When she awoke, Twilight felt herself slowly drifting, floating silently in the cool air, as she had done in the river, surrounded by soft, gentle pastel colors.. There was no sound, no heat, no cold, nothing. She had been crying. Her memories were vague. She gave a little sniff.

“Am I dead?” she wondered aloud.

“No Twilight Sparkle, you are not dead. You’re an alicorn, remember?” a gentle voice surrounded her.

“Where is Dewey?”

“Do not worry. Dewey is perfectly safe.”

“Where am I? And who are you? Where are you?”

“I am someone who loves you.”

“What? What do you mean?” her voice took on the strain of emotion again. Suddenly she felt what seemed like two arms take her in, pick her up and hold her, gently cradling her. She relaxed, knowing somehow that she was safe.

“Do not be frightened Twilight. The last thing I would do is to hurt you.”

“What is happening? Where am I?”

Then there was silence

“You have been through enough. It had to end”

“And you were able to make it end?” she asked.

“I was able to remove you from it.”

“Are you an Alicorn? Is this magic? What else can you do? Can you make Applejack remember what we shared?”

“No, I am not an Alicorn, I have no magic.”

She stayed silent for a short time, thinking.

"Then you won't make me leave? I can stay?"

“Yes, for a little while. You need to rest.”

“Why only a little while? Why not forever? It feels like there is a storm out there that never ends and I’m warm and safe here.”

“You are, and I would love for you to stay, but don’t you think you need more than safety and love?”

“I don’t seem to be able to hang onto either, so right now, I’ll take all of them I can get,” she said looking down. When she looked back up her expression was one of fear and worry. “I-I can’t stop trembling. I have all these blurry images of something terrifying that feels like it just happ…”

She paused. She looked around, confused. “What was I just saying? I was just talking about something and I can’t remember what it was.”

“Do not worry, it was nothing of consequence, nothing that you will ever need to remember.”

“Hmm. I’m feeling confused. What were we talking about? Oh, I know - how nice it is here and how much I hate the thought of going back out there and facing everything.” She stretched out broadly. “You know what I think? I think I’m going to stay here for awhile. Is that okay?” She said, starting to yawn.

“Of course.”

Twilight raised a hoof to cover her mouth as she yawned again. Her eyes became drowsy and she smacked her lips and looked around, smiling. She lay down and curled up on the soft downy surface she suddenly found herself resting on. She pulled the top of it up as though it were a blanket and slipped herself under it..

“Ohhhhh, this is nice…” She lay her head down and a soft pillow appeared under it. She closed her tired eyes and smiled. “You really do love me, don’t you. I can feel it”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well I think I love you too. Why can’t I just stay here with you? Maybe you’ll even show yourself.” She paused then opened an eye. “Are you cute?”

“You have to continue your journey.”

“I don’t want to,” she said, her eyes still closed and her mouth going into a petulant little pout.

“There are others depending on you, who need you.”

“But I don’t need them,” she answered, and rolled on her other side.

She was silent for awhile. She opened her eyes and stared out blanky at nothing. “I have no love left.” Then she stopped and thought about what that meant. “You see my love, well, I…” and she began to cry again. She felt the reassuring arms hold her closer and the pain and stress quickly left her. She relaxed and curled back up into a comfortable position. She closed her eyes, smacked her lips and nestled in again with a smile.

“Please let me stay here, with you. You said you loved me.”

“And I do, but there are others that love you too, and need you.”

“But they can’t make me feel as safe as you do.” She snuggled in more.

“You are part of a far bigger story and you have a role to play.”

“What if I don’t like the story?” she asked sounding a little cranky and tired.. “What if I don’t want a role in some story? What if I don’t want premise, then conflict, then rising conflict then climax…” she giggled. “Cliiiiimax…” she repeated, the word weighty with desire. Then she giggled. “Can you imagine if this were really some kind of story that ponies could read or something?“ she mumbled and smiled at the thought. “Wow. Ponies reading about all my climaxes, all AJ’s climaxes, me and AJ having climaxes...Together! If I thought that anypony ever read about AJ and I… oops, AJ and me lying in my bed with our faces planted between each others back legs.” She giggled sleepily. Then she smiled “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her… or TO her for that matter, if she asked me to…” Then, after a pause added “ don’t know why I’m telling you, all this -after all we have not even been properly introduced,” she said, and then started to laugh as though she were tipsy. “Before I start to talk about my hot lesbian sex life with Applejack, the hottest mare ever born, I think decorum dictates that we be probberly innoduced. I am getting tireder and tireder.”

“That’s because the stress is leaving you and you’re going into a state of deep relaxation.”

