Embrace the darkness

Night had settled over Ponyville covering the small town in its darkness, and the only source of light in the entire town was from a purple magical glow shining through a window of the local library. The Alicorn responsible for the magic was holding a long scroll in her magical grasp, intently studying the formula she had written down with a critical eye. She once again dipped her quill into her ever dwindling supply of ink, and after a few more jots here, and some scribbles there, Twilight Sparkle was finally satisfied with her results.

Twilight yawned tiredly and went to take a sip of coffee, when she realized her cup was empty as was the coffee pot. Being careful not to disturb the delicate parchment hanging from her walls, Twilight made her way to the kitchen and put the pot on the stove to boil so she could make more of her much needed coffee.

For the past five days and nights she had been working on deciphering Star Swirl the Bearded’s book on creating the Lost Rune, and her diet had been nothing more than noodles and coffee. But now almost finishing her assignment she just needed another boost of energy to see her through to the end.

As she waited for the water to boil, Twilight pulled a photograph off the fridge which showed Rainbow Dash grabbing Twilight and giving her a noogie. Twilight smiled fondly and placed the photograph carefully back on the fridge. She missed Rainbow Dash, especially the pegasus’ smile, and continuous attention, but it was for those reasons she had asked her lover to move out while she completed the assignment Princess Celestia had given her. She was just too damn distracting, especially those athletically toned flanks, and silky feathers. Twilight shook her head to clear it as she realized the Pegasus was a distraction even when she wasn’t near.

Twilight turned the stove off and finished making her coffee, before going back into the lounge room and once again studying the formula hanging from the walls with a critical eye. Once again her findings led her to conclude that everything was as it should be and there was nothing stopping her from moving to the second phase, which was creating the actual rune. Twilight placed her cup where it wouldn’t spill over everything, and stepped into the area of the lounge room she had cleared of all furniture.

Creating the rune wasn’t going to be easy, it involved creating a pattern of different runes each one with a specific meaning and purpose. If done right, the pattern of runes will create one entire rune with the ability to protect the wearer from all spells. It worked by collecting the magic stored within the spells, and throwing it in a constant recharging loop. That was the theory anyway, and a lot of things could go wrong with potentially disastrous consequences should she be off by even a tiny fraction. But Twilight was confident even in her fatigued, and coffee fulled state she would be able to pull it off perfectly.

On the floor in front of her was the quill she would be using to draw the runes, but unlike the rest of her quills, this one had a razor sharp metal point on it she had designed for this exact purpose. Taking a deep breath Twilight picked it up in her magical grasp and began channeling her magic through it, this was the part she was dreading the most. Beginning on her face, Twilight placed the quill on her left temple and bit her lip to stop herself from crying out as the quill dug into her flesh and began carving out the rune. Blood ran down her face mixing with her silent tears as she tried her best to ignore the pain.

Each rune she drew took ten to fifteen minutes, and by the time she had finished the second last rune, Celestia had begun rising the sun for a new day, her entire body was aching and covered in sticky blood from the superficial cuts. But now she had to do the one rune she dreaded above all the others. The rune of pleasure. Wincing in pain, Twilight bent over flicking her tail to one side to expose her marehood. The quill began its work, and Twilight shoved a hoof in her mouth as she cried out in both pain and pleasure. Pain obviously being the overriding sensation. A noise upstairs alerted her to the fact Spike was now awake, and she heard his soft foot steps walking down the stairs.

“Go back to bed Spike!” She yelled praying he would listen.

“I’ve got to make breakfast.” The dragon mumbled tiredly.

“I’ll take care of breakfast; you just go back to bed!”

But it was too late and Spike froze mid step when he saw Twilight and what she was doing. “Why couldn’t you just listen to me Spike?” Twilight muttered. Spike blinked a few times, and opened his mouth to say something only to close it again before walking back up the stairs. Thankfully the rune was just about done, and Twilight made her way to the bathroom to get clean up. One thing she knew for sure, it was going to be a while before she ever clopped again.

Twilight sighed as the warm water from the shower washed over her body creating small crimson rivers which disappeared down the drain. When she was done, Twilight looked herself over in the mirror; her whole body was covered in shallow cuts forming complicated patterns of runes, which were now beginning to sting once more. Twilight bought out the fist aid kit and began wrapping bandages around the more complicated and larger runes that would take longer to heal. When she was done, she walked back into the kitchen and cleaned up her blood off the floor, and pulled the scrolls from the wall rolling them up and placing them safely in the chest.

“You can come down now Spike,” Twilight called up the stairs. Spike walked down the stairs avoiding eye contact with Twilight as he walked into the kitchen to begin making breakfast.

