CLOCK IS TICKING
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Twilight sat up and gasped. She was in a pitch black room, lying on a cold, hard floor. Something smelled really vile. What happened? She couldn't remember. Think, Twilight, think…Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.What was that sound? Was it a clock? The alicorn tried to approach where she thought the sound was. Using her magic, she lit up her horn, providing a small light in front of her. She was close to a hard, cement wall. A small splatter of blood coated it, and right above the blood splatter was indeed what she was looking for: a clock.The clock was ticking ever so quietly. 1:34 was the time displayed by the hands. Whether it was AM or PM, Twilight couldn't tell. All she knew is this place wasn't good. The lighting (or rather the lack thereof), the blood splatter on the wall, the complete silence aside from the gentle ticking of the clock…Where was she? How did she get there? And most importantly, how could she possibly get out? Twilight began to search the room while her horn was lit up. She couldn't find much. All four walls, the floor, and the ceiling, were made of cement. In the room, she had found what appeared to be an operating table for some sort of medical emergency. It had four leather braces on it. Twilight wasn't dumb. This table was obviously created with the intent of torturing somepony, in this case, most likely her. Now she really needed to get out of here.One of the walls had a metal door. It was almost certainly locked, but she tried anyways. Sure enough, the door didn’t open. Twilight charged up a spell in her horn and attempted to blast the door down, but it didn't do anything. The door seemed to be protected against her magic. She tried to break one of the cement walls. That worked about as well as trying to break the door. She truly was trapped.Twilight sat down on the floor, feeling something squish beneath her. Disgusted as she was, she still wanted to know what it was.Twilight stood up and once again used the light spell. The purple alicorn gagged at the sight before her. A bloody chunk of raw muscle, some flesh of the pony still covering it, was right on the ground. No wonder the room smelled so vile.The alicorn looked away from the sight as much as possible, hoping she would be able to forget about it in moments. Obviously it was more traumatizing than THAT, so no, she did not forget.Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.Twilight had been standing in the same place for a long time. She could hear the constant ticking of the clock, and it was driving her crazy. The time displayed was now 2:57, the second hand about half way through another cycle around the numbers. Finally, she began to remember a bit of what had happened.
1*2*3*4
She had been invited to yet another one of Pinkie Pie’s famous parties. This one, like all others, was full of fun games and delicious snacks. Nearly all of the ponies from Ponyville were invited. Rainbow Dash, as Twilight seemed to remember, had called the day before saying she had become sick and wouldn’t be able to make it. Aside from her, all of Twilight’s best friends were there.“C’mon, everypony!” Pinkie cheered as she danced, alone, in the middle of the room.Twilight giggled, “No thanks Pinkie, I just ate. Maybe in a bit.”Pinkie cheerfully kept dancing alone, everypony watching her. She didn’t really notice. Twilight sat down by Applejack and began drinking a cup of punch. “Gee,” said Applejack, “Ah sure hope Rainbow’s okay.”“I’m sure she’s going to be fine,” said Twilight, “she just needs to rest.”“Ah sure as hay hope so, Twi.”Twilight had only been there for a few more seconds afterward when everything went downhill. A loud CRASH broke a window down to shattered glass. A pony with a gas mask came running in, wearing a white lab coat over a hazmat suit. No portion of the pony themselves was visible.Everypony screamed and ran to hide. The masked pony removed a small canister from the lab coat. They proceeded to throw it on the ground, letting out large white smoke everywhere. Ponies screamed again as the smoke bomb rendered their eyes useless.Twilight and Applejack stuck close by and searched for their friends. This, however, didn’t last long. An extended hoof with a hazmat suit on it reached out from the smoke and knocked Applejack to the ground. “Applejack,” Twilight yelled out, “we’ve got to get out of here! I’ll help you up!”Twilight reached for the fallen earth pony, but her promise to help was never fulfilled. The intruder leaped upon Twilight, smashing her down to the floor. Twilight struggled as the intruder began beating her senseless.The purple alicorn could see her own blood flying in front of her in spurts as hooves constantly pounded on her head. The pain was unbearable. Her vision began getting blocked out by small drops of blood. Slowly, she started to fade away. Sound got muffled, her eyesight dimmed and shook.“Twilight,” a voice called, “Ah’m coming!” Applejack attempted to get the intruder off of Twilight, but the intruder turned, grabbed the pony’s head between their hooves, and twisted hard. Applejack’s neck snapped as she fell to the floor.Twilight’s vision was completely black now, and the last thing she heard was Spike yelling, “Someone tell the princesses!” Twilight’s head thumped to the floor, and then nothing.
