The Writhing

Chapters

crawling
wriggling
slithering
writhing
undulating

crawling

The air was cold. Perhaps it wasn’t the air itself that was cold. It was the breeze; or maybe the weight of the air that was cold. The city moved below, a living breathing monstrosity as always, but it felt slower somehow, more pacified than it should. Twilight watched as the merchants sold their goods, ponies bustled about the streets, and the day went on.

No matter how hard she looked, everything appeared normal and yet she couldn’t shake the sensation that something was wrong. Twilight wasn’t one to discount her gut feelings, at least not in a long time. She’d only been the sole princess of Equestria for twenty years or so, and her feelings had saved her time and time again. This time would be no different.

And still… She shook her head, glancing down at the perfectly normal city. All the boxes were checked. Good old Donut Joe was setting up for his brunch crowd, she could see the city guard on their routine patrols, and even the park was properly full of joyful foals. She blinked.

The foals had no future.

Twilight sighed, looking back at her room. It was full of memories of her journeys. Pictures of her friends, family, mentors, and even a few of her enemies. All reminders of where she’d been. The pictures didn’t settle her unease, oddly they made her feel even more on edge.

She closed her eyes and listened. There was a thrum from the city; a heartbeat. It was fine, it was healthy and beating strong. There were birds, carriages, hawkers, machinery, the shouting of foals and the other simple sounds of the city. And yet, there was a strange silence. A low and quiet tearing sound that she couldn’t place, but didn’t belong. Something so strangely silent and serene as to simply not be.

The foals had no future.

Twilight gave up on her ears, instead focusing on her hooves to feel the earth through the castle’s heavy stone construction. There was the normal thundering feeling of a thousand hooves, a slamming door, trees growing in the garden, crystals slowly growing in the caverns beneath Canterlot, and the normal, if unsettling, constant moaning of decay. She shuddered, finally noticing something that was really and truly wrong.

The ground itself, the very foundation of creation, was no longer breathing. The usual ebb and flow of magic from within the world was deathly still just under the crystal mines. Slowly, she opened her eyes as a horrified realization hit her. Their world had died, and the foals had no future.

An ice like calm descended over her as she unconsciously switched to a well practiced breathing exercise. Her analytical mind ignored her sudden burst of emotions as vision after vision assaulted her. Without the magic of the world, without its life, ponies had about five years or so before they started to falter. Crops would die first, the situation appearing as a blight. Soon enough nothing at all would grow, not even ponies.

Those with the least amount of magic would die first. The children, the infirm, the elderly. Then the regular ponies would go, the ones that toiled in the background to make the world work. The magical beasts and monsters would follow, and last would be the very spirits and guardians of Equestria. Beings like her friends, herself and Discord.

There was nothing to be done. No magic great enough, no power supreme that could intervene. The source of Magic itself had died. Harmony would keep them alive for a while, but even Harmony fed off the world’s magic. Perhaps they could seek shelter on Luna’s moon for a few years, but ultimately there would be no escape.

The visions stopped as suddenly as they began, leaving Twilight exhausted as she stumbled to her bed, collapsed into it, and then desperately called for Spike.

“Spike!”

She stared, open eyed at the wall of her luxurious room, wondering what the ethical choice would be. Would she tell them, all her little ponies? Would she wait it out quietly and pretend that nothing was wrong? Could she sacrifice her life or her magic to somehow buy them even a moment of time? Worries and ideas ran through her, wracking her with one simple and overpowering sensation.

Dread. It crept up her spine, and climbed down her four hooves, chilling her to the bone. Her stomach sank, the pit eating into her. Fear comes from the gut, and even as an immortal princess she felt it rise like a disgusting warmth. Twilight swallowed her quickly rising bile. Suddenly, she was far from immortal. If anything, she and all her ponies were the last dying gasp of life. They unknowingly clung to the remnants of the corpse of creation, a wellspring that had already run out. She’d never considered the possibility of the world itself simply dying. That potentiality had been literally unthinkable. More disturbingly, there had been no warning signs, at least none that she’d noticed.

With a loud clunk, the door opened.

And yet, here it was. The end of the world, come and gone.

Spike’s voice was full of concern. “Twilight? What’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer at first. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, she simply couldn’t. Stoically analyzing the reality of a truly existential end was still taking all of her energy.

Spike stepped forward, his claws dragging heavily across the stone with loud scrapes. He’d grown bigger over the years, but was still her devoted assistant. As a magical beast, and a guardian of Equestria, perhaps he’d last almost as long as her. Perhaps even longer.

“Spike… Can you cancel all my appointments for the week?”

Spike paused, confusion teasing into his answer. “Of course… but… why?”

Twilight shuddered, her wings fluttering in the now unearthly still air. What she wanted to do was wallow in despair, crying in her bed for everything that had been and would be lost. All the books that would disappear. All the stories that no one would hear. The most pitiful were all the foals with no future. Instead she turned to look at Spike, her face stone cold in determination, or perhaps denial. Maybe, just maybe somepony else knew of a solution.

“I need you to contact all of my friends and students, Celestia, Luna, Discord, Lord Ember, Lord Thorax, and anybeing else of note. Even our enemies.”

Spike looked alarmed. “Our… enemies?”

Twilight nodded. “At least the mostly rational ones. Or the powerful ones, even if they aren’t particularly sane. Not the three in the garden, I don’t think they’d help. If none else can, we’ll try them later. If you know of some way to conjure up Sombra, now is the time.”

Spike squinted suspiciously at Twilight. “What’s going on?”

Twilight frowned, unsure of how to continue. “It’s complicated… Ask them to come so I can explain it. For our friends, express how vitally important this is. Explain that I’ve canceled everything to focus on this problem. For our enemies, offer them whatever they like if they can solve my problem.”

Spike snorted. “Uhh… Half of them want to enslave Equestria, and the other half want to eat it.”

Twilight shuddered, but her answer was quick. She’d already thought this through. “Then beg them to attend and tell them that I will personally capitulate to their demands to the best of my abilities if they have the solution to my problem. Offer them diplomatic protection while they are here on this business, and include my seal.”

Spike balked. “You’ll capitulate to being eaten? And give them diplomatic protection? Snipping Scissors is a wanted murderer! Thanoscopy has at least two of the pillars’ souls trapped in jars and would love to add yours. King Dremora has tried to take over Equestria three times. Three times!” He held up three fingers to emphasize. “These guys are our enemies because they are monsters, Twilight. Just in case you’ve forgotten.”

She nodded. “I remember. Still, please send the messages. I need everyp… Everybeing to work together on this.”

Spike folded his arms, and glared at her. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do it. But first, you are going to tell me what is going on.”

Twilight sighed. “This is a state secret until the conference, Spike. Do not include this in your letters, or any other correspondence.” She glared at him. “With anybeing.”

He squinted. “Sure.”

“This morning, while watching the town, I noticed that… there was no future.”

“What?”

She slowly looked at him, boring into his eyes with her own. “Exactly that. The future ends. I was confused, so I looked deeper. That’s when I discovered that it’s over. The world has already ended, and we’re merely surviving on the momentum of our existing magical inertia.” Twilight licked her dry lips. “But that won’t last much longer.”

Spike blinked, confused.

“Ponies have about five years until the crops start to die. After that, the weakest ponies will die. By about eight years, it will just be… the girls, Discord, Celestia, Luna, and myself. Possibly Cadence and Flurry. Maybe you. And after that, we just… exist until we die. It might be another year, might be hundreds. How long the few of us can hold out doesn’t matter.” Twilight rested her head, glancing about the room nervously. “Because everything else will be gone.”

