Twilight happily twiddled the hours away in the library doing what she did best, studying. An unlimited access to the royal library and so many exhilarating subjects could keep a mare like her entertained until the end of time. Usually to help along the process she’d pick ten subjects that particularly drew her attention, and for the first ten months of each year she’d study each selection one by one.

The last two months of the year went to re-examining subjects she had gone over prior, to keep up to date on any new discoveries in each field. She was currently in the middle of the hottest time of the year, happily working her way through this year’s predetermined selections. Last month was water breathing, the month before that was research into wing spells -which still had many advancements to go before they evolved past the fragile butterfly wings that were gifted to rarity -before that was astral projection, and before that was scrying.

This month’s subject, and possibly the highlight of the year, was universal magic. Not just a single trick such as levitation, but honest to Celestia magic. However, almost all of the books she had put on the reserve for the subject did just give the instructions and insight to simple tricks. Though a single book by her favorite unicorn, Starswirl the bearded, did give advanced insight into the otherwise hopeless field.

This book was something of an anomaly. Despite being written centuries before the other books, and by such a popular author, his findings did not appear in any of the more recent books. Other such books in the library should have furthered along his radical leaps, rather then ignore it completely and move at their own, comparatively snail’s pace progression. She assumed perhaps the book had just been released into the section of the library, being withheld from the arcanists of Canterlot while the book was evaluated on the safety and legitimacy of its findings.

The book itself was in spectacular condition, even if from the prestigious library. So Twilight believed such was the case and felt privileged in the fact she must have been one of the first to study it, and was eager to possibly further the findings. Though Twilight had spent the entire busy month simply taking notes on the book, and now it was time to move onto another less attractive selection.

But she felt almost unable to move on with her tight schedule. She had never under any circumstance deviated from her schedule, nor did she ever have reason. Though she had yet to perform the correct experiments to allow her to further study and apply the subject. Feeling this topic was much more important then next month’s choice (illusionary magics), she decided to extend its length for another month.

A drawback to experiments in this field were that only non-magical beings could be used, meaning Twilight would require an aid in her experiments. Her main test subject, Spike, was out of the process due to his magical dragon-fire. And if the librarian had learned anything about getting someone besides Spike as her test subject, she knew that anypony she choose would likely slow her down.

Opening up the book to the pages labeled with notes on what traits best attributed to a successful experiment. She mentally conjured up a list of potential ponies she could use, ranging from the ponies in town she hardly knew, to her most trusted friends. She looked to her notes again, and her heart sunk.

The ideal test subject for this might just do a lot more then slow her down.

---

“So, the idea is that with a strict control of your own mind, you would be able to perform magical feats. Any questions?” Twilight spoke as she finished up her proposal.

Pinkie merely blinked a few times before collapsing to the ground in raucous laughter. She attempted to speak the librarian’s name, possibly to reply through her fit of laughter, but this only resulted in a short “Twi-” before she returned to pounding her hooves on the floor and gasping for air.

“Come on Pinkie, I'm being serious!”

“But Twilight, this is me we’re talking about, why would you think that I would be able to ‘free my mind’?” Pinkie managed to sputter out with a minimal number of giggles, along with a strange voice during her incorrect quoting of Twilight.

“It’s controlling your mind, not freeing it. And I'm asking you because out of anypony you probably have the LEAST similarities to this. According to the book, those who have to work more on regulating themselves usually have a bigger chance of success, and more magical ability.”

“I don’t know about this,” Pinkie spoke between her few final chuckles. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Trust me, if there’s anything that I’ve learned in my years of magical study, it’s that Starswirl creates the most safe and dependable spell analysts anywhere.”

“Safe and dependable...” Pinkie spoke under her breath, before answering. “Okay, Twilight, if you say it’s alright,” She agreed with a slight uncertainty.

“Oh, thank you thank you thank you!” Twilight cheered while jumping in place out of joy before pulling her friend turned fellow scientist into a huge hug. She hadn't even expected Pinkie to agree, but now she had the best subject possible! She pulled herself away with minor embarrassment, clearing her throat. “Any time you could take off each day?”

“I could wake up early to bake, get my shift done, and head over at four,” Pinkie thought aloud, her usual pep starting to return after her slight indecision.