1*2*3*4
Twilight’s head still hurt from the experience, she was almost certain she would have a concussion. She put a hoof to her face. There was no longer any blood, but the pain was still there. She felt so… weak. Twilight collapsed to the floor. What’s happening to me?Finally, the locked door swung open. Although the lighting was dark, Twilight could tell it was the same pony from the party entered the room. Twilight yelled at them.“Why would you do this to me? What did I do? Who are you? Where is this? Let me go! You did something to me!”The pony in the hazmat suit took their hooves to their head and removed the gas mask. Twilight gasped in shock. Why? Why would SHE do this to ME?“R...Rainbow Dash?”“Sup?”“Why would you do this to me?” Twilight began forming tears in her eyes.“You have something I need.”“What?” Twilight was so confused. What would she have that Rainbow Dash needed?“You heard me, egghead.”“But… how is this even possible? You called us and said you were ill!”“I AM ill, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I picked up some sort of weird disease in the Everfree Forest.”“What???” Twilight now found herself staring in disbelief. Disease? What kind? Is it contagious? Does she have it now? And why would Rainbow do this to her for help? She was Dash’s friend!“I have a highly contagious disease. Very lethal, too.” Rainbow Dash found the lethality of it amusing, and laughed out loud crazily. “And now you've got it, Twilight. And the rest of our friends have it.”“I don’t believe you,” Twilight said, “you wouldn’t…”“No,” Dash said, “you’re wrong. I would, and I did.”Twilight just sat in silence for a moment. “How long do I have?”“Well,” Rainbow said, “I’m not sure how long it takes to kill.” The blue pegasus approached Twilight until her face was easily visible. “But, as you can see, simply one day of it does quite a bit!”For the second time that day, Twilight gagged. Rainbow’s face was now a disturbing assortment of warts and growths. Patches of skin in some places had been completely removed, showing the flesh beneath it. Parts of her fur had been removed, showing peeling, dead skin. The entire whites of her eyes were now caked in blood, barely any white showing anymore.“Mother of Celestia,” said Twilight, now more highly disturbed than she had ever been before, “you said you needed something from me? Is it a cure? Can I make a cure?”Rainbow Dash laughed crazily once again. She removed the rest of her hazmat suit as she spoke. “No, egghead. I have the cure already. Zecora made it quickly for me.”“Wait,” said Twilight, “you have a cure? What are you doing with me, then???”“What you have, Twilight, is blood.” The purple alicorn obviously didn’t understand. “You see, I cured myself recently. After I spread the disease to you girls. I’m now completely immune. However, YOU still have it. I even have more of the cure for you. All I need first is your blood.”Twilight found this to be an easy trade. “Okay,” she said, “let’s do it. Will you let me go afterwards?”“No,” said Dash, “I have to let you go before you give me your donation.”“Why?”“I don’t want you to give it to me. You’re going to be donating it to all of Canterlot.”Twilight froze. That would mean killing everypony in the capital of Equestria. There’s no way she could let that happen. Then it hit her. Zecora! She could just make a cure!“Fine,” said Twilight, “on the condition that you won’t stop Zecora if she tries to cure everypony.”“Sure.”“Alright then.” Twilight was already disgusted by it, but she had a question that still was bothering her unanswered. “Whose mutilated body is that?” She pointed to the pile of organs she sat on earlier.“That old pile of junk?” Rainbow giggled, pointing a hoof at it, “That was just Fluttershy. She refused to do it until you woke up, so I had no choice. Boy, the way she fought as I ripped out her organs one by one with my bare hooves… The way she screamed and cried… And she swore a lot, too. It was so awesome!”Twilight was so enraged now. “You BITCH,” she screamed, “I'LL MAKE SURE CELESTIA KNOWS YOU DID THIS!”“I doubt it,” said Rainbow, “because if you do, I’m the one with the cure. Remember that." Rainbow Dash quickly stabbed a hidden needle into Twilight's horn. "Don't mind that," she said, "it just stops the flow of your magic."Twilight knew Zecora had the cure, but she also knew she couldn't take on Rainbow in a fight. And without her magic, there was no way out of this.Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
1*2*3*4
“By the way,” Rainbow said to Twilight before letting her through the blood bank doors, “Zecora isn’t making cures for anypony.”“You agreed to not stop her!” Twilight stomped on the ground. “You didn’t hold up your end of the deal, so I won’t either! This is done! I’m leaving!”“I had already killed her,” said Rainbow Dash. “Well, she killed herself. There were only enough ingredients to make six cures, one for all of us. She chose that over curing herself. I came in contact with her, she got it too, ya know.”“Dammit! You should’ve told me! I’m off!”“Alright, fine,” said Rainbow Dash, “but I have your only chance of survival.”Twilight HAD noticed some nausea earlier, and her head was pounding even more than it was before. In fact, the skin on her legs was already beginning to peel off. She still felt really weak, as well. She was going to die if she didn’t do this.