“Ohhhh…” she moaned, shifting her body under the cover. “this is sooooo nice… Thank you so much.” She rolled on her back and pulled her cover up to her chin. In a moment a gentle sadness crossed over her expression. She opened her eyes and spoke, her voice full of pain as she pleaded.

“Please fix my story. Please make it all better. Please take me home to my Applejack.” Her shoulders jumped slightly as a tiny sob came from her and she began to weep. Her voice was strained and tight. She rolled over on her side. “It hurts so much…” Her voice became a tight whisper “I miss her so much…” and she began to cry harder. “I’ll do anything, please...”

“Shhhh, Twilight, be calm. Maybe that’s what will happen. Maybe you’ll wake up at home in bed next to Applejack and the procedure will have been a success, this will bave been a bad dream and you’ll kiss each other in joy and make love.”

Twilight became somber and she cast her glance downward. “But that isn’t what is going to happen, is it?”

“I’m afraid that’s not what I’m sensing…”

“Sensing? From where? From who? Sorry, whom... Where is all this story from?”

“From you.”

She looked out with red, puffy, tear stained eyes. Her voice was strained with emotion, the words barely audible. “I don’t understand. I’m not really sure I care. Just tell me - Will it get better? “

As she closed her eyes she felt a tender kiss on the bridge of her nose and a little smile appeared on her face like a ray of sun parting the clouds after a storm.

“Yes, my little love, things will always get better, but it will not be easy, there are enormous challenges ahead.”

She took a deep breath and seemed to draw strength from it. “I know.” she said with a large sigh.

“Then stay here as long as you want.”

She nodded and then was quiet. After several moments she asked “I won’t remember any of this will I?”

“Bits and pieces, as a dream. But only what happened after you awoke here. ”

“Did something happen just before I woke up? It did, didn’t it? Something very bad. I was terrified.”

“It was too much, it is gone and will never return...”

“What if I want to talk to you again? To be with you?”

“I will always be here Twilight Sparkle, watching over you.”

“Will I be with you again?”

“Yes, I promise”

She snuggled in tighter, and managed to say one last thing before she fell asleep,

“Promise me you’ll take care of Applejack and that nothing bad will happen to her...”

Then she fell asleep.

tdddddditt tdddddditt tdddddddidit…

The gentle chirping in her ear made Twilight smile. She lay on her back on top of her bedroll which had been spread out in the shade of a huge rock. Her saddlebags were leaning neatly up against it. Turning her head to the right she came eye to eye with Dewey. She smiled broadly.

“Hi Dewey.”

Dewey licked his eye.

“That’s some trick. You must be thirsty.” Twilight sat up slowly. Her hooves were sore and she was dirty and sweaty and covered in dust. But she felt great. She reached out and lifted her canteen.

“Oh hay! It’s only half full. That means we only have enough for the rest of the day and I do’t even know where we are...”

She stood and surveyed the land. The Wraith Mountains seemed farther away than she remembered. She was no longer in the desert, she’d crossed onto the prairie.

“Hmmm, we came pretty far, but at least I think it was in the right direction. Let me get out my maps.”

Sitting in the long shadow of the rock, Twilight pulled out her map and looked it over.

“Well there are towns a little more north of here. It looks like they’re connected by a road that runs east-west. What do you say we head up to one? No offense Dewey, but I’m feeling lonely all of a sudden.”

Dewey yawned.

“It is getting late. We probably have an hour or so of daylight left. Let’s head north and try to get a better idea of exactly where we ares. Once we do we can decide which town is closest.”

Using magic she rolled up her bedroll, strapped it to her back and went to get her saddle bags. She opened the flap to let Dewey in, but he just stood and looked at her.

“You want to ride up front, litte guy?” she said, reaching out her foreleg. He leapt on it and ran up then jumped into her mane. He made his way to the curl of her bangs as she lifted her saddlebags and adjusted them on her back.

“Ready?” she asked.

He peered down from her bags, looking at her upside down, and blinked

“Then lets go… actually wait -”

She picked up the canteen and held it to her lips, The water was warm, but she didn’t care. She swallowed half a mouthful left after swishing it around. Then she poured a tiny bit into her underhoof and lifted it for Dewey. SHe could feel his little tongue against her underhoof and the tickle made her laugh. After a few minutes she felt the tickling stop.

“Now we go.” and she started walking north.