The air was too cold, and yet perfect. Too still. She now knew why, but the unease hadn’t left her. It likely wouldn’t until she accepted her fate. She didn’t have to. She had enough magic left that she and Starlight could potentially go back in time far enough to when the world was alive and maybe fix this. Perhaps she could go back, collect magic from when the world was alive and bring it forward as a stopgap measure.

Twilight’s stomach churned. What if there was nothing they could do? How many times would she watch the world die before she gave up? What if she was contaminated somehow, and carried some impossible magical disease back with her that caused the world to die in a self starting paradoxical loop?

Spike scratched his head. “Are you sure about this? Maybe you should… you know… get yourself checked in case you’re crazy. Maybe check with Celestia and Luna to see if they agree with you? This could be somepony messing with you. Like I said, our enemies aren’t very nice.”

Twilight slowly looked up, a spark of hope forming in her chest, and a small smile alighting her lips. Spike was right. She could be going mad. In fact, it was far more likely that one lone alicorn was having a mental breakdown than the world simply dying. She didn’t even logically understand the concept of the world dying. It was more of a primal knowledge on her part, some inner part of her being was confident that was what was happening. Why should she trust something that not only she didn’t understand, but was seemingly nonsensical?

The world couldn’t die. It wasn’t a creature, not like them. It didn’t eat or have children. It couldn’t be possible.

Deciding to follow Spike’s plan, Twilight hoped and begged any power that was listening for her to simply be mad.

After a week of magical physicals and wasted time, she was confident that she wasn’t.

The air was quieter and colder still. Not to any instruments, nor by any measurement, but it was. She could feel it. Twilight nibbled at her forearm, an unfortunate tick she’d recently developed. The conference had gone well enough. It had been a month since the morning that she realized, three weeks since she’d decided to not waste any more time on the hope of being mad, and one week from the conference.

She’d been surprised at how many creatures attended. Even most of her enemies had been surprisingly civil. Some of the weaker ones had thought it a strange joke, or perhaps a scheme. The stronger ones had already known by then, likely peering into the abyss like herself once they received her letters. Even the usually egotistical and manic King Dremora had somberly listened to her speech. He’d been one of the ones to already know.

Discord had surprised her most of all. He claimed to know exactly what had happened. According to Discord, the world lived at the behest of fickle gods of creation, and they’d simply grown bored of this particular creation and moved on to something else. Without their attention and energy, everything would die. He looked particularly guilty, so Twilight had asked him what he felt guilty over.

He’d claimed to partially be at fault. He said that he felt their gaze begin to waver when he’d done the whole “Grogar thing” and ultimately gotten the terrible trio turned to stone. Twilight paused as well, contemplating the possibility that she’d been the reason. She’d imprisoned a filly, choosing the fate of Equestria over one tiny psycopath. She doubted the gods would care about the fate of Chrysalis or Tirek, but little Cozy, as evil as she was, had still been a foal.

The foals have no future.

Perhaps if she freed Cozy, the gods would return? Discord had laughed, and suggested she try it. If only for his amusement.

It was three days ago now that Cozy had been returned to the statue gardens. The little filly led a particularly nasty revolt against Twilight, turning everyone against her once again. The only reason she’d failed was Discord. Right at the end he’d popped in and shouted “No Dice! You get Iced!” and dropped Cozy into a gigantic tub of ice cream. That had distracted the ponies long enough for Fluttershy to prove that Twilight was in fact the real Twilight, and Cozy hadn’t switched bodies with her, magical powers or not. Then Rarity and Spike had managed to return Twilight’s magic from Cozy’s little hoof anklet, after apologizing profusely for their unwitting part in the fiasco.

Twilight hadn’t even been fazed by the betrayals. She expected them when she released the insanely dangerous filly. She’d have let Cozy win if it meant everypony else could live. Even a horrible life serving Queen Cozy Glow was better than the still and silent death that was coming.

The others knew that the end was looming, but they couldn’t feel it like she could. They still trusted her to fix it. They still had hope.

Twilight shivered, the magic welling up in her horn disgusting her. She was nothing but a parasite. An insect crawling around a corpse, just looking to survive another day. In a strange moment of empathy, she wondered if this was what Chrysalis felt like. Of course, there were no other corpses for her and her ponies to jump to. Neither Harmony nor Discord could help, the end had in some way always been part of the plan.

It had never been meant to last forever. She’d just assumed it would last much longer than this. Every moment was now empty of meaning. The sun rose, the moon fell, and most ponies went about their daily life completely unaware of the futility of their actions. Twilight was going back to court, and running Equestria again, but things had imperceptibly slowed down.

Her enemies, now aware of the end, had slowed down as well. She wouldn’t have the strength, or the will to fight back if they hadn’t. Some of her friends had taken the timeline like a challenge. Rainbow and Applejack had officially gotten married. Rarity had expanded her boutique to other countries. Pinky and Cheese had started their own party emporium. Fluttershy spent more and more time in Discord’s dimension, supposedly consoling him. Starlight and Sunburst were still frantically looking for a solution, but Twilight knew it would be no use. Magic existed within the rules of the world.

The world was dead.

Magic as they understood it could not bring itself back, and even if they managed it would be some horrendous undead thing. Twilight had started to explain, but decided to leave them with their hope instead. Celestia and Luna could feel it as well. This was the inevitable end, and nothing could stop it.

Twilight stared blankly, barely blinking, until it was time for court again. She didn’t sleep anymore. She simply experienced the growing nonexistent chill with her wings, measured the immeasurable stillness with her hooves, and watched the foals play with a still heart.

The foals had no future.

wriggling

It had been three years. Even mediocre mages were starting to notice. Once or twice a week, Twilight would get a panicked letter from a wizard requesting a personal audience or explaining the situation. She always answered with the same form letter, well exercised by now. They would be informally asked to keep their discovery secret and cordially invited to Canterlot to assist the Royal Arch Mage Starlight Glimmer in her continuing studies of the end. The letter ended on a note of hope, a note that their assistance might make the difference and save everything.

Every single one of them had taken the offer so far, and the mages gallery was growing to an almost unmanageable size. Twilight had plans to release some of the guard and use the space for more mages. The guards would get a full pension, a security briefing about the end, and a recommendation to spend time with their families.

She knew it was futile, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care about much anymore, merely keeping up the charade so her ponies could live in ignorant bliss.

Spike had left, not out of fear or spite, but merely to have his own adventures. He wanted to live his own life for a while. They still kept in touch, and his letters were one of the few sources of joy for her. Flurry was turning out to be a ferocious leader, keeping the Crystal Empire running while Cadence suffered under the same ennui that kept Twilight awake at night. Flurry had told Twilight that the empire would run honorably, smoothly, and effectively until the last day. When it was over, the crystal ponies would go with pride.

Celestia and Luna were exploring options with their respective celestial bodies. Luna could host a small number of ponies for a few years, but the airless environment limited it to alicorns only. Celestia could temper her sun to provide warmth and safety for a few hundred ponies, but only for a few days. Eventually the sun would burn through her little synthetic paradise, turning the bubble into a searing inferno. Even then, they could feel the sun and the moon waning, the magic weakening the same as everything else. At most they’d eek out a few extra decades.

Twilight wasn’t fooled by the efforts or platitudes of the sisters. Their eyes were dead. If these were the options, the sisters were instead likely to spend their time together on Equis rather than spend their final moments apart to gain a few fleeting decades. She didn’t blame them either, this wasn’t their fault.

