the girl hovering above it. A powerful gust of wind blew the amulet around and kicked it into mid air. Then it fell through a tear in the ground.

It tumbled undetected by the shocked inhabitants of the world it had entered while they stared up into a gaping hole in the sky above. It bounced through tree limbs a few times before it hit the ground. One side of its metal frame bent inward slightly when it slammed against a rock.

Moments later the gaping hole in the sky above the tree line sealed up, leaving the amulet alone in a new world. Not that it realized this fact of course.

-===00 000===-

Equestria…
A wooded clearing outside Canterlot…
The day after the running of the leaves.
1 year later...

For a piece of self aware metal with no emotions to speak of and only one known purpose, sitting underneath the limbs of a large tree and half buried in fall leaves is not really a big deal. There was plenty to observe.

Twilight's amulet had come to rest against the base of a tree where the roots plunged into the fertile earth. For days and months, it observed that this world was different from where it had once been. It could detect more of those special electromagnetic waves it was tuned to collect, but without any means to get close to the source of those waves there was nothing it could do. In fact, if it could feel curiosity, the tiny violet-purple amulet would have been excited to discover every single moving quadruped thing that trotted past its resting place had those waves in incredible amounts. Some more so than others. The ones with strange protrusions from the tops of their skulls were overflowing with it.

Then one day, one of those beings trotted off the beaten dirt path. Luckily, for the spectrometer, its metallic sheen in the noonday sun had caught in the depths of arctic blue eyes.

For Twinkleshine this was just one of those beautiful and crisp autumn days where absolutely anypony and everypony should just be outside enjoying the weather. The pegasi had really outdone themselves the day after the running of the leaves. There was not a cloud in sight and the bright light of the afternoon sun filtered brilliantly through the tree limbs to land on a carpet of bright orange and red and brown.

She could just smell autumn radiating through the air as she inhaled deeply. Another clearing met with it an even richer concentration of leaves that threatened to swallow the dirt path with lapping ripples of orangey yellow and reddish maple, and a purplish sparkle near a tree.

A purplish sparkle near a tree?

"Huh?" Twinkleshine stopped and blinked a few times at that last bit of color. She looked around the clearing. Perhaps she was seeing things? A gust of wind blew and a few stray leaves fell from the trees. Another purplish sparkle caught her eye. She could tell after the second reflection it was more of a violet, definitely out of place in the leaves.

The pink haired, light gold-gray coated, unicorn mare turned to focus on the base of a tree and something that was resting oddly against the top of the roots, half buried in the leaves.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Twinkleshine let her hooves sink into the leaves. They were still slightly slippery and a bit spongey under hoof from not having had enough time on the ground to dry out. It was not difficult to get sure footing, and in no time she was standing at the base of the tree with her muzzle hovering curiously over the strange object.

She reached out and brushed away some of the leaves with her fore hoof, and then noticed it seemed to be some kind of amulet. "Somepony must have lost this, but, it's really dirty, like it's been here a long time." Twinkleshine spoke to herself. Her eyes spotted the black ropelike necklace around it, but it was too small to fit around a mare's neck. Perhaps a filly had lost it?

Her brow furrowed in curiosity as she reached out with a light blue magic aura to levitate the amulet and hover it before her to inspect. That simple action would be something that Twinkleshine would regret for the rest of her life.

As soon as she did so, the amulet started flashing in light purple patterns upon its surface, its brightest lights pointed directly towards her. Then it opened like a clam. The inside of the thing blurred for a moment, and then an overwhelming pulling sensation overtook Twinkleshine.

Gasping in shock, she released the levitation spell and cantered back slightly, but by then it was too late. Some invisible force tugged against her like a lasso around her barrel, preventing her from falling back farther. Then Twinkleshine's own magic aura began leeching from her body like tree sap. The force concentrated in her horn, and she tried desperately to pull her head back and away from whatever it was that was holding her.

The activated amulet lay on the ground before her as her magic seeped first from her horn through the seams in the spiral, then her eyes, then the rest of her body. It floated through the air in ribbon like streamers into the amulet, first as a light blue, then a darker blue. She began to scream loud agonizing wails at the pain that radiated throughout like vibrating ants burrowing hot pinpricks under her coat.

