Rest in Peace

Violet now rested in the same bed in Ponyville General Hospital she'd been in after her first use of her curse magic. Even after being blasted with the Elements of Harmony, Violet still felt the same as she always had, as though the magical artifacts had done nothing to her except return her to her normal form. Nurse Redheart shook her head as she went over Violet's charts yet again. Overall, Violet was nowhere near as close to death as she was back then, but she was still plenty fucked up. X-rays revealed that nearly every bone in her body had several stress fractures in them; enough to make one accidental fall capable of shattering her femur. Her muscles were also torn nearly to shreds, and scans revealed some internal bleeding. The scales growing from her skin were definitely new, but seemed to be just another part of her. Her face now also had bone fragments growing from the skin.

The Shape that followed her everywhere seemed capable of actively healing her, up to a point. The tiny thing had been able to mend her broken femur back into a single piece, but was unable to mend the fractures. Some of the muscles could be woven back together by whatever magic it used, but not others. From her observations, she guessed that the Shape couldn't heal anything directly caused by the curse magic.

Unfortunately for Violet, that meant that her recovery would be slow and painful. Healing injuries was already a complicated process. Stopping bleeding and mending bones were tall orders when magic couldn't be used to accelerate the process. But lifting curses was far more complicated. In order to do so, holy water needed to be used, and not just the stuff used in minor religious services. No, one needed the purest holy water possible, and that had to be made by one of the princesses themselves. Celestia had graciously provided a vial for Violet's previous treatment, but that had only been enough to diminish the curse by about eighty percent. Writing a letter requesting more had been the single most stressful thing Nurse Redheart had ever done.

But acquiring the means to dispel curses was small potatoes compared to the actual process of doing so. For Violet's previous stay, simply pouring the holy water into the wounds was enough, since those wounds were easily accessible on the surface. However, it had been complicated in figuring out how much Violet could handle being dispelled at a time. The doctors could easily have killed her if they'd decided to try lifting the curse before she'd woken up.

Now, Violet's curse-laden wounds were internal. Trying to pour holy water directly onto the wounds would require dozens of surgical operations that would seriously jeopardize her life. The only way Violet was getting the curse lifted was by injecting the holy water in small doses over time. The nature of the cursed wounds demanded this treatment, as each wound was significantly larger than the surface lacerations she'd had before. While those cuts could have had surface areas of a few square inches, the muscle tears could easily have surface areas spanning a few square feet. Trying to lift the curse from even one of those wounds in its entirety could easily kill Violet.

The problem with holy water was that it destroyed cells, much the way hydrogen peroxide did, but only destroyed cursed cells. Using too much holy water at a time, or on too large an area at a time, left the body open to opportunistic infections or bleeding. Thus, if the doctors had used holy water on one of Violet's wounds before she'd woken up, she could have died from the blood loss they'd worked so hard to save her from, or from an infection that couldn't be kept at bay by her lack of white blood cells.

The world kept moving, but Violet remained unconscious, as she had the last time she'd used her curse magic. Redheart sighed as she administered the next shot of holy water. According to Princess Luna, Violet had used not just one, but two curses this time, and while she certainly looked better, Violet was still an absolute wreck.

"How long do you think it will take for her to wake up...?" Princess Luna asked.

The weirdest part of Violet coming back to the hospital was not the fact that she was an alien from another world. It wasn't that she'd sustained wounds that should be nearly impossible to heal and was recovering from them like they were normal. It wasn't even that she reeked of curse magic to the point that even entering the room made Redheart want to puke and then run away. No, the weirdest part was that Princess Luna herself was staying by Violet's side the whole time, much the same as the Shape.

"Well, it's difficult to say. Violet's recovery time is far faster than the average pony's, but she's sustained a lot of damage and a lot of curse magic. Considering that and that she hasn't lost nearly as much blood as last time, maybe a week? Two at most. But that's just me," Nurse Redheart replied, putting the syringe in the hazardous waste bin. "Doctor Day insists it should take a month with everything wrong with her."

(Recommended Listening)

Princess Luna stayed overnight, watching over her. The same went for the next night, and the night after. Four, five, six days. Occasionally, she'd sleep, but not nearly as often as was healthy, and when she did, it was a fitful, uneasy sleep. Violet, too, did not rest easy. She'd twitch in her sleep, and groan in pain, calling out in her native tongue in a voice broken by screaming. On the seventh day, Princess Luna slept in Violet's bed with her. If anyone asked, Nurse Redheart would deny seeing Princess Luna openly weep over Violet's unconscious body.

Violet awoke after eleven days asleep.

Princess Luna immediately was at her bedside the moment her eyes opened, but she remained silent, and her expression was somber. When Violet looked up at her, Luna only saw pain and sorrow in her eyes. She knew those eyes well. She'd seen those eyes many times in the mirror. Those were the eyes of one who'd fought their inner demons and lost, only to be saved by an outside force.

"I'm sorry..." Luna murmured.

"Why...?" Violet asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She turned to look at the princess with teary eyes. "Why will you not let me run? I want to protect you..."