“Hope you don’t mind if I talk. I’m feeling a little better and when I feel better I talk. You probably noticed back at the cave that I looked a little different when I went in than when I came out. It’s a pretty serious secret, but I think II can trust you. When you saw me before I had wings and my mane was different. My cutie mark was a star and my color was lavender. I don’t know how much you get out, but the law of Equestria has some very definite rules about this kind of stuff. It says:

‘Should anypony be found guilty of using magic to shapeshift either themselves or another for the purposes of evasion, then they shall be henceforward be permanently stripped of all their magical powers.’

“Pretty harsh, huh? They used the word evasion since it can be read in any number of ways. Usually it’s evasion of identity which is pretty much what I’m doing. It can be used for some pretty awful things, things to fool other ponies into trusting you by looking like somepony else. So instead of deciding how severe to punish the pony that did it, they decided that any pony who shape shifted to avoid or being identified or to be misidentified, no matter the reason, would be treated the same - loss of magical power.” She spoke very matter of factly.

“Now you can shape shift for entertainment and that sort of thing. It’s used by clowns at parties and for plays and it’s fine - no problem there if you get permission and it’s part of your act. It’s pretty clear when it’s being used for other things. With me it would be a little bit different, you see my special talent is magic. If they stripped all my magic from me, well, lets just say there wouldn't be much left of me. I’m not too sure but I think it might even kill me. I asked Princess Celestia about it once and she suddenly looked sick and scared then changed the subject so I didn’t press it, but it really frightened me.”

They walked in silence for another hour or so. Lifting her hoof to shade her eyes, Twilight hoped to spot any of the landmarks that were on the map. She took out her canteen and with magic lifted it to her lips, swallowing only a little. She poured a tiny bit into her upturned hoof and Dewey licked it slowly. When he was done, Twilight patted her face with what remained.

As she moved on, the plant life grew taller and thicker. The sky was turning a deep blue as the sun headed toward the horizon. In the distance, Twilight though she saw a wisp of smoke rise up from behind a bluff. She squinted her eyes. There is was again. Then it was gone.

“What would anypony be doing way the hay out here Dewey? If my map skills are accurate, we’re at least a couple of miles from the nearest town. If you were just camping, there are a lot nicer places to go than the middle of the prairie. You know, they could be part of one of the archeological teams I’d read about. From the looks of it they’re having trouble getting their campfire started.” She looked up into her bangs and he looked down. “Think they could use some help from a unicorn and a lizard?”

Dewey blinked.

“Let’s go find out.” she said and trotted off happily in the direction from which she’d seen the smoke.

The sun had set by the time she approached the camp. She looked down from atop the bluff. 50 or so yards from the base of the bluff a low campfire burned. By it’s weak light she could see several ponies. Carried by the breeze she could hear deep throated laughter.

She trotted down, carefully taking several switchbacks along the steep trail. As she approached them, something inside her told her to stop. These colts were full grown. She was a young (kind of cute - if Applejack was to be believed) mare. Suddenly this didn’t seem like such a good idea. She was about 20 yards away. She could see there were just two of them now..

Maybe I should just lie down and listen to what’s going on. They’re probably just be out enjoying the desert night .

Still…

She settled down behind a tall shrub flanked on either side by scrub and listened. Their voices carried over the night air.

“Any more whiskey?” a reedy voice asked. “I didn’t hardly get no more than a sip that last go-round.”

“That’d be cause you can’t handle it,” came the answer. This voice sounded heavy and thick. “...‘sides, you best be on your game Flint. If’n you get all stumblin in there half-assed drunk I’ll have to whup what’s left of your bloody carcass after Red skins you alive.”

“There’s no call to be nasty Smacky. Did I say I wanted a gulp? Did you hear them words? No you surely didn’t you thump. I said I wanted a sip is all. Freakin’ thump. I know my limits. Beside I got the whole plan down. I could surely go and do it blindfolded walking backwards. What about you? You got it?” Flint snapped. His voice had taken a nasty tone.

“I got it, don’t you worry none and the name’s Smackwater. And don’t be callin me thump no more. Only one call me Smack is Red. Best if you remember that. Anyways I got the plan down cold.”

“Is that a fact? Well then why don’t you just tell me about it?”

“I ain’t fixin to sit here all night and tell you what you don’t know. You wanna know - Go ask Red!” Smackwater growled.

Suddenly everything went silent. Twilight could hear the sound of hoofsteps walking slowly toward the campfire.

“So,” a deep dry voice asked.”just what is it you want to ask me?”

The voice that spoke sent a shiver of terror down Twilight’s spine. It was full of power and menace.

For several moments, neither answered.

Uh,h-huh-h-hi Red, didn’t hear ya.” stammered Flint

“That is because you weren't supposed to” Red paused, before speaking ”Mr Sharpis? What did you think - do these two understand what we are to do tomorrow?”