“Oh, Pinkie, that would be fantastic!” Twilight nearly shouted before hugging her friend again. “I’ll see you at four?” Twilight asked upon remembering the increasingly late hour.

“Of course!” Pinkie spoke as she headed out the door, any second thoughts on what she had agreed to dispersed to see the librarian so enthusiastic.

---

Pinkie stood uncharacteristically still, eyes and hoof running over the book Twilight had spent an entire month picking apart. ‘Expanded Psionics Hoofbook’ Was etched across the front and side of the binding, which appeared to be done in a very old fashioned way, remaining untouched by any signs of damage or age.

“Ready?” Twilight’s voice from across the library broke Pinkie from her reverie.

“Yep!” Pinkie blurted as she hopped away from the book, moving to where Twilight resided across the library. “So what are we going to do today?” she inquired

“We’re not going to make any real progress, I’ll just be casting a spell on you from the book that will kick-start the process. If you could lay on the couch I’ll be right over.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie sang as she took her spot on the couch. Checking the book, Twilight made her way to the pink mare’s side and sat down. After a short time her horn began to focus energy, slowly growing brighter.

A few too many instances of reminding Pinkie to remain quiet and still later, the spell was cast. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t feel any differently,” Pinkie responded after a thoughtful moment.

“Good, there should be no noticeable change yet.”

“So that’s it for today?”

“There is one thing that you should start doing as much as possible. In order to properly advance your abilities, you need to analyse your feelings as they occur throughout the day.” Twilight began to explain.

“So just make a note whenever I feel happy?”

“Don’t just make a note. If you can, stop for a moment and reflect on them. I know it sounds weird, but the spell allows this to make a great deal more sense to you, so just try it. Also, it’s more then just emotions, other things like hunger, thirst, and exhaustion should be analysed. You’ll be keeping track on your mind as a whole, not just one specific part.”

“Okie dokie,” Pinkie spoke as she stood up. “See you tomorrow?”

Twilight smiled. “Tomorrow, same time.”

---

One week later

Pinkie’s progression was sub-optimal at first, but as the last few days of the week passed by her powers grew to reach an acceptable height. Here at the week’s end, Twilight had decided to do more hoofs-on testing with Pinkie.

They both stood in the basement, which was cleared out save for a single wooden table and a plethora of odds and ends laying around the floor.

“Alright,” Twilight spoke, “since there’s no specific focus of your powers, I’ve prepared a wide variety of tests.” She began to levitate over three bowling balls to the enchanted wooden table “First off, lets see how well your levitation has become.”

Twilight observed as Pinkie began to focus. Unlike a unicorn, who would show visible signs of stress at the task, Pinkie merely remained calm and unaffected as she set about lifting the bowling balls.

One of the balls began to slowly lift, engulfed in the white glow of Pinkie’s magic. As it reached a few feet off the table it stabilised, and a second ball began to mirror the process. As the two remained floating side by side, the telltale white glow began to lift the final ball. At halfway to the same height as the other two Pinkie’s magic faltered, the three balls crashed to the wooden table and rolled off across the room in different directions before being wrangled by Twilight’s magic.

“Sorry about that, Twilight,” Pinkie spoke as Twilight began to shift through the piles of supplies again.

“No problem, pushing your magic to its limit is what we’re here for,” Twilight assured, levitating both a cup and a bucket full of water onto the table. “First of all, try to freeze three flat sections in the cup, and leave water between them. One at the top, one at the middle, and one in the bottom.”

After a short moment of concentration, Pinkie nodded. Twilight overturned the cup and water poured out onto the table. Amidst the water that flowed from the cup, three sections of ice gathered, each of them a different size, due to the changes in the cup’s contours.

“Excellent precision,” Twilight noted as she magically scribbled notes down in a journal. “Next, try to freeze as much water in the bucket as you can.”

After another short period of concentration, Pinkie nodded yet again. As the bucket was overturned, a large section of ice fell to the table, perfectly cut off in a flat plane. Following it was a section of water that Pinkie was unable to freeze.

“Raw power still needs some work,” Twilight once again noted.

After cleaning up the water and ice, Twilight levitated over a small piece of paper and a candle.

“Next, focus on keeping this piece of paper from catching on fire.” Igniting and holding the candle above the paper, Twilight waited a short moment while Pinkie prepared.

