Coagulation

“All I’m saying is, if you had like, three straight shots, could you win?” Lazuli’s voice echoed through the halls of the castle. “I saw you kicking those stoney-maker ball things, you seem pretty accurate.”

“How did you even see those?” Fizzle glanced down at Lazuli. “…wait, I only used those once in Equestria.”

“Mhm. Why?”

“Wh- hold on, you saw that?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda easy when you didn’t have any air patrols watching the roofs…”

Fizzlepop stopped and turned to face Laz. “And you didn’t think to save anyone? The princesses? Nothing?”

“Pfft, you kidding? Those bodyguard things you had with you were huge, I didn’t wanna deal with them. Plus I didn’t reeeeeally care…seems it turned out just fine anyway, right?”

“…are you just, everywhere all the time?”

“Nah. I dunno what happened after you left Equestria, just that you came back with the purple one.”

“You don’t know her name?”

“Uh…Star Twinkle Shimmer Sparkle?”

“…okay.”

Fizzle started walking again. “But really,” she said. “Why didn’t you help anyone? At all?”

“Again. Big bodyguards, princesses and ponies I couldn’t care any less about…”

“Pfft.”

“Where are we going, again?”

“For the twelfth time…” Fizzle groaned. “We’re helping Starlight with a spell she’s been creating.”

“I’ve lived here for almost a month and I think I’ve only talked to her like…twice.”

“She’s pretty nice when you get to know her. But…a bit eccentric. Also tried to enslave ponies in some kind of fake-equality city, or…something.”

“Ohhhh, she- that was her? Huh…”

“Also apparently did something with time travel, but none of us remember it.”

“Well…duh, time travel.”

The two continued to walk through the halls until they reached Starlight’s room. Fizzle gently knocked on the door.

“You ever notice how Starlight and Twilight have the same name, just with different ways of putting it?” Lazuli said suddenly.

“What?”

“Well, you’ve got Twilight, which is like…sort of a time during the night, where the moon’s shining down and all. Then there’s Starlight, which basically means the same thing. Twilight’s last name is Sparkle, and Starlight’s is Glimmer. They’re like…the same thing.”

“…I don’t know.” Fizzle shrugged her shoulders. “Why have you been so talkative lately? And…so weird?”

“I dunno. Full of energy I guess.” She bounced up and down a bit. “Probably ‘cause I haven’t really been able to use any of it. Except that time Rainbow challenged me to a race.”

“Oh right, who won that?”

“Uh…her talent is literally flying fast, what makes you think I had a chance?”

“Just asking.”

When Starlight finally opened the door with her magic to greet them, she momentarily caught what Lazuli was saying. “I’m just saying, if you really wanna get the horn back, you should stick someone else’s there and see if it attaches the…I dunno, magic bits.”

“What are you even- oh! Starlight!” Fizzle looked up and smiled.

“Um…hi.” Starlight couldn’t help but giggle a bit. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I needed to make sure it was stable.

“…it?” Lazuli tilted her head. “What’s stable?”

“Here, come on in.” Starlight gestured for them to follow her as she stepped back into the room.

Starlight’s room looked just about how Lazuli had pictured it. Bookshelves lined the walls, her bed sitting near a window that looked outside and, sectioned off by some other bookshelves, there was an area with a desk covered in papers and a wide open expanse of floor that had various etchings and scorch marks on it.

“So, what is it you needed us for, Starlight?” Fizzlepop spoke as they stepped into the marked-up research space.

“Oh! Hold on juuuuust a second.” Starlight lit up her horn, books beginning to circle around her and a quill starting to write down some notes. “See, I was in the process of finalizing this spell when you knocked. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t lose what I was writing.”

Finally she closed the books and placed them neatly in a pile next to the desk. “Now. This test is a bit more for Dusk- er, sorry, you’re Lazuli now, right?”

