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Chapter 7 (Tuperasophobia) [Fear of a formidable opponent]
The chamber was in turmoil, the two princesses were ready to use their magic at any moment.
Celestia gave advice to Rarity:
"Rarity! Please leave the chamber. Twilight Sparkle is not aware of her actions. She's a very dangerous person."
Twilight was even a little amused by this.
"Celestia, just because I woke up a little early doesn't mean I'm dangerous or the demon you think I am. You can expect no provocation from me, and I won't give you any reason to use force on me. And at the end of the day, I'm in the mood to talk. So it would be smart not to make a big deal out of it, don't you think?"
To the entire monologue of the apprentice, Celestia replied coldly:
‘’We have read your diary up to the thirty-second entry. What do you have to say for yourself? You know that killing ponies, under the strictest prohibition!"
There was silence, as the patient seemed to be lying there, remembering that unfortunate world.
"Oh, I remember. And I'll answer your questions right away. Yes, I was abused, but no, I'm not going to kill the aristocrat here. And the third answer is yes, I did. Because it was necessary. I made what I thought was the right decision at the time."
"Was it necessary?"
"You don't ask a disease to go away with words, do you? Or treat it with antibiotics? I was the cure-all. I eradicated the virus that was parasitising the social mass of those poor people. I'm not sure I know the history of your reign, but I sure hope you didn't have to take part in such things,’ Twilight studied the lamp on the ceiling until Celestia asked again."
"Then... Why did you attack me? I saw so much aggression in you at that moment, but I also saw nothing but emptiness in you, I thought it was just a daily routine for you."
After pondering the question for a moment, Twilight turned her head in her direction.
"You were just prey for me, you see... Alicorn horns are a rare resource. I've always saved my strength and distributed the contents of my luggage as optimally as possible. Remember the mathematical NP-complete backpacking problem? Now I can solve it intuitively, without the need for complicated calculations. But you have nothing to fear, I don't set myself the goal of resource extraction now. In fact, I don't have any thoughts of that kind anymore. I've made my peace."
"Then, dare I ask, what are your goals?"
"A holiday. I haven't had such a rest in years. My instincts don't scream, I'm not hunted. I don't need to run from anyone, I don't need to save everyone. I'm just taking a break from all this shit. You know? Of course you do. You've both ruled for over a thousand years without a day off, and I'm sure you'd both like a break."
At one point, Twilight started talking. Celestia thought she couldn't hear them again and was delirious. But after a little while, she continued again:
"And while I'm here, I'm being guarded from outside threats, or even let everyone think I'm the main threat. Is there any point in me running away or provoking you? I think not. And I don't care right now if you consider me your friend, student or the like. I'm on holiday. And when I do, I'll just walk around and try to enjoy the beauty of the area."
Celestia immediately became wary.
"Twilight, I don't know how sane you are right now, but you do realise we can't let you go right now, don't you?"
A chuckle came from the side of the bunk. A smug smile appeared on the alicorn's face, and her look was one of terror.
"Because you're afraid of me?" Twilight quipped wryly.
After all, she knew that the princess knew about her strength levels. It was not for nothing that the scientists had been scanning her body for five days and had leaked all the information online to princesses and interested parties.
Celestia wanted to answer firmly and coolly, but all that came out of her mouth was the frantic rant of a frightened foal:
"I... I'm Not afraid of you."
"Yes, you are, Celestia. I can read fear in the eyes of other creatures. How's Discord? Alive and well? I apologise from the bottom of my heart for attacking him. Speaking of which, can I have some water? I can't have that pleasure chained up with all six limbs and lying on my back. I realise this sanatorium is all-inclusive. But I'd like to take the comfort plus."
Rarity's immediate reaction to the shackled phrase was to be outraged.
"Twilight? You... Why, Princess Celestia?" Rarity didn't know how Twilight was positioned and didn't even realise that she might be shackled to the bed, her entire body covered in a white blanket.
Celestia did not answer Rarity's question, all her attention was now on Twilight, she diplomatically tried to refuse her request, intending to get answers from her.
"Yes, of course, but later. Right now I'd like a little more information from you."
Twilight addressed Rarity directly then, letting the princess' reply pass her ears:
"Rarity, please go get some water, this is going to be a long conversation. My throat is like the Arabian Desert right now. Hey, can I sit or stand up to stretch already? My body needs a daily workout, how am I going to keep myself in shape if I'm lying on my back all the time?"
"Sure, Twilight, I'll be right there!" Rarity immediately raced to get a carafe and a glass to fill it with water and bring it to her. And while the outsider ponies were away, they continued the conversation in a more straightforward manner.
"No, we can't let you do that. You are forbidden to leave this bunk, that's an order."
"Why is that, I wonder?"
"We can't take that risk! As ruler of Equestria, I should have already sent you to Tartarus for your actions and crimes!"
Twilight, having lost interest in this conversation, made eye contact with the lamp on the ceiling again.
She only half-whispered to herself:
"Come on, Celestia. Why is it that Discord is the most intelligent of the three deities so far? Why have you stooped to his level with your sluggishness and sloppiness? Why don't you do what he does, study from afar! And now he probably thinks I don't notice him!!!!" Twilight shouted louder, as if he was in the next room.
"I'm sorry, what!!!" Diarch was taken aback by this.
"He told you everything while I was asleep. I heard each and every one of you in that fancy lab of yours. But you're all trying to pretend it doesn't matter! Enough of this farce!"
"Twilight! Enough!" Luna decided to join the conversation, noticing that her older sister was starting to lose ground in the conversation. "This isn't a heart-to-heart, it's an attempt to resolve a conflict, stop being a clown! You need to be serious! Do you know what an unenviable position you're in right now?"
She snorted in response, but she found something to say right away:
"Counter question: does Tirek, who is now in Tartarus, have similar conditions? Is he just as immobilised, with no access to water or food? And is he being forcibly induced into sleep by various drugs?"
Luna did her best to parry:
"No, but you..."
"I haven't harmed this world in any way, to begin with. And if you don't want to consider the good things I've done, then you don't have to consider the bad things I've done either. I don't need to get all Themis-y on the scales here."
Rarity walked into the room, carrying a decanter and a glass of water in her telekinesis.
"Twilight, water. Let me, get you drunk, dear!" Rarity walked over to the couch in a crouch, holding the decanter and glass. She filled the glass with water and was ready to get her drunk.
"I'll drink it myself."
There was a nasty scraping of metal from the side of the couch, Twilight suddenly lifted the bedspread with one hoof. Twilight then picked up their water glass to bring it to her mouth and greedily sipped at the cool liquid. Celestia shivered slightly, fear filling her twin alicorn hearts once more. Luna in turn warily lit her horn on alert, ready to fight back at any moment. The satisfied patient soon placed the glass on the table next to the carafe that stood.
"Oh-oh... Thank you, Rarity. Leave it here. I'll get up later and finish the rest."
"Twilight!" Luna exclaimed, looking dumbfounded at the torn piece of mangled metal left in the bed.
"Oh... if you want to talk, let's do it on equal terms. I'm not a prisoner. You think I'm a criminal, judging by your behaviour. So be it, but in return I will demand the rights of a criminal. Food, water and a three by three metre space with proper oxygen, shower and toilet. I also want to be able to write to my family. I promise not to have shivs and phones, but I will trade toilet paper and soda bottle caps with others!"
Luna was getting annoyed with this behaviour.
"Stop talking down to us! We're not going to agree to those terms!"
Rarity didn't want to hear her friend talk like that and stood up for her:
"She is not a criminal! I'm sure of it!"
"So... Celestia, Luna,’ Twilight shook her head and sighed heavily and began to explain." You don't want information that's important to both of you to get into your heads. If I wanted to escape, I would have escaped by now. I've escaped from prisons that would seem quite desperate to you.
This tone of conversation, confused Celestia, she sobered almost immediately from the waves of her fear.
"Is that a threat?"
"No, oh-oh... Why am I still trying to get through to you and explain that I'm not going to threaten or harm you! You can put me in jail or Tartarus if you want, I'm just trying to make it clear. If I want to, I can get out, I can get out of Tartarus or any of your prisons, and before you know it, I'll be home reading my old favourite books."
"How do we know... that you're definitely our Twilight?"
"The crown,’ Twilight answered quietly." She brought me home. And it will synchronise with the Elements of Harmony here. I want to see Spike, my parents, Starlight, my brother, my niece, my nanny Cadence. Will they come to see me?
Both monarchs immediately shouted ‘No!!!’ in sync.
Twilight squinted her eyes, looking at the two angry faces:
"Aha, then I have no business being here."
Twilight calmly pulled her legs and wings out of the shackles without much effort. The shackles squealed as the three watched in stupor as she easily crushed the metal like plasticine. She stood on all four of her legs, crunching her stiff limbs and neck.
"Twilight! Please don't do anything you'll regret!" Rarity hugged the alicorn tightly, nuzzling her face into her chest because she was a head taller than she was and there was no way to hug her properly.
Sparkle only stroked her head lightly, letting her know that she wasn't going to run away or worse, become disruptive.
Giving Rarity a motherly squeeze, she turned to the princesses.
"So, Celestia and Luna, you're scaring my friend with your antics. Your excuses?" Twilight glared unceremoniously at both of them and reprimanded them like naughty children.
It was as if Celestia and Luna hadn't heard what she had just said. The older sister warned her student.
"Twilight! Don't move! Or we'll use force!"
"Well" Twilight calmly let go of Rarity, allowing her to stand beside her, and tried to grab a glass to pour herself a drink, but was suddenly hit by a beam of magic on her hoof, causing the glass to shatter.
Celestia's nerves were slowly giving out, she wouldn't have wanted to attack Twilight, but at this moment she thought she wanted to take the glass and throw it right at her to seize the moment and run away at the same moment.
"I said don't move!"
"So, we've reached a dead end" Twilight didn't even flinch at the pain on her leg where the magic had hit. "Ew... Stained wool and a burn, that doesn't smell good. Notice, you attacked first, and I didn't even do anything or make any attempt to attack. And like I said before, I'm not to be expected to provoke. Don't you think you could be considered a threat right now? Your actions could cost you dearly, Celestia. Now let me drink my water in peace."
Despite the tense atmosphere in the chamber, Twilight calmly took the carafe of water and began to drink greedily.
It wasn't long before an angry Luna got involved in the event.
"You did that on purpose! So that your sister would hurt you! You could have defended yourself!"
"Only you can use magic in the room, I can't. How could I have defended myself?"
"You broke the shackles like paper with magic."
"Magic? Are you sure? It was my physical strength. I turned your third-rate alloy with physical strength alone. You know, Applejack could break those shackles if she put her mind to it."
Both princesses whispered quietly:
"Impossible..."
In front of the monarchs sat a beast of superior strength, both physical and magical.
"Sixteen Exaltations. I was accepted and deemed worthy by many sacred relics, they shared their power with me. Amount of magic, sixth sense, parallel thinking, great regeneration. And much, much more" Twilight finished her water and set the carafe back down. "So, I've finally had a drink. We can continue our conversation."
"Darling, and your wound?" Rarity looked at her friend again.
"Rarity, sit on the couch. It's okay, it's not bothering me. Celestia, Luna. You have my word that I will not leave my castle without a drastic need to do so, and I will not harm anyone. If you need me, you can always contact me through Spike. But know this: if you want to pin made-up crimes on me out of thin air, hang me, it won't work. You try to kill me, kill me. You can get rid of me now. But... you'll also have to get rid of Rarity. Either way, the others will try to get back at you. Victims will be victims, there will be war and destruction. Genocide of the entire world order, and then instead of monarchy, anarchy will rule and reign. Do you want that? I doubt it."
Celestia and Luna thought about Twilight's proposal. They couldn't do anything against her, so they had to agree.
"All right, Twilight. We'll put you under house arrest, but there will be a 24-hour guard outside your house. So that no outsiders can get in or out!"
‘Perfect, I should have done that right away.’
"Oh yes. One more thing, not a threat, but a warning to you. I know what you are capable of in an emergency or stressful situation, Knightmare Moon and Daybreaker" both of them cringed at those names, but continued to listen. "If you touch either of them with a hoof or dare to blackmail me" she looked at them with a very serious look and her voice became colder,"I will personally come and destroy you both. I hope you heard me."
Afterwards Twilight became softer in her tone and even smiled quite a bit:
"Now I would like to go home."
Both monarchs had to agree, they had never had such stressful negotiations in their lives, not even in the middle of a war.
They had no way of knowing that the criminal would turn the tables and set her own terms.
In fact, she could have agreed to even worse conditions if someone had not been so stubborn and listened to the ‘criminal’ more carefully.
* * *
Twilight was moved from being a criminal to being a quarantined mare who needed to be isolated for a short period of time. Accompanied by guards, she was soon taken to her castle. Twilight entered the Friendship Palace alone. Exhaling the busy day through her lungs, she sank into her thoughts.
‘It's so quiet at home. It's been so long since I've been here, now I wish I could take a bath and get some sleep.’
"Surprise!!!" they all shouted with glee.
The main party organiser was Starlight. Pinkie wasn't among the crowd for some reason.
"Twilight! Welcome home!" shouted the keepers of the Elements of Harmony. Then it turned out that Pinkie hadn't been able to free herself due to work pressure.
"It's been so long since I've seen you all."
A kind, sweet smile appeared on her face. Maybe it's a dream. No. Could it be oblivion, or is she dead? No. She's standing on all her hooves. It's all real.
"Twa-a-a-ay!" Spike ran up, hugging her hoof because he was too short compared to her.
"Spike," Twilight hugged him gently in a motherly way. This was who she wanted to see the most in the castle.
"We arrived as soon as we heard you'd been released from the hospital! Twi!" Her parents and her older brother and Cadence walked up to her. "You've grown up!" Shining gently patted her little sister's mane.
She didn't bother spoiling the moment or bickering, for it was unnecessary. Let the others know as little of her past as possible. They would sleep better. And with her friends, she would always find time to talk. She carefully hid her extraneous thoughts behind a smile. She decided to reassure Spike first and foremost.
"It's all right, Spike. It wasn't anyone's fault there. If there's a problem with the mirror portal, it's only my irresponsibility and my thoughtlessness."
Twilight walked towards the crowd of ponies to finally rest. To rest mentally and forget about all her problems that had been accumulating for years.
* * *
The day passed quickly. Twilight and her apprentice Starlight sat by the fireplace and drank cocoa and buns. Spike had long since retired, and the family was in the adjoining bedrooms. Twilight pulled up a log in the fireplace with a poker. She decided to talk to her apprentice in private.
"Not a word to anyone about what was written in the diary, Starlight."
"Not a word. I promise, Master."
"Well, well, well. What kind of teacher am I to you?"
"Not at all! With your years of experience, I feel as green as a young sprout! Teach me what you know! Please?"
Twilight smirked, looking at Starlight. Her face could make her look cute at this moment, well, could she say no to her?
"If you're interested in anything from the diary, I'll tell you."
"Twilight! Please tell me about the first time you made an irreparable, rash decision. I need to know what mistakes are best not to make... If you don't mind."
"No. I don't mind. Smart ponies learn from mistakes. So listen up, Starlight. It was two hundred and ninety-nine years ago."
And so, with a cup of hot cocoa, the story of Twilight's journey through uncharted and dangerous worlds continued.
Chapter 1 (Autophobia) [Fear of loneliness]
The quiet day of Ponyville was replaced by the loud scream of a small dragon running down the street, screaming in panic and almost crying. Even Rarity, who once dropped her lipstick on her wedding dress, could be jealous of his hysteria.
“It should not be! It should not be!“ Spike yelled, practically stumbling as he ran and gasping for air.
“Hey, what shouldn't happen?“ Rainbow abruptly distracted him, fluttering above him.
“There! Twilight! Trouble! She!..“ the dragon stammered through every word, loudly shouting everything separately.
“Hey, take it easy. Don't panic so much, let's catch your breath. And tell us clearly what exactly happened? I'm sure we can help you!“ confidently and sternly, as always, she grabbed him and slightly lifted him off the ground, making his movements meaningless.
“Well... She went into the portal and told me, “ I’ll go there and back, I’ll be back in an hour. “ And the portal is a mirror! It... It burst!!! “ the little dragon explained the situation more loudly in his last breath and with wild horror.
“Well, Spike, you’re not superstitious, “ Rainbow noted reluctantly, in vain trying to turn his panic into a simple joke, as usually happened at such moments.
“She stayed there! “ Spike shouted just as loudly in her face, which is why she resigned herself and stopped trying to convince him otherwise. Still, even the die-hard realized that she needed to turn to her elders in intelligence.
“Listen, Spike. Wait a little, I’m sure that Starlight and a couple of other nerdy ponies will help us in this situation. Or at least there's Celestia and Luna?“ Celestia forbid, we’ll call Discord too,” Dash tried to calm him down, still holding him in the air.
“Yes... Starlight! She's smart! She will help...“ Spike immediately pulled himself together, agreeing with the pegasus.
At such moments, a miracle usually happens, but... as happens in cruel reality, this time it did not happen. A crowd of everyone who could help in any way had already gathered near the portal. Starlight, breathing heavily, tried to use telekinesis to assemble the mirror from the pieces into a single whole. Yes, of course, it worked, but there was no point. It looked like the most ordinary mirror, reflecting only appearance, but it certainly did not work as a portal to another world. And as you might guess, simply assembling the fragments together did not lead to anything.
“Spike?“ asked Princess Celestia.
“Yes?“ Touching his claws, Spike looked at her. He clearly felt guilty for what had happened, but no one else shared his opinion. Not a single friend of his thought that Twilight's prank was his fault.
“What did Twilight tell you?“ the princess asked as calmly and quietly as possible, trying not to scare him.
“She... said that she wanted to make a grand discovery, and for this she used a mirror. I drew some symbols on the sides, and then opened it with my magic, and also with the help of an element. Then the portal glowed gray, and she left! I... I tried to dissuade her... Or go with her, but Twilight didn’t listen to me and told me that if she doesn’t come back in a day, to tell you about it! But after she went there and the portal went out, the mirror shattered into pieces! I immediately ran to call for help!“
“Princess, I’m powerless now...“ said Starlight, looking a little guiltily at Celestia.“ Without the Element of Magic or its essence, we could organize research, but...“
“So... This is very bad...“ Sunburst spoke. “Here’s what we know: no one knows where Twilight is, and it’s not clear how she disappeared... And what’s even worse, we have absolutely no idea where exactly the portal took her.“ I will conduct a few more experiments, but this time without the Element of Magic we will not be able to activate the portal there, and even if we knew how to get there... We do not have the exact coordinates!“ as if to confirm Starlight’s theory, he added.
“I completely entrust the research to you. I will provide any tools and materials that you need.“
Celestia herself didn’t know what to expect from this, and after the Elements didn’t work and even Discord threw up his different paws from his own helplessness, it made her start to panic a little. But she did not show this to others. The princess only prayed that the one she had taught for so many years would return back. Celestia could just tell her off... Maybe scare her for her bad actions, and then hug her.
The day passed quickly, but Twilight never returned. Spike, as a faithful assistant, sat and guarded the ill-fated mirror, to which numerous wires were connected; sensors scanned any impulses, translating them into data. Starlight, Sunburst, other researchers, as well as the occasional visitors Celestia, Luna, and Discord, gathered there to discuss what to do next.
“Spike, the day after tomorrow we will take the mirror to the laboratory. You shouldn’t be alone,“ Starlight said.
“But... I will take care of the castle! I’ll stay here,“ Spike definitely didn’t want to leave his and Twilight’s house unattended.
“Don't worry, we'll look after Spike!“ Rainbow said decisively.
“Sugar, you don’t need to worry, Twilight will quickly figure out how to get out of there, I think she just lost track of time. Don’t worry, we’ll check in on you every day,“ Applejack encouraged.
“It's so awful!“ Rarity responded. “Come to me, I will help you, darling! I can't stand this! How's Twilight doing? She's probably all alone!“ she said almost feignedly.
“Everything will be fine! I think she's having fun there!“ Pinkie said loudly. “When she gets back, we’ll throw a stunning party!“
“Thank you, girls, but I’ll still stay here. This is my home. Even if Twilight isn't here... I won't let this place stand still without her.“
Spike smiled faintly, but in fact he felt heavy at heart. He still believed that it was his fault. And that it was worth being much more persistent at that moment. He is her closest and first friend, after all.
Everyone hoped that this was some kind of joke and that their Princess of Friendship would return soon. Soon the day flew by, the second, the third. A week... Two whole weeks. Many no longer hoped for the return of the Princess of Friendship, and the mayor of Ponyville gave the go-ahead to erect a statue in her honor. Like a pony who risked her life dedicated to learning new things and had little regard for her own well-being. Someone began to think that she was dead. The statue showed all the greatness of Twilight as the Princess of Friendship and bearer of the Element of Magic.
“No! She didn't die! Twilight is alive!“ Spike asserted in a low voice, sitting quietly at her monument.
Around, at the foot of the statue, there were many bouquets. Many ponies were sad that their idol of friendship was missing. It was just as hard without a friend... a daughter... a younger sister and even a long-time guardian for Spike. It was difficult for everyone to understand this.
“Spike, don’t blame yourself, it’s no one’s fault. Twilight herself chose this path; nothing depended on us. The portal does not work, and the essence of magic... is not as easy to isolate as it seems. It may take several years... But don’t lose hope... I’m sure she will return, one way or another...“ Starlight tried to somehow cheer up Spike, first hugging him tightly. It was hard for her herself without her mentor.
* * *
Day 21: Research provides the ability to cross the mirror using other elements. But Discord warned that, at best, their mental perception in those worlds would be poor. That's why we're currently working on some robotic versions of ponies. But the research is also unsuccessful. The solution was to create simple frame cubes that would be fed into the portal on a manipulator.
Day 24. We did a couple of tests. Applejack activated the portal with her Honesty element. According to the commission, it is considered the safest. But as soon as we pushed the device there, it malfunctioned, and when we pulled it out, for some reason it began to melt before our eyes. Subsequent analyzes showed that it melted at a temperature of 213 degrees Celsius. Further research into this element was stopped.
Day 26: Rainbow Dash used her element of Loyalty. The portal opened quite quickly, it resembled a blue shell. Once stabilized, it resembled ripples in water, no matter how strange it was. There was indeed water on the other side. Having pulled out the ippoid from there, all that was left of it was one flattened plate. The steel frame was mercilessly crushed under the water. We took measurements and found out that the pressure on the other side exceeded 17 MPa. And this number is comparable to the bottom of the ocean. It was decided to stop further testing due to possible danger or death.
Day 28. We tried to combine three elements. Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy used their elements - Generosity, Honesty and Kindness. Energy had to be used many times more. As a result, a portal appeared with yellow-orange ripples. The device placed inside was intact for the first time. After the analysis, we pulled out the device, but it was covered with some kind of mucus, which over time, in our world, began to grow sharply, about 15 cm per minute. It was decided to destroy the object by burning and cremating the area near the portal. The portal was immediately closed. And the area around it has been quarantined.
Day 30. Special anti-magic magnets based on Neodymium and Dimerite were placed along the perimeter of the portal. Experiments were postponed until the portal's arrival area and quarantine area for creatures and devices were upgraded.
Day 32. We decided to try using Discord's Chaos magic. But unfortunately, after using his magic, the mirror creaked faintly. It was decided to postpone research until the apparatus was repaired.
Day 33. This morning at 6:43 the “mirror” began to hum in some unknown way. Small vibrations echoed throughout the laboratory, sending out magical waves all around. We didn't know what was happening.
* * *
“Attention! Attention! Evacuate all ponies from the mirror work area! Fast!“ Starlight commanded. A few minutes later everyone was behind thick glass. Everyone watched the mirror carefully. It sparkled, and then gradually began to bend. Soon the princesses, carriers of the elements, Discord and the rest of the scientists arrived there.
The portal hummed with renewed vigor, revealing a previously unseen shell of all the colors of the rainbow with a red scorch in the center in the form of lace. Something came out of there. A creature in a black helmet that was clearly alive. Perspiration was visible through the breathing holes on the mask; in appearance it resembled a changeling. There were bags hanging on his sides. The suit-armor that he was wearing looked exactly like something out of the techno comics that are very popular these days. Dust flew nearby and settled in a thin layer on the armor. Judging by the horn, the opinion has been changed, in front of them is none other than the unicorn.
“Who is this?“ Starlight quietly inquired, turning to Celestia in a whisper.
The creature in a black shell, stepping loudly, approached the nearest column, studying it with its front hoof. It didn't see any of them or anything else that could attract its attention. Suddenly, with just a weak wave of its hoof, it left a dent in the steel support of the structure, causing the entire building to shake violently. Everyone lowered their ears, looking at the creature, but not yet making an attempt to escape.
“Hmm... Steel...“ the figure spoke quietly. Hoarse and very low. Supposedly, there was a stallion under the mask. “Computer, analysis...“
“Attention... The air is breathable, I am adjusting the breathing mask. The temperature is suitable for staying. The world is magical.“
“Great...“ sitting loudly on the floor, the creature pulled out of its bag some kind of tablet and a large object of brown tones, the subject opened it like a book. Taking a pen made of a material resembling obsidian with magic, he began to write. And after putting away the book, he took the tablet and began to say something.
“Computer, recording,“ the tablet lit up blue. “World number *The number was not legible due to interference in the subject’s voice*. I'm in an unfamiliar room. Most likely, a copied world... I feel the presence of fauna. Stop recording...“
“Who are you?“ the speaker spoke quietly from the wall.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. You are still just inhabitants of another world or my imagination. There is no point in me answering you.“
“Starlight, look at her head... Isn’t that the crown that previously belonged to Twilight? Sunburst asked.“
“Where did you get this crown? Where did you get it?“ Celestia has already responded.
“Judging by your voice, you are Princess Celestia. No, more like her clone. The crown is mine. Do you want to take it away? Please try,“ it said quietly in a hoarse voice. “I just need to get a pair of alicorn horns.
“He’s clearly not friendly, princess! You should move away!“ Starlight commanded.
“Attention, auras of murder, threat and obvious rage have been detected,“ the base intercom announced.
“Yes, yes... In the techno world, the same crap was buzzing. The air and temperature here are ideal,“ there were notes of nostalgia in his voice.
“Raise the anti-magic barrier!“ Starlight ordered, after which the subject suddenly sank, as if under the weight of armor.
“Computer... Take the source of magic from the necklace on your chest,“ the subject ordered. “Activate combat mode, the target is alicorns,“ it rose from the floor and pointed its horn towards the crowd where everyone else was.
“He won’t be able to... there’s no magic there...“ Starlight whispered, her teeth quietly chattering with fear.
“We won’t allow it!“ the carriers of the elements shouted in unison, putting up their magical barrier.
A bright flash above the end of the enemy's horn shot a directed stream of magic towards the glass, burning through it, causing it to burst and fly apart. Two alicorns stood up to help, namely in holding the barrier. The rest, together with each other, held back the onslaught of his spell.
“This is very powerful... Princesses, leave! Rainbow Dash shouted.“
“Wait! Don't you think this magic seems very familiar?“ Luna responded.
“What's the difference? This stallion came out of nowhere and is brazenly attacking us! This unicorn can use magic without magic! It...“ Rainbow Dash looked at him and immediately forgot how to speak or even breathe. The wings are what got everyone confused and truly stunned. “A-alicorn?“ the pegasus said much more quietly.
He flew sharply towards them, breaking through the remains of the glass with his body and pounced on Celestia, knocking her onto her back and squeezing her shoulder with his hoof, immobilizing her. He quickly pulled out a scalpel from his bag and brought the sharp blade to her horn.
“Hey! I will not allow the princesses to be harmed in my presence!“ proclaimed the Spirit of Discord, who came out of nowhere.
“Oh, Discord... You've been gone for a long time. It’s interesting to see how you make faces,“ he said quietly, pointing the gun at him.
“Your toys are sexless against me...“ Shot. “Kh... aghh!“ Discord screamed hoarsely after a loud shot. He screamed, lying on the floor and writhing in pain. An object resembling a crossbow bolt was sticking out of the abdomen.
“Ah! Discord!!!“ Fluttershy quickly flew up to him, hugging him and trying to pull the strange thing out of his stomach.
“You will pay for this!“ Applejack was close enough to him to kick the offender, but that was not the case, she only flew a meter away from her blow. The ringing echoed with the blow. It would seem that she kicked with all her might, but the effect was minimal.
“Oooh, what a familiar aura. Come on, Applejack, show your strength, the element of Honesty…“ he spoke quietly.
“Twilight! Stop it! Are they friends of yours!“ Spike yelled loudly, looking at this brawl. “Take a closer look! You're hurting them!“ Everyone looked from Spike to the subject.
“Twilight?!“ everyone screamed in one voice, sharply and amazed.
He just snorted arrogantly.
“A rare world,“ he said quietly. “Although it’s surprising that the crown is in place.“ It's strange and new.
“We won’t let you harm anyone!“ Celestia and Luna sharply directed their magic at her.
“Shut the fuck up! Both!“ she shouted loudly in response, and it seemed that the mere sound of her voice broke the self-awareness and willpower of those around her, and both alicorns fell to the floor. Some kind of magical leashes made of magic plasma immediately appeared on their necks.
“Twi! Please stop...“ Spike begged on his knees, causing her to freeze, looking at him.
“You weren’t there. There was never Spike... Young Spike never... No! DID NOT HAVE! AGRGH!!” She walked away, quickly shaking her head. Then she stopped and directed an attentive glance at him.
She studied it... The suit folded, falling to the floor with a crash, giving free access to both the tail and mane, which fluttered in the same way as Celestia and Luna's. Soon she even took off her helmet to better see what color her Spike was.
Now no one had any doubt that Twilight was in front of them. True, she’s already grown up, but she’s still Twilight.
“Computer, Entry 109575. Quiet world. Locals are hostile, computer, analysis!“ he hummed, scanning the dragon. “No hostile aura detected. Okay, finish the analysis.“
“Twilight! Is that really you?“ Starlight Glimmer whispered barely audibly. Her smile spread across her face, and tears accumulated in the corners of her eyes.
“Hmm... The last time they called me that was many years ago...“ Twilight’s face, in turn, did not express any emotion. Her eyes were so empty that you could get lost in them, and the coldness emanating from her gaze could freeze the ocean.
“This got me hooked, thank you, Flatty, now go to sleep!“ Draconicus snapped his fingers towards Twilight, but she never fell asleep. “Um! Sleep! Do you hear? It's strange, I snap my fingers. Why...“
“Everything works, I just can’t sleep in the usual sense for you... Discord, are you a moron in this world too?“ Twilight gave him only a little attention.
“Ah... What?...“ Discord widened his yellow eyes and didn’t even know how to react to it. No one had ever expressed themselves like that in front of him or in front of the princesses, who lay quietly on their leashes.
“Twilight! If this is you, stop your madness! You're attacking your own friends!“
She turned her head to the side and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“Hmmm... Friends, right? Were you my friends?!“ Twilight now screamed loudly and furiously at them.
“The situation is getting out of control...“ Sunburst whispered inaudibly.
“Hey, Twi! I am the Lord of Chaos! Discord! Don't you dare touch them!“
A sharp turn of her head in his direction and such a painful look. It was so heavy that it seemed like it could actually cut space, which made even Fluttershy feel uneasy. She backed away, hiding behind Discord.
“Twilight... What happened to you?“ Celestia said quietly, lowering her voice, still lying on the floor, not believing how she could change in such a short time, in just one month of absence.
“Three hundred years...“ Twilight said quietly, as if hearing her arguments, and answered in advance. Like a snake spitting out these words.
The ponies reactions varied. Some did not believe, some were confused, and some were surprised and scared.
“Attention, critical content of Dopamine...“ said the device flying near Twilight’s ear.
“Leave me alone, piece of iron. Let me at least stay in silence here for a while... I give up...“ Twi whispered quietly, looking at the entire crowd and simply lay down on the floor, obediently stretching her hooves forward and laying her head on the floor. The collars on the alicorns immediately disappeared. “Do whatever you want with me...“ Twilight said in conclusion.
“Luna!“ Celestia called loudly.
“Yes Sister!“ She directed her magic at Twilight, plunging her into a deep sleep, and she obediently obeyed the spell.
Soon everyone breathed freely when the conflict and brawl stopped.
“Discord? Who is this?“ Celestia raised her voice again.
“Twilight, definitely Twilight. But... Very... Well, age-related. She's an alicorn in her prime... And she has such a colossal amount of energy that, well... As much as I hate to say it! I can't hold a candle to her! Grgh... Not only can she control such volumes of magic, she can also withstand chaos alone.“
“Why is she acting like this?“ Celestia asked a little louder.
