The Element of Magic is Dying
Twilight Sparkle started the day as she always did, by opening her eyes upon the dull, almost monochromatic world around her. The world had been that way for a while now, ever since The Petrification had started. She gave a small sigh and got out of her bed, shuffling her hooves as she passed by the empty dragon nest next to her bed. She carried herself down the stairs and into the kitchen, passing the purple and green dragon that was her assistant.
"Morning Spike," she said as she prepared herself a cup of coffee, receiving no response as had been the norm for two months now.
She levitated the cup with her as she walked out the door past Spike once more, the dragon frozen with a look of pain and fear on his face. She entered the main room of the library and sat down on the couch, picking up one of the books that sat on the table, wide open and stained with blotches of some liquid. The heading of the page was titled, "The Planes of Time and Space" and was filled with text for the most part, an odd picture or two here and there. The rest of the morning was spent in silence as she sank into the couch and read the page she'd been reading for the past two months, hoping to find something she'd missed, some clue that could help her desperate situation.
She was pulled out of the boring and philosophical page as a knock sounded at the door, a voice coming directly behind it. "Twilight, it's Rarity dear, I was wondering if you would let me in." After a few seconds of silence from the house Rarity persisted, "Twilight, please, you need a friend during a time like this."
"I have Owlowicious," Twilight yelled at the door, her words nearly faltering as she looked around the room, catching sight of the aforementioned owl, perched with his wings spread wide on a branch near the ceiling.
"Twilight, an owl is not the correct company for a lady," Rarity said, sounding extremely stressed.
After a few seconds Twilight gave a sigh and used her magic to open the front door, causing Rarity to blink in surprise before stepping inside. She made straight for Twilight, reaching to give her a hug before she was stopped by a force field Twilight threw up.
"If it's all the same to you Rarity I'd rather not have any physical contact, not that I think you're infected, I just..." Twilight trailed off.
"It's okay Twi, I understand." Rarity let her eyes travel around the room, widening a bit as they landed on Owlowicious but continuing past him quickly and gazing at the terrible state of the tree. She sat on the opposite side of the couch Twilight was on, pulling her hooves up on the couch and setting her chin up on them. "Everyone misses you Twilight."
"I miss them too, I just can't stop Rarity, I'm the only one who can cure this, I know I can do it."
"Maybe you can't Twilight."
"Wh-what do you mean, of course I can! I have to Rarity, for Equestria, for everyone frozen, for...for..f-for..." The purple mare broke down into sobs.
"Twilight, I know how it must feel, we've all lost someone."
"But you haven't lost someone as close to me as Spike was. You still have Sweetie Belle, Applejack still has Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash still has Scootaloo, Fluttershy still has Angel, and Pinkie has Gummy. None of you understand."
"No, but we can empathize and give you our sympathy."
"I don't want your sympathy."
"Twilight pleas-"
"Just go."
"What," the mare asked, a frown on her face.
"I said go, I need to keep researching," Twilight said, looking everywhere but at her friend.
"But T-"
"I SAID GO RARITY," Twilight snapped, turning her gaze on her friend finally.
Rarity thought of arguing but something in Twilight's eyes made her shiver and keep her mouth closed. After a few seconds of a tense silence Rarity finally got up off the couch and began making her way to the door, weaving though the piles of books scattered on the floor. The door opened and closed and Twilight finally let herself relax, her body going limp and leaning into the cushions of the couch, the mare sinking as she came to terms with what she had just done. Her vision went hazy as tears welled up and began to spill out, streaking her cheeks again with the salty sting of tears once again.
She had to look like a wreck, she thought to herself. She moved the book out of her lap, ignoring the new wet spots on the pages, and climbed the stairs, entering the bathroom and looking in the mirror. Her mane was a mess, strands sticking up everywhere, it was unkempt and looked as if it had been weeks since she'd showered, there were bags under her eyes and her face looked absolutely haggard, tear streaks crusted into her fur. She gave a small sigh and turned the shower on, waiting until the water was warm enough before stepping in.
Twilight exited the bathroom as the night began to bloom, the water in the shower having grown cold a while ago, but she hadn't bothered to turn the water off or get out. She entered her room and picked up one of the books on her nightstand as she turned the light on and settled down to read. The night grew to dawn and the dawn to day before Twilight finally opened her eyes and got out of bed, shuffling past the empty dragon nest and making her way down the stairs. She entered the kitchen and shuffled past the form of her number one assistant, blinking as she continued onwards, not spotting the apple on the ground until it was too late. Her hoof landed on it and her hoof fell out from under her, her sense of balance failing due to her tired body and causing her to fall. She landed against Spike and he held her weight, the mare getting up and brushing herself off.
"Thanks for catching me Spike," Twilight said, turning and going to make some coffee. Suddenly what had happened caught up with her, causing her to whirl around with a cry of frustration. "Spike, no, no, no no nononono, you can't do this to me Spike, I was supposed to find you a cure, I was going to get you back." She sat next to Spike and put her forehead against his. "I'm sorry Spike, I failed Equestria, I failed my friends, and worst of all, I failed you. I guess I'll be seeing you soon then." A small tear fan down her cheek and she wiped it away, planting a kiss on her assistant's forehead and getting up.
