Twilight Sparkle vs. the Situational Multiverse
Really, it's not as cool as it sounds.
"GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
Screams rang through the castle of friendship, echoing off its cool crystal walls. Spike, who before now, had been sleeping peacefully in his room, came running blearily down the twisting and turning hallways, still half asleep. He kept running towards the source of the noise, hands over his ears, before turning a corner and promptly falling down the stairs.
Groaning and brushing himself off, he continued his mad dash to the throne room. Finally finding himself in the main hall, Spike shoved open the big heavy doors with a bang. "Twilight! What's wrong!?" he yelled, glancing around the room.
What he found was… concerning, to say the least.
His eyes fell upon Twilight currently cowering in the corner, hyperventilating, hooves over her eyes, screaming in terror at some unseen threat.
"Twilight!" Spike ran over to his friend and pulled her into a tight hug. "What's wrong!? What's going on!?"
Twilight continued to sob, her hooves planted firmly over her eyes. "Spike?" she cried. "I don't know what's happening! Where are you!?"
Spike was taken aback. Could she really not feel him right next to her? "Twilight! You have to tell me what's going on! Tell me what to do!" he mewled, starting to tear up himself at the sight of his friend.
"Spike!" Twilight cried. Pulling her hooves away from her eyes, she pulled Spike close to her in a rough and panicked embrace. "Please! Make it stop! I can't see you!" Spike was about to ask what Twilight meant, but before he could, his eyes locked with hers. The drake could now see the magenta irises in her eyes were now replaced with a swirling whirlpool of vibrant blue.
As Twilight began to cry loudly into his shoulder, Spike remained silent. He stared right into the swirling vortexes that were the alicorn's eyes. He was distraught, not entirely sure how to proceed. Usually he was the one going to Twilight for help, but now that it was Twilight that needed him… Well, he was scared.
He was scared that whatever was happening to Twilight couldn’t be simply whisked away with a simple little spell, and he was scared for what might happen to Twilight if things went on like this. She was in pain, and Spike hated seeing her like this. He didn't have any sort of clue how to help her, so Spike turned to one of the few ponies that he trusted as much as Twilight.
"Twilight," Spike spoke softly to the trembling alicorn. "I'll just be going for a second-" Twilight's grip tightened around Spike and her brightly glowing eyes widened. "-but I'm going to be right back, I promise."
"Please…" Twilight sobbed. "Don't leave me…"
Spike pulled out of Twilight's hold. Backing away from her, he saw her withdraw in on herself, curling into a ball and folding her wings around herself. Spike was almost tempted to turn back to his friend, but he knew that she needed help more than she needed him. So, with pain in his heart and hesitation in his steps, Spike quickly ran off to Twilight's study.
He could still hear Twilight crying in the throne room, calling for him, and it took all his willpower not to run right back to her then and there. Instead, he grabbed a roll of parchment, inked his quill, and began to write.
Princess Celestia
Please come quick. Something is really wrong with Twilight, and I don't know what to do. Please hurry, I'm scared.
~Spike
Hastily sealing the letter, Spike sent it off in a puff of smoke before rushing back out to Twilight. When he entered the room, Spike saw that twilight was on her hooves and slowly stumbling around the room, calling out to him, as if she was blind. "Twilight!" Spike yelled before running over and hugging his friend. "I've sent for help! The princess will be here soon!"
As Twilight hugged him back, Spike could only wait, and wonder what was going on inside Twilight's head…
Celestia smashed through one of the large ornate windows bordering the castle of friendship's throne room, landing with a thundering crash that carved cracks through the crystal floors.
"WHERE IS SPARKLE WAIFU!?!" she bellowed, frantically peering around the room.
"Through here!" she heard Spike yell from the library. Celestia trotted around the cutie map and a few knocked over thrones, making her way down the grand hall and toward Spike, and hopefully her Sparkle waifu. Quickly trotting around the corner, Celestia saw could only be described as… well, it was kinda cute, all things considered. She saw her once faithful student rocking back and forth on a beanbag, a complete encyclopedia of Equestria held tightly in her hooves. Volume twenty-seven of eighty-nine. Celestia always knew Twilight had liked that one the most. It had the least amount of pictures.
