Twilight slowly opened her eyes as she awoke, becoming more aware by the second. She soon realised that she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Her eyes turned to the window, expecting to see an assortment of birds outside her window. Her heart dropped as she realised that it was no earlier than midnight. Twilight had not woken up in the middle of the night for several months. She knew exactly what this meant for her. The cravings had returned. She had expected the spell to wear off at some point, but she did not expect it to be within a matter of mere months.

Her pain grew less and less bearable as she spent more time awake. She needed to feed.

No other being knew of her dark secret. Twilight thought that Celestia might have had some slight idea, but she definitely did not understand the full extent of the problem, otherwise she would not have left her in the world of civilised ponies.

Twilight stumbled to the kitchen, hoping that Spike had not yet found her secret refrigerator, the one that she had enchanted to be able to hold the ingredients for her sordid feast without tainting them with the fresh air or allowing them to decompose any further.

It had been years since the curse had been forced upon her and she still couldn't believe it only took one bite, one moment, to do something this awful to her. Even with years of research, she had found almost no information about the creature that done this to her, even in the most ancient textbooks; she had seen just one description matching her creature, it was an extinct form of dragon.

She bumped into the side of the opening to the kitchen, promptly shaking her head in an attempt to clear her mind enough to accurately perform the act she needed to complete to allow herself to sleep comfortably. As it took much more effort than she could muster in this state, she would recast the spell tomorrow, and then research a better cure. If this continued, and if she could find no permanent cure that was practical, she would need to out herself to the princesses, accepting whatever consequences may come to her.

She reached the cupboard that held the ingredients that she needed, opening it and unlocking the back panel with her magic, a lavender glow filling the room. She felt a chill as the door to the refrigerated vault creaked open. She pulled out a large burlap sack, not daring to fully open or empty it until she absolutely needed to, to ensure that any possible intruders would not be able to see the full extent of the grotesque deed she was carrying out. She pulled out a small saucepan and put it onto the hob. She then retrieved a 50 gram stick of butter and melted the butter in the pan, making sure to save a sliver to use later in the process. When the butter had fully melted, she pulled a smaller bag out of the sack on the counter. She poured the 50 grams of pilfered white flour into the bubbling melted butter, making sure that she did not lose even a speck. The calculations that had been scorched into her mind were precise. She turned the grill on, giving it time to heat up, and kept the mixture on the heat for two minutes, stirring to ensure that the roux did not burn.

Twilight turned to look at the entrance to the room. She stayed quiet, waiting to hear if Spike had woken up. Satisfied that nobody would interrupt her at the most important and gruesome stage, she grabbed the worst, most vile ingredient of all from the sack. She poured in nine ounces of the warm, brown ale. She stirred it well. She knew that she should have poured it in increments, the fact that she didn't even added to her anxiety, but she just wanted to get the whole affair done with as quickly as possible, both to ensure that nobody was seeing her, and to soothe her pained stomach and clouded mind.

Twilight pulled two thick slices of bread out of the sack and put them under the grill. She then pulled out a 250 gram block of strong cheddar. Bit by bit, she folded it into the smooth sauce in the pan, grating it as she needed. Once the whole block had been added, she dropped in two teaspoons of English mustard, two table spoons of Worcestershire sauce and a large pinch of ground black pepper, mixing it together thoroughly. She then pulled the lightly toasted bread out from under the grill and thinly spread the leftover butter onto it. She then dolloped the sauce over the toast and put it back under the grill.

After a few minutes, when the concoction had become brown, and bubbled as if it were some horrid, squirming creature, she put the awful creation onto a plate. Without waiting for it to cool, she ate it, having been restraining herself for too long. The molten cheese sauce burned the roof of her mouth. The heat reminded her of the awful night that had started the whole situation. The memory flashed in Twilight's mind. The large, scarlet beast lumbering towards her. Hot smoke billowing out of it's nostrils as it stood over her, its barbed tail curling menacingly.

The monster bent down and sunk its teeth into Twilight's neck, leaving a large wound. It stared at her, licking the blood off of its lips with a deformed tongue and a demented look in its eye. Shortly after, it had left leisurely, small drops of blood leaving a trail behind it. The creature had perfect opportunity to finish the act, but it had wanted nothing more than to spread this awful curse.

As Twilight finished the combination of cheese and bread, she felt like she needed to throw up, but she knew her body wouldn't let her. No matter how much she desperately wanted it not to be true, she knew that her body loved the nocturnal feasts when they occured. She went to bed, now craving nothing but sleep.

Author's Note

Mature because kids shouldn't be let around ovens, for safety reasons.
Don't attempt any actions shown within this work unless you have an officially licensed adult at your disposal.

I like welsh rarebit, okay. Let me have this.