Once given the go-ahead, Twilight placed the burning flame of the candle against the middle of the paper. Half a minute passed by while the librarian fruitlessly attempted to spread the small flame to the flat sheet of paper.

“Alright, for the final test I’ll attempt to burn the paper with magical fire.” Twilight spoke as she stored the candle away from the table. Positioning herself as to not hit anything but the table and wall behind it with her magic, she stood firm and lowered her head. A gout of flame erupted from her horn, obscuring Pinkie’s view of the paper and a small section of the table. After a brief amount of time, the flames died down. The enchanted table was free of scorch marks, and held a few quickly dwindling spots of flame.

The paper was slightly burned, but did not completely catch ablaze. “Great job, Pinkie,” Twilight encouraged as she examined her fire’s minimal results.

Pinkie smiled back. “Thanks, Twilight.”

---

One week later

“Now that we’ve seen that you’re continuing to progress as expected, it’s time to move onto something more difficult.” Twilight spoke to Pinkie who currently sat across from her at one of the library’s many tables. Seeing she had the other mare’s undivided attention, she continued. “Much like you observe your own mind, with enough practice you should be able to see other pony’s. It refers to this as ‘reading’ a pony. Let’s start out easy, focus on me and try.”

Pinkie silently nodded, before sitting perfectly still and closing her eyes. After a short instant she opened them, her light blue irises focused into Twilight’s as though she was trying to read something too far away to see. Twilight shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable but maintaining eye contact in an attempt to help Pinkie’s attempt at the spell. The pink mare remained still for a moment longer before speaking.

“You’re worried about Spike spending time at Rarity’s, you’re looking forward to going to the spa tomorrow, you slept in late today, and you skipped lunch.”

Twilight, feeling completely baffled, rechecked the book. “That’s strange,” she thought aloud, “mastering that skill should have taken much longer. But you did manage to read me correctly, so how about we go get some lunch and you can try some more on other ponies?”

“Are you sure I should be reading other ponies like that? Seems like an invasion of privacy.”

“You shouldn't be able to read ponies deep enough to invade their privacy. Even if you could, you’d have to want to. Just focus on the simpler things.”

The two set off for the local dinner a few blocks away. “Any luck reading anypony?” Twilight inquired as they walked the streets.

“It’s certainly harder when I’m not looking into their eyes, but I’m getting used to it.” Eventually the two reached the dinner, and took their seats outside. A waiter soon appeared to take their order.

“I’ll have a sarsaparilla, hay fries, and a salad,” Twilight ordered after short consideration.

“And you miss?” The waiter’s attention now turned to Pinkie

“I’ll have a water and two daisy sandwiches,” she ordered, eyes focused somewhere along the horizon.

The waiter made his departure. “Lets find somepony for you to read,” Twilight spoke, eager for a target. “Aha! Carrot Top is sitting at the table behind you, try her.”

Pinkie stole a glance behind her to see Carrot Top sitting across from a stallion. She turned back around to her table and began to focus. “She’s concerned about Ditzy eating all the food in her house, she can’t remember if she left the stove on, and she’s put off about how she keeps catching the stallion eyeing her flank.”

At this last bit of information the purple pony broke out into a poorly silenced giggle. “Oh come on, Twilight, I don’t want to use this as a tool for gossip.”

“Alright alright, if you find out anything personal, feel free to keep it to yourself.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Rarity,” Pinkie spoke, grinning and shaking her head lightly.

The waiter returned with their order. “How about the waiter?” Twilight questioned before either of them got the chance to start their meal.

Pinkie fell silent again. “He’s looking forward to tonight where he’s going to... propose to his marefriend?”

“Awwwww,” Twilight cooed, “will she say yes?”

Pinkie was slightly drawn back by the question, before taking it as a challenge to see if she could devise an answer by reading the waiters marefriend who could be Celestia knows where. After a short period, she answered.

“She will.”

The two mares soon departed from the diner, agreeing to visit Fluttershy, and more importantly to the librarian, reading more ponies. (Those visits to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy were having an effect on her.)

Several minutes- and several more readings -later, they found themselves out of Ponyville proper and headed to their friend’s cabin near the woods.

“Look!” Twilight pointed with her hoof to a cloud in the sky.

“Is that... Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie could hardly make out the cloud from their distance, though there was a distinctive streak of rainbow on it

“She must be taking a nap. This is a perfect time to try and read somepony’s dreams!”