She’d thought over Discord’s explanation and given it serious consideration. If his gods were truly the root cause of the dead world, that lead to an uncomfortable realization. According to him the world had died because his gods of creation had left it. If what he’d said was real, she had a horrifying suspicion that his gods hadn’t left because she’d made a mistake in imprisoning Cozy Glow. Cozy was truly a monster and aside from murdering the filly, turning her to stone was the only possible sane outcome.

If Twilight’s actions had influenced Discord’s so called gods, that meant that his gods of creation had left because she hadn’t made a mistake. They were here for entertainment. It’s possible they’d been watching different ponies over the years, and she was simply the last one. When she achieved true princesshood, when she inherited Equestria from Celestia, the story was over. There was nothing else to watch. They’d moved on to… somewhere else… exactly because of what Discord had said.

They’d gotten bored.

Where did that leave Twilight? Where did it leave her ponies? Discord’s gods wouldn’t care. They never really would have. They were gods of creation, not salvation. They created not only the ponies, but Discord as well. Chrysalis, Sombra, the Storm King, even the little monster Cozy Glow was just a figment of their imagination given form. All the suffering of her ponies had been for their entertainment.

Now they were gone. Something more entertaining, or at least more contemporary had been created elsewhere. Or perhaps they’d simply grown bored of ponies. The stories had been explored, the monsters defeated, the heroes had won. Discord claimed they would never come back. That they could never come back, at least to this incarnation. He’d said that they’d lost their “funding” whatever that meant in this context. He said the dream was over, and that Twilight should let him and Fluttershy live out their time in peace, because it would be time to wake up soon.

Twilight had no desire to wake up. She counted the ponies in her city, feeling their vibrations through her hooves, and listening to their chatter with her ears. She felt the air with her wings, and their magic with her horn. She breathed, focusing on what was left of the world, and what was in it.

Her perception was crystal clear. Every pony in her city was where it should be, every marking what it should be. The air was cold and heavy, while the magic was slow to respond. The sounds had muffled. The colors were dull. Observing intently, she could feel how the world had lost it’s sharp edges. It was fraying, coming apart at the seams. The youngest would be first.

The foals had no future.

Twilight fought back tears she didn’t know she still had within, but failed as the warm wet drops leaked down her face. She watched as they pooled underneath her, slowly and silently filling the cracks in the stonework. Once, some mason had considered this floor to be the pinnacle of his work. Now it was merely a basin for her sorrow to gather in.

The tiny pool of tears grew, and she couldn’t look away from it. The reflection showed a haggard looking creature with sunken eyes and a gaunt face that only vaguely resembled Twilight Sparkle. When was the last time she’d eaten? When was the last time she’d taken care of herself at all?

She was immortal, but the signs of starvation an exhaustion were clear. Twilight thought back to Flurry’s cold fury and razor sharp will the last time they’d met. At the time, she’d thought Flurry’s anger and focus was a way for her to cope with the end of her short life. In a way, it probably was. Now she realized that seeing Twilight so beaten had certainly aggravated her emotions. Coincidentally, Twilight hadn’t seen Cadence since the conference. Was Cadence just as worn and tired as she?

Had Cadence given up as well?

Twilight shook her head. What had Flurry said? It was something like “With dignity and pride”. That had been directed at her, hadn’t it? Twilight had been too withdrawn to notice, but the whole meeting suddenly took on another meaning. Flurry was frustrated with Twilight not because she couldn’t fix the problem, but because she had so obviously given up on what was left.

She’d have to do something about that. Twilight would take care of herself, recover, and apologize to Flurry. Her young niece was turning out to be the strongest out of all of them, and she deserved Twilight’s support in any way she could get it. Even if it was something as simple as taking a bath and brushing her mane.

The guard outside her door jumped, surprised to hear her call after a seeming eternity of silent nights. “Please call for food. I haven’t eaten in months.”

A shuffled noise, and a rapid answer came from the other side of the door. “Right away, Your Highness.” There was a pause, then it continued. “It’s actually been about two years…”

Twilight sucked in a breath. That was unexpected. What else had she been forgoing? “Then perhaps I should have a bath drawn.”

The guard responded quickly. “Of course, your highness. I’d… recommend it.”

She sighed. Her ponies sure put up with a lot from her. “I apologize Ms…”

“Sergeant Shield Dreams, your majesty.”

Twilight chuckled. The military types were often hung up on their silly ranks. “Is Sergeant your name then?”

“No, your highness.”

“Then is Ms. Dreams appropriate?”

The guard paused for a second before answering. “No, your Highness. Sergeant Shield Dreams is the appropriate address for me. However, you’re the princess. Nopony is going correct you if you’d rather call me Ms. Dreams.”

Twilight opened the door, surprising the guard once more. “Just like nopony corrected me on my poor bathing habits?”

The guard was a green earth pony mare. She had a small frame, slender build, but carried a standard spear. Twilight figured that the little mare must be an extraordinarily competent fighter to be posted at Twilight’s door. Usually her guards were big and intimidating, or very lethal.

Twilight continued to stare at her. This guard didn’t have the magic of harmony within. She would die sometime in the next three years. “Do you have any family, Dreams? Any special somepony or close relatives, or perhaps even foals?”

The foals had no future.

Dreams shifted nervously under the awkwardly intense gaze of her sovereign. “I uh… do not, your majesty. Most of your personal guards are selected from a pool of ponies that… uh… don’t have much to lose if they have to sacrifice themselves for you.”

Twilight stared at her, wondering at her innocence. Some of the guard knew. “Do you know what plagues me, Dreams? Do you know why I am so preoccupied that I do not eat, sleep, or bathe?”

Dreams gulped, looking nervously around as though she hoped the food that she’d just sent for would show up immediately and save her from this strange interrogation. Twilight cocked her head, noting that nopony was coming to save her little Dreams. “Well, Dreams? Have you been briefed?”

The guard answered slowly, as if this was a test. “I have been… briefed… your highness. But I have also been ordered not to discuss the matters I have been briefed on with anypony.”

Twilight leaned down to Dreams, invading the guard’s personal space and then slowly going further by whispering directly in her ear. “Whatever orders they may have been, they are now officially rescinded by a royal order.” Dream’s ear didn’t flick away, and seemed to even lean in to Twilight’s mouth. Twilight gave it a surprise nibble, causing the guard to gulp.

“Now, tell me what you know.” Twilight stayed where she was, intently watching the little green guard’s neck, especially where the fur under her light green mane was slowly turning pink.

“You… and the other princesses… haven’t been the same since the conference. The world is ending, supposedly. And you’re trying to stop it… like you always do.”

Twilight gave a light lick to her little guard’s ear, and was satisfied to feel it once again lean towards her mouth. “And what if I told you that I couldn’t stop it, Dreams? That nothing can?”

Dreams shivered. “I’d guess… I’d understand why you’d let yourself go… like this.”

Twilight blew lightly through Dreams mane. She was surprised the guard was holding up as well as she did. Twilight was breaking more than a few rules about how to interact with her guards, but right at this moment she couldn’t give a damn. “What if you were me, the all powerful princess, and you couldn’t do anything about this coming end. Nothing at all. What would you do?”

Dreams swallowed again. “Well, that’s why you’re the princess and I’m not. I’m just here to guard this door and yoooo…” Twilight was nibbling on her ear again, this time a little more intently.

Twilight gave her a light nip, causing the mare to shiver. “Now please be honest, Dreams. I like honesty. It’s one of the core elements of friendship. Truth be told, I would very much like to be your friend.” Twilight put a hoof on the small of Dream’s back, and sent a quick pulse of magic through the mare. Just a little bit, nothing serious, but Dreams would probably find it pleasant and refreshing.