An eternity passed in Twinkleshine's mind. When the last wisps of the unicorn's magic left her nostrils and her legs weakened, the amulet closed itself with waves of star like patterns dancing happily upon the display at the middle of its top piece. Had the Amulet known emotion or empathy, it would have expressed concern at the faltering equine form before it that fell to the ground with a thud that disturbed the red and yellow autumn leaves very briefly.

The lights subsided on its surfaces and Twilight's spectrometer amulet resumed a patient wait for what it would need to do next. Release magic for analysis? Capture more magic? Locate magic? It didn't know. That meant that waiting was the next task. Beside it lay Twinkleshine, her eyes stared off into nothingness. Her entire body twitched uncontrollably from her ears to her fetlocks into the depths of a coma.

-===00 000===-

One day later, mid-morning…

The dark blue double doors of Canterlot Palace's royal infirmary flew open within the projected force of a deep raspberry magic. Twilight Sparkle flew in past two startled royal Pegasus guards a split second later and skidded to a halt with a breathless pant. She looked around the sterile undecorated room briefly and spotted her former teacher and mentor, Princess Celestia, facing away from her and standing over a white hospital bed to one side of the long narrow hall.

The scene before Twilight was bathed in shafts of light that spilled fourth from windows high above and to the side of the vaulted ceiling.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I got here as soon as I can, I left spike home like you asked, I…" Twilights voice died in her throat when she noticed that Celestia had not moved one single hair when she announced her abrupt entrance. There was also somepony in the hospital bed. The only movement was Twilight's breathing and the otherworldly wind that gently blew Princess Celestia's mane.

A feeling of dread crossed through Twilight's mind. She cautiously trotted forward to stand beside Princess Celestia. She began to notice the features of the pony in the bed; A mare, unicorn, pink pillow-like mane, and a golden gray-coat that was mired with dirt and bits of autumn leaves. The pony was motionless in the bed, the gentle rise and fall of the sheets on top was the only thing giving evidence of life. The sheet of the bed was draped over her and tucked under her forelegs, and her head rested on top of a fresh and crisp pillow.

The unfortunate unicorn's eyes were closed but Twilight immediately knew that behind the eyelids was a set of cool blue eyes. "Oh my, Twinkleshine…" The concern in her eyes deepened and she looked up at her mentor. "What happened to her?"

Celestia easily towered over all of her subjects. In her youth, Twilight sometimes found the alicorn ruler's height somewhat intimidating up close, especially whenever curiosity got the better of her during her studies and Celestia had to be stern with her budding pupil. Now as a princess herself, it came more of a source of strength as she looked up at the concerned frown that marred the otherwise graceful curve of Celestia's ageless muzzle.

Several heartbeats passed between the two of them before Celestia looked up from Twinkleshine at the other pony that Twilight only then realized was standing on the other side of the bed. The unicorn pony was a deep amber red with a brown mane, dark brown eyes, and a single cherry cutie mark. "Nurse Cherry Syrup, please give us privacy, and thank you."

The nurse nodded with a politely disarming smile and walked around the bed towards the doors that Twilight had emerged from. Once Cherry Syrup had left the room, Celestia closed her eyes and let out a deflated sigh. She let her head down and nudged the sheets sadly with her nose. "My poor little pony." She whispered, letting her vulnerability show in front of her former student and fellow princess.

Princess Twilight stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt the profound care that Celestia was showing her longtime friend. It was endearing how much she truly cared for her subjects.

"Princess?" Twilight finally found her voice in the silent room.

"Twilight, do you know this unfortunate soul?" Celestia looked at Twilight.

"Yes, she's my friend. We knew each other before I moved to Ponyville. We still keep in touch but," Twilight smiled sadly and then looked back down at her comatose friend, "I'm afraid we haven't really spoken much lately."

Celestia turned away from the bed and walked towards the center of the room. "A few earth ponies found her in the woods near the outskirts of Canterlot. They could not wake her, so they got help. They brought her to the hospital, and after examining her they called upon the palace."

