It had to happen, of course.

I'd not long woken up, with a slight headache thanks to my partial dehydration, and drank down some of the filtered water from a bowl to allay it as best as I could. I was actually very pleased to see blood was filtering, even if not well enough. It was still a slightly cloudy pink where it had settled into the bowls, so it would need to go through more filters. I'd been thinking about making a shelter for today after that, but that was simply a creature comfort that didn't bank on my survival, and worked though my general fugue of being trapped in this evil place while preparing for my day.

And then the strange flash of light had come as I'd been preparing to find another not-too-rotted corpse that I could drain for the blood, and later use the body for additional filters and structure building.

While pondering the possible ways I might have to cook meat, and how best to pad it out with the idea of bonemeal as the recurring victor, an eerie sound came that accompanied the ominous flashing. It was like a low droning ethereal scream, clawing at the back of my mind from a long distance, the light itself curling around the corners of my vision and distorting everything, making me see disturbing apparitions that lurked and twisted in the shadows. I really hoped that was just simple bewilderment brought on from the bizarre phenomenon occurring just now; I didn't even remotely want to consider if malevolent daemons lurked in this reality with me.

She'd appeared in a flickering aperture of broken reality, then hanging there utterly confused and disgusted as she watched on in horror while the new her formed from pure nothingness, growing bone, muscle, and organ in tandem. The second that the new Twilight's fur had spread over her finished body, she disappeared in another jarring blast of disorienting light, and the Twilight that had been left here quickly began to fall in a shocked scream, as she too found out her wings refused to lift her.

Instinctively I'd tried to catch her, attempting to grab her within my telekinesis and immediately regretted it, berating myself when my head pounded as if Pinkie was playing an entire bandstand's complement of instruments inside my skull. I blinked away the tears of blood that ran from my eyes as I quickly scrambled up the mountain of emaciated corpses to get to her. When I managed to crawl over onto the semi-flat plateau she'd landed on, she was mostly still and non-responsive, just as I'd been when I first arrived. She'd seen the horror around her and it was too much, I understood completely.

I very carefully put my hooves on her so I didn't shock her any more than she already was, finding her trembling, gently rolling her to one side and then the other to check her for injuries just in case she'd landed on something sharp jutting from the corpse mesa, as there were still plenty of sharpened bone spurs I'd not utilised in my works or cared to retrieve and remove from whatever bodies they were embedded in.

Much to my relief she was unharmed and alright, alright being a relative term as no doubt the monumental reality-shattering impact of this forlorn netherworld was bearing down upon her mental health and the long-spanning psychological impact it was going to cause wasn't going to be pretty. Other than the current breakdown she was prostrated before within her own mind, she was a picture of health. I knew a little of wellness checking and medical know-how from preliminary studies after my coronation, additional training and knowledge gathering I'd set myself for the future in case I ever took to new fields of work beyond just wanting to learn magic, so I performed the basics that a nurse might do in a situation of severe shock.

It was clear after a minute or so that she wasn't in any danger of a panic attack or seizure, and her semi-comatose state was actually beneficial to her mental well-being; she would recover faster if left to compartmentalise and sort through the utter chaos going on in her head right now. All I was going to do was keep her safe and warm, hold her close and give her creature comfort so she knew on a certain level that she wasn't alone.

The first thought that came to mind after seeing her saddlebags, which made me feel rather guilty, was the question of food. I only had one sandwich left, and the second thought came quickly that I should keep it for myself and check her belongings. I was in a worse position, physically speaking, and what little nutritional value it still had was of utmost significance for me right now, while she would last longer than I would without it.

I put all of that to one side for a moment, and carefully pulled her as gently as I could down the mountain of death. She was mumbling things to herself but I couldn't understand what was being said, just gibberish brought on by psychosis. Truly, I had no idea how I would help her through it beyond positive encouragement and talking. Any magic I knew to help alleviate stress on the mind wasn't usable, but even then those were basic spells to soothe headaches and the like.

