Rest in Peace

Daylight filtered into the room through the window, and Luna was not a fan of that. She opened her eyes with great reluctance, silently praying for an opportunity for more sleep. With luck, she wouldn't start that sleep off with the memory of Cayde's death.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a massive cloud moving speedily along in the sky. She thought nothing of it until she witnessed a team of six pegasus ponies pushing the cloud. Her brain, while very good at adapting to changes in high-stress situations very quickly, was nowhere near ready to handle this, and gave up trying to process it. So for the next hour, she stared out the window, watching as pegasi moved clouds into position.

Eventually, a full-fledged rainstorm was created, and a smile curled up on her lips. She rarely got to just enjoy rainy weather. But with her current status being fucked up beyond her Ghost's capacity to unfuck her, she didn't have to worry about weapons jamming in the rain or if her blades would rust. She didn't have to strain her ears to listen for enemies. She didn't have to wipe the rain from her rifle's scope. She could just listen to the pitter-patter for raindrops on the glass, and smell the petrichor wafting in from outside.

Redcross entered her room with a soft knock. Luna softly acknowledged her presence, "~Yes?~"

"~Morning!~" the nurse said, trotting over and placing a warm blanket on her bed. She, too, looked out at the rain for a moment, smiling softly to Luna before she headed to the cabinet.

She retrieved the bandage-cutting scissors and began the arduous process of removing them from Luna's body. She hummed softly as she worked. A moment later, the doctor entered, offering a timid smile, as though asking permission to enter and assist the nurse.

"~Yes,~" she said, motioning him to come in.

Immediately he began to assist in removing the bandages. Once they were gone, he switched to a sharper, more precise, but much smaller pair, and began to cut away the stitches. As each one was snipped away, the wound was doused in that stinging antisceptic although it did hurt less now. In total, she counted two hundred and fifteen stitches. Upon finishing, the doctor doused her wounds one last time, then smiled up at her.

Luna searched her deeply limited vocabulary for the words to ask what she wanted to know, but failed. So, as had become tradition, she drew a picture. First was a picture of herself leaving the hospital.

"~No,~" Redcross said. "~You stay two more days.~"

Luna frowned slightly, then drew a second image, this one of her standing in the rain. At this, Redcross and the doctor looked to each other for a moment. No words were passed between the two, but they came to a consensus anyway. "~Yes.~"

Luna smiled. "Ghost? Can you transmat my old prototype armor?"

"Uh, sure? I'm not sure if it'll still fit," he said.

"Are you calling me fat?" Luna teased.

"No, I'm saying you might not have enough Light to even put it on," he replied.

"That's what I want to test," Luna said.

Without further argument, a set of armor transmaterialized onto the bed, once again surprising the ponies in the room. As she went to put the armor on, she remembered her present company. "I know y'all saw me naked when you sewed me up, but damn if you're seeing my tits again for free," she sighed. "~No look.~"

Luckily, her point got through. The ponies pulled the curtain around the bed and left her to change into her armor.

"Goddamn I wish I brought painkillers," she grumbled as she slowly donned her armor. "Fucking... pants...!"

After a few minutes of struggling, she managed to fully equip the armor she'd woken up in all those decades ago. Compared to the armor she came here with, the set she was wearing now was like paper. Enemy weapons fire would easily shred it to pieces. It lacked the heatsinks and arc-conduction that other sets had. But she felt less naked with it on. It would at least let her feel decent.

She pulled the curtain away and revealed herself once more, earning subtle disapproval from the doctor, but a soft and inquizitive smile from Redcross, as though she were asking, does it make you feel better?

Luna smiled to her and nodded. "~Yes. Safe.~"

"~Good,~" she replied.

From there, Luna began the long walk out of the hospital, the nurse offering her support when necessary. Being that they were on the third floor, when they got to the stairwell, Luna's first thought was to save the trouble and pain of trying to walk down the stairs. And so, she did just that. By the time her second thought of oh wait, I'm Lightless, that will hurt entered her mind, she'd already vaulted over the railing and hit the floor at the bottom hard enough for her to feel incredible pain shoot through her legs, making her collapse to the ground.