Dreams faltered, taking a moment before she answered with a wavering voice. “I… uhh.. well… If I have to be honest… It’s not very noble… but I’d live like I was fresh outta boot again.”

Twilight smiled, trailing her hoof in a circle around Dreams heavy armor. “Oh? Maybe have a nightly feast, get pampered by the masseuse, and drink a little too much wine?”

Dreams nodded. “Something like that.”

Twilight pulled back slightly, trailing her hoof up Dreams body as she went, until she’d grabbed Dreams by the chin and forced the flushed and embarrassed guard to look Twilight in the eyes. “Now Dreams, that’s not all, is it? Is there anything else you’d do? Anypony else, perhaps?”

The guard‘s face was flush, reminding Twilight more of a beet than a pony. “I… uhh… yeah. If I gotta be honest. I’d probably have a different mare or stallion with me every night.”

Twilight smiled. “Now, that is a slight difference. If it was purely for my enjoyment, I’d only have mares. That being said, I wouldn’t be against indulging a stallion or two for their fun. Generosity is important in relationships.”

Dreams gulped, somehow turning even more red.

Twilight continued. “I wouldn’t do that, of course. A princess has to stay dignified. Set an example for her ponies and all that. I worry quite a bit about being a model citizen.”

Twilight watched closely as Dreams seemed to let out a sigh, and relax. The poor thing.

“But now, I’m thinking that maybe my ponies still need me to role model for them. And I’d very much like for them to spend the rest of their time doing what they love instead of worrying.”

Dreams stiffened up ever so slightly.

Twilight continued, this time gently running her hoof from Dreams’ chin down to her shoulder. The green mare was a pretty little thing. “I really should be a better role model. What do you think, Dreams?”

Dreams blinked, unsure of how to respond.

“I want my little ponies to enjoy what time they have left. What do you say, Dreams? Will you help me set a good example for them?”

Dreams cautiously nodded her head, her eyes locked on Twilight’s own. “I’d be happy to help, your majesty.”

Twilight smiled. “I think we have a few minutes until food arrives. I’m officially releasing you from your post, but not your duty, for the night. You are to guard me, personally, all night long.”

Dreams eyes squinted, causing her to look a little concerned. Twilight faltered, suddenly very worried that she’d misread the situation. “Oh. I’m not trying to force you. I’m sorry if I’m coming on a little strong. It’s been… a long time for me.”

The little guard, shook her head, the blush still bright. “Oh, you’re not forcing anything on me your highness. It’s just… ahh…” She looked nervous and shy, almost reminding Twilight of Fluttershy when they were both young.

Twilight put on her best encouragement face. “It’s okay, you can tell me.”

Slowly, Dreams answered. “About that bath…”

Twilight was almost glad she could still feel completely mortified.

Almost.

Twilight smiled, laying in bed with the mare. The evening had gone well, and she’d cajoled her little guard into actually sleeping after utterly exhausting the dear thing. They’d bathed first, feasted second, and had a wonderful dessert of each other. Twilight now had actionable plans as well. When the morning came, she’d take Dreams with her to raise the sun; out of uniform, of course. She wanted her little ponies to see that she’d bedded somepony, not think she was taking advantage of her guard.

The night after, she’d ask Dreams to bring a friend. The mare had an interesting love life, and knew a few “casual hookups” as she called them that would be delighted to spend the evening with Princess Twilight. All Twilight would ask is that they help her set an example, and make a public showing with her. Every morning she’d have a few new ponies with her, and all her little ponies would see that she was enjoying herself. It would make for some fun gossip columns to read as well, and give the high society ponies one hell of a scandal to keep them busy.

She smiled to herself, pleased with her plan. Her little ponies would see her enjoying herself, and hopefully they’d understand that she wanted them to enjoy life. Soon enough, her cheeks would fill out again, and hopefully her color would brighten up just a little. If Equestria had to go, it should go with a plump and happy princess; not the gaunt skeleton of a mare that she was.

Flurry deserved an apology. Twilight considered writing her an invitation, and perhaps inviting her to a party. An end of the world party. They could make it an annual thing, at least a few more times.

Twilight forced back her tears as a sudden sorrow threatened to overcome her. She could fake it. She’d bite it back from here on out for her ponies, for her niece, and for her country.

With that hope in her heart, she cast a tranquilizing spell on herself to sleep. Twilight needed to look fresh in the morning, and if a heavy duty sleeping spell was what it would take, then that was what she would use.

As her eyes closed tight and her brain slowed to a crawl, she wished she could do anything to save them for real. Anything at all.

Her heart ached, and all she could think as she fell asleep was the same horrible thought that had been haunting her mind for the last three years.

The foals had no future.

slithering

Twilight was uncomfortably hot. She rolled, trying to free herself from the covers, but she was surrounded by a sweltering heat. She tried to breathe, and found there was no air. She tried to move, but her hooves were bound. Panicking, she opened her eyes, seeing only a hazy red glow.

Was it her blood?

The heat pressed around her, pushing and crushing her body in odd ways. Pain filled her as she tried to resist it, her bones crunching and her organs squelching within.

She screamed, but no sound came out of her mouth.

Something came in though.

The thick viscous and red substance that she was suspended in forced its way into her throat, burning and crushing her as it filled her. It pressed deep, down her throat and into her gut where it burned and pulsed.

Twilight writhed, moving unwillingly as the substance that surrounded and now filled her continued to pulse and flow.

The stuff hadn’t just crushed her bones and twisted her like an empty bag of flesh, it had coated her, burning off her hair and fur to leave her a charred skin sack. She tried to close her eyes, only to discover that her eyelids were gone.

Everything was pain, a horrible burning and tearing pain that consumed every ounce of her existence.

Twilight wished she could die, but the magic wouldn’t let her. She shuddered, the realization dulling her senses to the hellish experience. Magic was permeating her.

She hadn’t felt this much raw power since she’d held Celestia, Luna, and Cadence’s power within her own long ago. Forcing herself to ignore the snap as her spine was twisted sideways, she instead used her horn to sense.

Twilight shuddered once more, feeling relaxed as an incomprehensible pressure pushed around her skull. This fluid wasn’t blood, at least not hers. It was magic; potent, thick, unrefined, and pure elemental magic.

Twilight quaked as her body melted into it and her skull cracked. Her last thought before her brain was crushed was one of relief.

There was a source, and it was alive.

Dreams felt something heavy pressing her down, something painful. Grunting awake, she forced her tired eyes open only to see a fearful sight.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was pinning her painfully to the bed, and her eyes were glowing a hazy red with no visible pupils.

“Princess? Are you okay?”

Twilight did not look okay. Her expression was flat, and even though Dreams was an Earth Pony, she could feel the magic rushing off her liege like a waterfall. If Twilight hadn’t been physically holding her down, the rush of magic might have pinned her anyways.

“Twilight? Please, answer me!” Dreams’ wild fear grew into a calculated concern.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was compromised, and Dreams’ duty as her guard was to save her somehow. There was no way Dreams was going to be able to overpower her. Even though Dreams was an earth pony, she was much smaller than average, and Twilight was empowered with alicorn strength. She considered shouting for help, but knew that Twilight had sealed the room before their earlier escapades. Her training hadn’t covered this.

Scanning the room, she noted her guard armor tucked into the corner. It had an anti-magic charm she could crack if she could get to it. At best, the charm would wake Twilight up. At worst, it would free the room from Twilight’s seals.

Dreams tried twisting, flailing and struggling underneath the iron weight in a futile attempt to wiggle free.