“Fine,” Twilight finally agreed, “I’ll do it.”“Great,” said Rainbow Dash, “that’s why I’M loyalty, and not you.”“Screw you…” Twilight walked through the doors and left Rainbow Dash there. She signed in and took a seat on a bench. She had thought about telling somepony what was about to happen, but she remembered that Rainbow Dash had infected four other ponies as well. Twilight HAD to go through with this.A nurse approached Twilight, levitating a clipboard in front of her. “Alright, we just need to ensure you aren't sick before you start. You don’t have any diseases, correct?”Does the same disease that's going to kill you all count?“No,” Twilight said, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, “I don’t believe so.”“Alright,” the nurse said, smiling, “if you’ll follow me, I’ll get you hooked up to the IVs.”Twilight silently followed the nurse to Room 6. As she sat down on the operating table, more sweat formed and began rolling down her cheeks. The nurse looked at Twilight with a worried expression.“Is… everything alright?” she asked, slightly tilting her head. Despite the worry, she was still hooking Twilight up to the heart monitor.“Yes,” said Twilight, “j-just a little nervous. First time.”“Ah, well, you’ll do fine, Princess.” The nurse smiled benignly as she took a small needle and pricked Twilight with it. She finished hooking up the IVs and started making some small talk with Twilight.Of course, the alicorn wasn't paying much attention to the friendly conversation. She was watching the heart monitor. Her heart beat was constantly increasing. She could feel herself breathing heavily. No turning back now, she thought. I just single-hoofedly killed all of Canterlot, thanks to Rainbow Dash… What have I done? I could have said no and sacrificed myself!Slowly, her eyelids started to droop. She wasn't trying to pay attention to anything at all, just thinking about what was to become of Canterlot, of Equestria, of Princess Celestia and Luna. She had killed them, too. Equestria would be without any rule. Why would Rainbow Dash do this?In the room, a faint noise could be heard. Perhaps it was all Twilight’s imagination, or perhaps it really did exist. Either way, the point was the same. That noise, she had heard it before. It was the sound of Canterlot’s life, slowly dying from radiation. It was the sound which determined when it would happen. It was a clock.Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.Twilight finally had closed her eyes. This was it. In a matter of days, all of Canterlot would be dying. And it was her fault. She was to blame. Everypony would figure it out as soon as they noticed she was the only one NOT dying. After one final thought, she passed out.Rainbow Dash, you were never my friend. You never were loyal to me. I can see that clear as day now. Fuck you, bitch.
1*2*3*4
Twilight woke up. She looked around, noticing that she was still in the medical bed. It was over. She couldn't stand without wobbling and shaking. She wasn't sure if that was from the blood loss or from the radiation, but she did feel her throat burning slightly. She slowly made her way to a table nearby, where a glass of orange juice stood. Twilight grabbed the glass and drank it. The nurse was kindly waiting for her to wake up. She helped Twilight leave, and told her and Rainbow Dash goodbye. The purple alicorn noticed a change in the nurse's appearance. Her eyes looked just like Dash's did, and she didn't appear to be feeling well. Blood wasn't the only way to transfer this disease, it was just to speed it up.Shakily, Twilight walked out of the blood bank. Rainbow Dash was waiting outside, her face looking a lot better. The cure was for real. Twilight looked at what was once her best friend with a look of sorrow, still showing the hatred in her eyes to go along with it. Dash’s expression was blank.“I did what you asked,” said Twilight, “now give me the cure.”“Fine,” said Rainbow Dash, “but it’s back in the lab.”“Take me there.”“Obviously I can’t SHOW it to you, egghead.” The blue pegasus revealed a hidden needle she was grasping and pricked Twilight’s neck with it. Despite her struggles, Twilight was simply too weak to fight back, and she dropped to the ground. Ensuring nopony was looking, Dash hauled the alicorn’s body over her back and began her flight back to the lab.On arrival, she went back to Twilight’s room and tossed her unconscious body on the floor carelessly. The pegasus laughed at how easily her plan was coming together; it was only a matter of time before she completed her goals.Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. “Sorry it had to be this way,” she said to the unconscious pony, “I’ll make sure your body gets buried. The others won’t.” She laughed and picked up the alicorn, placing her on the operating table in the middle of the room. After strapping Twilight down to the table, she left the room to wait. When Twilight woke up, her plan would be unstoppable.She had already killed Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy, and Rarity was currently bleeding out. Twilight would soon suffer the same fate. However, knowing that Twilight would probably be smart enough to escape, she needed to finish her off quickly. With the disease still in the alicorn’s blood, there was no way she would be fit enough to do more than kick a hoof.