Her Ghost merely sighed and shook his shell at her. The nurse, however, never having seen Luna capable of her double-jump, immediately screamed and rushed down the stairs to pick her up. Luna groaned in pain as she leaned on the nurse and pulled herself to her feet. Upon doing so, Redcross looked up at her sternly, scolding her silently for her apparent deathwish.

The rest of the trip out was about as normal as could be expected. The six-foot-tall bipedal alien that Luna was made her way with Redcross to the door, patients and visitors to the hospital staring in shock and confusion, some having just the faintest glint of panic in their eyes. She did her best to act like she belonged.

"How long before we get mobbed?" Luna asked her Ghost.

Through her helmet's communication system, he replied, "Three, four. Maybe five."

"Sounds about right," she sighed.

Upon reaching the door, Luna paused. She had no idea where she was relative to her ship, and without her Light, she couldn't put on any of her more protective armor, nor could she wield any of her weapons, except one. The first weapon she'd ever made. Deciding to put that thought aside for now, she took a deep breath and opened the door and stepped outside.

The rain began to pelt her armor. With most of it being skintight rubberized field-weave, she could feel most of it. She pulled off her helmet and let her Ghost transmat it back to her room. Immediately the scent of petrichor filled her nose, and she let a small peaceful smile curl up on her lips. The nurse held an umbrella and smiled up at her. No words were spoken. Nothing needed to be said. Luna lifted her head and let the rain fall upon her face for a little while, just enough for her hair to nearly soak through. When she turned back down to face the world, she heard a faint whisper, and the familiar emptiness of the Void.

She looked around for the source, but found nothing. The whispers and that fleeting feeling were gone before she could confirm they were there. She looked within herself and did not find Light. The nurse's hoof on her hip broke her from her thoughts.

"~You okay?~" she asked.

"~Yes... and no...~" Luna said solemnly, knowing the nurse would never understand, but willing to at least make the attempt to explain. She turned to enter the hospital once more. "~Inside... I draw...~"

The nurse followed, concern never wavering from her features.

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(Recommended Listening)

She toweled off her patient, making sure to dry her hair of rain before allowing her to lie back down and rest. Upon finishing, she smiled up at Violet and motioned her to the bed.

The alien being sat back down on the bed and pulled up a notebook, beginning to draw. She drew, and she drew, her pencil never stopping, but never finishing. She looked frustrated as she continued, then outright angry, then finally, sad. Whatever she was trying to draw had real weight to her. When she handed over the drawing, she understood why it had taken so long. Multiple drawings lined the page, most scribbled out. The page was split into two fields by a crease down the middle. On the left, an empty glass, crossed out. A circle with no contents, crossed out. A hole in the ground, crossed out. A night sky, with the space between the stars circled like a madpony. Beneath each, a set of Violet's letters, the same four for each. On the right, a candle, crossed out. The sun. A lightbulb. All with the same five of Violet's letters.

She racked her brain, trying to think of the words Violet was trying to find. She knew there was a pattern. There had to be. The right side was easy enough. "Light..."

Something to do with light... Violet, what are you trying to say? Redheart thought to herself as she stared at Violet's drawings. "I wish I—"

Without warning, Violet placed her hand over her muzzle, silencing her. She stared at Violet in fear, but she looked just as afraid.

"No wish... Bad... Hurt me..." she pleaded carefully. "No wish..."

She shuffled through her notes, scrambling to find something. After a moment of searching, she pulled out the page Twilight had drawn of what happened that put her in this hospital. In the panel just before where her shield disappeared, she wrote in the word 'wish.'

She looked up at Violet in horror. A wish did that...‽ Is that what you're saying, Violet? Did you wish to protect Twilight and the Princesses and the wish hurt you? Is that why you learned the word 'wish' during your first day with Twilight?

A knock startled both of them, Violet reaching to her hip before relaxing a little bit. Redheart turned to see Twilight entering. She let go of the breath caught in her chest. "Twilight, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry!" Twilight apologized. "I just wasn't sure what was going on and didn't want to interrupt."

With a quick glance to Violet, she handed the drawing to Twilight. "Twilight, I need your help interpreting this. I took Violet out to enjoy the rain at her request, but she seemed to space out and started looking around like she heard something. When I asked if she was okay, she said 'Yes, and no,' and that she wanted to try to draw it. She drew that, and I'm trying my best to understand..."

"Something about light...?" Twilight murmured to herself as she looked it over.