It took me some time, but I managed to take her to my camp area, pulling her around to where I had chosen to sleep. She was still very much unresponsive, and I couldn't exactly talk to her, so I gingerly removed her saddlebags to inspect them.

I had to try very hard to stop myself from stealing her food, she had quite a lot! She must have visited Applejack at her farm or gone to town too because she had apples. There were a number of sandwiches; daisies, lettuce, and tomato, a good choice. Cheese and tomato, also very good. Oooh, banana sandwiches! Excellent! But they weren't mine, they were hers, I wasn't going to steal no matter how much I really wanted to. Beyond the food she had a general assortment that I usually tended to travel with, a few quills, a notebook, two pots of ink (of which would make excellent holders for something later), a single emerald (not as useful as sapphires or rubies but still good), and...

My prayers had been answered. A flask.

It wasn't just water, it was black tea. And it was still warm.

I couldn't help myself, I unscrewed the flask and took a few precious sips, enjoying the feeling of a proper beverage and the taste of it. It was just the way me and the girls liked it between us, with milk and sugar in a fair amount that was agreeable to all of us. Even if Rarity took her tea without sugar most of the time, and Pinkie had several spoons in hers. The simple thought of our discussion once on the perfect ratio we could all be happy with amused me, the feeling utterly bittersweet in my heart.

I screwed the cap back on and allowed myself a moment, before putting the flash back into its saddlebag and placing it next to the still-catatonic other Twilight. It may have just been a few sips, but the tea was doing wonders for my mental state. Realistically the amount of caffeine in the tea I'd drank wasn't going to have any marginal impact on my body, but the general knowledge of what it could do was enough by association to invigorate me into action. Morale was important in any terrible situation, and mine was slightly restored.

Going over to the trough where I'd drained the blood, I took Booksmarts off from the rack and gathered a few spare bones from the other builds, putting them into a pile on one side while I went about removing a good sheet of skin from Booksmarts the same way I had with Super and Nova the previous day. A quick check revealed that the remaining sheet for the other trough was dry, and the fire had burned out, so once I was done taking the sheet from Booksmarts I began to carve her up for more bones, and did the same with Super and Nova with great efficiency. Harvesting all of the intestines, I covered a full rack and the half side of the other still spare that had the sheet draped across it once I'd started another small fire.

I got it all done rather quickly. After a moment I decided that with my new guest I should probably make a start on a tent of some kind. I did have water now after all, and after I'd made a trough for the water to be stored beyond just using bowls, I'd really not have much else to do beyond general gathering for the future, and continuation of upgrading what I'd made so far. I could certainly begin the process of making hair rope, as while the intestinal ropes I'd made thus far were holding, it might not even be a week before they became taut and frail enough to break after rot finally set in.

To that end I could always do to the intestines what I was going to do to the rawhide I currently had making up my troughs, which was to eventually make a solution mixed of fat , blood, and brain matter to create an oily substance that might help to cure and essentially tan the leather to make it truly waterproof, as rawhide would work for now but eventually rot from being wet.

But to also do it to the intestines would mean taking away what I could use on the rawhide, and the hair rope would last possibly far longer than even cured intestines might, as it was more suited to instruments than rope. I don't believe I needed to rush though, not unless the blood trough started to seep or the water bowls became full, so I took my time as I decided on making the experimental substance for tanning. I couldn't really make a start on actual tanning racks or complete my water trough until the lengths of my gathered intestines were dry enough.

I glanced over to the other Twilight, but she was still in a catatonic state. She'd been looking at me this entire time, her eyes open and staring. I wondered if what I was doing might perhaps be causing her to stay in her fugue but I couldn't just not work. Maybe I could cover her head with some spare cloth from the saddlebags I still had, but I also wondered if that might cause her to spasm due to sensory deprivation.