Pinkie withheld her hesitance for such an idea. Rainbow Dash was their close friend after all, so it had to be okay. Right?

They reached directly under the cloud, attempting to give Pinkie an easier time by being generally closer to her target.

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Pinkie focused on the pony who resided on the makeshift bed well above them.

“She’s dreaming about....” Her concentration broke and her ears burned with embarrassment.

“She’s dreaming about what?” Twilight questioned, her gaze falling on the pink pony.

“You said I didn't have to tell you if it was personal.”

“But this is Rainbow, she’s our friend. Besides, how bad could it be?”

“Pretty bad,” Pinkie spoke, attempting to ward her friend’s questioning off.

“Just tell me.”

Pinkie sighed, she knew she couldn’t say no to Twilight. “She’s having a dream about Applejack.”

“That’s it, just Applejack?” Twilight questioned, though after seeing her friend still tense and awkward, she continued. “What’s going on in the dream?”

“They’re havi...” her sentence broke off into a Fluttershy- esque mumble.

“What’s that?” Twilight questioned, standing strong and not letting up.

Pinkie, completely avoiding explaining verbally, instead turned to using a few various hoof-motions to get the point across. Twilight blush grew with understanding and the two mares continued along their way.

---

One week later

The two ponies set about testing Pinkie’s abilities as traditional. This time around they found themselves out in the Whitetail Woods, since the abilities being tested had long since evolved past being safe indoors when being pushed to it’s breaking point.

Their saddlebags were loaded down with supplies for the amount of time they’d be spending in the forest. Unlike the previous times, however, Twilight had decided to pit her friends ability against her own. The competitions were very magically draining so they’d decided to only do two: One to test precision and magical awareness, and another for strength and endurance.

The first contest was precision and magical awareness. The two stood near a deep lake amidst the woods. Across the ground were multiple pictures of a popular statue in canterlot, a very detailed statue that depicted Celestia with the sun resting upon her shoulders. The contest was to recreate that statue in ice.

Each pony took a small rock in their magic, both knowing that the most effective strategy was to have a solid starting point. The two rocks found their way into the depths of the lake, which fit their needs perfectly.

“Three, two, one,” Twilight counted down. “Go!” As the contest began, the lake’s waters became illuminated by the magical forces being used within. A beautiful purple and a brilliant white glew across the surface.

The two sources of light ended at nearly the same time, as did the ponies’ focus. Their eyes met and Twilight spoke up. “I’ll go first,” her voice latent with exhaustion and the excitement of competition.

Twilight’s statue lifted from the lake, water running down its form and her rock visible in the heart of Celestia’s form. The statue met solid ground and came to a rest. With a crack, one of the four legs of the statue collapsed, shattering the effigy of Celestia upon the still solid ice base and sending the ball of ice that represented the sun rolling.

Pinkie gave Twilight a look of support as she began to lift her own statue. Even from their distance they could make out this statue’s increased amount of detail, as well as the rock embedded into the statue’s base. As this statue reached ground it managed to hold up it’s own weight.

“I guess this contest goes to you,” Twilight admitted in defeat.

Nearly an hour of walking later, they found themselves along a rocky mountainside. Spreading out, the two ponies sought to find two large boulders of fairly the same size and weight.

“Of course she won that contest, precision has been her strong point. I’ll win this one for sure,” Twilight mulled to herself in her search. Awakening from her own thoughts, she found herself in front of two very large rocks that would work perfectly.

A short stop for rest later, they were ready for the contest’s start. The two boulders in their own respective magical field lifted well above the ground. It seemed to stretch on forever, but the boulders made their weight known rather quickly.

Twilight found herself stressing against the force of gravity, a glance in Pinkie’s direction revealed no signs of such on her part. Seeing this, the purple mare redoubled her efforts.

She studied under Princess Celestia for over a decade. She was one of the most adept unicorns in equestria. She was not about to be beaten by a pony who had practiced magic less then a foal!

Twilight’s magic, pushed well past its limits, broke. The force lifting the boulder up faltered, losing its equal spread of force and sending the huge rock flying directly towards the student of Celestia. She lowered her horn and tried to reach out with her magic and stop it, but the contest had left her drained of any magic. Freezing up, she clenched her eyes in fear and waited, feeling powerless and defeated.

