It's early morning, and the night-time tranquility is enough of a incentive for those around the fountain to rest. But wait... Why are people shouting in anger? Clearly, something's amiss. The sound of people running and the shouts are enough to rouse one of the citizens, Twilight Sparkle, sleeping under a bench. "Wh-what's going on...? I haven't gotten enough sleep yet..."
Suddenly, the crowd appears within sight of the resting unicorbrarian, with a police officer leading the pitchfork-wielding mob. "Ms. Twilight Sparkle, you're under arrest for vandalism and breaking and entering." One of the angry residents, however, doesn't seem inclined to wait for the Element-bearer to be arrested, and throws his torch, prompting a teleportation to safety from Twilight.
Finn has a tendency to not sleep for days on end, and this just happens to be the mid-week of one of those seven-day no-sleep periods. As a result, he's nearly trampled by the pitchfork-wielding mob as they track down poor Twilight Sparkle. Naturally curious, the boy dashes after the group, skidding to a stop as they all come to a halt.
Finn seems naturally surprised when the accusations start to fly, and then a torch does, as well, prompting the Unicorn to teleport to safety. "Whoa, whoa!" He flips over the mob, and lands atop the abandoned bench. "People, where's the evidence for all these math accusations?" He's not sure where Twilight Sparkle's teleported off to, but if he can end this now.. "You should totally give her a chance to explain herself!"
Only once she's teleported far out of range does the unicorbrarian sigh and shake her head. "What's gotten into them? I haven't been doing much more than sitting around the fountain the entire time I've been here... None of this makes sense, and there's obviously something wrong going on." Twilight Sparkle looks around for the mob, before carefully crossing the avenue to begin searching. "I've got to find out what's going on, and clear my name."
Unfortunately, one of the angry citizens spots her despite the distance, and the mob comes charging northward to surround her, with pitchforks and torches aimed forward menacingly. "Hey! There she is! GET HER, AND DON'T LET HER ESCAPE!" The officer finally steps forward, cuffing Twilight and carrying her off to the jail, amid furious jeering.
Finn seems a bit surprised that the mob ignores him, and before he can really do or say anything, someone's spotted Twilight Sparkle. Luckily, an officer cuffs her and drags her off toward the jail before the mob can really do anything. He ensures that the mob breaks up, before he takes off after the officer. He knows where the jail is, having passed it a handful of times. May as well go while it's still visitation hours..
"Oh, this is just WONDERFUL... Not only am I in a jail, but I can't even prove my innocence..." Closing her eyes, wih a defeated sigh, Twilight Sparkle lies down on the highly worn cot in one corner of the cell holding her and goes to sleep, with a single tear falling onto the mattress.
Finn arrives at the jail not too long after Sparkle is incarcerated. Thankfully, he's been hustling around a lot and helping people, so no-one bats an eyelash when he requests to visit her. The boy shuffles to a stop outside of her cell, and clanks on the bars gently with his sword, to get her to wake up. "Hey. Hey, wake up!" Another clank of metal on metal. "So, what the math happened there? I couldn't get a straight answer from anyone!"
With her mane now disheveled, the unicorbrarian looks up, blearily opening her eyes before dashing to the bars with a relieved smile. "Oh, thank heavens you came, Finn... I honestly don't know why they were so eager to hurt me, but I plan on finding out and proving I had nothing to do with those crimes." Lowering her head, Twilight Sparkle is charging a spell and firing it at the cell door from her horn. "Let's get out, before anyone notices I'm gone."
Finn seems pleased that she's happy to see him, at least, but she seems intent on getting out. He quickly dives away from the bars as she fires a spell at the cell door, knocking it off its hinges. It wobbles for a moment, but the boy quickly rolls over and snags it before it can fall over and cause a ruckus. He leans the door against the wall carefully, and nods at her. "We should be able to get out easy if we're quick. C'mon!"
Now that she's regained her freedom, Twilight's casting one quick passing glance at the cell door as she gallops out behind Finn. "First thing to do... See if we can catch one of the residents by himself, in a place where he can't call for help, and press him for details about this 'Twilight Sparkle' and the crimes. I've got a hunch there's a link between the two, but I can't be 100 percent sure until I've got the facts..."
Finn nods toward her, quickly leading the way. The officers on duty seem to have their attention elsewhere, so actually escaping the extremely minimum security prison isn't a particularly difficult prospect, not especially since they seem sure their cells can hold whoever needs holding. He ushers her out the front door, and assists her in making distance from the jail through the alleyways. Once somewhere relatively safe, he slows. "All right. If you give me a few minutes, I can find someone to interrogate."
