Survival is Hell, not Magic

by Dark0592

Rating: mature
Tags: Tragedy, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Other
Length: 27794

dark steampunk-esq post apocalyptic humanized survival

Dark, steampunk-esq, post apocalyptic, humanized, survival.
Canterlot finds itself slowly decaying as a toxin permeates the air, turning living organs and occasionally entire living things, to acid and mutating others. Twilight is the only true survivor of a city filled with the dead, the dying and the hungry. Even mutated and decaying creatures get hungry. Twilight has survived for Thirty days so far. She hates to admit it but if it weren't for the mutations she went through she wouldn't have survived so long, so she makes the best of it.

*Not quite mature rating in the beginningb esides a bit of language, but it will get good in later chapters.

*Thanks to SteampunkBrony and his story 'Among the Ruins', Reading what he's got for that one inspired me to write this one.
*Cover image not mine, source provided

Published 2012-08-14 09:44:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-19 01:00:57 UTC

Day 30

(A/N What's this? A story by Dark? that doesn't have the romance tag?!?! WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!?!?!?! Enjoy my friends. before any of you ask in the comments or in PMs TH, SH and the rewrites aren't cancelled, I'm just taking a break from them and my Naruto fic, though I've still got stuff to upload with that one. And yes, it's supposed to start on Day 30.)

“Some people think survival is fun, that challenging themselves in life or death situations is a blast. Those people don’t know what it’s like to actually survive. Sure, hiking in the wilderness could kill you... But they’ve never been through true survival. Twilight Sparkle, Day 30. Thirty days it’s been since that damn experiment went wrong. Everything living is changed by now. They’re either dead or monsters. I don’t know why I’m any different but I still have my intelligence. I’m making these recordings, now that I’ve found a working camera that has an automatically recharging battery, to document anything of importance I’ve found or figured out. I’ve just found this camera so it’s battery is low, I’ll do these every few days.” Twilight said into the camera. She switched it off and cracked her neck.

“Thirty days...” She said softly as she looked up at the magic barrier.

Thirty days ago, Celestia’s best doctors had discovered a terrible disease. It would infect the victim and turns its insides to acid within days. On that day, those doctors had also manufactured a cure. Supposedly it would eliminate the virus. It eliminated the virus alright, and turned it into a toxin that did the same thing. But instead of only affecting through touch, it went airborne. In high quantities the toxin would do what the virus did in minutes, seconds even. Canterlot was quickly evacuated, though it’s population was devastated.

Celestia and Luna had stayed within the city to make sure everyone got out, using their magic to create a barrier around Canterlot in order to stop the toxin from getting out, as well as using their magic to help the living escape. Because of this, they were burnt out before they themselves could evacuate. Twilight wouldn’t let her mentor and best friend die so she used her own magic to get in, get them out and seal the barrier.

She had accepted her fate and allowed the toxin to overpower her. She passed out as it reached her lungs and had somehow awoken. She had fallen into a pool of acid though and found most of her arm was gone.

Twilight looked at her right arm which appeared to be made out of machinery, gears, valves and the such. Canterlot had recently come across steam power and had just reached the peak of that technology before the incident. She had been forced to amputate the arm. Using books and a few prosthetic examples she constructed and attached the appendage on day 10.

Suddenly, there was a noise nearby. The sound of movement she had grown to recognize and be wary of. She slipped a mask on under the black hood she wore and looked towards the sound. The mask had been made by combining Royal Guard-grade optics and the remains of a gas mask. The toxin no longer affected her, but it still made it hard to breathe.

Twilight had modified the optics with her magic to sense magic and life. With them, she saw a small pack of mutated canines heading her way, chasing down a humanoid.

That’s another thing about the toxin. It didn’t always kill the victim, it had similar effects to strong radioactive material on occasion and mutated the living things it didn’t kill. Twilight was a prime example of this. It had been nearly impossible to get her mechanical arm to work because of it. Her blood now had a slight red glow to it and acted as acid. It hadn’t been all bad, considering, though. She didn’t have to eat or drink as often, her first meal since the accident was on day 20, and she had much greater strength and speed.

“Shit, I knew I should have brought something.” Twilight said as she leapt ten feet into the air, swinging on a street light slightly and landing on the roof of the building she was in front of. She looked towards where the humanoid and canines had burst through a weak wall of debris. The humanoid was bigger than a normal human and sported decayed skin. As it reached where she had recorded her log it tripped on the cinderblock she had used as a chair. The canines pounced on it and began ripping it to shreds with their teeth and tearing chunks off of the creature and eating it. She turned around and sped off across the rooftops.

Twilight arrived at a small building near the palace. The doors and windows had been removed and what looked like metal walls took their place. She jumped over the ten foot fence surrounding the entrance and slid a panel aside. There was an odd junction there where the doorbell used to be. She turned the small valve next to it a few times and pressed her palm into it. She had designed it so that only her Mechanized palm would seal the steam powered mechanism and unlock the door. If she didn’t have access to her arm though, namely it getting smashed to pieces by falling rubble one time, she could rearrange a few pipes.

She slid the metal wall aside, revealing what looked like an industrial workshop

“Ugh, I thought I got rid of that.” Twilight said to herself as she tossed a canine head that she had been examining outside and closed the door. She didn’t lock it though, she was only here to pick up a few things. She walked over to a rack and picked up a sleek gauntlet that resembled her arm. She detached her arm to reveal a sort of port at her elbow and replaced it with the gauntlet. She strapped what looked like a series of pipes mashed together to her back. She made sure the two things worked before she left though.

The gauntlet had claw-like fingertips and had small holes scattered around the palm and fingertips. Everything she had was enchanted with magic so it didn’t need a spell to activate, but rather her own will. A blade slid in an arc forward and extended at three places, creating a blade that was up to four feet long. Satisfied, she retracted the blade and pulled the thing from her back into her hands. She aimed it at a metal plate with holes in it and turned a few valves and pulled a trigger. A small but satisfying puff of steam shot a spike at the metal plate, ripping right through it. The dark purple spike evaporated and was absorbed by her. A steam powered rifle that shot spikes created by her magic. She smiled under the mask and inspected her clothes.

She wore a sleek black hoodie with the right sleeve missing and black royal guard pants she had salvaged. Finding a hole she quickly mended it with her magic. Finding herself ready to go, she slung a backpack onto her back and strapped the rifle on vertically. The door opened as she walked to it and she turned off the valves from the outside and replaced the panel, locking the door once more. She checked her mental checklist to see what she had planned for today.

“Search the magic equipment store for a magic camera? Check. Get ready for some real exploring? Check. Let’s see, I have two options... I can either check the sports store for salvage, or I can check that fast food place on the other side of the city for food... Hm... I think I’ll check the sports store, I have enough food to not be hungry for at least three days.” Twilight said to herself. She tended to do that. She didn’t know whether it was habit or the need to hear a human voice every now and then though.

“Hm... looks like some acid corroded the locks... These doors are surprisingly strong for a sports store... All I need to do is get rid of the lock though.” Twilight said. She turned a small valve and flipped a small switch hidden underneath a small panel and put her hand on the lock mechanism of the door. The slightly glowing red tubes that were going throughout her mechanical arm showed signs of movement as it slowly flowed out of the holes in the hand. With a metallic hiss the lock was soon dissolved and she flipped the switch and turned the valve again. Another perk of being mutated was that her blood regenerated extremely fast, to the point where she was only slightly dizzy after amputating her arm and not having it heal for nearly six hours.

She did an impressive kick right where the two doors met and they swung inward, not nearly enough to open all the way but far enough to allow her entrance.

“Oh look, some of the lights are still on.” She said as she noticed flicker magic lights. She snapped her fingers and sent a bit of magick into the ceiling, turning the lights on in full. She found the place rather bare, though as she sifted through some of the shelves and debris she found things like pipes or strong metal she proceeded to put in her backpack, which had a spell on it to allow it to hold exponentially more than what it looked.

“Oh? What’s this?” She hummed as she found a piece of the plaster wall looked out of place. She knocked on it a few times and knew there was something behind it. Extending the blade on her arm, she retracted it to as short as it would go at 1 foot long and carefully put it in the wall between the odd plaster and the rest of the wall. She could probably pry the wall out, but she didn’t want to risk damaging the gauntlet so she searched around the the wall. Finally she decided to use a scanning spell.

What she found was a steam mechanism in the wall connected to a long gone something under the counter, probably a valve. She activated it with her magic and the wall slid forward a bit before falling over. She looked into the long corridor and saw the walls were shelves lined with illegal prosthetics and the sort. There was a dirty paper with illegible writing attached to one of the things on a podium, but she pulled the optic visor attached to her mask down to her eyes and was able to tweak them to see ink.

‘They don’t suspect a thing! Funny what a bit of royal magic can do to hide prosthetics. That Daft aunt of mine doesn’t even think to check the nobility for black market dealers like me. You have your shipment and I received my fee, though this here is a prototype military prosthetic so be careful with it. Good luck living among the peasants as you have been.

-Blueblood’

“I knew there was something up with that bastard. Oh well, a deal’s a deal. Even if I’m not the one who made it.” Twilight said, looking around the secret room. The prosthetics weren’t too different from her homemade one, but they were more bulky and most likely used for sporting events. She remembered what the note had said and looked at the one on the pedestal. It was sleek and black and looked very impressive.

Using her acquired analyzing skill and a spell to reinforce it, she found the metals were infused with magic to be nearly indestructible. There was a much more professionally done blade that was certainly more sturdy and would probably hold up under immense pressure. There were also what seemed to be imitation veins on the interior, among other things.

“Now this is really nice, I’m going to have to modify it and see if I can use it.” Twilight said as she put the arm into her pack, along with a few of the other ones. She carefully tucked the note into a side pocket of the pack and left the corridor.

“Shit!” She hissed as she saw two humanoid creatures sniffing about on the other side of the room. She had started calling them Ghasts. “I should have closed the door!” She whispered to herself angrily as she quickly entered a side room she hadn’t noticed before. It was dark and she didn’t want to risk them seeing the light, so she adjusted her optic visor to the standard night vision that was initially programmed into the magic device. What she saw made her grin. A new sport had erupted in the steam powered technology’s peak. Air racing, using high powered thrust-based devices. They were called ‘Steam powered jet wings’ but people just said wings for short. She had read all about them when looking through her extensive library on all things steam powered she had acquired in the last three months before the incident.

The devices consisted of canister-like packs that would be attached to surgically implanted ports, similar to her arm, in the shoulders that also connected to the spine. Once attached, they would lock there and be controlled by either magic or the user’s own will via enchantments and the connection to the spine. Once activated, the canisters would open and wings would extend. They wouldn’t be flexible or be able to flap, they would be more like those new plane wings than anything, but the canisters and cylinders along the wings would be able to double as thrusters through pressurized steam being blasted through them.

Just like with everything else steam powered she kept on her person, Twilight was able to use her magic to create steam. At this point it used up virtually none of her energy and she never even noticed the drop no matter how much she used. She didn’t have the time or the equipment to do a successful surgery, even with magic, so she improvised. She used adhesive spells to attach them in their proper place and activated them. The wings were short, only about two feet long each, and looked like odd triangles sticking out of her back. They didn’t stick straight out, but nearly straight to her sides with a slight angle. An odd set of grooves appeared in the wings.

“Hm, judging by the way the wings seem like they can move and how pressurized I can probably get these... These are made for high speed.” She said, remembering watching an air race where the people had the wings parallel to their arms, which were locked into the grooves she now saw.

“Here goes nothing.” Twilight said as she sprinted out of the room. The Ghasts noticed her almost immediately and charged after her, but she was slightly faster. She burst out of the building and leapt into the air. With a burst of steam, she shot upwards. Manipulating the currents of steam and the pressures they were blasted at she managed to bring herself to a hover. She had nearly smashed into the top of the barrier, but now she could see the city. Her home was in view and she shakily made her way towards it, nearly plummeting downwards numerous times.

“Alright, the modifications are done!” Twilight exclaimed the next day. SHe had stayed up for hours modifying the prosthetic arm. She had found the name ‘Longsword’ engraved into the side of it. It was fitting, seeing at the arm was nearly a foot longer than her own total. She had managed to put together a replacement for the longsword’s port so that it matched the one on her arm and easily installed the arm. After two hours of checking to make sure everything worked right and exactly all of the features, as well as her modifications to allow her acidic blood to be used like with her gauntlet, she turned towards the wings. She had been awake for three days straight now and was rather tired so she smiled as she grabbed the device and turned towards a large cylinder in the wall. She removed her mask and put it on a table nearby and stepped towards it.

With a touch of magic, the wall of the cylinder unlocked and slid up to reveal bedding. She pulled her pants off to reveal thin shorts-like boxers and pulled her hoodie off, as well as the tank she had on underneath. Now clad in nothing but her boxers, she got on the bed on her front, used the adhesive spell to put the wings in place and started weaving a long and complicated spell. She had cast it multiple times though, it would use her memory to know how to do a surgery and then automatically operate. As the spell started she felt the familiar feel of her own magic at work and was lulled to sleep by it.

Day 40

“There we go! finally. Well, it’s day 40, On the day I started the wing surgery I slept for three days straight, and when I woke up I found that I changed a tiny bit.” Twilight said into the log camera from a spot sitting on her bed. She took her mask off and pulled her hood down to reveal her eyes had faded into a soft lavender color and her pupils were nonexistent. Her hair was the same length, though after about eight inches the color faded into white.

“I don’t know why these changes took so long, maybe there’s more that are coming. I think I’m going to cut the white out, Scootaloo’s old hairstyle might work. Anyways, progress since last log ten days ago. I’ve successfully mastered the wings now, though the high speed nearly dashed me into the barrier a few times too many. The Longsword works amazingly, I fought off three Ghasts with it, my normal gauntlet would at least need some repairs after that. Status on the state of Canterlot city, it’s even more of a hell hole. The acid the toxin produces gets everywhere and buildings have started collapsing. There’s also some sort of new mutations or something creating new creatures. Some of the weather teams and wonderbolts must not have made it out because I’ve seen some of them flying around looking like Ghasts. I’ve started calling them Ghosts.” Twilight explained into the camera, but suddenly looked towards nothing for a few moments. After a full minute she slowly looked back towards the camera.

“I’ve also seen ghost-like creatures... After scanning them with the mask and with my own spells I’ve found the natural magic the mage had in life is still there, just not regulating. I’ve started calling them Spectres. The Ghosts are easy to take care of, just take out a wing or hit them when they’re searching for steam tanks. The spectres though, if I get close the magic tries to kill me so I’ve had to use the steam rifle. Since the spikes are made from magic the ambient magic around the spectres lets it through for some reason.” She continued, but looked at the same spot of nothing again.

“That’s the second time today...” She said to herself softly. “Twilight Sparkle, day 40, Log 7.” She said into the camera quickly before turning it off and dashing out of the door.

“What the hell are these things?!” One of the men yelled. There were three men surrounded by Ghasts, they were holding them back with spears and shields, but they were getting overwhelmed.

“Commander!” One of them yelled as the leader suddenly found himself being raised into the air by a glowing Ghast. The creature tilted its head and the commander imploded, ripped apart by the violent magic.

“Private! Stay back!” The second in command said as he stabbed at a Ghast and lunged for the Spectre. The magic caught the man before the creature even realized he was there. By the time it did, the unstable magic had mixed with the man’s own and caused a sort of reaction that caused his organs to turn to mush and leak out of any opening it could. The private would have vomited if it weren’t for the gas mask he wore. The spectre turned towards him and he froze.

Just as its magic reached out to him, something impacted its head, pinning it to a wall a foot away. He blinked as everything else in the area was blasted by what looked like spikes. As soon as everything but the Private were dead, the spikes slowly turned to a sort of mist and all flowed towards the same place.

Twilight let the magic in the spikes return to her as she jumped down from the building she was on. It was around twenty feet high but she had safely jumped from higher. She didn’t bother trying to roll as she landed rather lightly for the height she jumped.

