Chapters Twilight Sparkle wakes up to unbearable pain.
Her entire body rings with a sharp ache. Her head is pounding, swimming with mutated shapes behind her eyelids, and her forehead feels like it's about to burst open. Every time she moves a stabbing pain whips down her chest, up into her head, all the way down to her tail. At first she can't even think. She just wriggles and whines, and desperately tries to kick away from the pure agony.
Then, in a flash, it ebbs away.
She groans and dizzily flops over on her stomach. Wh-What's going on?
She creaks her eyelids open one at a time, but when she does all she can tell is that the room is pitch black. Well, that and the fact that the floor is incredibly hard. From the feel of it, of the craggy bumps that meet with smooth flooring, she's in her crystal castle. And by the way her left side is crawling with dull prickling pain, she either fell from a distance or she's been laying here for a very long time.
Twilight grits her teeth and tries to inch up on her shaky right hoof-- and then a fresh wave of fire whips down her left side. She collapses back to the ground, sucking rasping breaths in through her nose. Okay, maybe she fell and she's been laying here for a while. What in Equestria happened?
"Ughh , Spike?" she groans.
When her forehead aches while she cranes her neck around in the dark, she thinks she must have botched a spell rather badly. She can't remember though... and it's so hard for her to focus on anything when she's this tired and achy-- and this hungry, for that matter! Her stomach, gurgling with a pang, feels like it's shrunk to the size of a raisin.
Still, she needs to try. What happened? Where's Spike?
"Spike, are you here?"
No answer, and Twilight bites her lip. Thankfully since he's a baby dragon, his scales should have protected him from any magical explosions. But she really should get up and assess the damage... and, she thinks as dizziness barrels her over and her head falls into her hooves, get herself treated as soon as possible.
Twilight takes a steady, grounding breath, and then tries to pull her weight up onto her right foreleg. Immediately her body pulsates with horrible flashes of fatigue and agony. Her foreleg trembles and screams in protest, as does the rest of her hooves as she adjusts. As she lifts herself from the floor she feels large chunks, shards of crystal, drop off of her (out of her) and hears them tink to the ground. Her hide sings with a red burning on that side, and the more she lifts herself the harsher her breaths come. By the time she's managed to get herself to her haunches there are spots flashing in her vision, her ears are ringing, and her stomach roars with sick bile.
Eventually, after a series of small movements followed by rests, she's standing. She feels like she's learning to walk for the first time, but she's standing.
Twilight tries to lock her legs as she sways from the sickness in her head. She blinks through the darkness around her as best she can, seeing nothing but fuzzy shadows in a sea of pitch black.
Then her left hind leg buckles.
Twilight whinnies. She throws her wings out as fast as she can, flapping wildly through the stiffness in them-- but her head swims again and she stumbles. A gust of wind billows in behind her, catching the feathers and whipping her mane. It tugs on her right wing hard, and while her body collapses she's thrown backwards and to the right.
Her hoof meets nothing but air. She feels herself start to drop.
Twilight screams and throws herself forward as far as she can. She lands on the floor inside with a bang, her hooves clacking against the crystal so loudly her ears ring. Her body tumbles and falls into a numb heap, and everything goes white for a second as her chest screams in a fiery sting that spreads over her entire body.
When everything is calm again and Twilight can breathe, she can still feel a soft breeze playing at the frog of her hoof. She turns her head slowly, and through the wane light of fireflies buzzing around her home, she sees... the outside.
There's a crater smashed into the castle. One of her hooves is still dangling out of it. She stares out, dizzy and confused, at the trees and bushes below flittering in the wind.
With a shake of her head, Twilight realizes that she couldn't have been more than a few inches to the left of the hole when she first woke up. And from where she had been laying a second ago...
That same wind toying at the trees and her mane stirs the stale air inside the castle-- and Twilight gags. She would have vomited if there was anything in her stomach. A stench wafts around her, something heavy and cloying, like rust and cooked meat mixed with rotten eggs. It churns and bubbles in her stomach, and as Twilight dry-heaves again she has to cover her nose.
Twilight is starting to doubt that this is the result of a spell gone wrong. In fact, now that she's looking outside, up to the sky, she doesn't see any stars. Or the moon, for that matter! Her pulse spikes and her tail flicks. This is bad. What if Nightmare Moon returned somehow? Or if there's some other villain terrorizing Equestria? Maybe what's happening to her is just the side effects of a botched spell or an isolated incident, but something deep in her gut tells her that isn't true.
She whines and rubs at her aching head. If only she could remember anything from the last few days. The last thing she can recall is reading some books about owls in her study, and then it fades to a dull nothingness. There's snatches of memories, wavering visions, floating voices she can't put a face or meaning to, the ghosts of something tickling at her memory as if she was dreaming. All of it is too fuzzy to make out, nothing but afterimages floating behind her eyelids and-- she groans as her stomach clenches and her side twitches-- any time she even gets close to thinking of anything she loses her focus!
Oh Celestia, what is she going to do?
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You should probably drink and/or eat something before you collapse. Attempt to go to the kitchen. Spike might be there too.
Twilight brings one of her hooves to her chest and breathes deeply as the dizziness wanes. No matter how confusing this is, she needs to stay calm. She won't be of any use to anypony if she panics-- or if she keeps collapsing from her injuries like this. For now she has to focus on finding Spike and getting her energy back. Which means her first priority is to get something to eat or drink if she can, and to search for her assistant on the way.
She gulps and rubs her aching chest. She only hopes she can get to the kitchen on her own... and that nothing stops her on the way...
Twilight shakes her head and drags herself up off the floor again. It's still a struggle, but the pain is a bit more bearable this time. Then, holding her breath in anticipation, Twilight lights her horn. In a flash the pitch darkness swallowing her castle is chased away. Twilight squints her eyes at the sudden flush of magenta that fills the room and refracts off the walls and floor, but then when she adjusts to the difference--
Her room is a mess! More than a mess! It's been... been...
In the center of the room there's been some kind of explosion. Giant shards of pointed crystal fan off from an ashy-black scorch mark, jutting into the air like ragged teeth. Cracks tear across everything that hasn't splintered: deep valleys, filled with dust and ash, cut through the floor. Scars fling across the crystal and crawl up the walls. Twilight follows them up further with her gaze, near the ceiling.
There are more holes blasted into the castle. Six more of them, circling around the room and leaking cold air. Outside she can see faint movement of the trees.
Twilight whinnies. Whatever happened here, it was bad. Very bad. The explosion in the center has to be magical, and it had to be caused by a kind of dangerous magic that she would only use in dire situations-- and that was assuming she was the one who cast the spell in the first place. And even if magical backlash could explain the explosion, it's harder to imagine her horn backfiring this badly with only her magic alone. Or it somehow causing the moon and stars to disappear.
