The next day in Canterlot, Twilight and Spike have finished redecorating her new bedroom.
"Look at it, Spike." said Twilight, beholding the work they've done.
"I see, twilight," said Spike, "Could've finished it yesterday if you haven't sent Rainbow Dash away." He then said matter-of-factly.
"Spike, she broke my mirror!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Accidentally" Spike pointed out.
"I had that mirror ever since I came to Ponyville," said Twilight.
"Is it special to you because it was one of the few things that survived the library's destruction when Tirek almost obliterated you?" asked Spike with a snark.
Twilight mulled over for a minute and said, "Yeah."
"Twilight, imagine what Rainbow Dash must've been feeling when you got up in her face about a mirror that you had for basically ten years." said Spike.
"Why imagine it..." said a surprising and creepy voice, which spooked Twilight and Spike, "when you can ask her yourself?"
Twilight and Spike then saw Bitter Taste entering through the shadows with a hypnotized Rainbow Dash following him.
"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked incredulously.
"Who's your new friend?" asked Spike, inquiring about Bitter Taste.
"Oh, just someone who is trying to give her a new perspective on life." said Bitter Taste coolly as he held his brainwashed pegasus puppet's chin.
Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and noticed the swirls in her eyes. She then turned to Bitter Taste.
"You did something to her, didn't you?!" Twilight demanded.
"Maybe," Bitter Taste said shiftily.
Twilight charged up her horn and began to get hostile.
"You better tell me what you did to her, or so help me, I'll..."
Before Twilight could finish, Rainbow Dash suddenly walked between the furious alicorn and the shady unicorn.
"You'll do nothing." said Rainbow Dash mechanically.
Twilight suddenly held back her magic before giving a surprised glance.
"Rainbow?" Twilight asked.
"Bitter Taste here helped me see the light," said Rainbow Dash, her monotone not leaving, "He had me realize where my loyalties are supposed to lie. And clearly, they don't lie with you or the rest of the ponies I considered my best friends."
Twilight began to feel very confused as to why Rainbow Dash would question her loyalty to her friends.
"Rainbow," said Twilight, "If this about the mirror yesterday, I just now had some time to think about it and..."
"I'm afraid this goes beyond of what happened between you and I yesterday, your highness," said the hypnotized Rainbow Dash, with the last word being filled with venom, "Ever since you and I have become friends, you and the rest of our group have done a bunch of horrible things to me."
Twilight looked even more mystified before asking, "We have?"
"Yes indeed," said Bitter Taste, interjecting in the conversation, "There's a whole list of things, the Mare-Do-Well debacle that could've been avoided if you and your friends simply talked to Rainbow, shaming her for concealing her dislike of pies to Pinkie even though she didn't want to hurt her feelings, the list goes on, forcing her against her will to coach some cheerleaders of which she is not qualified for, the list goes on."
Twilight looked utterly unnerved at hearing this.
Spike crept up behind Bitter Taste to tackle him, but before he can do so, the brainwashed Rainbow Dash unexpectedly tacked him and pinned him to the ground to avoid any interference.
Twilight gasped and tried to help Spike but Bitter Taste used his magic to incapacitate her.
"I really hate to do this to you Princess Twilight Sparkle," said Bitter Taste, "But I'm afraid your rule over Equestria is officially short-lived."
Suddenly, he casts a beam of his magic at Twilight and magic was suddenly going from Twilight to his horn all while Twilight begins yelling in pain as we see her shadow in the background shaking before it suddenly shrinks and her wings suddenly disappear.
"NO!" Spike screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw what this new adversary has done to his 'big sister'.
Just then, the absorbing stops and Twilight drops down on the ground, released from Bitter Taste's grasp. Twilight groaned as she got up and was very dizzy and she saw Bitter Taste holing some glowing magic in his horn.
"What is..." Twilight said dizzily before looking in a nearby mirror (not the one Rainbow broke yesterday) and her dizziness shook off as she was utterly shocked at what she saw, she was a unicorn again! Indeed, Twilight was not an alicorn anymore, she had no wings on her sides and she was noticeably a little smaller, basically the same height she was when she was unicorn.
"What did you do to me?!" snapped Twilight at Bitter Taste.
"Basically took you back," said Bitter Taste matter-of-factly, "Reset your life. Made all the hard work you went through for nothing. Take your pick."
He then shoots his horn at Rainbow Dash who, after being hit, instantly released Spike. Rainbow Dash began to undergo a transformations, she grew a little, her wings enlarged a little, and a horn appeared on her head.