Twilight cocked her head, and the red eyes slowly blinked. A strangely wide smile grew across her face as she leered at the squirming guard pony.

Dreams did not like that smile, it had far too many teeth that most certainly were not there last night.

“Who are you? What have you done to Princess Twilight?” She stopped struggling to question it. Maybe she could buy time for the guards outside to notice the magic flux and break in. There had to be a few unicorns on shift somewhere in the castle tonight.

The purple and red face slowly frowned, before glancing up and down Dreams’ body. Twilight’s voice sounded wet, and the words seemed to gurgle from her throat. “No.” A red, bubbling mass welled from her throat as she spoke. This time the word was a command.

“Writhe.”

Dreams began to shake. She felt her body slowly twist, and her mind heard the word before her ears did. The red mass dropped from Twilight’s mouth, landing on her stomach. As Dreams began to rhythmically gyrate, she watched the mass in horror.

It whispered to her.

“Writhe.”

The fur on her stomach began to wave, bending away from the mass as it wriggled against her undulating body. Dreams felt something stretching under her skin where the mass was, and saw a bulge lifting up underneath her fur. As the red mass wriggled, it began to sink into her flesh. Long tendrils of raised flesh stretched under her fur. Against her will, her body writhed.

The princess forgotten, Dreams began to scream.

Twilight pressed her hips forward, feeling flesh part around her as she buried herself in the little pony. Its pussy was wet, and it undulated around her perfectly. Squeezing it around her member, she groaned. The little pony had stopped screaming hours ago, and now hardly even moaned as she held it tight against her chest.

She’d awoken from a strange and frightful dream, feeling oddly giddy and fresh. Her partner for the evening had been pinned underneath her, squirming and shifting in an impossibly alluring way. Twilight would never force a pony, but something about the way Dreams was moving had caused Twilight’s hooves to shake and her groin to burn.

Dreams had certainly wanted it earlier. If that wasn’t enough, Dreams at least hadn’t said no. While the screams had been loud, they hadn’t seemed directed at Twilight or her brand new long and smooth appendage that squirmed between her legs. It had felt simply heavenly when Twilight had pressed it against Dreams’ pussy lips. Twilight had been gentle at first, unsure of how Dreams would respond.

When Dreams hadn’t noticed, and instead simply screamed at her own bellybutton, Twilight simply forced it in.

All of it.

Twilight shuddered. She was almost paralyzed by how hot the inside of the little mare was. Almost enthralled by how deliciously Dreams quivered around her ever growing length. Almost obsessed with how when she coiled the length, Dreams’ insides stretched with her.

Twilight had kissed her then, utterly lost in the rush of passion. She pressed her face over Dreams’ terrified scream and silenced her by covering her with a large and enveloping maw. He tongue plugged Dreams’ open mouth, licking and pressing deeper down Dream’s throat as the guard gurgled around the undulating appendage. The little mare had her entire snout trapped within Twilight’s suckling lips, and could no longer scream.

At first, the room had been nearly silent in the absence of the screaming, but soft wet noises slowly filled the void. The rhythmic thrust of Twilight’s new thing into Dream’s pretty little green pussy sloshed and sucked noisily as it grew wetter and more obscene. Everything else was more erratic. Twilight’s soft, but urgent moans grew in intensity as she held Dream’s snout captive in her lips. Dreams made snorting grunts as she tried to scream, only managing to inhale Twilight’s flesh and spittle. Even her constant squirming against the bed was causing the blankets to quietly shuffle underneath her.

The heat never seemed to relent, instead only growing as Twilight continued to thrust. Twilight had felt something building, but it wasn’t an orgasm, at least not like she knew. The feeling was focused in her new thing, a red hot energy that made it shiver and stretch on its own. As the sensation slowly grew, the burning only grew into a localized euphoria that made her fleshy organ feel better than anything she’d ever experienced.

Twilight had groaned loudly the first time Dreams came, the sudden erratic shaking and squirting from Dream’s pussy and brief pause in screaming had been the only indication of Dreams’ orgasm. Normally, Twilight would have given her lover a brief respite after their moment, but this time it only made Twilight need to fuck her harder. Dream’s tattered voice had grown dry, but her still gushing lower lips met Twilight’s thrusting just the same. Their flesh kissed, and naked skin slapped wetly as Twilight desperately ground into the still orgasming pussy.

Dreams’ legs kicked the air as Twilight let them go, relishing the body’s writhing as they fucked. Every undulating movement that Dreams made caused Twilight to fill with more need. She needed that mare wrapped around her thing, she needed to feel Dreams squirm and squirt and then squirm some more.

Magic lit up her horn as Twilight gave even further into her debauched need. She’d decided to help the guard relax so she would enjoy her coming string of orgasms. The spell ripped from her horn faster and more effective than her magic had been in years, causing Dreams to fall into silence and smile.

Twilight smiled back, never stopping her thrusting as she used the bottom part of her thing to wrap around Dreams’ clit. She squeezed it as she thrust, pulling the constantly moving pony into an embrace.

Dreams wriggled seductively as her pupils slowly shrunk to empty pinpricks, and her mouth hung open, completely slack. She didn’t even moan when she came.

Twilight’s smile widened as her eyes focused on the deliciously writhing torso underneath her. Her mind focused on the torso as it undulated. Nothing else mattered. Twilight groaned as she thrust deeply into the warm and wet quivering hole. It wriggled.

Whatever else it may have been didn’t matter anymore. From now on, all would writhe.

The thing underneath her writhed, and Twilight desperately redoubled her efforts to fuck it.

Soon it was just her. She didn’t know who she was, but it wasn’t important. There was only one feverish and consuming thought taking up the entirety of her mind. She frantically thrust into a quivering, squirting, brainless mass of flesh she’d found wrapped around her.

Everything writhed.

Nothing had ever been so wonderful.

Twilight woke up still feeling lethargic from her sleeping spell. All of her limbs were hard to move, and the world seemed far away somehow. As it all came into focus, she wondered if the spell had been worth it. The dreams she’d had were disturbing, to say the least.

Nervously, she glanced over at Dreams, noting that the guard was still sound asleep.

Regardless of strange dreams, it was time to raise the sun. Carefully, Twilight nudged her sleeping bedmate.

“Time to wake up, sexy.”

Dreams shook awake slowly, then her eyes shot open. They were bloodshot and her pupils were writhing. She screamed.

Twilight jumped out of bed, startled by the shriek, and almost slipped in a red pool of fluid. Glancing down in panic, her nostrils flared when she smelled blood. The floor began to squirm under her hooves as the blood formed into a multitude of wriggling masses that slowly crawled up her legs.

Twilight fought back at first, stomping and scraping it off her until one touched her snout, causing her to remember.

This was magic. This was life.

Twilight opened her mouth for the writhing, wriggling bloody mass of tendrils.

They tasted like thick wet iron as they crawled down her eager and willing throat.

Twilight woke up again, this time sweating, and glancing about the room nervously. Her horn buzzed painfully, causing a slight headache. Her eyes were puffy and swollen half shut. Dreams was standing over her saying something, but Twilight couldn’t hear. She just looked around the room in a paralyzed panic.

“Princess? Are you okay?”

Twilight blinked, remembering the horrifying things that had happened to her. Was it over? She opened her mouth, tasting the air.

It tasted of iron.

“Princess, it’s time to raise the sun.” Dreams was looking frustrated.

Twilight blinked again, taking a breath as realization came crashing into her. It was the sleep spell. It had caused her to have nightmares. This was real. She squinted, suspiciously at Dreams.

Real enough so far.

“Princess, do I need to get a doctor?” Concern was plastered on Dreams’ face.