This doesn't make any sense. Nothing is adding up for her, she just doesn't understand how...
A breeze swirls violently through one of the craters in the wall, causing shards of crystal to clatter around the ground before curling around to Twilight's bookshelf. Or what's left of it.
Her bookshelf, the place where she keeps her personal collection, isn't just empty; it's destroyed. All that's left is a blackened pile of broken wood. Her books are scattered wildly around the room, flopped open with the covers torn and pages ripped and fading.
Twilight lumbers over to the closest book, and with a sigh realizes that is used to be "Slumber 101: All You Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask", the same book she read before her very first sleepover with Applejack and Rarity. It had been one of the only books she'd managed to save from the side of her Library home that hadn't burned. Now the book is so battered. The spine has snapped and the back cover is missing. Scorch marks mar the front and sizzle down the pages, leaving nothing but burnt remains behind. She wouldn't be able to read it if she tried.
Twilight feels tears prick at her eyes. If this happened to the books in her room, what in Equestria could have happened to the gift that her friends gave her, the piece of her tree with their memory crystals attached?
Then with a snort she thinks, what in Equestria could have happened to her friends ?!
Twilight shakes her head one last time and centers herself. She'll have to mourn her collection and think about these clues later. It should be much easier to think of her next move and put these puzzle pieces together once she's eaten something. Hopefully. She only needs to focus and get downstairs in one piece. After all, all of Equestria might be depending on her!
She limps over to her bedroom door, her left legs screaming in pain. She takes a moment to gather herself and shoves through.
As the door closes behind her, she swears he hears the tinny rattling of something metallic echoing through the castle.
The whole castle is dark. Absolutely pitch black. Normally Twilight would have magical lights running down the halls in the middle of the night so neither she or Spike would trip, but they've gone dim now. She doesn't even hear the familiar buzz of them anymore, which means that the spell must have faded completely somehow. This leaves the whole building enshrouded in a deep, heavy darkness, with fuzzy shadows bleeding away into the nothingness. Anypony who wasn't a unicorn wouldn't be able to see their hoof in front of their face.
Twilight inches forward, her horn's faint light swinging back and forth while she favors her left side. She shakes on aching hooves, limping toward the path she knows leads to the stairs. She wants to go slowly but efficiently to the kitchen. She doesn't want to strain herself while she's still weak... or, now that she thinks about it, to alert anything that might be in here with her. Except for Spike of course. She reasons that she'll need to say something to get him out of hiding and-- aha !
As she rounds a corner to the stairs her magical light swings through the open doorway of a nearby room. Crouching down low, Twilight snuffs her horn to a wane glow and pokes her head through the frame.
"Spike?" she whispers.
There's no movement or sound from inside. She brightens her illumination spell in increments, and watches with twitchy eyes as the darkness unfolds from the room like a lifting fog.
The room is... empty?
Twilight tilts her head. Okay, this is strange. She doesn't remember this room being used for much, but she's certain it was at least furnished. Now the only indication that anything or anypony was here at all is a set of shallow scratches leading out towards the entrance. It's almost as if somepony moved it all. Maybe Spike...?
Twilight doesn't like this. Surely something terrible has happened.
With a shaky hum Twilight files this away for later and continues further, toward the stairs.
Then she immediately stops. There's another clatter of metal, a shrill sound of individual pieces tinging at the crystal. It sounds heavy, but still far away. Before she thought she might have been imagining it, but now the echo of it rings in her ears. Something is in here with her, and that sounded a little too... strange to be Spike.
Twilight's fur stands on end. She needs to find Spike now . Who knows what kinds of danger he's in? Oh, she just hopes he's in the kitchen, or someplace close by.
Twilight speeds up as much as she can, which isn't saying much. By the time she's hobbled down the stairs her hooves are pounding with a stabbing ache, and her chest burns and twinges. Wooziness fills her head, but she doesn't let herself stumble. She can't.
Eventually she sneaks into the main living quarters, and she grins as she spots the doorway to her kitchen. With small steps, careful so that her horseshoes don't clack on the crystal, she practically crawls to the room and ducks her head inside.
Her heart drops.
The kitchen is empty too. And it's been torn apart.
The first thing she notices is that the dining table is completely gone -- there's no trace of it, not even scuff marks on the ground. The sinks are crumpled in on themselves despite being magically enforced, and the faucets are cracked in half. They aren't even spurting water. Or, well, not anymore. As Twilight steps into the room her fetlocks squelch as they meet an old, dirty puddle. The water is brown, almost black, which... doesn't make much sense either. Surely her floors aren't that filthy, and the pipes were clean. What could have been soaking in it to make it so... horrible ?
Those thoughts are banished as soon as she sees the cupboards. Doors and drawers are hanging on to their hinges by a thread, and others are smashed in half or have been flung across the room. From where she's looking, it doesn't look like there's any food left at all. Not even crumbs. Even her stove is dented in on one side.
And then there's the scratches. Much like her room there are fissures in the crystal everywhere, but these are decidedly different. Twilight moves her head closer to the nearby wall to inspect one of the gashes, and she quickly realizes that they're not from magic. They can't be. Magical explosions tend to leave soot or some other form of residue behind. Also, unlike these cuts which follow a pattern and are uniform, magic tends to expand more organically. These seem more like they're from...
Twilight breathes in a shaky gasp.
Claws. Incredibly large claws.
Swaying on her hooves, Twilight takes a couple steps back from the wall.
She freezes.
There's the clattering of metal. It's a heavy metallic thud, followed by a series of rattles. Then there's a booming meaty bang that shakes the floor. A huff. A growl .
A giant shadowy figure plods around just outside the reach of Twilight's illumination spell.
Twilight squeaks and snuffs her horn. She stumbles backwards, huffing through her nose, flicking her tail. She backs up as much as she can before she feels the cold chill of crystal grazing her flank.
Another thud. It's closer. Much closer!
Twilight's heart feels like it's beating out of her chest.
Despite your memories being foggy, check to see if you can recall any offensive or defensive spells, Twilight. You're in a whole different world afterall, thus it'd be best to defend yourself if danger comes your way
Twilight quickly does the breathing exercise Cadence taught her, then does her best to gather her thoughts. She's sure that no matter what that creature is she can handle it. She's gotten through situations like this countless times before. Granted, she wasn't exhausted, injured, and hungry those times, but still. She can do this. After all, she has an array of unicorn tricks up her sleeve, and her alicorn magic. If the monster comes in she can easily teleport behind it, levitate it until it's safe to walk by, or shoot some of the beams she's learned.
Everything is going to be fine.
Twilight opens her eyes to the pitch black, and gently, quietly prepares a teleportation spell.