As this period of fright faded, she forced her eyes open in time to see the two huge boulders engulfed in a white aura gently fall to the earth where the contest had started.

---

Four days later

Twilight awoke in the middle of the night. Sleep had evaded the purple unicorn since the contest. Defeat was a bitter and unfamiliar taste, even if it was just a friendly competition. But in earnest, losing the competition wasn't what rattled the unicorn the most. Over the span of a month Pinkie had managed to become more powerful then Twilight. At this point she wasn't even sure by how much. And that scared her.

Twilight made her way to her desk, careful not to wake Spike. She switched on the desk lamp and paged through her notes, determined to vigorously analyze her notes until she determined exactly when Pinkie had advanced so far.

She re-read the notes numerous times, each leaving a worse feeling in her chest. It was impossible to analyze exactly when Pinkie had become so strong. The only serious testing of her abilities happening at each weekend. By this point in her analysis, she found herself reading for a different reason. Her notes were diligent to not just magical, but personal changes.

A entry a week and a half ago noted on Pinkie’s more tame behavior, hinting to the possibility that the magical presence and experience had somehow matured or calmed the mare. Twilight focused on this, running it through her mind over and over.

No. The changes to Pinkie weren't maturing or calming. Their changes went well beyond any such effect. Reflecting on the past month Twilight could plainly see differences. Less smiling, less jokes, less of the usual pep and cheer, less emotion. The changes to Pinkie have had an unexpected side effect. The powers were coming at the cost of her humanity.

Twilight sprinted downstairs. She had to find the counter-spell, she specifically remembered a way to undo this. All she had to do was find her notes in the book and she could reverse everything.

She quickly made her way into the main section of the library. As she rounded the corner of the podium, her hooves went to open to the last page of the book, where she remembered the counter-spell to be. Her hooves were only met only the flat surface of the podium. The book was gone.

“SPIKE!”

---

A night of turning the library upside down proved to be fruitless. An attempt to find Pinkie to help search only further disturbed Twilight. Pinkie had gone missing too. The Cakes became concerned, and even told the librarian about how strange their employee had been acting these past few weeks.

Both book and mare missing, Twilight returned to the library mane frazzled with stress and anxiety. Spike, ever the insightful assistant, convinced her to finally take a break and sleep, morning already cresting the horizon.

She awoke in the middle of the day, harsh sunlight beating against the drawn curtains, eyes staring blankly out towards her room. She felt the unease of last night already returning. She let out a deep sigh and fell face first into her bed, shielding herself from the outside world with a combination of her front legs and the soft texture of the bed.

“Pinkie Pie...” Twilight spoke into the darkness of her forelegs.

“You need something?” her friend’s unmistakable voice responded.

“GAH!” Twilight threw herself upright, a million questions burning in her head. Though as her eyes fell upon Pinkie she found herself hard pressed to remember a single one.

Pinkie’s once vibrant pink hue was replaced with a colorless white, her mane now straight and cut short. Her cutie mark had vanished from her coat and her stunning blue irises were now just clouds of gray.

Her tangled and confused mind blindly grasped for a question, only finding one of her initial questions. “Have you seen the Expanded Psionics Hoofbook? It’s missing.”

“I took it,” the white mare plainly stated.

“You... took it?”

“I’ve been reading it at night for the past week. I found multiple instances where improvement could be made upon my learning process. Seeking to take my advancement into my own hooves, I attempted to copy the book.”

“Attempted?”

“My duplication spells were not successful, there was a powerful enchantment on the book to specifically stop me from copying it. So, I took it and studied it.”

“Can I have it back?”

“No, but you may have access to it if you wish.”

Strange, but that can be worked out later. All she needed to do was find the spell to fix all this. “Alright, let me see it.”

“Follow me.” Pinkie spoke as she turned around. But instead of walking, she stood still. A large amount of magical energy building up in front of Pinkie.

Maybe she’s hiding it in plain sight? Or she’s conjuring it up from Celestia knows where? Twilight thought to herself.

The magical energies began to stabilize, forming a large rift. Rather than just retrieving the book from it, Pinkie stepped completely through the field, leaving Twilight behind feeling hesitant on what to do. After some indecision, she too decided to cross the magical field.