Twilight slowly shook her head. “No… “ Her voice was dry and raspy. “I’m fine.”

Dreams didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

Twilight nodded. “Bad reaction to a sleep spell. Water, please…”

Dreams slipped off the bed, and quickly made her way to the bathroom to fill a cup.

Twilight watched her swishing tail. That little mare sure was sexy with the way she moved. Twilight had fun playing with her last night, and even now wouldn’t mind slipping her thing back into that juicy pussy while she screamed and…

Writhed…

Twilight hung her head off the side of the bed, and retched.

Dreams came back quickly with a cup in hoof and watching Twilight carefully. “Some spell.”

“Ugh… Yeah… Never again…” Twilight looked back at Dreams, and imagined her squirming. The thought brought a warmth to her marehood. Twilight hadn’t had a sexual dream in a long time. She wished this one hadn’t been so disturbing. She’d otherwise enjoy the image in her head. Carefully, she took the glass in her magic, and decided to risk it.

She sipped it slowly, washing the thick iron taste back down her throat while Dreams continued to watch her.

“Are you sure you don’t need a doc? That’s seems a little worse than a hangover. Your eyes are looking worse than bloodshot.” Dreams frowned, then stepped closer with more concern. “Actually, Princess…”

Twilight downed her water, wiping her mouth with her hoof. “Yes?” She looked at Dreams, locking gazes with the little mare.

Dreams focused on Twilight intently. “I think… no… Your eyes are definitely glowing. Just slightly red.”

Twilight dropped the glass, letting it shatter as she waited for the floor to turn into blood, or Dreams to start shrieking.

Neither happened, but she also didn’t wake up.

The tests were conclusive. She had new magic—lots of it. Enough that she could feed it into the world and make a measurable difference. Enough that it mattered.

She stared at the letter, unsure of what to think. She’d had Dreams tested as well. The earth pony was brimming with as much magic as an archmage. Twilight let her now apparently glowing eyes drift out the window.

She cautiously approached it and listened to the city. It was alive, as always. The carts traveled. The doors slammed shut. Joe was hawking donuts. A thief had stolen somepony’s bits. A cat meowed. The children played.

Twilight leaned out the window, letting her senses focus on them.

They played. The foals played.

And nothing haunted her.

Almost startled, she stepped away from the window. Something had changed last night. So far, it had only affected herself and Dreams. But it was something. It was a glimmer of possibility. Their odds of survival had gone from zero to something.

Twilight started to smile, closing her eyes and reaching with her newfound magic into the dead earth.

Deep below the surface, hidden within the corpse of their world, she felt it.

It felt her probing magic, and It writhed.

writhing

Twilight shuddered as she lay over the sleeping forms of the two mares. She’d worked them to exhaustion, which had proved quite the challenge. No new magic had been born, but she could feel it now, watching her. All she needed was the next step.

She’d done what she needed, and she’d done what she’d wanted. The thing underneath had wanted to see them bare. It had needed to see them raw, to hear them moan and gasp, and to feel the shudders in their bodies as her hooves and magic made them quiver and delight.

They’d needed to writhe.

And they had.

Twilight smiled in joy as they slept soundly, secure in the fate of her ponies. It wasn’t the act of sex. That had been in Equestria forever. It wasn’t whores, or tawdry guards, or illicit scandals. Those things had always existed, even if they’d been kept quiet and hushed by the old gods.

The thing underneath wanted something else. It needed the spectacle. It needed them to writhe, and it needed to experience it. It had watched Twilight and Dreams. And now it was inside of her. The quivering, eager mass of magic that had yearned to explore these mares. Right in this moment, the magic wanted nothing more than to slip from between her legs and conquer these sleeping innocent ponies, to spread within and corrupt them. To fill them with its essence. To force them to writhe.

She laughed at it.

The magic was a powerful, primal thing. But it was so, terribly simple. It couldn’t understand. They’d given themselves as willingly as they could, each to the level of their understanding. There was no conquering. No violence. Not tonight. No, they’d consented and the thing underneath didn’t understand that. She consented. She’d allowed and encouraged it.

It hadn’t just watched. It had been there. It had participated. She’d used that magic to bring both the girls to orgasm over and over again, letting the red wriggling spellwork slip and slop over their clits like some obscene organ.

They’d loved it. She’d loved it. The thing had loved it.

There was one step left. She’d teased it, taunted it, and let it touch but not given in completely. It was time for her to “surrender” to it. She laughed again, amused at her own audacity as the sleep spell numbed her mind and the red pressure filled her skull while the thing from underneath writhed in excitement.

Twilight was surrounded in a writhing mass of magic. The oily tendrils coated her fur, soaking her as they slid and wriggled every which way. Her senses were overloaded as the magical pressure squeezed her again, but this time she relaxed from the beginning. It had already filled her fully, what was a little more?

A tentacle of magic writhed down her throat, and stretching and coiling as it spread her flesh. It didn’t tear her apart—she’d already been torn apart. Instead it met the magic coiled within her, the red wriggling mass that had been left last night. They touched in her esophagus, and she coughed. Hacking, gurgling, wretching, the thing quieted her.

It didn’t care about her.

Twilight stilled as it searched her body for more of itself. Her legs were spread, and she was filled. It wriggled, undulating until it found its match already inside of her.

The thing continued to fill her. Every orifice was filled, and every tendril of magic was met with a mate. She was already carrying so much of it. It thrummed.

She thrummed.

It writhed.

They writhed.

Orange Glow woke up with a sweat. Something was wrong. She was laying on the bed, frozen as red tendrils coiled around her hooves, grasping at her. She shivered.

The tendrils were so warm, so tantalizingly warm. In the dark, a red glow illuminated the room as Twilight’s eyes opened. She turned toward Orange with a smile that was far, far too wide. The red light was almost blinding in its intensity, and Orange smiled.

Her hooves ached as the coiled magic squeezed tighter than it should, and a strange rhythm echoed in her body. Orange’s smile stretched as she began to writhe.

Cherry groaned, finding herself on the floor. Her head was killing her, and she desperately needed water. Shakily, she got to her hooves, and stumbled forward in the dark, bumping into the tray full of drinks that Twilight had ordered to keep them hydrated through the night.

She groggily brought the cup to her face, and drained it. The water was cool and refreshing, suddenly sharpening her senses as the magically cooled drink sent a quiet shock to her system. And now she had to pee, of course.

Cherry sort of remembered where the bathroom was, but she wished there was some light. A low, repeating thud caught her attention and she heard a slight groan.

No way. She was shocked that Orange still had it in her—the absolute dog. “Are you two still going at it? It’s like, I dunno, four in the morning or something. Talk about horny. Can one of you horn heads give me a little glow so I can find the bathroom? This pegasus has got to make it rain.”

A soft red glow filled the room, and the shadows seemed to teeter back and forth as the two kept going at it, nonplussed by her statement. Cherry chuckled, “Fuck. You only live once I guess. Let me drain another glass and make a tinkle, and I’ll jump back in. I think I owe you a little adoration, Princess.”

Somthing about the room felt slow, like she was walking in a dream as she slogged her way to the bathroom. It almost felt like swimming. Curiously, she used her wings to gently propel herself forward. “Fuck. I’ve gotta be asleep. No way the air is this thick.”

Carefully, she flew or swum to the bathroom, and found the toilet in the dark. The strange pressure almost made her fall off, and she was faced with another conundrum.

Cherry began to mutter to herself, “If I’m asleep, and I piss in this dream, I’ll piss in the bed. It’s the princess’s bed. I don’t wanna piss in the princess’s bed. I have to piss. I don’t have a pineapple. Fuck.”