And her horn explodes into a cacophony of pure burning pain. She hears a blasting pop, and her horn blows her head backwards with a lash of horrible energy. It bursts against her forehead in a crackle of static, pulses in a dull ache that drills down into her skull, then fizzles and dies.
Twilight goes faint. She nearly collapses before the pain fades. She immediately hisses and put her hoof to her horn as soon as she's able.
She feels a crack at its tip.
She would be worried, shocked, confused-- but before she can give that a second thought, she hears a throaty grumble echo hollowly against the bare walls of the kitchen. She listens, her throat dry, as the crystal rumbles and rings from the impact of a weighty thud, of a footstep. And then another one.
There's another grumble, low and muted. The huffing sound of a giant animal.
Twilight shivers and tries to inch back further, but she's only met with more wall. Her horn is apparently cracked, and while she might be able to do simple spells, even slightly complicated ones will be impossible. The left side of her body is wracked with pinching pain and her legs are shaky.
Oh no. Everything is definitely not fine !
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Author's Note
what do you mean I haven't updated this story in 5 years
In all seriousness though, I thought it would be fun to bring this story back as a stress-free, unedited distraction between more serious projects. I don't know if any of y'all will still comment since it's been so long, but feel free!
Chains
Quick! grab something to use as a weapon, but pick it up with your teeth/mouth, no telekinesis.
Twilight tries her best to stay calm and think through the situation as rationally as possible. She drags in a ragged breath. Okay, so she doesn't have use of her magic beyond the simplest spells. Alright then. She'll just have to improvise.
As much as she dares, Twilight blows out her light spell in tiny increments around herself. Wan and dull, a sphere of light crawls out over her body and the floor around her, spills out in magenta candleglow and sprawling shadows that pour just to the edges of her fur. As soon as the light starts to dance against crystal, Twilight perks her ears and stares into the black abyss outside her vision. That stomping, the huffing and vibrations of whatever is in the room with her, continues but doesn't seem to get any closer. Thankfully, it hasn't seemed to notice her light at all.
Twilight huffs a silent sigh, and turns to the floor immediately around her. Whatever's ransacked her kitchen hasn't left much for her to grab. All the food she could possibly use as a distraction is long gone. The table, which she could theoretically use like a lion tamer would to push the beast back, is either gone or broken into such tiny pieces that she can't recognize it anymore. She knows that her pipes are still nearby, just out of reach of her spell, but wrenching one of those free would cause a horribly loud screeching noise, plus she isn't sure if she has the strength to pry them from the walls.
With a hum, Twilight quietly kicks at the crystal floor below her. Her hoof catches on something sharp, and below her tiny tinks sound out along with a glittering of light. From the gouges ripped from the walls, and whatever other trauma the castle has gone through, there are plenty of shards of crystal scattered about. At least some of them have to be light enough that she could grab them with her weakened telekinesis and swing them as a weapon if needed. Failing that, she could grab a piece in her teeth if she was careful enough. Twilight would hate to have to cut or, Celestia forbid, even stab any creature, but she has to defend herself somehow if it comes to that. Her life, and possibly Equestria's future, is depending on this.
She searches around for a decent piece; she could go for something she could easily grab with her magic, but she wants something large enough that whatever is in here with her won't just scoff at it... Twilight spots a larger chunk of crystal at her right hind hoof, a jagged, uneven shard that's about the length of her foreleg, and about as thick at its base. She could theoretically still try her telekinesis on it, but... her horn throbs, and she resists the urge to poke at it with a hoof.
--There's another thunk from the other side of the room.
Something heavy, meaty, followed by the shuddery, hot breath of something huge. Then, at the end of that noise she hears something trail after it now that she's focusing. A sliding noise, something heavy and soft, like a large body or tail being dragged across the ground after it. Following that is... a tinkling noise. Light and tinny, like claws -- or maybe something else? -- clacking against the hard floor in a cascade. And most importantly, all that noise is closer now.
Twilight takes a shaky breath. On jittering hooves, she curls back, so very slowly, onto herself and takes a step backwards. Like when she was a foal sneaking to the pantry and trying not to wake Spike or her parents, she eases back and leans down to grasp the shard of crystal. As soon as her light spell glitters off of it and her raspy breath bounces from it against her cheeks, she opens her mouth and clenches her teeth at its edge. She rolls her tongue to grip it without slicing the inside of her mouth -- and then she prepares herself to get out of the room somehow.
Whatever the creature is that's still breathing heavily nearby, it was blocking her only exit. Should she try to distract it? Or maybe just charge her way past?
Next, see what the monster is, then determine if you should fight it, or use your flight speed to get past it.
Twilight's breath curls hotly around the weapon in her teeth. She flicks her tail. She doesn't exactly like it, but she realizes that all of this decision making sure would be a lot easier if she knew where, or even what , this things is. After all, she's doing all this worrying on the assumption that it's some sort of magical beast, but for all she knows it could just be one of Fluttershy's cuddly creature friends. She does live in a crystal tree, after all, and Harry the Bear likes trees. Logically she knows with everything going on that that isn't the case, but, well, it would certainly be nice about now.
With a sigh, Twilight reasons that she's going to have to mare up and take a good look at this thing. She can figure out what to do once she has more information.
Twilight braces herself. She draws herself up straight, pulls herself up tall and ready on tensed legs in preparation to run. She rolls the muscles at her withers, where her back meets with her wings. Her left side screams in protest at the sudden tension, and her feathers aren't quite responding right, twitching and spasming on her other side with wild magic. She must have injured something deep within the base of her wings, maybe even shattered the hollow bones inside, so she doubts she'll be able to fly straight. Still, she splays her feathers in case anyways. She needs to leverage every advantage she has. She's hasn't been without her unicorn magic since Discord's maze, and the thought is making her nervous.
Twilight snorts. Gnashes her teeth hard against the chunk of crystal in her grip. Then she brightens her horn with a flood of light. Twilight winces hard at the stab of pain that lances into her strained eyes, her stinging horn. As the magenta glitter beams out all around her, the shadows fall out around the battered kitchen, filter through the murky stagnant water puddles. Then it falls against something huge, and lumpy, and the creature in the corner opposite of her falls into focus and--
Twilight's mind goes blank. She drops the crystal. It falls to the dirty ground at her hooves. Blankly, she thinks that it wouldn't have done anything even if she hadn't dropped it. She nearly vomits.
The thing is awful. Horrible. She's never seen anything like it. Not in Equestria. Not anywhere.