Of course, Celestia didn't fail to notice that her waifu now had glowing blue wormholes where her eyes should have been. Even though it seemed quite odd to her, Celestia decided not to bring it up.
"Soooooo…" The princess started, "How are you Spike?"
"Something's wrong with Twilight." Spike deadpanned, pointing over to the highly unstable Twilight.
"You've been well I assume?" Celestia implored, glancing around the room and moving over to inspect the history section.
"Something's wrong with Twilight." Spike repeated, still pointing over to Twilight, who was beginning to blindly crawl around the room, tears matting her fur.
"How's your novel coming along? I'd love to read the next draft." Celestia murmured airily, beginning to inspect books at random, before picking out 'Gryphonstone: A History' from the shelves and idly flipping through it.
Spike walked up to Celestia and tugged on her tail. "Celestia?"
"Yes Spike?" Celestia asked, turning to face him.
Spike led the princess over to Twilight, who was now quietly sobbing and building a nest out of the other eighty-eight volumes of the complete encyclopedia of Equestria.
Spike once again pointed at his friend, really starting to get a bit annoyed. "Something's wrong with Twilight." he said slowly, quietly hoping that it would finally get through this ignorant alicorn's skull.
Celestia finally turned her attention to Sparkle waifu, raising an eyebrow. "What, you mean her eyes?" she asked. Spike nodded. "That's not normal?" she asked again, sounding surprised. Spike shook his head. "Huh." Celestia mumbled. "And here I thought she was just wearing contacts..."
Spike let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The letter, Princess..."
Celestia only blinked, her expression blank. "Huh?"
Why in the world did Spike think of Celestia to come help?
"Something. Is. Wrong. With. Twilight." Spike recited for what had to be the fifth time today.
Celestia cocked her head to the side.
"Help her!" Spike yelled. "I don't know what to do here! Just…" Spike faltered, choking up. "Just help her…" he whimpered. "Please. I'm scared…"
Celestia nodded. She slowly walked over to the rather large pile of books that Twilight had buried herself in. Plunging her hoof in and digging around for a few seconds, she took hold of Sparkle waifu and set her down on the table, leaning in to inspect her student's eyes.
"Hmmm…" Celestia scratched her chin. "This appears to be some form…" she turned to Spike, who had started stroking Twilight's mane. "…of eye…"she finished, puffing her chest out proudly.
Spike's eye twitched. "That's it! I'm out!" he yelled, turning and walking right out of the library, leaving Twilight and Celestia alone.
Seeing her chance, Celestia wrapped her hooves around the quietly mewling Twilight. "Mine now." she quietly declared.
"Thank you for calling me, Spike. As soon as I received your letter, I knew that this was of the utmost importance to you. I will do all I can to heal young Princess Twilight."
Spike let himself smile. "Thanks Princess Luna. I thought of calling your sister, but…" he trailed off, sighing. "she wasn't much help."
Luna nodded understandingly. "Yes, my sister has not been herself as of late."
The dragon scoffed. "No kidding." Spike and Luna walked side by side down the halls of the castle of friendship, coming to a stop outside the library.
Pushing the door aside, Spike led Luna over to Celestia, who was now trying to feed Twilight cake on a fork. Twilight wasn't exactly cooperative . She sat stock still on the table where Spike had left her, eyes clamped shut, hooves still held in front of her face.
As soon as the door creaked open, Celestia turned to Spike and Luna. "I raided your fridge." she stated simply. Spike shook his head. Celestia shuffled uncomfortably, levitating the plate of cake into the air. "Want some?" she asked, eliciting a groan from Spike, who stiffly walked up to Celestia, shoving her off the table so Luna could get a look at Twilight.
As Luna righted her sister, pulling her off the ground, Spike gently lowered Twilight's cake smeared hooves. The fur around her eyes was matted with tears, and she was quivering lightly. "Hey, hey, it's fine now." Spike soothed. "Luna's here. She can help you." Spike lightly wrapped his claws around Twilight, who almost instantly fell into the hug.
Luna placed a hoof on Spike's shoulder, and Spike reluctantly released Twilight, letting Luna inspect his friend.
"Princess Luna?" Twilight whimpered. "Is that you?"