Leaving her be for now I moved over to a disgusting pile of flesh and organs that I hadn't gotten around to burning yet, in my task to eventually clean up the void somewhat. Between the various rotting offal was the semi-fresh brain from Booksmarts, and Super and Nova too, so along with their brains I gathered some blood using a spare bowl -no need to take blood from the trough really- and used a cracked femur as a pestle to mash them into a paste.

It wasn't even the most foul smelling or worst action I'd undertaken.

I took my bowl of mashed mixture over to the other now-smouldering fire I'd made where I'd gathered both the fur and fat, taking some of the latter and slowly adding and mixing it in until the substance had an oily texture and feel to it, the blood having taken on a thicker consistency helping in making the mixture not too runny with the fluid of the brains factoring into it. On the whole I wasn't sure if the blood had been needed but at the very least it would make the leather a reddish-brown in colour.

It hadn't taken more than a few minutes, but at least when I turned to check on the other Twilight again, she was moving a little more.

I put the bowl down and went over to her.

She wasn't quite there yet, still somewhat unresponsive when I waved a hoof in front of her face or tried to speak with her, but she did react to my being there, however little a reaction it was. There was a flicker of her eyes when I tried to meet her gaze. I was still a little messy and the gore I'd been recently covered in hadn't quite dried yet, but right now it seemed to me that she needed something.

I carefully moved behind her and shifted my hooves underneath her barrel, being mindful of her wings as I settled into a gentle hug from behind. While I was hopeful it would assist in her recovery, it was also actually rather beneficial to me as well. Contact with another pony even after a less than a week of being here in this dark realm was a divine blessing, as much as it was a curse for them being condemned to be here. Her coat was comfortable and unblemished, and smelled faintly of pleasantly-scented shampoo, possibly lavender. How I wished for something to clean myself with, but she hadn't brought any-

Wait, maybe somewhere in the endless mounds of corpses there might be a saddlebag with some soap or something, I know I'd made trips to the Ponyville Spa before for specialised shampoos, soaps, and conditioners before!

Well, it could wait until later.

She smelled nice in any case, her warmth was comforting. The mere presence of a living body in an enclosed void of death was as invaluable as water. She shivered beneath me, maybe from the middling temperature of the sphere, but I suspected it was more likely from her current disposition. I held her closer and relaxed, staying like that for what felt like a very short amount of time before I released her and got back up. I had to check the fires.

The intestines were mostly dry enough to be used now, so that was something. With the sheet of rawhide that I still had spare, I worked on the trough for water. I hummed a tune under my breath and found myself smiling slightly, which I hadn't done since my arrival here, feeling a little odd about it as I continued. Another pony here was just uplifting, even if it was rather unfortunate in several ways.

"Y-you..."

My eyes widened in elation, physical contact had likely assisted! I turned as carefully as I could to not spook the other me and tried for a kind smile, although I hoped that covered in as much blood and viscera as I was it didn't come off as disturbing.

"Hello." I spoke softly. "Are you feeling well?"

She most certainly wasn't, but on a relative level she was hopefully doing better.

The other me couldn't help but blanch in horror at everything around her, including eyeing me with a measure of fear when she finished up looking at her immediate surroundings to pay attention to my relaxed posture. I'd been here long enough to be able to relax, and maybe it was due to the sheer amount of absurdity that enveloped every sense with each passing second of being trapped here that allowed it, but it wasn't setting the other me at ease. I didn't speak for a few moments while she shuddered in disgust trying to breathe normally. I knew the feeling, she would adjust soon enough.

"It's stuffy, I know." I offered, with a slight shrug. "You get used to it."

"How can you be... be used to it?" She gasped incredulously. "How long have you been here?"

"About a week, I think." I replied.

"That's madness, you can't be used to this!"

"Well, not all this, really." I gestured to all the corpses surrounding us. "That still disturbs me, especially when I have to use the bodies. It gets easier but it still doesn't sit well. I was talking more about the smell, that's what you get used to."

"Oh." She uttered. "I-I see... sorry."

"No need to be, it's a shock I know. I'm just glad you're properly awake." I smiled, shifting my shoulders to wind down a little. "It's... horrible, that you're here. Nopony should be here, but you are, and we need to make the best of that."