Where she found herself was baffling. The entire dimension was a white purer then Pinkie’s coat. There was no clear definition of where horizon or ground began. She held her bearings only by the multiple objects in the area resting on the same uncertain ground on which she stood.

A quick glance revealed all the area had to offer. The statue of Celestia they had used for the precision contest, which was made out of stone not unlike the boulders used for the second contest. A second of examining this revealed that the effigy of Celestia was replaced with the unmistakable form of the librarian, and a lilac’s flower placed before it.

What occupied the most space of this area were multiple rows of bookshelves, all brimming with countless books. There had to be more here then both the libraries of Canterlot and Manehatten combined. Placed outside of the lines of bookshelves stood multiple tables, all piled to the brim with even more books. Pinkie was making her way to one of the tables, this one however only held one book.

“Where are we?” Twilight questioned as she followed the other mare to the table.

“We are inside my subconscious.” Twilight nearly stopped as she processed this information, as two things greatly bothered her. The mind of anypony shouldn’t be so blank, and it was theoretically impossible to bring yourself, other ponies, or objects into your subconscious. It was a disturbing thought; Pinkie was using her hollowed subconscious as her own personal realm.

“That's impossible.”

“In my past week of reading, I have found many ‘laws’ of magic my powers violate. It would appear ponies don’t know as much about magic as they’d like to think they do,” the white mare spoke as they arrived to the table that the Extended Psionics Hoofbook sat on.

“So are you finished studying the book?” Twilight voiced another one of her many questions as she placed herself across from her friend.

“I am.” Pinkie spoke, her cloudy eyes never leaving Twilight.

“Did you ever find out what the enchantment was?”

Pinkie paused for a moment, thinking of a proper way to explain. “You’ve no doubt noticed the statue of you, right?” Twilight nodded. “The statue and the book are both different sides of the same problem. I created that statue and flower nearly a week ago, I’m not entirely sure why or how. But due to my drastic changes of late, in personality and magic, I’m not recognizable as the creator of it, and thus I am unable dispose of it.”

Twilight paid particular mind to this, seeing as it meant Pinkie was no longer the same in body, mind, or magic.

Pinkie continued. “The book is the opposite of this, rather then being enchanted by my past self, it’s magic came from a future version of myself. With close examination of the spell, i could see that with some necessary changes to myself and increases in my power, i could fulfill the requirements of the spell. As i strived for this goal, I realized the enchantment on the book was a message to me from my future self.”

“A message from your future self?” Twilight echoed.

Pinkie paused yet again, searching for another way to explain. “The statue and the book also have one more thing in common, they were both created inside of my subconscious plane.”

“Pinkie, that’s impossible. Starswirl the bearded wrote the book.”

“He did,” Pinkie assured.

“You brought Starswirl here? Pinkie that’s insane! Sending him back to his time with any knowledge of the future, or about your powers, could have drastic effects on time!”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t send him back,” Pinkie spoke in her deadpan voice.

Twilight felt her breath hitch, barley managing to whisper. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

“I’m afraid I had to. You’re aware of how Starswirl died, aren't you?”

“His body was never found, he just...” Reality struck Twilight. “Disappeared.”

“The message I sent to myself was a list of things I had to assure happened in order to protect the flow of time. One of them being removing Starswirl from his time so he could study me and write the book. He knew what I had to do, I knew what i had to do, and you know what I had to do, Twilight. This is how time is supposed to happen, I have to make sure everything happens the right way or the results could be catastrophic.”

“You killed him, Pinkie.”

“I know it’s drastic, but it had to be done.”

“If the book was created inside of this plane, how was it able to exist in equestria?” Twilight questioned again, still very uneasy about what she had just heard.

“Another one of the things I had to assure would happen was that you would find this book in the library, along with the proper message enchantment imbued inside of it. I suspect that the large amounts of magic inside of the book allowed it to assume a corporeal form. By reading those enchantments, I have dispelled them, so removing the book from this realm will destroy it.”

“Alright, Pinkie, I understand, if you wouldn’t mind letting me look over the book?”

“Of course,” The white mare replied as she removed herself from the table and started towards the rows of bookshelves. “If you need anything just call.”

Twilight took some time to digest the information she had just heard. Had Pinkie really done all that? Twilight believed what she had said to be true, Pinkie had grown seemingly infinitely powerful. Abducting Starswirl from the correct place in time would likely prove little difficulty for her. Though the mare’s actions still worried Twilight greatly, and she still had to get her friend back.