“W-who are you?” The private asked.

“That doesn’t matter right now. The question is who are you and what are a team of royal guards doing in here?” Twilight asked.

“I-I’m Private Spike... We were sent here to investigate the city. The princesses used their magic and saw that there’s active life here, but all we’ve seen are those zombie things.” He replied.

“S-Spike?” Twilight said softly.

“Yeah... What’s wrong?” Spike asked. Twilight took her mask off and Spike froze.

“Twilight?!” He exclaimed. He was about to take his mask off, but she stopped him.

“Don’t take that off or your insides are acid.” Twilight said.

“But... What about you?” Spike asked.

“They already are, I’ll explain later. Come with me, did you finally get those wings Dash tried to talk you into getting?” Twilight asked. Spike nodded. “Good.” Twilight said as hers extended.

“Whoa, how are you doing all of that without magic?” Spike asked.

“I’ve made it so only my arm will open it.” Twilight said, showing the Longsword.

“Your... Wait, what happened to your original arm?!” Spike exclaimed. Twilight didn’t answer as she opened the door, pulled Spike in and closed the door. She used a burst of magic to turn the lights on.

“You can take the mask off, the air is filtered in here.” Twilight said.

“Alright... so, you’re immune to the toxin somehow, you jumped from a two story building like it was a step ladder and you’ve got a biomechanical arm, which was barely more than a theory in terms of technology before this all happened.” Spike said, pulling his mask off.

“You know those things that attacked you? That’s what happened to me. I have no idea why, but it’s either my magic or my connection to the elements of harmony that let me retain my intelligence and stopped me from decaying and everything.” Twilight said.

“What happened to your arm?” Spike asked.

“After all of that happened I woke up with one third of an arm in a puddle of acid.” Twilight answered.

“Where did you learn how to make all of this stuff? How to work and attach wings and an arm?” Spike asked.

“The library was still intact, so was the military and hidden archives.” Twilight answered. “Alright, my turn. Why did you become a Royal Guard, and why are you here if you’re only a private?” She asked.

“I became a guard after we all thought you died... I wasn’t going to let something like that happen to anyone else. I came here when I heard there was stuff living inside... I thought maybe I’d find you and I did.” Spike answered.

“Did everyone make it out alright?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, though Fluttershy got really sick because she stayed too long helping the animals get out. Celestia saved her though and she’s fine now.” Spike said. Twilight sighed in relief.

“Hey wait a minute, I’ve seen this thing before... This was a prototype about two months ago from what my superiors told me. It was made so veteran guards could still live on happily or return to the service even after losing a limb... How did you get it?” Spike asked, noticing the longsword name on the forearm of Twilight’s right arm.

“You know that really popular sports store that popped up recently?” Twilight asked.

“You mean ‘the olympic pride’ or whatever it was called?” Spike asked.

“Yeah that one. They were getting illegal prosthetics and prototypes on the black market, this was the main one and I needed an upgrade from that.” Twilight said, pointing a thumb at the gauntlets lining a wall.

“Who was their supplier, did you find out?” Spike asked as he got up to look at the salvaged machinery.

“Blueblood.” Twilight replied, standing up and grabbing a much more bulky gauntlet with space to fit something inside.

“Hey toss me that spear.” Twilight said. Spike gave her the spear that was on his back and watched as she fitted it into a slot. “Give me your right arm.” She continued. He warily did so and she fit the gauntlet on him like a glove. He flinched as a bunch of little stings went through his arm and all the way through the rest of his body.

“What was that?” He asked.

“That was the glove connected to your nervous system so you can just will it to work. I was working on this before I found out it was too clunky to put it over my left arm but I still worked on it. I designed it so I could use something like iron bars or something like a spear, but that spear just so happens to be here. It’ll work like those magic Jackhammers the city workers used to use. There’s also a blade if you need it.” Twilight said as he examined the handle of the spear sticking from the elbow.

“How do I make it work?” Spike asked.

“Think of the spear like a finger and poke things with it. For the blade, I dunno... Think of it sort of like your forearm maybe?” Twilight wondered.

“Why’d you give me this?” Spike asked.

“Because you’re one of my best friends, I’d give you my arm if it could protect you.” Twilight responded.

“Why do you only have that arm and that weird rifle? With all of these things walking around you’d need an army to take care of them.” Spike said, looking from the glove to Twilight.

“I’ve learned how to survive in this place. Anything else is too heavy or clunky.” Twilight said.

“Last time I saw you in a fight you lost...” Spike said.

“Well a scuffle at college is nothing compared to this. Surviving in this place may have become natural to me, routine... But it’s still hell. I haven’t eaten in four days. Why? I don’t need to. In order to drink anything that’s not contaminated I have to use my magic to filter it for at least three hours or I have to use my magic to create steam power and drink condensation. I’m the only thing that doesn’t want to kill everything I see in here so any movement could mean attack.” Twilight said lowly.

“Twi? I think this place has changed you more than physically, and frankly I don’t blame you. I just hope you can go back to normal life.” Spike said.

“What normal life? My blood eats through iron, I’m part machine and if you haven’t noticed I hardly have eyes anymore. I’d be a freak. Don’t get me wrong I’d love to go back, but even so I need to stay here. The Spectres have been getting close to the barrier... if they break it before I can find something to combat the toxin then Equestria will be like this everywhere.” Twilight said.

“That’s why we were sent here, the second in command was a field scientist. He was supposed to research the toxin and find a cure.” Spike said.

“And he’s dead because he knows nothing about it. I’ve been trying for thirteen days to find anything that could get rid of it.” Twilight said.

“He said something about a counter toxin.” Spike said.

“Counter toxin...” She said to herself. after a full five minutes of thinking she suddenly rushed over to a well and slid open a sort of vault. She opened it and inside there was a vial filled with what looked like the toxin.

“Is that what I think it is?” Spike asked. Twilight nodded as she opened the top and surrounded the cloud that escaped in a bubble of magic.

“I’ve been experimenting with my blood for a while now to see if it’s anything but acid... It was miniscule, but now that I’m looking for a counter toxin I went back through everything I’ve researched about the toxin and my blood. A little piece of overlooked data, my blood absorbs the toxin.” Twilight said as she put her right arm up to the bubble. She turned an out of place valve and flipped an out of place switch and her blood slowly seeped into the small barrier. The cloud of toxin slowly but steadily shrank until it was gone. The entire process took about two minutes, but it left the toxin completely gone.

“You did it Twi!” Spike exclaimed.

“I found an antitoxin, but even with how fast my blood regenerates I can’t just cover the city in it, that’d completely destroy everything.” Twilight said, falling into a chair with a hand on her forehead.

“You ok?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, my brain’s just in overload right now and I’ve got a headache... You hungry?” Twilight asked. Spike’s growling stomach answered him so she giggled and got up. She pulled a hatch open, revealing a refrigerated unit. There was about five days’ worth of food inside of magic bubbles to preserve them and a bottle of hard cider.

“Perfect! The cider is finally done filtering.” Twilight said happily as she grabbed two wine glasses and two plates. She used her magic to levitate over a sealed jar of jam and half a loaf of bread. She made the bread slice itself and the jam spread itself and returned them to the cooling unit and closed the door before plopping the sandwiches on the plates and now filled glasses in front of them.

“That’s a lot, don’t you need all of this?” Spike asked.

“All of this would last me a few months at the least.” Twilight said with a smile as she sipped her fizzy cider. Spike noticed her face had fallen again and asked what was wrong.

“To think, suddenly finding a cure for this whole place. Then realizing There’s not really a way to get it through the city in a safe or quick way. I haven’t had hope like that in weeks, at least now I have a goal other than survival.” Twilight said.

“And I’m here to help.” Spike said.

“No you’re not, tomorrow I’m sending you out of the barrier. I’m the one who sealed it so I can control it too. I’m not risking your life.” Twilight said.

“If you’re just sending me home why did you give me something to help me survive?” Spike asked, putting his gloved hand up.

“Because we’ll probably need to clear an area to get to the barrier safely, and besides. That’s your spear now.” Twilight said. Spike sighed.

“I don’t want to leave you again...” He said softly.

“Don’t worry. You can see the barrier from Canterlot, when you see it turn blue that means the Toxin is gone. After that I’ll keep the barrier up, but bring more guards that know what they’re doing once that happens. An entire city of monsters will need to be cleared.” Twilight said.

“Fine, but I’ll be the first to come and help you.” Spike said.

“Deal.” Twilight giggled.

“You haven’t touched your sandwich.” Spike said.

“You can have it if you like, I won’t be hungry for another day or two.” Twilight said with a smile.

“... I’ll save it for later then, if you get hungry again or if I do we’ll have it.” Spike said, wrapping it in plastic wrap he found on the counter.

“Alright, it’s getting late. Go to the cylinder on the wall, flip the panel and turn the valve three times to open it. Get some sleep.” Twilight said.

“Where are you going?” Spike asked.

“I’m going to go scout out the best extraction point for you. Oh, by the way. There’s a valve that’s smaller than the rest under the forearm panel of that glove, turn it counter clockwise and you’ll be able to take it off.” Twilight said as she pulled her mask on and opened the door.

“Good luck.” Spike said.

“Sweet Dreams.” Twilight replied as she closed the door.

(A/N for those of you who paid attention yes there are seven logs, that means five haven't been seen. We'll get to those. And don't worry that I've possibly come up with the end of the fic already, I'm hoping this fic will be at least ten chapters. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I had writing it. the next few chapters will get more into the survival instead of explanation now. -Dark)

Intermission- Logs 2-6

“I’m still not sure how these things are going to be formatted so I’ll start with the numbers first. Twilight Sparkle, Day 33, log 2. The wing surgery is coming along nicely. I still have no idea how to work the damn things but I’ve got flight books around here somewhere. The Longsword works wonders compared to the old Gauntlets. Apparently the magic the surgery used took a lot out of me so I’ve been asleep for nearly three days so nothing much to add to this.” The Log said.

“She doesn’t even seem even a little shaken...” Cadence said softly.

“She’s used to it, she told me it’s become like routine for her. Survival I mean. When I first saw those things I freaked out. She just curses her luck and either avoids or kills it.” Spike said.

“Did you notice her hair and her eyes?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t think she noticed it yet.” Shining said.

“Is she blind?” Luna asked.

“No, she can see better now actually... The mutation seems to be helping more than hurting as far as we know.” Spike said.

“Her home though, you said she made pretty much everything in there?” Shining asked.

“Made or salvaged it.” Spike replied.

“I saw a bunch of Royal Guard equipment, know anything about that?” Shining asked.

“Well she is wearing guard pants, she probably scavenged some stuff from one of the armories around the city.” Cadence said.

“She said she had been experimenting with armors and weapons, but she didn’t say anything else.” Spike said.

“That looks like the product of one of these experiments.” Celestia said, noticing the gauntlet over Spike’s hand.

“She put a spear in it and it’s got a blade, I don’t know how she did it but it’s genius.” Spike said.

“So you have no idea how it works?” Luna asked.

“It’s connected to my nervous system, how though I have no idea.” Spike said as he turned the valve and took it off, showing an unharmed hand underneath.

“We’ll have Twilight to ask that soon enough. Play the next one.” Shining said.

“I haven’t seen it before, but it looks like some of these Ghasts retained a tiny bit of their intelligence. Not enough to do anything really, but enough to remember huge things in their previous lives. I saw one of them flying around on wings wearing a Wonderbolts Uniform. I called it a Ghost because it scared the hell out of me and came out of nowhere, but I just blew the steam tank with my magic and it fell. I’ve given up on the idea of a glove for my left hand now, everything is just too clunky. Maybe a shield or something? I don’t know. Twilight Sparkle, Day 35, Log 3.” The log said.

“You’re right, she’s talking about these things like they’re everyday activities.” Cadence said.

“When you’re in a situation like she is right now, that is everyday activities..” Shining said lowly.

“Spike, what does she mean by Ghasts and Ghosts?” Celestia asked.

“She calls the normal monsters Ghasts and the ones that use wings Ghosts. She calls the one that I ran into a Spectre.” Spike said.

“Fitting I guess, Ghastly names for ghastly creatures...” Cadence said.

“She seems to be doing most of these in her home, but that first one was outside somewhere.” Celestia observed.

“She told me that she almost got attacked after that.” Spike said.

“By your description of these things I don’t think I could stomach the sight of one.” Cadence said.

“Spike, she never once mentioned food or water, like where she would find it or if she found any...” Celestia said softly.

“She had about five days’ worth when I was there preserved with magic, but she only needs to eat once in awhile. She said it would last months and that her first meal after the incident was fifteen days after.” Spike said.

“I see...” Celestia said, soundlessly starting the next one.

“Shit!” The recording instantly started with the camera falling down onto the ground to show Twilight being tackled off of the roof by a Ghast. The camera landed and gave them a view of the ground, Where twilight had rolled on top of the creature and had literally ripped it’s head off.

She stood up as the longsword blade extended and she put the steam rifle on the ground to gain pressure. Three Ghasts charged her at the same time, but she leaped straight upwards ten feet. She used her magic to retrieve the steam rifle and she shot off three spikes, impaling the heads of the creatures to the ground. She smiled slightly as she turned the rifle off when suddenly a Ghost came out of nowhere and smashed into her, knocking them out of frame.

After a few moments it showed Twilight being chased through the air by the Ghost. She used a blast of steam to halt herself and land on the ground with a roll. She jumped and slashed her blade at the Ghost, slicing a wing and an arm off. It smashed into a wall just barely out of frame. Twilight exploded the steam tank on it’s back to ensure its death. She cracked her back and her neck and retracted the blade, but before she could retrieve her dropped rifle she was blasted out of frame by what looked like lightning.

A floating Ghast surrounded by unstable magic came into frame then. It wasn’t even conscious by the look of it as it sort of hung limply in the air. A group of Canines leaped onto it from where it came from, only to be disintegrated by the unstable magic.

“Alright Fine! I’ll fucking kill you!” Twilight yelled from off frame as she shot into frame. Her body was covered in a purple aura and the magic opened to the creature it was surrounding when Twilight’s magic entered the sphere as if it was pushing the unstable magic aside. She decapitated the thing, but the magic didn’t die with it. It shot into the corpses around the area and made them all explode, covering the area in toxic mist.

Twilight’s feet appeared as she landed on the roof, but she fell to her knees and her hands and face came into view as she coughed and hacked and finally vomited.

“Oh, shit... That was on? Well we can count this as a Log.” Twilight’s voice came as the camera was picked up. When her face came into frame it showed that half of her face had been carved up, but it quickly healed as a small magic barrier kept it from ruining her clothes.

“Twilight Sparkle, Day 36, Log 4. P.S. never go out there without a mask even if your insides are already acid.” She said, ending with a bit of a cough as she swore at forgetting her mask.

“Her wounds healed instantaneously... and was her blood glowing?” Celestia asked.

“It does that, and that’s another perk of the mutation.” Spike said softly.

“And she does things like that everyday?” Cadence squeaked.

“No, there’s usually more according to her.” Spike started. “That was the roof of her house the camera was on.” he continued.

“Oh...” Cadence said.

“I have no idea where she learned to fight like that... And that steam rifle you called it? That technology isn’t estimated to exist for years.” Celestia said.

“There are books on the theory of it, you know Twi... She solidified that theory on black holes in three days when people have been working on it since the beginning of astrology, what’s a steam powered rifle compared to that?” Shining said.

“Please, play the next one.” Luna said.

“I’ve been experimenting with my blood lately, trying to see if anything else changed besides it having acidic properties.. Nothing worth mentioning there. I finished that spear gauntlet even though I don’t have anything to use as a spear or a use for the glove itself but it’s still worth doing. I’ve upgraded the longsword’s mechanism a bit so that the retraction and extension of the blade is much easier now because of it though. I figured out a way to kill spectres very easily though, as long as I don’t get close my magic spikes that the steam rifle shoots go right through the energy and that energy usually followed mine back to me, giving me a nice boost. Twilight Sparkle, Day 38, Log 6” The log said.