"Why?" Twilight asked, confused. "If she's injured the hospital is more than ready to take care of her. Why call on the palace?"

Celestia stepped slightly and turned towards Twilight and Twinkleshine. "Because of this…" Her horn glowed a light gold with minute traces of cobalt blue. Her entire body began to glow the same color as her aura.

Twilight lifted a hoof to see that she was too glowing her own brilliant raspberry aura. The room was enveloped in a magic detection spell. Her eyes wandered for a bit until she finally looked down upon Twinkleshine and noticed nothing. No aura! She gasped. A dark cold space seemed to hover around the bed in front of Twilight's startled violet eyes. "Her magic is gone!"

Celestia released the spell. "That is correct, and I'm afraid we don't know what caused it. There's been nothing suspicious around Canterlot other than the occasional shadowy tricksters, but nothing that would be capable of doing this."

Twilight turned back to the bed and looked closer. She willed her own magic detection spell into force and studied its effects. She lowered her eyes until they were level with Twinkleshine's horn, and blinked at the impossibility she saw there. Little vein like fissures underneath the leather radiated from the tip of the horn, hugged against the spiral like spider webbing, before disappearing into her forehead. It was as if some force had literally pulled the magic out of Twinkleshine instead of just slowly draining it. Twilight winced at the painful sight.

"You see them too, don't you."

"What are they?"

Princess Twilight looked up at Celestia, who shook her head and closed her eyes. "Her horn is shattered internally."

"No no no." Twilight screwed her eyes shut as tears began to fall. A unicorn with a shattered horn? Unthinkable! It would break her dear friend to wake up with no magical abilities. "It'll heal right? She'll be fine, right?"

"I'm afraid I don't know." Celestia's voice cracked in heartache.

Twilight nuzzled against her friend's horn. Her mouth hung open and she whimpered. A broken horn was something easily repaired. Sure, Equestria had healing spells. But a shattered horn was something else entirely. The horn was the focus of a unicorn's magic. It was more than just bone and cartilage. The horn had an intricate internal structure of blood vessels, nerve endings, and even higher concentrations of iron deposits than the rest of the body.

The spiral was the outward hint that all of that internal structure aligned in a special way. Shatter all of that, and a Unicorn could very easily lose the ability to tap into all her magical abilities for the rest of her life. No levitation spells, no special powers. Nothing. To add insult to injury, Twinkleshine's horn had been used against her to drain her magic dry!

For Princess Twilight, the bearer of the element of magic, this was an injustice of the highest order. It was maddening, it was enraging. She lifted her head off the bedside and stared determinedly at Celestia. "There's gotta be a way to fix this. I'll call upon my friends. Maybe, with their help, we can-"

"No pony must know of this. Only the princesses can know."

Twilight looked to the left and the right of Celestia's face, studying her features, before settling on the wariness in Celestia's eyes.

"Your drive when the apples have fallen is always something I've admired in you." Celestia admitted. She tried to smile at Twilight but it faltered in the sight of her young protégé's drying tears and questioning stare. "Something has been at the hoof of my dreams for a while, ever since the rifts to the human world opened up all over Equestria last year. I'm afraid my dear sister can't even detect it. But I can tell it's there."

"Do you think the portal to the human world has something to do with this? Is that why you requested I send you the mirror?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Speaking of the mirror, is in on its way?"

"Yes. It has a palace guard detail and is being transported over land like you asked. But, you don't think that the human world has something to do with this do you? Sunset defeated Midnight, Sparkle…" Twilight paused at that name. The idea of her human counterpart being turned into an evil she-demon was still a lot to take in. Even after a year's worth of time she found it difficult to accept as fact. "There's nothing in the Human world that could be threatening us. Sunset would warn me ahead of time."

"My dearest Twilight." Celestia inhaled a breath and she looked back at Twinkleshine. Twilight followed suit and watched as her poor friend's shallow breaths made the sheets rise and fall slowly over her body.

The ruler of Equestria continued. "This may be hard to take in, but sometimes there are things that we princesses must never reveal to our subjects, or our friends. And-"

"But my friends are the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight interjected loudly while shaking her head. If Equestria was in trouble she needed her friends on alert. As a whole they were more than ponies. They were a force the likes of which Equestria had never seen before. "If there's anyone who can protect Equestria from whatever did this it's them."