“…yeah…? Wait, er, have we met somewhere else and you just didn’t mention it, or are-…”

“Anyway,” Starlight interrupted. “This spell is just something I want to test on you.”

“Yeah okay just cut me off, that’s fi-“

“I need you to stand over there.” Starlight pointed at a corner that was etched with odd white runes.

“Well I don’t want to, now.” Lazuli huffed and crossed one front hoof over the other, turning her head up.

“Laz…” Fizzle rolled her eyes. “Sorry about this, Starlight. She’s been like a child lately.”

“Is she uh…okay?” Starlight asked.

“She’s fine, just getting used to life without…erm…what she used to do.”

“Oh, right.”

“I’m still here you know.” Lazuli grunted.

“Laz, get in the corner.” Fizzle said sternly.

“Ugh.” Lazuli slowly trotted over to the corner and sat down.

Tempest tilted her head towards Starlight.

Starlight stared at the Dracony for a few seconds. “…yeah…um…okay.” She nodded. “But, Lazuli, could you sit still?”

“Huh? I’m already still.”

“Good.” Starlight lit up her horn again. “This shouldn’t hurt, it’ll only take a few seconds.”

“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing.”

“Ready?”

“No, I just said you haven’t-“

“Good!” Starlight fired a beam of greenish-blue energy at Lazuli. The Dracony instinctively brought up her hooves to avoid it, but it didn’t seem to matter. The magic hit her, and her vision went black.

…

…

…

She couldn’t hear or see anything. “…hello?” She called out, her voice quite literally the only thing she could hear.

Suddenly her vision and all of her senses exploded with white light, images flashing in front of her eyes like a movie played at several hundred times its original speed. She clutched her hooves to her temples, her scream being lost in the cacophony of light, sound, and overpowering energy.

And then it was over. She was standing in a long line of ponies that practically looked the exact same. All Draconies, all with blank expressions and unblinking eyes. They were all…her.

“Wha…”

She stepped a hoof forward to move out of the line, and almost immediately Dusk came down in front of her. She wasn’t wearing her suit, but she had her tail blade on, and swung it at Lazuli. Before it hit her, the scenery changed again, with more seizure-inducing flashing and racket that Lazuli could barely handle. Now she was standing in the forest. At her camp.

Her eyes went wide. Her ears flopped back against her head and she backed up slightly, only to bump into a wall that clearly wasn’t really there.

Sitting on the log in front of her was her mother. The older mare was smiling with that same tired, almost bleak smile she always had, bags formed under her dull blue eyes. Her mane, which matched Lazuli’s in every way except for the fact that it was beginning to turn grey at the roots, was tied up in a bun. “M…mom…?” She said slowly.

Her mother began to stand up…only to have Dusk, dressed in her suit and tail blade, land behind her. A gasp escaped Lazuli as she watched herself, or rather, the mare she used to be, stab the blade right through her own mother’s throat. The mare that Lazuli had known to already be dead clutched at her neck as blood poured out of it, her eyes rolling up into her head as she slumped forward. Before Lazuli could do anything her past self had flown off into the sky, and the image changed again – even as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Now she was just in darkness again. She stood still, not daring to move. She wiped her eyes clean. “It’s just some weird vision…” She told herself, looking around. Nothing but blackness all around her…but when she centered her eyes directly in front of her again, she found herself staring right at Dusk Rider. Their eyes met, and the two stared for several seconds. Dusk was only about five feet away.

“Just look at you.” Dusk said. Her voice was identical, of course, to Lazuli’s. “Pathetic.”

“Oh I see what this is…” Lazuli smirked. “Yeah, okay. I get it, I’ve abandoned my true roots, right? My whole life and everything I built it up to is being ruined all bec-“

Suddenly Dusk was right in front of her, and Lazuli felt a searing pain in her shoulder. She looked down, watching as the sharpened tail blade sank all the way in up to the base, blood pouring from the wound. “F-fucking shit!” Lazuli cried out, but Dusk wasn’t finished.