Twilight heard a second set of hooves crunch softly through the gravel as they approached the softly crackling campfire.

“I should think,” Sharpis said, “that the answer to that question may be easily ascertained.”. Unlike Red, this voice was was one of cruel sophistication and intelligence. “Why don’t you tell me Flint, what we are to do tomorrow?”

Flint no longer sounded nervous. He spoke with deliberate intent.

“We go into town, we grab the sheriff's boy from the school, we-”

“Name!” Sharpis snapped.

“Mesa!” Flint snapped back.

“We discussed this gentlecolts,” Sharpis hissed with apparent patience that clearly hid dangerously restrained anger, “you are to use the names of those involved. It creates a sense of control in your mind and a sense of both trust and fear in theirs. Furthermore it will instill in them a sense that you have thought everything through, that you are well prepared and that you have most possibly considered all potential eventualities. This will cause them to hesitate before taking any rash action. That hesitation may be hours or minutes, but even if that hesitation is but a fraction of a second, it can give you all the advantage you need to take their life before they take yours. Is that clear?”

“Yes” both Flint and Smackwater answered.

“Continue.”

Flint went on. “We go to town, we grab Sheriff Flatt’s boy Mesa from the school and bring him to the bank as a hostage. We tell the sheriff, oh-sorry, we tell Sheriff Flatts that we got Mesa and no harm will come to him long as the Sheriff cooperates.”

“And if the Sheriff does not cooperate?” Mr. Sharpis asked. This time it was Smackwater who answered. There was a difference in the tone to his voice. Flint had been serious, Smackwater was gleeful almost to the point of lust.

“We grab little Mesa’s left ear near the base and pull it up strong and firm, but not too firm, then I use my knife and saw it back and forth through the base of the ear till it comes off. Next we throw it out in the street.” He chuckled softly. It was the ugliest sound Twilight had ever heard.

“When we are done,” he went on “we take the colt, walk out the back door of the bank and head out of town.” He paused, clearly savoring the possibility of what might happen. “If the Sheriff follows,” he paused again, drawing it out, speaking slowly, as though describing something to arouse, “we start cuttin his boy, cutting little Mesa, one slice at a time, and leaving the bits and pieces as we go” he chuckled softly again.

“Oh no” Flint said in utter disgust “- what the - oh fu-, are you gettin a hard-on?!”

Twilight was not sure what a hard-on was, but she had a pretty good idea. She felt herself wretch and put the back of her hoof to her mouth.

“You sick son of a bitch!” Flint said, “You make me sick to my stomach. You know I’d pay two bits to blow your brains out here and now Smackwater, if we didn’t need you for this job.” He paused.

“Your momma should a drowned you,” he muttered sadly.

“Yeah, well I drownded her first!”

Red spoke now. “Mr. Smackwater, should any harm befall that colt without my telling you, I will stake you to that fire ant mound we passed yesterday. Is that understood.?”

“Yeah.” Smackwater replied

“Good. Now give me the bottle.”

Smackwater said nothing.

“Now” Red’s voice was once again full of an evil menace that reminded Twilight of King Sombra. In the silence that followed, Twilight assumed that Smackwater gave the bottle to Red.

“If you really want this, go get it.” Red told him and tossed the bottle in the direction of Twilight. It landed about 10 feet away from her.

“You can fight the rattlesnakes and scorpions for it.”

Twilight’s eyes flew open wide and her heart started thumping. She was sure she heard something move near her . Then felt something on her leg. She instantly cast a protection spell around herself. and lit her horn with a dark blue tint, casting an ultraviolet light..

Three scorpions were crawling up her back leg. In a panic she pulled it up, tucking it close and brushed the creatures off frantically. Using magic she began picking them up, quickly flinging them in the general direction of the camp. Just as she turned her head, she saw it. Down next to her left hoof - a scorpion poised to strike. The motion was a blur. She felt the stinger as it pierced her soft pink underhoof. She bit down hard to keep from screaming and using her magic, picked up and flung the creature as far as she could in the same direction as the others. She heard the bandits yelling something about a scorpion in the fire, but she didn’t care. It felt like her hoof was on fire.

Quickly she grabbed hold of her leg and pulled it up to her face and tried to see where she’d been stung. In the darkness she couldn’t see anything and she had the presence of mind not to light her horn before turning around with her back to them. The usually pink flesh of the underhoof looked as though it was changing color and she could see it was already starting to swell. She tried to use magic to stop it from spreading but between the panic and the pain she couldn’t think of a spell.