“She looks like a wild thing now...” Luna said softly.

“She acts like it too...” Cadence agreed.

“Not exactly. She’s forced to change like that. If she didn’t she’d be dead.” Celestia said flatly.

“This is really affecting you sister...” Luna said.

“Of course it is! She was technically my Daughter after her parents passed away... When I thought she was dead I was sad, but she told me not to blame myself for it... Now that she’s alive I had hope, but seeing her like this? Forced to be a feral survival machine?... It’s almost worse than death.” Celestia said.

“Trust me princess, she’s not actually like that all the time... She was just like the Twilight I know and love. She just had to show it in different ways.” Spike said.

“Don’t worry sister. She will come back to us, and she’ll be fine...” Luna said.

“How are you girls taking this?” Shining asked Twilight’s friends, who were silent the entire time.

“She’s stronger than all of us put together when she wants to be. And that Egghead won’t stop until she at least tries to fix everything... That’s just who she is.” Dash said.

“Please, jus’ play thuh last one.” Applejack said.

After the last log they all sat silently for a full five minutes before Spike broke the silence.

“The second that barrier turns blue I’m going back in there to help my best friend. Until then, we need to prepare because My commander, who was a captain of the guard, fell easily to a Spectre. We need to prepare against those things and get ready to clear the city so Twilight can come back to us.” Spike said.

“Shining, assemble your best guards. Spike, come with me and take that glove she gave you. We’re going to try and replicate it as best we can.” Celestia said. THe tow nodded and started walking.

“What about us?” Pinkie asked.

“I imagine you’ll want to join Spike in saving her, Shining will teach you.” Celestia said. Shining nodded and led them away.

Day 45

“Twilight? Can you hear me my dear?” Twilight heard. She had fallen asleep after two straight days of research. It was now Day 45 and she swore that voice came from something in the room.

“The Gem my dear.” She heard the voice again, it sounded exactly like Starswirl. Listening to it, she looked to the gem and saw her own reflection in the palm sized stone. But she realized it wasn’t her, it was Starswirl, bearded and all.

“Starswirl?” Twilight said.

“Yes, apparently my life force was trapped in that unstable magic so now it’s in the gem. I am fully aware of everything, as if I’m looking through a sphere of windows.” Starswirl said.

“If I weren’t in such a hurry to figure a way to get rid of the toxin I’d spend hours studying that gem...” Twilight said.

“Well i’d be happy to oblige, I’d have the best data on it, me being inside of it eh? Now, while I can’t physically help you I will still try and further your research as best I can. What are you currently trying to do?” Starswirl asked.

“I was trying to dilute or filter the blood samples to eliminate the acidic factor. I was successful with both means, but it seems whatever is causing it to act as acid is also what absorbs the toxin. I also got some good data on the ratios needed. If I left the blood pump in my arm for about two days straight, which is roughly an amount equal to about the size of a large, hundred capacity swimming pool, then it should be enough to clear the toxin. I’ve also researched the Toxin and found the actual gas is rather dense and will naturally fall.” Twilight explained.

“So we need a way to make sure it destroys as little as possible while still covering the entire city.” Starswirl said.

“Yes. As a last resort I could always use steam and particles from the air to create clouds of my blood to rain down on the city, but that’s only a last resort. Like if the barrier falls, which won’t happen for at least a hundred years with the power that was put into it.” Twilight said.

“I have an Idea, why don’t you test to see how it reacts with water and water mixed with toxin?” Starswirl suggested.

“Where are you going with this?” Twilight asked.

“The few times I glimpsed out of the palace in the few days of my new life I saw a series of rivers and streams that naturally flow down the mountain that remain intact throughout the entire city. If the toxin falls, then we could use those rivers and streams to spread the antitoxin through the entire city.” Starswirl mused.

“That’s a brilliant idea!... but wait, after the barrier goes down my blood would still be in the water. Not only would it make rebuilding the city harder, but it would dilute the flow downstream the second the barrier drops.” Twilight said.

“Well before we build up hope or call it a bust let’s find out if it would actually work.” Starswirl said.

“I’ll do it when I get back. I need to go out and scavenge.” Twilight said as she pulled her Hoodie on.

“Well then may I come with you? I could perhaps absorb the unstable energy from those Spectres and make them easy game for you.” Starswirl asked.

“That’s an amazing Idea.” Twilight said. “Hm, I’ve been meaning to test some of this out...” She continued to herself as she looked at her armor rack. There was what looked like a woman’s set of light armor disassembled. The bracers of the left arm, both pauldrons and the chest plate were intact. She was already wearing the boots and knee guards.

“What have we here?” Starswirl asked.

“I get hurt too much out there so I tried using royal guard armor, but like I’ve said to the logs and to Spike, it’s too heavy and makes too much noise. I finally got the right sizes and parts to not encumber me but still give me more protection.” Twilight said as she began pulling the armor on.

“And what are those?” Starswirl asked when her hand ran over a series of grooves.

“The Royal Guard would put enchanted gemstones into here. Things like magic retardant effects or physical shielding spells were put on them. Hey wait a minute...” Twilight started. Starswirl grinned as she picked his gem up and and slid it into the groove. A perfect fit.

“Oh wonderful! I’m connected to your magic reserves now. My my, my dear your reserves are larger than mine was in life and slightly larger than all the reserves stored up in this gem. Instead of the Gem I can use your body as the centerpiece of my vision. This will be perfect!” Starswirl said happily.

“Really? Wow, I guess surviving really buffed up my reserves. If you can use that magic you have stored up I could possibly come up with a device that you could control yourself. Running on steam and magic it could be centuries ahead of our current Technology, I’m already about seventy years deep.” Twilight said, looking down at the large green gem on her chest.

“Well let’s go, I’m interested to see the state of the city, no matter how grim. Don’t forget your mask!” He said. She smiled and grabbed it from the table and slipped it on.

“Twilight Sparkle and Starswirl the Bearded, Day 45, Log 9. We’ve got a basis for our antitoxin research and we’re out scavenging. Five days ago I went to the palace and found some items of importance as well as a Spectre that was Starswirl the bearded.” Twilight started.

“This young mage here found me and we explored together for a bit before I was trapped in this unstable magic absorbing gem, but my life force was caught in it so now I am the gem! Hello to whoever watches this by the way.” Starswirl, earning a giggle from Twilight.

“I’m looking into giving Starswirl his own means of travel but the antitoxin takes priority. Also, I’ve been feeling what I think is Spike poking at the barrier lately so halfway through my scavenging trip I returned home and gathered everything I want to get out of here. I’ve got them in a small pack with the same spell as my backpack on it with a magic barrier around it so none of the toxin gets in. I’m going to put it through the barrier to him along with the two logs I’ve recorded since the last one, the second being this one. I don’t have the time to copy my notes and organize them so I’ll just read them off now so we can further the research of steam powered machinery, Biomechanical technology and the antitoxin.” Twilight started and spent the next ten minutes reading notes while Starswirl used his stored magic to copy important diagrams and blueprints she had penned up.

Once she finished she stopped the recording and slipped the memory chip into the bag and dashed off into the air towards where she felt something prodding the barrier.

“You know you shouldn’t do that.” Spike heard. He nearly had a heart attack as he dropped the stick he had been poking the barrier with.

“Whoa, Twi? you can talk through this thing?” Spike asked.

“I’m using a spell to transmit our voices as if there was a hole in a wall, or in this case barrier.” Twilight said.

“That stuff looks really cool. What’s with that Gem though?” Spike asked.

“Hello!” Starswirl said, earning a yelp from Spike.

“There’s an old guy in there?!” Spike exclaimed.

“Starswirl the bearded at your service.” Starswirl said.

“Wait... what?” Spike asked. Suddenly a pouch hit him in the chest and he caught it.

“There’s a lot of stuff in there, I’ve labelled it al and who it goes to. There’s a camera memory card that’s got two logs on there, the latest one explains my new friend and a lot of new information on the research and everything. Make sure celestia sees it.” Twilight said.

“Uh, I can’t get past the barriers.” Spike deadpanned.

“Celestia knows how to deactivate them. I’ve gotta go now, There’s a hardware store I need to revisit and maybe pick up some of the magic tools I left behind.” Twilight said.

“Wait! can you wait for like half a minute? Celestia is at an outpost on the other side of this treeline. She’d kill to talk to you.” Spike said.

“Sure, go get her. I need repair my clothes anyways.” Twilight said with a smile. He saw the tears and holes her pants and hoodie had suffered in the day’s activities and nodded. As Spike left, Twilight proceeded to use her magic to mend her clothing and a few dents the armor had sustained in a fight with a few Ghasts she ran into earlier.

“Twilight?” She heard Celestia’s voice after about thirty minutes.

“Celestia...” Twilight said when she looked up to see her mentor standing there. She took off her mask and pulled back her hood.

“I see being in there really has changed you...” Celestia said sadly.

“Don’t worry, I’m still your most faithful student. Did you open the bag?” Twilight asked.

“I did, thank you for recovering those things. Sorry I took so long, I wanted to be up to date on your logs.” Celestia said.

“Ah, so my input into this conversation won’t need explaining again. Wonderful.” Starswirl said.

“It’s good to hear your voice again old friend.” Celestia said.

“It’s good to hear yours as well. The barrier stops my sight but your voice is enough.” Starswirl said.

“Celestia, are you preparing to eliminate the monsters in the city when I finally figure out how to get rid of the toxin?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, Spike told us what happened to his team and we saw you fighting those creatures on a log. We’ve been attempting to replicate your technology. With the data your last log gave us it’ll go much quicker. I saw that you figured out a way to eliminate the acidic nature of your blood... Could that be used on your body?” Celestia asked.

“Unfortunately not. The acidic nature is because of whatever mutations I went through and my new power. My body is at the point now where if I do that to the blood I’m using, it would kill me.” Twilight said.

“Why would it kill you?” Celestia asked.

“My heart would still be pumping the acidic blood, the combination would mimic the effects the toxin had on the people who didn’t survive. I would practically melt. If I tried doing it to my heart directly it would destroy it.” Twilight said. Celestia startled Twilight when she smashed a fist onto the barrier, causing a slight ‘think’ sound.

“You told me this wasn’t my fault but it is... If it weren’t for my lack of power we all would have gotten out. And now you’re mutated and changed! That’s worse than the death you were expecting!” Celestia said in a whisper as tears flowed from her eyes. She was surprised when she felt arms wrap around her. She looked up to see an oddly colored portion of the barrier. Twilight had stepped through it.

“It’s fine. I’m actually glad it turned out like it did. I would rather the entire thing not happening in the first place, but if I would have died then in about a hundred years the barrier would fall and all of Equestria would die. If I hadn’t changed, physically and everything else, like I have then I would have been dead on day one. Now I’m practically a walking antitoxin and I have the strength to survive and to counter the monsters. And after it’s all over I’ll me like a living memorial. Everyone who died would live on through me. I would be the reminder of what happened and make sure it never happened again. And if it did? I’d be there to stop it. Now stop worrying about me and make sure everyone is ready.” Twilight said, holding her at arms reach.

“Twilight?... Is your blood the only thing that’s acidic?” Celestia asked softly.

“yeah, why?” Twilight asked. She was answered as she was nearly knocked over by her mentor as she pounced on Twilight in a kiss.

“Whoa now, I can see that.” Starswirl chuckled, but Celestia didn’t let up. It took two minutes for them to separate.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since you turned Twenty...” Celestia said.

“That was five years ago.” Twilight said with a smirk. She had returned the kiss in full force.

“Well now that you’re done swapping saliva didn’t you need a new spiral blade?” Starswirl asked.

“Way to ruin the moment buddy.” Twilight deadpanned.

“You’ve grown so much Twilight. I hope you’re right about everything you said.” Celestia said.

“If everything goes even remotely well then I will be. If it takes as long as this might then I’ll return to this point every five days with whatever Logs I’ve recorded and a status update.” Twilight said.

“I’ll be here, as will Spike and your friends.” Celestia said.

“Oh, before I forget...” Twilight said as she retrieved a syringe from her pack. “I meant to put a sample of my blood into the pack but I was worried it would break during the trip over here.” She continued as she drew a large canister’s worth of blood and handed it to Celestia.

“I’ll get our best minds trying to find as much as they can about it. By the way, it must be the blood and how thin the skin on the lips are... But that kiss was very warm.” Celestia said. This earned a fit of laughter from Starswirl.

“Oh you’re just jealous.” Twilight said.

“I’m going to have to agree, in both cases. You are both very charming women.” Starswirl said.

“Well you’re a Gemstone now so you don’t have saliva to swap.” Twilight said as she turned and entered the barrier again and resealed the section behind her.

“Twilight?” Celestia said as the woman extender her wings.

“Yeah?” Twilight replied.

“If you don’t show up at the days you said, I’ll go to Tartarus and bring you back myself.” Celestia said.

“Sure.” Twilight smiled.

“how come you didn’t do that for me?” Starswirl asked.

“because you died naturally buddy.” Twilight said as she shot into the air.

(A/N Suddenly Twilestia! sorry I couldn't help myself... the absence of fluff was killing me. hope you enjoyed!)

Day 45 p.2

(A/N hello everyone, just thought I'd let you know that I am doing the sequel and it'll be in Trottingham. I need 3 OC survivors, rules and guidelines will be in a blogpost very soon so keep an eye out for it. in the meantime PM me bios and possibly pony codes. Enjoy my friends! -Dark)

“I know you said you were close, but in my 178 years of life I never once saw her act so young. She was like an excited high school girl with a crush.” Starswirl said as they flew.

“Really? When I was a little girl she was pretty playful. I always said she should get back to her duties, but she always said ‘You are my student, therefore it is my duty to teach you and make you happy’. When I got older we would sit and talk for hours on end since I no longer needed most of her lessons.” Twilight explained.

“In my time, if she would have acted like that then anyone who saw her like that would have known instantly she was in love. Obviously it wasn’t this kind of love when you were younger, but love can grow and bend a bit.” Starswirl.

“Thanks.” Twilight said as they landed outside of the hardware store.

“Now, you do know the government and those who are close minded will belittle the two of you for the same sex part of the relationship, but I hear people get angry when a relationship between two of only a few years’ difference starts up. For you two it’d be centuries.” Starswirl said.

“Well, first of all I don’t think anyone would dare get between us, my girlfriend moves the sun and her girlfriend is the survivor of Canterlot. Secondly, I don’t care what people think. I never really did much besides those who mattered, but all this time alone probably didn’t help that.” Twilight said as she opened the door and found her way to the magic tools section.

“Good point, what are you here for again?” Starswirl asked.

“Last time I was here I left behind some of the things that did the things I could do with magic, like saws and stuff. I’ve been experimenting with the Longsword and some of my old designs, if I had the right materials I could replicate the longsword now so I know everything about it. I don’t know about you, but having interchangeable weapons or even just a saw blade hand would be pretty damn cool eh?” Twilight said, picking up a circular saw from the rack.

“You’re like a mad scientist my dear and I absolutely love it. If we find a fast and easy way to produce these things we can give them to the others outside and make sure the people that come to help us clear the city when we fix the toxin problem will be better equipped than spears and shields.” Starswirl said.

“Hm... Spears and Shields...” Twilight said to herself as she looked around.

“I know that look, you’ve got a brilliant Idea don’t you?” Starswirl asked.

“Not sure yet.” Twilight said as she found what she was looking for. There was a series of torches meant to channel magic through an amplifier to make it cut or weld metal together. She had a few of them at the house, but she was going to need a lot of them for what she wanted.

“You’re either going to be cutting things or you need parts, right?” Starswirl asked.

“Parts, I’ve just come up with a design that might work well in our favor.” Twilight said as she put all of the torches into her back and took off through a hole in the ceiling.

“Where are we headed now?” Starswirl asked.

“The university.” Twilight replied.

“Don’t you already have a fair amount of gemstones?” Starswirl asked as they entered the Gem Library of the Magic University.

