Something Halloween

Twilight Sparkle woke up with a small gasp and shot bolt upright. She was on the couch in her office, but there was no one else. Almost no one - she became aware of Anon sitting beside her and watching with deep concern.

"You're awake!" he said, voice dripping with relief. His hand found her leg and squeezed it.

"What h-happened?" The mare remembered the events of- today? Yesterday? It was dark outside, but that didn't necessarily tell her a whole lot. She was already starting to pant in fear as the memory flooded back in. The whole office infested by zombies.

"Relax, relax, I got you," Anon said and brought his arms around her.

It helped a lot and the pony got her breath under control. "They were everywhere! Z-Zombies... dead people!" The human didn't say anything, but he patted her gently on her back. "It stank! And- and the g-guts!"

Her stomach lurched and she nearly threw up again, just from the memory. It took an effort of will not to spew all over Anon.

"Was that what you saw?"

She pushed herself away and stared at his face. "Y-Yes? What did you see?"

Anon looked gray in the face and now that she had gotten a good look at him, she could see deep lines of worry. "Twilight, you freaked out. You kicked Sam from Accounting and broke his leg. Then you ran around the hall mumbling and crying. You locked yourself in the QA office, whimpering. We had to break the door down!"

Twilight just stared at her human. "There w-weren't z-zombies?"

"Just the guys from Legal. It was just costumes, Twilight! You had us scared half to death!"

Her ears couldn't go any lower and the mare looked down. "I didn't- didn't see t-that way..."

Anon gathered her up in another hug. It felt good knowing he wasn't completely, utterly, permanently repulsed by her. Twilight took comfort in that knowledge.

"I guess the spell is still somehow holding? Or something?"

She nodded against the man's shoulder miserably. She was so sure she got rid of it! What if this was something else? She sniffled miserably and tried not to smear snot into Anon's shirt.

"It's okay. It's okay. Sam is going to be okay. I told him you were having... episodes because of stress and he understands. The company insurance will pay his medical, of course, and I'll give him something extra, okay?"

"A l-lot extra," Twilight murmured. She was feeling incredibly guilty. She should have realized it was just another vision, but it had seemed so real!

"Of course, a lot. We can afford it. We'll go see him at the hospital on Monday, okay? If you feel up for it."

"I don't know... It was just so real! Anon, it stank of rot. They were- their-" She sniffled again, unable to describe what she remembered. "I thought I was going to die."

Anon held the weeping pony. "It's okay, you're safe. I got you now. We can stay here tonight, most of the others have gone home."

"I'm s-sorry ab-about the p-party!" she wailed miserably.

"It's fine, it's fine. Just relax. We'll figure this out, Twilight."

She had to know the full extent of her blunder. "Did I- did... did I hurt anyone else?"

Anon smiled gently. "No, just Sam Oswin. Good thing you didn't start blasting away with magic laser, right?"

The way he put it actually got one chuckle out of her. She closed her eyes again and squeezed the precious human. "I love you, Anon."

"I love you too. Want to get some sleep?"

"I want to go home." The apartment was the only place where she felt safe. Yes, there was the ghost of the lady on the terrace, but she had never come inside. More importantly, she couldn't hurt anyone there.

Except for Anon.

"M-Maybe you should take me home and come sleep here. I wouldn't wanna- wanna h-h-"

He pressed a finger to her lips to shut her up. "Hush. You won't. I'm just sorry I couldn't get to you sooner. You realized it was me when I grabbed you, right?"

Twilight remembered that this was true. When one of the creatures she imagined pinned her down she finally saw it for who it was - Anon. "Don't let me go!"

"Never."

"Please take me home," she whined.

"Okay, okay," Anon said. He gathered up the blanket around her, grabbed her waist and lifted. Twilight hooked her forelegs on his shoulders to help him carry her. As they left the office she saw Becky and a few others talking quietly in one of the offices.

The girl rushed forward. "Twilight, are you okay?"

The mare turned her head away, too ashamed to look at her. Thankfully Anon replied instead of her: "She's fine, Becky. Go home, get some rest. I'll explain Monday. Twilight has had- a really tough month."

Even with her ears pressed down firmly Twilight couldn't prevent herself from hearing.

"Can you have Darlene send out an email, Becky?" her human went on as he carried Twilight to the lifts. "Just say Twilight has been under a lot of stress and she's sorry. We'll make it up to everyone for ruining the party and specially to Oswin."

"Will do!" the girl said cheerfully. "Get well soon, Twilight!"

All the mare could do was make an affirmative squeak. Thankfully they were soon in the elevator and going down. To his credit, Anon was still holding her strongly, although she was helping by gripping his shoulders.