A huge light filled the room as the two unicorns and dragons shielded their eyes and when the brightness dimmed down, they looked are were surprised at what they saw, Rainbow Dash is an alcorn! She still however, was hypnotized.
"Thanks master." said Rainbow Dash monotonously.
"You're welcome." said Bitter Taste.
"Wait until Celestia and Luna hear about this." said Spike has he reached for some parchment and his pen but was suddenly hit with some of Bitter Taste's magic and Spike looked and saw that he was turning to stone, much to his distress.
"TWILIGHT!" Spike shouted as the petrification was completed and Spike was left with a scared look on his face before dropping to the ground, though he didn't break.
"SPIKE!" Twilight screamed as she went over to her petrified assistant.
"Well, I hate to cut our visit short, but me and my little friend have places to be. See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!"
He levitates himself with his magic while Rainbow Dash starts using her wings to fly off and they use a nearby balcony to head off. Twilight runs to the balcony and tries to fire her magic at them, but to her horror, only a small amount comes out.
"What the hay?" said Twilight Sparkle in shock.
...
At the Crystal Empire castle, Princess Cadance was napping in her lounge, having had a huge work day and was getting much-deserved rest. Suddenly, a small hoof pokes her face muzzle. Cadance just stirs in her sleep but remains in dreamland. That one hoof suddenly became two and they pressed harder on Cadance's face. This caused the sleeping princess to wake up.
Princess Cadance groggily opens her eyes and sees Flurry Heart franticly babbling (since she is still an infant).
Cadance, sill recovering from being woken up, asks, "What's wrong Flurry Heart?"
Flurry Heart manages to spit it out in small words while pointing out of the lounge, "Bad...things...happening!"
Princess Cadance looked shocked at hearing this, uses her magic to lift Flurry Heart up to her back, and immediately flues out of the lounge and she goes straight to the throne room. On the way though, she stopped as she saw all of the guards are encased in stone. As she passed by the statues, she immediately stoped at the one that's near the throne room. It's Shining Armor and he seems to have a rather pained look on his face.
"Shining Armor!" Cadance yelled as she went to her petrified loved one and put a hoof to his fossilized face in sadness as she descended to the floor.
"Who could've done this?" Cadance asked with tears in her eyes.
"In here Princess," came a familiar voice from the throne room, sounding monotonous.
Princess Cadance looked surprised as she went in the throne room and looked shocked as she saw an alicorn Rainbow Dash sitting on the throne.
"Rainbow Dash?" asked Princess Cadance in complete surprise.
"Good to see you, Cadance." said Rainbow mechanically.
"Are you...an Alicorn?" asked Cadance in disbelief.
Before any answer could be given, Cadance is suddenly struck from behind by gray-colored magic and was pinned to a wall frontside-first (while Flurry Heart landed safely on a fainting couch nearby). As a beam of magic started to overcome her, Cadance was yelling in pain as we see her shadow from the wall and we see her get a little bit smaller while her horn vanishes. Cadance is released from the magical grasp and falls to the floor. She looks at the floor and sees in its reflection that she has devolved into a Pegasus, much to her shock. Not only that, but her mane was progressively shorter. Before she could react even further, she notices that the same beam of magic was headed to Rainbow Dash and when it hit her, her horn, legs, neck, mane, and wings have grown taller and she has gained Cadance's body build.
"Thank you, master." said the hypnotized Rainbow Dash to Cadance's assailant.
Cadance turns to the aforementioned assailant and sees that it is Bitter Taste.
"You!" said Cadance in shock.
Before she could do anything else, Bitter Taste hit her with another spell and Cadance soon fell on her hooves into a deep sleep. After this, Bitter Taste ceased fire.
"Enjoy your nap, Cadance," said Bitter Taste, "Because when you wake up, you will have a lot to do."
The hypnotized (and empowered) alicorn Rainbow Dash came to him.
"Come on, Rainbow Dash," said Bitter Taste, "We have one last stop to make.
"What about the alicorn baby, Master Bitter Taste?" asked the brainwashed Rainbow Dash.
Flurry Heart recoiled in fright at the thought of being attacked next. However, Bitter Taste just dismissed this and said, "There are lines even I would not dare cross. Now come on."
"Okay, master."
With that, Bitter Taste hopped on Rainbow Dash and the latter flew out of the balcony and into the sky. All while Flurry Heart looked at her sleeping and depowered mother with a look of sadness to her.
...