“Yes, but only some of them have the enchantments I need. Plus I’d like to find manuals or something on how to do it so all I need to do is go to the jeweler's shop that’s near the house and enchant my own. gems.” Twilight said as she used her magic and hands alike to clean the room of enchanted gems.

“First you get torches for parts, now you’re getting enchanted gemstones? I’m excited to see what you’ve come up with!” Starswirl exclaimed.

“Shit, that’s going to have to wait.” Twilight said as she replaced her mask and turned towards where she felt a strong source of magic.

“I see it, it’s a Spectre. Get in close and make contact with it and I’ll take care of it.” Starswirl said. Twilight nodded and put a small barrier around herself. Just as the magic creature entered the room, Twilight dashed at it and grabbed its head with her right hand. She felt it’s unstable energy being drained by Starswirl’s gem. When it was drained it was just a normal Ghast and she took it’s head off with the Longsword’s blade.

“I can see more coming, apparently they’re attracted to the sudden loss of magical energy from you taking those gems. I recommend finding that manual or whatever you called it and making a swift exit.” Starswirl said as Twilight searched the shelves of books.

“Shit I’m going to have to risk it.” Twilight said.

“Risk what?” Starswirl asked.

“A teleport.” Twilight said.

“How is that a risk?” Starswirl asked.

“The city is falling apart and everything changes. My house it too far from here for me to safely get inside of it and there’s almost no space to make it successful. last time I teleported I was under three tons of rubble... But I can’t fight that many Spectres at once and these walls are heavily reinforced.” Twilight said as she put a few books into her bag.

“I’d offer my assistance but I don’t know where you want to try to teleport to nor do I have a very good knowledge of the city.” Starswirl said.

“It’s alright. I’ll try and chain two together. If I go to the edge of my safe range then I should be able to teleport us to the house.” Twilight said.

“Well I recommend you do so, there are five of them nearly here.” Starswirl said. Twilight could see the unstable energy that surrounded the Spectre in the front and quickly used the teleport spell.

Starswirl flinched in his gemstone prison as he heard Twilight’s scream. She had tried to teleport them into an alley between two strong buildings, hoping there was no debris, and found herself partly inside of the wall of one of the buildings. Her left leg was in the wall just above the knee and her left arm was stuck halfway up her arm past the elbow.

“Oh no...” Starswirl said. “Twilight, Ghasts heard you scream... There are some slowly making their way over here...” Starswirl said.

There were tears running down Twilight’s face that she couldn’t concentrate enough to stop. She wasn’t just stuck, her arm and leg were crushed and annihilated in the thick wall. She could hear the sound of acid burning through the thick concrete, but it would take far too long with GHasts on the way to let her go free.

“I... I can’t focus on the spell to Teleport, and even if I could it would try and take this fucking wall with me!” Twilight hissed.

“If I push it I can see the house with a sight spell so I can do the teleport, but I don’t have enough to take the wall.” Starswirl said.

“We’re not taking the fucking wall you moron!” Twilight yelled as the Longsword’s blade slid out. Starswirl stared in shock as Twilight amputated her arm and leg in order to get free of the wall. As she created shaky magical barriers around the stumps to stop the blood from spilling she clenched her teeth and gave him a look that said ‘if we’re not home in five seconds I’m going to destroy you’. With a flash of white light they were in the house.

“Damnit I knew I should have tried a more open area!” Twilight said, trying to keep from screaming. The barriers around her stumps began to waver as she dropped to the floor and a few drops of her blood got through the barrier. Starswirl used his absorbed magic to strengthen the barrier as the drops started eating through the floor.

“T-thanks...” Twilight said. She used her magic to weakly bring over enchanted bandages she had made lots of and began wrapping them around her stumps. Once that was done she levitated over a pole that she used to get her into her bed.

“I need to rest... I haven’t felt pain like that ever in my life...” Twilight said.

“Alright, don’t die on me though.” Starswirl said.

“Don’t worry, it’ll take more than this to get rid of me.” Twilight said.

“What are you doing up already?” Starswirl asked. He had been ‘sleeping’ along with Twilight and a few hours later he had awoken to find the armor he was notched in on a counter as Twilight had odd purple limbs to replace the missing ones.

“Getting to work. I saw this thing in a movie once and I can make something like it. I found all the parts I needed at that hardware store. It’s almost done come take a look.” Twilight said, levitating the gem out of the socket and letting it rest next to the device she was working on.

“It looks like a sphere nearly twice the diameter of my gem if it were a sphere.” Starswirl said.

“It is, it had circular magic projectors and amplifiers built into it. I’m just finishing the socket for it now. Basically you would be able to take form of whatever you wanted with a little magic.” Twilight said.

“And how does this work?” Starswirl asked.

“Basically you’d be forming what you want to look like with your magic, the projectors and amplifiers will give it shape and form for virtually no energy cost. It’d be solid, but how sturdy depends on how much magic you use. I’ve rigged it so you would be like it’s heart, with the enchantments on it you would generate magic like a living thing.” Twilight said.

Starswirl was silent and slightly doubtful as Twilight placed his gem into the socket and closed the few hatches to protect it. Suddenly, he felt a slight beat coming from within his prison. Using his magical sight, he saw that slowly but steadily a tiny flow of magic was being generated.

“It’ll take awhile to grow, but in a few days it should be able to sustain you without using your absorbed energy. Go on, try manifesting a form.” Twilight said, sitting on her bed and letting her magic limbs dissipate. The sphere slowly began to float, Starswirl was using a levitation spell on his sphere, and emit a slight purple glow. After a few moments Twilight was looking at a purple version of Starswirl.

“Ah, it appears it’s taken the color of what my magic used to be. Delightful!” Starswirl said with a grin that could now be seen.

“It worked!” Twilight exclaimed, pumping her intact arm.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were from a thousand years in the future by how much a genius you are my dear.” Starswirl said with a chuckle.

Day 50

“She’s late...” Celestia said to herself as night began to fall on day 50.

“My apologies Celestia, I went to the wrong side of the city and had to shake lose a few Ghosts.” Starswirl said, floating up to the barrier in his sphere.

“Starswirl?” Celestia said as the sphere stopped in front of her and emitted magic to form his body.

“Not quite in the flesh but I can’t think of a different metaphor.” Starswirl replied.

“Where is Twilight?” Celestia asked, choosing to ask him about this new development later.

“Well she’s not recovered enough to win a fight against anything besides a single Ghast at the moment and she still has to finish a few parts so she sent me to take you to her.” Starswirl said, holding out a gas mask similar to Twilight’s.

“Recovered? Did she get hurt?” Celestia asked, quickly passing through the barrier and holding her breath as she donned the mask before breathing again.

“She wants to tell you about it herself, but long story short she got hurt but she’ll be fine soon.” Starswirl said as his image faded and he was nothing but a sphere again. “You have wings correct?” He continued. Celestia answered by extending them and hovering a few feet in the air.

“I’ve got her Twilight.” Starswirl said as he opened the unlocked door.

“Good, I saw you go the other way like a moron.” Celestia heard Twilight’s voice. She looked over to the bed and saw Twilight working on something. They walked up to her and Celestia slowly stopped and looked in horror as she saw Twilight adjusting a few things on an arm different than the Longsword and her two stumps with Docks implanted in them.

“Hang on a second, I just need to get this last gem in place.” Twilight said as she fitted a blue gem into a row of them along the top of her forearm.

“Twilight?... What happened?” Celestia asked with a horrified tone.

“We got overwhelmed and I had to teleport, wound up halfway in a wall.” Twilight said as she used her magic to help her intact arm put the new arm in the port.

“The vulgarities that came out of her mouth... I was horrified and scared out of my mind, but thinking back at it I can’t help but chuckle.” Starswirl.

“Yeah thanks for laughing at the single most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.” Twilight said sarcastically. She look at Celestia then, who had tears running down her face that could be seen through the large eye lenses.

“Celestia, you don’t need to cry for me. I thought we’ve been over this?” Twilight said with a small smile as she put a hand on her masked cheek.

“I’ll just be going then.” Starswirl said, reverting to his sphere form and whizzing out of the door.

“You keep getting hurt... I... I wish I could be here to help you...” Celestia said, ripping the gas mask off as the door closed.

“Then you’ll be the one getting hurt and I’ll be the one crying about it, you may be a princess but even you couldn’t survive in this place with the toxin to take care of. Speaking of that, I’ve made a lot of progress on my research. All we need is a way to stop my blood from leaving the city through the water we can use to get it to saturate the city.” Twilight said.

“That’s already been taken care of. I remember you telling me something like that so I’ve been having my scientists working on filtering it from water. We’ve made some progress.” Celestia said, wiping her face and composing herself.

“I’m glad.” Twilight said with a smile as she reclined on her bed.

“What are all of those gems anyways?” Celestia asked, pointing to the double row along her forearm and the circle of red ones around a large green one on the top of her hand. Twilight grinned and stood up and leaned against the wall.

“The blue ones are enchanted with all purpose protection spells, the green absorbs unstable energy while the red absorbs anything energy or magic based the blue ones stop.” She said as she used a touch of magic to activate the device. The top of her forearm split in half and extended outwards, stopping at different places while they aligned so that the green gem was the center. The red gems also extended outwards but not as far as the red. The final product was a double circle. With another burst of magic the circles became powered with her energy and made a purple shield.

“There are magic amplifiers in the center around the green gem to minimize the amount of magic used to make it and magic reflectors around the rings to add a second layer of magic protection, blue gems don’t catch everything.” Twilight explained. If she kneeled down the shield could protect her completely and she saw more mechanisms that could be used to extend the shield further.

“My right arm is the Longsword, my left is a shield now. I’ve also modified my armor a bit and the steam rifle so that its connected and with magic I can bring it forward and shoulder it almost like a sort of cannon.” Twilight said, pointing to the armor on a rack.

“Can you feel with them?” Celestia asked after a few moments of silence.

“Feel what?” Twilight asked. Celestia took her right hand in both of hers and put it to her cheek.

“I can feel your warmth even though it isn’t flesh, can you feel mine?” Celestia asked softly, looking Twilight in the eyes.

“Not as easily as you can, but yes. I can feel everything through connected nerves and magic.” Twilight answered, bringing her other hand up to the other cheek softly. “But I know what would be able to feel your warmth with ease.” She continued in a slightly lower voice with a light smile. She proceeded to kiss Celestia, who wrapped her arms around Twilight and let herself fall onto the bed.

“You’ve been through more pain in two months than I have in over a Millenia. It’s time that pain turn to something else.” Celestia said softly as the hatch slid closed.

“This will help our research greatly, thank you. Be safe, if I come back and find you’ve lost that leg I swear I’m just going to level the city.” Celestia said outside of the barrier the next day.

“Trust me, if it was under my control I’d still have all of my limbs. And remember, no matter what happens to me it’s all my choice. You have as much blame as any random civilian that was here.” Twilight said.

“I still feel bad... I’ll personally oversee our research to get this to you as fast as possible. If we figure it out before our next meeting I’ll shorten the wait time and just come through the barrier and signal you with it.” Celestia said.

“Alright. I need to adjust my leg a bit more, it’s a bit long. I’ll see you soon.” Twilight said. Celestia nodded and they parted ways.

After Twilight returned home and made the adjustments to the leg she decided to test her new limbs out.

“Hey starswirl, can you detect any ghasts nearby?” Twilight asked as they left the house.

“There’s four of them down thataway, are you sure you want to test it like that?” Starswirl replied.

“If worse comes to pass you can help me.” Twilight said as she charged off in the direction Starswirl had pointed. In order to balance out her leg powers she had designed a boot that would have around the same durability and strength as her biomechanical leg. This was proven as she was able to hop from rooftop to rooftop that were nearly ten feet apart without any trouble on either leg.

She saw the Ghasts fighting amongst themselves and decided to try something she had thought of. Extending the shield to its maximum radius, creating a large riot shield, she leapt into the air. Charging the kinetic magical barriers in her shield, she used a burst of steam from her retracted wings to smash thirty feet down into the ground, landing on one of the Ghasts and creating a shockwave that knocked the other three to the ground.

The one she landed on was a pile of fried mush so she grinned and extended the Longsword blade and retracted her shield to it’s normal radius and took a stance facing the last three Ghasts as they got to their feet.

“That was spectacular!” Starswirl called from his place spectating from the rooftop she had jumped from.

“You liked that? Watch this!” Twilight said as one of them charged her. She braced the shield as the Ghast body slammed into it and was staggered by the barriers. Twilight skid backwards a foot or two and used a burst of steam to send her smashing forward into the Ghast with her shield, shattering its skull.

The next to charged at the same time and at her sides, trying to flank her. She ducked under the first and spun to decapitate the other with her blade. The last recovered quickly from its miss and charged again, this time swinging its claws at the same time. Twilight smashed its strike aside with her shield to stagger it and proceeded to spin kick it with her biomechanical leg, sending it crashing into the wall. With a burst of steam for added speed she impaled it before it could recover and smashed its head with the shield.

“My, you’ve gotten a bit more brutal. And you’re using steam power to add bursts of speed and power to your attacks and dashes, very smart.” Starswirl said as he clapped lightly. Twilight did an exaggerated bow and grinned as she retracted her weapons.

“I guess if you go through enough pain it happens. All I know is that this thing is sturdy, working perfectly and I love it.” Twilight said, looking at her gore splattered left arm.

“You know, if you’re going to be using steam power for bursts of speed you could put thrusters in that boot and leg of yours. Just a thought.” Starswirl said. Twilight froze and looked at him for a moment before grinning.

“That’s why I keep you around buddy, you’re a genius.” Twilight said.

“Indeed. Well do we have anything planned for today?” Starswirl asked.

“Actually I did, I wanted to start polluting some of the ponds and other sources of water we can find that don’t run off into the river so we can get a head start. I’ve calculated my recovery rate and modified the blood pump in the Longsword to pump just a bit slower so if I have to fight all of a sudden I’m not weakened.” Twilight said.

“Well there is the fountain in the center of town.” Starswirl said.

“I had that in mind, but like I said there’s a pond or two. They're not natural but some places flooded so I call them ponds.” Twilight said.

“Well then, we’ve still got most of the day left, shall we then?” Starswirl said.

“Of course.” Twilight said, her wings extending.

(A/N hello friends, the end is coming soon. The next few chapters will be the end of the Toxin and after that nothing much is left in the story besides a little clearing of the town. I've got 3 OCs i needed for the sequel but I'll always accept more suggestions until the final OC makes an appearance in the story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! -Dark)

The Beginning of the end : support

“There you are sister! You had everyone worried when you didn’t return last night.” Luna said when Celestia returned to the makeshift outpost near Canterlot.

“Captain, take these to the research department immediately, it should speed long our progress. I’m sorry sister, I’ll explain later.” Celestia said.

“Are you alright Princess? you seem like you’re exhausted.” Spike said.

“Even though I had the first good night’s sleep in days I guess I am. My capital city along with half of its inhabitants are dead Spike. When we finally clear it of threats and the toxin we still have to rebuild and repair.” Celestia replied.

“Sister you know once that happens things will get better.” Luna said.

“I know, but for now I’m just sick of things going so badly when I leave my people on their own...” Celestia said.

“What do you mean Princess?” Shining said.

“I didn’t have any real input for the cure to the disease that started this all so I let my scientists do as they pleased with it. I thought my people don’t need me to hover over their shoulders like a scolding teacher at all times whenever something important is happening.” Celestia said, sitting on a chair and putting a hand to her forehead as if it pained her.

“You may not have been there the entire time but that doesn’t mean you could have known it wouldn’t work the way it did.” Luna said.

“You don’t understand. My scientists told me the cure changed in one of their experiments... They found it out not long after they started administering it. They don’t know how but the toxic effects were added later, if I was there I would have detected the difference.” Celestia said.

“Wait, are you saying someone sabotaged it?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know... It could have been a slow acting change from something in it or someone could have done it on purpose. We can’t know for certain.” Celestia said.

“Um... Princess... um just because there’s a possibility that you could have stopped it doesn’t mean that it’s your fault...” Fluttershy said softly.