She looked around the room for a pineapple, instead seeing the shifting rhythmic shadows and red glow from the bedroom dancing across the tiled bathroom floor and wall through the cracked door. She heard some wet gurgling and grunting. Her bladder screamed. “At least she’ll remember me.”

Cherry practically moaned herself as she did her business. Absentmindedly, she gave herself one lazy wipe and then she did not flush. She figured it was a dream anyways, but maybe it’s just who she was at four in the morning.

The red glow and the rocking shadows didn’t slow down. She didn’t feel a wet leak down her leg, and wasn’t jarred awake by the sensation of a too warm puddle underneath her growing suddenly cold.

Score! She hadn’t just pissed in the princess’s bed. Cherry happily swam back through the oddly thick and pulsing air, using her wings to press against the errant currents. On the way, she grabbed another drink from the table and downed it. Dream water had no consequences, and she was thirsty as heck.

What a weird fucking dream this was, though. As she got closer, the mass of moving flesh made less and less sense. Twilight appeared to be hunched over Orange, burying her in her wings so Cherry couldn’t see her friend at all. The glow wasn’t just from Twilight’s horn, and the strange light dancing across the room seemed to be slipping out from gaps in her feathers.

Cherry suddenly felt more awake, and more than a little concerned. She looked around the room nervously, concerned that it didn’t look quite like a dream. But then again, dreams didn’t think they looked like dreams. If only Shield was here, she was great at this shit.

Cherry was not.

Unwilling to worry about this anymore, she tapped on Twilight’s shoulder. “Hey, uh, I’m either going to wake up and get some or get eaten by some dream demon.”

The lurching stopped, and Twilight’s wings slowly parted. When she lifted her head to look at Cherry, she didn’t have eyes. Well, not exactly not eyes, but more like long wriggling worms instead of eyes. And her mouth was one big bulging tongue thing. Cherry glanced down at Orange, and saw empty eye sockets where her eyes should be. Orange was smiling as wide as equinely possible, convulsing like she was having some sort of seizure.

Cherry looked back at Twilight and shrugged. “Dream demon it is, then.”

Twilight lunged at her.

Twilight was in ecstasy. These ones didn’t scream. They were eager. They were hungry for her. She was hungry for them.

They writhed.

Orange and pink flashed in front of her eyes, and she remembered names. Names were important. Cherry Burst and Orange Glow. She couldn’t forget them. Not like the other one. He was gone now. Who knew how long the armor would last. As long she remembered, as long as they put on a show, they’d live. As long as they writhed and it knew them, they were safe.

She’d make sure they put on a hell of a show.

Mouth on pussy, worm cock in asshole, hooves in anything, Twilight filled them. She filled them all, hoping, begging, knowing it was enough. She wasn’t sated. It wasn’t sated. But it was a start. It was a promise.

She groaned, smiling in her stupor as she reached out to the thing underneath.

The promise was simple. The story was straight forward. Maybe it was a prayer. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe she was better than this. Then again, maybe not.

She begged it, chanting to the thing that could save them with it’s alien magic. The words were silent, communicated in a way that it understood. We entertain. We serve. We’ll be your whores, your victims, your monsters, your clowns, your love, your obsessions. Don’t leave us. Don’t forget us. Please, just stay. We need you. We will give you anything. We’ll be anything. You’re all we have left.

Twilight’s promise was everything, and she meant it.

As for you, well, you react. Maybe you smile, maybe you frown, maybe your mouth stays still, but you know that she’s right. Don’t you?

She’ll writhe. At least until you move on to your next obsession.

Author's Note

Happy Halloween! Just a friendly reminder that half the folks keeping the lights on in this fandom are ya deviants. So I thought I'd write a story about you! Me. Us. Also it's super cliche, and I had a different (less meta) ending, but I like this one better.

The other one did not have Orange and Cherry at all. It did have a haggard but desperate Cadance and a stone cold Flurry heart. It was DARK. This is, surprisingly, a lot less fucked up. Also, don't worry. Orange and Cherry are absolutely fine. That is, as long as somebody remembers their names.

undulating

The letters had been sent. Of course, the first one had gone to Spike. His was a little different. For the others, she’d started with her fellow princesses.

‘There’s magic in Canterlot. Please help me spread it.’

She didn’t know why she felt compelled to write such a short and cryptic missive. Was it the excitement? The relief? The influence from the thing underneath? It didn’t matter. She’d do anything to save her ponies. She’d become anything. Whatever it took, she would grab it.

And it would writhe.

Quivering strangely, she called for Dreams. The little earth pony had promised her a party tonight, and she fully intended to partake. She needed to partake.

There was a knock at the door, and Twilight opened it with her magic, relieved at how easy the movement was after years of magical lethargy. The guard standing at attention wasn’t Dreams. He was a blue pegasus, a big one, and he seemed startled by the door’s rapid movement.

Twilight shook her head, dismissing her disappointment as quick as it arrived. “Have you seen Sergeant Dreams? She promised to visit me tonight.”

The guard saluted. “No, Ma’am. Sergeant Dreams is out sick tonight.”

Twilight frowned. “Oh dear. Is she all right?”

The guard was surprisingly professional as he continued on. “Yes, Ma’am. She says that she’ll be back tomorrow. I also have a missive saying that she left a couple of special friends for you in the guest wing. Would you like for me to send for them?”

Twilight licked her lips and smiled as something inside of her squirmed. “Oh, yes please.”

The guard gave her a strange look. “Right away, your highness!”

As the heavy door closed, she watched the guard stallion scrape it across the floor. She wasn’t normally particularly interested in stallions, but something about his blue fur just made her want to touch it. It looked so glossy and still, strangely set too tightly against his skin.

She coughed, causing him to pause. “How long until they get here?”

He furrowed his brow in confusion. “Once I send for them it will be a few minutes.”

“Good. Please do that. And then can you do me a favor?”

The guard saluted. “I live to serve, your highness!”

Twilight shivered in anticipation. What a strange reply on his part. She really, really wanted to touch his fur and run her hooves through it. Her laminae eagerly quivered within her hooves. “Mmm… Can you step inside and let me stroke your fur? It looks so gorgeously smooth…”

The stallions answer was quick, if confused. “Of course, Ma’am.”

Twilight’s hooves tingled with excitement as she watched the guard send a missive, then step back through the door.

She used her magic to close it for him, as she used her hooves to take off his armor.

Cherry Burst was giggling with excitement as she chatted with her sometimes sex-buddy, the ever indulgent Orange Glow. “I still can’t believe Shield hooked us up like this!”

Orange, her coat the color of her name, smiled back smugly as she lifted another dessert off the tray. “I guess all that teasing her about it finally paid off.”

Cherry laughed, using her wing to grab one for herself as she snickered. “This totally makes us actual whores, you know that?”

“No, it makes us concubines, but only if she keeps us around. Princess Twilight is royalty, so this doesn’t count as whoring. If it’s a one night thing, it’s just helping out a friend like we usually do. Just, a, you know, super important royal friend. Who maybe isn’t exactly our friend just yet. Besides, she’s not paying us.”

The tart was exceptionally sweet as Cherry nibbled on it, somehow feeling more real than any tart she’d had in the last couple of years. “Please, we’d never be allowed into the private area of the castle, let alone put into a royal guest suite and given treats. The experience alone is worth a fortune in bits. It’s better than money.”

The unicorn contemplated this, lighting up her horn to poke at the walls again. “I suppose, but let’s be real. We’d both bang her for absolutely nothing. I think that makes it not whoring? If she wants to take care of us, that doesn’t change our minds either way. She could have met us in a bar downtown and I’d buy her drinks, even if I couldn’t afford it.”