She had things to do.
She had twenty four hours until she was fully deceased. The way the disease travelled was through physical contact, and it had been a week before anyone had even come to that conclusion, leading to many relatives and friends becoming infected from goodbye hugs and the such. The virus caused the infected to slow down progressively along a length of a week, eventually coming to a complete stop. Or at least what seemed like a complete stop. There had been speculation in some areas that they moved so slow that it almost wasn't noticeable. Twilight had studied Spike for days in hopes to see a change, but he had stayed in that same position of everlasting pain and fear, disproving the theory. And now Twilight was doomed for this fate as well.
For perhaps the first day in weeks Twilight opened the front door to her house, allowing herself to finally see how the rest of the world had coped with this catastrophe. The world outside seemed, to Twilight at least, just a little more colourful than her own little hovel, the brightness causing her to squint her eyes a bit. She exited her home and closed the door behind her, looking around at the few ponies walking down the road in front of her house. A few of them she recognized gave her a small nod and a smile which she returned, but most of them were traveling ponies. Due to the disease many ponies had taken to traveling the world, wishing to get away from the grisly scenes of their petrified family and friends. Twilight could understand the sentiment.
She set off down the road, making sure not to get too near anyone, which proved to be quite easy due to everyone being wary of catching the disease. She exchanged pleasantries with some she passed, but kept quiet when she passed shady looking characters. In her mind she was practically screaming at herself, she had a deadline, she was only going to get slower. But she ignored that part of her brain, focusing her attention on the last piece of her mind that wasn't broken and shattered. She reached her destination without any problems, stopping in front of the Carousel Boutique.
She pulled in a deep breath and knocked on the door, smiling at Rarity as she opened the door. "Oh, Twilight, you're out. Thank Celestia," she said, moving towards her friend to hug her.
"Rarity, stop," Twilight said, focusing her blurry eyes on Rarity.
"Twilight, you're crying, what's wrong," Rarity asked, growing grave.
"I...I fell," Twilight said, not wanting to continue, wishing that this was a dream and that she would wake up.
"You look fine to me," Rarity said, hope all too painfully obvious in her voice, practically begging Twilight not to tell her what she already knew was going to come.
"I was caught...by Spike..." Both mares were silent for a few minutes, both of them standing there as tears ran down their faces, both wanting to hug each other but painfully aware of what would happen if they did. Sweetie Belle came up behind Rarity and peeked around the older mare's leg, spotting Twilight and smiling at her. "Hi there Sweetie," Twilight said, smiling at her through the tears.
"Why are you guys crying," Sweetie asked, looking between them.
"Sweetie, Twilight's going away soon, just say goodbye," Rarity said.
"Umm, okay," she said, "goodbye Twilight, I'll see you when you get back."
She had begun to move toward Twilight to hug her but Rarity he'd her back. "Sweetie, just, please go back inside," Rarity said after a few moments of arguing with the filly, shoving her back in the house with her snout. "I'm going to be going with Twilight to see the other girls, I want you to stay here. Now I mean it Sweetie," she continued after receiving a half-hearted answer, "I don't want you going outside."
"But Rarity, you've kept me inside forever now. When am I going to be able to see my friends, when am I going to be allowed to go back to school, because as much as I hate to say it I miss school for once," the filly replied.
"Sweetie, please, just promise me you'll stay inside," she said.
"Fine, I promise," Sweetie said begrudgingly.
Rarity closed the door and the two mares made their way down the street, pausing at an intersection.
"You're going to have to tell her one day Rarity," Twilight said.
"I know, but it's just that I don't want to ruin her childhood by-" Rarity began.
"You're holding her hostage inside the house Rarity," Twilight replied.
Rarity was silent for a moment before responding, "I have no idea how to tell her Twilight."
Twilight decided to head right, to Sweet Apple Acres, "It won't be easy Rarity, but you'll have to tell her one day. I hope you make that day really soon."
The duo continued in down the road in silence, but Twilight recognized that Rarity wasn't as close as normal, something close to the length of a pony in between the two. It only hammered home the reality of what was happening to her. The continued on without any noise emanating from either of them. They reached Sweet Apple Acres and found Applejack bucking trees just off the side of the road, her hooves hitting the wood with a solid thunk, followed by smaller thunks as each apple landed perfectly in the basket.
"Howdy y'all," Applejack said as they walked towards her. "Nice to see you're out and about Twi, we were all worried ya'd be in that tree forever."
"Huh, I was only taking a cat nap," Rainbow Dash said, her head poking out of the leaves of a tree, her eyes clearly showing she hadn't just been having a cat nap. "Oh, Twilight, nice to see you without your nose buried in a book."
They both moved forward to give her a hug but paused when she looked at them with fear in her eyes.