“She…“ Discord breathed out. “She suffered a lot... Alone... I think she is no longer the Twilight we know. And she, like a reasonable individual, acted as smartly as possible, since she surrendered to us. Which is good for us.“
* * *
“Princess, we examined her bags and found many strange artifacts and her diary.“
On the table were laid out many tools, Twilight's armor in parts, a very thick book, the very first pages of which had long been smeared with various substances. Sweat, tears, blood, some deposits and something else. Twilight herself was transferred to the prison hospital, and her body was carefully examined.
“And... Princess. They found something in another bag that you don’t like... said Sunburst.“
“What's there?“
“Horns... Lots of horns...“ Starlight pulled out a bag where, with a crunch, horns of alicorns, unicorns, and even parts of Discord’s body, of different colors, rolled from side to side.
“This is how she managed to hurt me... It's amazing!“ Discord looked at all this. It seems that he understood something that others did not understand.
“The princess, judging by the entries from the diaries, she became very dangerous, she personally erased entire worlds, continents and was merciless towards others.“ She used those horns as a source of energy, “Starlight inspected, peering at the latest notes and hastily reading between the lines.“ And the further it went, the shorter and shorter the notes became.
“This is terrible... We have to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone else. No matter how bitter I am, we will keep her in a sleepy state until we decide what to do with her,“ Celestia put forward the final verdict.
“Yes, Princess... Finish research with portals?“ Starlight asked again.
“Yes, they no longer make sense.“
* * *
Meanwhile, Luna and Celestia were talking in the prison hospital. They stood not far from Twilight lying in bed.
“How is she?“ Celestia asked the doctor.
“She, how can I put it better... She is now in a medicated sleep.“
“But we did not give such an order...“
“This is... not us... She is on drugs or some kind of drugs. In fact, she is completely healthy, I mean, physically... Well, almost... We sent her brain for a tomography, and it is slightly affected, most likely from the consequences of several strokes. Or worse, ruptures. But I’ll say it again, nothing threatens her health, but the psychological component...“
“Thank you, doctor, I understand you, we can somehow help her?“
“Even if they could, she most likely won’t let us do it.“
“Well, Luna... Can you get into her dream and find out what she dreams about or try to talk to her?“
“Hmm...“ she looked at Twilight with obvious reluctance. Then she turned her gaze to her older sister.
“Luna? Is there something wrong?“
“Sister, do you understand how cold my aura is? Remember my aura when I was…“ she swallowed, “Nightmare? And her aura is like sinking your hooves to the bottom of an icy ocean.“
“I understand,“ there was a sigh.
“I'm afraid of her!“ Luna screamed with some panic, immediately covering her mouth so as not to wake Twilight, even though she was sleeping. Now she looked so harmless, unarmed, but even now this pony seemed, well... dangerous. “I’ll talk to her, but you help me, I can combine our dreams into one.“
“Of course, sister, I will help you. What should be done?“
“You know, find somewhere comfortable to lie down and close your eyes.“
Luna ended up laying down right on her pillow made of magic. Celestia followed her sister's example and did the same. They both fell asleep. The image of a door appeared before them. Gray, so gloomy, even slightly tarred. In the center was Twilight's cutie mark.
“You see, sister, why this is slightly unpleasant, her consciousness is there...“ Luna walked up to the door, trying to open it.
But it only began to open with a creak. The sticky substance began to stretch from the inside like threads, like a cobweb. Only black. Soon it broke and fell. Both went inside.
The smell was the first thing that was wrong with this place. It feels like people were dying here, and a lot of people died. Mixed with sickening rotten meat. And in the middle of it all, Twilight sits in a comatose state.
“Twilight? It's you?“ the princesses inquired.
“Well, what are you going to try to do to me? Brainwash? By the way, that’s a good idea,“ Twilight sharply turned her gaze to Luna. “Your sister knows how to do this! Brainwash! And captivate the mind for decades!“
“Twilight. Why are you in such a disgusting place?“
“What do you want to see? Green meadows?“
Suddenly the dream changed to green meadows, the sun was burning brightly, but everything was dim, as if made of cardboard. Calm and emotionless.
“Wait, Twilight. We want to know why you left then? A month ago?“
“Month? A month, damn it! Fucking month?!“ the dimension literally shook her with rage and other negative emotions. And then she quietly froze. “Yes, yes... Sorry... I should be calmer... Hehe...“ she turned her back to them and began muttering something unintelligible.
“Twilight, we have given all the resources and opportunities to rescue you.“
“Fuck it. Hey Celestia, do you think your official friendship can change me? Come on, princess, think, think. Yes, I know I'm going too far! Shut up!“ she again began to mutter the remaining words, talking to herself.
“Twilight Sparkle!“
“Yes, I know my fucking name! What do you want to hear?“
“First of all, whose horns are in your bag?“ Celestia just asked calmly.
“Yours, Luna, Discord. Other unicorns and even a couple of mine...“
“For what?..“
“Survive, damn it! Survive! All! All! And that's it! Wanted to kill me!“ an enraged Twilight turned to them. The eyes were burning with fire from rage, the teeth were grinding until fine dust came out of the mouth. “You wanted to kill me! And you wanted to kill me, but in the end I cut everyone to pieces. Why do you think I surrendered to you?“
Both alicorns stood in horror, looking at their student. Twilight, having removed her hoof from her face and pulled it down demonstratively, condemning their stupidity with this gesture, exhaled. Her heavy breathing made it clear that she could barely contain herself and was trying to calm down.
“Let's just imagine that you are thrown from a vat of hydrogen sulfide into a vat of acid, then transferred to a vat of boiling oil. And if I lose control for even one moment, I'm done!“
“Twilight?“
“Enough! I don't even want to know this name. As soon as you call me that... I feel like vomiting. Even though we are in a dream! Just call me *it*, or at least *you*. That joyful sweet filly who rejoices at every new acquaintance does not exist and will never exist! I am a killer, a monster, a terror. But not the Element of Harmony.“
“You, tell us this. What happened to you?“ Celestia is trying to turn in the direction for the umpteenth time.
“What do you want to know?“ Twilight said more quietly.
“You do understand that you have returned home, right? You don't have to suffer anymore, you don't have to fight to survive anymore. You’re home…“ Celestia said more calmly.
“Four... Four similar worlds like this one. And every time I thought that I was returning home. The first three times I even had tears of sincere joy welling up, and after that I found another Twilight, and twice I had to kill her. Because suddenly they all turned against me and decided to finish me off. How is this time different?“
“There is no wrong Twilight here. It wasn’t, or rather,” Luna confirmed.“
“Wow, just think. A world where I am not!“
“Your crown, to your surprise, was with you.“
“Hmm... There is some truth in this, as my mind tells me and tries to prove to me that this world is still mine. But I still can’t believe it, how did I understand that hope dies last? Today she died...“
“Why? You're back!“
“Hey!!! Three hundred years! One month has passed here!“
“Perhaps the time frames in parallel worlds ran differently? And why didn't you just go back?“
“I couldn’t... I realized my mistake as soon as I entered, that’s all... I realized that I wouldn’t get out.“
“Ooh... You, listen to me again. Hear me, tell me what you experienced. I will try to endure everything without disgust and listen to you.“
“Are you sure? Your tender piece of pink substance in your head is not ready to process this.“
“In my thousand and one hundred years, I’m ready to hear something different...“ Celestia snorted.
“Fine. I killed. She killed children and old people. Other types. Entire nations, races. You. Whole worlds. I searched, I searched a lot. Bathed in shit. In the sewer. I didn’t sleep for months, injecting myself with numerous drugs. I was psychologically and physically tortured. At first they raped us, then they broke their hooves. Ribs. Scull. They tried to eat me alive three or four times. There's a brain parasite living in my head. He still makes me think before I act. Should I continue?“
“Yes,“ Celestia answered coldly.
“Okay... I killed Discord. Who tried to kill me. I was betrayed, they tried to burn me, drown me, crush me, enslave me. What else? Oh yes! Do you want to get lost?! I was in a desert, a radiation wasteland and a techno world. In a world where Nightmare swallowed everyone into an endless sleep and slowly tortured them in their sleep. Daybreaker tried to burn me alive, and I ended up drowning her in molten magma. Oh, did you know that intestines are warm? Because a bunch of yaks decided to trample me in the tundra. Yes. A-ha-ha-ha.“
“Stop! Enough! I...“ the student’s words brought tears to her eyes. And Luna was throwing up right there, in the corner.
“Would you like to see?“
“No! We do not want…“
“Of course... If even Discord vomits from this, you won’t be able to do it at all. That's it, get out of here. I... Everything you want to know, you can find out from my diary. Now let me rest... If I'm already at home. They will give me time to come to my senses, and if not, then just let them finish me off and end my suffering...“
She lowered her ears and her gaze to the floor. She forcefully threw them both out of their sleep. Those two groaned painfully already in their world.
Author's Note
Sorry for my bad english.
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Chapter 2 (Neophobia) [Fear of something new]
Starlight was carefully separating pieces of sticky paper from Twilight's diary, and she didn't want to know what had stuck the sheets of paper together. Sunburst, on the other hand, was trying to read the pages and each time he transferred the entries to a different paper, trying to exactly transfer the text from the ancient artifact. Starlight turned around when she felt someone appear behind her.
"Princess..." Starlight wanted to bow out of habit, but a gesture with her hoof stopped her.
"Just call me Celestia, there's no need for formalities now, let's get right down to business. What did you find out?"
The princess looked worried.
"How can I tell you, most of the pages are in good condition, although the oldest ones leave much to be desired, we found DNA of unknown species of flora and fauna on them. There are traces of sulfur, gunpowder... Ahem... secretions... remnants of someone's semen, blood from centuries ago mixed with relatively recent blood. Traces of caffeine, traces of some kind of medication. Also traces of light, dark and Chaos magic, but overall the artifact is not dangerous or a threat to others," the stallion reported.
"Celestia, what about Twilight? How is she?" Starlight looked at the princess worriedly. She was worried, very worried.
"Ahem... My sister and I talked to her through the dream. Luna's still reeling from what she saw, and I'm still in a state of shock."
"Is it that bad?" The unicorn was worried, her pupils dilating a bit.
"If she's not kidding, it's a fraction of what she showed... But... bits of the original consciousness still remain. She's psychologically broken right now... She still doesn't believe she's home."
"Maybe seeing her parents and friends will cheer her up." Starlight suggested.
"She's dangerous..." Celestia warned, explaining that she shouldn't do that.
"I know, but the fact that she didn't do anything, ugh... that gives me hope," Starlight was still sweating, remembering the morning's events.
"I've roughly deciphered the text of the first pages of her diary, Princess!" Sunburst brought out blank paper with his own handwriting on it.
Celestia took the text of the first journal, then began to read.
"I transcribed exactly as the author had written."
"Entry 1. The world has been... unfriendly to say the least. I managed to escape, thanks to my teleportation magic. As soon as the guards, um... noticed me, they attacked without a second thought! That's reckless! They could have killed me! Well, not about that. I'm a bit frightened, though, no! I'm wildly terrified! Where's the portal?! I made two or three runes on the side in case it broke, and then it would self-repair. Oh, crap. I forgot to take the crown off. The important thing is not to lose it... And no... I don't have a crown..."
Further text was scribbled, and Sunburst occasionally corrected the princess.
* * *
The portal opened in the middle of a wasteland. There was an unpleasant atmosphere in the neighborhood. Clouds hung in the sky and it looked like it was going to rain, but it never did, yellow grass was up to her neck in places, and as soon as Twilight was on solid ground, she felt a little dizzy, and had to shake her head to get rid of the strange sensation of being in another world.
"Wow! This is a new world! So much room and ground to explore! Celestia and Starswirl will be thrilled to see what I've discovered! So, to begin..." an excited Twilight immediately wanted to start writing down what she saw, but...
"Who is you?!" A voice came from somewhere in the bushes, and a little while later, two griffins a little shorter than Twilight appeared, their faces clearly showing that they were not friendly.
"I am a researcher from another world!" The two guards looked at each other and pointed their spears at Twilight. And then they threw themselves at her with a shout to intimidate her opponent.
"Alicorn!" The guard shouted excitedly as he tried to attack her, but his spear broke against the protective barrier, the shaft crunched, and the griffin pulled back a little.
"I come in peace! I..." Twilight tried the diplomatic method, but unfortunately they wouldn't listen to her.
"Shut up!" rudely interrupted Twilight the second griffin, trying to attack from the air, but to no avail, the crack of a spear, and he is already standing on Twilight's dome, trying to greedily get inside and get the mistress.
"Oh, wait a minute!" she shooed them away with a spell and threw a stern look at both of them, concluding that they would attack any pony they could meet, as well as being very afraid of the alicorns. Most likely, there's supposedly a war going on here...
"Call for backup, there's an alicorn! Attention, alicorn!" wailed the griffin, speaking through a device that looked very much like a walkie-talkie. But without waiting for reinforcements, Twilight simply fled using teleportation, but how far she had gotten she didn't know, as she had just used a random location. Teleporting once more, just in case, to get further away from them. Now Twilight was standing alone in the middle of the wasteland again, trying to catch her breath from the emotions and adrenaline rushing over her.
"Hmm... Worth writing down. Okay. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am. Shit! I think I'm... Eh... going overboard with something I shouldn't have done. Wait... Where's my crown?!" Twilight almost screamed. Now, to Twilight's excited state, a sense of panic had joined her.
"Hey! She's here!" There was a troop of about six griffins moving towards her, and of course they were quite hostile too.
"Shit!" Twilight whispered loudly. She clearly needed to think with a cool head first before yelling. This time, the Princess of Friendship cast a teleportation spell straight upward as the guards hurried through the bushes. As she flew overhead, she took stock of her surroundings.
"The charred remains of a civilization. Apparently there was a city here and all the houses were mostly wooden... and no, there's an alternative to concrete, like from the castle."
Twilight changed her opinion slightly as she found the ruins of houses with concrete and mangled rebar.
"Had there really been such a powerful collision here. Still, I should have thought about it a few times and listened to Spike, at least once in a while. This place isn't even comfortable to breathe in. It smells like garbage, that's what war smells like..." Twilight flew higher to observe the scale of the disaster, but no matter how much she climbed, she saw no end to the horizon of incidents.
"Alternate Equestria. What would happen if the war of two hundred years ago turned out in favor of the gryphons. Eh... I should get out of here before I get caught or, worse, killed."
The rumble and explosion that came from the distance didn't even let Twilight wake up.
"What the...?" A point instantly slammed into her, dragging her forward.
"Aah! Let go! Ugh!" Twilight lost the air from her lungs from the blow to her stomach under her solar plexus, and her neck twisted unpleasantly from the sharp pulse in the other direction.
"Don't move! Otherwise we'll both be captured! What were you thinking, you fool!" The voice was painfully familiar, and clearly belonged to a blue pegasus from Twilight's world.
"I don't know what kind of joke you're playing, but sit still, because I'm having a hard time managing my weight at this speed!" A minute later they were descending and soon came to an abrupt stop, god it was easy to lose a couple strands of your mane at this speed. The stop was on a hard surface near a yellow field. Soon both of them were hidden in the thick yellow tall grass, which was thicker in this place and exceeded the pony's height.
"Hey! Can you tell me what that is?" Twilight tried to speak to her again.
"Quietly follow me, no questions asked. Don't look at anyone. Don't push questions on anyone. You follow me quietly and silently." She nodded, glaring at the back of her new escort's head, she walked quietly and silently. I wish I could study her better, but I could only make out the variegated hue of her mane and the slightly dull color of her fur. It was quite dark inside the grotto.
Apparently the Rainbow of this world was different and not as reckless as in ours.
There were other ponies in the neighborhood, all engaged in the same common endeavor. The clanking of the hammer against the blacksmith's metal and the general commotion was clearly blended into the surrounding atmosphere. No one paid any attention to Twilight, because not a single person dared to raise their head and look at Rainbow. Soon they both entered some sort of room that resembled a study. The heavy door closed behind them with a clang.
"So... Sit down..."
Rainbow sat in the large brown leather armchair, while Twilight sat in the simpler version of the furniture across from her, not very comfortable, but it was what it was. Now she was free to study everything she could lay her eyes on, and yes, Rainbow was sitting across from her, albeit a little worn from time and numerous fights. There was no permanent guilty smile in her gaze for the mischief she had done.
"Tell me, who are you?" the voice was almost the same, but had a tone a little lower than the original.
"I'm Twilight..." she answered calmly, but only a heavy sigh was heard in response.
"Look, I used to love jokes, but... not now... I seriously want to know who you are?" Rainbow tapped her hoof rhythmically on her desk. She scrutinized her guest closely.
"I'm Twilight!" she answered more seriously.
Rainbow leaned toward her a little, the light now shining better on the rainbow-haired girl. It was only now that Twilight noticed that there was a warrior sitting in front of her who had seen a lot. She had a scar on her head that ran from the top of her head to her eye, a thin scratch across her iris, and the color of her eye was gray and matte, and she seemed to be blind in that eye. The other was a shade of violet, the whites were bloodshot in places, and the bags under her eyes made it clear that the bearer was obviously sleeping less than she should. A piece of mane was missing from her head, revealing another scar. Her gaze was stern, reminiscent of a serious boss reprimanding a subordinate for serious errors in production. Soon she took her gaze away from the lavender one and exhaled heavily. She clearly wasn't in the mood for conversation, Twilight reasoned.
"Hey, *Twilight.* Then explain how on earth you survived... No, I'll ask it another way!" Rainbow shouted: "How did you get out of the grave?!"
The loud clatter of a hoof on the desk raised the dust in the office. The pain in her gaze immediately threw Twilight off balance.
"Me?!" the alicorn looked at Rainbow in panic, now she seemed like a small frightened mare in the headmaster's office. "I'm from another world..." she quickly rambled her childish 'It's not my fault, I won't do it again' excuse.
"Uh-huh..." Rainbow replied briefly again, a note of disbelief in her voice.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle. I am the princess of friendship that came..." Twilight began to echo again.
"There's a note about your boy, isn't there?" Rainbow didn't let Rainbow finish, mockingly interrupting her excuses.
"Grrgh! I'm an alicorn!" Twilight had already gone to the extremes of her truthfulness.
She wasn't proud of it, as a mage, she was very strong, but here as a pegasus, she left a lot to be desired and flew like a paper airplane in a tornado.
"A fake horn anyone could have glued on."
"I can fly and use magic!" she defiantly levitated almost all the objects around her and then dropped them back to their places as a sign that she was right.
"Yeah, so a unicorn, but with false wings," Rainbow retorted.
"Watch it! I can fly! Touch my wings if you don't believe me! I know a lot about you. The only one who can fly so fast you can break the sound barrier, causing rainbows. Rainbow Dash's loyalty element!"
"I..." she opened her mouth, looking at her stunned. She bit her lower lip, clearly thinking about something. The range of emotions on her face made it seem as if she couldn't quite put the whole picture together, but she was successfully doing so.
"I'm your friend, Rainbow... I'm not trying to trick you, just tell me what's going on in your world. Maybe I can help..." Twilight lowered her voice, speaking in a more or less calm voice.
"That would explain how you haven't been killed yet... follow me," Rainbow stood up from her seat and gestured for her to follow her.
The pegasus headed towards the passage in the earthen vault. Twilight obediently followed her, she didn't know where Rainbow was leading her, it was dark all around, but apparently it was quite normal for the rest of the eyes of this dwelling. Rainbow stopped to light a torch and began her tale.
"For sixteen years there has been a war..." She raised the torch upward to illuminate the space. The glare illuminated the many, just countless, tombstones, each one was like the other. Gray monolithic stones that were so carefully polished and all with inscriptions. Twilight cringed, looking at the gruesome sight. She'd been to the cemetery before, but now she realized, seeing more and more familiar names chiseled into the stones.
"They're all..." Twilight whispered quietly in horror, not believing in the reality of everything that was happening.
"All of them..." Rainbow sighed, and then slowly walked over to one grave. Carefully stroking the stone, she got as close to it as possible and brought the torch to the stone. Twilight discerned the inscription. "Here lies Twilight Sparkle, rest in harmony."
"And yes, I believe you are from another world... For I buried her myself... Or rather, what was left of her..." the pegasus whispered almost inaudibly. It was not hard to guess that she was crying, but she hid it carefully, she did not want to show that the strong could cry too.
"I'm sorry..." Twilight said guiltily.
"What do you have to apologize for...? Silly... But thanks for reminding me what my best friend looks like," Rainbow hastily wiped her eyes, brushing away her tears.
"How did she die?"
"She... Protected me... The gryphons were exterminating mostly pegasi and unicorns... To enslave Earth ponies to work for slaughter. Our Twilight didn't have the honor of being born an alicorn and--"
"I was a unicorn too, Rainbow! Princess Celestia made me an alicorn."
"Celestia? Wow, your godmother is lying here too..." she walked past four tombstones and pointed with her hoof to the right grave. The inhabitants of this world had hoped for much, but Celestia, like Luna, had fallen from over-hospitality.
"Celestia has fallen?" The tears came again, now on Twilight's face, mixed with a shocked look.
"Twilight, did I tell you that everyone has fallen?" Rainbow swept the torch over the familiar graves again. Each new name shocked the lavender one more and more.
"S... S..." she couldn't get a word out.
Rainbow continued to hit her again:
"Everyone, Twilight! Luna, Celestia, your brother! Pinkie, Rarity! Applejack! Even Fluttershy! They broke in first and stabbed her in the house! Everyone fell! Even you!" Rainbow clenched her jaws, clamping her eyes shut and barely holding back another tearful outburst.
"There was no room for emotion and tears in war. And there's no room for trust and hope..." She lowered her head guiltily, ashamed of her own tears, and the torch diminished in brightness. Rainbow opened her old wounds again. Wounds that would never heal, growing larger and larger as time went on.
"You're wrong, there is always hope... Without it there is no future..." Twilight hugged her friend tightly, she immediately felt the hard smoothness of her back, shoulders and hooves. The burden of loneliness is heavy. The burden of war and loss.
"Twilight..." She snuggled into her and, no longer holding back her tears and her emotions, burst into her mane. Rainbow had no time to say "thank you" or "goodbye" to her friend, pretending to be dead so they wouldn't keep looking for her, and when it all subsided, Twilight wasn't breathing.
"Thank you, Twilight... For saving me..." Rainbow pulled away, wiping away her tears. "Now to the point... How did you get here, to this world? Perhaps you could help us get out of here?"
"I assembled a portal and used my Element to open it, I ended up coming here... And unfortunately I lost it when I was fleeing from the griffins."
"Hmm. I think they have it. The griffins. But not for long!" a light flashed in Rainbow's eyes, a frown and a smile stretched across her face.
"What? What are you planning to do?" she immediately understood her friend's plan, but it was better to ask again.
"How many more casualties do you think it will take to end the war? Our leader has fallen, everyone thinks that victory is theirs... But no. We will rise from the ashes and unleash an avalanche on our enemies! You are strong. We need your help, Twilight. The alicorns are very strong, that's why they fear them. Ask me for anything you want. I'll give you my body if you need it!"
"Hey! Rainbow, I don't recognize you. You're an Element, just like me. Behave yourself," Twilight held out her front hoof, and Rainbow smiled back. "I'll be sure to help you, friend," Twilight bestowed a smile on her as well. - Now tell me all about the plan, and I'll help you with the strategy.
And so began the development of the war plan. *Last Hope.* True, they should have called this plan *All or Nothing*, but Rainbow liked the first option better. The plan was simple, it was like a blitzkrieg. Attack all at once, with everything we've got. Rainbow would take command of the pegasi, as she should. The earth ponies would be commanded by Blacksmith, a dark gray, muscular pony with an anvil cotemark. The management of the unicorns will be taken over by Emily. A quiet, calm, but very strong unicorn who has had a lot of bad luck with her height. And all this and coordination will be managed, of course, by Twilight, as if she had returned from the other side of the world. She has raised the morale of the others to the skies with her presence.
"Don't be afraid of the griffins! They burn our homes! They're killing us and our children! Don't you dare show any sympathy for them! And now, we will end this genocide once and for all! - Rainbow spoke loudly in front of everyone, followed by very loud cheers of "YES!!!"."
In just one night, they made it out to the borders of the Gryphon Kingdom, the tall grass hiding everyone carefully, and the straw-like cloak camouflaged the army well. The scouts were quickly taken out by members of the pegasus scout troop. The gryphons tried to resist, but to no avail.
"Attention! Pie family unit! Let's go!" They were the first to approach the wall, being the most skillful in destroying stone, they used their own hooves to tear the cobblestone walls to dust.
"Unicorn squad! Let's go!" Slashing the steel grate with magic, they penetrated inside the state. Two minutes later, the wall fell. Inside, panic could be heard among the waking civilians. No one expected them to rush in and launch a counterattack. Almost immediately the alarm went up and the griffin squads took to the air.
"Pegasus squad, use the slingshots! Get rid of the flyers!" The griffins began to fall like rain from their guns. Twilight's information played well. As the gryphons were rocketing to the ground, the Earth squad was destroying them with their spears. Gradually, they approached the second wall. The ponies filled the empty space, covering Pinkie's family. But suddenly, something went wrong.
"Pegasus, get back!" they heard in their ears, the archers were on the second line of walls. They were shooting at the pilots. Those who were hit were carried right behind the wall, where there was an auxiliary squad and a medical squad.
"Shields up!" The Earth ponies raised a steady line of wooden shields with metal bolts. The stone pile of the walls fell with a rumble, but there was still a metal fence. A shield of solid steel, half a meter thick... It couldn't be taken down with ordinary magic.
"Twilight! What do we do?!" Rainbow Dash called out loudly.
"Gather the unicorns together and use the group spell. Have the others move away from the wall. I'll put a blast shield over them," Twilight commanded, stepping in front of the unicorns. "On my command, concentration! Don't worry! I'll protect you! After I give the order, point it at my horn!"
"You won't be able to take it!" Emily shouted, and it was partially true.
A normal unicorn would rather collapse than digest that much magic. But an alicorn with a magic reserve dozens of times higher than the others could handle such a load.
"I can handle it!" Twilight urged.
She put a shield around them and exhaled, concentrating on the battle spell, and the entire troop of unicorns, about fifty of them, gave all the magic they had to Twilight's horn.
"30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 100 %!" Twilight counted.
Her eyes lit up with a white light. Sweat ran down her face. Holding a bright, very powerful sphere of magic that shimmered on the end of her horn in all the colors of the rainbow, she prepared to launch the spell. The orb narrowed into a single point, and Twilight shot straight into the wall. She put up a huge barrier of defense, covering the pony. Dust kicked up. Visibility was almost zero, her head was buzzing. The excess magic made her nose bleed. But she was prevented from falling by Blacksmith, who held her left, and Emily, holding the princess on her right, allowing her ally to see the fruits of her feat.
"The wall is breached! Forward!" loudly commanded Blacksmith.
"Yeah!!!"
Everyone rushed in with a deafening clatter. The impact was much harder than Twilight had expected, and the wall was not just blown away, but fused together with several streets behind it. Everyone followed the tactics as before. The two commanders were still keeping their general from falling. Allowing them to see that everything they owed, they owed only to her. Sixteen years of oppression, shame, and genocide. They would finally put an end to this bloody era.
Rainbow slipped inside the castle where she executed the king herself in front of his wife and children, who didn't even get a word in edgewise, but soon found themselves in his place, Rainbow spared none of them. She took the king's head and carried it out to the public, standing on the balcony of the highest tower, where she loudly and smugly proclaimed to the entire crowd:
"Your king has fallen! Lay down your weapons! All who surrender now can expect mercy through hard labor, your families will not be threatened with reprisals!"
Predictably, the army laid down their weapons, seeing that their king's head was now in the clutches of their enemy commander. Soon the population of the city surrendered to the army as well, not wanting to die in vain. There were sparse resistances, but those were ostentatiously interrupted by public executions. Soon a crowd gathered in the square.
"Rainbow! Rainbow!!!" chanted every soldier.
"No!!!" shouted Rainbow even louder than the crowd. "You do not owe this victory to me! You owe your lives to a friend who came from another world! It is an angel who has come down to us! To bring an end to this war! She has rid us of a tyrant! Soon Rainbow obediently flew down from the tower and planned right in front of Twilight. Proudly, with a smile and all humility, she bowed before her."
"Twilight Sparkle!"
Alicorn was on her hooves by then, dust and dirt settling on her mane, clearly aware of the importance of the event. The commanders joined Rainbow in bowing their heads, and the entire liberation army and civilians followed suit.
"Accept my, no, our thanks! For being able to organize us and help us get rid of our enemies! These aggressors!" Twilight's head was actually buzzing and spinning, but she held herself with dignity and said:
"Raise your heads! Yes, I am an explorer from another world. It is very hard for me to see what war has led to in this world and I am glad to have helped you find harmony and peace! Spread friendship among other peoples! And know that only friendship and mutual support will help you! I..." Twilight suddenly fell silent. Her eyes blurred, her head rattled, and the figures of the three commanders became blurry blurs. She slumped silently on her side, listening with the remnants of her receding consciousness to the shouts of the crowd and Rainbow's sharp cry. What they were yelling about, she couldn't make out.
* * *
"Twilight!" The voice seemed muffled, like a trumpet calling her name. The horn hummed, sending a throbbing pain through her head. "Twi? Twilight!" Her name was called again as her eyes began to open.
"Oh... Don't scream, my head is buzzing..." she weakly squeezed out as she looked at her friend, her look of sleepless nights and gutted mane giving away her condition.
"Thank Faust, you're alive!" She clutched Twilight tightly with her strong hooves, clearly unwilling to let her go ever again. The pegasus patted her weakly on the back as the princess looked around the room she was in.
The room was very comfortable, although the beds were small, they were surprisingly comfortable for her back. There was a persistent smell of medicine in the room, some smells familiar and some quite new. And now Rainbow was clutching Twilight tightly in a hug that made Twilight fear her ribs were going to break.
"I..." she tried to squeeze out some words again, but again she was denied.
"Don't scare me like that!" she shook her head at Twilight. She was clearly hysterical about the alicorn's condition. Twilight had no choice but to try and comfort her.
"Hush, I'm alive... Rainbow, it's just that magic of this concentration I've only been able to contain twice in my life. And I'm sorry for making you worry," she stroked the pegasus' head, hugging her back. It wasn't long before many things were learned firsthand. Most of those who returned home were horrified to find their griffon dwellings occupied by the ponies. Many surrendered, some were killed. There were casualties among the ponies as well, though they seemed insignificant. A white flag with a purple six-pointed star shone above the cone of the tower.
"Rainbow... What does that mean?" Standing in her bandages, Twilight looked around at the flag. She clearly wasn't happy that her cutiemark was now adorning the royal castle. It was also disconcerting to see so much attention directed in her direction among the many ponies.
"It's in your honor, Twilight. No offense, but this mark will henceforth be our emblem of liberation, only because of you. Thank you! She would have liked to refuse the thanks, but Twilight knew that would be a spit in Rainbow's face and in the faces of those who had died today."
"And so we name you our ruler!"
"What?!" Twilight stuttered at that. "No! No! I can't! I have to go home! I need to find my crown!" She was about to backtrack, but Rainbow stopped her.
"By the way, we found your crown!" She pulled a crown with a star on it from behind her back and put it on her head. "There, now you really are our princess! Twilight Sparkle!" smiled the pegasus.
"No, I'm handing the reins over to you, Rainbow! And I must move on, I need to find the portal home..." Twilight wanted to leave right away, but again Rainbow held her back. She turned around to say something to her, but saw the look in her eyes.
"Twilight... Don't hurt me again... I don't want to lose you again..." her ears promptly fell downward. This conversation was between the two of them now, and Twilight clearly didn't want the others to hear it.
"Hey Rainbow! I'll definitely come back to you again," she tilted her head slightly to the side and smiled softly. "I'll be sure to visit you," the crown lit up, causing the portal in the square to glow yellow.
"I'll be sure to come back, Rainbow, clean up and clean up while I'm not around. Rainbow Dash, Element of Harmony: Loyalty."
"But... Ruler you..." she tried to stop her again.
"Fine, then you're my deputy, Rainbow." Sure, it was very tempting, but no. She's not ready to rule. Grabbing her bag, a couple papers and something else, she gave her friend a big hug goodbye.