“Fluttershy’s right. Don’ beat yerself up fer somethin’ like that, you were tryin’ to give yer people some space to work freely an’ not seem demandin’.” Applejack said.

“You should listen to them Sister, I bet Twilight would say something along those lines. Now, I believe you and your scientist team were near a breakthrough so I suggest you go to them.” Luna said. Celestia sighed slightly but she smiled and nodded before exiting towards the area the scientist team had acquired for their use.

It wasn’t until Night fell when the Princess and her team were disturbed.

“Princess? You need to come to the watch tower and see this.” Shining said.

“Can it wait?” Celestia asked.

“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.” Shining replied. Celestia looked at her team for a moment before nodding and stepping out of the doorway with Shining.

“Tell me what you know.” Celestia said as they ascended the stairs of the watchtower their outpost was built around.

“We’re not quite sure why but there are a few spots that are starting to get similar, but it was the fountain that was first.” Shining explained, handing her a telescope when they reached the top. She quickly found the Fountain and saw that instead of it’s old pristine flow or it’s more recent sickly green was now a slightly glowing red.

“She’s preparing early...” Celestia said softly as she looked around and saw the small body of water in the park was similarly covered.

“What was that Princess?” Shining asked.

“I’m positive it’s Twilight. She’s starting to spread the antitoxin in her blood in the isolated bodies of water around the city. This should slowly absorb the Toxin, though once we figure out how to filter it from the water she can dilute the river which runs through the entire city.” Celestia explained.

“How close are you anyways?” Shining asked as she took the lens from her eye.

“We’ve managed to filter most of it out and eliminate its acidic properties, but there’s enough of it left to still make people sick if they tried drinking it. Her blood is strange, it has more elements and a different makeup than normal blood... I’ve got a secondary branch working on other properties it could hold.” Celestia said.

“I see. I should let you get back to that, I was afraid this new development wouldn’t bode well but it seems the opposite.” Shining said.

“Thank you for showing me Captain. If anything else major changes let me know.” Celestia said, handing the telescope back and turning to the doorway.

“She got hurt again, didn’t she.” Shining suddenly said before she left. Celestia sighed and turned to him.

“She asked me not to tell anyone unless they noticed it in the research logs, though Starswirl did most of it this time. She had a teleporting accident, but she’s replaced the limbs with biomechanical ones.” Celestia said.

“... Limbs?” Shining said.

“Don’t worry, you will most certainly be on the team I take with me as escort when we go to Twilight with a way to filter the blood out of the water. She can talk to you about it then, but I fear if I try to explain my mood will only dampen again.” Celestia said.

“I... Understand. Thank you.” Shining said. Celestia nodded and exited the room.

“You know, in what I remember this square looking in my time that fountain would look rather beautiful like that.” Starswirl said as they sat near the fountain in the city.

“I think it would too. I’m a bit exhausted now, I may not be low on blood but regenerating all of that so quickly is making me tired and hungry.” Twilight said, getting to her feet and cracking her back.

“I can only imagine. I hope they find a filter soon, I wish to see this place thriving again and to see you happy. What you’ve told me of your life before this I would like nothing more than to see it in action.” Starswirl said.

“You and me both buddy. Things won’t be exactly the same, but at least I would be able to relax and be glad I hear someone coming because after all of this they’d be a friend and not a Ghast trying to eat my guts.” Twilight said.

“These instincts you’ve acquired will take a bit getting used to not being needed, you know that right?” Starswirl said.

“Of course, but I’ve adapted instincts plenty of times. For example, when I was a little girl I developed instincts that helped me avoid other people. I got rid of those almost as soon as I arrived in Ponyville. Then there was that time when I turned sixteen I joined the mage guard for three years. We had a lot of action then so I was kind of experienced so I had to get rid of those kind of instincts. Stuff like that.” Twilight said.

“Well I hope it goes as well as then because the instincts you’ve developed could possibly ruin a friendship or hurt someone you care about.” Starswirl said.

“I know, and I won’t let that happen. It’s been a few hours and this area already seems to be a little thinner, I can’t wait until the toxin is all gone and the city revives.” Twilight said, looking up.

“Neither can I. We should get going now, I imagine some of our friendly neighbors would be interested in a glowing red fountain and you’re exhausted.” Starswirl said.

“You’re right. If I remember I found some younger wine my last foraging trip and I found a can of my favorite soup.” Twilight said as she got to her feet. As she extended her wings she looked over to the barrier rather suddenly.

“Do you sense something?” Starswirl asked.

“I sense a very familiar presence waiting just outside the barrier... Thinking back on who I’ve met in the past it kind of feels like my friends since I can definitely feel spike. If they prod it they’re calling me, but they might just be getting ready.” Twilight said as she shot into the air and slid her visor down and turned the optics on.

“What do you see?” Starswirl asked.

“I can see my brother, Spike, my friends and a group of Royal Guards with what looks like that thing I made for Spike... They’re either preparing to come help me or they’re preparing to come find me. They’re making a camp so I don’t think they’ll be coming until at least tomorrow.” Twilight said as she pushed her visor up again.

“Let’s hope they’re better trained than your assistant’s team.” Starswirl said as they turned towards the house.

“Twilight, I do believe that group of guards breached the barrier.” Starswirl said, waking Twilight up the next morning.

“I don’t feel a breach.” Twilight said, sitting up. Before Starswirl could answer there was a sound she recognized as a magical explosion and a building collapsing.

“You must have been in too deep a sleep to feel them passing through but they’re definitely in now.” Starswirl said.

“Let’s go then.” Twilight said. She quickly got dressed and left the house and rocketed into the air towards the column of smoke as she began charging the steam rifle/ cannon.

“Damnit there’s too many of them!” Shining yelled as he hid behind a riot shield as Luna and Celestia flung spells from their cover as unstable energy battered against the line of shields the other guards set up for the spellcasters to attack from safely.

“Shit there’s another flier coming in!” Someone yelled and prepared to fling a spell at the flier, but Spike stopped her.

“That’s not an enemy!” He exclaimed. Shocked, they all looked as a massive purple spike at least five feet long came crashing into one of the many spectres, impaling its head to the ground. The spike exploded to create a hail of smaller spike to impale everything in a well sized radius except the guards. Half of the creatures fell as the spikes evaporated and bled back towards the sky from where they came. Twilight used a burst of speed from her new modified steam thrusters to smash into the ground with her shield to create a shockwave that knocked all the ghasts off their feet.

Everyone stared in awe as Twilight gave them a friendly salute/wave with a smile under her mask before turning towards the recovering creatures and extending the Longsword blade as Starswirl swooped down in the form of a massive purple dragon.

The beginning of the end: Support p.2

(A/N well this one is a bit short in comparison to the others but I still hope you like it. I'm still accepting OCs for the sequel and any and all suggestions are welcome if they're relevant. Enjoy! -Dark)

“If you guys are going to be here you can’t rely on your spellcasters unless they know what they’re doing.” Twilight said before charging into the horde of Ghasts. Starswirl quickly followed, spewing magical purple flames from his draconic maw and using his tail to sweep the creatures off their feet. Everyone could only stare in awe as Twilight combined slashes, parries, counters, dashes and shield bashes to effectively hold back and eliminate the tens of ghasts surrounding her.

“Well don’t just stand there!” Spike yelled, hurtling over a riot shield as he extended the spear on his gauntlet and held his shield up. As he joined his best friend everyone else snapped out of their shock and the rest of the guards followed suit while the spellcasters cast wards and barriers and the occasional offensive spell when they got the chance.

“You used to be such an egghead but now I’m scared to even call you that in case you’ve got a short temper.” Dash said when she kicked a ghast from behind Twilight that would have surprised her.

“Don’t worry Dash, you’re still the better flier.” Twilight giggled as she decapitated three ghasts with a horizontal slash of her blade and followed up with a steam powered bash into a group overwhelming Spike.

“Well Ah wouldn’t be able to keep up with yuh if’n yuh decided to take up apple buckin’.” Applejack said, going back to back with Twilight as they both got pushed back. Reacting on pure instinct, Applejack somehow knew what was happening when they locked arms for a moment and Twilight flung her at her opponents. Applejack did a spinning corkscrew in the air and landed blade down on the ghast while Twilight used her shield to parry and riposte Applejack’s old opponent.

“Ghosts coming in, I can only hold them off so long.” Starswirl called as he flung into the air on his draconic wings and faced off against a squad of Ghosts.

“Group them up together!” Twilight called as she looked at Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy. They pushed their opponents off of them and put their hands together and gave Twilight a look. She nodded and extended her wings as she ran towards them. She did a small leaping flip and landed on the hands, which proceeded to fling her into the air. She collided with a stray ghost blade first and went straight through it.

As she reached the peak of her ascent she used a burst of constant steam to send herself towards where Starswirl had managed to cast barriers around the ghosts to group them up. As she hit the barrier, she used an adhesive spell to stick to the wall of it as she turned on her blood pump. She stuck her right arm into the barrier, Starswirl creating a small hole for that reason, and began creating a nearly solid sphere of her own blood. As it grew to be about the side of her fist she nodded to Starswirl. With a burst of steam she kicked off of the barrier, getting herself away from it while simultaneously sending it away from the battle and causing the sphere to rapidly pressurize and burst. The resulting effect was an enclosed cube of acid, which Starswirl proceeded to dump onto the ground away from anything the acid could harm.

“That was rather creative of you.” Starswirl said as Twilight landed on his shoulder.

“Spur of the moment thing. Alright, I need you to give me a powerful and constant stream of magic fire. Send it into the air and I’ll do the rest.” Twilight said. Starswirl nodded and took in a huge breath. The purple inferno caused everyone, even the ghasts, to look up at it. Twilight used her own magic to manipulate the inferno.

She sent it down and as it passed her she jumped into the center. It impacted the ground, but starswirl kept the stream going through the flow Twilight had created. Her silhouette could be seen as the stream followed her as she dashed through the battlefield. The fire pushed the guards and her friends to safety while it incinerated the Ghasts. As Starswirl stopped due to a lack of power and breath the stream soon caught up with Twilight.

As the magical inferno slimmed, Twilight used her magic to siphon what was left into her steam rifle and used it’s magic receivers to amplify it and create a flame spitter of sorts to finish off what was left.

Just as the last ghast was turned to ash another group of them smashed through a wall nearby. There were a few spectres with them, but Starswirl quickly changed his form from a dragon to a manticore and tackled the spectres away from the ghasts. With the last of the magical flames, Twilight encased the Longsword blade with them. The effect was a purple hot blade, similar to red hot but with magic, and turned towards the new group of twenty or so ghasts.

She made the first move, using a blast of steam to propel her dashing slice and killing a few of them instantly and de-limbing a few more. The air was filled with the sound of searing flesh as Twilight used cleaving slashes to take advantage of the hot blade.

Meanwhile, Starswirl had absorbed the unstable energy of the spectres and swiftly dispatched of them with the sharp stinger tail of his manticore form. Turning to find Twilight using a water spell to cool her blade as the last ghast fell into three seared pieces he reverted to his humanoid form and grinned at her. She pulled her mask off and grinned back before turning to the guards and her friends. They were all staring at them in awe.

“I suppose you are all here for a reason?” Twilight said.

“We managed to manufacture a substance that would completely eliminate any harmful effects on the water your blood has. It will still leave the water diluted and glowing red, but we’ve found that it’s easy to use magic or simple filters to purify the water again. It also seems that without the adverse effects it actually has beneficial properties.” Celestia said, snapping out of her shock and reaching into her pouch and pulling out a small flask of pure white liquid protected by a strong magical barrier.

“There’s so little...” Twilight said.

“I only need a little, I can use my solar magic to create more. I have another flask back at the outpost so I’m giving this one to you so you can begin sterilizing the small bodies of water that aren’t connected to the river. One the toxin is cleared and you begin that we will move in and sterilize the river at its source after you’re done. We’ve already got the filtering veils over the magical dam keeping the river from flowing at the moment so it doesn’t need to be toxic for any longer than it needs to be.” Celestia continued.

“Alright. I suppose most of you want to go back until the toxin is gone from the air, but I know I can’t keep some of you away.” Twilight said, turning towards the guards and her friends.

“Damn right. We’re not letting you do this alone anymore. Just because you can doesn’t mean you have to.” Dash said.

“Ahem.” Starswirl said.

“Oh you know what they meant.” Twilight said.

“I would like nothing more than to join you as well, but I need to help finish preparations at the outpost. If anyone wishes to stay and begin the clearing of the city early I warn you, with the toxin still a factor it is more dangerous but it is your choice. Anyone who wishes to recuperate back at the outpost or if you’re injured you will come with me.” Celestia announced. The group of about forty guards split into two groups. The larger was with celestia at 35 counting the injured while the last five chose to stay with Twilight. Shining unfortunately has his duty as captain of the guard so he needed to be at the outpost.

“I need to recover, but I’ll start the diluting process tomorrow at as close to noon as I can. My estimates bring me to about 36 full hours of diluting in order to reach a saturation guaranteed to absorb all of the toxin and another 36 hours until the toxin is gone and I can turn the barrier blue.” Twilight said.

“Right, how is your food supply?” Celestia asked.

“It can last me months, probably a year or two, but I don’t think it’d last a group this large longer than two days at most.” Twilight replied.

“Right, in two days I’ll bring enough supplies to last you all a week myself.” Celestia said.

“Deal.” Twilight said. Twilight looked up at the sky rather quickly for a few moments before her wings extended.

“There’s a few Ghosts on their way, I can hear the steam thrusters and one of their tanks just exploded. Starswirl and Spike, show everyone to the house and give them a meal. I’ll catch up.” Twilight said before dashing into the air.

“We had better fall back until it’s time for the entire guard to sweep the city clean.” Celestia said to Shining, who nodded and ordered a return to base. meanwhile, Starswirl had donned his Dragon form and had everyone without wings on his back as they all leapt into the air in the opposite direction.

The beginning of the End: Rest

“She’s back.” Starswirl said a few moments before the door opened to reveal Twilight. The ten people looked at her, they were all silent.

“You were out for so long...” Fluttershy said.

“Three hours isn’t too much, I wanted to make a usual stop on the way.” Twilight said, placing a few bottles of wine and glasses on the big table between all the clutter.

“Wine?” Rarity said.

“Two century old Wine.” Twilight replied .

“Forget the Wine, you need to tell us why you’re like that and why you didn’t just leave the barrier!” Dash yelled. Twilight didn’t respond as she used her magic to pour a bottle in a stream into all eleven glasses and float them over to everyone. They accepted the gift, some a bit hesitantly, and waited for an unseen sign.

“I’ll answer any questions I can.” Twilight said after taking a small sip from her glass and sitting on the counter.

“I’ve never seen anyone fight like that in my life, and I’ve seen the Princesses fight a few monsters.” The lieutenant of the guard with them said.

“Well you should know I was in the guard for three years, you were my superior, Blue Steel. I was a few ranks up from corporal first class during the riots in Manehattan.” Twilight said.

“I remember now, but what you did was a lot different than brawling with a riot shield and blunt spears in a crowded street.” The lieutenant retorted.

“You pick up a few things in my situation.” Twilight simply answered.

“I have a few questions. First off why didn’t you leave the barrier? Second, how the hell do you lose two arms and a leg and third how and where did you get a surgeon to get those wings?” Dash said.

“... Dash, my blood is acid and I’ve changed a lot. I didn’t think i’d be accepted outside of the barrier, so I decided I’d try to survive and maybe find out what happened exactly. I lost my right arm day one because i passed out halfway in a pool of acid and I lost my other arm and leg because I teleported halfway into a wall. As for the surgeon, you’re looking at her.” Twilight answered.

“Excuse mah language, but who in the high hell is that purple guy that led us here?” Applejack asked.

“Oh sorry for not introducing myself, I used a lot of energy in that fight so I was dormant after I gave you the food.” Starswirl’s voice came from his sphere as it slowly floated from the groove in the wall next to the bed.