“Why do you keep doing that?” Cherry frowned, waving her light red (not pink, never pink) wing at her friend’s horn.

Orange blushed. “Oh. It’s just, the magic here is strange. Since we’ve gotten in the castle it doesn’t feel like any magic I’ve ever felt. It’s warm, and it keeps, um, wriggling? So it’s hard to pin down. But it’s also got a lot of ‘umph’ to it, you know? It’s just so fascinating. And it’s weird that it’s in the walls and stuff. Must be some super important royal enchantment.”

Cherry waggled her eyebrows. “If you don’t stop being a nerd then I’ll give you a lot of ‘umph’.”

The horn fizzled out. “Sorry. It’s just so strange. Maybe I need a little ‘umph’. I’m honestly a little nervous. I mean, this is The Princess.”

Sighing, Cherry put her wing over Orange and pulled her into a hug. “Relax, ya goof. Princess Twilight’s been weird the last couple of years, but Shield said she’s doing better and that she fixed whatever the thing was that’s been messing with stuff. Just like she always does. She just needs a little boost, and we’re here to help her with that! We’re like, the special secret super sexy royal treatment team.”

Orange snuggled her back. “What if we’re not good enough? What if I’m not good enough? I feel like I’ve lost my mojo over the last couple years. I used to love things like this, but lately my heart hasn’t been in it. Ever since… I’m just…”

She stared silently at the wall, distracted by the magic again.

Cherry gave her a re-affirming squeeze. “It’s not just you, Glowstick. We’ve all been a little tired. But we’re in this together, okay? If we’re not good enough, then you can count on me to make it spectacularly not good enough so that we’re at least memorable.”

Orange snickered. “Don’t you dare.”

Cherry licked her lips, then leaned in to whisper in her friend’s hair. “What’s a little pineapple between friends?”

Her friend started to laugh. “You will not pineapple the princess, Cherry.”

Faking a pout, Cherry snuggled into her now chuckling friend, enjoying the softness of the poofy orange hair, and the lingering scent of magic.

Twilight smiled at the two mares as she appraised them. They were cute, and their fur was so straight. They’d clearly done themselves up to the best of their abilities for the night. The orange unicorn was blushing something fierce, and it made her adorable. The pink pegasus was unabashedly letting her eyes wander over Twilight—it was incredibly inappropriate and that only made Twilight want to giggle.

She let herself grin, maybe a little too eagerly. “Welcome to my parlor, friends of Dreams. I assume you’re the beautiful mares she asked to accompany me tonight?”

The pink one bowed, and used her wing to press the orange one gently down. “Cherry Burst and Orange Glow guilty as charged.”

Orange only uttered an awkwardly sharp “Hi” in response.

Twilight took a step back from the door, and motioned them in with her wing. “Please, come in. I’ve been looking forward to your company.”

Cherry walked in, gawking at the finery on the walls as she practically dragged her friend with her. “Wow, Your Majesty. I never thought I’d be in your room to party! You sure know how to live big.”

Twilight smiled, amused. “Well, I’m trying to get back in the swing of that actually. Dreams gave me a little push last night, and I think I’m ready for another.”

Cherry winked at her. “I think we can give you a little push. Maybe a little more. Isn’t that right, Orange?”

Twilight’s gaze drifted to the unicorn, who was staring at something in the dark corner. The unicorn’s eyes lingered in the dark, then looked questioningly at Twilight. “Umm… why are there two suits of armor absolutely saturated in that squirmy magic?”

Cherry smacked her in the head with her wing. “Orange! Stop nerding out! The princess wants to bang, not explain her dirty clothes.”

Twilight laughed. “It’s fine, Cherry. Orange is certainly feeling a little overwhelmed after being mana starved for so long, and suddenly feeling so much. And actually, I do a little nerding out myself. The armor is less interesting. Dreams left one of them this morning, we were both in a bit of a daze. The other…” Twilight frowned. What was the other one from?

She shook her head. “Well, don’t worry about the other one. The important bit is about the magic! That’s actually one of the reasons I was eager to meet you tonight. Can I tell you a secret? An important one, the kind that Dreams has been sworn to keep.”

Orange slowly nodded, her eyes earnest and focused. Cherry frowned. “You’re not going to tell us that you eat ponies or something, are you?”

Twilight’s smile widened. “Only if you ask nicely, but that’s not the secret.”

Orange returned her grin. “Then yes please, Princess!”

How fun these two were. “Well, the last few years you may have noticed that you’ve felt lethargic. Almost like the magic was gone from your life. Have you?”

Orange nodded grimly, and even Cherry squinted suspiciously.

“Well, you’d be right. Magic died. Everypony you know is dying.”

Both of them widened their eyes, then looked at each other. Clearly they hadn’t expected to hear this tonight.

Twilight let her wings drape over them, pulling them both gently but firmly into a hug they seemed entirely unprepared for. “But now it’s okay. Dreams helped me solve it. We can save Equestria.”

Cherry pried herself out from under Twilight’s wing, while Orange stayed deathly still under it. The pegasus frowned as she spoke, “I’m not sure what I expected tonight, but I don’t think it was this. I’ll admit that I’ve been feeling down for a few years, but magic can’t die. I don’t know what you’re on about, but I’m kind of getting a weird vibe here, Princess. And it’s not the sexy kind of weird vibe like cat ears and hoofcuffs. No offense.”

Twilight nodded. “None taken. You’re right, this talk isn’t particularly sexy, but it’s important nonetheless. What happened with Dreams and I was an accident. Both of us were taken by surprise, but you can’t argue with the results. Can you, Orange?” Twilight’s eyes drifted down to the orange unicorn still wrapped in her wings.

Her voice was breathless, and tears lingered in her eyes. “No. You can’t. You and Shield made this? It’s real? We’re not going to die?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, surprised. “You knew?”

The unicorn hugged her tightly. “Yeah. It’s been pretty obvious for a while now. It was kind of a conspiracy for a bit, but lately most of the unicorns I know have just sort of quietly accepted it.”

Cherry narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Wait, this is real and you and the other stick heads knew it? I thought you were messing with me with how you always talked about the lack of magic.”

Twilight sighed loudly, letting her magic spread into the air. “Please, be kind. Orange and her friends made the same choice I did. What can one pony do against the inevitable?”

Orange and Cherry slightly relaxed as the aura of friendship magic touched them. Orange’s voice wafted out from under Twilight’s wings. “I’m sorry, Cherry.”

Cherry’s apology felt heavy and tired. “I didn’t mean to call you that, Orange. You know I love you.”

Twilight ushered Orange from under her wing to stand with her friend. “Regardless, I think we can fix it. Dreams and I had a beautiful accident. With you, I’d like to do it on purpose. I’m asking for your consent.”

Orange stamped her hoof forcefully, her eyes flashing to the armor swarming with magic. “Of course, Princess.”

Cherry frowned. “I’m not exactly sure what we’re talking about, but I’m going to be honest here. I’m a very easy mare, and there was a rumor I might get laid tonight. If that’s still on the table, then I’m still in.”

Orange glared at her friend. “Cherry, we are going to help bring magic back to Equestria.”

Cherry glared back at her. “Yeah, but like in a hot sexy way right?”

Orange’s glare grew cross, disbelieving her friend’s audacity.

Cherry repeated herself, a little more frantically as she appeared to grow slightly more concerned. “In a hot sexy way, right?”

Twilight's smile turned into a smirk as she took a pointed step towards the awkward duo.