"I'll see you again, I promise." It hurt her to say goodbye, but it hurt Rainbow a lot more. But she braced herself and gave a warrior's salute, saying it as loudly as she could so the others could hear:
"I will fulfill your order at all costs, Princess Twilight!"
"Well said, Rainbow! Show your best behavior! Until I come! See you all later!"
Twilight went into the mirror portal, and it soon burst, shattering into pieces.
"Hmm... There would be something to tell her friends. I don't want my friends and family to know what war is really like." Silhouettes of corpses and mounted warriors appeared in her mind, there she held on, but now the urge to vomit, the headache and the panic attack came on sharply. With that set, Twilight was thrown out already somewhere in the middle of the desert.
*Bueh... This is definitely not something worth telling,* — she muttered lightly to herself, feeling the bile in her mouth."Healing" , she covered herself with a green aura and began to try to calculate where she might have gotten to.
"How much sand is here..." she rummaged around in her bag and sat down on the hot sand. "Ouch! It's hot. Well, diary." Settling on her bag, she began to write.
"Entry 3, in all likelihood I won't be able to tell my friends anything today... Day three, world two. Lifeless... "
* * *
Celestia stopped reading the crazy texts and was rather surprised.
"Wow, single-handedly destroyed the griffins. She really is a good strategist, but the others are pathetic... Why can't I help them... Why couldn't I help Twilight."
"Princess? Are you all right? You're crying..." Starlight turned around, hearing the sadness in the princess' words.
"It's okay, Starlight... It's okay," she exhaled and looked at her, wiping the tears from her face. "Just take care of yourself, and please don't let the guys read about it. Or anyone else. I'm gonna go now. Please save as much as you can, I'll read everything my faithful student has been through. After which she left. Starlight glanced at Sunburst. Surely he had read the diary and knew what it was about."
"What did it say?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" The stallion corrected his glasses, as he copied the new text onto a sheet of paper.
"My teacher survived it! I want to know!" Starlight stopped her own work and glanced demandingly at Sunburst, waiting for answers. He sighed.
"The war... She was the leader. Parallel Equestria, she, with Rainbow Dash's help, had stopped the griffin armies. Tyranny and genocide of civilians, slavery and selling children. It took her no more than two days to end it all."
"That's great! What about the others?"
"What about the others?"
"What about the others? Well, Rarity, or other?"
"I understand none of them... Well, there's no survivors, just Rainbow..."
"Oh... This is a very horrible world... How could it be brought to this state..."
"There's more to come," the stallion sighed, rewriting the pages."
"I promise I'll read the whole thing from cover to cover, too!" Starlight pounded her chest, waiting for the next installment from the diary.
* * *
Twilight was still fast asleep. She would definitely smile if she remembered the smiles and joy the ponies had left behind.
"It was a good time. I wish I could go back, yeah yeah... Sorry, Rainbow Dash from world number one. The Fixed World. I won't be able to get to you. You're probably not even alive anymore... three hundred years... No my relatives, no my friends, and no my family..."
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Chapter 3 (Agnosophobia) [Fear of the unknown]
"Desert, so the temperature is about 50-60 degrees Celsius. No water, no life in sight. Whatever's out here is probably hostile... it's worth a look from above."
Twilight flew high into the sky to get her eyes oriented on something. Her wings were still sore from the strain of the magic, and she couldn't fly much, but it was enough to look around. It was all desert, the distant barchans blending into a vast golden canvas, and in the midst of it all, a dark spot could be seen in the distance.
"There's something out there, isn't there? Forty kilometers or so... Ouch! Head..." placing a hoof on her head, she tried to relieve the symptoms of her headache. - Okay... Stop... I'm going to get a headache if I use magic again. Well, I'll have to go in that direction with my hooves, I have no other options.
The day seemed to drag on for an incredibly long time and didn't seem to be ending. The heat was squeezing all the moisture out of Twilight's body with incredible persistence, and a little while later, she got the idea to make a makeshift cap out of a blank sheet of her diary paper. Though she paid for it a bit with a given headache due to the use of magic. Coming to her senses, she stopped for a pause to make some journal entries.
"Note 1. Thinking with your head before using magic to its full potential.
Note 2. Corroborating myself for doing this, otherwise my friends might have died.
Note 3. Are they my friends?" - after that note, she crossed out that line, she felt disgusted with herself.
Note 4. Again, I'm correcting myself for this, of course they're my friends!
Note final: when transitioning to another world, consider making preparations and getting plenty of rest."
"Speaking of rest. I should take a break. I guess I'd gotten my hopes up too high that this nonsense and nightmare would stop when I put an end to this senseless war. I wonder how Rainbow's doing. She always acts first and thinks later, doesn't she? She's not stupid, it's just that determination is her specialty... Okay... I'll have plenty of time to think about this at my leisure."
An hour, two, three. Lifting her gaze upward, she began to ponder, to take her mind off of the pesky heat at least somewhat
"Who controls the sun and moon? Are there alicorns that move the heavenly bodies? Or do the luminaries here change each other according to other laws of the universe? So, I now know that there are worlds without life, but with day and night. Ooooh... What a heat wave..."
The trampled trail of the alicorn was slowly being erased by the sands of time, trying hard to cover up any trace of the existence of anyone living. It was getting dusk, the sun was hastily disappearing over the horizon, and it was getting cooler at the same time.
"Hmm... It seemed to be getting much easier to walk! It wasn't so hot anymore... Shit... I wish I'd eaten... I'm a fool, why didn't I worry about provisions? Rainbow would've gotten me on the road. I'm so thirsty... If I can survive without food for a while, about thirty days, I won't last a day or two without water in this heat."
The sun had long since gone out of the sky and it was getting dark. The desert was illuminated only by the crescent moon in the night sky, but that light was negligible. It was still dark. It was also getting colder and colder.
"I'd use magic, but my head would be a mess..." She gritted her teeth as she puffed steam and looked carefully at the contents of her bags. "No medication... ah, well, d-d-d-yes. Celestia's smartest student hadn't even bothered to prepare herself properly. Bag's in. Notebook. And some b-b-b-paper to put in her diary! And of course, most importantly, ink! Oh, yeah. That's what I need. I don't need food, but water? I-I-I guess I don't need water either. I didn't expect it to be so cold..." she looked down at the sand, the moonlight reflecting faintly off the surface of the sand. "D-even frost had appeared on the sand. Wait, frost is ice, isn't it? And ice is water! Aha! Well, head, forgive me, I'll have to collect this water, because I'm very thirsty!"
Pulling out a bottle to collect samples of the local flora, she decided to use it as a portable flask for drinking water.
"Hmmm, d-d-yeah that'll do..."
Twilight used her magic carefully, the benefit of the cold was cooling and easing her headache. Condensing the water into a bottle, she made no attempt to drink the icy water. Right now, in this cold, it was like a death sentence.
"Judging by the formation and speed of ice, the humidity is about 15-20% and the temperature is dropping to minus 20. Of course! The sand heats up all day and releases its heat at night, right? Shit... You can't hurry in a situation like this. I wish the morning would come quickly. It's freezing. Brrrr... There are consequences to using magic," Twilight muttered like a sacred mantra. "I could pass out, and if I do, I'm guaranteed frostbite, even death. I could overheat during the day... Okay. The conclusion is that I need shelter... It's most advantageous to hide in the shade during the day and sleep it off, and go in the evening, night and morning. At night to stay warm. What do you suggest I make a tent out of? Hmm... All my equipment that I have with me is a compass... Two bags on the sides. Two books, some water in jars for flora analysis. Hmm... come on, Twilight... Well, I hope Rarity won't be mad that I tore her bags."
Breaking the threads holding back the fabric of one bag, Twilight put together something like a camouflage vest with pockets. She put notebooks in the chest and side compartments to insulate her body.
"There you go, you know how to think when you want to think. It's much warmer now. True, her head was buzzing more. But it was worth it. Now let's move on. Speaking of which, where did my crown go again? It couldn't have just disappeared... Hmm, I wonder if the crown is testing me. Otherwise, I don't see the point of the crown disappearing a second time. Either the crown is the key to opening the portal and the key automatically appears or is carried to where the door is. Then the question becomes, how do you find the crown in a place forgotten by the princesses? Where there's nothing but sand everywhere. Well... Following this law, this black spot in the distance will probably give me the answer to the question, and I really hope I'm not stuck here forever."
In fact, common sense thinking is the best way to calm yourself down. Indeed, when you think logically, you don't have unnecessary questions about "What if I don't get out or what if I die here?" Such questions need to be eradicated immediately.
"So, I've walked about four thousand three hundred and thirty-seven steps today. If only my feet weren't stuck in the sand. Maybe I could have walked more. I'll need to make snowshoes... But in this analogy, sand shoes. Hmm... Is there quicksand here? I don't think so. If there was, that would mean there was a body of water. I don't think that's likely. My head feels much lighter, the cold air favoring it. Apparently magical head trauma has similar symptoms to fever. I'll have to remember that, as long as I don't catch cold here. It's getting light. It's getting light fast, not like it does in Equestria. That's probably because I'm somewhere on the equator. Night and day here have roughly equal proportions of about twelve hours. Sunrise and sunset take place in just half an hour. Which means one thing: in an hour it's going to be sweltering heat... That's not good. What am I gonna make a shelter out of? We must sleep. Two days on my feet with a sore head and exhaustion is putting a lot of pressure on my body. Dig a hole? What if the sand blows in while I'm sleeping? I'd make a joke about digging a grave for myself, but I don't care about jokes. I'll get as much water as I can and move on. In the meantime..." Twilight rubbed her mane against the wet sand, even though it was dirty, it would help to freshen up. - Great, so my only chance of escape is this place. Hell, flying would be faster, but I don't want to pass out. I've got to do the math. Four thousand steps. At least a meter each. So I've covered four kilometers overnight. Thirty-six kilometers to go... Shit... It's a long walk. Twelve days? What am I counting? That's practically two weeks. Nine is right, considering the walking, day and night. Phew... Faust grant that I'll last another three days at this pace. Hmm... What to think of. I'll think about it and keep up the same pace....
"Record 4. Desert. "World 2. "The world is lifeless. The air is breathable. Water can be condensed at night from frost by collecting it with magic, not a good game of attrition. 34.3 kilometers to the point of what? I don't know what, but there's nothing else for me to navigate to, even if that point is a shadow. I'll at least rest in it. If it's something different or dangerous, I'm in for an unenviable ending... Today seems to be hotter than usual, the temperature is around 63 degrees."
Hmmm... After calculating the air temperature and the speed of movement in flight, I realized that if I climbed to an altitude of about a kilometer, the air temperature would drop to about ten degrees. And if I planned on wings, I could cover about seven kilometers. Otherwise, I'll just pass out. Well, it's worth a try.
Twilight spread her majestic wings and took off, slowly gaining altitude.
"It's easier this time. I'll climb and keep a close eye on the state of my body."
It took a quarter of an hour to get to a height where the temperature was comfortable for her body. In the distance she could see the same point and it seemed to get a little bigger.
"Now the planning. Just like Fluttershy taught me. This is what she calls lazy flying. Wow, there's a lot of wind out here. Hmm... I could use this."
Spreading her wings wider, Twilight even flew even higher, thanks to the planet's air currents. She began to plan.
The result exceeded her expectations and, at the end of the flight, she had traveled most of the way. After an estimated reflection, the alicorn realized that it appeared that she had covered about twenty-seven kilometers, and her destination was about seven kilometers away.
"I really hope the crown is in that place after all, otherwise it was all for nothing... In fact, it was very reckless to put my life in that place... But, what choice do I have? I'll have to find some organics, any plant, anything... I'm crazy hungry..." such thoughts made Twilight drool.
"So, what do we have on the plus side? I've traveled about 80-85 percent of the designated path. On the downside. It's hot! I'm hungry!" Twilight exhaled as she stopped clenching her teeth in anger and inhaled a full chest of air. "So... There are still too many minuses. Also, my wings are insanely sore... I should have skipped the training from Rainbow... Eh... Speaking of which... That dark spot is already visible from here. Surprisingly, it's a very spacious dark substance, but that's all I can see for now..."
* * *
"So, the analysis shows that these records have particles of sand... And also a repeat of all the content from before. Apparently, it's soaked the entire book... Uh-huh," Starlight judged, soon after reporting back, she decided to change the subject. "Princess. Twilight still hasn't woken up?"
"We're still forcibly keeping her asleep..."
"But we can't do that! She's been lonely for a long time. And now that she's back home and her nightmares in parallel dimensions are over, will she continue to suffer at home?"
"Don't worry, Starlight. Luna explained to me that her dream is open."
"What do you mean, "open"?"
"Anyone who sleeps in her room can mentally contact her and enter her dream. Twilight didn't close her mind to her guests."
"Does she want to talk to us herself?"
"I think Twilight does it randomly, subconsciously. Her brain is working, well... In multiple directions at once."
"What do you mean?" Starlight doesn't understand.
"You see, the brain of a pony, or any creature different from us, works in different departments and coexists with others, unnoticed by the bearer. As for Twilight, her brain works differently. One department does the work of emotions, another is responsible for character, the third for cold calculation, the fourth for appropriateness, or something, we have not yet fully understood it. And the fifth is responsible for functionality and safety."
"Wow... but how did you know that?"
"The CT scans show that her mind works in a systemic fashion, although the sections are independent of each other. While the first and second divisions are almost non-functional now, the third division is fully functional, but the fourth and fifth divisions have taken over. This is slightly aided by the first division. It's the reason she hasn't committed genocide here."
"She could have killed all of us?" Starlight noted with mild horror, as did Sunburst, who was watching.
"Very easily, and without blinking an eye. Speaking of which, she's very strong. And Applejack's broken legs are proof of that, for she kicked her with all her might, and Twilight, afterwards, flew back only one meter. Although Applejack could kick rocks weighing several tons."
"Wait a minute! She has a fracture?!"
"Yes, but her life and health are no longer in danger. Our doctors were able to help her quickly. Funny thing is, she didn't realize it until her hind legs started to swell."
"I want to talk to her!"
"I really want to talk to her too, Starlight... But right now..." Celestia exhaled sadly. "She's not in the mood, to say the least."
"Princess, I don't know what Twilight's been through, but I think we should send someone into her dream who she hasn't thrown a murderous glare at. Maybe Fluttershy? Or Spike?"
"No... I'm not letting Spike in just yet. It'll traumatize him even more. Fluttershy, maybe, yeah. But she's timid."
"No! She's not timid! She's not the shy filly she used to be, and I can tell you that she has the biggest and most persistent emotional barrier."
"Then we'll send Fluttershy to her today to see if she'll talk to her."
* * *
"This way, Miss Fluttershy."
The doctor led a yellow pegasus with a soft pink mane and tail into the room. She walked quietly behind the doctor. She saw a not very pleasant sight. Twilight was lying on the couch, her eyes bandaged with a tight white bandage for safety, her wings taped at the base to restrain her flapping reflexes. A ring was placed on her horn to restrain magic. She was lying on her back, tied tightly to the couch with wide ribbons that would make her look like an incurable mental patient. Behind her there were two racks and various devices with a huge number of buttons. The first device, with a small screen, showed a heartbeat that was surprisingly low by normal standards. The beats were about thirty per minute. The second rack of instruments was responsible for monitoring the brain. The neurons were now excited. Twilight seemed to be thinking very hard about something. And there were abnormalities here, too.
"You can't do that..." Fluttershy timidly approached Twilight and wanted to touch her.
"You can't!" Pulling her hoof away, the doctor began to explain the instructions. "One! Do not touch the patient, two: do not use magic on her! Three: don't provoke her. Fourth: if you need psychological support after the session, the psychologist is there," the doctor pointed to the next door with her hoof.
"Okay, let's start the session. Lie down here, Ms. Fluttershy", the nurse spoke more calmly.
The pegasus shook with a sharp cry, but soon obediently laid down on the couch not far from Twilight, determined to help her friend.
"Now, listen to me, you could wake up at any moment. Princess Luna made a kind of "lifeline" on purpose and...."
"It'll be fine, Twilight won't hurt me," Fluttershy gently assured her, interrupting the doctor."
I wish you could have seen the state Princess Luna was in after the session," the doctor thought, but he didn't tell Fluttershy, as she had fallen asleep. - Good luck."
* * *
It was still dark. The scent of the place was like the breath of death. No, more like tar. It was still dark and musty. The space in the neighborhood seemed to press down on his entire body from all sides, as if he'd been dipped in water.
"Twilight? Are you in here?" Fluttershy looked around fearfully as she walked past the wreckage of the alicorn's subconscious. Here and there lay shapeless piles of bodies of varying degrees of mortality. "What a horrible place..."
"Fluttershy? Mmm, they decided to send you first?"
The image of Twilight appeared before her, sitting calmly and watching her friend. Her gaze was blank and her pupils were a cloudy color, making it look like a potential corpse was talking to her.
"Twilight! It's so good to see you! - She hugged the alicorn, but only felt the sticky substance that enveloped her fur." Oh! You need a bath!
"It won't help. See..."
Twilight pulsed through the substance. Turns out that dirt signified Twilight's vices. Powerlessness, tears, shame, weakness, lawlessness, genocide, which Fluttershy was partially gifted with as well. In front of her, bits and pieces of her friend's memories flashed by in rapid succession.
Fluttershy was stunned. Tears flowed uncontrollably. She had seen her friend kill. Blood, guts, lust, pain, screams, and Twilight's silent gaze, which was now unblinking and pointedly drilling the pegasus.
"This... This isn't you... Twilight. You didn't just do that!" Fluttershy shrieked.
Her pulse jumped, but she didn't try to get away from her friend, she decided to stand her ground and, no matter how unpleasant or painful it was, to stand her ground.
"It was me, my dear. It's all me. Can you take a piece of my pain? Is my "friend," as you all call yourselves, ready to share in my sins?"
"Yes!" Fluttershy shouted without hesitation, and it even looked like a white aura flashed around the pegasus. "I won't say that everything you did was right, but you were alone the whole time! You had no one to turn to! You were in pain! And I saw it!" she sobbed, struggling to open her eyes to look at her friend.
Time seemed to drag on forever. The pegasus would dream of making tools out of the skins of small animals, of tearing raw meat in order to exchange it for something of equal value, and even of eating animal flesh to keep from starving to death.
"I'm sorry..."
Her heart snapped at those words, and the pegasus opened her eyes for the first time, slowly raising her gaze to her seated friend and seeing her... crying? A faint moisture trickled from her eye, soaking into her own pelt. She was in pain. It even felt like one of her cloudy pupils was giving off a glossy glow. A quiet breeze blew around the sleeping area, though it shouldn't be, and soon she was awake.
Fluttershy took a greedy gulp of air and cried again. Soon after the yellow pony regained consciousness, she told Celestia what had happened.
"Princess... She was in pain... She was crying... She..." and still barely holding back, she boldly reported to Celestia. She hugged her gently.
"I know, Fluttershy. You're good. You're the first to reach her. Next time, we'll continue with the others, and you need to rest..." she stroked Fluttershy's mane, trying to calm the pegasus.
* * *
"Record 5. World 2: Desert. I'm still walking. Blur seemed somewhat different, something that shouldn't be on this planet. And it seemed cold? The closer I got to it, the colder it got. No, it seemed icy. Tomorrow I'll continue during the day, try to get to my destination with my body thermoregulating."
So, the night passed rather draughtily. Although there was a relative abundance of water, there was still not enough for the day. And it was impossible to stockpile more under the circumstances. Because of the cold that came from the border of the dark spot, it was decided not to go there at night, because the temperature had dropped to -43 degrees, and it was extremely dangerous. The tips of my wings began to freeze in that cold. I had to use magic and curl up in a ball to keep warm. At least she managed to nap for a couple hours. But still, she couldn't count on a full night's sleep.
"Day six. I feel my crown is right there. I'm going there," Twilight said as she walked across the icy sand, wrinkling her nose at the ground that felt cold to her hooves. - It's already daytime. And the temperature is barely rising just above freezing... And dropping lower. Hmmm... can you see an entrance up ahead? That's it! That's what I saw in the distance, it wasn't a black spot. In fact, it's a building made of some kind of black material. What kind of material? Hmm. I don't know what it is, but its structure and color resembles Hematite.
As Twilight approached the entrance, she could feel the icy wind oozing out of it. The stairs at the entrance went somewhere deep inside.
"Well, about ten degrees below zero."
A state of non-state, that's how one could describe Twilight's physical capabilities at the moment. But now it was up to her to either go back to the warm sands or dive deeper. It was scary to make the wrong choice, and it was scary not to decide. Twilight weighed the pros and cons of her speculation some more.
"If there's any place my crown could go, it's here."
Wrapping herself in magic to keep her warm, she headed downstairs. The steps were slippery with a thin layer of frost, and it was possible to break one's hooves or, worse, crash to one's death.
Time went on and on, but the steps did not seem to end. They seemed to lead to the core of the planet. The walls were no different. The same mosaic set of squares and rectangles in a repeating pattern.
"2375, 2376, 2377..." Twilight counted to keep her brain from going numb. The point in all of this was that you have to think constantly and keep your brain active to keep the magic going. "Twilight, Twilight... you'd be sitting at home right now, warm and fed, with Spike watching over you. Your apprentice Starlight would come in and reprimand you for falling asleep at the books by your desk again. Eh... I miss those days. I wonder if they'd follow me. No, I probably shouldn't expect help, since the only key to this world is my crown. How ironic. I should have left it there. And then maybe I could come back? Wouldn't you? But the crown is here... Stupid... If I return home alive, I'll definitely make it taboo to explore other worlds."
Exhaling again, she looked ahead. Dark nothing and stairs, her hoof muscles had already memorized the rhythmic action and were moving on their own, and it looked like she could sleep.
"No! Brrr! You can't sleep!" Slackening her magic a bit, she refreshed herself with a cold, no, icy stream of descending air from below. Gritting her teeth once more, she regained magical control. "Ooooh... it's getting easier, but when will this descent end? I can already feel the pressure drop in my ears."
"3766, 3767. So, a little math. Given that each step is about 22 centimeters high, multiply, we get 82874 centimeters. So, divide that by that, you get 828 meters down. Oh, even my head felt bad from such calculations, although earlier, when I was awake, I used to multiply different numbers in my mind with twelve digits. Through Fourier transforms. Uh-huh... I hope there's a warm room downstairs where I could sleep. Wow... It's considerably colder here, as much as 63 degrees below zero."
Once again, Twilight was overcome with fear. She could go back before it was too late, but what if it wasn't too far away?
"Okay, calm down... Deep breath. Calm down. I can feel the crown coming on. I just need to be confident. Determined! Courageous! Come on! Make a decision and move on, be brave!" Twilight tried to cheer herself up.
Her words echoed noisily on the walls of the endless descent. Next, shutting down her brain for a while, she tried to make the minimum power consumption for its functionality. Maintaining her body temperature and rhythmic steps downward with counting in her mind. She succeeded. So she continued onward. Bang... Abruptly her body froze, feeling something new under her hooves, almost cowering from the sensation of the phantom step below. Her body hadn't expected something flat and made painful contact with the floor.
"Hmmm... So. Apparently, this is the end of the stairs. 4545, I think. Exactly one hundred thousand centimeters, or exactly one kilometer. Given the cold environment and the depth of the terrain, about 900 millimeters of mercury. Oho... That's not good for my head."
The corridor continued onward. Finally, something new, Twilight thought, scrutinizing the walls and ceiling.
"Minus 84 degrees, and no change. Why is it the coldest here? Yikes... at this temperature, even metal breaks down. Hmm..."
After a hundred meters, she detected a light. The light was coming from a blue crystal, and there were some nasty artifacts nearby, most likely something alive was on this planet, there were two skeletons. It was hard to identify the remains, corroded by time. But fragments of wings and ossified remains let us know that they were pegasi after all.
"Rest in harmony, rest in peace..." Twilight cremated the remains of the deceased with fire and began to study the crystal. She touched the edge of the crystal with a bottle, making it glaze over. "Amazing, the crystal giving off that kind of frost. Absolute zero? The temperature in a vacuum. But a physical object shouldn't be this cold. I think I figured out how they and all civilization on this planet died. This crystal is like a parasite left behind by some malevolent entity. If that's the case, I will destroy it!"
With a powerful stream and a sharp pulse, she directed the magic straight into the crystal, which reluctantly hummed and soon began to crack, and then exploded, stunning Twilight herself and pinning her to the wall. Her head whistled, and her concussed body slid downward, unable to fight gravity.
"No, you can't sleep... You can't..." Twilight struggled, but the pleasant warmth of hypothermia was treacherously trying to put her to sleep. Soon drowsiness, fatigue and exhaustion took over and the alicorn simply collapsed on her side, passing out.
It was unclear how long it had been since she had fallen asleep, but she awoke to a pleasant warmth she didn't want, a warmth comparable to the memory of someone as a child snuggling you in bed while you slept. It turned out that the makeshift vest had been keeping her well warm the whole time, keeping the heat away from her body. Twilight jumped up almost immediately, feeling even hotter.
"The temperature! 27 degrees... Oh..." her legs suddenly shook, cooling Twilight's fervor, and she came to her senses a little while later, greedily draining the bottled water, wetting her parched throat. "I'm alive... I'm alive... I'm alive..." the smile on her face was proof of that. Endorphin rushed generously into her head, gifting her with a great mood. "Phew... I finally got some sleep... Well, the crown wasn't here, but at least I got some rest," trying to brush the drops of sweat off her head, she felt something on it. Pulling the strange object off, she noticed her crown.
"A crown? Who? What? How did it get here? I don't remember wearing it..." looking over the crown again, she saw the star in the center glowing with the color of her harmony. - Thank you," she said softly and with a smile, hugging the crown like a friend.
The crown began to levitate, opening a portal. Twilight looked at the shell and the color of the portal. Green with a yellow border.
"Diary, the condition for receiving the crown was to eradicate the problem. Or find a solution to it. You don't always have to find the crown, sometimes the crown will find you. And if your heart is brave, your mind is clear, and your desire is persistent, you will succeed."
This time, thoroughly prepared, Twilight took some hematite stones and drew water, condensing it from the air. With a good rest, she stepped into the portal.
A hum and a light breeze blew around her. Stepping to the other side of the portal, she found herself... in a forest? Whether the forest was friendly or dangerous, she didn't know yet, but she knew the answer almost immediately, recognizing that her crown was no longer on her head.
* * *
"And so ended her second world," Sunburst finished reading." Well, let's move on. Starlight, don't get distracted!
"Twilight is so smart and brave, I didn't realize she could be so cool!" Starlight looked at the stallion in amazement, she smiled and was very proud of her teacher.
* * *
*For now, for now, for now. Starlight, you will learn the sins of your teacher. And then, will you be able to call me that, after all you've read?*
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Chapter 4 (Hylophobia) [Fear of wooded areas]
"Entry 7. I'm not sure what it is about this world I've been transported to. I was glad at first that it was an evergreen forest. But it turns out it's not: the local, ugh, flora is completely unfamiliar to me. There are similarities, but this is different. And the crown is gone again. By the way, it's much easier to breathe here than on the sandy planet. I think it's the abundance of greenery around here. It'll be nice to make ourselves some sort of siege camp here, just to rest and finally eat! And drink plenty of water! The forest is difficult, very thick, you can't see very well where you're going. If you don't have a natural compass, you can get lost literally behind the second tree".
"Is it just me, or is someone following me? The burning sensation of someone's gaze melting the back of my head. Must be my imagination running wild. Speaking of which! There's such a wide variety of flora here! But there's not a single member of the fauna! Hmm, not even any insects."
Twilight reproached herself for putting insects in a separate kingdom, it was wrong from the point of view of biology, but for the less educated this knowledge is vague and meaningless.
"Hmmm... It's worth a snack. I don't know of any edible plants in this place, but I think if I cut off some of this bush... Yeah, with what to cut it off with? Right!" She pulled out a couple of stones from the past world from her bag and created a machete of sorts, though it took a lot of work to make the weapon sharp enough to use transmutation. Cutting down a bush, she picked it up with her telekinesis and studied it with her gaze. "It smelled like grass. Just like in our world, well. Now let's turn this organic stuff into fruit. Well, well... Great! Phosphorus, zinc, most vitamins are present, potassium and even selenium. That's great! The fruit resembles an apple! Eh...apples...reminds me of Applejack, how I long to see you all again, my dear friends...I'll make some fruit..."
Finally filling her stomach to the fullest, she smiled contentedly.
"It's not for nothing they say that life is better on a full stomach. There's still time to make a temporary home. So, sorry, nature, survival is of the utmost importance to me now. The most important task!"
With enviable persistence and enthusiasm she began to clear the clearing and build herself a hut from lianas and wood materials. And it turned out very well. The three foals had taught her a little bit about it.
"She ate, drank, had a warm place to stay. It is necessary to use everything that is available and to the fullest, while it is possible, it is the key to survival on a foreign land."
* * *
This night there was a tropical downpour, luckily, the hut was made on a conscience and did not collapse from the rain. The night on the grass bed was the best night I've had in the last three or four days. The main thing was that it was warm and dry. The temperature seemed to be the same even at night as it was during the day.
"Recording 8. The paranoia is starting to burn me with renewed vigor. It's two o'clock in the morning. And I... woke up not from the rain pounding on the leaves, not from the wind rustling loudly on the edge of the trees, no... I feel like I'm being watched... Goosebumps running across my skin. But I quickly calmed down when, after scanning the area with detection magic for living entities, I found no one and continued my dream."
* * *
The morning was surprisingly pleasant. After eating again, Twilight began to study the plants, and, unsurprisingly, there was nothing but plants.
"There really is nothing and no one here... Should that be strange? In other words, there's an entire world or parallel reality where the entire local, or maybe even planetary biome is a forest. Hmmm... No presence of predatory plants. That's strange too, given the centuries of evolution, at least there should have been a separation of plants into predators, parasites and possibly other species, but no. Plants get along and don't conflict with each other. Hmmm... If you put it that way, just kidding, even now I am the most dangerous species here. Haha. Ohhhh. Twilight... It's not good to go into that kind of reasoning out loud... In case it becomes a habit and I'm considered schizophrenic. The Princess of Friendship is schizophrenic... Ooh..."
"Yeah!" she looked up to the sky and shouted heartily, "What else can I do?! If I'm alone?!" As if hoping for something or even someone, she exhaled, realizing that it really didn't make sense. "Well, what's the condition of finding the crown this time? I... I don't see much of a problem here. Could it be that in this way, the crown is giving me a chance to rest? I still don't understand, if the crown is giving me a vacation, I'd be perfectly content at home! In my home world!"
* * *
"So, I've unraveled about seventy pages from her diary, princess. I'm sorry I couldn't extract more..."
"It's okay, Starlight, I'm very pleased with your efforts and progress, you are a worthy student of your mentor," Celestia smiled at the gesture from Starlight, who was now acting like Twilight when she wasn't doing what she wanted to do.
"Yeah..." Starlight's assistant sighed, proofreading and rewriting something off the pages. - She met someone in the woods, I'd have been sure to run... Though... wherever I went, she would have found me. Strange creature.
"What kind of creature, Sunburst?" Celestia looked at him curiously.
"Read it for yourself, Princess," the stallion handed her a "reprint book" of Twilight's exploits and accomplishments."
* * *
"Entry 9. You know, I didn't get much sleep again today, though I feel just fine. The aching in my wings is gone. My hooves are gone from the desert marathon. I'm eating plenty, filling my belly to the brim and drinking the purest water, which is delicious. But... I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched."
"Rustling?"
Twilight hadn't expected the sudden sounds among the bushes behind her. Once again, someone's gaze was on her, only this time it pierced through her back. Turning around, she felt... panic? No. A sense of impending death? Perhaps, but no... The look, that damn look again... Was she really that scared of that bush? No, something else entirely. A drop of sweat ran down her face, she couldn't take her eyes off the bush, she felt like if she did, she'd be finished. Accumulated stress? No... Why? The paranoia's kicking in again, though. You know that feeling when you're being watched through a window, but you're trying not to get caught? Well, it's the same feeling here, but through the green foliage.
"Come out, whoever you are! I know you're in there!" Shouted Twilight loudly into the wooded thicket.
Surprisingly, the gaze fell on her after that.
"W-w-what was that b-b-b-been...?" Twilight muttered weakly and sat down on the ground. Her limbs stiffened with fear. Was she scared of the forest? No... Something else was scaring her. Something... Something incomprehensible and something inanimate, she didn't know what or who it was... "Eh... hah..." trying to catch her breath, she waddled with her bags to the camp. "So... Hush, Twilight... You're an alicorn, a powerful being. You're once again, huh... Getting yourself in a tailspin...."