"What were you actually doing?" Spike asked, "you were covered in blood and doing something freaky with a quill." Twilight sighed and levitated a pillow from the lounge room before sitting down.

"It was a necessary part of the ritual in creating the Lost Rune. Without even the most inconsequential rune, the powers of the Lost Rune won't work, and all my studying this past week would have been for nothing." Spike glanced over Twilight''s body seeing the small scars showing through the bandages.

"I can't believe Celestia would ask you to do something like that to yourself."

"Actually she didn't. The princess only wanted me to decipher Star's Swirl's notes, I was the one who made the decision to see if it actually worked." Spike's mouth dropped open.

"You actually did that to yourself not knowing if it was going to work, are you crazy?"

"No Spike I'm not crazy. I know the individual runes themselves will work, but whether they work together to form the Lost Rune is the part I don't know."

"Man, Rainbow is going to be super upset when she sees you like this."

"Yes she is. But I'll deal with that problem when it arises. But right now all I want is a decent meal, and a solid ten hour rest."

"Well I can help you with the meal," Spike said placing a plate of mixed berry pancakes an a glass of apple juice in front of the Alicorn. Twilight was just about to take a bite of Spike's delicious cooking, when a knock at the door caused her to stop with the pancake halfway to her mouth.

"Looks like you're going to have deal with that problem sooner than you expected."

Twilight considered hiding as the dragon went to answer the door, but then common sense told her it would be better to get this over as soon as possible. Sighing, Twilight placed the pancake back on the plate and turned to face Rainbow as she walked into the library.

Rainbow felt the blood drain from her face as she saw the bandages covering most of her lover's body, and the complicated pattern of shallow cuts the bandages didn't cover. Twilight shifted uncomfortably, and used her wings to try and cover her body, but only succeeding in revealing the runes cut into her feathered appendages.

"What happened? Rainbow asked unthinkingly pulling Twilight into a tight hug, causing the Alicorn to gasp in pain. "you look like something rarity's cat scratched up!"

"Dashie I'm a little sensitive at the moment. I'll be happy to answer your questions as soon you let go." Immediately the Pegasus released her hold on Twilight and stepped back.

"Who did this to you?"

"Nopony did this to me, I did it myself last night."

"Why the hay would you do something like this, are you crazy? Is that why you didn't want me to be here?" Twilight sighed and stood so she could delicately rearrange the bandages Rainbow had pulled out of place. But unfortunately Rainbow caught a glimpse of one of the deeper and more serious runes, and she paled even further.

"That was one of the reasons, but mostly because you're just too distracting." Rainbow didn't even try fake a smile, she was still too shocked about what Twilight had done to herself.

"Honestly Dashie I'm fine, in an hour or so they'll be completely healed and we can make up for being apart this week. Plus it'll give me a chance to try out a rune I think you'll like." Twilight whispered, kissing Rainbow softly. The Pegasus felt her worry and uncertainty melt away, to be replaced with electric tingles running through her body. Rainbow delicately pulled Twilight closer and ran a hoof through her mane, and Spike cleared his throat.

"Uh, girls still here." Immediately the two ponies pulled away nervously running a hoof through their manes. "Never mind, I'm leaving." Twilight's horn glowed shutting the front door before the dragon could walk out.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Well the cutie mark crusaders are having a picnic to brainstorm ideas about earning their cutie marks, and they invited me along to join them." Twilight relinquished her magic off the door.

"Very well, but be back by five O'clock this afternoon. We've got to weather proof the library before the Pegasus weather ponies bring in the snow clouds for winter next week."

"Will do." Spike said running out the door.

Twilight knew her lover wouldn't make too much off a fuss when Spike was nearby, he was still too young to witness a lover's quarrel without becoming upset, and she prepared herself for an angry torrent of words. Rainbow however just looked at her with a blank expressionless face.

"Aren't you mad at me?" Twilight asked quietly.

"Of course I'm mad at you! Did you think about what I would have done if something had gone wrong, before you decided to carve yourself up. Did you think about what I would have done if you had died during your little experiment. Or what about Spike, did you think about what would have happened to him if you had died?"

Tears ran down Twilight's face as she realized the consequences if she had failed, and she pulled Rainbow into a tight hug not caring about the pain it caused her. "Dashie, I'm so sorry!" Rainbow Dash hugged her girlfriend back being careful of her wounds, and comforted the crying Alicorn.

"You're safe Twilight and That's all that matters, just promise me you'll never do anything like this again. At least not without me being there to make sure you're okay."

"I promise, Dashie."

"Anyway, the reason I came over is because I've got a surprise for you."