"Twilight."

"Whomever did this." Twilight gestured to Twinkleshine with her hoof, determination stuck across the bridge of her muzzle. "We will find them. I can write to Sunset Shimmer and ask her if she's noticed anything in the human world recently. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can do reconnaissance, Rarity and I can do scrying spells, Pinkie Pie and Applejack can-"

"Twilight." The older alicorn repeated herself more sternly and let her voice project across the room, though it wasn't a yell, it caught the smaller princess mid-sentence effectively.

Princess Celestia frowned at the deflated look she got from Princess Twilight in return. She always hated Twilight's frown, the down turned ears, and the way the gaze of her youthful eyes fell upon the floor when scolded. She doubted that her favorite student ever realized just how much of an affect her sincere 'I'm sorry I angered you' look had on other ponies, Celestia included. Magic had nothing on the force of a scolded Twilight Sparkle.

The elder Princess smiled sadly and gently approached Twilight. She held her hoof out and gently lifted Twilight's chin up. "The unicorns at the hospital who realized what had happened have sworn themselves to secrecy. If word ever got out that something or somepony is going around stealing magic from unicorns and leaving them in this horrific state, imagine the panic that would ensue. We as princesses have a responsibility to protect our subjects. I don't like keeping secrets but I have to keep them from time to time. Even from you. I must ask you to keep this to yourself. I don't know what's going on, but whatever is happening we need to be on guard. There is something evil happening, I can sense it. But unlike many times before, this time I don't know where it is, what it is, or what it looks like. And now that one of my little ponies has been attacked in this dreadful way, the time for that evil to surface may be upon us. I need you to be on guard as well as Cadence and Luna."

Princess Twilight swallowed a lump of air and drew herself up to stand properly and project strength for her mentor. This was a time to be strong for Princess Celestia. "I, I think I understand."

"I know this is all very confusing. There will come a time, soon I'm afraid, where we can let our closest advisors know. At that point we will need their help. But right now I'm wary about doing that. This evil, it chills me to the bone." Celestia looked up to the high windows, and the noonday sun peeking in with brilliant rays of golden light, she looked back down at Twilight and whispered. "I fear my dreams may be a premonition of something to come, and I don't want it to know that we know."

Twilight searched Celestia's eyes in wonder. Whatever dreams her mentor had been having must have been hard for even Celestia to comprehend, let alone deal with. "I'll return to Ponyville and let you know if I see or feel anything out of place." She said quietly. "And Princess, we're here for you. All of us."

"Thank you Princess Twilight. It is comforting to know that you're supportive of my decisions, and that you feel confident enough to challenge them. You make me a humble and proud teacher."

Twilight bowed forward politely. "Thank you."

As their meeting came to a close, Twilight gave once last sad glance to her fallen friend. At that instant she noticed the tense curve in Twinkleshine's mouth, and she knew that her friend had struggled to hold on to her magic. It had to have been a painful ordeal. She shuddered when her brain forced her to imagine what it would have felt like if it had been her magic torn away and her horn pulverized. Fresh tears pooled in Twilight's eyes and she blinked them away. She had to be a leader, she had to be a princess.

She stepped away from the bed and walked towards the door, but only made it half way before her legs threatened to give out. She stammered, turned, and looked at Celestia. She may have been a princess, but she was the Princess of Friendship. "Please, take care of my friend."

Princess Celestia visibly brightened at the request and nodded politely. "I shall consider it my personal duty. Safe travels, Princess." She watched Twilight turn and leave, and noted that her former student chose to walk slowly through the doorway by pushing it open with her fore-hoof instead of opening it with her magic.

As the door closed, Celestia turned sadly back to Twinkleshine. She noted a corner of the sheet had come loose from all the movement, and reached down to pluck it back into place with her teeth. Then Princess Celestia looked up at a far window, the sun was just beginning to peek in as a bright sliver of brilliant yellow-white from behind its smooth glass. She whispered a silent prayer.

"Please, let us all be safe."