How she wished she could see some pony she knew, someone she could find support in, if only morally or aesthetically, whatever. Just someone to talk to so she could vent and cool off.
"So... I won't sleep a wink tonight, it's worth following this thing..." Twilight began to clear the area around the camp. Making a large circle and trampling the ground, using magic to squeeze it into a dense mass that would not allow plants to grow through. "This way... I'll feel much better both mentally and physically. If that's not enough, I'll put up a fence. Hmmm... It's getting dark, okay... Eat, drink, and do air tests. It's worth trying to find a plant that resembles coffee. Coffee would help me stay awake at night."
* * *
"Surveillance again. Quiet. You know what's missing? Any kind of natural noise from nature. There's insects flying around. Birds singing. Or even monsters howling," Twilight would have been monologuing with herself if she hadn't felt that very same gaze on her skin. He was looking over her back again. "C-c-c-creepy...."
Gritting her teeth and overcoming her fear, she turned slowly and froze in horror. She gritted her teeth with renewed vigor. It was as if her brain refused to work and think rationally, and was generally on the verge of shutting down and saving her mistress from the growing horror. She saw more than just a look, this time two yellow eyes peering out of the bushes, disproportionately large for a normal creature. As if they were just hanging in the air, without a body, this time the creature was closer than yesterday.
"Tuff... faf... fafa... fafa fafa fafa..." the alicorn mumbled.
Staring into it, she was horrified. The magic sensors were silent! They didn't react in any way to the fact that it was alive. It had definitely been watching her in past times. Twilight took frequent and short breaths in panic. Closing her eyes in hopes that it would go away, she opened her eyes - and there were those tracking lights again. The stare wasn't threatening. It didn't even cast a light. The eyes, like drawn or ripped from comic book pictures, were unnatural. They just stood out as a bright color in the thicket.
"N-no... No... No... Shh..." she whispered, trying to keep her panic at bay. "It left yesterday, didn't it? Get away, p-p-please... Please, please, get away! Stop following me!" Twilight spoke as loudly as she could, as if trying to scare the creature away.
She couldn't hold back her tears of terror. She couldn't stand the sight of it. But surprisingly, it worked again. It was gone... Or rather, it dissolved into a green mass. Breathing heavily, she sat down at the entrance to the hut, afraid to feel that alien presence again. Until morning, she did not sleep a wink, nor did she even try to move to change her body position.
As the first rays of the sun came out from behind the horizon, Twilight shook her head.
"So... Let's draw conclusions. Why am I so afraid of this? It's new. It's incomprehensible, and it's also intelligent, judging by its behavior. And the forest looks like an evergreen from my world. So, all of that aside, the following can be put forward: it's non-aggressive, it's not attacking me... But it's scary as hell... Ugh, man. I need to study this."
Overcoming the shaking of her hooves and the rapid heartbeat that drummed against the membranes of her ears, she stood up, slowly opening her eyes, afraid to see something again, and looked out.
"Hey! Whoever you are! I am not hostile! And I don't wish you pain or harm. Come here, please! We'll discuss everything calmly!" Twilight said as loudly as she could, but there was no response.
"Well... I think it will come to me, and as long as I don't show hostility, it will come closer... I'm sure of it. Really... I wouldn't want it to..." she mumbled quietly, but then she cheered loudly, "No! I'm a researcher! I shouldn't be afraid of such things! I'm not a little colt! Get a grip on your hooves and study it!" That's a much better attitude.
After cutting down a couple of plants for lunch and transmuting them, she felt the direct effect of the gaze behind her again, sending chills and goosebumps down her spine.
"Ugh... Okay, pull yourself together..." she turned around slowly and steadily and froze again in horror.
The eyes seemed bigger this time.
"Come here. I... I..." she clenched her teeth to keep them from clattering together and muttered, "I won't hurt you." she held out her front hoof in a gesture of friendship, trying to show him or her that she wasn't hostile.
It showed the ability to move for the first time. And this time in her direction. Fear was replaced by surprise. A creature, completely identical in outward structure to the pony, but with distinct features, was walking toward her. Where there should be a mane, there was grass that hung to one side in strands, like a hairdo. In places, like hairpins, growing flowers could be seen. Was it itself covered in fur? Fur? No... It looked like moss. In our world, there is moss that is little more than one or two centimeters long. The smell of the swamp accompanied the creature, and it seemed to be her after all, judging by the features on her face.
"Wow..." Twilight muttered quietly. The fear was gone, though the look still made her stammer a little. But all in all, no big deal. As she stepped closer, strands of hanging lichen became visible along the sides of the creature. A mixture of mushrooms and algae.
"Hmm, interesting," she peered at her hooves. It was hard to see behind the tightly hanging veil of grass, moss, and other plants, but dark, compacted clumps of wood and apparently dead plants were visible. Though the latter was unclear.
"Who are you? Tell me your name."
She couldn't say anything in response, couldn't make a sound. The creature's gaze was now curiosity in Twilight's direction. Of course, so many years of nothing like this, and here was a creature so foreign to this world. It sniffed at Twilight's hoof and recoiled.
"My name is Twilight, and I am from another world!"
The creature staggered back, glaring at her. Alicorn wanted to move towards it, but it instantly fell into the ground as if there was a hole.
"Wait!" she shouted after her.
But in her place was only a green meadow with flowers growing.
"Hmm... She's afraid of me too, I guess? Well... It's not an animal, it's probably an intelligent plant? But how does it move without a root system? I could chalk it up to being a mutation of the tumbleweed species, but... Does it look like me? To our species... Eh... She won't let me study herself further."
Snacking on an apple, Twilight recorded her observations in her journal. Looking for pertinent information, she searched the farthest corners in the darkness of her brain. And she found nothing possible of belonging to a scientific species there. Soon she came to a section of her memory called Mythology.
"She looked like a... Dryad? Yes... Why not? Is she a spirit of this forest? What if she came from the will of the forest itself? A child born of nature's will. Hmm, well, it's worth analyzing all this data," as she said the last words, the alicorn once again felt a gaze coming towards her. "Oh, she dared to study me again? Well, this time I'll try not to move and scare her off, let her examine me to make sure I'm friendly. Let her get used to me a little bit."
Twilight did just that. She walked out of her hut towards her and walked until she stopped in front of her, the dryad moving in sync with Twilight and stopping as well.
Studying the forest dweller closely, Twilight pretended that her gaze wasn't so frightened now. After two minutes of the staring game, the one started moving towards her again. She got close enough that you could smell her scent. Hmm, it wasn't as inviting as it might have seemed at first. To the smell of the swamp, there were added tinges of smells of tina, moss, and mushrooms...
Twilight calmly let herself be sniffed by the strange creature. Standing up in front of her, she lifted her hoof. The hiker saw shreds of moss and greenery break away from her hoof and reach up to her face. Allowing herself to be touched, the alicorn closed her eyes, ostensibly giving her consent.
'psh...' the dryad hissed softly and let out some dust from her hoof right into Twilight's face.
"Uphhhh! Ugh!"
Twilight drew back sharply, trying to catch her breath while sneezing loudly. Her eyes were watery and itchy, and her nose was filled with some sort of bitterness. Trying her best not to be too loud, she resigned herself to looking at the forest creature with half-open eyes, but it didn't react in any way and watched her curiously.
Soon, it left her alone, falling somewhere underground.
"Where's the water? Oh, that's disgusting, ugh!" Twilight diligently rinsed her eyes and healed them with her own magic. "I didn't know I was allergic to some kind of plant spores. She probably didn't mean to do it or didn't realize that I wasn't a plant like some people, so... I don't blame her for that oversight. Creatures sometimes do strange things when they don't know who or what's in front of them. I'll take that as a sign of friendliness. Ahchoo!"
* * *
The day passed quickly enough. Twilight continued to study the local flora, finding more and more species. Toward evening, after dinner, she felt a little sick.
"I'm exhausted today, I should go take a nap, I'm feeling a little weak. I'll go to bed early."
It was only at night that she realized that something bad was happening to her. Unable to sleep, she got up to check her body and quickly came to some conclusions, which she wrote down in her journal.
"Entry... 10..." the handwriting was a bit illegible, for when Twilight held the quill with her telekinesis, it shook. That pollen that got on my face wasn't as harmless as I thought... I was doing some tests... Nggh!..!! soon switched to hoof input, making the handwriting seem even uglier. She poisoned me, and from the looks of it, it wasn't a harmless fertilizer or feed, but mushroom spores... Like those poisonous ones. They're of the Amanita genus. I don't know...and then the handwriting broke off. And the rest of the text had DNA traces of some kind of scraps, and later tests revealed food residue from vomiting."
* * *
"Where am I?" Twilight woke up somewhere other than her cabin. The smell of mulched grass hit her nose. "It's so hard..." She teleported herself and sat down on the ground, unable to stand on her own four feet. "Detox! Healing! Antidote! At least something would work!"
But nothing was working on her body, this poison seemed to have affected the magical component as well. She was breathing hard and the constant pain throughout her body made her hot and cold.
"Faust, help me. If it continues like this, I'll go crazy... I need to be cured. I can't die here like this... No... Ngggh... What are you looking at me for?" The look of yellow eyes filled with curiosity was directed at her just in time. "Are you waiting for me to die? I thought you were harmless, that I could communicate with you somehow, but you're being so mean and trying to bury me alive in humus. I'm not your fertilizer! OUCH!" her abdomen twisted with pain. "Okay, liver's the first thing to go. Vomiting's a good sign. It means the body's fighting. Chances of survival are one in two. Uh-huh."
He's looking at the sky. The clouds are clumped together, forming rain masses that should be pouring down on the ground soon.
"Soon it would rain, we must get to the hut... And to drink, because I'm very thirsty... Well, diarrhea came too...."
It was fifteen or twenty meters to the hut, but it took the alicorn half an hour to get there. The rain, which had soaked her body and fur to the skin, was getting heavier. She leaned into the puddle and drank greedily. She didn't care if it was dirty or muddy, she needed the moisture. Already inside, the pony lay down on her other side, still holding onto the sore spot. Breathing deeply, Twilight began to think out loud. It seemed like it had been hours, she was getting used to the pains, and they didn't bother her now. The nice thing to do would have been to wash up her own shit, but that was a luxury she could forget about right now.
Twilight's voice was pained and heavy:
"So. Second twenty-four hours. If I pass out now, I may never get out of whatever mire she's burying me in. Okay. Can't sleep. It's good for the body, though. Think, Twilight. Think. Think of all your friends. Think of your family. They're your support, they're your willpower. I will overcome whatever challenges are thrown in my face."
* * *
"Ms. Applejack, this way. Lie down, and we'll get started shortly."
With a brief briefing again, Applejack was plunged into slumber, where she soon met Twilight.
A hesitant walk towards her and a light touch on her back got Twilight to pay some attention.
"Sugar, how are you?" Applejack started the conversation.
"Uh-huh, so they sent you second. Good..."
"Don't worry, you'll be fine! You just need to rest."
I heard a chuckle in response.
"I've been lying here for five or six days. They should have bothered to wake me up or at least try, and they keep trying and trying to study my body. What do they want from it?! What are they trying to do?!"
"Oh, sugar, I mean... I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry, just in case."
"They're afraid of me, aren't they?" Twilight, who was now a head taller than Applejack, turned to her. "Are you afraid of me?" She squinted her eyes at her. "You wouldn't lie to me, Element of Honesty."
"I'm sorry, Twi. To be honest, I am indeed a little afraid of you, but that doesn't matter now. I've come to help you."
Twilight didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but more importantly, she didn't make it worse.
"And how is the Element of Honesty going to help me?"
"Well... Huh. Let's start by starting the conversation in a more friendly manner. Twi, you used to have a different way of talking. And you never looked down on us. "The element of honesty." Yeah, I'm proud of it. But my name is Applejack."
"Hmm. There is a difference..." she muttered to herself, making notes in her head.
"Stop analyzing, Twi! You're in your own world! I'm standing in front of you! It's disrespectful to ignore me!" Applejack wrapped her hooves around her muzzle and turned her around.
"Hey, Applejack. I know you better than anyone, and I know what would hurt you the most. You care about your family."
"What?" she pulled away, staring into the abyss of her eyes. They turned black in an instant.
Applejack instantly fell into a stupor, staring into the bottomless darkness. Various moments flashed before her eyes where Twilight had mercilessly killed both her and the Apples from other worlds, including foals and old men. Scenes of their deaths flashed across Applejack's gaze, causing mute horror on her friend's face.
"Mommy, Daddy, little brother, little sister, no..."
She sat there like a zombie, while Twilight's memories slowly flowed into her head. But she couldn't move, she was in shock. And when Twilight finally took pity and stopped implanting those horrible things into her memory, Applejack closed her eyes. Tears pooled on her eyelashes and streamed down her face, colliding on her chin and falling to the floor.
"'It's..."
"It's all me," Twilight turned her back to her indifferently. "Tell me..."
"No, you tell me! Tell me honestly! Please! You killed them out of necessity, that's all you did."
The other exhaled in response and after a pause, said:
"Yes."
"Then... Then..." tears were pouring from her eyes. Twilight nodded understandingly. "Then I have nothing to blame you for!"
Twilight's eyes opened wider at those words, as if a piece of her old self had returned to her mind.
"You saw what a monster I was to them!"
"I'm sure it's all for a reason! And you only showed me moments of pain and loss. I'm sure you've saved many more lives and even worlds!" She sounded so confident...
"But you can't say that without direct evidence..." Twilight turned around and said reasonably.
"But I am sure! Because you are Twilight Sparkle. The Element of Magic! And the Princess of Friendship! And our old friend!" Applejack hugged her tightly, standing up on her hind hooves.
Twilight stared deadly at her orange mane, feeling the memories of the smiles and happiness of all the lives she had saved slowly flow into her head.
"I'm sorry I hurt you."
"It's okay. I won't let them hurt you and I won't leave you. And I won't let you go on any more adventures like this alone!"
Twilight soon hugged her with her hoof. Later, they both pulled away from each other. Applejack smiled as she looked at her and began to dissolve.
"I'll be sure to come to you again, and nap time is coming to an end, sugar!" Applejack smiled cheerfully at her and soon disappeared, waking up.
"And I'll be waiting for you..."
* * *
"Ah!" Twilight smelled the familiar smell of humus again. "How do I explain to her that I'm not fertilizer? Oh."
Her hooves were stuck in utter helplessness, her wings humming and stiff under the weight of the mass. It was hard to breathe.
"Magic doesn't work... And there's no strength to move..."
Consciousness was slowly leaving the alicorn again, so she covered her eyes and resigned herself to the fact that she was remembering everyone at this moment, but for some reason the memories of one zebra mostly came into her head. Zecora, the herbalist and healer who was always talking poetry. Quietly, poems about difficult moments when everything seemed to be over and there was no way out.
"Don't you dare peck the water with your nose, Don't you dare lift your head up, Though it may seem stronger than it is."
"Yes... Zecora, I remember..." his eyes slowly faded, the last breath coming out of his lungs.
"The silent green guardian came, he took what he had and left quietly. Don't let him, even if you suffer, you can defeat the weed, you know."
Her breath caught, similar verses were just right for this situation. She breathed with renewed vigor, and the humus was porous enough to breathe through it like a sponge.
"Am I going to lose to this weed? Never in my life! I'll get out! I'm getting out of here!"
In spite of the pain, she compressed the humus around her with the force of her hooves, creating an empty space to maneuver, began to dig upward. At this moment, apparently anger, rage, and the will to live were sparkling in her eyes. To live and win! To live and not die!
"You can't defeat this mountain by force, you have to be smarter in times of need. I know you, my friend. You can't find a smarter..."
"...in the whole world of me!" Twilight chanted the verse as she climbed out of the soil. A hoof appeared above the ground. It was scratched bloody from moving and digging. Again the look of those eyes, but this time they didn't frighten her. This time they were running away, more in fright. "I will destroy you!!!" Twilight shouted loudly.
It seemed that this scream was no longer from a dying animal, but from a wounded beast that was trying to kill. Raindrops fell on her wet mane, washing the dirt off her body. Turning toward her hut, she walked faster and more confidently. Willpower burned in her heart.
* * *
After sitting up all night trying to make an antidote, Twilight realized that it wasn't easy in the current realities, but she could support her body with some sort of medicine. Liver and kidney support, as well as natural caffeine for wakefulness and herbal antibiotics. That was all she could get out right now.
"Record 12. Today I might not have continued my research any further and might not have come back alive at all. But today I realized...you can't give up! No matter who gets in my way, I'm going to stop him. I'm in pain, I'm in a lot of pain. That's the poison she sprayed in my face. But what she doesn't know is that I've prepared something special for her too, so she won't be left in my debt."
And so it really was. Twilight had concocted an extract from yellow flowers and the rotting remains of poisonous century-old mushrooms that had already grown the size of the local trees. A respirator gathered from leaves and vines saved her from poisonous pores and pollen.
"Uh-huh. That'll do it."
Soon the flask was filled with a yellow liquid. Natural herbicide. Kills plants dead. As the chlorophyll ceases to function, the plant quickly wilts, turns yellow, and eventually dies.
After washing her hooves, Twilight changed her respirator and went outside, holding a glass bottle with a homemade atomizer.
"I can see you, don't be afraid, come here."
The creature clearly must not know what she had in store specifically for her encounter. Just like last time, it began to approach her. Without giving any hint of sudden movements or loud noises. Waiting, waiting. There it was, literally half a meter away from her. Her pupils remained unchanged, still yellow. Twilight's gaze was hard and menacing. And again the same curious expression flashed across her face at the mere sight of the strange contraption Twilight had put on her face. Raising her hoof again, she wanted to spray another dose of venom, but it didn't work. The alicorn literally pressed her plant-like limb into the ground with a hoof. With her second, she sprayed herbicide into the green heap's face.
Now it was her turn to sneeze and wonder until she pulled away and tried to escape in her standard way of going through the ground. But here was the trouble. The surface beneath her was solid enough to prevent her from dissolving on the spot. Then she tried to run away. But Twilight pinned her tail to the ground, spraying more and more from the atomizer right at her.
"Moooooooooh!!!" came from the creature.
"Now you understand how I felt when you did the same thing... I'm sorry, but you left me no choice! But unlike you, I have feelings, regret and sympathy!"
The dryad slowly dried up and turned yellow. You could see that she was in pain and was thrashing in agony. Twilight took her weapon and raised it above her. Without remorse, she stabbed at her neck. With a crunch of sliced cabbage, she pulled away from her body. A blow, another blow. Literally shredding the creature, she soon came to its head and took one last look into its fading eyes.
"I'm sorry-" Twilight let tears fall. She had never killed an animal or another creature. But give her a little more will, and Twilight would definitely not wake up tomorrow. "I'll take care of this forest... Sleep well, Dryad..." she crushed her head with a powerful blow and felt a gust of wind coming from her.
Green smoke rose from her corpse and soon dissolved into the air. Exhaling a breath, the alicorn stuck her weapon next to a pile of dried yellow grass that had once been a forest spirit and guardian of this forest. Taking off her respirator, she went to the hut to finally get some sleep.
* * *
The next morning, Twilight took a handful of homemade pills. They didn't make her feel better, but they did dull the pain, and more importantly, they didn't make it worse. She walked over to the handful of already blackened grass and piled it all up, setting it on fire with magic. But only lightly, so as not to inadvertently burn the forest.
"Rest in harmony... Forest spirit..." she exhaled and left a makeshift cross in the form of two tied sticks. It was probably as a tribute to the dead rather than anything else.
"Entry 13. No more changes I felt and no new things were learned. Today, in the interest of survival, I took a disgusting step... I actually killed a living being. Inside my soul there is only emptiness... Well. I have nothing else to describe today."
Indeed, she often wrote out some data and figures, but today was an exception. She wanted to rest, and after making herself a softer bed and taking a handful of pills again, she tried to rinse and clean herself in some way. Cleaning her machete, she sat and thought while she prepared everything she had. She made some conclusions for herself, which she wrote in her journal.
"In any new world, one must keep one's ear to the ground. Even the most seemingly harmless and lovable creature can be your swift demise."
"Even if you're on the verge of death. Even if you're buried alive. As long as your mind is clear, as long as your will is strong, fight and fight. Good memories will be your best help."
Twilight assembled some sort of shell or something resembling a poniqen out of wood and pieces of plants. And approached it, placing her hoof against its forehead.
"Show yourself, light spirit. My way of life. Come to good service. To you I give this decree. Protect this world, that is my command," Twilight, energized by the magic of the environment, created a golem of wood and branches.
Soon the construct took the shape of Twilight and spoke in a hollow voice.
"Your orders?"
"Guard this forest from its enemies. Do not kill anyone. Help those in need. Study and explore. I give you free will, my golem."
Releasing her, the golem nodded, running off deep into the forest.
Half a minute later, the golem returned on its own for some reason. Twilight was surprised that it was so early, and wanted to ask what was wrong, but the answer was the thing on its head. A crown. The Crown of Harmony. She walked up to Twilight, and with a curt nod she dropped the crown into her hooves.
"So I helped save the world. Heh..." she stroked the cut of the star crystal and thought for a moment. "Apparently, not every condition has to be true to constitute saving or fixing the world. One must overcome oneself and one's limits. Well, my only companion in life. Let's go..."
Taking her bags, pills, machete, diary, food and water, Twilight prepared to leave this dimension. The crown soon opened a portal. A gray color filled the ripples in its middle. Taking a deep breath, she crouched down on the walkway, looking around at the outside world.
"I accept responsibility, what I have done, and realize that sometimes some sacrifices have to be made to achieve my goal. Now I must go."
Stepping through the portal once more, she sank into her thoughts, her heavy musings. It was heavy this time as well. What else awaited her in the future, she did not know.
* * *
"I don't think it's considered open murder. For the good of our lands, we have come to such defenses many times. It's not murder. Twilight, it's taking your own life. My dear apprentice," Celestia said, as if the journal was a letter to Twilight and she had to send her a reply.
* * *
"How is my child doing? Is she still protecting this forest, or has she died trying to do so... I may never know..."
Chapter 5 (Thanatophobia) [Fear of dying].
Thanatophobia is the fear of dying or being killed.
Twilight clung to her belly and, feeling a sharp pain, tried to heal herself with magic. "Wow! The energy consumption of magic is at least ten times higher, and it has a payoff. Great... On top of all this, I got a migraine."
Frowning, Twilight applied a tight bandage to her abdomen to make it hurt less, and threw on a cloak to save herself from the rain.
"What a disgusting smell... What a horrible place. Apparently, this shitty slum is like Las Pegasus with the same tall beautiful banners. So... By the way..." only now seeing what was painted on the banners, Twilight gave out puzzled. "Applejack? Only apple cider can quench your thirst? Wow..."
Once more surprised, Twilight hears a hiss from outside.
"We'd have to find an inn, and preferably local currency. Hmmm..."
Luckily it was very easy to blend in with the locals, they were mostly all walking around who were wearing cloaks and bandages. Umbrellas could occasionally be seen. But what exactly caught the eye was the number, very few pegasi. And only one or two unicorns.
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight notices the sign on the house "Don't want to attract too much attention? We'll cut down your horn in 5 minutes! No repercussions with a guarantee."
"Brrr... There's clearly something wrong with this place, and it would be worth getting out of here as soon as possible..."
"Scan... So, the air here is disgusting, but it's possible to breathe, though to tell you the truth, it's like poison to me right now. Of course, it's like a forest savage coming into town. Hmm... Who rules here? No mention of alicorns. Hmm. A junk buyer."
Fixing her gaze on one of the canopy stands, she spots a pony sitting on a cushion. An ottoman, most likely. A cloth is spread out on the floor. She can see all sorts of gadgets on it, and two ponies trying to shove a rusty teapot and a wooden pin at him. Once again he is convinced that the world here is a very poor place. When they leave with sad faces, Twilight hesitantly approaches the vendor, studying his goods with a slimy gaze.
"Buy or show me something of value, or else leave!" Very abruptly he started the conversation, but it didn't attract any attention.
Twilight wanted to object or even respond in the same way, but she didn't. She thought about it and soon pulled her machete out of her bag.
"You want to rob me?! Go ahead. But know that either I will come for you or my family will kill you!" the merchant turned to threats. You could see by the look on his face that he wasn't afraid of her at all.
The alicorn woman held the machete by the back of the blade and slipped the item forward with the handle, showing that she wanted to understand how much it was worth and that she wanted to sell it to him.
"Fake again?! You're annoying!" The merchant grumbles out of habit, but still, putting on his glasses, he took the weapon and began to scrutinise it.
Then he turned his gaze to her and back to the machete, swiped the blade across the cloth and noticed that it left an even cut, then looked at the alicorn.
"Kicked out of the guard?" The vendor scrutinised the person in front of him and blurted out: "Eight gold pieces. Agreed?"
She didn't really know how expensive this weapon should be priced, so she decided to push logic. So, gold is worth more than silver and coppers. So her weapon was valued by him? Or not... "Ah... He thinks I'm the local guard, considering I'm wearing a cloak that's embroidered to a very high quality, and the weapon is okay, and I myself am a bit bigger and taller than the other ponies. I guess so..."
"I agree," Twilight said quietly, though she didn't really want to part with her machete. "Can I ask you another question? Where do you stay here for the night, a room, an inn or something like that?"
He shook his head in surprise as he looked for coins and soon handed them to her in a pouch. And scanned Twilight again with a piercing gaze.
"Hmmm... Living here all your life and you don't know this town?"
"I've never been out of my... Well..." Twilight hesitated, but she wouldn't tell him that she had travelled through a portal from another world, would she? He would surely think it was utter nonsense.
"I hear you. You spend your life working for the local government, killing yourselves, and then you come and sell your weapons, armour and other junk to me. Girl, what's your name?" The voice became much softer and calmer, even more caring in a way.
"Tv..." I decided it was better not to tell him my real name. What if the local Twilight lives here? "Twia."
"Twia. And I'm Bill," the merchant held out a hoof to her, and Twia responded by tapping it against it. It felt rough. "Let's go inside. You're going to get soaked to the skin, and in this climate that's a death sentence."
Bill stepped inside the house, beckoning her to follow him. She exhaled and followed him, closing the door behind her. A moderately bright light came on, the source of which wasn't hard to identify. "Wow, paraffin lamps? Such things are rare in our world, though the banner on that tall house is clearly electric."
"Come on in, don't be shy, you've helped the old man out a lot."
It was only now that she noticed that the local peddler was in his old age, just like Granny Apple.
"With what? You gave the money yourself."
Twilight walked behind the old man and sat down on the floor. Actually, she was having another conversation.
"Oh-oh, don't you know? I'll auction it off later. For a minimum of thirty gold pieces. It's a quality weapon. High-end and brand new, which means you're from the upper society of the Guard?" Bill asked her, still examining the weapon with curiosity.
"Yes... Listen, Bill. Tell me about the local culture and customs."
He coughed in shock, looking at her like she was crazy, which was at least rude, but he came to his senses quickly.
"Oh yes... You don't learn history, and... But I'm glad you're so inquisitive, I'm even surprised. Usually the guards don't give a damn about their culture, and most of them can't even read."
"What about the stuff outside? Won't they get wet?" Twilight suddenly came to her senses, glancing at the old man. "Why don't I bring it in?"
Bill stopped her with a gesture of his hoof.
"Who needs this rubbish? They only buy it once a week anyway. You know, the essentials, like a kettle or a knife, sometimes a screwdriver."
"But how do you live? I mean, I've seen the prices, and I think you're selling pretty cheap."
"Living? Surviving. I don't buy much either, and what I like, I can use. Sorry, I can't offer you anything to eat. But I can give you some water, please. Yes, and as you can see, there's not a lot of rich people here. And if they have more or less big money, they live over there, in those high-rises."
"Here you go," Twilight interrupted, pulling a couple of apples out of her supplies.
"'I can't! It's very expensive! I already paid you very little for your copy."
"Aha, so he bought my item cheap after all, well... I'm not going to take it away, and besides, he's got a greedy look in his eye for those apples."
She brought the fruit closer to him.
"Eat, and don't think about the price. I'm not going to rip you off, I just want information. And the more the better. If it will make your soul feel better, accept these apples for another price - information."
"Agreed!"
The old man literally sunk his teeth into the fruit very greedily, feeling their sweetness and flavour. Twilight turned away so as not to embarrass him and waited for him to finish his meal. Soon the heavy breathing and greedy sips of water from his glass made it clear that he was finished. I even felt sorry for him, because the people here hardly see anything tastier than third-class porridge.
"Where did you get them from?" came the old man's surprised exclamation.
"And-from..." Twilight said, trying to make up an alibi for herself.
"Don't lie like you took them from the palace, because three years ago I tasted Apple apples, and they weren't as juicy and big and delicious! - he even shouted louder than usual."
"Information!" She turned to him menacingly and demanded, letting the old man know that she was going to act "info for info".
"I'm sorry..." he relented, glaring at her. Soon, however, calming down and savouring the sweet taste, he continued: "What is it you want to know, Tvia?"
"How do you live here?"
"Like I said, everyone here survives. Pegasi mostly go into the elite assassins or local guards."
She lifted the edge of her cloak slightly, revealing a wing.
"And you, girl, are you a pegasus too? Wow, it's so big," the old man said in surprise."
Again the rhythmic thumping and the serious look brought his conversation back on track.
"Sorry, Tvia, so my question is, who are you?"
"I'm a guard, and I got kicked out because I fell asleep on the job, and then..."
"Hey, that's not a good lie, Tvia. It'll stop the old man's heart. I can tell when someone's lying." Twilight takes off her hood and spreads her wings. That's when the old man's eyes became like two saucers. "What's that? Nah, ha ha ha ha... A prop. Hahaha," he came up and poked his hoof at her horn, but she lit it on fire and used levitation magic to push his hoof away. "Magic? You're a unicorn."
"All right, that's enough! I am an alicorn! Do you get it now?"
"Ali-what?" he put his head to the side.
"Really? You know, the horn and wings together?"
He looked at her with curiosity, a hint of fear, and was not even shy about touching both. Twilight, of course, tolerated it, but let him know she was not pleased.
"My girl..." closing the windows to the shutters, he sat down and began to tune in for a serious conversation. "A hundred years ago there was a magical-climatic catastrophe that took millions of lives. It was then that unicorns as a species disappeared completely. And the pegasi were almost all crushed by the tremendous altitude. However, over time, unicorns began to make a comeback, thanks to gene mixing from their ancestors. However, they could not use magic, and if they could, it resulted in a brain haemorrhage and ended in almost instant death. Therefore, out of the fifteen elite supreme beings, there is not a single unicorn and only two of them are pegasi."
"A catastrophe? And what had caused it?" Twilight was jotting down notes and the old man was and didn't mind the story. Well finally the conversation was getting into the right phase, well at least something interesting.
"According to rumours and legends, it is said that there is a magical fountain that is responsible for magic all over the planet. That's where the trouble happened. Then there was a wave, here. The lands were no longer fertile and the sun never rose again. Rumour has it that all the survivors are here now and no-one ventures beyond our city limits. And only he who has a horn and wings can bring the sun back into the sky!"
"Horns and wings, so... Tell me, what is the border of the city?"
"As I know, it's a high wall, about thirty to forty metres high. And about five or six metres thick. Beyond that, it's wasteland and nothing else."
"But what are you defending yourself against?"
"It's probably not for defence, but to deter the local population. As the Pegasi say, there's nothing to do abroad. And everyone believes it. You know the parable of the four walls? Well, here it is. Well, there's only one wall, and it surrounds the whole city."
"How big is the city?"
"Forty kilometres. Roughly."
"Population, how many of you?"
He exhaled, thinking.
"Hard to say, but five or ten years ago there were about thirty thousand."
"How can so many ponies fit in such a small place!" Twilight wondered, calculating the population per square metre. Oh, and considering how big the ponies' living spaces were.
"Hey... Huh. Why are you surprised? See the room I have? That's considered a big flat. Others live in even smaller rooms with just a bed, if you're lucky, a toilet and some empty space."
"How's your water supply?"
"Fortunately, there are four wells in the city and we have water. Only cold water, though. Only the rich and the elite use hot water."
"And the sewerage?"
"There's literally a pipe that goes outside the city wall and everything is flushed down there."
"That's--"
"Unhygienic? Girl, it's a good thing, cos there was a time when there was slavery, when you starved to death. Disease was slaughtered left and right. Dead ponies lying around. Now look, see that banner up there? Apple. They found a way to grow apple trees and other produce. The other elites banned slavery, so everyone survives as best they can. If you can do something well, you'll make it to the upper spheres safely."