"What's wrong sugarcube," Applejack asked, concern all over her features.
"Guys, I..." Twilight paused and caught Rarity's eye, the mare giving her an approving nod. "I'm infected."
It was Rainbow Dash who reacted first, giving her a weak smile and saying, "Haha, nice one, you really had me going there for a second." Applejack decided to side with Rainbow Dash on this one, acting like Twilight was playing a prank on them. Although, her voice cracked in the middle of her talking and she began to cry, Rainbow Dash breaking down an instant after her. "It's not fair. What did any of us do to deserve this?"
"None of us did anything, it's just how life decided to play out," Twilight said, managing to not cry, despite the large pain in her heart.
"I'm sorry sugarcube," Applejack said through the tears, "what are we going to do?"
"We're going to go get Pinkie and Shy and we're all going to wait until I change," Twilight replied, making the girls shout with exclamations of how crazy she was and the like. "Stop, please. I realize that you guys want to do something for me but I just...I would rather go quietly."
Just then Pinkie Pie appeared, carrying a rather stunned looking Fluttershy on her back.
"Hey girls, I brought Fluttershy, now what's the emergency," Pinkie said.
Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight each gave each other a brief look before each of them shrugged it off as Pinkie being Pinkie.
"Pinkie...I'm infected," Twilight said for the third time that day, the pain still present in her voice as she said it.
"I kind of guessed but I was hoping I was wrong," Pinkie said, lowering her head, Fluttershy finally stepping down off her back.
"How did you come to that conclusion," Twilight asked.
"You mean you haven't noticed your voice getting slower, I noticed it when I first showed up," Pinkie replied, the other four mare's of the group nodding along.
"I didn't mention it because I thought you were aware of it," Rarity said, giving Twilight a worried look.
"I didn't notice it," Twilight admitted. And she hadn't, and still didn't, her words coming at the same pace they always did. Although her friends had been talking a bit faster than normal, and Rarity had been walking at a pace that made her go just above a normal walk. She had assumed that it had just been because of what was going on but...Twilight was beginning to form a theory in her head. She sincerely hoped she was wrong.
"Twilight, you're thinking something, we can all see it," Rainbow Dash said, giving her friend a curious look.
"It's a theory I've got but I can't prove anything right now," Twilight replied. "I'll tell you if I actually come to any conclusions."
Her friends each gave her a nod, trusting in her judgement to give them information when she actually got something, they just hoped it wouldn't be too late.
For Twilight it had been only a few hours, but as far as we could tell, it had been nearly an entire day, the purple mare watching as her environment slowly speeding up around her as she continued on, each of her friends giving her sad glances and wary looks as they progressed through the time, at varying speeds depending on who's side of this progress barrier you looked at. It was almost surreal to Twilight, watching each of her friends perform the same actions she had seen them do a million times, but at almost twice the speed, Rainbow's wings flapping almost as fast as a hummingbird and each of their eyes blinking rapidly, looking as if they were in a dust storm or trying to clear something from their eyes.
They entered the house and Rarity closed the door after Twilight entered. Rarity said something but it was too fast for Twilight to hear and she made a motion stating that she couldn't hear, Rarity getting it after a second of debate with the other girls. They pulled out a piece of paper and Rarity began to write on it, pushing it towards Twilight and letting her read it.
"So what was your hypothesis again dear?"
Twilight picked up the pen in her magic and began writing on the page, becoming comfortable in the familiarity of letters once more as she began to explain what had been forming in her mind for a while now.
"Girls, I'm not slowing down. Or at least from my view. You are speeding up, while I'm still going my usual speed. For you it must be the opposite, I'm slowing down, you're going at normal speed. I can only wonder how terrified everyone who's gotten this...maybe I'll be able to see Spike again. Or maybe because we were infected at a separate point he's ahead, or behind, me in terms of how slow he is and I won't be able to catch him. I guess I'll see soon enough, won't I?"
Twilight looked up from her note to see her friends all asleep, each of them passed out in various positions around the room. It brought a smile to her face and made her yawn a little, suddenly becoming aware of how little sleep she'd been allowing herself lately. Looking at her friends, each of their chests rising and falling at rapid paces, gave her a small sense of happiness that at least they would be okay without her, and then she drifted off.
Her slumber was disturbed by the sound of...crying. And not just any crying, it was a familiar voice. Twilight felt an emotion rising inside her chest as she sat up out of the chair she was in and as she moved towards the kitchen and as she stepped around the corner the emotion took hold of her and tears began to fall down her cheeks at the sight of the baby dragon that sat with his head against the wall, eyes closed with tears streaming out of them. Twilight let a smile grace her muzzle and she laid a hoof on Spike's shoulder, causing him to turn his gaze on her.
And then a smile that she hadn't seen in months greeted her.
Author's Note
For the most part this entire thing is unedited and the last portion was really rushed so if you spot any errors or have any qualms with the end of this chapter please let me know and I'll get to fixing them as soon as I can.