“I don’t care what you’re doing now. Just want you to know it’s not the right thing.” She started to twist her tail around, earning a shrill, high-pitched scream from Lazuli as it wrenched open the wound, her leg trembling and struggling to hold her.

Dusk kept her gaze fixated on her own eyes, staring down at Lazuli as she started to buckle, her legs bending as she was forced into a lying down position. “You’ve had worse pain than this.” Dusk yanked the blade out without warning, bringing her hoof back and slamming it into Laz’s face. She wheezed, clutching the gash in her shoulder.

“Y-you…fucking…bitch…” Lazuli growled. “You’re supposed to do that to other ponies.”

“Well you’re not me anymore now, are you?” Dusk asked, again stabbing her tail down. This time it came down right on Lazuli’s back, digging into her shoulder blades and wrenching one of her arms completely out of its socket. Another scream echoed through the unending darkness the two of them sat in.

Dusk snorted and yanked the blade out again. “Looks like I’m running out of time.” She said bluntly. “But remember this, because I’m not finished with you…”

And just like that, the scenery changed again. Lazuli felt the immense pain wash away completely, and her eyes slowly blinked as she found herself back in Starlight’s room. She could feel tears dripping down her cheeks, and her whole body was shaking. Her jaw ached, as well.

Fizzle stepped forward, already sensing that Lazuli was in a bad way. She put an arm around her, slowly starting to pull her into a sitting position. “Hey. Hey. Laz? Listen to me. Can you hear me?”

“Yeah I can fucking hear you. Get your hoof off me.”

Fizzle blinked and stepped back slightly, tilting her head. “Laz?”

“Shut-“ Lazuli took a deep breath. “Just…shut up a minute.” She started taking deep and slow breaths. Starlight, whose horn had only just begun to dim, watched with a mixture of intrigue and concern.

“Laz, are you okay?” Fizzle tried again.

“I’m…no. No, I don’t think I’m okay at all.” She tried to calm her shaking. “I…I need…water.”

Fizzle glanced at Starlight, who quickly levitated a glass over.

Lazuli took the water between her two hooves, gently taking a sip of it.

Then she spun around and hurled it at Starlight. The unicorn hadn’t been expecting it, so the glass hit her directly in the face and shattered, spilling water all over her. “What the FUCK is wrong with you?!” Lazuli yelled. Fizzle tried to step forward but the Dracony’s tail pressed into her chest, holding her back momentarily.

Starlight groaned, rubbing her face. Luckily, the glass hadn’t punctured her, nor had it broken her nose. “What was that for?!”

“I’m asking you a fucking question, half-baked scientist!” Laz was seething with rage, her nostrils flaring with each breath. “Was that supposed to be funny?! Or was it some kind of let’s-look-at-Dusk’s-deepest-fears-against-her-will shit?!”

“What are you talking about? You were only in a trance for about five seconds before you started crying and I ended the spell…”

“What was your spell supposed to do?!”

The unicorn fully straightened up, wiping water off of her face. “It was supposed to open up your thoughts so you could properly control your innate magical abilities…clearly it didn’t work.”

“You think?!” Lazuli sat back down, holding her head with her hooves.

“Hey. Laz. Calm down.” Fizzle sat down beside her, pushing past her tail and draping her front hoof over her shoulder. “It’s fine. She didn’t mean to do…whatever she did. Just calm down.”

“F-fucking…gods…” Lazuli rubbed her temples, gritting her teeth.

“Sshhh.” Fizzlepop gently ran her hoof through the Dracony’s mane to help calm her down. “Think about the field…think about the moon…”

Slowly, Lazuli’s breathing began to slow down, her chest rising and falling much slower.

“Good. Now…let’s go get you something to eat, okay? You need to relax. Untense your muscles, no one’s attacking you.”

Fizzle helped her friend up, and glanced at Starlight. She briefly mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’ before heading out of the room with Lazuli in tow.