"Where do they grow them? Weeds don't even grow here!"
"Oh... I don't know that, and I haven't even thought about it. You see, they own 90-95% of the population's provisions."
"What if the population starts to grow?"
"Well... Unicorns are killed when they're babies and in the maternity ward, unfortunately that's the law Apple made, and everyone obeys it."
"What do you mean?! Killed in the birthing centre?!" Twilight darted her eyes at the old man.
"You didn't know? It's so that there are fewer fatalities. Babies can accidentally use magic when they're babies, and that's death for them."
"Wait! If you wax the horns, they won't work!"
And then Bill wanted to say something in response, but he couldn't explain it. Wax was expensive, but at least the community could spare some for the children.
"I don't know... Damn, you're right... And look, I have no idea where you got that knowledge, but..."
Twilight pulled out her diary and began to write.
"Entry 14. I've found myself in a post-apocalypse slum. And I need to adapt in this place to stop the genocide and deal with this horror...!"
"What's this?" Looking at the journal as if it were some kind of treasure he clearly didn't mind buying, the old man inquired.
"A journal in which I jot down my notes. Now thank you for all the information you've given me, thanks to your help I know what to do."
Twilight was about to leave, but Bill called out to her.
"Wait! A word of advice. Don't cross the Epples," he said the last words in a firm voice, like a mentor to a student. "They're not afraid to get blood on their hooves."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Twilight soon left the old man and walked on as instructed, towards the inn. Once again her belly let her know to take better care of herself. After catching her breath and taking a couple more pills of painkiller, she walked towards the grey building. Hotel.
"I don't even want to know what condition they might be in. Speaking of which... The situation here is even worse. There are no plants or animals. Although there are probably parasitic species. But that's not the point. The air is poisonous. Killing unicorns... Apparently it's a recent rule, because there are adult unicorns, aren't there? I don't see any children on the streets. They're probably in their homes, not letting them out until they're at least sixteen."
Twilight entered the building, where the doors reluctantly gave in with a creak. Apparently they had been taken out more than once, judging by the dents on them. As she approached the counter, the alicorness saw that a sleeping pegasus was sitting there.
"Guardian?" Twilight thought.
"Excuse me!" She said a little louder to wake the sleepy girl up.
"Yes... Yes... Yes... I'll be right back... The toilet is over there," she pointed to the side, not for the first time.
"No, you don't understand. I want to rent a room."
"A room? Ah-ah... Are you from inspection? I'm sorry, I didn't recognise you."
"No... I'm not from inspection. I want to rent a room. How much is it?"
"Thirty silver a day."
"All in all, at least I could sleep, that's all right."
"With a bed?"
"With a bed, it's fifty. Do you need lunch?"
"No, just for one day for now, and I'll see what happens then."
Twilight pulled one gold from her pouch, placing it on the counter in front of the pegasus. Based on her logical and mathematical calculations, she should have been given change the size of five silver coins with a face value of ten, as the guard did. She was also handed a key. She followed curiously, escorting her to her room.
"Your room is number seven."
"Thank you."
As she closed the door, Twilight noticed that the room was indeed as she had imagined it. Soon the clatter of hooves moved away from her door. The flap on it closed.
"Now to get some sleep..." she snorted softly as she tucked herself into the dusty pillow. Kicking it with her hooves, the princess began to cough. "Ugh!"
She opened the window because there was so much dust that you could hardly see anything. Fresh air and a nasty odour that was stronger here than inside. I shook the pillow and the blanket and the sheet out of the window a few times with all my might and then put everything back in its place.
"Apparently, not many people use the rooms... No wonder. And the loo? Checks? Weird. But I'll deal with that later, now I just want to rest."
Bang - and the alicorn's body fell onto the bed, putting her to sleep.
* * *
"Miss Rainbow Dash, sit down, you can't fly in the ward!"
The pegasus snorted and stood up on four hooves, something she clearly didn't like to do. Air, as they say, is her element.
"There! A brief briefing..." the doctor wanted to tell, but immediately....
"Starlight and Applejack explained everything to me, let's hurry up."
Rolling her eyes, the doctor laid her down on the couch, forcing her to fall asleep. Much faster this time. Of course it is! Patients are like customers, only they're always right!
"Wow! Blacker than night!" Looking around, Rainbow Dash could perfectly see the entire area resembling a forest in very black and dark shades. "I wasn't forbidden to fly in my dreams! Ha!" she noticed a silhouette in the distance that was sitting on a crouch and looking off into the distance. "Twi!" I shouted towards the silhouette.
"Dash?" Dash said quietly, turning her head in her direction. She was still thinking about what Applejack had said and shown her, and thinking about everything. "What are you doing here?" Twilight asked almost inaudibly.
"It's cool here!" She spun around and looked at every corner, ignoring her friend's question.
"An element of loyalty... You bet it was," she began the unpleasant dialogue with a note of sadness in her voice.
"What do you mean? I'm the most loyal!" replied loudly, still pirouetting.
"The very best. Both," Twilight stood up, gazing into her eyes, lazily repeating the movements of her head exactly as she did. "And who are you loyal to, Dash? To yourself? To me?"
"To me, and to you!" The pegasus replied cheerfully, still flying.
"It's so hard to have a constructive dialogue with you. Can't you at least be serious for a while?!" Sparkle exclaimed, tired of having a conversation with a crazy person who couldn't stay still for five minutes.
"Serious? But it's boring!" she stretched out, as loudly as she could.
Twilight's glare changed from a stern frown to a truly angry one.
"Then get out of here!"
Twilight practically threw her out by force. The pegasus was forced out of her sleep by the storm, so she clutched at the ground with her hooves and looked up at her with pleading eyes.
"Twi, what are you doing? I'm going to be serious! I'm here to talk!"
Twilight soon stopped trying to throw her off, but her gaze didn't soften and clearly gave away her anticipation. The only question in the alicorn's eyes was "So?".
"Eh... Where should I start?..?" The pegasus hesitated, sitting flat on her haunches. "You... how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, is that it? Then you can go," she turned away from her, even childishly offended.
"Wait! I really don't know what you've been through! Fluttershy and Applejack told me to see for myself and draw my own conclusions," she still sat still, showing that she was ready to have a serious conversation.
"And they..." Twilight softened a little, thinking about the fact that those had told her how scary and crazy she was.
"They didn't turn their backs on you, they just got more excited, Twi! And so am I! I'm here to help you!" echoed Rainbow more loudly.
"Rainbow Dash," she continued in a ringing and judgmental tone. "In twenty-three worlds, you've been a leader and a world leader. In more than half of them you were a traitor! And in one of them you almost killed me!" She looked down at her menacingly, coming in close, and yes, she was a head and a half taller than her.
"I... But it wasn't me! I wouldn't try to kill you! Honestly!" She lowered her ears sadly and looked at her sadly. It would have looked cute on the outside, but Twilight hadn't gotten over it in a long time. She'd seen it many times before, and she wasn't buying it.
"Applejack has the element of honesty. And you have loyalty. Tell me, Dash!" Dash shackled her to the wall by her wings, and the pegasus felt a hell of a stinging pain, but she just moaned and looked up quietly, pitifully.
"B... It hurts..." she gritted her teeth and looked at Twilight through her anguish.
"You know... Pain is the catalyst for truth, Dash. And don't I know how the truth gets out?"
She squeezed her throat with her hoof, causing her to gasp. Now she watched Twilight in horror. The choking, the pain in her wings, her hooves breaking off. Was this a dream? But why was the pain so real?
"Cha... Cha... Cha..." the pegasus soon breathed in air greedily. The tears, but at the same time the serious look of the pegasus did not give any doubt that she would go all the way. No matter what she had to go through.
"Now you've experienced strangulation, torture with severed limbs. And then there's this."
Twilight yanked her shoulders sharply, dropping her to the floor, and her wings came off her back, followed by a cry of pain and despair. A very loud one. But only Twilight could hear it. The wings remained hanging on the wall, bleeding profusely... Soon Rainbow was lying on her back, trying to regain consciousness, still looking at the alicorn obediently. She seemed considerably taller now.
Twilight stepped closer and with a completely emotionless expression began hitting the pegasus in the face, ribs, joints, pain points. Rainbow's multicoloured mane slowly turned red as she gazed into Twilight's face over her half-drowned eyes, in a way even expecting her end or death, and her hooves themselves didn't want to hit her back.
"Tell me, Dash, how do you feel? I have now treacherously smeared your pride. Taken away something you're proud of. And that's... Your friend, Twilight!" looked at her calmly, also indifferent and cold-blooded. Blood was trickling from her hooves.
"It was like being run over by a train..." she said quietly and huskily, mixed with a chuckle.
"Pfft... You're still joking."
"You're cool..." the pegasus whispered hoarsely, spitting her tooth out to the side.
"What?" clearly not what she expected to hear from the Element of Loyalty. Anger, swearing, cursing, anything! But certainly not humility and encouragement. "Are you insane?" she pressed down on her stomach, causing it to squeeze tighter under Twilight's weight.
"I just... Imagined how you could endure such pain. And that you could take down a trained, powerful pegasus so easily. And even though I won't be able to fly or even move, I'll tell you one thing for a reason. All your training and fighting for life... Made you very strong, Twilight, and I'm proud of you! And know that a friendly duel is not a betrayal. If I wanted to, I would have killed you already. But you didn't. Which means nothing bad happened!"
Dash breathed heavily, and Twilight removed her hooves from her belly, looking back, so to speak, to the deep past, the times when Dash had been the one to teach her how to fly after turning into an alicorn. How to properly conserve energy for long flights and how to perform different tricks. Planning, a lot of basics. Dash was the one who taught her. And now, as she lay dying, how did she not turn her back on her at all, but even cheer her up and smile mockingly?
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
She picked up the pegasus like a battered kitten by the armpits and hugged her. She began to repair all her wounds and fractures with magic, and even her wings were back in place. She threw herself into Twilight's arms in return. Tight and so warm.
"It's okay, Twi," Rainbow patted her back reassuringly. "You're home. Twi, you're home."
"But I hurt you..." she hugged the pegasus, trying to pull her away mentally so that she would finally let go. But each time her mistrust crumbled.
"No, you just gave me a friendly smack. And the others don't need to know that. We'll swing sometime, and I'll pay you back!"
Rainbow smiled, not holding any grudge against her friend, though the phantom pain was still there. And laughed quietly.
"Thank you!!!"
Both hugged each other tightly, dropping tears on each other's backs.
"I look forward to seeing you at practice, Twi! Get well soon! Spike's been worried sick!" she soon disappeared, leaving her alone.
"I will!" Twilight replied loudly as she left, and it seemed as if the forest around her... grew lighter?
* * *
Waking up, Rainbow looked back at her wings with slight panic, surprised in a flash. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she exhaled.
"Phew, on the spot," she smiled once more and climbed off the bed and collapsed to the floor, not expecting such consequences. "Oh Twilight... I'm fine, but still, it still hurt."
Resting her forehead against the tiles, she explained to her doctor that she was fine, just really exhausted. She was helped home, where she fell asleep.
* * *
"What's going on out there?" The alicorn mumbled through her sleep, reluctantly climbing out from under the blanket and hearing a loud noise downstairs.
"Where is she?!" came from behind the door.
"Number seven!" An equally menacing voice, but much quieter in tone, came from outside the door.
"What the hell is this? Why are they after me? I've got to go!"
Taking her belongings and cloak, she opened the window and only now realised she was on the third floor level. AND - "BANG" - The task of kicking down the door by force on the first attempt failed, and Twilight didn't wait for the second attempt. She flapped her wings and flew forward, as they allowed her to fly in this world.
The door flew off its hinges and fell to the dusty floor of the room. The open window and the receding silhouette made it clear that they were a little too late with the invasion.
"Attention, target lost. She's flying away!" shouts a guard in the direction of the departing Twilight.
"How the hell can a unicorn fly away?" came a voice from the windows.
"Call the raiders!" was all Twilight could hear as she flew away.
She looked around the city, and strangely enough, all the high-rises were right in the centre of the city. Taller than twenty stories. They were clearly owned by the Eplas and some other honourable nobility. As she flew past the top two floors, she glimpsed or even felt two eyes on her.
"The chase..." Twilight whispered excitedly, diving down past houses and streets.
But the guards kept up. After a while, a whistling sound was heard in the air. The fabric of her cloak split at the seams, and there was a slight pain in her wings.
"What the...? They're obviously trying to shoot me down or destroy me! Who are they?!"
Dodging more shells, diving past the houses.
"Two more... Hell, they're serious about eliminating me for good."
The invaders were diving from the rear, exactly on her large spread wings. Figuring the timing was right, Twilight folded them, plummeting downwards on inertia so that those two pegasi, apparently not at all expecting such a daring prank, flew past.
"Getting away from all four will be difficult."
Turning sharply to the side, past all the pegasi, she tried to bump them head-on, but they skilfully missed each other at the last moment. The elite guards were chasing her. What could she do to escape and survive? They were already catching up with her.
"I've been there!"
With a sudden brake in the air and spreading her wings, she stopped and quickly turned around. The pegasi thought she was giving up, and licked their eyes hungrily as they flew faster in anticipation. But Twilight's dropped cloak quickly wrapped around the face of one of the pegasi, sending him tumbling downwards. The other rushed to his aid to catch him. Two of them were knocked out. The other two managed to hit the bases of the alicorn's wings with something incredibly sharp. The projectiles felt like needles.
"Ouch!" It was quite painful.
Feeling that her wings were starting to go numb, she tried with all her might to use another measure: planing downwards on her wings so as not to crash. Thirty metres to the ground. Twenty-five metres left already. The altitude was falling irreversibly.
"Again! What did I do to them?!"
I started to fly down even faster, while the remaining two pegasi were catching up with their prey, and judging by the iron in their hooves, they wouldn't let her go alive.
"Teleport!" she said loudly as she disappeared from the sight of her pursuers. The two pegasi had not expected this, and nearly crashed into the wall.
Twilight appeared in the air, in a different place, but she was already flying in a sack, one moment - a bang and darkness, then nothing could be heard. Neither was the sharp pain now felt.
Consciousness faded into oblivion. It is not clear how much time has passed for her.
* * *
Twilight slowly began to come to her senses, the light from the lamp falling unpleasantly in her face.
"Mh..." was the only painful thing the alicorn said, as her stomach, wings, and head ached.
"Oh dear, you are awake, Faust has saved you." As consciousness began to return, so did the echoes of memory and pain. "Good thing I found you! You know, it's not a good idea to fall into a rubbish bin from such a great height. If you wanted to kill yourself, you could have hit the pavement or something hard. Not in my mind, lucky for you or not, but my rubbish bin contains nothing but fabrics and the aftermath of failed embroidery garments!"
"Uggh..." was all the alicorness could manage to utter.
She slowly began to realise who that voice belonged to. Even so, it echoed in her head like an echo through a trumpet.
"Lie down, you're in my basement right now. On a beautiful custom-made sofa from my company. The Rarity Company! Well, the name is still a work in progress, but I'll definitely do something special and open a furniture shop! Besides a clothing shop."
The alicorness lay there, trying to move somehow. But she just meekly stayed where she was. The Apples must be trying to kill her, or maybe her "friend" is, too.
"Are you going to turn me in too?" Twilight replied in a low whisper, and Rarity came closer to hear her.
"Say that again please, dearie. I didn't hear you."
"Are you going to turn me in to them, too?" she said, almost syllabically.
"No! What are you talking about? Wait, what are you talking about?" Rarity hadn't seen the chase they'd given all over the city, and she didn't know what had happened then.
"The pegasi were chasing... I barely escaped them... Using magic..." Twilight said slurringly as she spat the words out of her mouth.
"Magic? Oh, my dear! You can't do that! You could have been killed!"
And even considering the fact that she had wings and could use magic, Rarity calmly tended to her wounds.
"They would have... killed me..." she said in response, falling into sleep again.
The unicorn carefully wiped the sweat from her forehead and wrapped a cold cloth around her to bring down the fever.
"Hmm... and a horn and wings? How interesting. Apple's completely crazy for trying to kill this poor thing. Hmm, a chase. You are an amazing creature."
* * *
"How the hell did four elite guards not catch this feathered wonder?!" Applejack, who was clearly in a bad mood, especially after drinking a bottle of apple cider.
"She teleported!"
There was the sound of a broken bottle. And it smashed on the head of the guard, who was already unconscious, while the other three stood waiting for their boss's reaction.
"Bollocks! If I hear any more jokes like that, I swear I'll clip your wings and fire you!"
"It's true, boss! She really flew away and teleported! We couldn't catch her!" reported the second one, and soon he was the target of a second bottle.
"Out! Get out!" Applejack threw in a fury.
The guards scrambled away in a panic, though they rather ran away, dragging their unconscious friend away. Soon, relaxing in her high chair, the earth pony exhaled, drinking the contents of her glass.
"How do you work with such morons, brother?"
Next to her, her older brother, Bigmac, sat quietly drinking apple cider.
"You wouldn't be wasting cider," Bigmac rebuked her.
He clearly cared for his little sister, but she was the one who ran things. And he helped her with his strength.
"Fuck you! It's none of your business, I'll translate if I have to," she wasn't angry with him, in fact, even in this world, her family came first.
With the clatter of little hooves, a little filly came running into the office. Small, very young, still a baby, but very similar in colour to Applejack.
"Sis! big brother!"
"Apple Bloom! We talked about you not being allowed in the office yet. When you turn sixteen, you can come in here. What if big sister was working? Or..." she didn't give details about how she could sometimes smash her subjects' heads in.
"But I'm so bored sitting there alone! - came a low and pitiful voice from her side." When are you going to teach me to fight like this, and throw bottles and drink this juice?
"You can't, you're told, I'm at work now. We'll play tonight, and it's not acceptable for you to drink that juice yet, little one."
Applejack was hard on her little sister, but she loved her.
"Big brother! Let's play!" Apple Bloom looked at the tall stallion with hope in her eyes.
"Yeah," the red, big pony replied in his own repertoire.
"No, Bigmac! You're going to help me find this strange pony, aren't you? Anyway, I'm really curious to see how much information we can get out of her," Applejack demanded quietly, so her sister wouldn't hear. It was too early for her sister to do that, and she didn't want her innocent little eyes to see anything like that.
"Do you want to clip her wings?" Her brother asked her in the same whisper.
"I want to find out who it is. Then we'll see. If you want to do well, do it yourself, sugar!"
As she finished her cider, she put the empty glass on the table.
* * *
Once again, consciousness tries to enter the body. Wings still aching. The hooves are buzzing. I hope I'm okay.
"You're awake, sweetheart. Here, it's hot soup. You need to eat and get your strength back. I'm gonna go do some work. Bon appetit, dearie."
The white unicorn left Twilight lying on the couch alone with a bowl of soup.
"How mild. Eat? Yeah, I'm hungry for food. The hooves seem to be holding up, there's not as much shaking."
After awkwardly emptying her plate, Twilight began to look around at the aftermath of her recent fall.
"First and foremost were the wings. Yeah... Yep... Apparently a fracture right here. Eh... That sucks. It hurts like hell." The wings are bandaged at the base and also with a splint above. Apparently, it was bent in the wrong place. "Pills."
Searching for pills in his bags, he drinks his portion. There's something going on upstairs. Unexplained and undetected. Moving closer to the hatch, she overhears a conversation.
"Hey, Rarity. I heard you dragged someone up there to your place? Would you mind letting me know who it is?" the voice upstairs was clearly Applejack's. And judging by her tone, she had come for a reason, an important one, and if we were to theorise, they were clearly at odds.
"I told you I found her two days ago, homeless. She's--"
"Oh, this is not good. We have to get out of here. If she's come for me, fine, I'll deal with her myself."
There was a rumble outside the door, and the hatch swung open. Twilight crawled out of there like the devil out of a snuffbox and gave all three of them a serious look.
"I'm here! No need to look for me, I was just licking my wounds. Did you send those daredevils to my head, Applejack?"
Twilight was definitely looking at her menacingly, but she didn't care, and Rarity was startled and stepped back a little, not drawing attention to herself.
"Everyone knows who I am. But who you are is a mystery to everyone. But that's all right, we'll take you with us and beat the answers out of you. Now come with us, quietly and without making a fuss."
"Yeah, who said I was coming with you?" the girl rushed forward and tried to attack her.
Applejack took two steps to close the distance and swung her hoof straight at Twilight's forehead, knocking her to the ground and knocking the alicorn unconscious again, rolling through the merchandise and display cases.
"You killed her!" Rarity shouted at her, horrified to see how her blow had dented and bled. Just as she was healed, she was hit in the forehead again.
"I didn't kill her, why kill such a valuable resource? Hmm..." Applejack studied the horn and wings, then carelessly let go of one of them, causing it to flop roughly to the floor. - They look real, but that's okay, we'll cut them off and see.
"HEY! What are you doing with that thing?! Don't touch it!" pleaded Rarity, almost in tears.
"Listen, Rarka! If you want your shop to stay open without anyone getting hurt, you keep your mouth shut. And the horns, what do you think? Is the land fertile? No way, unicorn horn dust is good fertiliser. It's magical and great for apple trees. Bigmac, grab her and let's go, and if she's good, we'll let her live. If not, we'll see."
Rarity exhaled and looked at the two sadly. Lowered her eyes, for she really couldn't help her, and this shop was the only thing keeping them afloat. "I'm sorry," was the only thing she could say mentally to Twilight. But then she digested something.
"Unicorn horn dust...?"
* * *
"Hey! You there."
The stallion's softer thumping on her skull didn't bring her to her senses.
"What are you doing to her? Fuck her harder!" came Applejack's voice.
"Well, she's a girl," Bigmac muttered quietly.
"What's wrong with you? I can't saw off a horn or wake you up!" she walked round the table and came closer, swilling the contents of her glass. She splashed the alcohol on her wounds, causing her to wince and wake up immediately.
"Ahhhh!..." she moaned softly in pain. But the diluted alcohol poured on her wounds clearly cheered her up.
"There you go. See how simple it is? And you're so and so. No, it's not! Hey, scarecrow, you awake?"
Twilight was now sitting in the chair across the hall. Her wings were bound tightly together, her horn was itchy and sore for some reason, and it looked like it had been cut with a hacksaw. The hooves were tied to the bars. What a mess.
"Yeah."
"So, listen, scarecrow," Applejack began.
"I'm Twilight," she interrupted her, offended by the scarecrow.
"I'm not supposed to be interrupted, you wretch!" A shot of apple cider flew into her face, making her eyes water. "Again. Why can't I cut your horn, you wretch? What did you cover it with?"
"I didn't coat it with anything, it's my horn..." Twilight said through tears from the pinching.
"Okay, let's say. The wings aren't fake, are they? You can fly. How do you explain that?"
"I'm an alicorn..."
"Ali-what?"
Twilight realises for the second time that there are no alicorns in this world, for they died out long ago.
"A race that has both the horns of unicorns and the wings of pegasi..." Twilight explained.
"Aha... And you can use magic?" Applejack looked at her questioningly, adjusting her hat.
"I can, but my head hurts afterwards."
It was sore now, too, from being hoofed, and there was a horseshoe indentation on her forehead. It was a blow that could have killed her, and it even felt like there was a nasty rustle of shattered skull pieces that had miraculously not pressed in and punctured her brain.
"Listen. You have two choices, sugar. You know a lot, and I hope you're smart enough to make the right one."
"To hell with you, you lunatic! You're the one who issued that decree about killing unicorn stallions! There's a special pawnshop for unicorns to voluntarily surrender their horns! You're out of your mind! You're insane! You're a crazy farmer! AND A DICARCK!" Twilight, on the other hand, screamed at her, unable to believe that there could be such crazy and cruel versions of her old friends.
"Should I finish her off?" Bigmac asked, slipping the blade under Twilight's neck.
Squinting her eyes, Applejack glared at her. She shut up immediately. She had never received a death threat like that before, and she was terrified beyond belief. She got quiet.
"You know what we're gonna do. She can't fly with broken wings," Applejack smiled wryly, pointing at the wall with her hoof. "Let's get her over there."
"To the rest of the dumps?" Her brother asked.
"Yes, tie her hooves together and put her right in there. I think it'll be unforgettable for her."
"Understood, accepted, executed."
Again she felt the blow, this time on her neck, and she passed out again.
* * *
She woke up to the winds that lifted the tips of her mane, whipping against her face.
"Mgghh!" she was sitting in some kind of tank with something rotten in it. One way you look, a vast grey abyss with the ruins of old civilisations, the other way you look, you can see the whole city, low houses, a little higher and skyscrapers in the centre. She noticed the two men walking quietly towards her.
"Oh, you're awake. I was going to ask you to be my brother's personal guard, maybe a servant," she jokingly nudged the older Epple, clearly implying that it was time for him to settle down.
"Nope..." Bigmac replied quietly and briefly, letting his sister know it was none of her business.
"But you decided not to keep your mouth shut, so understand, horny, it's just business and family business. Don't think it's your fault or that you were born under an unlucky star. You know, the world isn't fair, so goodbye, fucker..." Applejack hooved the contents tank down with Twilight.
"Mhhhhh!!! PFH!!!" The alicorn screamed in terror and, perhaps by some miracle, travelled twenty-five floors before she was able to use her fall-cushioning magic and rolled on something soft and finally stopped spinning.
She cut the cloth with her horn and freed her front and hind hooves! Afterwards, she freed her mouth as well.
"Applejack! I'll be sure to remind you of that!" With a hollow threat she shouted upwards. Though from this distance it seemed like a squeak. She had better keep looking up, for when she looked down, under her hooves, she saw a lot of remains, corpses of foals and such. "What? Them? All of them? Ahhhh!!!"
Twilight experienced an emotional shock at the sight of the mountains of corpses, somewhere only completely nuked skeletons were already sticking out. She herself was now rolling over the swollen corpses that had cushioned her blow from the deadly gravity. The fluids and putrefaction, as well as the contents of organs and mucus, had soaked into Twilight's fur.
Shifting her hooves, Twilight tried hard not to step on them, but it didn't work, she had to step on their corpses. Tears rolled down her face.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't want to do this! But I have to get through! I'm sorry!"
She was acting like Fluttershy now. Terror in her eyes, fear in her heart and smoke in her head, the persistent smell of rot and dead things. As she stepped out onto the bare ground, Twilight felt the contents of her stomach immediately spill out onto the bare patch of ground. She lay down and just sobbed. Covered her head with her hooves, trying to hide from the world. Trying to forget, trying to become nothing.
"Somebody... I'm begging you! Get me out of this place, I can't take it anymore! It's too much! Let me go home. To my mum, my dad. My friends, Spike. My brother! Celestia! Anyone! I just want to go home and not see this..." her eyes were already hurting from the tears that hadn't come for a long time, having run out. Still sniffling, Twilight slowly began to realise that she needed to do something. "The longer I feel sorry for myself, the more victims there will be... Bill... He was telling me about the fountain. I need to find it. And then, if I can restart it, then everything will go back to normal... And this genocide will end... No ifs, I can surely restart it... I have to."
Lowering her head, she admitted she was psychologically confused, peering at the walled city and the mountain of bodies. Apparently, this is their graveyard.
"I will make sure you find peace in this mortal world, I promise-" As if making a vow, Twilight moved on."
"Scan for powerful sources of magical energy."
Surprisingly, the scan quickly showed her which direction to look in, which Twilight did. She had now lost all her gear and supplies, and the only way to save herself was to fix all the misery of this world. Also gone are her pills. Her head throbbed with pain from using magic. Wings. Not so good. They're pretty banged up... And the fall clearly aggravated their injuries. But that's nothing compared to the emotional trauma of the alicorn. It was like she was dulling all the physical pain.
Walking in one direction, Twilight tried to get rid of unnecessary thoughts. Bad thoughts. Thoughts that maybe it would be wise to give up? Or maybe to just call it a day... No... She couldn't do that. If she dies, that's a good reason not to do something.
"Crown, crown, why can't you come here and drag me home?" she's already taken pity on the sky. A quiet and black sky.
About twelve hours of monotonous walking through the wasteland flew by. It was much easier to walk here, and the maximum obstacle was only the fucking wind. After a while, her search stopped at the wasteland.
"There's nothing here. Scan!" But he started pointing at a point below her. "What's that supposed to mean? A fountain underground?"
After some minutes of searching, she still hadn't found the entrance.
"Peace! I've come to save you! Please let me do at least this, for you! I want to save you!"
As if at the call of her heart, her horn lit up purple, and a stream of magic rushed into the ground. There was no headache from the magic right now. After a moment, a... pillar began to rise from the ground... a pillar...? Stepping back a bit, she watched as the unknown structure slowly rose above the surface.
And there it was, an incomprehensible piece of shit in the middle of the wasteland. The pillar represented a mural of some sort. It was partially destroyed, but you could see an alicorn in the picture. Twilight studied the mural carefully, and judging from the scan, it was the very...
"A fountain? But where's the water? Or is that not how it works? It worked my magic, though."
"I may not be an alicorn from this world... But I want to share my magic with you! Please, fountain! Bring life back to these lands, and bring sunrise to the world! Please!"
The horn shone brightly, pouring magic into the top of the pillar. It slowly filled with a violet tide, slowly descending downwards along the streaks and hollows. Barely able to stay on her feet, Twilight continued to pour magic into it.
The fountain is apparently like a living thing. Like an artefact that is responsible for magic throughout the world. As it rose a little higher, it pulsed first with purple magic, then green, eventually shimmering with a blue, water-like magical substance. A windstorm blew through the area, raising a tsunami of winds.
"Did it work?" Twilight asked uncertainly. The fountain seemed to be beckoning to the alicorn, calling out to let her drink from it. "Yes... I'll give it a try..."
Quietly and tiredly dipping her face into the substance, she drank of this most pure magic. Her eyes lit up white. And a whole wave, no, an ocean of magic passed through the alicorn, travelling up a storm through her chakras. And as if through an intercom, a voice spoke in her head.
"You are worthy to drink from my source! I give you my power! Alicorn Twilight Sparkle!"
Then the fountain pulsed in different directions, and she fell into a dream.
* * *
When she awoke, she felt warm. She looked up at the sun. The sun? It's rising.
"Healing! Detoxification! Oh, yes!"
Twilight even perked up as she spread her wings and felt free, light and so energised. Turning towards the fountain, she bowed in respect and flew at high speed towards the city. It looked bad, of course, but she didn't remember anything being shattered. Here and there, lights of magic flew.
"Unicorns, rebellion. Rarity!"
She dashed towards the crowd that was waging a bloody battle in the square. Landing loudly in the middle of the gathering, she threw them aside.
"Stop it!" loudly, even unexpectedly, Twilight shouted.
Everyone immediately lowered their ears obediently, looking at her in horror. It was only now that everyone looked up. At the surprised exclamation of "Ohhhh..." they saw the sunrise.
"Rarity, no!" Twilight didn't have time to do anything, seeing her hit Applejack, who was lying on her back, in the chest.
"Sister!" Apple Bloom whimpered softly, looking shocked and teary-eyed.
Only now Rarity and Big Mackie, both holding a knife in their teeth, decided to fight.
"Halt!" Twilight stepped between the two, taking blows from both. Both one and the other looked at her in surprise. "You two idiots! Can't you see there's a child here?! And why the hell did you attack Applejack?!"
"She killed my little sister! That's why they told me my sister died in the hospital! She was a unicorn! She was the one who was used for fertiliser! And I was supposed to keep quiet and accept that?!" Rarity was furious and whimpering. She soon knelt down on her knees, bowing her head.
"Pgh... Pgh..." Applejack coughed, lying on her back. "I'm really sorry... that I did that to them... And I have no excuse. But I couldn't watch my family starve and die. I would have given anything to find another way..." she lay on her back, blood trickling from her wound. "Bigmac... Don't touch her. She had as much right to attack me as anyone else. Just don't leave our little sister behind."
"Applejack! Sister!" AppleBloom ran up to her quietly, hugging her, sniffling and blowing tears. "Don't die, please... Please!"
"It's going to be okay..." her voice was clearly weakening, a drop of blood dripping from her mouth. She wiped away her sister's tears with her hoof.
As much as he wanted to help her, Twilight was helpless with such serious wounds.
"Aghas..." Bigmac mumbled softly and looked at her, unable to hold back the tears as she faded away.
"Look after the family and the case... Find another way..."