She glanced around at my camp and I could see the cogs turning in her brain. She caught on pretty quickly as well, looking at me with a partly disturbed look after spending a few seconds examining my grisly buildings.

"My wings didn't work, and that everything looks so ramshackle and made by hoof means magic likely doesn't work either, you have makeshift buckets for storage of... blood, so water is limited..." She stopped orating, then suddenly looked up in fear. "How have you been managing to eat?"

"I had some sandwiches with me when I first came here." I explained. "Slowly been going through them, skipping eating for most of the time until it really hurts."

"Oh, that's terrible! Please, help yourself to what's in my bags, I've got plenty." She quickly moved to the saddlebags beside her, but then caught herself. "Wait... no, of course we need to make it last."

I nodded. "Yep, as long as we can."

"You've already begun to work on methods of storage, you have what looks like a water-drip system over there as well... that seems like the most pressing issue and you're addressing it completely." She analysed, focusing on other racks. "I wonder if I would have thought to use bones and... what is that tying them together?"

She looked like she knew the answer, but maybe she wanted confirmation.

"Intestines." I told her straight.

"I was afraid you'd say that." She almost mumbled. "I suppose, if you've got enough of something to use it..."

"Exactly." I nodded, shuffling over and resting a blood-caked hoof on her shoulder, even if she seemed less than happy with the contact. "We need to use everything we can to survive and get out of here."

She caught the heavy emphasis on my words and their full weight, nodding with exasperation at the predicament. "So we're trapped in a pocket dimension of corpses."

"Well, corpses are a byproduct as apparently none of us have ever managed to sustain ourselves. But this realm, whatever it is, it's a massive sphere, featureless, hanging in its own void." I intoned, moving onto an important matter. "There's a journal written by one of us before I came here, I want you to read it."

"Why?" She wondered with a raised eyebrow.

"Clarity, and warning." I simply replied.

She needed to see what would happen if we allowed ourselves to lose hope, and see what had been tried already. I would have little issue with explaining ideas to her, and given that she was me and on the same current level of knowledge I knew she would be capable of learning and adapting just as fast.

I got to my hooves and went over just behind her to where I'd kept the journal, right next to Starburst's hooves I'd kept to commemorate her sacrifice, leaning over and pushing it across the void's surface to her. She balked at it being bound in skin, but picked it up regardless to begin reading.

She stopped halfway through in thought.

"Well, I was thinking about names but I guess you and I can't do that now."

"Right?" I smiled, and we both shared a gentle giggle.

"So... what do we call each other if not Twilight and Sparkle?" She asked, curious as she started to no doubt go through a list in her head.

"I've given tribute to the bodies I've used almost completely for my structures and such else, I'd probably not want to use their names." I commented, starting to list them off. "Starburst, Super, Nova, and Booksmarts."

"I'd been thinking of 'Star' by itself, actually." She smiled briefly.

"How about... Twinkle and Shine?" I offered with a shrug.

"That would work." She gave a nod. "Which would you be?"

"You're the new mare, you can choose first." I grinned, although she chuckled nervously as I did it, so I could assume my appearance must have been dishevelled.

"I'll be Shine then, you can be Twinkle." Shine accepted, glancing back at the equipment I'd made thus far and sighing. "I have to say, Twinkle; I'm impressed, if a great deal disturbed, by all of this you've made. The things this other Twilight-"

"Twilight of the Journal." I proclaimed.

"Her, yes. She never got this far beyond using what was at hoof, but you've gone even further, to greater ends purely because of necessity." Shine spoke, seeming more interested than upset.

"The lengths a pony will go to in order to survive." I agreed.

She sighed again, but far deeper.

"Alright... alright." She closed her eyes for several seconds, opening them to sharply meet my own. "So, where do I start to help?"

Author's Note

I'd had a much longer chapter, but I wasn't happy with it at all.
Hopefully this suffices for now.