The giant, bulking thing has to bend with its jaw scraping the ground to fit inside. The giant lump of flesh, undulating as it gasps for air, twinkles and shines with rows of glistening wet scales - dark, spade-shaped daggers that stick out from every available scrap of skin except for the face. Twilight can't even see the shape of its body through the deadly spikes. And its face-- it looks like, once, it might have been a lizard. It's huge jaw is rough-textured, ending in a gigantic meaty snout that pops with gnarled teeth. All of the molars don't even fit inside the creature's mouth; shards of yellow-white jagged bone tear through its own mouth, curl inwards and stab into the monster's own blistering skin - as it gasps in ragged breaths, a black, stinking ichor oozes from its nostrils, from the audibly ripping skin of its mouth, out of everywhere the spikes -- which she now realizes are bone -- erupt from its heaving flesh. And wrapped all around it... yanked so tightly around every inch of it that the creature's natural colors are obscured by horrible bruises and weeping ulcers, are metal chains. They even bind the ragged, bleeding holes where Twilight assumes its eyes used to be before they were torn out.
The only things left bare are its ears, feet and mouth. It can hear, and it can kill.
Twilight squeaked. She must have, because now it looks towards her with those gaping holes. It takes a step, and its giant lumpy foot cracks the crystal beneath it with its own furiosity.
It opens its mouth, its horrible mouth stinking of blood and infection and meat, and then before Twilight can think, it's crawling on its belly in her direction.
Twilight doesn't even think. She can't -- something small and instinctual and scared takes over, throws herself towards the exit. Everything blurs into a purple cascade of light bouncing from the crystal as she sprints. She doesn't see where she's going, just bursts from the doorway of the kitchen and lets everything dull to a numb muscle-memory as she takes corner after corner, dodges upturned tables and pools of coagulated blood. Her body screams in protest, her muscles and head pounding with white-hot lances of agony, but still the walls zip by her. The thing is still behind her- she can hear it howling, an awful wet noise that she can physically feel hotly ruffling the hair of her tail. Once it snaps at her; as its mouth shuts with a mighty clap behind her, she can feel its blood and plus splash into the fur of her back.
With a whinny, Twilight opens her wings-- a window! She's a way from the front exit, but there's a window in her vision now, at the end of her light spell, down the hall, she just has to-- she jumps and--
Twilight's body clears the window. She's met with an abyss of nothingess.
With nothing but the pale shapes of trees for her light to bounce off of, Twilight barrels into the pure darkness. Blackness swallows her whole, down to the tips of her feathers, and for an instant, as she splays her wings open fully around her, she is floating in a gentle, endless blackness that cradles her like a foal in the womb. She has no way of knowing where she is, what is around her-- and therefore, there is nothing but the slight swooping sensation in her stomach to tell her she's not flying, but falling, until her body slaps meatily into something. She is in purgatory, and then an unforgiving ground slams into her fleshy, tiny body. Somewhere, Twilight feels her entire being blossom into agony once more.
And then the darkness is absolute.
When Twilight opens her eyes, she's met with nothing. She vomits stomach acid onto her heaving chest, and then vacantly she feels herself standing up. Also without any conscious input, her horn alights.
The grass shines, yellowed and dead and cast into magenta light at her hooves. Numbly, Twilight tries to turn around. She can barely feel anything, can barely get her muscles to follow instruction, but blankly she fumbles about in a drunk stumble. Her light catches against crystal -- a door, an open window, a path? Her stomach lurches, she watches as she vomits again, this time an acidic orange splurt onto a crystalline road. Her eyes follow it: it heads outwards, and then splits off into a path.
Twilight shakes her head. Tries to think through the pain and the curtain of fog that hang over her every thought.
That's right. She's outside. She--
With a start, everything clicks to a quick clarity. Or, well, as much clarity as there can be had when you're surrounded by pitch darkness.
The monster!
Twilight jolts forward, then jerks in a circle to search around, but-- it's gone. Thanks the Stars Above, it hadn't followed her! Not yet, at least. She turns back from where she fell, and through her spell she can't see it through the dark hollow of that window. It doesn't mean that it isn't still after her, but she should have time to get away if she hurries, and if the creature isn't too persistent. The path from her crystal home branches off into a series of small roads which snake through Ponyville. She should, in theory, be able to choose one and lose the creature if she has to through some tight, winding corridors. Eventually she might even be able to track down her friends!
The only thing is...
"Spike..." she mumbles.
She doesn't want to leave him behind. Not here, not with that-- thing. But...
Twilight can barely move. She's in more pain than she's ever experienced before in her life. She can't fly. She barely has her magic. She's dehydrated and malnourished. And if one creature like that is in her castle, who knows what's happening in town, or in all of Equestria? For the sake of herself and all of her friends, including Spike, she's going to have to find either the Princesses or the Element Bearers and try to figure out what's going on. Also, she isn't even entirely sure if Spike is even inside the castle. He might be somewhere else in this darkness, fighting to find her at this very moment. Still...
"I'm sorry, Spike. I'll find you. I'll come back for you if I have to."
Her heart clenching, her body aching, Twilight limps up to the path that leads out from her front door. Quickly, she's met with her first crossroads.
The path left is a roundabout walking path that leads down to Carousel Boutique, and another branch off to Town Hall. Conversely, the path right will lead her towards the market street, and then further out towards Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight isn't sure where her friends - or anypony, for that matter -- are. The majority of the townsponies most likely retreated to Town Hall if they were able, as they were instructed to do if they couldn't make it to Twilight's castle in case of emergency. Plus there was always a chance Rarity had holed up in her shop. On the other hoof, Applejack surely would have gone to check up on her family when all of this started, and Sugarcube Corner is in the same direction as the Acres, so she might be able to find Pinkie Pie. Or, given the circumstances, she might find nopony at all in neither direction!
Twilight whinnies to herself, and gulps hard against her sand-dry throat. No matter what she decides, she can't stay here. For all she knows, the monster inside her castle is circling its way around right now to burst out the door and chase her some more.
Twilight rubs a hoof against her aching chest, and tries to breathe.
Which way should she go?
Event: Major Decision Should Twilight: Go Left (Towards Carousel Boutique) Go Right (Towards Sweet Apple Acres) This decision will have major consequences on the story.
go to the farm, if only for the sole reason that it also leads to everfree and the tree of harmony, where she can figure out what to do next
Go right, there bunch of tree to take cover or see any coming to her incase
With a breath, Twilight takes a hobbling step onto the path towards Sweet Apple Acres. All around her, outside the tiny cocoon of light that hums around her skin, the pitch black wavers. Somewhere out there, far in the distance, there's the muted growls of what Twilight knows must be another grotesque monster. Creatures like that have to be tainted by some sort of dark or wild magic, she assumes, and with everything else going, she'd really like to see the Tree of Harmony. The elements are still there and should be usable once she tracks down her friends - and that's if there's not something wrong with the tree itself that's causing all of this, which she hopefully could be able to solve with some friendship magic.
The only thing is...