"Don't worry, Applejack. I was able to bring the magic back, and soon the soil will be fertile everywhere," Twilight comforted her.
"Twilight, then... Alicorn. How cheesy that is... But... thank you... I'll definitely remember that name..." She choked hopelessly on her own blood.
The sparkle in her eyes faded. Apple Bloom sobbed, hugging her dead sister. She was in pain. Twilight herself, and she was blowing tears. But now, in front of a crowd of people, she must take the reins in her hooves, leaving them alone. She stepped away from them and, as if through an intercom, began to broadcast loudly for everyone to hear.
"People of this city! I am Twilight Sparkle from another world! The alicorn that connects all three races of ponies. Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies! The Fountain has deemed me worthy! And has given your world a second chance! Put down your weapons! And stop fighting! You're the only ones left in the whole world. Don't do anything stupid! Help each other! First, I will free you from the shackles of this city!"
Twilight seemed to grow a little taller than she was before and walked towards one of the walls. The crowds of townspeople followed her in an almost even formation. Rarity quietly covered the eyes of Applejack, who had already left this world, and Bigmac placed his hat on her face. All three of them followed Twilight.
"We'll be right there, sister."
Twilight lit her horn, walking over to the wall.
"May this barrier that has held you back for generations crumble!"
Aiming at the wall, she struck the masonry, which began to throb loudly, crumbling into dust. Another wave and it dissolved, raising a cloud of dust with the wind in the distance. The sun lit a path in the wall, the pony opened its eyes. The soil began to regenerate, in places whole bodies of water could be seen in the distance. Grass began to grow. In some places, green edges appeared, and the trees began to bear fruits of various fruits.
"This is your land! Explore it! You no longer have to survive or fight for food! Live as they do in my world! In harmony!"
* * *
Soon all was well, and all the ponies began to disperse and scatter around the neighbourhood, for starters to get something to eat. A few days had passed since then. The corpses that were at the wall were cremated by Twilight and scattered to the wind.
"Rest in Harmony. May you rest in peace."
Wooden houses grew like mushrooms in rainy weather. In the distance, Big Mackie asked to bury his sister. Twilight gave the go-ahead and on the hill, two tombstones rose. "Applejack. Rest in harmony. Beloved sister and our saviour from starvation." And the stone, "Sweetie Belle. Rest in harmony. Little sister, may your spirit be reborn in this harmony-filled world."
"I, on the other hand, was ready to hit the road when I was given my bags and even the very same machete. Bill came to me before I shipped out and personally returned it to me, thanking me for everything I had provided and given them. I gave the money to Rarity though, it had no value to me."
"Farewell. Maybe I'll come back to you again!"
Walking through the portal, she took notes on the new pages:
"Entry 24. It is hard for me to realise that sometimes sacrifices of another race have to be made for the good of the entire nation. But... I hope they live happily ever after now."
"I didn't really feel like writing, and I didn't really feel like writing. I want to go back and hug my Applejacks and Rarity and even the annoying taggers."
Wiping her tears away with a hoof, she exhaled, not letting her emotions coalesce into one huge gush. She couldn't give up now.
* * *
"This is so painful to read..." Starlight mumbled, letting the tears flow herself."
"My poor student," Celestia whispered, wiping her wet eyes. "Sometimes going against the system and the nation is the best way to save lives. And sometimes, sacrificing some ponies can save others..."
* * *
"You only worked for your family, Applejack... You were willing to go over and above your morals. Family was all that mattered to you, not friends, and I can partially understand that."
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Chapter 6 (Echmalosiphobia) [6.1] [Fear of being captured].
P.S. Sorry for mistakes, I'm translated DeepL. Thanks for understand =3. Warning there is a rape scene
Echmalosiphobia - fear of being captured or being captured.
"Record 25. World 5. The air is breathable. Flora present. Insects present. Status: regardless of apocalypse. Problem not yet found. Unfortunately, there is no magic here at all..."
"So, world five. I didn't know you could get some sort of exaltation. Yes, I literally became a bit taller in height, and the volume of my powers became greater, but... it's useless here...."
Tucking the good old diary into her bag, Twilight exhaled. Looking up, she wondered if her goal was worth the effort? She doesn't know for sure. Home feels like... Do they have morning here? Probably. This is the first time she's entered another world in the morning. Last time, Twilight was on the brink of death. First of all, meeting familiar faces and personalities doesn't guarantee they'll be on your side. Eh... And not every pony that's nice to you isn't your problem. We'll keep that in mind... Frowning, she turned around, feeling the taste of bile in her mouth again. Her stomach twisted at the mere memory of all the disgusting sights she'd captured back then.
"Hey! Guys! Look who's here! A unicorn, guys! We're in luck!"
Behind Twilight, there was the rumble of a cart or something else vaguely resembling a wagon, and the sound of wobbly wheels that rumbled nearby. Someone was catching up with her fast. Sighing heavily, she turned around and noticed that two Earth ponies with two more as coachmen were rushing towards her, sitting in the cart, pulling a trailer of... Three cages with other ponies inside?
"Slave traders. Without magic, there's not much I can do here. It's even worse if I get captured by them myself. What about wings, I can fly away anytime, basically..."
I looked up again.
"Alicorns... I don't sense their presence here, however... Well... I've been there."
Twilight decided to quicken her pace and even run.
"You can't escape, ha-ha-ha!" came the booming voice, and the coachmen also sped up. Soon Twilight opened her wings and flew upwards, to the surprised cheers of everyone else.
"Whoa! She's an alicorn, guys! Do you know what that means?!"
"Finally, somewhere you're recognising alicorns," a thought flashed through the annoyed Twilight's mind.
"Get her! We're going to get a whole lot of money for her!"
"As usual... first we catch her, then we'll see what to do with her. No matter what you say, it's the same everywhere you go," Twilight sighed for the umpteenth time as she decided not to wait for them to try and capture her and just flew forward. "So anarchy reigned supreme here. For once, could the crown send me to a better place? I don't know, home, for instance? My cosy castle, with Spike and Starlight. That's a good one! And what's more, it's nice... No death, no blood... Brrrrr... I used to shudder at the mere thought of such things, but now... am I getting used to it?"
Landing two kilometres off the road by a rivulet, the alicorness wanted a drink of water. She couldn't catch up so quickly, but she was thirsty. Once she had drunk enough, she looked ahead.
"I need a little more information, perhaps I should force it out of them? Twilight, ah hah hah. What words you've learnt, oh what a... brigand you are. Speaking of which, for that matter, I'm going to have to deal with the rules around here, and since I just ran away from the local ponies... Oh... What can I do? A mare with no physical training going to punch professional thugs in the face? I might have an advantage in the air, but not fluttering around waiting to be shot at or twisted by other pegasi? No..."
It would be worth eating right away, too. Twilight spread her wings, shook off the faint tension, and pulled a couple of fruits and a supply of transfigured grain from her bag.
"Should've stocked up on food that can be cooked... A diet of fruit and grains... No! What am I supposed to complain about? You've got a nerve, haven't you? Look! Everywhere you go, other ponies can only dream of it! So, just eat your food and don't get mad."
"She's here!"
"So much for eating..."
Twilight unfurled her wings, and after a few moments, she soared above the surface. But here was no problem. Something swooped down sharply on her hind hoof, and caught it in a way that pulled it away painfully.
"Gotcha! Whoa!"
"No way. I'm not just gonna give up on you!"
"Leave me alone!"
"You know what clever idea came into my head? I'm gonna try to cut this rope on my hind leg!"
However, it turned out to be not linen, but actual steel. My teeth crunched pitifully and a nasty metallic taste was left in my mouth.
"She's talking! Wow!"
Twilight didn't understand why this surprised them so much, still trying unsuccessfully to break free of her shackles.
"Of course, you dumb-asses! Let go of me! It hurts!"
The air rushed out of her lungs as the rope was yanked downwards. Almost with a squeal, Twilight flew swiftly to the ground. The world and the white sky disappeared from her sight, and the horizon of earth and rubble was before her eyes. Before she knew it, tight heavy shackles were placed on her wings and front hooves.
"Pvh!" Her mouth was immediately bound with a grey smelly rag. I don't even want to know where it came from.
"My hooves are sore after they dragged me across the ground, besides, eventually throwing me into a cage. To those poor bastards. Hello? I'm just like them now, poor thing. I'm blindfolded and my legs are bound so that if I move even a little bit, I'll definitely twist them."
"Let's go!"
The cart with the captives set off at once. There was no telling where they were headed, but something told the alicorness that it was definitely straight to a place they wouldn't like.
"The sun was frying me through the bars. As if I wouldn't get a streaky tan because of the shadows of the cage. I hear the doors opening. Judging by the creak, very heavy. Here we are, I guess. Why am I reacting so calmly to this? Maybe because panicking won't do me any good. Yeah, that's probably true. There's no point in panicking. We just wait. We'll deal with problems as they come. And there's only one problem so far. I'm tied up. The solution is to be patient and keep a low profile. See if they let their guard down and I can get out sooner or later."
"These to the others. Alicorn to a separate cell," said a voice. So harsh and nasty, it seemed, with a mixture of hoarseness that indicated lung problems. Apparently due to the irrational use of cigarettes.
"Riotous?" echoed a second voice, younger. But still firm and rough. Its owner has obviously been working here for a long time and has got used to all the rules.
"Yes! There'll be lots of bits for it at the auction tomorrow!" and again in a husky tone, but with a touch of the faint pleasure with which one usually rubs one's hoofs.
"I was hauled out carefully this time, primarily supporting not only my hooves, but my wings too. Laying me down on the wooden floor. The clang of the door and the key (mechanical, judging by the rattle) let me know I was locked in. Eh... trying to grope my surroundings with my hooves did nothing. Of all the surroundings, I can only clearly feel the air, which sounds very informative, I'll be sure to write that down in my diary."
Time passed slowly, the roll of heavy carts and voices near and far. Once again it was unclear what would happen next. Occasionally one could hear some of the slaves being beaten for making attempts to escape.
"Mp..."
"Once again I am convinced that the rag is still in my mouth. Man, you know what I've realised while I've been here and generally travelling through alternate changes? I haven't noticed Discord once. Either he's here and the world will be strikingly different, or he's not and the world will be like times gone by before. At least they'd give us something to eat and drink. Although, given what they can feed me here, I'd probably be sick to my stomach... I'll pass. And that's how I fell asleep."
* * *
"I was jerked out of my reverie by a sharp, resounding thud on my cage. I quietly turned my head to the source of the sound, not yet fully realising what was happening."
"This one's the last one we're letting out! Hey, you, you hear me? You're gonna make us rich. I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you're lucky!" That voice was squeaky enough to sound like Styrofoam scraping against glass. "Some rich man will buy you and you'll probably be his concubine. And if you're lucky enough to be humble, maybe even a wife. So you're a very lucky girl. Soon you'll have two stallions to prepare you. It'll be best if you don't buck or do crazy things."
"Are you the one putting me on the spot? Or are you trying to threaten me? Unfortunately, you've done both of those things poorly. So what do you want to hear?"
Twilight nodded in agreement to stop feeling his gaze on her.
"Good for her."
At some point, two approving taps on the cage and the clatter of departing hooves were heard.
"How it all stiffened up. The wings are stiff, the hooves are stiff. Just billions of little needles inside. And then I was approached. I knew it by the feeling of someone staring at me."
"So... alicorn. We're going to untie you. Let's not do anything unnecessary. We don't want to spoil the goods. Speaking and questioning are forbidden."
"I'd kick you if I could, but given past experience... I'd rather keep quiet and do as I'm told. It's quite advantageous, considering I'll both stay healthier and not have a whole headache. Speaking of which, I don't have a headache here. Is it related to the fact that there is no magic in this world?"
I nodded in response. The cage immediately opened and the ropes fell from her limbs. I was lifted onto my hooves and doused with water.
"Mh..." "You're fucking crazy! Running cold water on me!"
I was quickly wiped down with some sort of cloth that looked like a towel and blasted with hot air.
"Aha, so product preparation, as they put it in terms of selling. Oh, and they even brushed my mane. That's the kind of service I'd even pay for if I wasn't in this position."
"..." "I wanted to ask something, but I came to my senses in time, for I didn't want to get a big kick from a hoof to the stomach, and if I tried to run away, then... Well, they'll catch up with me and then what? At best, they'll kick me in the head and throw me back, at worst, they'll kill me. Be patient, Twilight, just be patient."
Soon she was left alone. I wish I could get that shit out of my eyes, but they wouldn't give me permission. Well.
"Attention! And now for the last item you've been waiting for! Ladies and gentlemen!"
"Now I feel awkward in public, another phobia? Oh, no. Not now. I just feel numb and seem to be rolling my cage out into some bright room, for there is a glare of light through the cloth."
"A very rare member of the alicorn race! Everything is real!!!"
"Lifting my wing a little (the other one for some reason rose by inertia), the stallion announced. Now he allowed himself to twitch my horn as well, causing my head to tilt in the same way. Oh, I'd kill you for something like that..."
"The starting bid is two million bits!"
"Well, I'm not likely to be bought for that price."
"Three million! Four million! The lady in the hat... five million!"
''Ugh... That's disgusting. Why would a mare want me? I'm even, uh... A wife? Wait, there's a stallion in charge of the relationship? That's bad..."
"Seven million! The gentleman in the white coat... nine million!"
"Holy shit... What am I, your toy?"
"Nine million once! Nine million two!"
She didn't get a chance to breathe out. The door opened loudly and the bidding stopped.
"Well, well, well. Illegal auction," "I'm saved! Yes! I knew this whole thing was just bullsh--" "Misier! Why didn't you call me?" his voice is so smarmy and pompous. "What did he say? You didn't call me? Are you serious?! Why don't you just come and rescue me? Hello!!!" Twilight sighed heavily, feeling a gust of rage building up in her throat.
"Fifty million and I'll turn a blind eye to this buffoonery! Do you agree?"
"Fifty million..." the toastmaster of the auction whispered dumbfoundedly, but immediately picked himself up on his hooves. "Of course, my lord! Of course! It's yours!"
"Well done! Albedo! Please prepare her for my carriage!"
"Yes," came a quiet voice and the doors closed.
"Wow, they're coming at me fast. Hey, careful! The goods must be handled with care! It's under warranty! I wish I was joking, but I'm not really in the mood for jokes, to be honest... They're taking me away again. Will they ever untie my eyes?"
Albedo walked up close to Twilight and began briefing her in a low voice:
"I am Albedo. In charge of all the staff at our lord's castle. You have now been bought to be his concubine. The key is not to cross him, not to make him angry. You'll live your life happily ever after."
"I..." "A hoof was immediately placed on my mouth. The fragrant smell of this pony's fur was like expensive soap." "Be quiet..." she said it in a half-whisper and in an orderly tone or something...? "We'll talk in the castle. They'll put you in a carriage. And since you're not particularly clean-" Twilight nodded silently.
"For crying out loud, mares in this world don't have the right to speak at all, do they?"
"Albedo!" The same pompous voice called loudly.
"Yes, sir?" There was a quick clatter of hooves.
"Why has she been segregated?" There was a disgruntled exclamation.
"But..." Albedo stopped any attempt to interrupt, not daring to risk her well-being. "Shall I put her in your carriage?"
"Yes, I'm very interested in this person. I want to talk to her, and I hope she can do it!"
"Yes, sir, everything will be ready in a moment." Albedo immediately galloped towards the cart, almost breaking it open with her hooves, and the smell of expensive soap hit her nose again. "Follow me quickly, no resistance. Left or right, you'll be killed, don't bother the lord."
"Yeah, bothering, huh? But I have no choice. My hooves almost jerked as I was dragged out of the wagon and towards the carriage. Good or bad, I was forcibly seated. The same blindfold and shackles on my hooves would not leave me. It's getting pretty chafed..."
Twilight was being scrutinised, but not touched, only stared at.
"Yeah... Pompous who? Silent, oh well. But it's probably not a good thing."
"What's your name, lady?" I heard a more simple, modest question. Without the hyper-emotional arrogance.
"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle..."
"Finally, I'm allowed to say something."
"I didn't know the Sparkles had a daughter," a monotonous scratching of his chin could be heard from his side.
"We're namesakes. I'm not from round here."
"Oh... Then that changes everything!"
"Oh Faust! If there are my, well, not quite my parents here... That pompous parrot will probably try to sweep them out of the way or, worse, blackmail me."
"Basically, you're an alicorn. Will you tell me your secret?" He asked quietly, eyeing Twilight with suspicion.
"I was born this way, and I hid until the last moment to avoid being caught, but soon they managed to track me down," she lied.
"Oh... How sad. But don't worry, dearie, I'll take care of you."
Soon he removed her blindfold with telekinesis.
"Oh Faust, my eyes haven't seen light and colour for two days! Fancy?! How did I not realise? He's using magic? Then why can't I?!"
"Oh, what beautiful eyes you have... I could definitely drown in them."
All flattery made her want to vomit, but it only made her sink deeper. This time, though, she was looking at a very different unicorn. The colouring was white. The whiskers gave off a slight blue hue, as did the mane and tail. It wore eyepieces to see better.
"Considering all aspects of development, I suppose it could have been worse. Okay, since the conversation has gone so close-up, I spit on Albedo's warnings."
"Thank you," she looked away a little as she came to her senses. The last thing she wanted to do, of course, was run away. "Can I ask you a question?" Twilight asked uncertainly.
Yes, Albedo's warnings sounded convincing, but she didn't really want to sit there and let him stare at her openly.
"Of course, dear, ask anything you want."
"Why did you buy me?"
"Because I wanted to. I liked you. You know, I could do with a bit of a haircut. But I like that messed-up style very much. How are you gonna look when I make Connolly's out of candy, I'm gonna--" "Is he shaking with excitement?" And Connolly's is a very expensive confection. It's a strange comparison, of course." - Tasting that view.
"Ah... do you have to wear shackles?"
"Only while we're travelling. Don't worry, we'll remove them soon. You'll be the first lady in my palace."
"I have a heightened urge to willingly and deeply shove his hoof into my mouth and spew all that has built up inside me at him, but I have to smile awkwardly."
"Sir, we have arrived at the manor!" Albedo said loudly, though her voice was acceptable in the carriage.
"Please, my lady!"
Twilight looked at the shackles on her hooves, then at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Gentlepony. That shit weighs in at forty kilos. I've had them thrown in here by your cabmen."
"I'm sorry, I can't lift them" and there's another shudder in his direction, which he takes pleasure in.
"How impertinent and honest of you! Oh! Forgive my incompetence. Albedo, help Mrs Twilight Sparkle to the manor and get her ready for dinner! Don't be late! And you, Mrs Twilight Sparkle, I'll be leaving for a while. But don't worry, I'll see you for dinner! Ooh!" he almost jumped up and down and went for it.
"Albedo looked at me in surprise. I thought it was a good sign, but we walked on in silence. I was just now thinking about the rules of etiquette."
"Albedo? Why do they call me "Mrs."? I mean, I'm..."
"I'm sorry, Mistress..."
"Wait, 'madam'? An hour ago they were gagging me and telling me to shut up and walk quietly, and now this?"
"Albedo?" Twilight interjected once more.
"Oh yes, I think Mr Fancy Pants has deemed you a worthy person to be his wife."
"What? My mind just went into a storm. No, a collapse of thought. Imagine throwing a ten kilogram weight on a glass ball and bang... That's what I was thinking at that moment."
"Come on, we'll take off your shackles first," she said, punctuating her words as affectionately as possible. "I apologise for treating you inappropriately an hour ago..." she lowered her head in shame.
"Hmm... Earthwoman. White, crystal white. Wow, even the eyes are an exotic colour - bloodshot. Albino! That's right! That's a rare combination. I can see what colours of slaves he mostly dabbles in. Although, is she a slave? Well, not unless he pays her wages. Well, never mind. I wouldn't mind taking it all off now. There was a short 'click' and the tin fell from my hooves."
"It's okay, Albedo, I don't hold it against you. You did what you had to do. Tell you what, though. I'm not the first purchase this lord has made, am I?"
"Not the first..." she said cryptically and quietly.
"Well... If you put it that way, I'm fucked. If otherwise..."
"But... It was the first time he'd ever looked at anyone as lovingly as he did at you. And allowed you to be impertinent to him."
"And what happens if the other one dares in his direction?"
"Albedo pointed her hoof somewhere upwards. I raised my head higher and was astonished at what I saw! My jaw dropped and my heart snapped..."
"Head off your shoulders. And even if the face is cute, that's their fate."
"It was as if I was dreaming as I listened to her parable. Those are real heads, aren't they? I've heard of hunting grounds and how they hang the heads of dead animals and birds on the walls, but these are... These are ponies! They're not beasts or animals..."
"Hush, hush... I was shocked too when I first saw it. Now follow me, Mistress. You are fortunate, for he has already consented for you to be his wife, and I'm surprised you don't know of any such thing."
* * *
"Albedo, I can wash myself!"
The bathtub was tiled with expensive tiles and was of such a size that it was hard not to mistake it for a swimming pool.
"No, no! Mistress is to be washed only by me. Mistress is washed by two twins."
"I mean, I could do it myself."
"You can't!" The maid protested loudly. Twilight exhaled, lowering her ears in despair. A hoof was hoofed through her mane, washing away streams of shampoo and reapplying. "Blood residue, dust, dirt, and something else. It doesn't look good on you. Tiredness, dryness, and wrinkles will appear, and you don't need them."
"There you go, singing exactly like Zecora."
"All right, all right, I'll let you wash yourself."
As time went on, the procedure became like torture. Twilight had been standing for about twenty minutes now, letting her feathers steam so that they would be cleaner and her wounds would heal much faster.
"And after I got out, I had bracelets put on my back and front legs that clung tightly to my fur."
"Why?" Twilight was perplexed.
"They are... magical shackles. They don't stop you from moving and weigh almost nothing, but magic can be used to give them weight. And quite a bit of it. Please don't do anything that you shouldn't try them on, and now let's go find you a dress."
Twilight shuddered a little at this unexpected news.
"Can I go without it?"
"No! No, absolutely not!"
"Only now I began to notice that she was very similar to Rarity in her behaviour and style of speaking, but her voice sounded like dry crystal. Well, the dress is a dress, but the shackles are magical."
"How does magic even work here?"
"I was already sitting at the mirror, watching through my reflection as Albedo gently measured me from behind."
"You see... Everyone has a magic pebble like this on their chest. It lets our magic pour through itself. How to explain it to you..."
"I'm not stupid enough not to understand simpler explanations than mine. Express yourself as best you can."
"I'm sorry... The world is anti-magic air. And magic crystallises in its purest form in caves, where they are mined mostly by unicorns. For they are the only ones who can stay in the magical dissociation zone the longest."
"Go on... I understand all that."
"See, we all have magic. But to extract it and put it into practice, you need a pure magic crystal of the highest grade. I have a medium grade and medium size. Malachite. It's mostly for healing, but it's also good for restraint. The gentleman has a black diamond of the highest grade and large size. This amulet transfers almost 100% of a creature's potential into the open world. The purer the stone, the more magic it emits. Without it, you can't do anything."
"So the mines are mostly slaves?"
"Of course," Albedo replied calmly. Twilight felt like a fool sometimes, but she couldn't tell her she was from another world.
"So. I dressed you. I've done your hair. I've done your make-up and you're done. Now you can go to dinner with Fancy Pants. Come on, I'll walk you out."
Albedo almost dragged poor Twilight through the dressing room and literally dragged her along. The doors rattled open in front of her.
"Isn't the dining room that big? Two high chairs. Wow, Albedo, really... I'm not sitting in that one! She did sit in it. Oh-oh-oh..."
Once seated at the table, she looked at Albedo with a "Save me, get me out of here" look on her face, but she only smiled with a nod:
"Good luck."
"Saint Faust, give me the strength to survive this place. And this day..."
The door opened noisily and the waitresses walked past with dishes. Different dishes, even ones that Twilight had never seen before. Afterwards, Albedo led the host himself behind a nearby chair.
"You may leave us," Fancy Pants commanded, and now it was just the two of them in the dining room.
"He's definitely got that crystal on his chest. If I try anything with it, he'll flatten the hell out of me with that power, though any other unicorn would just kill me if he wanted to... After all, I don't have any magic now."
"So, dear Twilight Sparkle. You're absolutely delightful! Just a very sweet dessert."
"Oh yes, that's why I didn't want to see you, you're just spoiling my appetite."
"Why aren't you eating anything? All the food and dishes are made from quality products."
"If the corset didn't squeeze my waist, it'd be great."
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry."
"Oh-oh-oh... why don't you try a light salad and a nice wine?"
"In principle, I can have a salad, but wine... It's alcohol... No... I don't want it. I'll have some water."
"I'll have a salad, but I'd rather have wine than water."
And yes, with magic, Fancy Pants handed her a plate of salad and poured water from a crystal decanter. Next, both ate in silence. Etiquette, you see.
"Oh. All is well this time, just delicious. Mrs Twilight, it's nighttime. I'd like to send you out to powder your nose, so to speak. Albedo! Show her out, please. Mrs Twilight."
"What? To the loo? But... I don't want to, some aristocratic thing again? Oh..."
"Very good, sir. Mrs Twilight will be ready shortly."
"Excellent, eek..." the maid, however, led the alicorn to another room.
"Albedo, what does that mean?"
"Well... You'll find out soon enough," Albedo calmly prepared Twilight for what was to come. Truth be told, the old dress had been replaced by a new one, but a more austere one? Of red coloured velvet that almost dragged on the floor. "You are fully prepared, Mistress."
"Albedo, please address me as "you"."
"I can't! If the lord finds out about this--"
"He won't. It's just the two of us."
"Ah. Okay. I'll see you out, I'll walk you out, and then you're on your own."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"I'm liking this less and less. Is this really a ritual and he's going to cut my head off? No... there's probably something else going on here. Ahhhh... Ugh, shit. It's nighttime, it's bedtime. I'm such an idiot, I got myself all worked up..."
Albedo knocked and after permission opened the door. Shoving Twilight inside, she slammed it shut loudly.
"Now I'm not at all comfortable."
"Come here, Twilight Sparkle. I'm going to make you my wife."
"What? No! No!"
In a panic, Twilight tried to get out of there. But here came the magic... which was the Element of Twilight's Magic that Fancy was carrying. She was now being pulled onto the wide bed just by using it.
"When the soft surface was under my back, the telekinesis stopped working."
"Hey! What's going on?!"
"Come on, dear Twilight," a quiet voice came from above, touching her cheek. And then she was lying down, already pinned by his body, as he rested his belly close to her."
"Ugh... That smell..."
"Hey! I don't want to!"
"Everyone says that and then can't live without it. Sparkle."
Goosebumps ran through my body. Once again, I tried to break free and throw him off me. But the bracelets worked without fail, pressing her hard into the mattress.
"Shit! Shit! No! No!"
Her front legs spread apart, and then he kissed her neck tenderly. Next, he didn't hesitate to leave a bite. The smell of blood slowly spread through the bedroom, filling it with itself.
"It hurt!"
"I tried to yank my head, but I only hurt myself more, and meanwhile he pulled back, licking himself. His horn glowed and my back legs began to spread apart! No! I don't want to! I'm still innocent! No! Not with you! Please! No!"
"Don't!..." tears ran down her face on their own. But no one asked Twilight's permission.
Gritting her teeth and turning round, Twilight tried to raise herself from the pulling pain below. She felt a sharp intrusion into her.
"Aah! Let go! It hurts!"
"Hush, hush, darling, I didn't know you were such an innocent virgin. I'll give you a minute to get used to it."
"Freak! Freak!"
"Let go!" And again the traitorous tears. Shame, such shame on her part. "Shh, shh, shh...," Fancy comforted her gently and quietly.
He began to move inside her, slowly stretching and letting her get used to him. Just a couple of movements were enough for Twilight to feel discomfort, followed by heavy breathing and something different, new.
Gently passing his hoof over the corners of her eyes, he wiped away her tears and peered at her carefully. The clothes she was wearing were hopelessly wrinkled, as was the will of his betrothed. But the will he would not give her. For now he had dominion over her in bed. She might do something irreparable to him in a fit of passion. So he decided to cover the rhythmic moans from the alicorn woman with deep kisses.
The mind was gradually smouldering. Right now her hooves were not obeying. And he blocked the only source of oxygen supply with his kiss. She had to respond. And she didn't know what was going on.
"Oh, man... I'm a prisoner. And now I'm being raped by this creep, and there's nothing I can do about it. But I love this pleasant sensation, which is driving me completely insane. My head is completely spinning..."
A pleasant mooing on the alicorn's part and a quiet growl of satisfaction on the aristocrat's part could be heard even outside the bedroom door. Albedo, on the other hand, listened to them quietly, dropping tears. She felt sorry for her. She knew how this would end. She hadn't cared for her at first, but after seeing her as a support, the only light in her mind, she had treacherously given it to him.
"I'm sorry, Twilight..."
Fancy Pants, satisfied with his torture, watched the satisfied alicorness muzzle. Shifting his hooves to her waist, he began to move sharper, eliciting more moans from her lips. Soon the sharp movements began to speed up, and he lay down closer to Twilight, hugging her back and squeezing her tightly. A couple more moments later, the stallion began to pour into her as he continued his rhythmic movements. Soon he exhaled, feeling finally satisfied with her and this pleasure.
"A flash in my head, that's what I remember when he started filling me up. Shit..."
A little while later, Twilight realised that she was still unable to think, and was just breathing heavily, looking at him with half-closed eyes. He was still stroking her head sweetly and affectionately. The dishevelled curls of her mane were intertwined with each other. A comb and the pain of tearing out her hair was what awaited her in the morning. But for now, just a kiss goodnight and a body covered in a blanket. A release from the shackles of magic. And Twilight obediently fell into slumber.
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Chapter 6 (Echmalosiphobia) [6.2] [Fear of being captured]
"There was a guitar bass thumping in my ears as I slowly opened my eyes and realised that I could now safely hoof my hooves up. And, after a little while, I did sit up on my croup. My perineum was aching quite unpleasantly, and what's more important is..."
Twilight, meanwhile, was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her blank stare was directed at the wall, where the clear picture was slowly becoming blurred and hazy. Only now did it dawn on her that she was alone in the room and she remembered what had happened that night. She had been raped. She had been used, used and left. The door soon opened and a familiar albino pony walked into the room.
"Good morning, Mistress," Albedo checked the alicorn's condition with a brief examination, looking into her face as much as possible to keep her emotions in check. "Mistress, are you alright?"
"Fine? Fine? Ah hahaha..."
Soon she saw and felt the sudden change in behaviour.
"FUCK YOU!" Twilight, freaking out, threw some kind of pillow at the maid out of nervousness. But she just pushed it aside with her telekinesis and didn't react to the alicorn's insult. "You knew how this was going to end!" Twilight's hysterics continued unabated.
"I did, of course, but if I had told you earlier... Your actions might have been less... If I may say so, appropriate, and I would have had to literally carry you tied up right to him. And that's even worse... I had to deceive you, I'm sorry....."
"Shut up."
"Bitch... All traitors around, you're all the same! Just thinking about yourselves! I wish you'd give me your magic crystal... I'd save us from him... You're a bloody mare's head collector. Just hang in there Twilight, it could have been worse... So what if something was taken from you that you'll never get back. Ughhhh..."
"So..." she sighed heavily, shifting her gaze back to Albedo. Now Twilight's gaze was already stern and hard. "Where is the library in this fucking house?"
"It's off-limits to everyone but Fancy Pants, Mistress."
"Then take me to him."
"He's not in at the moment, and he'll probably be home for dinner."
"Show me which way is the library and I'll go there myself."
"But I can't let that happen."
"Okay, Twilight... That's... Well, if that's the case, we'll take the roundabout way."
"Give me your crystal," Twilight tried to order her own maid as her so-called mistress.
"I can't. Master's orders take precedence over Mistress's. I'm sorry."
"Then get me one of those," she went round again.
"I can't, miss. All financial losses and costs must be agreed with the master."
"Grrr! Grrgh!!!" A low hiss came through Twilight's clenched teeth.
"Mistress. You need to take a bath and change, and I'll have the other maids clean your chambers."
"Yes, I can only dream of peace... A bath, yes... A bath will calm me down..."
"Okay... bath first, then get dressed and breakfast, yes? Okay... Can I at least have a pen and paper?"
"Do you want to write a letter?"
"No... Research notes. Since my diary has apparently been lost, I'm going to start a new one..."
"For research?"
"Yes. In the meantime... I could ask for that, couldn't I?" she asked with mockery in her voice, almost pitifully.