This was what Luna had wanted to put into art: a response to this exact question. In the absence of her art, she had to settle for her words.

"Running will not work, Violet. I know this, because I have tried," she answered as tears ran down her own cheeks. "Monsters inside you cannot be killed, and their claws cannot be run from."

"I cannot keep fighting...!" Violet sobbed. "I am the monster! I am {Ahamkara}! How do I save you from me?"

Luna nodded slowly, and rested her head on Violet's shoulder, offering her own to cry on. "You live, Violet... You find peace where you can, and you hold onto it."

Violet broke down completely, her tears flowing freely and wetting Luna's fur. Her arms weakly wrapped around her withers and pulled her into the tightest hug her broken body could muster. She sobbed a century's worth of tears in that moment, and outside, rain began to fall.

"You are safe here. I will protect you," Luna murmured, wrapping her wings around Violet.

Time slowed down as Luna held Violet as she cried into her shoulder. The world Violet had come from was cruel and cold. War raged without end, and Violet had been the victim of it many thousands of times. She'd witnessed her allies die by her own hands because of factors beyond her control. She'd lost her mentor, the metal {human}, the Ace of Spades. She'd lost faith in herself, and by choosing to run, she'd lost her two closest friends. Trauma was the consolation prize of her heroic sacrifices.

But Luna would be Violet's first friend in this new world. She would reach out to Violet and pick her up when she was down. She would paint the night sky in Violet's colors to remind her of her beauty. She would be a shoulder for Violet to cry on on the bad days, and her most avid supporter. She would give Violet a warm, happy place to live in peace. Luna would express these fuzzy, complicated feelings she had for Violet, even if she couldn't draw them on paper. She'd find the words for these feelings one day.

"I'm here for you..."

Luna didn't understand how it happened exactly. Perhaps it was physical exhaustion. Perhaps emotional. But Violet fell asleep shortly after her tears finally stopped, still holding Luna. The princess wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep before she noticed. Now once again in the quite inescapable embrace of Violet's arms, she decided to just roll with it. If Violet wanted to hold her in her sleep, Luna wouldn't lift a feather to deny her that. Besides, Violet was warm and soft. She slowly brought both of them back down to a prone position, and curled up as Violet pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry..."

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Once again, Luna woke up holding something warm and soft. She looked down and found ~Luna~ in her arms yet again, with a truly satisfied smile on her face as she slept on. As all seemed calm, she held out her hand, summoning her Ghost.

The small machine looked at her with concern in his eye. "So."

"I'm sorry," Luna murmured.

"You lied," he said.

"I know, and I'm sorry," she replied.

"Guardian, I just... I need you to know that I'm always here for you," her Ghost said. "I was made to be here for you, no matter what. You will always be my Guardian."

Luna smiled softly and pulled the little machine closer, gently scratching at his shell as she would a cat. "Thank you Ghost... I'll try to be better..."

"That's all I ask," he said, turning to look down at ~Luna~. "Cute."

Luna sighed as her Ghost settled down in the hollow of her helm on a nearby chair. Her mind replayed the incident in ~Canterlot~, and began imagining the possible repercussions of her actions. The noble ponies were likely furious that they'd been snubbed, and she wasn't sure what happened after she lost control of her Ahamkara side. She'd been lucky that the only ponies who witnessed that were ~Luna~ and ~Twilight~ and her friends. If anyone else saw that, the news would spread faster than any virus could ever hope to. But that was a problem to tackle when she was able to move without pain. With a vague mental note to make some ibuprofen at the very least, Luna settled back down and closed her eyes, letting sleep take her.

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Everything was on fire. Luna stood in the courtyard of the tower overlooking the city beneath the massive white sphere, looking on in shock as bulky, blocky airships flew towards the sphere. A massive device, shaped as a raptor's talons, opened to grip the sphere as it slowly approached. The airships launched massive cannonballs as they went, peppering the city and the courtyard around her with them. As each cannonball landed, they opened up to reveal hulking figures in ultra-heavy armor, painted in a brilliant and bloody red. The eyes of their helms were shaped in angry semicircles, and backlit with white light, giving them a murderous visage. Their arms were covered in bright red scale-mail and equipped with devices that looked to carry a heated retractable blade. And in their hands were weapons akin to Violet's but clearly of alien design by comparison.

The creatures roared a war cry, and the courtyard around her erupted into the chaos of battle. Violet's kind loosed magics that felt similar to hers, but distinctly different, while others did indeed have the same purple magic. Explosive purple spheres, flaming hammers, lightning staves. The invading brutes did their best to down the {humans}, but their victories were always short-lived as they returned to life after a pulse of light from their own Shapes. One of Violet's kin in bulky, almost regal armor barked out orders to the rest of them, and with scattered replies, they began leaping from the tower, down to the city below.