“This is Starswirl the Bearded, I found out that the toxin sort of animates the dead, but only if their body was intact.” Twilight said.

“In essence I’ve observed with my magical sight that the toxin kills those mutations’ bodies but keeps the mind barely alive. Strong magic, like what Twilight and myself possess, nullify the brain damage and I believe it was her connection to an ancient power, the element of magic, that nullified the effects on her body and instead enhanced them. I was just a strong mage and my body was decayed and poisoned when she found me.” Starswirl explained.

“Zombies...” Spike said lowly.

“Wait so only the six of us could really survive that stuff?” Pinkie asked.

“Not exactly, You do know that everyone has a strong connection to magic. Normal people don’t know how to tap into it and it instead boosts their strength and energy. Mages learn how to tap into and use this magic. The wonderbolts and other people who enjoy flight know at least a bit of magic, is that correct Miss Dash?” Starswirl replied.

“Yeah, wings have become popular among the mage teams running the weather. I only have one more question Twi.” Dash said.

“Go ahead.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Will you come back home once this is all over?” Dash asked. Everyone looked from Dash to Twilight with hopeful looks in their eyes.

“Of course. I’ve toughened up so if anyone thinks I’m a freak can just keep on thinking that or get knocked out.” Twilight answered with a smile. The five friends exclaimed and glomped the girl along with Spike. The four guards shook her hand with smiles when she managed to regain her footing.

“Right. We’ve all gotta be up and moving at Ten in the morning at the latest so we have time to eat and make our way to the lake on the edge of the barrier feeding the river and clear it out by noon.” Twilight said.

“Ah seriously doubt this place can hold Eleven people comfortably to sleep.” Applejack said.

“I built this place from scrap metal, I think I know how to move it around a bit.” Twilight said with a giggle as she snapped her fingers and the large tables and all the clutter moved to a corner of the room. The racks and tables under them stayed though.

“Alright, I used to go through sleeping bags like crazy because my gear and stuff had sharp edges so I’ve always got a bunch of them. If memory serves I’ve got six of them. Some of you would have to double up.” Twilight said as she opened a hatch near her bed and pulled out a stack of sleeping bags with her magic. There were indeed six. Pinkie and Dash, as well as Applejack and Rarity and Spike and one of the the two female guards agreed to double up. This left The three remaining guards took the last three bags, but Fluttershy was too shy to ask to double up with one of them since she didn’t know any of them.

“It’s ok Fluttershy, it took a lot of courage to fight today. You can take my bed.” Twilight said.

“Oh no no no, I can’t take your bed. Where will you sleep?” Fluttershy said.

“The bed is big enough for two to be comfortable, I might not even sleep tonight. I’m not tired right now.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Wouldn’t Celestia be a bit jealous?” Starswirl’s voice said suggestively. Twilight sent a magic spark through the sphere in the wall and rolled her eyes.

“Oh... um... I guess that’s fine then. I haven’t seen you in a long time and we’re best friends...” Fluttershy said. Twilight smiled and slid open the hatch for her bed.

“Go on, don’t worry everything’s clean and comfy.” Twilight said with a smile. Fluttershy nodded and got under the covers. Once she was settled she went around asking everyone if they were fine as well. Spike and Dash made a comment implying similar things as Starswirl had, but she just ignored them and made sure the door was locked. She levitated over pillows from the previous hatch as needed and even created one out of magic when she ran out.

“Good night everyone. I’m going to cast a sleeping spell on everyone so we all get a good night’s rest. May Luna watch over your dreams.” Twilight said before casting the spell before anyone could protest. Twilight climbed into the bed with Fluttershy and smiled at her friend before turning the opposite way and used some magic to turn the lights out.

Everyone awoke at the same time to find Twilight making adjustments to her libs. Dash and Pinkie found themselves much closer than when they fell asleep, but from what Twilight heard that was normal.

“What are you doing?” The lieutenant asked.

“Cleaning and adjusting, you know when you hit a wall or something it jars your arm a bit?” Twilight asked. He nodded. “Well when it jars for me it stays slightly jarred until I adjust it. And let me tell you, using that shield smash I started with last time knocked my left arm an inch out of its socket.” She continued.

“I’m still amazed you have this technology darling.” Rarity said.

“Well it’s mostly because of my magic, we’ve accomplished much better with it. I use magic to activate otherwise unreachable effects and I use magic to connect my nerves and everything.” Twilight said.

“So what time is it?” Spike asked.

“Five till Ten.” Twilight responded, clenching her left had a few times before standing and stretching.

“I’ll prepare the meal.” Starswirl said, purple magic tendrils moving from his wall mounted sphere.

“Thanks.” Twilight said as she opened the door.

“Where are you going?” Dash asked.

“I’m going to go scout out a route for us to take. I can avoid those things very easily by myself, but with all of us we’d have to fight and I’d rather not have us spread out thin or too cramped going through alleyways and stuff. I’ll be back in half an hour.” Twilight said and closed the door.

“She forgot her mask again...” Starswirl sighed.

“Why does she need it?” Dash asked. Starswirl answered by sending a blast of slightly cooled steam into her face, blinding her and causing her to cough for a few seconds.

“The fuck dude?!” She yelled.

“That’s why she wears the mask. You’re not dead from that but it reduced your vision and clogged your throat did it not?” Starswirl said.

“Point taken... But if you do something like that again I’ll kick your round ass around the room.” Dash threatened.

“Uh, Dash. He can turn into a giant dragon and a manticore, I think he can handle a pissed off woman.” Spike said.

“I’d listen to him.” Starswirl chuckled.

“Hey Starswirl, what’s with all of this?” The Lieutenant asked, pointing to a wall filled with Royal Guard armor and weapons.

“She likes to experiment with things and see if they work with her or not. If anything fits you be my guest, she was going to give them to the guards that came to clear the city anyways.” Starswirl said.

“Interesting...” The lieutenant said as he looked at a helmet modified to be slimmer without the spartan-like top to it and have a face mask fitted with a gas mask.

the middle of the end: It begins

“Alright, you guys look ready.” Twilight said, opening her door to find her friends and the guards trying on the armor she couldn’t use.

“Starswirl said we were welcome to them.” Spike said.

“You are, keep them. They were just cluttering my armory anyways. I’ve got a relatively clear route. We need to be quick and silent because after yesterday everything seems to be more alert.” Twilight said, slipping into a serious tone.

“I’ll fly above you, I’ll be an owl. I’ll alert you if I see anything coming and Twilight can do a scan.” Starswirl said.

“What happens if we get into a fight with something?” The lieutenant asked.

“If we can’t avoid them then I’ll do my best to take whatever’s coming out before they reach us or can alert anything else. If I can’t then we fight our way to the lake.” Twilight said as she leaned on the doorway.

“Anything else?” One of the guards asked.

“Yeah, good luck. If they find us when I’m doing my thing at the lake you guys will be on your own except for Starswirl. Celestia will be here with reinforcements sometime tomorrow, but until then it’d be just you guys.” Twilight said.

“It’s not that she won’t help you in favor of finishing quickly, it’s the fact that she’ll be draining her blood at a pace that will barely allow her to be conscious let alone fight.” Starswirl cut in.

“We understand, we won’t let anything touch you.” Dash said. Twilight smiled and motioned for them to follow.

Twilight looked up as she heard Starswirl’s owl-like hoot. She pulled her visor down and switched it to a setting she had invented to find ghasts and the like. She saw two of them slowly foraging their way towards them. Twilight turned to her group and made a ‘Shh’ motion as she silently leapt up to a rooftop.

“Whoa what is that?” Dash asked as Starswirl landed next to them. Twilight had taken the steam rifle off her back and had seemingly unfolded it. It was a long curve nearly as tall as she was with pulleys on the ends. With a touch of magic she created a string and an arrow.

“She got tired of launching steam into the rifle and modified it to create a longbow. Much more silent, much more efficient.” Starswirl whispered back.

Twilight released the arrow and it split into two mid-air. Unseen by the group, the arrows went through the eyes of the two Ghasts. She folded the bow back up and let the arrows’ power return to her as she hopped back down.

“How much further do we need to go?” Spike asked.

“We’re three fourths of the way there, Either I picked a really good route or something doesn’t add up with how quiet it is.” Twilight said.

“Let’s hope it’s just a good route.” Starswirl said, taking off again.

“Oh I see... For brainless zombies these things are kind of smart.” Twilight said when they reached the lake at the tip of the mountain. It was pale with the toxin, but she could see to the bottom.

“What is it?” Starswirl asked.

“They’re waiting underwater until I am weak I am guessing. What they don’t realize is that with my blood going into the water it will burn them.” Twilight said, using her magic to turn small valves on each of her shoulders. She put her hands slightly below the surface as blood started pumping out of her hands.

“Are you sure you can stay conscious for 36 hours straight like that?” Starswirl asked.

“I’ve tested it before... I could go for 48 if need be, but I’ll need a nap and some food after the nap.” Twilight answered as her blood slowly made it’s way to the bottom of the small lake. After about ten minutes bubbles started to come up, signifying drowned screams of dissolving ghasts.

“So how does this lake and river work? Wouldn’t we need to keep filling it?” One of the guards asked.

“No, there’s an underground channel that feeds half of the runoff back into the lake using lots of heat to turn it to steam to go up the mountain while the cool air up here naturally cools it. If you were to go to the opposite base you’d find some steam coming out ever so slightly.” Twilight answered.

“How do you know this?” Dash asked.

“Because I helped build it during the dry season, Rain just wasn’t enough to keep the river going.” Twilight replied.

“So, what shall we do for the next 36 hours?” Starswirl asked.

“Make it something I can be a part of, this is already boring...” Twilight said.

“Alright I got one, This is an old kid’s game but I have nothing better.” The female guard with Spike started. “Basically it’s twenty questions, but it’s goal isn’t to find out what the other person is, but who they have a crush on or who they’re in a relationship with.” She continued.

“Will you be going first Ruby?” The lieutenant asked with a grin.

“Of course.” She replied.

“Is it Spike?” The lieutenant asked.

“Alright I guess we’re that obvious. Alright, new rule. If you already know it don’t give it away right off the bat. We’re passing the time here.” Ruby said.

“Well we’d have to skip me, the only person here who would know where my affections once were is Twilight since that particular woman has been long dead.” Starswirl said.

“Alright, well let’s get you Twilight while you’re still fresh.” Ruby said.

“Alright, try me.” Twilight smiled, having created a seat of magic on the water for her to sit and face the group.

“First question, do we know him?” Dash asked.

“That’s a wasted question Dash.” Twilight giggled.

“Oh I see, is it a she?” Dash mended.

“Yep.” Twilight replied.

“Shoot girl, didn’t know you quite swung that way. Second question, do we know her?” Applejack asked.

“Yes.” Twilight answered.

“Have you kissed?” Rarity asked.

“Oh yeah.” Twilight replied.

“Have you slept in the same bed?” Pinkie asked.

“Yep.” Twilight answered.

“Did you bump uglies?” Dash asked.

“Nope. let’s have the others get some questions in, that was five. Fifteen more to go.” Twilight said.

“Was she in canterlot during the incident?” One of them asked.

“She was.” Twilight replied.

“She survived, right?” Ruby asked.

“Of course.” Twilight said.

“When was the last time you saw her?” The Lieutenant asked

“Yesterday” Twilight responded.

“Wait, so she’s a guard?” Ruby asked.

“Nope.” Twilight replied.

“You said you already kissed and stuff and slept in the same- OH! Is it fluttershy?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“No, we’ve never kissed.” Twilight said, almost giggling at Fluttershy’s flustered reaction.

“So if’n it’s all that stuff and it ain't one of us and it wasn’t a guard... Wait, is it one of the princesses?” Applejack asked.

“Mhm.” Twilight hummed.

“Wait, you and Celestia are dating?” Spike asked.

“Yep. Apparently she’s been wanting to talk to me about it since i turned twenty, but we kinda got together the first time we saw each other after you left, Spike.” Twilight explained.

“The nobility’s gonna get a kick outta this.” Blue Steel said with a grin.

“Not that I’m against you guys or anything, but isn’t that kinda weird?” Dash asked.

“I don’t see why you’d think it’s weird, you and Pinkie are pretty damn close.” Twilight retorted. Dash opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself halfway through a syllable.

“That’s not the weird part... I mean, she’s like a thousand years old... and you’re Twenty-five...” Dash said with a blush as Pinkie giggled.

“Well you seem to be able to spot these things from a mile away.” Starswirl said to Twilight.

“What do you mean?” Spike asked.

“I had only barely noticed how close Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were and I didn’t know it was like that, and in my youth I was known as quite the matchmaker.” Starswirl said.

“Well, if’n she’s so good at seein’ that stuff why don’t you try us all?” Applejack suggested, giving a smirk to Twilight.

“Hm... Applejack and Rarity. As I mentioned earlier, Pinkie and Dash. Obviously Spike and Ruby. Blue Steel and the rest of the guards are with people I don’t know, if at all, and I remember Celestia telling me about Fluttershy and Luna.” Twilight said.

Everyone who wasn’t already exposed or didn’t have a relationship froze.

“I kinda guessed at AJ and Rares, but Flutters and Princess Luna?!” Dash exclaimed.

“W-Well um... We’ve only kissed once... And it was only a tiny peck...” Fluttershy stuttered.

“I get how Twilight and Celestia are together, but how did you and Luna get together?” Blue Steel asked the shy woman. “That is, if it’s not too much to ask.” He added as an afterthought.

“Oh um... It’s fine. Well, that first Nightmare Night we spent a bit more time together afterwards... She wanted to thank me for helping her tame her volume.” Fluttershy started.

“I think all of Equestria would want to thank you.” Ruby chuckled, earning a tiny giggle form the shy woman.

“Well, we quickly became friends and she came back about a week later and told me she was a bit jealous of Celestia because she had a unique pet like Philomina. I was so excited that the princess wanted a pet picked with my help I could barely contain my joy!” She continued happily.

“So that’s where Midnight came from.” Twilight mumbled. Fluttershy nodded and went on.

“Well, earlier that week I had come across a strange injured thing. It looked like an adult dragon, but the size of a garden snake and it had feathers instead of scales. It had a broken wing so I helped it and it helped me out calming the nocturnal animals for feeding. I showed the thing to Luna and she fell in love with it.” She said.

“What exactly was it?” Dash asked.

“I didn’t know at the time, but Luna called it a Vampire Serpent. I wouldn’t have believed it was a vampire animal but it bit me one time. It didn’t hurt and it wasn’t being mean, it just clamped onto my forearm for about ten second and I swear it was drinking some of my blood.” Fluttershy replied.

“They’re very rare but there are some Vampire Birds out there. A Phoenix is born when a special type of bird called a firebird is touched with solar energy or magic. When it’s touched by Lunar magic though, it becomes a Vampire Bird.” Twilight recited.

“That’s waht Luna said, apparently some high level mages can use Lunar or Solar magic in tiny amounts.” Fluttershy said.

“For my Twenty-first birthday, Celestia took me out drinking and she was too drunk to raise the sun herself so I had to help her.” Twilight accounted thoughtfully with a smile.

“I didn’t know it was possible to help.” Blue Steel said.

“Neither did I until she explained the spell to me. I can’t talk about it though.” Twilight said.

“That’s understandable. Hey purple, shouldn’t you be on the lookout?” Dash said.

“I am. I’ve grounded the sphere and set up a grid of sensory magics around the are. If anything gets within range I’ll know immediately.” Starswirl explained.

“Why do you ask?” Twilight asked.

“I dunno, I get this feeling that something’s watching us.” Dash replied.

“Are you psychic or something? It must be an instinct or something, I’ve got some ghosts on the edge of the grid and a few spectres lumbering over.” Starswirl said, popping up from the hole in the ground he was residing in and taking a humanoid form.

“Instinct?” Dash asked as the group stood and readied for a fight.