1*2*3*4
Twilight groggily opened her eyes to be greeted by the familiar rancid smell of Dash’s “lab”. She looked around. The room had now been lit up by some lights on the ceiling. Aside from that, nothing had changed. She tried to stand, but found that her legs wouldn’t move. She looked at her hooves to see them bound to the operating table. Already, she didn’t like the looks of this.“Hello?” she called out, “Rainbow? Let me go!” Nopony responded. It was absolute silence, same as before. Pure silence, except for the small background noise that seemed to be getting louder and louder.Tick. Tick. Tick. TICK.The metal door swung open, Rainbow Dash walking in once again. She was holding a mirror in one hoof, looking herself over. “So,” said Dash, “whaddya think? No fucked up face anymore, huh?”“Rainbow,” Twilight said, still attempting to ignore the amplifying clock, “why did you do this? Let me go, we had a deal! The cure, give it to me!”“A deal?” said Rainbow, “Oh, right! The cure!” Rainbow Dash pulled out a small flask filled with bubbling pink liquid. “Here, this is the solution to your sickness!”“Well,” said Twilight, “give it to me!” The purple alicorn coughed a few times. The disease was getting to her quickly, and she could tell she didn’t have much longer. She needed that flask, and soon.“Okay, okay,” said Rainbow Dash, “but first, let’s make sure you really want it. I think you look better this way.” Rainbow Dash lifted the mirror in front of Twilight’s face. “What do you think, Princess?”Twilight gagged again at the sight of her own face. Her eyes had become bloodshot. Bits of her skin had been peeling away, revealing bloody muscle. Parts of her upper lip had turned black, and fur was missing all over her cheeks. Twilight’s mane had also begun to turn gray and fall out.“Damn you,” Twilight coughed, pulling at her restraints, “give me the cure! You agreed!”“I know,” said Dash, “I’m giving it to you right now.” The pegasus walked behind the operating table and rolled out a small table. On it were several tools that appeared to be for a surgeon. Twilight, upon seeing this, attempted to use magic to escape, but her horn faded out instantly. She forgot about the injection.Rainbow Dash chuckled and continued on. “Come on, Twilight,” she said, “I thought you wanted me to give you the cure! So I am! You just won’t be DRINKING it.” Without warning, Rainbow Dash grabbed a thin, sharp knife and stabbed Twilight’s lower abdomen.“Agh!” Twilight screamed out, tears falling from her bloodied eyes. She looked down for a split second before looking away. Not only did it hurt, but the sight of that much blood gushing out of her at once was too much for her. Rainbow slowly began sliding the sharp metal upwards, all the way to Twilight’s rib cage.The alicorn could feel the blade digging into her bones, and it was the most painful feeling she had ever experienced. She screamed louder, tears streaming down her face. Some of her tears began to get slightly red from the amount of blood in her eyes.Dash stopped cutting and removed the blade from Twilight. She took both hooves and placed them in the center of the cut before yanking them in different directions, peeling Twilight’s flesh to her sides. Again, Twilight was screaming extremely loudly. To the alicorn, everything seemed to be getting more intense. Perhaps it was the disease, but all of her senses were much more acute. She felt more pain, she saw better, she heard better… She heard better. The clock’s volume was rising, and over her screams, she could hear it.TICK. TICK. TICK. TICK.Twilight continued to scream as blood splattered everywhere. Rainbow’s hooves were coated in the infected blood. The pegasus removed her hoof from the inside of Twilight and shoved it in Twilight’s mouth. The vile taste of her own blood made Twilight vomit. Rainbow removed her hoof and the acidic matter dripped out onto Twilight’s chest, some slipping inside of her.The pain was unbearable, and Twilight passed out. This disappointed Rainbow Dash. She reached for the table and grabbed a syringe filled with adrenaline and shot it into Twilight’s neck. Twilight opened her eyes wide and screamed once more. “Stop!” she screamed at Rainbow, “For the love of Celestia, stop!!!”Rainbow ignored her pleas, and although feeling guilty, she found it quite amusing. It should’ve been quite clear she was going to make Twilight die. She laughed as she took the small knife again and made an incision in Twilight’s stomach. After opening it and emptying all of the acid, Rainbow dropped in the flask containing the cure.Twilight once again passed out, but this time, Rainbow didn’t care. She had some stitching to do. Once it was done, she would wake up Twilight again. For the very last time.