Nodding once, Twilight Sparkle is pressing herself against the wall to keep from being spotted, glad the sun's set already, and provided her with shadows to hide in. "Go ahead, and I'll keep an eye out for anyone else. If I was still in Equestria, this would never have happened..."
Finn pats her head softly. "Well, you're not in Equestria anymore. You gotta find peace with that," he offers calmly, before he turns and shuffles out from the alleyway. No-one seems to pay him any mind, really, and finding someone all by his lonesome isn't a particularly difficult task. It takes only a few minutes of conversation to lure them into a false sense of security, but he soon heads into the alleyway with what looks like a Human.
Finn has no issues bringing the man down and tying his arms behind his back, effectively making any form of resistance difficult, if not impossible. Once this is done, he carries the man deeper into the alley, and settles him down near Twilight Sparkle. "All right. He's all yours," he muses, sitting down indian-style right next to the guy.
Twilight Sparkle waits patiently, before stepping out of the shadows and over to the bound resident. "Alright... Listen to me. I plan on finding out what's happened that's caused my name to be so hated. Tell me everything you saw, and details of this 'me' you saw vandalizing the town." Rather nervously, and with barely concealed fear in his eyes, the man shifts uncomfortably. "Well... What I saw was someone who looked exactly like you, physically, but with much darker colors and an indistinguishable face... C-can you let me go now...?"
Finn watches quietly as the man describes a Twilight Sparkle of darker coloration and an obscured, or indistinguishable, face. "So they immediately assume that it's you? I dunno, I'd have had questions, myself," he admits, folding his arms across his chest. Still, they've gotta let the guy go, so he quickly stands and unties the guy, dusting him off a bit. "Thanks. Sorry I had to be so rough on ya, just tryin' to help a friend," he muses. A pause, before he looks at Twilight. "So, TwiSpark. Any ideas?"
You say 'Well... We've got something to go on, and now, we just need to see about where this darker version of myself was last at, and confront it. If I'm guessing correctly, though... It'll have every bit of my skill with using magic, so be careful.'
Finn shrugs slightly. "No problem." He dusts himself off now, as well. "If she looks like you, and magicks like you, maybe she likes to go to the same places you do. That might give us a good place to start," he admits, folding his arms across his chest as he considers that thoughtfully. "Anyway, don't worry about me. Let's just get your name cleared!"
"Right." Twilight Sparkle slowly begins trotting back towards the square, warily casting a hypersensitive identification spell and narrowing her eyes as she looks around for even the most unusual detail. "Be on your guard..."
Finn nods at her as she tells him to be on guard. That means his sword comes slipping out of the loop in his backpack. His hands grip the hilt tightly, waiting patiently. "Y'know, I gotta admit, it's awfully quiet here.." Usually the square has a little more hustle and bustle, even at night.
Rather unexpectedly, the sky becomes dark, as cumulonimbus clouds roll in and herald the arrival of a violent storm. Twilight Sparkle looks towards the fountain, just in time to see her dark doppelganger materialize amid a particularly large lightning bolt. "Alright, here we go..." Unconsciously, the unicorbrarian's teleporting over to her lookalike, with one leg extended for a punch. "So, you're the one who's been tarnishing my name? It ends HERE."
Finn guards his eyes when the lightning bolt strikes near the fountain, materializing with Twilight Sparkle's doppelganger. He seems a bit surprised at how alike they look.. and he doesn't really blame the masses for the confusion. Heck, he might make that mistake himself, if he were around.
Finn quickly takes to his feet, since he can't quite teleport, and he hefts the sword up high. He keeps eyes on the darker Twilight Sparkle, not wanting to make a deadly decision in the heat of combat. Once close, he skids to a stop and tries to use his momentum to bring his sword up and around, with a loud battlecry! The attack seems aimed largely for the doppelganger's midsection. "YAAAAA!"
In anticipation of the physical strikes, the Anti-Twilight's conjuring a dense magical barrier for protection, deflecting Twilight Sparkle's attack harmlessly, though it doesn't speak as the sword slides off to one side without so much as nicking the shield. "It really doesn't help that this dark version of me seems to have every bit of my intelligence. This is going to be a VERY TOUGH fight."
Finn does a spin as the sword galances off the suddenly-conjured shield. He leaps backwards, knowing that he won't be able to attack through that shield, so long as it's up. He peers over at Twilight Sparkle as she notes that it has her intelligence and her magical powers. "Remind me to never upset you," he grins at her. "If you can get rid of that barrier, now would be a good time." He tries to flank the Anti-Twilight, but keeps his voice up to try to distract her, and to try to give TwiSpark an opening.