Violet arrived shortly thereafter, reinforcing the commander who'd stayed behind. As the invaders tried to charge him, Violet leapt into the air, drawing a purple bow of magic and firing a single shot in the middle of the crowd. The brutes were instantly ensnared by the magic, slowed and weakened by its threads. Violet put a single shot from the Ace of Spades into one of the brutes' helm, and all nine of them exploded in brilliant purple light.

The commander barked and pulsed with purple magic, forming the same bubble that had kept her and her sister safe upon their first contact with Violet around himself. Violet leapt in without hesitation as explosions began bombarding the courtyard. The storm of hellfire lasted nearly twenty seconds, but the dome held.

Once the attack was over, Violet surged forwards, leaping up into the air and disappearing in a flash of light as a familiar arrowhead shape flew towards the sphere.

The dream shivered.

Luna was now on one of the airships, and found Violet facing off against one of the brutes, this one easily twice Violet's height and triple her thickness. But its armor was what stood out the most. The creature had foregone its helm, opting to expose its pale, scarred face, obscured only by a small triangular mask. And instead of the bold red of the rest of the invaders, its armor was a pristine white, untouched by paint or the war raging around it.

Violet reached out to her magic and drew the bow, but the shot never fired. A pulse of light washed over Violet, and Luna watched in horror as her magic faltered and was torn from her body. Violet drew her weapon, but was slammed in the gut with a devastating punch from the creature, sending her flying nearly off the edge. She barely held on, managing to hold a one-handed grip on the ledge, a lethal fall below her. The creature seemed to mock her as it approached, and kicked her in the head, knocking her down to fall to her death.

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Luna awoke to sunlight directly in her face, much to her chagrin. The worst part about her hospital room was that it faced east, towards the rising sun. She tried her best to block out the light, screwing her eyes shut while she tried to let them adjust, but found no reprieve. It was then that she heard the welcome sound of the blinds being shut.

~Luna~ yawned softly, a subtle smile on her face for some reason.

"~Morning,~" Luna said.

"~Good morning,~" ~Luna~ replied.

"Ghost, pass me my helmet?" Luna asked.

The helm disappeared from its spot on the chair and reappeared in her hands. Upon putting it on, she noticed three key details about her heads-up display. First, all four ability meters were disabled. Second, the display was flashing a warning across the top, near her health display: [Light overtaxed. All abilities disabled. 03d 18h 13m 21s.] And finally, the fact that the Darkness Zone warning was not there. From there, she navigated her helm's displays to check on the status of her ship. It was here that she received the most unpleasant news.

[Transmat Beacon GF.PLN.01...Offline]

Immediately, her breath caught in her throat. Anxiety began to take hold as flashbacks of the Taken War resurfaced. Memories of being stranded on the Dreadnaught all the way out in orbit around Saturn with no way off flickered in her mind.

"~Violet?~" ~Luna~ asked.

Luna pulled the helm from her head, revealing the princess looking up at her with concern in her eyes. She gently placed a hoof on her chest. "~Are you okay?~"

"~What happened... after I left Canterlot...?~" the Guardian inquired softly. "~Can you draw it?~"

With a word to her Ghost, a notebook appeared in her lap, pencil at the ready. ~Luna~ shook her head, and charged her horn, gently tapping it to Luna's forehead. In an instant, Luna witnessed everything she'd done from ~Luna's~ perspective. She witnessed the frantic flight back to ~Ponyville~, her unconscious body draped over ~Luna~ like a tacky cape. She saw the forest below, pockmarked with craters where amplified Nova Bombs had struck and devoured everything. And one of those craters was dead center in the triangular clearing she'd arrived in.

Light Sacrifice. Nightmare Fangs. Extinction Event. These three abilities of overwhelming power, tainted with Ahamkara magic, had destroyed her plan to quarantine herself away from anyone she could harm. It didn't matter how she'd ended up on this world instead of being in the Infinite Forest. That never changed the plan. No, these three Cursed Supers had ended her chances of isolation.

Everything had hinged on her building a new ship to leave this planet in. If this world didn't have Glimmer, she'd have gone mining for the materials she needed and machined the parts herself. She'd teach herself aerospace engineering if she had to. Her Ghost would definitely have at least the basics for her.

Running was all she had. Running was all she could think of. Running was all she was strong enough for. Run, hide, bide strength. She wasn't a Titan, who could carry the weight of the City's hopes and dreams on their shoulders and break enemies with their fists. She wasn't a brilliant Warlock who could find the answers through meditation and thought-experiments. She was just a Hunter. She lived on sly tricks and quick moves, and a lot of running. She got by on repositioning fights into favorable terrain, where she had the cover and the enemy didn't, where she had the open sight-lines and the enemy didn't. She survived by running until she had the advantage.

She had no backup plans.

This was it. The chips were down. This world was balanced on a knife's edge, and she was the blade. If she lost control, there was no guarantee that these ponies, her friends, would be safe. Not ~Luna~, not ~Twilight~. None of them were safe if she lost control.

You live, Violet. You find peace where you can, and you hold onto it.

~Luna's~ words echoed in her mind, pushing back her darker thoughts.

You are safe here. I will protect you.