Celestia and Luna were having a relaxing day at Silver Shoals within their secluded cottage uptop a hill. Ever since they retired 8 days prior, they have had the time of their lives doing various stuff (for Celestia, skiing and skydiving from the lighthouse and for Luna, fishing for dinner and painting). They were now just laying on their porch, enjoying the seaside view.
"Ah sister," said Celestia, "Don't you just enjoy the ocean."
"That I do," said Luna, "It seems like after the battle we had with those three so-and-so's, it's nice for Equestria to be peaceful again."
Celestia then said, "Indeed. I cannot imagine anything to ruin this day."
There was a sudden knock at their door, which grabbed their attention.
"Who could that be?" asked Celestia.
"I don't know." responded Luna.
The former royal sisters walked to the door and when they turned to see their visitor, they give shocked looks as they see the alicorn Rainbow Dash waiting at their doors.
"Is that Rainbow Dash?" asked Celestia.
"Looks like her, but why is she an alicorn and look like Cadance?" asked Luna.
Before anything else happens, the two sisters are suddenly zapped by red-colored magic and are caught in a stasis.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Luna demanded.
"Don't worry, you two," said the slimy voice of Bitter Taste as he came up to the porch, "This won't take long."
Before Celestia and Luna could question this mysterious stallion, they both suddenly felt a huge twinge of pain befall them. As they screamed their heads off, we move on their shadows and after a few seconds, the shadows of their bodies, manes, and tails shrink and the shadows of their horns and wings disappear.
Celestia and Luna fall onto the floor, completely dizzy n the head(s). The look at each other and gasp in shock.
"You're an earth pony!" They said together.
Indeed, both Celestia and Luna were devolved into earth ponies, their wings and tails are gone. They were noticeably less taller and their manes were no longer lucid and flowing all the time, now they were downgraded to just regular pony manes with Celestia having a rainbow-like mane that goes up to her shoulders and Luna having a regular blue mane that goes up to her shoulders. Their tails also had the same problem since they were shorter and also not flowing.
Celestia and Luna soon looked at their own body parts and were utterly shocked, but before they could react further, they notice Bitter Taste shooting a beam of magic to the hypnotized Rainbow Dash and soon, Rainbow Dash's mane, wings, tail, body and acquired horn grow again, only this time, her mane and tail start flowing like Celestia's and Luna's. Speaking of which, she also has their body structure, looking very tall and attractive.
"Thanks Master Bitter Taste."
"Alright," said Bitter Taste, "We're done here, Your Majesty."
Rainbow Dash, although still hypnotized, looked rather confused at that.
"Your Majesty?" asked Rainbow Dash mechanically.
"Yes," said Bitter Taste in happiness, "After all the hardships, heartaches, and mean behavior your friends put you through, I feel as though you should be treated as a princess. And what better way to do that than to actually make you a princess."
As he said his last words, he fired another beam into Rainbow Dash's head and the recoiling pegasus-turned-alicorn was suddenly plagued with visions of all the bad times she had with her friends, from the insane lengths they went to teach her a lesson, to being often a subject of physical pain like when she crashed into a train sign when chasing Little Strongheart and Fluttershy kicking her in the guts after wanting to make the latter watch the dragon migration. All those memories made Rainbow Dash feel more and more hurt emotionally until inside her body, a transparent heart-shaped bit of magic broke and unleashed some darkness.
Slowly, Rainbow Dash's eyes changed into reptile-like pupils and she gave a rather sinister grin about her and her cutie mark, mane, and tail noticeably became darker. Rainbow Dash was not longer hypnotized, but she certainly wasn't the same.
Celestia and Luna looked at this in shock but before they could do anything, Bitter Taste suddenly struck them with his magic again and they were trapped in a large crystal block, completely immobilizing them.
"Yes, thanks a whole lot, Bitter Taste," said Rainbow Dash evilly, "I now see that I was foolish to ever be friends with anyone. Well, never again! Princess Rainbow Dash has only you for support."
"You know, Rainbow Dash just doesn't sit well as a princess name," said Bitter Taste, "How about, Princess Dark Rainbow."
Rainbow Dash thinks for a minute and said, "I like it!"
"Alright then, Princess Dark Rainbow, let us go back to your home in Ponyville."
"Why?" asked Dark Rainbow.
"I'll tell you when we get to your cloud."
With that, Bitter Taste and the newly-formed Princess Dark Rainbow vanished. Celestia and Luna were still frozen in the block of ice and were in utter distress.
TO BE CONTINUED...