“You used to be in the Wonderbolts and captain of the weather patrol no? Naturally you’d develop instincts for detecting things, bullying storms isn’t exactly a safe occupation.” Starswirl explained as Twilight fidgeted on her little magic platform that had now solidified and turned into a lily pad.

The End Pt. 1: it truly begins

12
“I’d help out with my magic but this lily pad is about all I can do safely.” Twilight grumbled as the Ghosts arrived first.

“I’ll go and take care of the Spectres.” Starswirl said, taking the form of an Ursa and charging off down where they originally came from.

“Alright, formation!” Blue Steel ordered. Everyone raised their shields and prepared their spear gauntlets as they entered a semi-circle formation. One of the ghosts smashed into the ground, apparently out of steam for the wings, while two of them landed and the last two remained in the air.

“Dash, Fluttershy, take out the ones in the air.” Blue Steel ordered. They nodded and used the hands of their friends to get some air before activating their wings. Dash air tackled one of the Ghosts into a nearby building while Fluttershy waited for her opponent to attack. When it did, she simply dodged it and stabbed at it while it passed her.

Meanwhile, the Semi-circle had now become a full circle around the three on the ground. They would lash out at their captors, but the shields were reinforced so they held up perfectly. When the two with steam remaining tried to take to the air, the group had ruptured their gas tanks. Slowly but surely the circle became smaller and smaller. When there was no more room for the creatures to escape the spears they were quickly dispatched.

“I’d never thought of that, trapping them in an all around pincer attack.” Twilight said.

“I thought it was rather impressive.” Starswirl said, returning in his humanoid form.

“I’m glad you guys trained up more.” Twilight said with a smile.

“We used the routine that’s normally used to take down a Manticore, figured these things are kinda like small versions of them.” Blue Steel said.

“That was rather genius” Starswirl commended.

“It was, I would have come up with something new but using something you already know is much easier.” Twilight said.

“It was Captain Armor’s idea.” Blue shrugged.

“Well I’ve extended the range of the grid, there isn’t anything nearby. It’s been exactly two hours, that means 34 more to go.” Starswirl said.

“This is going to be the longest hours of my life...” Twilight grumbled.

“Alright, either they were all in the lake and in that tiny strike force or all of them that’s left in the city don’t even know that we’re here.” Twilight said weakly as she took her hands from the water after the full 36 hours was up. There had been another attack twelve hours in consisting of a few spectres and over ten Ghasts, but they were dispatched by the group and starswirl again.

“Well it’s not like they’re reproducing, we’ve killed hundreds of them since the accident happened, not to mention the ones that die from them killing themselves off. Maybe there’s just not so many in the city anymore.” Starswirl suggested.

“Not quite, but it’s getting there.” Celestia’s voice said from behind them. They turned to see her and a small group of elite guards wearing gas masks.

“You can go ahead and take those off for a bit, I’ve got a barrier around this area.” Twilight said with a smile before tiredly walking up to the Princess and hugging her.

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked.

“I was pumping blood out of my body for 36 hours straight, I’m exhausted.” Twilight said with a weak smile.

“I understand, I was worried it was something else. I remember where your home is, shall we head there? I’ve brought necessities.” Celestia said, showing the magically sealed bags her guards were carrying.

“Great, did you bring extra sleeping bags or something? We’ve already got six people sharing and Fluttershy with me.” Twilight asked.

“We did, hopefully nothing I should be jealous of right?” Celestia said with a smirk.

“Oh you know, just the usual when i get in bed with a girl.” Twilight giggled.

“U-um what’s that s-supposed to mean?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“It was a joke Flutters, and a bad one at that.” Spike said.

“Oh... ok...” Fluttershy sighed in relief.

“Let’s go, If we stay any longer I think I might pass out...” Twilight grumbled, already half asleep. Celestia giggled and picked the woman up bridal style and extended her wings.

“I’ll catch back up with you guys, I just want to make sure she gets home.” Celestia said, looking at the dozing girl with a slight grin.

“Stay with her, we can handle ourselves.” Blue Steel said.

“I’ll guide them back, fret not my friend.” Starswirl said.

“Alright, if you insist.” Celestia said and shot into the air.

“It’s time.” Celestia said two days later. Celestia had left Canterlot the day before after making sure everyone was fine to return to the outpost and collect and prepare the large strike force that would clear Canterlot when the barrier turned blue. She was watching said barrier when it did just that.

“The troops are all ready. They have all been outfitted with Twilight’s technology, though we couldn’t figure out how she got her shield to work so we just outfitted our standard riot shields with gems similarly.” Luna said.

“Good, I want the least amount of casualties as possible, preferably no deaths at all... Twilight made some things for me, I’ll be right out after I put it all on and we’ll take back our city.” Celestia said as she turned towards an elegant set of armor similar to Twilight’s, but much more protective in terms of coverage and much prettier in terms of looks.

“It covers a lot more than her own does.” Luna commented.

“She needs to be more mobile and flexible to survive how she has, We need more protection.” Celestia said as she took the chestplate down.

“I see. I’ll leave you to it then.” Luna said.

“She made a set for you too of course, it’s in your room.” Celestia said with a smirk. Luna grinned and walked out of the room.

“Um, I might be seeing things... But is that a giant purple dragon?” One of the soldiers asked. The platoon was at the barrier, waiting for Celestia to give the command.

“Yes it is, and that’s the signal.” Celestia said, creating a large doorway in the barrier and giving the commander the order to charge.

“The leader of a force like this should probably be in the front lines so that her girlfriend doesn’t think she’s forgotten.” Luna said when Celestia waited back as the troops quickly entered the barrier.

“Normally I’d have to agree with you sister, but I have to maintain this entrance until everyone is through.” Celestia said with a wink.

“Fair enough, see you on the other side.” Luna said, brandishing a long glaive before following the troops in. When everyone who was in the strike force was through, Celestia herself dashed through as the entrance closed.

“Looks like all that training the others were telling me about actually paid off.” Twilight said from her spot watching Celestia and a group of five troops take on ten ghasts.

“All thanks to you, your tips and your video logs telling us how to fight them effectively.” Celestia said, sliding her large claymore into it’s scabbard strapped to her back before jumping up to the rooftop she was on.

“I didn’t know you could use a Claymore.” Twilight said with a giggle.

“It’s an ancient skill. Men, I expect you not to gawk if you can help it.” Celestia said before cupping Twilight’s face in her hands and planting a large kiss on the girl’s lips. Needless to say the expectations weren’t met and the five men’s jaws dropped to the ground.

“Now there’s a good reason to freak out your guards again.” Twilight giggled when they separated.

“Uh... Princess?” One of the guards started.

“Yes we’re dating, and no I don’t care what the politicians and nobility say.” Celestia said. The guard shut his mouth quickly.

“Back to business much better suited to the presence of said guards, I’ve noticed that the numbers are much lower than we thought. We were expecting something close to a 1:10 ratio when it came to our forces and theirs, but it’s only about 1:3.” Celestia said.

“We sealed the barrier and the only people that have entered and/or exited the barrier are either dead now or accounted for. It’s not like they spawn or reproduce, they have limited numbers. I’ve been exterminating them since I got my arm replaced and with Starswirl’s help we can kill a lot more of them.” Twilight explained.

“That makes sense. Canterlot’s population before the incident was around 90,000. We got over half of them out, an estimated 55,000. That would still leave up to 35,000 of these creatures though and I don’t think that many have been killed.” One of the guards said.

“only a small percentage were turned, I don’t know the numbers but in my experiments I actually found a semi-reliable percentage of about 20% give or take. That means about 7,000 became Ghasts, Ghosts and Spectres. There were also some animal mutations but I stopped seeing them after that first log. I know we didn’t kill nearly that many, but they’re like wild animals without a brain that just want to kill. When there’s nothing to kill or eat they turn on each other.” Twilight explained.

“So they’ve killed a good amount of each other off...” One of the guards rationalized.

“Exactly. My guess is that out of those 7,000, only about 2,000 were killed by myself, other humans and the city itself. It is a dangerous place.” Twilight said.

“So 2,000 in two months. That should be like a record or something.” One of the guards said.

“Records are just statistics used to boost egos and shove what you did in people’s faces. I don’t know about you, but I’m already fucked up enough as it is. Celebrating a record of a very high body count probably wouldn’t help me too much.” Twilight said lowly.

“Good point.” Celestia said. Before any more chatting could be done, there was a slight static noise and Twilight put a hand to an earpiece that was previously obscured by her hood.

“Right... Yeah... Shit, bring them to the house and call Flutters. Uh-huh... Alright, be right there.” Twilight said with short pauses.

“One of your teams were injured so they’re receiving medical attention at my house. We need to meet up with Dash and Spitfire to take out a few Spectres, Starswirl is busy chasing down a flock of Ghosts. Catch.” Twilight said quickly, finishing by tossing an earpiece to Celestia. She put it in and made sure it was working and they dashed off towards where Twilight told them Dash and Spitfire was.

“About damn time.” Dash said, holding a gash on her arm.

“It got through your dampening gem?” Twilight asked.

“There are four of them, there was too much unstable energy for two gems to keep in check at once.” Spitfire said.

“Right. If you’re alright to still fight then I need you two to go back in there and keep them still.” Twilight said as she used purple magic laced fingers to pluck the cracked green gems from their places in their armor, repairing them and placing them back.

“Fine, the gems lasted about fifteen seconds, after twelve we’re breaking off.” Spitfire said.

“I only need seven.” Twilight said as she seemed to punch the air as the two women charged around the corner. When Twilight punched the air, the bottom of left the forearm snapped forward. If the shield was activated then her arm would be practically nothing now.

The bottom of the forearm created a familiar curve. She connected the points of the two curves with magic and created a large arrow out of magic and stepped around the corner as well. This was all done in just under the seven seconds promised.

Dash and Spitfire, who were on the other side of the four Spectres, nodded and jumped into the air and landed on nearby rooftops with assistance from their wings. Twilight, now with clear targets, pulled the magic string back and let loose the large arrow. It pinned one of them to the wall by it’s head, exploded and sent long sharp spikes of solidified magic around like a splitter bomb.

The ending result looked like a crystallized alleyway. She allowed the power to return to her with the new energy form the now dead Spectres and retracted the bow.

“I’ve got it bandaged up now and it’s stopped bleeding so I’m good to keep going.” Dash said when Twilight hopped up to check on her.

“Alright, if you start getting dizzy call me again and I’ll help you back to the house.” Twilight said.

“Got it. Starswirl radioed in by the way if you didn’t hear it.” Dash replied.

“I heard, go on. He needs some help with those ghosts and the two fastest fliers in Equestria could be some great help.” Twilight said with a smile. The two nodded and took off.

“By the way Twilight, I didn’t know the remaining Wonderbolts were involved in this.” Celestia said.

“Apparently Spitfire is an old friend of Dash’s and she called in a few favors. The Wonderbolts leapt at the chance to avenge their fallen friends.” Twilight said.

“I see.” Celestia said.

“Hey Twi! looks like the entire northeastern section near the house is completely cleared, go do your thing. I’m clearing all the guards and stuff now.” Spike’s voice came over the radio.

“What are you going to do?” Celestia asked.

“I’ve modified the pumps in my left arm to replicate your antitoxin and I’ve modified it so that it neutralizes normal acid as well.” Twilight said, putting her left arm up and showing the ‘veins’ in it. Instead of their normal slightly glowing red they sported a color like silver mercury.

“I’m going to create a cloud of it over the entirely cleared sector. It turns the normal acid into water and neutralizes the harmful effects of my blood like the original did. You should head over to the lake and start the process to clean the river.” Twilight said as her wings extended.

“Why did you clear the guards?” Celestia asked.

“Because, while it may turn acid into water and act as the antitoxin... I’ve found that it dissolves dead organic material. Since the skin has a lot of dead or dying cells on it... Well let’s just say if you’re not me it burns.” Twilight said.

“How do you know that?” One of the guards asked.

“Spike inhaled a bit of the gas on accident and I tried injecting it into him. It reverses the process if it isn’t too far, but it got on his skin and I had to magically regrow a few layers of it.” Twilight said before taking off.

“Wait so that stuff is like a cure?” Anothr guard asked.

“I think it would be very dangerous to use as such, but if the alternative is turning into a ghast or having your insides melted it would be a much better alternative... I’ll speak to her when she’s not so busy, for now let’s regroup with some of the others.” Celestia said.

Finale

“Report.” Celestia said as five guards joined her and Twilight as they looked at the city from the hill in front of the red lake.

“Sector Three is clear of all creatures and we have found no traces of harmful materials that the antacid missed.” One of the guards reported.

“Sectors one, five and seven are the same.” Another said.

“Sector Two is just finishing the antacid process.” The third said.

“Sectors four and five are clear and the antacid process has just begun.” The fourth reported.

“Sector six is clear and awaiting to begin the antacid process.” The last said.

“Dismissed.” Celestia nodded with a smile. They nodded and left the hilltop.

“I’ll go finish off sector six then.” Twilight said.

“Meet me back at your house.” Celestia said. Twilight smirked at the woman and leaped into the air.

-2 Years Later-

“I heard there’s some rumors going around the nobility.” Twilight said as she took a seat next to Celestia. They were in the Canterlot Throne Room awaiting the day court.

“They’re mostly about you, but there are some that we’re trying to make super soldiers like you.” Celestia sighed.

“What kind of rumors about me?” Twilight asked with a light chuckle.

“I don’t see how they haven’t gotten it yet, but apparently they don’t know we’re engaged even though we wear engagement rings and all of Ponyville knows it. It’s a shame the city still isn’t done rebuilding...” Celestia sighed once more.

“What still needs to be done? The city looks complete.” Twilight asked.

“It’s the sewer system. Not only was it completely polluted with acid and some of the toxin, said acid and toxin had degraded it to the point where I’m surprised the city didn’t collapse. We’re almost done rebuilding it now that we’ve purified it though. Once all of this is finally over we can actually have our wedding.” Celestia explained with a smile.

“And what of these more ridiculous rumors?” Twilight asked.

“Well they’re not so ridiculous... Blueblood was a black market dealer and supplier, but he wasn’t the only one. I suspect more of the nobility is on his side, they got him out of prison and he’s disappeared.” Celestia explained with annoyance in her voice.

“Well if anyone tries to do anything wrong, I am the captain of the Elite Guard now. And if these super soldiers in the rumors are supposed to be like me, then they can’t be stronger than I am, let alone the both of us together.” Twilight said as the guards in the room opened the gates, where a crowd of people were waiting.

“Good point. I see lots of angry nobility, you sure you don’t want to sit this one out?” Celestia asked as people started filing in.

“You’re my Fiance, i’m not going to leave you alone in the hell that is politics without someone here who’s not too soft to throw the morons out.” Twilight grinned.

“Will everybody please calm down and stop shouting! If you want anything then ask for it in a calm and composed manner!” Celestia called, slipping into he royal canterlot voice. The people, who were screaming at the top of their lungs, all quieted down at the rare use of the voice.

“My home is still in shambles! Why isn’t anyone trying to rebuild it? I’m not the only one either.” Someone said. A large group of the people agreed.

“Thank you for asking, this is a very general problem I see. It is very simple, the sewers are in more need of reconstruction. Without them, the city would literally collapse under it’s own weight. As soon as that’s completed we’ll begin reconstruction of the homes and small businesses outside of the residential district.” Celestia answered. The group of people still looked angry, but at least now they had a valid reason. They left soon after that, their issues resolved for the time being.

All that were left had already had their questions answered and were leaving, which left only noblemen in their place.

“Alright, it’s been a long day... What do you want?” Celestia groaned.

“We’ve heard rumors from a certain small town that the two of you are engaged...” One of them said. The two facepalmed and showed their rings, which were simple golden bands.

“You don’t even try to deny it?” One of them asked.

“Of course not. Why would we?” Celestia asked.

“Because it is a disgrace to the royal line.” Another said. Celestia’s patience just took a dent with that one.

“Really? and why is that?” Celestia asked lowly.

“She’s technically a walking biohazard, she isn’t nobility and she is a woman.” Someone who reminded her of Blueblood said.