She reviewed the aspects of the reversal spell multiple times, a slight inverse of the spell she had originally cast upon Pinkie. Eventually, Twilight had the mechanics of the spell down, and the only thing holding her back was her nerves.

She wrapped the book in her magical field and removed herself from the table. Legs shaking violently from a sick twist of fear and uncertainty, she made her way to the statue. She stopped a few feet before the statue and the flower that resided in front of it. She’d just call her friend over and cast the spell on her? She had little idea of how Pinkie would possibly react to this. If it failed, would she feel threatened? Would her friend resort to violence to preserve herself?

Calming her mind, the librarian began to channel the spell into her horn. Once she was ready to unleash the magic, she called over her friend. “Pinkie.” Her voice echoed through her head as she spoke.

“Yes?” She heard her friend voice call back. Opening her eyes, she saw Pinkie had appeared by her side. Turning her head, she released the spell.

Multicolored magic briefly washed over Pinkie’s form. As quickly as it appeared, it retreated, leaving both of the mares staring at one another, confusion and anticipation in the air.

“What was that for?” Pinkie remained as deadpan and emotionless as ever.

“I, uhh...” Twilight grasped for anything to say. “I wanted to see how your powers were advancing.” She chose the first lie she could think of, well aware of how easily her friend could see through it.

“Is that all you wanted?”

“Actually, I was wondering if you really couldn’t affect the statue.” All of her efforts proving fruitless, Twilight returned to trying to gather more information, anything at all to get Element of Laughter back to normal.

“Allow me to demonstrate,” the white mare spoke as she approached the lilac flower. She raised a hoof well above the ground, and brought it barreling through the air towards the plant. As her hoof made a small amount of contact with the flower it came to a complete standstill. “Both the statue and the lilac are completely immune to my every action. I can’t even move them.”

“Thanks Pinkie, that’s all I needed.”

Pinkie once again made her way to the maze of bookshelves that Twilight would not even dare enter. Falling into a sitting position, the purple mare sighed. She had to think of something, Pinkie couldn’t be left like this any longer.

Twilight rolled over everything that had been said between the two of them. Everything here was created inside her subconscious. The only thing that changed was that Pinkie slowly lost her humanity, resulting in her becoming an entirely different pony. What happened to the old Pinkie; was there even anything left of her?

She needed a way to examine the magic of the statue before her. Assuming Pinkie likely did so through her reading spell, she began to page through the book to the correct section. Looking over the process, she could easily change the spell around to allow her to read magical signatures instead of other ponies. Doing so would be a great drain magically, since the spell was designed for a completely different set of skills, but she could manage. She’d have to.

Mentally noting each modification required to correctly read the magical signature before her, she began the incantation. As her energy output reached it peak, she could begin to feel the magical signatures around her. She turned her focus towards the statue. Its signature held nothing but pure emotion. Fear, happiness, hope. The statue was without a doubt created by the old Pinkie, whose dwindling control could only manage to affect her own subconscious.

There had to be something else, Twilight thought, turning her focus towards the wall of library books. Her magical gaze passed over a section where Pinkie stood behind a shelf.The signature was complete logic, the polar opposite of what the statue possessed. Twilight’s brief look into Pinkie revealed something else, the white pony was cautious about her friend’s actions at first, but now she had picked up on what Twilight was doing, and was preparing to stop her.

Twilight poured more magic into the spell, she had to find out something fast or there was no telling what would happen. As her magical output skyrocketed, her attention turned towards the book. The enchantments Pinkie had cast upon it had left a residual mirror effect of her own signature. But beyond that, she could detect the same signature that the statue had. Using her magic, she flipped through the books pages as fast as possible. Tracking the spark of raw emotion, she found herself at the very last page of the book, the page that contained the reversal spell.

“Twilight!” Pinkie’s voice boomed as the purple mare jumped away from the book, quickly locating her friend who had magically appeared near her once again. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m fixing this,” Twilight spoke as she glanced towards the lilac flower, preparing for her next move. The counter spell had a connection to the statue and the lilac sprig. The spell could have been meant to be casted on them, not Pinkie.

“You don’t know what your doing, I need to stay this way, I need to make sure I’ve corrected the time stream.”