-Twilight takes another step on shaking hooves like a fawn learning to walk for the first time. Her whole body screams in protest, and she's suddenly keenly aware that the twinge in her chest has turned to a roaring inferno after her fall, a stinging pinch that tears through her breast muscles and deeper still. Plus her mouth still tastes awful! Her alicorn magic pulses faintly through her veins and magical core, keeping her on her hooves despite it all, but even with that she knows she's on borrowed time. Honestly, she's not sure if she could walk all the way to the Tree in this condition, even if she isn't stopped by something, but one thought -- okay, two counting possibly finding Applejack and Fluttershy -- keeps her limping vainly down the stone path in front of her.
Apples!
Twilight is pretty sure that she's never been this hungry, dehydrated, or low on blood sugar in her life, and she could really go for a nice juicy apple right now; it's so hard for her to think straight through all this hunger. Surely the darkness overhanging Ponyville couldn't have affected the apple trees too badly in such a short amount of time, and as long as no dark magic has seeped down to the soil or roots, there should be a whole field of food for her to restore herself with. In fact, while she's not sure if they're fit for picking and eating yet, the Apples also grow carrots, celery, and some other vegetables she can get more nutrition from. Failing that, there's also Roseluck's flower garden, Golden Harvest's carrot fields...
Twilight's stomach growls. Her mouth feels wet, and she realizes that she'd drooled down into the fur of her chin. When she reaches her hoof up and swipes some of it away, it comes back twinkling in her magic light, smeared with orange bile and a thick, dark dribble of blood.
Twilight would feel concerned by that, but honestly she doesn't have the luxury to sit here and think about it. Instead, she turns ahead and continues her hobbling gait.
It's a good thing she knows the streets of Ponyville like the back of her hoof already, otherwise she'd be lost on top of everything else. The blackness, the utter void around her, is absolute. No sun, no moon, no stars, none of the magical or electrical streetlamps, or even the flutter of summertime lightning bugs; they've all been blown out, leaving a darkness so dense and cold that Twilight can see absolutely nothing outside of her light. The stagnant, dead silence, only broken by the faraway gargle of some unseen creatures, only adds to the creepiness. More than anything, Twilight suddenly wishes that Pinkie Pie was here to giggle the ghosties away with her.
Twilight shakes her head and tries to focus on her task. Which is hard, given her head is swimming and her stomach is fluttering, but she does her best. In tiny increments, careful to mind the pressure building behind the crack in her horn, she extends the reach of her illumination spell as far as she dares.
Then, for quite some time, she just walks. Alone, lost in that echoing nothingness. Light bounces from the stones clacking beneath her hooves, off the crinkled grass poking out of the edges of the road, the only indication that she's heading anywhere at all. There aren't even many buildings this way until she gets closer to the intersection of Sweet Street, so until then it's nothing but that suffocating black.
She only wishes she knew how long she'd been walking, but gauging based on the ache in her forelegs wouldn't really work here, and she can't risk trying another spell on top of her illumination orb at the moment.
Then, in an instant, there's somepony in front of her.
As quickly and quietly as a whisper, Twilight's orb of light catches on something standing in front of the road. Before her brain even properly registers that she's seen something, her sight and instinct startle Twilight into a cold shock. She grinds to a halt, her breath catching tight in her throat. Her heart slams down into her stomach. That magenta light, soft and wane, falls simply over the shape of a pony's muzzle, a few hoofsteps in front of her.
"H-hello?" The pony croaks.
Twilight sucks in a ragged gasp against the rasp in her chest, and then sighs just as soon. She nearly collapses from relief. Oh thank Celestia; she could really use a friend right now!
The pony takes a step forward, her hoof clapping against the stone so loud in that icy silence. Her round face unfolds in the light, gains definition as the long shadows pour down the front of her chest. A unicorn. At first, with the pink light polluting everything, it's hard to tell what color her coat and eyes are. Twilight squints for a moment, and after a second she realizes that it's Lyra Heartstrings, her old friend from Celestia's school!
"Oh, Lyra, thank goodness! Are you okay?! What's--"
"Have you seen Bonnie?!" Lyra coughs, desperate and ragged. Her face is taut with worry, and her eyes are baggy; the harsh illumination catches the shadows of her face and turn her into a pale purple ghost.
Twilight sighs. Her hooves are shaking from exertion, so she flops down to her haunches and sadly shakes her head.
"I'm sorry, but you're the first pony I've--"
"Have you seen Bonnie?" Lyra barks again. She shouts it, takes another step forward, her horn swinging close to Twilight's muzzle. "She said she'd come back! She said she wouldn't keep any more secrets from me!"
Um. That was a bit strange. Still, Twilight reasons that this has been a stressful time for everypony. She flicks at the skin at her withers to shake of the chill that's still trying to claw down her back, and tries again:
"No, Lyra. I'm sorry, but I haven't seen her. But I'm sure if we stay calm and look together, we can--"
"Have you seen Bonnie?!" Lyra screeches it. The scream is so loud it echoes out into the void, pierces hot into Twilight's ears. Lyra's face scrunches in a panicked fury; her nostrils blow out as she heaves and hyperventilates. She stomps a hoof, flicks her ears. She barrels forward in an instant. She throws herself in front of Twilight, practically smashing her frothing muzzle into Twilight's own-- and the light catches on something. Something hot-white, bright, smeared with red-- "Where is she?!"
Teeth. Razor teeth, in Lyra's jaws, the fangs of a carnivore.
And as the illumination spell uncovers that, it also uncovers the rest of Lyra's body. Or.. well...
Twilight scrambles onto her hooves as fast as she can, her horseshoes scrabbling against the stone. Her heartbeat spikes up into her throat. Her tail tucks down hard, and she kicks her front hooves up into the air on pure instinct. A cold chill flies down to the dock of her tail.
... what... used to be Lyra's body. Now it's-- Twilight whinnies against her will-- A giant, lumpy protrusion juts out of Lyra's middle. It shines gold in the light, glitters almost beautifully as magic bounces off of yellow chitin; what looks like the abdomen of a bee or wasp sloughs out of Lyra's midsection, twitches and writhes with the pumping of her blood. Tiny, itchy, crawling legs poke out from its sides, skittering in place and desperately trying to find purchase on the stone below. Wings, tattered and filmy, hang limply over Lyra's withers, flop around and slap her in the face as she desperately thrashes herself around. Out of her back, over the apex of that bulging insectoid orb, are even more legs-- not pony, not insect, but a smattering of human arms, like those Sunset Shimmer and her friends have- only these are coated with a heavy blanket of fur on the tops, shaggy and clumped into mats by something old and brown and stinking.
The remains of her pony body, her hindquarters and rump, hang limply off of the mess of exoskeleton and flesh, pale and wrinkled.
Lyra takes another step forward. There's a horrible crunching noise as the mass that is her body struggles to move correctly. Her fangs flash, and Twilight can see they're coated with ichor and blood.