“You know anything strong enough to cut my skin deserves to get burned, I don’t give a shit if I’m not nobility and yeah, I’m a woman. Deal with it.” Twilight said with annoyance clearly evident.

“I would have worded it differently but I fully agree with my Fiance, Deal with it. Tell me, what do you find wrong? And by that I mean give me good and valid reasons.” Celestia said.

“She’s just a commoner-” One started, but before he could finish Celestia started laughing.

“Commoner? She single handedly saved Canterlot, she’s the captain of the Elite Guard and if you don’t remember, she is the element of magic and my personal student. There’s nothing common about any of that. Anything else?” Celestia grinned.

“You can’t continue your bloodline if your partner is a woman as well.” Someone said, it was the first time he spoke.

“While under normal circumstances that’d be a good reason, but I’ve only been around for just over a thousand years. My parents lived to be Twenty-three thousand years old, give or take, and they’re still around. They may not be on this planet any longer but they’re still there.” Celestia retorted.

“Personally, I’d love to have a child. At the very least we could adopt one or two of the children that were orphaned by the incident... there are hundreds of them.” Twilight said.

“Agreed, now unless you have something of importance I suggest you leave.” Celestia said.

“You can’t just humiliate the Nobility like this...” One of them growled, but the last to speak smacked him on the back of the head.

“You’re a moron, she’s Royalty, that’s above our heads. Just leave it as that and keep your mouth shut.” He said.

“What is your name?” Celestia asked the man, asking him to stay a bit longer when the others left.

“Blue Blade, I am Blueblood’s brother.” He said.

“Wow, exact opposites if you ask me.” Twilight said.

“I know. Now that those morons are gone I can say what I came here to say.” Blue Blade said.

“Oh? What is that?” Celestia asked.

“My Brother? he wasn’t just a black market dealer, he’s one of the heads of the Discordant. And he can’t be in a good mood after two years in jail.” He said.

“Discordant? You mean that secret underground anti-me organization I’m not supposed to know about?” Celestia asked.

“That’s the one. Don’t worry though, the only reason I know this is because he’s too cocky and he spilled everything to me. Or at least everything he could remember while drunk. Apparently they’re trying to create super soldiers like Twilight.” Blue Blade explained.

“We heard rumors of that.” Twilight said.

“That’s not all... They’re going to make them like you the same way you became like you.” Blue Blade said.

“Wait... what?” Twilight asked.

“He was rather incoherent and someone came and picked him up before he finished, but what I got out of it is something that makes me sick I’m related to him. He and his followers are the ones who modified and ‘weaponized’ the cure to turn the old plague into the toxin. They were planning on using it to eliminate you and your sister, but found it created Twilight.” He explained.

“If they’re going to attempt something like that again, they do realize the ratio is ridiculously small, right? There were tens of thousands of people in Canterlot and I’m the only one who came out like that.” Twilight said, getting angry.

“In his words, ‘Trottingham’s bigger.’” Blue Blade said.

“... Do you know anything else?” Twilight asked lowly.

“All I know is that the Discordant somehow got some of the toxin, but they’re going to wait until next year to use it. I have no idea where they are, but their main base of operations is somewhere outside the borders of Equestria.” Blue Blade said.

“Damn it! I can’t find them if they’re not in my country... We shall prepare then and hope we can prevent it when they make their move... Thank you Blue Blade. I’m going to give you a room at the palace and an armed guard at all times for your troubles.” Celestia said, penning something down on a notepad on the arm of her throne.

“The room is appreciated, but I don’t see why armed guards are necessary.” Blue Blade said.

“You just gave away their plans and all the information you knew about them. They have eyes and ears everywhere they do, and even if they don’t know you ratted them out yet, then when we begin to prepare they’ll suspect Blueblood of tattling. Then they’ll find out about you and you’ll be in danger.” Celestia explained. She glanced at her Fiance, who was seething in a barely hidden rage, and looked back at the man in front of her.

“Thank you.” He said with a bow of his head. She nodded at him, silently dismissing him, as she looked back at Twilight. He quickly left and she stood Twilight up and led her to their chambers.

“I can’t believe those fucking cultists did that... And the only thing I can’t believe even roe is that they’re going to do it again and there’s nothing we can fucking do about it until they make their goddamn move!” Twilight seethed as she finally let her anger get the best of her.

“Calm down love... We’ll add extra training to our troops’ routines and dispatch extra men to Trottingham for now. We’ll do what we can when we can.” Celestia said. Twilight’s arms rattled as they shook with anger. She clenched her fists and took in deep, shaky breaths for a few moments until her anger subsided enough to stop swearing.

“I’ll go there myself and prepare for the worst. I’ll set up some hidden fallout shelters, Get barrier spells ready and get used to the area. If we can’t stop them before it happens I’m going to make sure there’s as little casualties as possible.” Twilight growled.

“Once we think the attack will come we’ll have the city evacuate.” Celestia assured her.

“No, if we jsut evacuate the city then the Discordant will just target another populated city... I’ll get as many people to move as possible, or to go visit friends and family out of town when it’s around the time.” Twilight sighed, falling onto the bed.

“No matter what happens, I’ll be there. People besides me will survive, and we will not let this dragon out longer than it needs to be.” She continued, exhaustion seeping into her voice.

“Agreed... You’re exhausted, get some sleep. I’ll join you in a moment. I need to dispatch Blue Blade’s guard detail.” Celestia said. Twilight sighed in resignation and pulled her armor off.

Day 42

“Well I managed to put together a new memory chip for the magic camera, I gave the old one with the previous logs to spike so people know what state Canterlot is in. I scouted out a clear route and managed to get him out without any problems, though I had to fight a Spectre to get back home. I’ve done some research on the antitoxin properties of my blood, but nothing conclusive or worth mentioning has come up yet. Twilight Sparkle, Day 42, Log 8.” Twilight said into the camera after she made sure it worked again.

She put it back on the table and looked at her makeshift chemistry lab. It was terrible in terms of quality and took utmost care to handle without anything breaking.

“In order for me to actually get anything done I need better equipment.” She said to herself as she left her home. She looked up at the palace. She had gone there a few times to search the archives and it was clear of Ghasts. She had no idea if Spectres could get in but she had seen a Ghost there once. The palace had the best lab in all of equestria though and it was her best chance to get what she needed.

She took off and blasted towards the palace on her wings. Normally she would teleport, but after teleporting under a pile of rubble where a friend’s house used to be she stopped using that means of travel.

She forwent the front gates and instead shot up towards the tower, Celestia’s old quarters, and landed there. She saw that the decaying properties of the toxin had gotten to some of the weaker things in the room, though the desk and the bed were still in pristine condition. She saw a large force of magic coming from the desk in the form of a shell with her optics and pushed the visor up to reveal a box.

She used Celestia’s normal unlocking spell to open the box and she was surprised to see her old friendship reports in the box. She smiled and resealed the box on placed them in her backpack. She opened the door slowly and slipped out, making as little noise as possible, and relied on her memory of the place to guide her towards areas of the palace she wanted to go. Her first stop was the kitchen.

“Oh great.” Twilight sighed. There was a Ghost gorging itself on the spoiled food, its wings in disrepair with a ruptured steam tank on the back. She snuck up on the creature and swiftly took its head off with the Longsword blade. Once she cleaned it’s blood from her clothes and her arm she looked around the large kitchen.

She managed to find a small 1x2 foot cooler that held a loaf of bread, slightly green milk and hidden under the bread was a bottle of wine Twilight recognized. It was Celestia’s and it was nearly as old as she was. She put the bread and bottle of wine in a bubble of magic and placed them in her pack and left the room.

Next was the guardhouse. There was always plenty of salvageable material and blades for her use. She also had a few racks of armor that she had been experimenting with and now needed replacements. She also found a pair of magic, short range radios and placed them in a side pocket. Using a shrinking spell she placed a good amount of armor and weapons into her backpack and kept going.

Her next stop was Luna’s room. She hadn’t been there and she wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything the princess of the night left behind that wasn’t important. She quickly found the doors leading to her quarters and pushed them open. She was impressed by the room. While celestia’s room was rather bare, Luna had many wondrous curtains and paintings and even a few banners from a previous age lining the walls. She pulled her visor back down and scanned the room for anything protected by magic.

She was surprised to see a painting and a box under the bed covered in various barriers. She examined the painting first. It was a picture someone had painted perhaps right after the banishment. It was of Luna and Nightmare Moon locked in a battle, neither side winning. But while Nightmare moon had nothing but darkness behind her, Luna had various people and her sister, along with the moon and sun backing her up. Twilight could tell why it was protected. She put a barrier around it as to not break any of the ones in place and used a shrinking spell and put it in her pack.

She then turned her attention to the box under the bed. It had a padlock keeping it shut, but it had been corroded by the air and now rested at the box’s side. The box had a simple invisibility spell on it and a simple barrier to ward away the elements. They were rather recent spells, judging by the actual spells. Twilight opened it and was surprised to see what was inside. Nightmare Moon’s regalia. As she examined the regalia she noticed a carving on the lid of the box.

‘Even when my darkness was at its peak and all was lost, you will have those that still love you and see through the Nightmare.’

She recognized it as Celestia’s handiwork and smiled as she added the box to her pack. She made one final sweep of the room, picking up some important documents that weren’t too badly corroded, and left for her final stop, the labs.

“Of course, if there’s a Ghost of course there’d be a Spectre.” Twilight said lowly when she turned a corner that lead to the labs to come face to face with a Spectre. It didn’t notice her, it seemed to be looking around. There was something about it that made Twilight not want to attack it. It looked right at her and she saw it’s eyes weren’t like the others.

“Oh? What have we here?” It said. Twilight realized that it’s tattered and ripped clothes was that of a large wizard hat and cape with corroded bells.

“You can’t be...” Twilight started.

“I am, young mage. Starswirl the Bearded, at least before time took that away.” The spectre chuckled.

“How are you here? let alone withholding your intelligence?” Twilight asked.

“I was buried at the castle graveyard, my magic never left my body like it normally does when someone dies. It kept my body relatively untouched by time, except for the beard. I wasn’t aware, it’s like I blinked and suddenly I’m alive again, though obviously I’m not truly alive.” Starswirl explained.

“So the toxin reached you... I guess maybe it’s strong magic that allows the afflicted to retain their intelligence.” Twilight said.

“What do you mean? Are there others like me?” Starswirl asked.

“You can say that.” Twilight said, slipping the mask off.

“Oh dear, I can tell you’re not quite human anymore. I must ask, what are you doing at the palace?” He said, looking around.

“Mainly to get better lab equipment from the palace labs, though I’ve made a few stops and salvaged some useful things and even found some items of importance.” Twilight answered.

“You will have to tell me why Canterlot is in such a state, but for now I will assist while I can.” Starswirl said.

“Thank you.” Twilight said and continued on, followed by the mage. Starswirl had asked about Twilight while they advanced and she told him about her life and what had happened. When they finally reached the lab he had her wait while he made sure it was safe.

“I knew I heard something... How the hell did you guys get in?” Twilight said to herself as three Ghasts found their way to the corridor she was on. She put her steam rifle on the ground, letting the steam build up to the necessary pressure while she fought, and extended the longsword’s blade.

She made the first strike, startling the Ghasts before they completely turned the corner. She had killed the first by removing its head and jumped back. She looked at the rifle, but it wasn’t at the required pressure yet so she looked back at her now prepared opponents.

She blocked two sets of claws and teeth and activated her blood pump on her arm. Just as it reached the holes she had made she jumped back and lunged forward once more, grabbing one of their heads and pulling her mask back on as the rancid smell of flesh burning in acid filled the corridor. Just as the final beast lunged at her, she swiped her hand at it, flinging some of her acidic blood into it and causing it to falter. She quickly turned the pump off and slid towards the rifle.

Hearing the noise, Starswirl looked out of the door to catch Twilight grabbing the rifle and sending a spike into the final creature’s head. He saw the state of the other two and he stepped out fully.

“Well the labs are clear, I guess the same can’t be said for the rest of the palace.” He said.

“I’m used to more numbers, it must be really hard for them to get in.” Twilight said.

“So that acid blood of yours is supposed to be an antitoxin?” Starswirl asked.

“It absorbs the toxin and destroys it, but it’s obviously not like vaseline.” Twilight said, earning a chuckle from the mage. She entered the dark room and snapped her fingers and sending a bit of magic up to the lights, turning them on.

“Oh my.” Starswirl said as his power was starting to be siphoned off towards the ceiling. “It appears this lab was equipped with a gem that absorbed ambient and unstable magics, that just so happens to be what I’m made of at the moment. Well it was good to see a friendly face, I wasn’t going to live like this for much longer anyways.” He continued.

“Well, I’d hate to say goodbye so soon but I understand.” Twilight said. She shook his hand before the decayed body fell to the ground. With a moment’s thought she used her magic to remove the hat and cloak. At this point they were technically ancient artifacts.

“Alright let’s see. That gem could be useful for this. I’ll need one of the hazardous material handling kits...” She started as she looked around the room.

Back at her house, she fixed up the cloak and hat and hung them on a blank wall. The gem she had pried from its place had been randomly emitting light every now and then, but it was just a small glow so she resolved to examine it later. She took her hoodie off and threw it onto her open bed and retrieved her pack. There was a small shelf with important and/or valuable items she had found and that’s where she put the things she had found at the palace. She put the bread and the wine into the cooling unit and the things she salvaged from the armory on racks and tables. Lastly, she used her magic to toss away her old lab gear and replaced it with the pristine Palace lab gear.

“Alright, First on the list. Find out the blood to toxin ratio needed in order to be completely absorbed and how long different ratios take.” Twilight said to herself and used a magic coated syringe to take a fresh blood sample from her good arm.

“Spike, WHere is the rest of your team?” Celestia asked. It had taken a few days but Spike finally managed to get all the way up to Celestia to give his report.

“They’re dead princess. Almost all of the life you sensed are these mutated monsters. They’re like zombies, and the one that took out my team had unstable magic pouring out of it that ripped them to pieces.” Spike answered.

“If you say you somehow miraculously escaped or killed them all I’ll look at your memories myself...” Luna said.

“No I didn’t do it, but... I said almost everything. Twilight’s alive, and she’s surviving.” Spike said, putting the memory chip on the table. Celestia recognized it and ran a vision spell through it, it projected what was recorded on it.

“Some people think survival is fun, that challenging themselves in life or death situations is a blast. Those people don’t know what it’s like to actually survive. Sure, hiking in the wilderness could kill you... But they’ve never been through true survival. Twilight Sparkle, Day 30.” The recording of Twilight started. When the first one finished, Celestia stopped the spell.

“She’s alive?” Celestia said.

“Yes, she saved me and helped me get back out. Celestia, we found out that her blood absorbs the toxin in the air, she said when she’s found a way to make it work she’ll turn the barrier blue.” Spike said.

“What do you mean make it work?” Luna asked.

“She changed in there, mostly physically. Her blood has acidic properties now and she’s got superhuman strength and speed. She somehow pieced together makeshift biomechanical limbs and used them and even rigged an entire house with steam power.” Spike said.

“Wait, you said biomechanical limbs?” Shining asked.

“She... She lost her right arm when it started, but using books and manuals she put makeshift stuff together and used it, but she told me she found a black market stash in the Olympian sports store. Blueblood is dealing black market prosthetics. Illegal ones and military prototypes, she had a modified Longsword last I saw.” Spike continued.

“That is a Lie! I wouldn’t even deal anything with such peasants!” Blueblood exclaimed. Spike pulled the evidence Twilight took and the note and put them on the table.

“Her most current log was right before she helped me, I think she said log seven. We can learn from them, that’s what she told me.” Spike said as Blueblood tried to run, but Celestia stopped him.

“Well thank you spike, when this is all over I’ll thank Twilight personally... Everyone but Twilight’s personal friends and family leave.” Celestia said. The guards and officials nodded as the rest of Twilight’s friends stepped up. Shining and Cadence stepped up to the table as well.