"Yes, of course, paper, quill and inkwell will be brought to your chambers."
"After bath and dressing, I had breakfast alone. The breakfast was more modest than last night's dinner; they must have known in advance that their leader would be away. Well, it's better for him. In my room I began to write notes for the future."
"Entry 27. Dear Princess Celestia. It's been almost a month since I left my home and never saw it again. Pros: I'm sort of alive. Cons: I'm morally dead, and I'm also... In short, I won't mince words. I'm a prisoner. Forced to marry an alternate version of Fancy Pants. If I ever come home, keep him away from me or I'll come and rip his throat out with my own hooves. It's not his fault, though. I just can't see his face. Oh, yeah. Today I learnt about sex. Rape, to be exact. Warmed, fed and then dressed up and taken to bed like a trophy. It was unbearably painful at first. Coitus lasted about an hour. Then I fell asleep... I shouldn't get pregnant, it's not my heat period. And apparently my so-called spouse knows that. Speaking of which, this nutcase keeps severed pony heads as hunting trophies. You're probably asking yourself, how did I let this happen? No bloody magic! I can't get the amulet! And no access to the library! I can barely hold back the tears. But right now, it's more of a rage."
* * *
Starlight read the notes with horror and anger, and would surely have torn him, Fancy Pants himself, if Sunburst hadn't tried to stop her. He did hold her, though she could have broken free with a teleport. But the anger in her head made it impossible for her to think.
"Let me go! I want to strangle him myself!"
"Calm down. Fancy Pants really isn't guilty of anything, at least not in this world. You've read it yourself... I'm as angry and sad and angry as you are, but don't take it out on innocent ponies. He's actually not that bad, and even helped Equestria's industrial advancement. But that's not the point. Starlight, you need to calm down and think, all three of you, about Twilight's condition at the moment. Unfortunately, I'm sure it's not the worst thing she's been through."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm sorry... Sunburst, let's move on."
"Yeah," he let go of Starlight and, adjusting his glasses, began to translate the text further. "Hmm... Speaking of which. The binding came much later and some of the pages were glued in."
"My dear mentor. Once again, judging from your diary, what a rich experience you have had... and a hard path... We are only now learning what horror you have had to endure. And for now, I can't tell you about any punishment, since you've done us almost nothing wrong except indirectly attack us and the other ponies. But I think we'll agree that it was under the influence. I'm sure you were purposely showing the horrors you were acting out, without a kernel of consciousness or ground of thought. Why would you do that? Maybe... were you testing us? But it's not clear to me right now what's going on in your head."
* * *
Rarity was the fourth to be hooked up to sleep, at the moment. From the most stable to the most unstable personalities of harmony.
"Well... it's not all sad at first glance. Not a lot of black. It's even a little too bright. But it all looks like a disaster of colours. Like a green-yellow-white-black rainbow."
And indeed, the combinations of colours in Twilight's mind made it clear that she was now in a borderline state between self-awareness and the memories that were coming from the far reaches of her mind and were now slowly coming into her head. And now she was sitting on her crouch, the pupils of her eyes flipping through memories like a very fast-forwarding video film.
"Twilight, darling! Are you okay?"
She would have been scared out of her wits if she hadn't been prepared for this. Fluttershy gently explained that their friend was a little out of it. Applejack, on the other hand, claimed that she still loved them all very much and treasured them most of all. Rainbow Dash distinguished herself with the most vivid emotion. Like, "Wow, she's really cool! She'd make an awesome warrior." Rarity was ready for that and slowly walked over to her to poke her quietly with her hoof.
"Twilight?"
"Hi... I was watching my memories," Twilight raised her eyes. Her irises had taken on their usual purple colour, the display of frames had stopped, her voice was much more aged. You know, a wise man who has lived alone for a hundred years and will tell you what the fabric of the universe is.
"It's all right, dearie... I came to you to talk to you. Your head's a mess, Twilight. Look at this. Grey tones mixed with bright stripes and..."
"Yes. They are indeed shades of my memories. Tell me, why are all the bright moments of life so rare in these worlds, while the grey, dark and even black are so numerous? Why is harmony so scarce in them?"
"Forgive me if I answer the question with a question. But I will ask you directly. Do you regret helping them? Was it worth it to help them?"
"Question for question? What a corny question you're asking. I'll ask it the same way. How much would you give of yourself to understand the balance of anxiety. Empathy and generosity?"
"All of myself and infinitely more," the unicorn answered firmly.
"There... And I have given all of myself and, judging by the past years, an infinite amount. What does beauty mean to you?"
"What is considered beautiful to me? A perfect combination, bordering on something new, but not too much so that it's not overly flamboyant."
"For me, something beautiful is something new. But you know... New is the well forgotten old. I really missed those times when I could communicate with you so freely. By the way, almost everywhere your alternate personalities have been generous and kind to me."
"My dear. You need not award their merits to me. I'm very glad the alternate selves have helped you, and I'm sorry if a similarly alternate version of me has ever harmed you. But know that you are now the version that wishes us no harm. Try to remember the vivid moments. Don't try to look for what was bad. The generosity that was shared with you, appreciate it. They gave a piece of themselves to you personally. Just as you shared a piece of yourself for others. You helped or tried to help them."
"I killed innocents."
"It wasn't you, dear. I'm pretty sure it's your second personality, like Nightmare Moon to Luna. Imagine that you are this nice, friendly, brave, gentle filly. And imagine there's another side of you. The cruel, nasty, hostile side. And right now you're imagining a mixture of those feelings. Separate the brightness from the darkness, dear. You're the left side. And your sins and your crap are on the right. Go to the left side of your emotions. And hold them. And the fuel for your bright emotions will be us! All of us! Do you know what a fuss you made when everyone heard you were back? Crowds of ponies waiting for you to wake up and tell them that the Princess of Friendship is back!"
Twilight listened intently, even smiling.
"They're all waiting for me? Aren't they?" she smiled sincerely, like a puppy who is happy to have a master who has come home.
"Of course, darling! Imagine you're their idol of friendship. The world's idol is gone for a month. And they don't need to know that you've grown up a bit. Or your, ahem, shady dealings. Just don't bring them here. Live your life to the fullest. Your nanny, your family, Spike, your teacher. Your student. Your friends. We're just waiting for you, Twilight Sparkle," Rarity smiled that same mischievous and soft smile. "Now tell a highlight from your life, such a long life."
"I... one hundred and thirty-eight years ago... Saved the world from destruction by stopping a wall of magic. It was destroying and incinerating all life in its path. There were ponies who tried to escape and some who no longer tried to save themselves, they just accepted their fate. I couldn't bear to see a world like ours die. It pained me to watch you die... I could barely keep that wall up. It's unlike anything else in this life... It's like keeping a hydroelectric dam from collapsing at any moment, with millions of tonnes of water pushing in from the other side. But... Unfortunately, there was no place for me in that world. They tried to kick me out and called me an impostor because there was a Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh... and then what?"
"I was in therapy for a long time. I don't remember, I was in a coma for a few days, I think. Then as soon as I could get magic, the first thing I did was repair my spine. Because the pressure had crushed it into the neighbouring body. Massive stroke. Crushed bones in the front legs. Severe depletion of magical powers. It's lucky I survived. If I'd died at that moment, everyone would've died."
"See, I'm sure they were all grateful to you. If it's an entire planet, you saved eighty million beings. Alone! Imagine what a national hero you are to them!"
"I've been offered titles and power in many places. But... Anyway, I couldn't do it. It wasn't my title. And even now I'm not sure."
"Stop thinking like that! Without you, we couldn't find a place to live! Just don't get yourself worked up, darling! You didn't do those terrible things. Now calm down."
"I already have, Rarity. I think I'm ready."
"Ready for what?"
"To wake up," Twilight smiled softly.
Light spread around the area. Rarity was jerked out of her sleep. But instead of the usual awakening, there were sirens, loud noises, and quiet mooing.
"Attention! The patient is awake! Attention! Close all doors, put up an antimagic dome! Patient, stay down and don't get up!"
"Oh, yeah... I'm going to run far... Tied to the couch... Sorry, Rarity. But I guess Celestia has other plans for me."
* * *
"So, afternoon, evening. "Back to bed, and you know what happens again? I'm on my back again with this little bastard on top of me. I've barely had a chance to settle down all day, and there he is again."
"Fancy Pants. Why don't you give me a break? I'm still recovering from yesterday!"
A bargain? Yes, but the stallion has other plans.
"Dear Twilight. How can I ignore such a seductive body? It draws me to it. I can't just resist it!"
"Yes, and I've been fucked again. I didn't feel so heavy and sleepy this time."
"I hate you..." she hissed quietly.
"I don't believe it. If you hated me, you wouldn't be moaning like that."
"Sex is sex, no matter how much you resist it, it'll feel good eventually."
"No, it doesn't. If a filly can't feel anything in bed, the stallion can't get it up."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Oh."
"Am I going to be bedridden with these shackles? My legs are cramping."
"Sorry, darling. It's the only way at night."
"Aha... Taken and abandoned, eh? Fancy Pants, it's the same thing tomorrow, isn't it?"
"Why can't I visit the library?" Twilight lay quietly under the blanket, staring at the ceiling. Whatever you want to do, she couldn't get out just yet.
"Honey, can you read?"
"Yeah... you picked a fool to marry, didn't you?"
"No. I was struck by your beauty and couldn't have wished for anything better. And it turns out you're smart too!"
"Yeah. When did we start talking to each other?"
"I think that in private chambers there is no place for formalities and it throws off the whole mood," the aristocrat was still lying next to me, smoking a cigarette.
"So what about access to the library?"
"I don't see any problem with that. Albedo will walk you out tomorrow."
"Okay, the other question is, what's with the hanging heads or whatever they are?"
"It's a morbid hobby of mine. I love collecting unusual pony colours and if I'm in a bad mood, I add to the collection and I feel better!"
"Oh yeah, if I get hit by a hot hoof, will my head end up in the same place one day?"
"Absolutely not! The sight of you will never upset me! You are a bright obelisk in my house!"
Twilight exhaled as sleep came slowly.
"If it was someone I'd love who said that to me and not you... I'd be sitting contentedly like... Eh... Nothing comes to mind."
"Why do you, Albedo, have such an amulet, but I do not?"
"Everything will happen, my dear. You just have to wait. When we get married, I'll get you one."
"Aha... So I can only run away when I marry him? That's not very comfy at all. Well... I'll play along. And then I'll bash your head in!"
"Well, darling. I'll leave you to rest, good night."
"Mm-hmm..."
"I answer him reluctantly and just drift off to sleep."
* * *
The morning began again. Albedo came. She brought clothes. Must be expensive, every time like this.
"Albedo, after bath and breakfast, I want to go to the library."
"But..."
"Your master said he saw no problem and that "Albedo will take you tomorrow". If you want to ask him in person, go. I don't think he'll be pleased."
The woman lowered her ears and soon quickly retorted:
"Of course, Mistress. I'm sorry for hesitating!"
''Aha, so that's how it is. It's all very simple. Divide and conquer? No. Divide and conquer. I'm genuinely sorry she's on a leash, but a lot of points could have been made... I could give absolutely nothing if her head was hanging over my fireplace tomorrow."
The two sat at breakfast and ate quietly. It was the same. Salads. Vegetables, fruit. Different dishes. And drinks.
"This time I should have a little drink before I go to bed. It'll be a little more fun. He won't know. He'll be drunk himself. Well. Albedo, I'm giving you one last chance, if you disappoint me with the alcohol, I'll come after you after that prick dies."
After lunch, Twilight stopped Fance.
"I wanted to ask."
"Yes, dear?"
"Is there any way I could have my personal belongings back?"
"What do you need them for? It's no good. You'll have the most gorgeous dresses, the best snacks and your future husband, and in a year you'll have babies!"
"Yeah... That arsehole won't just stop until he's knocked me up, will he?!"
"Okay. I'm off to the library."
"Albedo! Show my wife to the library, and don't bother me, I'm on political business."
"Yes, sir! Madam, please."
"Albedo bowed first to him, then to me, and gently showed me with her hoof where to follow. When I had moved a sufficient distance away, I began a conversation with her."
"Do you enjoy serving that bastard?"
"I don't understand the question, Mistress."
"Oh, come on! Don't make a fool of yourself now! I asked you a question. And your answer will determine your life, Albedo," Twilight looked at her seriously, clearly expecting a correct, honest answer, or at least sincerity.
"No... I would want freedom... And... to live my life. To come home, or not! Just live at home, cook dinner for your husband, and when he comes home, hug you gently, complain about his work, and then have a blast in bed with you in the evening. Heh..."
"Is she jealous of me or is she really complaining? I certainly wasn't expecting this kind of revelation, but okay... Just don't get in my way. Okay, Albedo?"
"Freedom, then. Let's talk about something. You bring me a bottle of wine every day at 7:00 or 8:00. Because that gentleman of yours is very fond of taking it out on me after work. I don't like it, to put it mildly! I hate him! Do you understand? He abuses me like a living doll, because I am literally pressed into the bed by the bracelets, and afterwards he leaves either a hickey or a bite on my neck," he demonstratively shows the wound on my neck, which was renewed the same night. "And tonight he will come to rape me again, do you understand?"
"Yes... Mistress, I'm really sorry."
"Never mind," Twilight didn't want to be frank further and simply gave the order to be taken to the library. She needed information.
* * *
It was already getting evening and time was getting close to go prepare her for the 'night game'.
"Mistress, it's time."
"Got it..."
"So, I have learnt that the crystal may not accept the owner. But if the owner is willing and quite strong in magic, the crystal will deem him worthy. Well, I hope that won't be a problem for me. There's only one challenge left. I need to take Fancy Pants by surprise... And he's being very cautious with me. I have the option of giving in to him... Oh well. One more night I must sell my body to him."
"This way, mistress."
"Water treatments. Tight corset, and he likes skinny ones. Probably so he can hold on more comfortably. All right, let's go."
"Mistress Twilight, here you go," Albedo slid the uncorked bottle of wine to Twilight."
"Eh... Thanks for that," Twilight took a few sips straight from her throat, and took another swig like that. "That's it... it'll digest faster with the shaking. Let's go."
"Mistress is ready, my lord."
"Good!" The door closed immediately. "Come here, my dear."
"I'm not going anywhere anyway."
"The final stage is acceptance. Yeah. My head's really spinning. "Come here, lie down, spread my hooves, let him play... Play along a bit and go to sleep.
"Darling, you're getting a lot more pliable. You're making progress, you want to take the initiative. You've got a lot of nerve! Oh!"
"By God, and every time, I'm still in the same position, missionary, if you're interested. And the same sweet talk. I want to vomit."
* * *
Another heart-to-heart right after coitus.
"Have you been drinking tonight?"
"I thought I'd try the wine. And it was good," Twilight lay like a paralysed log in bed again. She wouldn't have the strength to lift those shackles. It's like holding forty kilos on each limb.
"I'm glad you like it. She was more cooperative in bed."
"Do I have an option to say no? No, she didn't care what Fancy Pants thought."
"Usually mares are more agreeable to their partners."
"I'm not. Besides the fact that you leave bites that don't have time to heal, I'm lying here so I can't move. Imagine an open angel. There you go."
"You should have told me, darling, that you don't like that position!"
"I don't want to have sex with you, you know?!"
"Ho-ho-ho-ho! That's why I love you for being so cheeky. Get some rest. Tomorrow we'll try something else."
"Yes, yes, yes. Another pose. What am I, a pleasure mare?"
"Can we at least remove the shackles, lower their power?"
"Oh, darling, you're more violent when you're drunk, but I'm sorry, there'll be no more tonight. Now get some sleep," the stallion spoke in a softer and more caring voice.
And indeed, Twilight fell asleep almost immediately. This time she slept through lunch.
* * *
"It's been about three more days since then, and there was actually variety in those times, especially when he pulled my wings back towards him or licked my horn. Honestly, I liked that sort of thing. Revelations to myself, huh? At least I didn't bargain, and I didn't try to escape either. No use... It's sad that I don't have the brains to solve this puzzle. "Be patient and wait, Twilight..."
Mistress, I was asked to give you this drink instead of wine. Master said you would like it," Albedo slipped her a strange murky bottle of green alcohol.
"Wow... Absinthe, strong stuff, apparently he decided to get me drunk to the point of alcoholic vomiting. That's a weird fetish you have. Okay..."
"Well, there's no choice. Will you leave me alone with my thoughts?"
"Yes, of course." she left the bottle with its contents with Twilight and stormed out of there.
"Entry 30. For almost a week now, I have been held captive as a sex doll for a rich aristocrat. I have learnt that this rich prick is the ruler of these lands. Like you, Celestia and Luna. And I'm drinking all my stress away. Huh, I don't want to fall asleep. Well, I'm off to fulfil my conjugal duties..."
"So... What a crap, feh..." taking six sips on an empty stomach, she felt strange symptoms. A fever or something. She felt like stripping off her clothes and lying around with no clothes on. "Hot..."
"Darling."
' Above my head came that same nasty-prickly voice. "He looks nice this time..."
"You and I are having a foal tonight, darling."
"Yeah... Now... What is it, why is my body trembling weakly? Do I... Really want him? No..."
Twilight let out a prolonged moan as he touches her stomach, pressing lightly.
"Mhhhhh... What the fuck was in that bottle! I'm ready to literally have an orgasm just from his touch."
"What... Ah... was in that bottle, mhhhhh..." she squirmed at the mere touch. And when he lay down on top of her, it was as if sparks were playing in her eyes, a rainbow frame of some kind growing around the edges. Blue, red, green.
"It's a magic potion, dear. It could be months before she goes into heat, it's too long to wait. And why wait when we can make an heir now?" He spoke dryly and firmly this time.
"How wet it's getting. I can't take it anymore... It's aching like hell."
"Come in already... I can't take it anymore..." she whispered softly, still squirming. Her eyes glistened with tears, not from pain, but from desire. And it didn't take long to wait. The feeling of being filled again, only now it was so sickening on the inside that she wanted to tip him back and take the lead.
"This is so cool... Twilight... Forget about everything and enjoy it."
Heavy breathing intercepted sober thoughts. However, the sobriety gave a pain in her neck as he bit her again.
"What am I doing...? Twilight. Your chance, come on. He's as relaxed as possible right now."
"Darling. Let go of my hooves," she whispered softly, as seductively as possible in his ear as he pressed against her. He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I want to hold you," she said in the same sexy voice as she lay on her back. "Please...," she said in a deadpan voice.
"How could I say no to you?" His smile became more affectionate, and indeed, after a moment, the shackles stopped having weight. And Twilight ceremoniously pulled her hooves up to hug him.
"Oh, my dear. At last you have accepted me."
Thoth leaned back to give that one a squeeze. And yes, she hugged him under his front hooves, kissing him gently on the lips, and soon moved slowly to his neck. The one didn't mind, giving her free rein.
"Hold on, Twilight... Just a little, just a little more... Goodbye, Fancy."
A deafening crunch echoed through the room, followed by the strong smell of blood hitting her nose. Warm blood trickled down Twilight's chin.
"D... Darling... What are you..." the nobleman wheezed softly, eyes widening wildly in pain and stunned.
"I'm sorry, but you left me no choice. But I will, so be it, provide you with a parting gift."
Twilight pulled away from his neck, where the wound was open and arterial blood was gushing out. Alicorn kissed him softly on the lips, giving him a quiet peace and laying him back on the bed as he collapsed. Soon he stopped breathing, but the smile never fell from his face.
"At least he died content..."
Twilight finally got up off of him, throwing off all those wrinkled hot clothes. Then pulled off his locket and put it around her neck.
"Well, let's get started. I've killed the rapist. Now it's time for my next step. Great, the crystal accepted me right away, even modified, how nice."
"Detoxing, oh... how nice it is when the brain works as it should."
The crystal took on a different shape and colour, going from black to azure with a purple six-pointed star in the middle. Blood was still dripping down her muzzle and soaking into her fur.
"Now it's your turn, Albedo."
"Albedo!" Twilight shouted loudly, walking out of the bedroom.
"Coming, Mistress!"
It didn't take long to wait. Twilight literally pulled her to her by the neck, whispering menacingly into her face:
"Take off my bracelets."
"What?"
"Take off my bracelets! Or I won't be able to take care of myself!" The light flashed in Twilight's eyes, which frightened the maid, and she obediently removed them from the alicorn's wings as well. "Oh... Finally," Twilight exhaled, feeling free and light. "Now we can talk in peace."
"What's wrong with the master?"
"She's at each other's throats. Do you want to go to him?" she lifted her higher with her telekinesis, smashing through the glass.
"No! Mistress, please! I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear..." she screamed in terror, her hooves flailing around in panic. But Twilight spared her, setting her on the stone floor, and ripped off her magic amulet. "I'll take this. Now get out of my sight!"
Albedo quickly ran away.
"Mines, huh? All right, we'll visit the miners in the dungeons."
As if lost in thought, Twilight burst into the mines, literally ripping the guards' amulets off with her telekinesis. And as if through a horn, she loudly commanded:
"Ponies! You are free! The guards are disarmed by me! All unicorns who were in the mine, follow me!"
And a scuffle ensued. There was a cheerful, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Twilight in turn did not interfere, but waited for them at the entrance, and soon a multitude of unicorns returned from the mines to the surface.
"I am Twilight Sparkle! Killed Fancy Pants! Here's the proof: his amulet! I give the other crystals to you! My orders to you! Do not kill the unarmed or those who surrender willingly! Return alive and free to your families!
"Now, I want mine back..."
Shooh - and a sudden burst of dust mixed with a flash of magic lit up the sky. Twilight was now flying many times faster.
"There's our cave, where I'm going to kill someone right now... I swear I will."
"Attention! Intruder in the cave!"
And now one and two of the ponies pressed into the wall were bleeding. A third, a fourth. Twilight counted about twenty-five in all.
"K...Who are you!" came a painfully familiar voice from the auction.
"Oh, is that you? Where's my diary, freak?" she crumpled up his crystal locket like a toy and squeezed his throat with her hoof. "Don't you remember me? Alicorn, fifty million bits?"
"I... It's you, it's me...!"
"Shut your mouth! Get to the point! Let's be honest, or I'll kill you like I killed them all! No, even more brutally! Where's my diary?"
"T... There!" the leader of this gang shuddered, pointing with his hoof in the direction. "The sword is over there!" On his own, he produced the second most valuable item. It was actually more of a machete, but that didn't change the matter.
"Question number two: where are the prisoners?"
After answering, she violently and carelessly threw the one into the wall, picking up both the diary and the machete with her telekinesis.
"Don't!" was all the ringleader could shout before a resounding "bang" sounded and his head just flew aside from the sharp swing of the weapon.
"Entry 31. Morning... I single-handedly raised an entire rebellion. I had to kill a lot of ponies, I could smell their blood. The taste... nasty, actually, plus, I'll still be feeling the aftertaste for a long time. Fi... Eh... My diary is covered in beer, apparently... Freaks. Never appreciate other people's stuff... I'll paste some pages later. In the meantime, there's still some business to take care of."
Indeed, the prisoners had to be released and the uprising had to be halted, for it could have turned into genocide. I had to explain to the townspeople and nobles what was right and wrong. And...
"Albedo. I'm turning the reigns over to you. I think you'll prioritise what needs to be done for the people. This money, once given for me, will be given to the poor and orphans."
A thick sack full of coins fell in front of the unicorn's hooves.
"But, Mistress... What about you?"
"Hold your amulet. This one, which belonged to that rogue, I'll keep. It might come in handy. Now I'm leaving. I want to go home."
Twilight, with her crown already on, stepped through the brown-green portal, leaving the world behind.
"Yes... I seem to have begun to lose myself... thirty lives taken with me... It's horrible, but it was worth it. If I hadn't killed him, I would have been a slave for the rest of my life."
* * *
"She killed a pony so calmly?" Celestia whispered softly.
"I think it was in a fit of rage, anger and self-defence, Princess."
"Attention. Twilight Sparkle's patient is awake!"
"Here we go. I'll handle this. You go ahead. Luna, I need your help, follow me."
Soon both of them teleported into the chamber to that one. Sitting casually next to Twilight was Rarity.
"Rarity, get away from her."
"Or what?" objected Twilight. "Will she kill you?" As you can see, I'm lying still, carefully chained to the bed.
"Is that how they restrain you after you wake up!"
"Is it my fault that my body has developed an immunity to your sleeping pills?"
"Twilight Sparkle!"
"Celestia, enough with the formalities. I'm not trying to run away! If I wanted to, I would have run away years ago. These shackles of yours are like a piece of plasticine to me! It's no problem for me to leave if I want to."
"Princess... Don't... She's changing... It's hard for her to get used to the idea that it's over," Rarity tried to intervene, but her words were ignored.
"How many ponies have you killed in total?" Celestia asked coldly.
"I stopped counting after eight digits," Twilight answered dryly.
"They were living, sentient beings!"
"What about me? What should you do when someone tries to kill you? Kill him first. For some reason, none of them have the thought, Oh, she'll die if you stab her in the side with a spear!"
"Princess! You're interested in the fact of how many ponies she's killed! Don't you want to ask how many lives she's saved in her entire journey?!" Rarity stepped between the two of them, bravely defending Twilight.
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Chapter 8 (Verminophobia) [Fear of being infected]
Author's Note
thank you all so much for your support, thank you for your patience) This part came out very strong! By the way, I want to share the drawings of one artist based on this fic)
https://boosty.to/plmc/posts/d591b943-d0fb-420c-a3f3-8b3f9753a4c1
Chapter 8 (Verminophobia) [Fear of being infected]
"The portal took me to the outskirts of the forest this time. This is new, the flora here looks very familiar."
"Entry 34. The world is normal. Temperature is normal. Magic is present. No peculiarities of any kind, no crown on my head. So I'm not at home... at first glance everything may seem fine, but one noticeable feature is still immediately apparent: it smells like something rotten, rotten, nauseating... Going to investigate."
Twilight put the journal in her bag and moved towards the clearing. Looking up into the sky, it was obvious that nothing out of the ordinary was happening. The same blue sky, bright sunshine, sparse clouds. All in all, an unremarkable summer day. It would have been if it weren't for the stench of corpses.
"Where's that smell coming from?" Twilight sniffed as she continued walking in the same direction. The smell, as time went on, only grew stronger and stinkier.
Soon she saw the cause of the stench itself. Her mood had noticeably lightened.
"Poor thing..." she mumbled, looking at the decomposing corpse of the pony. "I'll put you to rest..." Suddenly the corpse moved. Twilight instinctively jumped away from it, ears and wings flapping. The voice trembled slightly. "Y-you're still alive? Healing!"
But it didn't prove effective. As some of the old scars healed, something turned to the regenerated body parts, starting to eat itself. And instead of just biting down in unbearable pain, it was digging its broken teeth into the flesh and ripping chunks off itself. It was quite frightening.
"What are you doing?!" Twilight pulled his head away from his wounds with magic, not knowing how to even react to his actions. "The creature scan!" Upon receiving the information, she bared her eyes again, already looking around at that pony. She had planned to get data on at least one living creature, but she got exactly zero. "You're dead... but you're moving? Black magic, no, worse! Necromancy! But that's mythical and forbidden knowledge... I've practised black magic, but I'm not sure it works."
Concentration in the horn. Feeling the negative effects on her head, she tried to use one of the few dark magic spells she knew on the poor pony.
"Mind Liberation! It didn't work?" Twilight was confused, for she had originally been sure it would work, and ended up coming to two conclusions. One: she was finding these spells much easier to do in this world than before. And two: that pony shouldn't exist. He's dead. "I don't know what's going on here... But I sure don't want to run into someone who has fun with the dead... I'm sorry to keep you here so long, rest in harmony... - Twilight soon cremated the corpse of the pony and tapped herself on the forehead with a hoof. - Should have researched... Twilight... Think first, then do. We need to weigh and assess the situation. Grhhhhh..."
"The smell hasn't gone anywhere, though, even though I burned everything thoroughly" Twilight turned her head at the noise in the bushes, and the questioning face again. "Squirrel? Why... didn't I find you?"
The animal ran quickly through the bushes and sniffed something, before turning its head sharply at Twilight and quickly running in her direction. Self-preservation instincts screamed to the alicorn that it was better to run or try to avoid her. Twilight took off, keeping her distance from the squirrel, but in the meantime, the squirrel was already trying to jump to her from the ground.
"Wait a minute..." Twilight soon picked up the squirrel by its tail with her telekinesis, took a closer look, and soon shoved it away in horror. "Bare ribs... It's definitely ribs... Is she dead too? What is this? I... Wait..."
Twilight tried to come to her senses, slowly inhaling and exhaling air with her full chest. Once she had recovered a bit, Twilight took the squirrel with her, still holding it at a distance from her with magic and studying it closely.
"Ugh... What a smell!" Twilight hoofed it and quickly made a medical mask out of the materials at hand to make it easier to examine the specimen without being distracted by extraneous stimuli. "All in the name of science, squirrel, all in the name of science." Twilight dissected the squirrel and examined its insides, or rather what was left of them. "Still moving, that's very strange... You have no magical powers, no physical abilities. No spells or curses. What is wrong with you, no, what is wrong with you all?" And again she drew conclusions, writing in her diary.
"Unknown type of magic. Possibly something foreign. Allows you to control the dead directly or give them free will... They attack when they see me, though. Need more tests."
Closing the diary, she burned the squirrel so it wouldn't try to bite her again. Leaving the place behind, Twilight moved on.
The foliage is green, partly mixed with yellow ends. Apparently autumn was coming, though the temperature was still summer-like.
The sun didn't seem to move at all and shone a little brighter than usual. It was worth at least wondering where she was going.She would have liked to take off and look around, but her last flight had been almost fatal.The stinging spot on her neck still ached unpleasantly.She rubbed it defiantly, making sure it was healed.
"I was not!" She lifted herself off the ground and flew higher.Yellow fields enveloped the ground, mixed with green trees behind. Beyond the fields, the tops of something alien could be seen. "Civilisation, perfect!" Continuing her flight, she headed that way. Nothing supernatural was happening below her, and there wasn't even any movement visible. It was as if the area had died out. "Another dead world again, eh, crown?" Grumbled the alicorn, who was tired of these adventures and adventures. In her homeworld, even the longest adventure hardly lasted a week. And here it had been over a month. "So much for civili" Twilight wanted to continue, but she realised something important. What was there to see? The dilapidated houses? Rotten planks? No sign that civilisation even existed. And the interesting thing was that this place looked a lot like Ponyville, but without its inhabitants. She noticed the very similar outlines of the local streets and even the Apple farm. She flew towards the barn, past apple trees, under which piles of fallen ripe and rotted apples lay in an even layer, fields overgrown with weeds and various crops. Twilight stood at the barn door, but didn't dare look in.Her gut told her not to.
"Twilight... It's not your world... It must not be your world... Just go in. Still trying to force herself to take those actions, she exhaled involuntarily and convulsively and soon pushed the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Twilight pushed it even harder. Still the same result. With her hind hooves on the ground, she shoved the door forward with all her might. But instead of making the usual turn, it slammed to the ground with a thud, along with the termite-eaten door frame. Clouds of dust rose into the air. Coughing, Twilight swatted the dust away with her hoof for a while. She wished she hadn't, for the dust was getting in her eyes, and there was a lot of it.
"Oh, that I should ever do such a rash thing again!"
In the middle of the barn a skeleton of some pony was hanging from a beam, and on the floor lay what might be called the remnant of a cowboy hat. In a similarly sad state was a folded up piece of paper near the skeleton. She picked it up with magic and strained to read.
"This is terrible... I, Applejack, sincerely declare that I surrender. I cannot see my friends eaten by that cunt or any of my other friends.It's beyond me.If Twilight can still pull it off, or if you're reading this right now: I'm sorry I didn't stay with you until the end.Your friend, Applejack."
The leaf fell from Twilight's shaking hoof, and she lifted her head again to the hanging skeleton. Tears poured down her eyes of their own accord.Gritting her teeth, she lowered the remains of her friend to the ground.Sitting down on the croup, she lowered her head guiltily.
"I'm sorry... Your Twilight couldn't handle it... But the other Twilight listened to you... I will definitely try to help you get rid of this horror... Rest in harmony, Applejack..." whispering the last word, the alicorn ceremoniously closed her eyes and bowed to her, soon consigning her body to the flames. "Sleep, my friend. May the fire purify your soul."
A heavy weight fell upon Twilight's soul.It squeezed her, her body felt as if it had become leaden. She sighed, realising that she had to do something now.