Luna placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight's own. "Yes, young Twilight, I am here. I am here to help." Luna moved her hoof under Twilight's chin. "But I can only help you if you show me your eyes."
Twilight whimpered and scooted away from Luna a bit. "But…" she protested weakly, lowering her voice to a whisper. "I don't want to see it… Not again…" she turned away. "It's just too horrible…"
Luna reached out and took Twilight's hoof again. "Please, young princess. You need to trust me. Help me to help you…"
Twilight hesitantly shifted back towards Luna on the table, taking a deep breath. "Okay…" she mumbled. "I… I trust you, Luna…" And with a little hesitation, she opened her eyes wide, sending a dull blue glow through the library. Twilight started to sob, fighting the urge to clamp her eyes shut again, forcing herself to stare her fears directly in the eyes.
Luna hummed idly as she studied Twilight's eyes. "Yes, I do believe I have seen something similar to this in Starswirl's manuscripts." she muttered, scratching her chin. "Alright young princess, you may close your eyes now." Twilight squeaked a quick thank you before clamping her hooves tightly over her eyes.
"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Spike asked, moving back to comfort a trembling Twilight.
Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Yes... It seems that prolonged exposure to certain magical artifacts such as the mirror portal and the cutie map have allowed young Twilight to see into all of the possible timelines simultaneously." Luna frowned. "One can only imagine the horrors Twilight is experiencing. Every defeat, every corrupt world, her own world lost to the many."
"Congrats, Lulu." Celestia rolled her eyes. "You're depressing."
Luna met her sister's eye roll with one of her own before turning back at Spike.
"Can you fix her?" Spike asked, eyes glimmering with hope.
"Yes," Luna stated slowly. "...but it will not be easy."
"You already have a spell ready to fix her, don't you?" Spike deadpanned.
Luna nodded. "Yeah, pretty much." With a smile, Luna turned to her sister. "Tia, cast cosilium." Celestia nodded and lit her horn. "And I will shall add some diclarius…"
As Luna's horn began to glow in tandem with her sister's, their combined auras focusing around Twilight, who began to glow with a soft white light. Twilight wrapped her hooves around herself, leaning into the spell. Slowly, she began to visibly relax as the aura around her popped and fizzled like a hundred miniature fireworks.
Letting out a breath, Celestia and Luna released their spells, the aura around Twilight dissipating. "Is… is it done?" Twilight stammered, her eyes still shut tight.
"Yeah." Spike answered. "It's over. You can open your eyes now."
Twilight let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding and reluctantly opened her eyes. A squint at first, but soon her eyes grew wide as she saw the familiar comfort of her library. She let herself a wavy smile as her eyes welled up. "Th-thank you…" she said, her throat seizing up. "Thank you…" Twilight grabbed Spike and hugged him tight, burying her face in his shoulder.
Luna stepped forward, her sister close behind. "Twilight?" she asked. Twilight looked up from Spike, her smile unwavering. "There is one thing I would like to know…" Luna paused. "What is it that you saw that caused you such grief? To my knowledge, you have faced down the greatest evils of Equestria many times over, but none have caused you this kind of pain."
Twilight's smile dropped a few degrees. "Oh, it was horrible! A world made of… of…" Twilight winced, as if the memory brought her pain.
"A world made of…?" Luna asked, waving a hoof, gesturing for Twilight to continue.
Twilight shuddered. "Of quesadillas…"
The library went quiet. More so than usual.
Spike was the first to speak up after an eternity of awkward silence. "REALLY?! That's it! I'm going to go be Rarity's number one assistant." he yelled, throwing his arms in the air and storming out the door and making his way towards the boutique.
Celestia frowned. "Sparkle waifu, I have officially lost all respect for you." she deadpanned, walking after Spike.
Luna sighed, turning to follow Spike and her sister. "I should probably go after them. Just to be sure they don't do anything stupid…" With a pity smile and a flap of her wings, she was gliding off behind the bunch.
Twilight sat alone on the library table, staring blankly after her friends as they slowly disappeared from view.
"Uh, guys?" her voice echoed off the crystal walls.
"Guys?"
Author's Note
Is this stupid? Yes. Yes it is.
Do I care? Certainly not.