At long last she was back in the car. Anon had to let her go so he could walk around, but as soon as he was in the driver's seat, he reached over and gripped her foreleg. The contact helped, even though it made it harder for him to drive. Twilight silently hoped he wouldn't let go the whole way home.

"Hang on, we'll be home soon. I'm calling Dr. Hayes," Anon explained as he took his hand away briefly to tap at the screen in the car.

The mare would have preferred just the two of them, but the doctor was okay. She liked the doctor. "O-Okay."

"Okay, this will sting just a bit. It's just a sedative," Dr. Hayes said and Twilight clenched her teeth. There was a prick on her leg, but it didn't even hurt. "There. Okay, so plenty of bed rest, tea and I'll come check on you in the morning, Twilight."

"Thanks, Dr. Hayes. Sorry for dragging you out here in the middle of the night."

The woman scratched her under the chin, something the mare wouldn't allow anyone else to do. Well, except Anon. He could touch her anywhere. "No problem. Anything for my number one patient!"

It made Twilight blush a little, but luckily the woman was busy packing her bag.

Anon added his thanks too: "Thanks again for coming on such short notice, Doctor. Have a good night!" He escorted the lady to the lift and Twilight listened for the door to slide shut and Anon's footsteps back. He sat on the bed beside her.

"What kind of tea do you want?" he asked.

"Um, Chamomile, please?"

"Coming right up. Yell if you need me, okay?"

The mare gave him a nod and Anon left. A minute later he rushed back in, something heavy and oblong clasped in his hands. "Twilight, look at this! Twilight!"

She sat upright when Anon flicked the light on and placed something on the bed before her. It was a package, stamped by Celestia's personal seal.

"What is it?" she asked. It was a silly question, of course Anon wouldn't open mail for her from the Princess. Twilight ripped the paper apart and gasped. "The book! She found another copy!!"

The mare lit up her horn and quickly flipped the pages to the correct one. "It has the missing page! The counterspell!"

Anon smiled. "This is good, right? You can cast it and this will be over?"

Heart already speeding up, the mare beamed. "Yes!" Her smile vanished. "If this is really what's causing it..."

Anon, his promise of tea forgotten, climbed up on the bed and sat beside her. "Try it anyway," he prompted.

She was going to, but first Twilight turned to the other side of the missing page and read the passage after the spell. "Be warned, how busy you might be, yet casting this spell must be done with a mind perfectly clear. What you think, will make your dreams manifest."

A faint memory stirred and the mare put her face in her hooves. "Damnit," she swore.

"What?"

"When I was casting this for the first time I started thinking about- about the time me and my friends were first captured. I thought we were going to die."

Anon blinked at her in confusion. "Is that why-"

"Yes. I've been seeing death because that was on my mind when I put the spell in place..." She examined the counterspell again. "This is a lot more complicated than the one I did. Hopefully it will remove whatever's left in my mind from that..."

Anon's hand gripped her fur without him even being aware of doing it. "If it doesn't?"

She tried to give him a reassuring smile. "It will. Night Breeze was a bit eccentric, but he was a genius when it came to mind and sleep magic. If this doesn't help, I'll go see Princess Luna. If anypony knows about this sort of thing, it will be her."

"When will you cast it?"

Twilight gave this some thought. She wanted to do it immediately, but that hadn't worked out too well for her the first time. Maybe she should be rested and have her mind perfectly clear. That risked her having another vision in the night, but with Anon holding her it shouldn't happen.

"Morning. I'm too tired..." She turned imploringly to the man. "Don't leave me alone until then, okay?"

He plopped down, still wearing his Sherlock Holmes costume and she in her Steve Jobs pullover. "Not going anywhere. Not after the fright you gave me earlier."

Her ears lowered. "Sorry."

Rather than replying, Anon just leaned closer and kissed the tip of her nose. "Let's get undressed and then I think we both need a good night's sleep."

"Thanks, Anon. F-For everything." She allowed him to pull the garment over her head. He dropped it to the floor beside the bed, which was perfectly fine by Twilight. As long as he didn't have to leave. After that he shrugged out of his own costume - it was sheer luck that neither of them had needed any makeup - and added those clothes to the same pile. They'd clean it up the next day.

Twilight held up the blanket for Anon to slip under. His hands quickly sought her out and she shuffled closer until her muzzle was pressing into Anon's chest. Hearing his heartbeat helped. She knew he was alive. Maybe that would be enough to ward off dreams.

"Good night, Twilight-" Anon began and stopped. "Damn, I forgot about your tea!"

She just giggled softly. "It's fine. We'll get it in the morning. I think Dr. Hayes' sedative is kicking in." As if to prove a point, she yawned hugely. "Night, Anon." Everything would be fine after she cast the correct spell in the morning...

Everything would be fine...

END