Twilight backs up, as far as she can without Lyra completely being lost to the dark.
"Have you seen Bonnie?"
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Twilight's blood feels like it's boiling. She can barely breathe. Every breath she does take is tainted, now that she can place the smell to its source; rancid, metallic, meaty stench pours into her lungs. She can even taste the corruption that's overtaken Lyra, the fragrant aftertaste on her tongue just like the time she accidentally ate a ladybug as a filly.
But she tries. She tries so hard to focus. Equestria needs her. Her friend Lyra Heartstrings needs her.
Thankfully, Lyra doesn't seem to be actively attacking her, at least not yet. Instead the mass of ungulating ponyflesh just twitches in her direction while Lyra screams at her, froths at the mouth. So Twilight takes this precious time to just think .
you can try and trick her into helping you solve this mistery she even gave you the means to do it
Her first thought is that, well, this is great! Not the situation, obviously, but the opportunity ! The other monster in the castle was so intent on devouring her alive that there was no reasoning with it, but Lyra is at least aware enough to form coherent sentences and ask questions! Maybe she can tell Twilight what caused her to mutate, and Twilight can help, or at the very least form a plan of action!
So, shivering, her tail tucked between her legs, Twilight squeaks out a shaky, "L-Lyra..."
The creature that used to be her friend spasms. Her pony body, hanging limply off the mound of chitinous meat, flops limply as the rest of the monster thrashes against the stone. There's a horrible squelching noise, wet, and the tinny skittering of insect legs tapping the ground. The hairy human arms flail, splattering the nearby grass with gore, and then the Lyra-thing heaves forward a good couple of hoof-falls.
Twilight squeals and rears back, the magical light swaying wildly into the pitch, refracting off of the squirming insect-parts.
"Where. Is. Bonnie ?!" Lyra seethes. Her teeth gnash with a click.
I think your best bet is to distract her with a spell that can mimic Bonbons voice calling for her in a different direction far off.
Okay, that didn't work. Twilight shakes on the ground, coat soaked with sweat, her chest heaving and burning with white-hot pain. Her next instinctual thought is to mimic Bon-Bon since that's who Lyra is so focused on, but... absently, Twilight clops a hoof gently to her horn, feeling at the gnarled chipped edge of the gouge in it.
So... what Twilight's going to do next... her heart aches, and not just because of her mystery wound. Lyra is corrupted by magic, panicked, her mangled body probably in so much agony. They might not be as close as they used to be, but Twilight can't help but feel horrible for her. She hates to manipulate a friend who's in so much pain, but...
"Where's B--"
"She's over there!"
And Lyra stops dead. At once the lumpy appendages chug to a grotesque stop, fluids oozing now that they've been given an opportunity to rest. The meat and exoskeleton relax into a puddle of body parts on the stained ground. Her face... shifts. Her pupils blow out to the size of fishbowls, her irises twinkling a bright purple in the glow of magic illumination. Her gnarled teeth click together, and then sneer upwards in the biggest smile Twilight's ever seen on somepony who isn't Pinkie Pie.
"Where?" Lyra asks, her voice bright, peppy, her breath only slightly strained. She perks her head up, cracks her neck around in desperation, her ears straining.
Twilight's stomach churns. But dutifully she cocks her head to some random direction in the darkness.
"O-Over this way, Lyra," Twilight stammers. "I just passed her on my way to the market, haha . And I would be more than happy to show you where she is, but..."
Twilight stutters to an awkward cough, and then into silence as Lyra bores into her with those excited, excited eyes. Twilight isn't sure what to do here.
you can try and trick her into helping you
I think her mind has been broken so she won't listen to reason
I don't know how fast she can move with her body in the shape its in but do you really want to take a chance?
Should she try to get Lyra's attention, and coerce her into explaining? Or would trying just spurn her into a rage? She doesn't exactly look like she can move too quickly, but in this state neither can Twilight - her whole body is trembling now, a creeping numbness hanging heavy as stone in her forelegs. And - Twilight hates to think it - could Lyra even survive a chase like the last monster gave her? Could she ? Oh, this whole situation is awful!
But Twilight has to say something now, what with Lyra waiting and very much still dangerous. So Twilight takes a deep breath through her nose, coughing at the beetle-stench that clogs her throat, and opens her mouth to say--
Lyra explodes into ichor.
Twilight rears back on her hind hooves as in front of her, liquid rockets into Lyra's side. Droplets spray wildly, glistening in the magic-light, spiraling onto the grass and slicking into thick, viscous puddles on the path. The grass the liquid splashed on crinkles, peels back from the puddles and putrefies into crispy tendrils of brown dead plant matter. Lyra screeches out a snarling scream of pain as the black ooze drips down her throbbing body. There's a hissing noise, high and horrible, and Twilight watches in abject horror as Lyra's new skin bubbles and ripples and smokes , plumes of acrid stink rolling off of her, deep black as the eternal night surrounding them. The stench is so much worse, now. It stings in Twilight's throat.
Panicked, Twilight whinnies and twists her horn around to the direction she thinks the ichor came from. She blows out the radius of her light, flashing the area monochrome with twisted shadows, her horn igniting into flares of agony, and in the cocoon of glow there's another pony.
This one is normal enough, at first. Splashed a stark purple from Twilight's magenta magic, impossible to tell the identity of until she turns and there's fruits on her rump. Berry Punch. Berry Punch, projectile vomiting onto the grass. Berry Punch, suddenly looking in Twilight's direction with slit eyes and gore dripping from her mouth.
Twilight watches, numb. Berry Punch takes a step towards her. Then another. Then the sound of retching as she gallops, spitting, towards her.
Oh no.
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Berry Punch wasn't ever a very close friend, but Twilight knew of her. She went to nearly every party Pinkie Pie ever threw, always the first to sip at the punch bowl and offer suggestions on how to improve the flavor. She was a kind enough mare, a wonderful mother to her little one Ruby Pinch, and overall a respected member of Ponyville's community.
Now she hacks out another congealed blob of poison. Slime, a putrid mixture of acid and bile and magical venom, strings down her front and slops into her pelt. Twilight throws herself to the ground, her chest exploding into a supernova of agony, as the chunky projectile sails over her head. Mucous droplets spray from the wad of spittle and splash into Twilight's mane; she can hear it sizzling, smell the burning hair. Then the blob splatters into the chitinous mass that is Lyra Heartstrings. Both mares scream, a hollow, haunting screeching that tears into Twilight's ears.
Try to get Lyra to help subdue Berry and try to explain what you know to them
"Girls, please!" Twilight wheezes, shoving a hoof to the fire in her chest. What in Equestria is going on?! "Calm down! I can help you!"