"But there's more!" Redheart continued. "I wanted to understand her, and no sooner did I say the word 'wish'—" Violet looked at her with pleading, fearful eyes, "—did she put her hand over my face to stop me from finishing my sentence! Her exact words were 'No wish. Bad. Hurt me. No wish.' Then she wrote 'wish' on the drawing you made to explain how she got here."

Twilight looked over the drawing, noticing the addition. "Empty light... No light... space light..." Twilight continued to throw her mind at the puzzle before her. "Violet, what is it you're trying to say?"

"If anyone can figure it out, it's you," Redheart said. "As much as I'd love to stay and help, I have other patients. I'll try to slip by when I can."

"We'll be here," Twilight replied, offering her a smile.

With that, Twilight was alone with Violet and her mysteries. For a while, neither of them spoke. Twilight struggled against Violet's drawing, and Violet seemed to be drawing a few things, chattering with the Shape as she did. After a few moments, Twilight sighed, and set the drawings down. She'd find the answer.

Today, Twilight planned to go over the question words, 'who,' 'what,' 'where,' 'when,' 'why,' and 'how.' With these six words, Violet would be able to ask and understand questions, and with that would come answers. But before she could start, Violet handed her a drawing, depicting herself pointing to a bird with a confused expression. Of course you're way ahead of me! the alicorn mentally groaned. Externally, she smiled excitedly.

"What," she said. At least I think that one's 'what'.

Violet once again began calculating how to move her mouth to achieve the sounds she wanted. Tentatively, she made an attempt. "Uat? Woo... whoo... whaaa–t...?"

Twilight smiled and repeated, "What."

"Wha...t...? What..." she tried again.

"Yes! What!" Twilight replied with enthusiasm.

Their lesson continued, beginning with the question words as planned. It took a while, and Violet seemed a little frustrated as the lesson went on, even though she was picking up words with minimal issue. Her eyes would check that the door was closed every few minutes, and she'd look out the window as though expecting someone or something to be there.

Twilight placed her hoof on Violet's leg, catching her attention. "You okay?"

Violet shook her head. "No... Hear light..."

This only added to the confusion. Hear light...? Violet, what's going on?

Violet handed her the drawing of the stars with the space between circled. "Learn word," she said, her face desperately pleasing. "Want tell."

So that word is the key, huh? Twilight stared at the drawing. She was looking for the word for the space between stars. 'Space' was an obvious candidate, but she couldn't be sure that was what Violet was looking for.

Twilight lit her horn with magic, remembering a spell that would let her see the unseen magic of the world. She'd only ever used it once before, back when she was just a unicorn, and the spell nearly blinded her. But she was an alicorn now, and her mana pool was much greater now than it once was.

Her horn let out a pulse of magic in all directions, flowing through walls and ponies and through the ground and sky. A moment later, Twilight's vision began to swim with colors she couldn't begin to describe. Threads of white light seemed to emanate from every pony she sensed, connecting from pony to pony like a tangled web. Within each pony was a small aura that acted as the anchor to which the threads were tied. From herself, she could see the threads outstretch to her friends in Ponyville, and to Canterlot with the overwhelmingly massive auras of the Princesses, and two going all the way to the Frozen North, well beyond her vision.

Violet's lines of light were tinted a faint purple, but what struck her the most was that they hung at her sides, not reaching out to connect to anything. She just sat like a broken marionette. Violet's aura was beyond tiny. It was only a spark, the threads barely able to hang on to it.

Twilight reached out with her magic, the image of the black between stars flashing through her mind. It was important to Violet. Some single word was enough to make the difference between understanding who she was and how she'd done what she did, and not. She touched Violet's aura with her magic, and two words from Violet's tongue filled her mind. She understood these words: 'Void Light.'

The spell dropped and Twilight took a sharp breath as though she'd been underwater. The lines were gone, and she was back in the hospital with Violet. Her body was covered in a cold sweat, and Violet was looking at her with worry.

"You okay?" Violet asked.

"Void Light..." Twilight panted, trying to catch her breath. "That's what you were trying to tell us... Void Light..."

Violet's eyes went wide with understanding. She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "Void Light..."

With that, Twilight lost consciousness.