“No! You’ve done enough tampering, it’s time for you to go back to being normal.”

“Out of anypony, I expected you to understand I have to do this, Twilight. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and you attempt to ruin everything. If you do this, I’ll be forced to eradicate you.”

Twilight’s heart stopped at the threat, she had no idea what Pinkie was capable of. It was too late now, this is the only chance she was going to get, and she had to make the most of it.

In one quick, fluid movement, she snatched the sprig of lilac from the ground and took cover behind the statue. Just as she reached its protective field magical green fire seemed to engulf everything. She began to call energy back into her horn, preparing the reversal spell once again.

As time ticked by Pinkie used more of her immense power to aid her assault. The unmistakable crackle of magic lightning nearly deafened Twilight. The green fire in turn became hotter and began to encroach upon the small barrier the statue’s cover provided.

The heat and noise was unbearable, she felt like she was being cooked alive, and the rising constant booming of thunder kept her from hearing her own thoughts. Twilight finally finished the incantation and placed the lilac flower in the middle of the stone statue’s base, releasing the magic stored in her horn. The multicolored magic of the spell spread from the flower into the stone of the statue.

The fire and lightning engulfing Twilight’s world halted, once again revealing the white back-round of the realm. All that remained was the statue, herself, Pinkie, and the very last page of Expanded Psionics Hoofbook.

The multicolored spell made its way through the statue of Twilight, and began to spread across the pure white ground. In its wake it left behind color and texture. Grass appeared below, and as it spread across the landscape houses and trees materialized. The magic reached the horizon and started to spread across the sky, leaving behind a blue sunny day, white puffy clouds, and a brilliant yellow sun. The magical aura congregated on one single spot in the sky, and once they all met they beamed a dazzling rainbow straight down, crashing into the still augmented form of Pinkie.

The last of the rainbow magic crashed against the spot where Pinkie stood, dispersing into the ground and air. Pinkie had returned to her pink color, her mane back to its curly lengths and her blue irises mirroring the color of the bright sky.

Now that Pinkie was back to her original self, the magic that kept the mares in Pinkie’s subconscious had dissipated. The two found themselves ejected from the plane, and fell in a tangled mess in Twilight’s bedroom where they had before gone through the magical portal.

“Twilight!” Pinkie was the first to stand, throwing herself at Twilight. Tears were in her eyes and a smile was on her face.

Twilight wrapped her arms around Pinkie and returned her hug. Twilight felt tears smear across her coat as Pinkie began to sob. Not missing a beat, she comforted to mare. “I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you.” She spoke softly as she ran a hoof along Pinkie’s mane and nuzzled her forehead.

“B-but I killed him Twilight, and i was going to do the same to you.” Pinkie managed to whimper out between wracking sobs.

“It’s alright, we both know you didn’t have a choice.”

“It was horrible, all I could do was watch,” Pinkie whimpered out again before losing herself to another wave of sadness. She voiced a question after she had begun to calm down. “Did I really have to do all those things to protect the flow of time?”.

“Honestly Pinkie I don’t know, nopony has ever been strong enough to tamper with time, let alone create a realm completely separate from Equestria. Though in your super powered state you seemed to know a lot more about magic then anypony else.” Twilight hugged her friend even tighter and nuzzled her. “But, all that matters now is that you’re okay.”

---

One week later

“Please, Twilight?” Pinkie begged.

“Just because the magical examination said you were healthy doesn’t mean you’re fully recovered. You were never physically effected in the first place, besides a small change in diet and hair color. The damage to your subconscious could be drastic and lasting,” Twilight reminded her.

“Pleeeeeeeeease, Twilight?”

“Pinkie. No.” Twilight stood firm on her decision.

“How am I supposed to start acting like myself again if you don’t let me do the most Pinkie thing possible?”

Twilight groaned. “Alright, fine, but just a small one,” she said, caving under her friend’s pressure.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered, jumping up from the couch as confetti began to rain from the library's ceiling. She hopped to the door in her normal bubbly manner and flung the door open, behind which stood the four remaining Elements of Harmony.

The four mares entered and music resonated throughout the room, the party already reaching its spectacular start. Removing her glasses- that she insisted on wearing when playing the role of a therapist -and closing a book of notes, she joined her friends across the room. Maybe the effects on Pinkie’s subconscious wouldn’t be so lasting after all.