But it's too late. The two grotesque mares shamble towards one another, foul smoke rolling from both of them. Berry Punch cracks her neck back, her throat convulsing and her open maw glistening with that inky tar. Lyra flashes her fangs, tears rolling down her bloodshot eyes, her fleshy chitinous body swaying as she slashes at the air limply with her clawed bear-arms. She groans, a sound that almost sounds like a sob. She turns to look at Twilight, her pupils still dilated and sparkling with hope.
"B-Bonnieee...?" she drawls, saliva oozing from her teeth.
Between the two of them, Twilight shivers helplessly on the ground. Her whole body aches. She gasps for every breath. Berry Punch is gaining, fast, and Twilight is right between them! She's doomed! Unless...
Tell Lyra that Berry has taken Bonnie away, then while they fight make your escape quietly
Twilight sighs, the air rattling hot and dry out of her heaving throat. She clenches her eyes shut, and she just can't help it -- tears bubble up, burning as they drip down her cheeks. She can't believe she's doing this. To Lyra, her friend. But she won't make it if she doesn't. Equestria won't. She coughs out a pitiful noise, lost in the cacophony and the dark.
"Berry h-has her!" she cries. She throws out a hoof wildly in Berry's direction, the muscles of her foreleg screaming in protest. "Berry Punch took Bonnie, Lyra!"
Then she runs. Or, tries to. Her body is giving out. Even her alicorn magic, faintly pulsing, isn't enough. Twilight shoves upwards on shaking forelegs, pulls herself up with a heave-- then lets out a yelp as her legs buckle and send her flailing back onto the cobbles. Twilight sobs. Tries again. Fails.
But she can't give up.
Twilight yanks herself forward, her belly scraping stone, her hind legs scrabbling for purchase. At every inch she crawls, her chest stabs in an unbelievable sharp lance of pain. It shoots down her spine, paralyzes her hind hooves for a few seconds before she can desperately push again. She can barely feel it, though; all she an hear is the fighting.
The noise echoes grimly into the dark. It's pitch black again, oily and unnatural -- her horn snuffed to nothing when she collapsed. So as she crawls blindly into the abyss, all she can focus on is the retching, the shrieks of pain, the sizzling of melting flesh. She tries to breathe, like Zecora taught her in their hours meditating together, but the air reeks of meat.
She keeps going. Onward and onward. Until the sounds dull into the pitch, and her belly is soaked with grass-dew. Until her gasping breaths calm enough that every one isn't an inferno. Then she just. Lays there. In the nothingness, cradled in the cold black and the wet.
Then--
"Twilight?"
It's close. Too close! She means really , what now ?! She whinnies, her tail snaps, and she shimmies back in the abyss as far as she can. But she can hear her -- no, it , it's probably another creature! -- clopping forward, horseshoes squelching. Her mind racing, lightheaded, Twilight scrolls her mind for anything she could do for defense in this state.
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Try to see who or what it is without being spotted. It could be another monster. But it could be a friend. Either way, try to not be seen until you know for certain.
try to see who it is
Twilight skids back as quietly as she can in the dirt, her hind horseshoes kicking up clods of it into her fur. She snaps her mouth closed with a click of her teeth, forcing herself to breathe slowly through the nose. She doesn't dare light an illumination spell yet; the thing might see her!
Then -- she almost snorts at herself, and has to force herself not to -- she thinks, it might not be a thing at all. Instead there could be a friend out there, in the oily darkness, just alone as she is, and she's trembling like a foal instead of a Princess of Friendship. It's just... oh horseapples, Twilight is scared! So very afraid. She doesn't know who or what she can trust out here, even (she gulps past a knot in her throat) herself. If Lyra and Berry Punch could change, what does that say about her? Here Twilight is, worrying that this stranger might be a monster come to attack her, but what if Twilight's the danger? After all, even now she can feel her magic flopping around in her core, wild.
Twilight breathes in the blackness, her eyes twitching wildly at imagined movements, her ears perking at the shuffling in front of her, so close.
also try to hold on the felling in the body since you might be infected and if so, you'll need to keep your rational mind even if your body will become something that's not normal for a pony
As she sits, shivering, Twilight is suddenly struck with a memory; in it, she stands on a water-walking spell, the pond like a mystical sheet below her. She levitates orbs of water, feeling the liquid sloshing in her magical grip, which strains at her horn. Zecora is there, and tells her she needs to concentrate fully. Explains to her that, sometimes, a different kind of magic is needed to face an obstacle.
Twilight isn't sure what the hay to do. She hasn't felt this lost since she was trapped in the heart of the Crystal Empire, ensnared by Sombra's dark crystalline prison. But just like then she knows that, now more than ever, she needs to keep a cool and rational mind, stay true to the principles that have guided her this far. Ideals like trust, and hope.
So slowly, careful to mind her horn-wound, Twilight casts another ball of candleglow.
Twilight winces against the glint of light, rubbing at her eyes furiously with a hoof as the contrast burns her retinas. When her vision clears of spots, she slowly unfolds the glow in a dome around her, blowing it outward until it touches the outline of a copper ponyshoe. Then with a shaky breath, Twilight asks:
"Hello? Is somepony there?"
"Twilight? Land sakes, is that you?"
And-- oh goodness! Tears bite at Twilight's lashes again, this time of relief. Thank the stars above; it's Applejack!
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be careful, you don't know if she's affected and a monster already, just like you don't know if you are one and that's why you end up drawn to those that are affected as well
More than anything, Twilight wants to run to her friend. Scoop her up in a Pinkie-style hug and bury her muzzle into AJ's chest fluff and cry until this is all over. But not only does Twilight have to protect Equestria now, but she needs to remain calm, rational, and protect herself . So with another sigh, Twilight retrains herself, pulls back in the blackness and ignites her horn until she can fully see Applejack's form-- and thank Celestia, she's at least not mutated into a Bugbear.
Still, she doesn't look good. Who knows how long Applejack's been wandering around out here surrounded by other cursed ponies, and she doesn't even have her own light to see by. So, as to be expected, she's in fairly rough shape. Her coat is dingy and coated with oils from going unwashed, mud caked into her fetlocks in fetid globs. Scratches litter her forelegs, bruises sprouting over her barrel like blooming purple flowers. Her mane, usually brushed neat even when slicked with sweat, is now wirey and unkempt, like a pile of straw atop her head. And honestly, the thing that gets to Twilight the most? Her hat is missing.
"Oh, Applejack," Twilight whinnies. She squints at the mare in the harsh light, holds out a shaky hoof. "Please tell me that's really you."
Applejack smiles at that, something so tired and resigned. Her teeth flash pale in the magenta glow. It seems so sad.
"Oh, Twi, Sugarcube, after everything I honestly don't know the answer to that one myself," she breathes, gently pressing a hoof to her own chest. "But I can promise y'all one thing: I solemnly swear to you I won't hurt a hair on your head. I'm just so darn happy to see you."