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The moment Sparkle's horn lit up, Luna felt something happen deep within her. The whispers of the Void came back, and she could feel the familiar cooling presence of her Light... She stared at the winged-unicorn as the color seemed to drain from her a little bit. She woke up only a few seconds later.

"~You okay?~" Luna asked.

"~Void Light,~" Sparkle said with a weak smirk. She said something else she didn't understand before repeating, "~Void Light...~"

After that, Sparkle passed out on her lap, leaving Luna deeply confused. She could feel her Light starting to return. It would be incredibly slow, but she had all the time in the world.

From there, Nurse Redcross and Diamond had entered the room, casually talking amongst themselves. Diamond was carrying a brown paper bag on her back, but quickly dropped it as she noticed Sparkle unconscious and rushed to her side. The nurse looked similarly concerned, turning her gaze up to her with a questioning look.

"~No understand?~" she said calmly.

The nurse turned her attention back to Sparkle, placing a hoof on her neck to take a pulse. With a sigh of relief, she shook her head, saying something to Diamond before trotting out of the room, saying something about food.

And in a brilliant moment of word association, Luna reached down to the picnic basket Apple had given her, plucking a few apple-based baked goods from it. Diamond looked up at her with confusion, but upon seeing the baked goods, she smiled softly.

Sparkle awoke a moment later, groaning in pain, asking something that Luna guessed was 'What happened?' and looked around. Diamond gave her a gentle hug before pointing up to her and the baked goods. When Sparkle turned, Luna offered her a fritter.

She gladly accepted, wincing in pain and clutching her horn before taking the fritter in a hoof and starting to munch on it. Luna bit into her own miniature apple pie and hummed in delight as the sweet flavors filled her mouth. Finding herself in need of a drink as well, she retrieved the bottle of apple juice from the basket and flicked it open with the knuckle of her glove. The moment she took a sip, the tingle of light carbonation hit her tongue, as well as a few choice spices along with the crisp taste of apple. "Oh! Cider! Oh that's good!"

Though they were confused by her words, the ponies in the room understood the smile on her face, and smiled in return. Diamond then realized her bag was missing, and went to pick it back up. Upon doing so, she brought it over to her and set it on her bed. Luna looked at the bag, then at Diamond. She gave a wink and nudged it closer with a hoof.

"~What is?~" she asked the unicorn.

"~Gift,~" she said. At least, Luna could infer that was what she said by its similarity to the word ~give~. "~Open!~"

Luna carefully opened the bag and removed the contents, revealing a set of civilian clothes. A royal purple t-shirt and black yoga pants, each emblazoned with a small image of a violet set in a crescent moon. At the bottom was a simple bra and panties, also featuring the same mark. At first, she thought perhaps the items were made by a local clothing brand and that Diamond had went shopping for them. But why would they have clothes that fit her when the local population was entirely equine and none of them really seemed to wear clothes?

Did she make these for me? she thought. Quickly, she asked, "~You... make this?~"

Diamond nodded. "~Yes. Put on!~"

Luna smiled and reached to the curtain, pulling it around her bed, gently removing the unicorn and her winged friend. Her Ghost transmatted the armor off of her, allowing her to put on the clothes. Even with the slight mistakes in shape, the clothes were masterfully crafted. The fabric was soft and comfortable, and she could tell that the unicorn was no amateur. She couldn't not feel happy to have civilian clothes.

She pulled the curtain away once more, revealing herself to the ponies. Both gasped, and stars twinkled in Diamond's eyes. Immediately she approached from every angle, checking how the clothes fit. The whole time, she was talking to herself. Sparkle, meanwhile simply offered a wide grin. Luna smiled back, both because she was happy with her new clothes, and because the winged-unicorn was regaining some of her lost color.

Everything was going well in this world. Well, as well as it really could with all things considered. The Light Sacrifice threw a wrench in her plans of isolating herself in the forest and not being a bother to any of the locals, but at least the ones she knew and trusted weren't dead. That had to count for something.

Redcross returned with a tray of food, with a delicious-looking salad with fresh vegetables and crisp-looking lettuce, and a small package of cheese and crackers. If all of it was for Sparkle, she was going to be very jealous. Fortunately, Sparkle offered the cheese and crackers to her first, which she gladly accepted. Only then did the winged-unicorn take the salad and begin eating for herself.

In that moment, she was happy, and the Void was once more within her.