Pulling her hoof up to her face she pressed her lips around the soft skin and sucked it as hard as she could, ignoring the pain that shot out in all directions. With her tongue she circled where the stinger had penetrated and could feel the hard lump forming. Her fear drove her and she pulled harder and harder. She could taste the bitter venom and was glad for it as she turned her head and spat, the spittle running down her chin. Without pausing to wipe it off she placed her mouth back down and began the process again. The pain began to subside and the sensation of relief calmed her. As she wiped her chin she thought of Rainbow Dash would have laughed at how lame her spitting was. Dash had showed her the proper technique but it had taken forever for her to master it.

Now she could feel the hardness around the sting become pliable and she almost laughed from relief. She kept sucking gently on the tiny wound and probing with her tongue until the flesh was much softer.

Under the low light of her horn she was able to get a look as was relieved to see that it looked betterl. She could still taste the bitterness of the venom and spat again. This time she’d formed the saliva into a ball, then started blowing through her pursed lips before bringing up the spit, letting her rushing breath catch it and shoot it cleanly away. She smiled thought about what she had just done. The underhoof was usually pulled up and back, so it wasn’t too dirty, but most ponies would have at least wiped it off with a towel before putting their mouths on it…

Then she realized that despite everything that had happened in the last 15 minutes, she felt...good. She felt strong and tough. She had possibly saved her own life without the use of magic! She had done what was necessary and felt proud of herself. She looked around carefully but there were no signs of any scorpions, rattlesnakes or any other creatures.inside of the protective dome she’d made.

She felt Dewey up in her mane. He popped out and hung upside down, looking at her. Twilight wondered if he was worried. She thought she could sense it

“It’s okay little one, I’m fine.” she whispered. He blinked and popped back up into her mane.

Now what? I can’t stay here, they’ll see me in the morning, especially when one of them comes out to look for that bottle. I could wait for them to fall asleep, if only I can stay awake.

Carefully and slowly Twilight crept away, keeping as close to the ground as she could. She could still feel the pain as it radiated from her hoof, but ignoring it made her feel strong.

What would Rainbow Dash say if she could see me now? Stealing away in the night after sucking scorpion venom out of my own underhoof with my mouth! What would any of them say?

She pictured Rarity turning green, about to throw up and chuckked. She saw Dash’s face drop in utter shock and smiled smugly. Pinkie Pie would be getting over some kind of scorpion sting tail twitch. Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. Fluttershy would have run off to see if the scorpion was alright. Facehoof.

Then she saw Applejack. Whether this had happened before or after the accident the same image appeared.. She would be taking care of Twilight. She would have had her own lips on Twilight’s hoof, sucking out the venom has hard as she possibly could, trying to keep the fear from showing in her eyes. It was then that Twilight felt closest to a breakdown. Nothing she’d felt since leaving Ponyville had brought her as much pain as had that image and she bit down hard to keep from crying..

Come on now Sugarcube, don’t you go losing it on me. You gotta be tough Twilight, you gotta hang in there. No matter what happens. Maybe we’ll never see each other again, but maybe we will and if you start cryin’ then you won’t be able to take care of that hoof of yours and if you don’t, we’ll never see each other again for sure.

Applejack’s voice sounded clear and calm in her head and she took a lot of strength from it. She redoubled her efforts and hobbled her way back up the switchback to the bluff that overlooked their camp. She set up her tent, back from the ledge, went inside and looked carefully and closely at the sting, prodding it and feeling it with her tongue. Then she placed her mouth on it again and sucked as hard as she could. The pain made her go cross-eyed and for a moment she felt dizzy but by then she was done. She leaned out of the tent and spat clean. Then she sneered. Next she cleaned and dressed the sting. She could see her teeth marks and smirked.

Her wound taken care of, she used the light from her horn and looked closely at the map. A few moments later she stuck her head out and looked up at the stars and then off into the distant mountain range faintly silhouetted against the deep blue night sky.

Back in the tent, with Dewey peering down in support she traced several points with her hoof, leaving light creases in the paper.

There we are Dewey! I’d say we’re right there! That means the closest town to where we are is… Oh hay! Both these towns are equidistant! It could be either one of them. One is north east from their camp, the other northwest. This trail here leads due north and then it forks. One goes off to Fetlock Flats, the other to… Tombstown? Can that be right? What a scary name…”

Twilight stepped out of the tent. The bandits fire was out and they had clearly bedded down for the night. She went back to her tent and set up the protection spell. She could break down her tent in a matter of minutes and so left everything else in her saddle bags. The pain in her hoof had lessened but she found sleep elusive.

How will I ever get to whatever town they’re going to before they do…? It was her last thought before falling into a fitful sleep.

Author's Note

Delivered as promised...