And... it's her. Twilight coughs out a sob through a wobby smile. Twilight doesn't question it - she can't. The inflection of her voice, her body language, the glistening green of her eyes. It really is Applejack, and at least for now, both of them are lucid and together .
Twilight lightly dims her illumination orb, wincing at the heat stinging at her horn-wound. She evelops the two of them in the warm candleglow, a cocoon of safety surrounded by pitch nothingness. Applejack steps forward tentatively, crouched down low to look Twilight in the eyes as she inches closer, and as she does so Twilight laughs wetly and motions with a hoof for her to come in for a hug. They look like they could both use one right about now.
Twilight pulls her in close. She reeks of sweat and ichor. But she's so solid and so real, and also the first friend out here who hasn't immediately threatened to kill her. Twilight enjoys it for a moment, lost in the warm dark comfort, as Applejack holds her steady as the roots of an apple tree.
Then she sighs.
Try to ask Applejack if she knows anything
"Applejack, what in the wide world of Equestria is going on?!"
Event: Questioning Please input questions for Twilight to ask Applejack
she should ask where are the rest and if any are affected
Twilight's mind is spinning, frantically churning everything she knows (which is little) over and over and craving answers. But even more than that:
"AJ, do you know where our friends are? Spike? Are they okay?"
Applejack pulls back from the hug just far enough that Twilight can see into her eyes. They're dull, and swollen with dark circles, almost as bad as that fateful Applebuck Season long ago.
"Hay, I've been crawling around here in the dark for days tryin' to figure that out myself," Applejack grouses, kicking at a clod of dirt.
Twilight's breath catches. Days ? How long had she been out, laying cold as stone in the wreckage of her castle? For that matter, how long has it been since she's hydrated, or-- or anything ? Since she apparently left Ponyville to devolve into chaos?
"But-- that--" she squeaks, and coughs, and starts again. She pulls in a soothing breath, and pretends that it doesn't rattle on the exhale. "Applejack, what happened, exactly? Do you know what's causing this?"
But Applejack doesn't answer. Her eyes shrink to pinpricks in a flash, her mouth a tight line, her grubby tail flicking. Her gaze sweeps over Twilight as if seeing her for the first time, as if the alicorn's grown a second head; Applejack grimaces as she flicks between Twilight's gnarled burnt horn-bones, her chest, her wings.
"Oh, Sugarcube," she breathes. Coughs. Reaches instinctively for her hat then swears when her hoof swishes at air. "You... dear Celestia, Twi, are you feeling alright?"
And... well, the honest answer to that is a 'no'. Twilight is in more pain, feeling more exhausted, than she ever has before. But, she reasons as her chest throbs in time with her ragged breath, she doesn't have the luxury of resting, at least not until she can get to the bottom of this. So she waves a hoof at Applejack, mentally wafting at the aura of agony weighing around her, and urges her friend on.
Ask her when this all started
Applejack gulps, her glistening eyes still glued to Twilight's torso. She licks at her cracked lips.
"Okay then. I reckon all this started about a week ago, give or take. Princess Luna came for a visit, saying something about some nightmares we'd all been havin'. After that... things get awful blurry. I couldn't rightly tell you what's going on here in town, other than than it's sure not anything good. Some of them monsters were terrorizing right after the explosion--"
Twilight squeaks, "E-Explosion?"
Applejack nods, ears drooping. "Eeyup. The one thing I can for sure remember from the Princess's visit. We were all up in your castle, and when the explosion happened all of us were thrown between chaos and creation down here. I've been busting my behind, trying to find you girls. But with them things coming out of the woodwork over the past couple o' days... But-- for Celestia's sake, hon, before all that, we've just got to get you someplace safe."
Applejack takes another heavy step forward, clopping a hoof so very softly to Twilight's chest. The pressure, however light, burns like a raging inferno alight inside of her; Twilight grits her teeth with a guttural moan, and grabs at her foreleg in a desperate vice. It occurs to her that, with everything going on and with how dark it's been, she hasn't actually taken stock of her body's physical state. Now, following Applejack's touch with her eyes, in the warm ball of her illumination spell, she can actually get a good look. And...
... oh ...
Twilight's stomach drops. Her jaw goes slack. Her pulse spikes, and her forelegs shake.
Her chest is a gristly mess. Black clots matted into layers upon layers of filthy chest fluff; underneath, shining a wet meaty red, is what looks to be an infected fissure torn from her flesh. So deep, oozing watery pus and blood, cracked-open scabs littering the blackened skin. She can feel the pulse of her magical core, her alicorn magic, tingling at the edges of it, but between everything else its so faint. Smothered by the throbbing.
Twilight... doesn't know how she survived this. Whatever, whoever did this... it would have killed a normal pony.
Twilight crashes her eyelids shut. Grinds her teeth, and grips Applejack's hoof even tighter. Long enough that she can gather herself, shove that thought deep inside her. Then she blinks past the pain and keeps going.
Overall, her body is in terrible shape. Skinny, flushed with dehydration, oily and filthy and absolutely slathered in magical secretions. Her hooves are chipped in the front. Her left wing is stiff, littered with broken pinfeathers that plume around her, and her right wing--
Twilight blinks.
There's nothing there.
Twilight collapses. Her legs buckle and send her sprawling into a limp heap into Applejack's chest; the mare scoops her up with a grunt, pressing her close, supporting her whole weight as Twilight crashes. Twilight's left wing goes limp and dead, flops lifelessly to her side with a meaty thump. And on the other side-- she just doesn't understand. Everything is hot. Boiling. She can't breathe.
No. There must be another solution to this. With a thought, Twilight pings her horn with a burning heave, splaying out refracted magenta glitter into the oily abyss. Blinding, almost. The light sears away the stark shadows, tingles against her flesh, and burns in her horn. She ignores the pain, forces more magic into the ravaged twin-bones on her head.
Her wing is gone. Gone ! Just-- poof! All that's left is a bloody stump. A few feathers still cling to it.
Twilight laughs. It is not a happy laugh.
Around her, holding her close, Applejack crushes her closer. Gently rubs her hooves up and down Twilight's back.
"Shoot, Sugarcube I-- I thought you'd already realized. It's..."
With a breath, Applejack softly taps at Twilight's scorched horn, until the light dims, as does the pinching pain.
"Listen to me, now, Twilight," she says, and Twilight can't do anything but curl into her and do as she's told, "I can't tell you what in the hoof is going on, but I can tell you that everything is gonna be alright. I'm right here for you, Sugarcube, and that's not going to change. Y'all hear me?"
Twilight sighs. Nods numbly. It's all she can manage.
"Alright. Good. Now, lets get you back to the farm."
But around them, the absolute darkness echoes with the gurgles of nightmarish monstrosities.
Applejack gulps, "Somehow."
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