1*2*3*4
“AAAAAAGH!” Twilight shot up, an unbearable amount of pain coursing through her torso. She could feel it in her stomach. Something heavy was in there, something that shouldn't be in there. She hadn't been paying much attention to what had happened during the torture Rainbow gave her, so she had no idea what was going on. However, she was no longer restrained to the table, so she attempted to stand.
Twilight found herself wobbling on the cement, and eventually, she collapsed. Her stomach hurt too much to move. She had to stay in one place, and the room was now darkened once again. The worst part was the clock. It was still ticking. And it was extremely loud.
TICK. TICK. TICK. TICK.
She put her hooves over her head, attempting to block out the sound, but nothing worked. It was repeating on a loop inside her brain, and she wasn't going to get it out. The metal doors once again flung open to reveal the blue pegasus, coated in Twilight’s blood.
Rainbow approached her. “So,” she said, “enjoying the surgery?”
“You,” said Twilight, coughing horrendously, “you didn’t give me the cure.”
“Oh, but I did,” said Rainbow, “in fact, its in your stomach right now! The entire flask!”
Twilight froze. If the entire flask was in her, she wouldn’t be cured. Rainbow had played her. Using all of her strength, Twilight managed to stand, turn, and buck her legs at Rainbow’s face.
Dash simply put up a hoof and threw Twilight’s legs to the ground, the entire alicorn soon collapsing after. “Okay,” said Rainbow, “I’ll let you see anypony you want before I leave you in here to die. Pick now.”
Twilight felt tears forming in her eyes. This wasn't how she wanted to go down, especially not from one of her best friends. The Elements of Harmony meant nothing now. She thought about it for a minute. Or two. She couldn't tell. But she DID know that her time was running out. She could hear it, louder than anything.
TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK!
Twilight finally came up with her answer. She figure out a way that maybe, just maybe, she could at least save everypony else from the radiation. “Spike,” she said, finally, “I want Spike.”
“Spike it is,” said Rainbow Dash, leaving the room. Twilight now sat all alone. She could only hope this would work. It was all up to her number one assistant. The alicorn was going to die. It was only a matter of time.
TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK!
1*2*3*4
Finally the metal door reopened, and Rainbow Dash walked in with Spike. Luckily, Rainbow Dash was kind enough to make him wear a hazmat suit to prevent transfer of radiation. Spike dropped his jaw at the sight of the tortured and irradiated alicorn.
“T---Twilight…?” he ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her neck. “What happened? Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash left the room and shut the door.
“Spike,” Twilight coughed, weakly, “take a letter.” Twilight, using all of the remaining magical strength she had, created a piece of paper and a quill, screaming as she did so. Spike quickly took the quill and got ready to write. Twilight began.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I must inform you that Canterlot is about to face certain disaster. Many ponies will die, and it’s my fault. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, has betrayed us. She was irradiated in the Everfree Forest, and she transferred it into my blood. She offered me the panacea if I were to donate my blood to the Canterlot Blood Bank. I… didn’t have a choice, Princess. Please forgive me. I didn’t end up getting cured, anyways.
What you need to know are two things: One, the blood bank will soon be giving out radiation poisoning to everypony; and Two, the cure for this radiation is inside of my stomach. Use a simple duplication spell on it and cure Canterlot. I am about to die. The side effects are severe. Please tell my brother that I love him. This is my last letter.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Spike grudgingly sent the letter, tears coming down from his eyes. He sat down next to Twilight and they cried together. When Rainbow Dash returned, Spike left, and Twilight knew she would never see him again. She was going to die.
“Well,” Rainbow laughed to Twilight, “it’s been a pleasure.” The pegasus took one final look at the Element of Magic and left the room, the door slamming shut behind her. Spike's screams soon followed. Twilight was now all alone. Her time was near. She was going to die any minute. All she needed to figure that out was the clock, ticking away ever so loudly.
TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK!
The purple alicorn lay her head on the cement floor, not able to keep it up anymore. This was how she ended. Clock is ticking, she thought to herself before closing her eyes. After the purple alicorn shut her eyes, she never opened them again. No, she was not sleeping, she was gone. Not even the loudest of noises could wake her. And even after she died, the clock kept ticking, as it always had been. And always would be.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.