"I'll do my best, though it shouldn't be a surprise if I'm unable to make any headway against it, given what I just told you..." Twilight Sparkle's horn begins glowing as she prepares a spell, though her dark lookalike simultaneously drops the barrier and slashes sideways at the unicorbrarian's horn to interrupt the spell-casting.
With a spray of blood, Twilight Sparkle screams in pain as her horn gets severed by the attack, before slumping forward with both eyes rolling back into her head.
Finn notes the dropping of the shield when the Anti-Twilight attacks, and he rushes in again quickly, trying to make good use of that short time with the shield down. He doesn't bother pointing out the obvious flaw to such a strong shield, as he brings his sword around as he skids in close. But this time, he attempts a wild, powerful swing toward the Anti-Twilight's horn. It seems he's caught on quick as to the source of the Unicornian's power.. though he doesn't seem to notice that TwiSpark's had her own horn severed by the Anti-Twilight's attack. "TwiSpark!" The boy cries, attempting to bring that sword around and slice straight through the Anti-Twilight, the rage obvious on his face. "YAAAAAHHHH!"
There's a grim nod from Anti-Twilight as it sees its biggest threat fall unconscious, before looking up and somehow sneering despite lacking a mouth as it teleports away from the sword-butchering. For her part, the unicorbrarian lies on her side, with the majority of her severed horn rolling about slowly in the wind.
Finn misses completely, eyes widening as his wild slashes find nothing but air. "GRRRRAAAAHH! GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT YOU COWARD!" He screams at the night air, no doubt waking up more than a few people. He takes a few moments to pant and calm himself, before he remembers.. TwiSpark! He turns and rushes over to her, snagging the severed horn as he skids to a stop next to her.
Finn tries to figure out what to do to get it back on, hands shaking a bit as he does. "Oh jeez, oh glob.. this is bad.. this is really bad.." He's not sure what to do, to say the least, and the pony seems unconscious. "I could really use some help here.."
Twilight Sparkle groans lowly, remaining unconscious from the shock of having her horn cut off in the middle of spell-casting. Inexplicably, however, her Element of Harmony materializes atop her head, pulsating rapidly as, all at once, the unicorbrarian's body and severed horn glow a vibrant white before seeming to mend seamlessly together.
Finn notes the Element of Harmony, and he damn near drops the horn.. but as it glows, he releases it to let it return to its owner, the two mending perfectly together. To say the least, the boy seems relieved, gently nudging at her to try to wake her up. "Hey. Wake up." It's the second time today he's had to wake her up, but he doesn't seem to mind.
Twilight Sparkle slowly opens her eyes, grimacing and looking around for her dark clone before sighing. "Ugh... I passed out, didn't I?"
Finn nods a bit at her. "Well, yeah, a bit," he muses, slowly moving to sit down next to her. "She got away. But on the other hand, we've got a better idea of how to tackle her next time we find her," he admits. He leans back on his hands a bit. "You okay?"
You say 'I should be... And I'm going to make sure I don't lose my horn like that again, because I'm not sure if there are any ways to restore it, aside from the Elements...'
Finn smiles warily at her. "I don't think you'll have an issue next time. It's all a learning experience. For example, I noticed she had to lower her shield to attack.. I tried to take advantage of it, but she teleported away. Mages are annoying to fight."
Twilight Sparkle half-lids her eyes in annoyance, groaning and jabbing a forehoof into your chest. "...I'm a magic-user too, if you haven't noticed. Are you trying to say I'm annoying, too?"
Finn blinks at her as she puts a hoof into his chest. "Huh? No, no, I meant mages are annoying to fight!" He chuckles nervously. "I think you're awesome. If I didn't think you were, I wouldn't have helped you out." He smiles warily at her. "Besides, we're friends, right? Friends do that kinda stuff for each other. I know you'll totally bust me out of jail if someone starts acting like me."
You say 'Yeah...'
Finn nods a bit at her. "All right." He smiles again. "Well, what should we go do next? Maybe get something to eat?" He slowly moves to a stand, dusting himself off. "Always makes me starved whenever I go that crazy."
Twilight Sparkle nods, getting to her hooves and shaking the fog from her mind before trotting to the bar at a slow pace. "I could certainly use something to cope with losing my horn and having to fight someone with my level of power, even if it was for a short time."
Finn nods a little at her, turning to follow her toward the bar, as well. "Try not to let it get to you. Think of it like a second chance, y'know?" He settles down into a chair and relaxes, putting his sword back into its loop on his backpack. "And don't forget I'm here if you ever need help."
You say 'I appreciate it.'