"So, Twilight, what's the plan...? There is a local me here, or at least lived here before. First, we need to find her house" luckily, she remembered the layout of Ponyville's houses and had a rough idea of where she should fly to. "The golden oak! It's still here!"
Her delight was genuine. Until she noticed the state of her house.No windows, all boarded up with a dense layer of boards. She couldn't get in through the balcony. More likely she could get in through the door. As she flew up to it, Twilight noticed the boards boarded up only on the outside.
"I won't break in this time.I'll just teleport in."
She did so, finding herself in the middle of the dusty hall.It seemed like nothing had been touched in years. But no, many objects had been touched relatively recently, judging by the thickness of the dust. There were a lot of scribbled sheets hanging on the walls. At first glance it was unclear in what order they were glued. But if she could find the beginning, it would be easy, at least for her. She went up the stairs to the top. Strangely, there was no sign of Spike anywhere. Hmmm... He wasn't there at all. Pictures hung on the walls, showing family, friends, little brother...
"Eh... if I can help them, I'll be sure to ask her for a picture of myself later. Or... I might not be able to ask for it anymore..."
She stopped at the open door, peering inside. There were far more papers on the wall here than on the lower floor.
So many that they turned into one continuous monochrome painted quilt or wallpaper. There was a huge desk in the middle, and behind the desk lay her.
"I won't ask, then..." Twilight carefully looked round at the alternate version of herself from the side. The pony, covered in a blanket, lay on the table, her skin still stretched over her withered skeleton, and a book under her chin. "Died in her sleep... I'm sorry, I'm going to disturb myself a little." She gently lifted her head and pulled out the diary. After a little while, she sat down on the bed to run through its pages with her eyes.
"Day 1. My first entry in this diary.I'm going to write down everything here that has to do with a new kind of black magic. Her outbreak originated in the lands of the changeling and then began to gradually spread throughout Equus. Celestia informed me of it a few days ago. I promptly deployed a laboratory to combat the unknown type of necromancy at the Golden Oak, where I began researching it. There are the first casualties, and the spell has already reached the borders of Equestria. With Princess Celestia's permission, I have taken all copies of the necromancy magic books from the forbidden section. One of the patients should be arriving in an hour. I hope everything goes smoothly."
"Day 2. My main hypothesis that this disease is a spawn of magic turned out to be completely wrong. The patient was feverish for the first half of the time, complaining of high fever. I scanned him and checked his magical background for spells from the forbidden section. Then I moved on to his samples. When I studied them and finally realised what I was dealing with, he... died. Yeah, he just stopped breathing. And when I decided to bury him, the patient got up and nearly bit me on the neck!I managed to lock him in the crate in which the books from Canterlot were delivered to me. I cremated him in the same box. Took me a long time to get my nerves in order! I checked myself. I don't think I'm infected. "I've got to get the word out now! Everyone, without exception!"
"Day 3. My spells aren't working. The infection is not airborne, but it's spreading through animals like mice, squirrels, birds. It's a real disaster. It's a bloody pandemic. Today we learnt that there is a genocide going on in the lands of the griffons, and they are killing anyone who has even the slightest symptoms of this infection. The quarantine of the population only postpones the inevitable, I for my part have not put my hooves down and will certainly develop a cure. Or rather, a new virus that will destroy the virus. If only I had enough time. Before the cremation, I collected enough samples, and to get new ones is not difficult, they are enough for me to advance in the research. Rest in harmony, whoever you are..."
"Day 10. Today I went to see Fluttershy, who tried with all her might to restrain the animals in one place. But nothing worked, they rioted and soon escaped. Fluttershy rushed after them into the forest to rescue them. And returned only a few days later. But it was too late... The tiny bites on her hooves, her tired, weary look. A fever of 40 degrees, a hot body. She barely had the strength to make it to Ponyville, where she collapsed. I tried to cure her, but it didn't work. She turned into one of them... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I tried with all my might... to save you."
"Day 19. Celestia gave me whatever funds she could to develop a cure. But nothing worked. One bite or scratch from an infected and it's over....Today, the so-called mob came, a bunch of infected ponies. We had to stop them by force... I keep taking samples from their bodies and... no luck... The virus mutates too quickly. Pinkie Pie, my friend, was among them. I don't know how this could have happened to her. She always loved to laugh. In that moment, I felt empty. No! Hope is always the last to die! I may not have been able to save the lives of Fluttershy and Pinkie, but I must at least save the lives of my living friends! Before it's too late!"
"Day 22. Today is a bad day, every day gets worse beyond bad. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were attacked by a pegasus today. Scratches on one and the other, they, soon, both came running to me. And again, experiments, experiments, and experiments....I tried to save them, but after a short time, they met the same fate. They only asked that I kill them painlessly, before they became one of them... I put them into a deep sleep and forcibly stopped their hearts. I wept. I couldn't see it... Every day... Every tartar day... I went back to developing a cure."
"Day 32. I... Failed again. Rainbow swoops in every day, bringing me food and whatever I ask for. She's a caring pegasus and enviably fast, so the infected pegasi and birds couldn't catch up to her. She shot them down whenever possible. Her hooves have hard hoof pads made of thick rubber. This greatly reduced the spread of infection. But it didn't stop it. There was a problem with rodents. They were crawling into houses and biting the ponies."
"Day 37. The crowd went through Apple's domain this time. Bigmac was able to draw it off by distracting it. Gradually, we overwhelmed it all without a trace, sparing no one. But... not without consequences. A mouse bit him on the stub of his tail. Four days he fought the infection and failed, and after another 24 hours, Apple lost Granny Smith. She could not bear the loss of her grandson and passed away from a heart attack. Applejack took the loss of her brother and Granny very hard, but her little sister Applebloom pulled her out of it. Gotta keep her little sister safe. Applejack came to me the next evening and asked to have a drink with me for her family. I couldn't refuse her, knowing the loss she was going through. Soon, Rainbow Dash joined us for the night. She was very tired, but she bragged for a long time about taking down a great many infected critters today."
"Day 44. How ironic... Twilight, your parents are gone. Your brother's probably gone too. There's no news from Canterlot. And the smartest pony in town can't develop an antidote. I'm making slow progress. I should speed up my research. But sleeping four or five hours a day puts a strain on my body as it is. My head hurts all the time..."
"Day 46. Rainbow Dash flies to me in a panic. She shows me her wing. Oh no... Not this... Rainbow... Why? The bite was placed at the base of the wing. She didn't know how it happened. She says that pegasi are tougher and faster these days, and they make a chirping sound. But she told me, ‘I'll hang on as long as I can. And I'll help you in any way I can. Just keep going, you can do it!" I cried again... I hugged her and nodded, she tore onwards. Dash would be doing her best to get rid of the pegasi and flying critters to reduce the spread. I admit that I wanted to put Dash to sleep and cut off her infected wing, just so I wouldn't have to lose another friend. But I didn't, and I couldn't suggest amputation, because for her to lose a wing would be worse than death."
"Day 50. Crowd... An unprecedented crowd. Probably three hundred infected. We held them back as best we could, we outnumbered them... Everyone who could stand on their feet came out of the battle. But we paid a heavy price for it. I don't know what we're fighting for anymore. Applejack came to visit me today. It was so hard to look at her after I asked her where Applebloom was, to which she only shook her head. I didn't know what to say, so I just hugged her. She said quietly in my ear ‘Be strong, sugar... We obviously can't survive this war... I'm sorry I couldn't help you.’ And... how hard the words were for her to say. They just fell with a heavy rumble, as did her tears."
"Day 51. We didn't part until this morning. Rainbow was supplying me with food as best she could with a supply of food, and I could only see new bites appearing on her body, yet she did not spare herself. She squeezed as much out of herself as she could. Not even eating, but slowly fading away."
"Day 53. Two more days... Applejack never came again. I think she hoofed it... My fears were justified when Rainbow Dash informed me that Applejack was no longer with us.I didn't elaborate on what had happened. But I knew very well that I would be alone... All alone... She told me one thing. "It's over, Twilight. There are only a few dozen of us left alive. I tried my best to keep them away from the others, but it didn't work. "I said, completely understanding everything. And I made one last attempt to shut myself off from the outside world. I asked her to stab me in that oak tree. If I was to die in this place... Let my grave be my home. So they did, and soon I was walled up. "Hey, Twilight. "Thank you. We've been good friends. Honestly, I can barely contain myself from fainting. I-I believe you can do this. Thank you,’ she spoke to me through the wooden wall."Goodbye forever." That was the last thing I heard from her as she walked out of my field of vision. Rainbow will probably behave heroically and just fall from the heights so she doesn't turn into that brat."
"Day 54. Ominous silence... I've been working on the cure for a long time. Every successful step I've taken I've written down. I'm only missing a little bit. A small piece of the puzzle, and I would make a cure, be able to save those still alive... Even if necessary, let it serve as an injection for animals. If our civilisation has already fallen."
"Day 61. "No food. Water, good thing there's still water left... I was fainting from exhaustion, how hard it is without coffee... Calculations are calculations, but I seem to be moving in the right direction. A couple of days later. It's hard to move... But I've already done research on the samples, resulting in a positive effect. All that remains is to make it sustainable. Two months of chemical testing and there it is. The first serum is ready. Huh..."
"Day 73. Tried to get out of the house a couple of days ago. For the sake of a test subject... But couldn't break the boards. Dash locked me up good and tight. And today I realised I can count the number of ribs on my body.Posterity or anyone else reading this diary, know that I tried.Fought to the very end... Your Twilight Sparkle..." "There was no further text, apparently she had closed both the diary and her eyes for good."
"You did a good job, Twilight... I heard you.And I'll do my best to help."
"Apparently it's been about two or three years since she died" Twilight surmised, and began sorting through the rest of her entries. Surprisingly, everything made sense and fit into Twilight's own system of judgement. There were some moments where it was still a bit of a puzzle. Soon, when she got to the last sheet of paper, she had a plan of what she needed. "So, twenty-three chemicals, a couple of flasks. A little fire and a little magic. Mix everything in certain proportions, as written here, and spray it around. Right, that's what we'll do."
* * *
Twilight was asleep in her cot in the present, and oddly enough, both Starlight and Spike were there. She didn't mind. Besides, what was the big deal? The night passed quickly and without much incident, except for the fact that Twilight was talking in her sleep, and in a language unknown to Starlight. It was morning.
"Master, it's morning" Starlight nudged her quietly as she watched her with a smile.
"I'm awake..." said Twilight slurred, lying down with her eyes closed.
"You know, home is great. I get to lie down for as long as I want. Well, as long as I could before they woke me up. I eat as much as I want. My friends are around. I miss hanging out with them. To be honest, I have bad memories in my head when someone touches on a subject that hurts me and, unfortunately, I have a lot of those subjects. But I come to my senses in time. Luna didn't try to get into my dreams anymore after I kicked her out. Celestia made a list of demands. A pretty stupid list. Like, for example, I shouldn't take the blocker off my horn because I'm not allowed to conjure. I don't care if I need something, I'll just ask Starlight or Spike. I'm not allowed to leave the castle. I'm not planning on it yet. I'm not allowed to do any cooking, and here I had a great many questions. Then it was immediately explained to me that cooking or seeing a knife could cause me to have flashbacks. Once again, I don't understand this. Under no circumstances should I attempt to contact Discord. I've already thrown away this rules scroll at the sixteenth point, let others use it as toilet paper."
"Master! Master! Tell me, what else have you learnt?"
"Oh yes. Starlight has been completely keeping up with me since my return and calling me ‘Teacher’. I find this behaviour a little disturbing. Oh, right. I have the experience of a three hundred year old mage. I'm a walking gold mine of magic to her. But what can I teach her? She's giving me that puppy dog look.Well, I'll think of something."
"Lots of things, Starlight, but call me Twilight.I am Twilight."
"But you're my teacher!"
"Teacher. But I'm also your friend, remember?" she asked, waiting for some satisfactory answer from her.
"Of course! You're my friend! Twilight's teacher!"
Starlight's behaviour reminded her of a particular orphan left behind in another world, who had lived under the same roof with Twilight for a long time and ate out of the same pot with her. Oh, and the age difference now between Starlight and Twilight added more and more similarities. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but that would have been an insult to the impatient student, and it would have been blasphemy to stop such an endeavour.
"All right, Starlight.I know how to redirect magic. Catch magic with my horn and send it back with twice the force."
Starlight's eyes lit up with fire. The third occupant of her home came into the room.
"Oh, Twi! Good morning."
Spike, quick on his paws, soon snuggled into her leg and hugged her tightly. Twilight's smile spread across her face. She cared for him as if he were her child, stroking his head gently.
"‘All right, Spike.Can you help with breakfast? As you already know, I'm not allowed in the kitchen."
The dragon cub nodded immediately.
"Sure! I'll go make something right away, Twi!" he pulled away from her hoof and ran into the kitchen.
"You're not allowed to use kitchen utensils?"
"Neither is magic. And many, many more things you're not allowed to do. I think that's completely ridiculous." Master...’ she nuzzled her nose into her fur, as if trying to inhale her scent.
"Starlight..." Twilight called out embarrassed, but Twilight didn't hear her. "Starlight!" The unicorn pulled away this time. "I love you all very much, but please don't go hitting on me every five minutes, okay? My brother and Cadence should be arriving soon, and I really want to see them. I need to get ready. You hear that, Starlight?"
"Excuse me! I'll help you get ready!"
"You better help Spike while I take a shower."
"Can I leave you alone?"
"Starlight asked apprehensively."
"I can," Twilight exhaled heavily. Did she not trust her? Or maybe she thought she was helpless?
"I'm sorry, Twilight... I trust you, it's just that you have a kind of stupor sometimes, and I'm for your own good..." she said as if she'd read her mind and was already trying to justify herself.
"Starlight!" she said more firmly and looked at her calmly. "Look, I can handle it."
"Good. I'll help Spike, and we'll get ready for the guests. Hehehe..." Starlight lowered her ears in annoyance, looking at her guiltily. It was impossible to take her eyes away from her gaze, as if he was forcibly forcing her to look her in the face. But soon Twilight nodded silently and headed for the shower. "I hurt Twilight... Great... Good start for a protégé... Eh..." Starlight said aloud when she was alone.
* * *
Alicorn had been studying the list of things she needed for the case for hours now.
"So, vials are scarce, chemicals... Well, so much for that. I'd have to get out and go looking for the missing ingredients... I wouldn't touch the food... I wouldn't touch the raw water either. What if I catch a virus?In the meantime..." Twilight neatly stacked all the instructions and cleaned the room on the ground floor especially for experiments. It was getting dark outside. "Strange, who controls the sun and moon? Oh well, I guess it's just the laws of the universe here. No big deal.Soon Twilight was lying on her bed on the first floor.She didn't bother to remove the remains of her doppelganger. Anyway, they were a kind of incentive for her, a reminder of what she had sacrificed to save the world."
* * *
Morning came suddenly, with a thud on the balcony fence.A startled Twilight opened her eyes at once.
"Who's there?!"
The banging intensified. There were sounds of dragonflies being heard behind the wall. Peering through the gap, she spotted a pegasus. Her fear increased manifold. She realised why he was making those noises. The wings. They were partially weathered and decayed, and they made a similar clattering sound when they flapped.
"That's what the Rainbow here was fighting... They look really nasty, and now they're coming at me..." Twilight took a deep breath, fighting the fear of danger and terror, and then emptied her bags, taking only her machete and teleporting outside. "Okay, so we're going to make chemicals out of medicine, so we're going to start by flying around the pharmacies."
As soon as she got out, she was immediately attacked by flyers.
"I'm sorry, I don't have time for you," she immediately flew, breaking away from them, towards the pharmacy, as far as Twilight knew, remembering the layout of the buildings. "The pharmacy isn't here..."
Sparkle realised that this was the place she was missing. It took a fair bit of sweating until she was able to find the first apothecary, the inside of which she had to break into, for everything was boarded up. She also cast a protection spell on herself, lest Faust be bitten by a rodent or infected. There wasn't much useful on the shelves, but there was something useful in the warehouse. There were a few skeletons of ponies in dressing gowns lying on the floor among the dust. They had to be raked to the side to find the medications they needed. Soon Twilight's bags were filled with everything she needed.
"I haven't done pharmaceuticals yet... Well, home now.A teleport and she was in her library."
* * *
It's been a fruitless day.The drugs she brought with her were just cheap generics. She had to spend a couple more days searching the capital city, which was in as bad a state of disrepair as Ponyville. By the way, there was no statue of Discord. Either he doesn't exist or he's dead, although that's ridiculous. He's going to die, oh well... Most likely the first option is closer to the truth.....
"Is it even possible to physically kill Discord? I hope I won't have to think about that anytime soon." The kingdom has fallen. Canterlot's doctors were of little use.Nor were the princesses themselves... It was probably too late by the time the townspeople realised it... Twilight, you're talking to yourself again. There was nothing suitable in the castle, as it turned out. There were broken windows and bits of stone, rubble and sand on the floor. In another hundred years, the castle would probably be gone without proper reconstruction and the support of magic... The latter is abundant in this place, but only I can use it... Yeah. After getting out of the palace ruins, she headed towards the warehouses. There Twilight found everything she needed. Once again, she teleported home. "The chemicals are in place, we can get started."
* * *
The chemistry lab took about another day or so to put together. A day to set it up, and it was up and running in a few hours. The first batches of the drug were appearing. Twilight began testing on infected mice.
"Streakers again... was her nickname for the infected pegasi. She led them away from the library and back to her research and experiments. Something was throwing her off her game, as the cure wasn't working."
"Oh, come on, Twilight! Are you serious? You sacrificed everything for a piece of crap that doesn't work?
"I'm starting to take it out on an innocent corpse. I'm sorry I'm so hard on myself, but I just want to get out of here. I'm selfish. I don't feel comfortable in this place. But know this... It's not your fault" Twilight paced back and forth in the bedroom. "Why is it that I can't understand your instructions and a week of looting all over Equestria hasn't turned into anything useful? Am I not trying hard enough?"
She lay on the bed, covering her face with her hooves.
* * *
Twilight didn't know how long she'd been lying like that. But it was the sound of thunder outside that jolted her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to the side of the window and peered through the gap in the boards, watching the occasional peal of thunder and the bright flashes.
She was also distracted by a sudden scraping sound from the side of the table in the room. She turned her head slowly, and again she was startled, for the fallen Twilight, who had been lying in the same position for years, was now staring at her silently. What did she look at? Two black holes instead of eyes, but they were scrutinising her guest.
"Hello?" Twilight tried to speak to her.
But it didn't work. The melted dead man's skin on her lips had long ago taken away her ability to speak. She simply turned her head in the direction of the stairs, where the other's gaze followed. And when it turned back to her, stared at her again and pointed with a hoof in the direction of the stairs.
"Do I have to go downstairs?" Uncertainly, the alicorn climbed off the bed and looked at her, and something nodded its head quietly in response. "Do you want to help me?" Again it gestured for her to go downstairs. "Let's say you said yes."
She quietly walked towards the stairs, keeping her eyes on Twilight from the side, but she didn't follow her. The hoof stayed there, frozen in the air.
"I'm down! What's next?"
There was no answer, and consequently, she went up to the first floor to ask her copy again, but... she wasn't there anymore. A chill down her spine and a slight shaking in her hind legs made itself felt.
"Where did she go?" The alicorn only turned around to find her sitting on the ground floor near the chemistry lab. "Look, Twilight.Please don't do this.You do realise you're dead, don't you?"
She didn't say anything, just pointed at the medicine and stared at the empty eye sockets again. Apparently she wanted to say or explain something important, but just poked her hoof again.
"The medicine? What's wrong with it? Is it incomplete?"
She nodded silently. "What else do I need to add to make it work? She looked at her in silence, but soon raised her hoof up and pointed to her horn." Magic? She shook her head, so no, she wasn't guessing. The dead woman poked at her horn once more and now pointed her hoof at the mortar and pestle.
"What? The last ingredient is the horn?! The one nodded calmly, confirming the answer." I have to grind the unicorn horn and mix it with this medicine, then will it produce a medicine? Will it become airborne and everyone will finally be saved?
She nodded a little more intensely now. She looks creepy, of course....
* * *
Lightning boomed again, and Twilight woke up. She'd fallen asleep while she was thinking, and she'd had such a strange dream.
"Oh-oh... Twilight..." she was still lying at the table with her eyes closed. "If it's true, and we need the unicorn horn, I'm sorry I have to take it from you" Twilight did indeed soon strip the corpse of its horn, which, with the rest of its skin and skull, ended up in her hooves. "Forgive me, and thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I will put your body to rest, as I did Applejack's. But for now, I'll get to the drug."
"I promise, when I get home, I'll get to work on the chemo."
* * *
Soon the drug was ready. It took some work to crush the unicorn horn into dust.It was like crushing a rock. But finally she tested it on the mice and, oh, my!They started biting each other and soon began to return to their normal state.
"Yes! It worked! Whoo-hoo!It worked! All that was left was to spray it with magic all over Equestria."
"Day 49. I was wrong... The cure wasn't perfect... St Faust, what have I done... I mean I killed them all... The virus infected cells were all cured. I waited a couple of days, but when I came back, they were all lying, they were just lying... Dead!
Twilight spent another long time searching for anyone alive. Constantly using the scan for living creatures, but if she found any, it was only some critters that were a little luckier than the ponies... Gryphons... Minotaurs and even the inhabitants of the sea cities, all dead... Later, she came home with her head down guiltily and walked over to Twilight, resting her hoof on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry... I failed..."
"You have nothing to blame yourself for, Twilight from another world," a familiar voice came from behind her, and as she turned around, she saw... a hologram? No, more like a spirit that distorted smoothly through space.
Twilight wiped the tears from her face, turning to her. "It's not like I saved you..."
"On the contrary. I knew we couldn't survive. But please accept our gratitude."
The silhouettes of Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie began to appear behind them. Everyone who had once lived in Ponyville. They all bowed to the alicorn.
"Twilight. You helped us find peace. For years we've been trapped in these bodies.I can see you've been through a lot. If you need it, take what you need from this world."
"It's been a long time since I've seen my family and friends."
"Open the locker under the desk. Don't worry, pull my corpse aside and look inside. Twilight gently moved the body with magic and opened the locker. It creaked open in her direction. Inside lay a dusty, shared photograph of almost everyone she knew."
"Take it, please.And one more thing. Take the locket in the same drawer, it contains magical power. Remember, if you find yourself in a dire desperate situation, it will help you. Our time has come. But don't forget, your time is still ahead of you. Don't give up."
The spirits began to slowly disappear one by one, walking away. Twilight took a little longer.
" I'm different from you, but I know what you can do in an emergency. I give you my will, Twilight Sparkle of another world," she quietly brought her hoof down on her horn, a faint glow accompanied her touch, and soon she vanished.
"I won't give up... I promise... And thank you..." Twilight whispered quietly, holding the photograph and locket with her hooves. After she pulled away from the daze and came to her senses, the tears started flowing again. She felt sorry for them. There was nothing she could have done. She had come here too late. Something sparkled on the table, and raising her head, she noticed the crown.
"Wait... Not now, I'll deal with what I promised first.And then we'll move on. Twilight soon laid the nearly decomposed remains of her doppelganger on the ground, before cremating them."
"Rest in harmony... Farewell..." Again a large lump formed in her throat, but this time she didn't cry, instead smiling as she watched the sky grow lighter and the sun grow encouragingly warmer. After putting away her belongings and her two new gifts, she entered the next portal leading to a world unknown to her.
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Chapter 9 (Entomophobia) [9.1] [Fear of insects]
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Chapter 9.2 (Entomophobia) [9.2] [Fear of insects]
‘I was slowly regaining consciousness with the whistle of exploding spells, and I opened my eyes, but they were blurry. I'd like to move my hooves, but it feels like they're tied to me. Well... I didn't really want to... Getting into a fight with three alicorns was a bad idea. Or rather, they forced me to...’
A shadow loomed over Twilight, but before she could get a good look at it, it was gone.
‘I think I saw someone... Judging by the fact that the ponies here eat changelings, maybe reverse projection applies, that they eat ponies? And it follows that I'm currently wrapped in lettuce leaves, judging by the smell of herbs. I'm definitely being pickled and apparently eaten...’
There's the shadow again, only now there's more than one. True, someone or something familiar appeared to her in one of them.
‘Uh-oh... The cook is here... Ha-ha...’
"What a cold hoof..." Twilight muttered quietly, not realising she had said it out loud. And the hoof was abruptly yanked away, clearly not expecting her to speak. Through the outline of barely discernible light and colour, something white, alternating with black, could be seen.
"Can you hear me?"
‘It speaks Equestrian. 'So I've been caught or found by the townspeople. Will they kill me? She asked me something. Hear... Yes, I can hear...’
"Yes..." replied Twilight weakly.
An alarmed murmur was heard off to the side of her. There were undoubtedly several creatures in the area. Twilight wanted to turn her head towards them, but she gave up at once, for her skull ached like hell, and her neck didn't listen either.
"Do you know what happened?"
‘The same muffled sound as from the pipe, you can't hear it well, but she said, ‘What happened?’ Man, I wish I knew, and why exactly, it's because I remember, I think.’
"I'm not sure... I was fighting... And then it was like a blur..."
Again the suspicious murmuring to the side.
‘I wanted to make another attempt to lift my head, but I realised I shouldn't right now. It's warm, it's so nice, I'm too lazy to move... Whatever... As long as it's warm and doesn't hurt... What's the point of guessing, I'll ask you straight out.’
"Are you going to eat me?"
The murmuring stopped immediately, apparently the question had stumped them.
"What?"
‘Confusion, purest confusion, a good sign,’ Twilight thought and repeated the question again:
"Mh... are you going to eat me?" she tried to squeeze out more clearly.
"No! You're in the local infirmary now. That's all you need to worry about. You're seriously injured! Please don't try to escape or be aggressive, we just want to help you!" the doctor told her clearly and loudly. Apparently she thought Twilight couldn't hear her very well.
"Please, not so loud, my head is splitting..."
Only now did Twilight realise that the effects of the fight were slowly coming to her and lay an elephantine weight on her body.
‘My head is cracking. It's also burning on my chest... My wings are so numb... Mhhhhh...’
"Give me some water, please..." Twilight pleaded before them. Indeed, her body was running a fever, such injuries were no joke to her.
"Of course! Here you go!"
Moisture, such refreshing and delicious water poured right inside Twilight. After swallowing the entire contents of the mug, she wanted to turn around, but she was pinned down immediately.
"Lie down, we'll bring you something to eat soon. Only rest and wonder will do you any good right now!"
"Yes, you need rest... Don't worry, we'll do our best to get you back on your hooves," the extraneous voice seemed to come from someone older.
Twilight, on the other hand, lay back down calmly and humbly. She felt cared for and safe, and her mind decided on its own that she should shut down. Sleep came over her again.
* * *
"Could she be trusted?"
Outside the chamber, two very important figures were talking, about thirty paces away. The voice of one was rough and commanding.
"I believe so. If she's a traitor and tried to attack the princesses, she'll be a pretty good ally for us. Besides, she's not exactly an ordinary pony. I read her diary, and it's the only reasonable explanation for why she's an alicorn. Her wings and horn are real, but her wings are badly damaged. Already today she regained consciousness, asked for water and fell asleep."
"So it's true... Hmm..." and again a pensive look and heavy thoughts about the distribution of supplies and medicines. "We'll cure her. And if her diary is true, then she is our only salvation and way to live together in this world" the leader finished and drew a line to her order.
"Yes, but it will take a long time to recover, and we don't know for sure if we should trust her seriously."
"It's not a big deal. As long as it takes, it takes. She single-handedly weakened all three alicorns. And that's something that hasn't been done in a thousand years. Otherwise, if she turns out to be an enemy, we'll dispose of her by dropping her off at the nearest village, where she'll be handed over to the princesses. For now, we'll keep a low profile. Make sure everyone moves in groups. To keep the Niling from getting on their table! We must pull together!"
"Of course we will, Queen."
That was the end of the conversation, and everyone who could, began to help the doctors with Twilight.
* * *
‘Again the light glints in front of my face. How badly my hooves are stiff. I'm being watched like an invalid. Apparently, while I slept, they treated my wounds and took me to some body of water, hopefully not to drown me. Two zebras were diligently washing me, submerging me in the water so that only my head was above the surface. It stung... The water was warm, almost hot. I would have washed myself, of course, but I have no complaints now... I can still barely move my hooves smoothly.’
"Where am I?"
‘I finally manage to squeeze out the right question. Because I wanted to have some information at my disposal to feed my brain's efficiency.’
"Don't worry," the quiet and soothing voice made it clear that it wasn't worth the stress. "You're in a village of unanimous zebras and changlings, our queen will take care of you."
'Replied one of the zebras, whose voice was different from all of theirs, she was clearly older. Now, though, I could see a little better to notice the black and white stripes on their bodies, but at the moment I started looking at the sky instead. It was so blue and a bunch of clouds dotted here and there.’
"Do you ponies eat?"
‘Again the same question popped into my head. This time I want clear answers and I want to take it from there.’
"No, really? We're herbivorous and peaceful people. No one eats zebras, but they treat us like third-class ponies. We and the changlings have co-existed for generations,’ her tone sounded distant, and she seemed to have forgotten that she was taking care of her patient."
She tried again to move any of her limbs.
"Ohhhh... It hurts... I've been hurt pretty badly... I wish I could use magic, but I'm not strong enough..."
"We'll wait on that. Magic is poison to you now. You'll only hurt yourself. We'll clean you up and sew up some wounds on your body."
Just a warning. Well, Twilight isn't a doctor, so she trusted a professional.
"A couple of wounds? Stitch them up? Oh-oh... That's what's so aching and stinging..." Twilight shivered slightly, feeling the burning sensation on her chest. Oh yes, Luna had left her such a gift.
"Yes. It's not a pleasant process, of course. But you'll have to be patient, and besides, you're pretty scorched. I honestly don't know how you're still holding on" the zebra said softly. "It is not for nothing that they say that until you pay attention to the wound, it will not hurt."
"Alicorns... They're very good at taking pain..." The mage couldn't find any other explanation, and she didn't really want to go off on an abstruse rant.
"That, too. We didn't know there were more alicorns."
"I'm from another world."
It might have sounded like the ravings of a madman, but she was already in such a state that she could forgive it, and others would find it funny. Positivity is the key to health.
"We're guessing."
Twilight was a little surprised. This was not the reaction she expected to get. Laughter, judgement, misunderstanding, sympathy.
‘Are they just going to believe me like that? Or are they purposely giving in to everything I say?’
"Ohhhh..." Twilight exhaled.
"And one more thing, your things are in the ward, and we've been strictly forbidden to touch them. Except for your diary," one of the zebras muttered the phrase guiltily.
‘Wow... That's an extremely unpleasant statement, that someone was going through my personal belongings...’
"But you did read the diary after all?"
"Not us... the queen and the head of our zebra tribe. And the queen has a word with you, Twilight. But right now, you need to relax and receive our care in healing. Can you hear me? Twa..."
"The heavy head and stuffy nose again, the taste of metal in her mouth."
Twilight shivered again, the hot baths were clearly not doing her any good right now and the zebras were engrossed in conversation because the session was supposed to last ten minutes, not twice as long.
* * *
‘Headache, waking up proved less friendly and caring this time. The fuzzy silhouette of a zebra hoofing at my chest appeared before me. Something on my chest tingled, and there was a nasty sensation of an object being pulled through my skin, and then another prick and the same pull as she tugged lightly on the thread.’
"Ouch..."
‘Zebra was quite surprised that I was awake, what about it... It hurts after all.
"Don't move, it's not good for you right now. I'm the field surgeon here and I'm treating your wounds. You should be patient, these injuries are serious."
‘The voice is like a sack of coal. A stallion this time, but I didn't move but nodded silently, signalling that I understood him, and he continued. I missed my judgement intently for a couple of stitches, truth be told the next few were nasty, aching and at one point painful. There seemed to be occasional blood coming from the stitched wounds, but that was just the residue of what appeared to be antiseptic.’
The heavy hooves of someone else's hooves pressed into Twilight's shoulders and pressed her into the cot.
"Be patient!"
The doctor's commanding tone was barely audible to Twilight, and she obeyed. Alicorn clenched her jaws with all her might so hard that she heard her teeth grinding and forgot how to breathe for a while. Tears trickled treacherously from her clenched eyes. The pain she felt in her wings travelled down her neck.
"Vj..." Twilight exhaled, remembering how to breathe, and sniffled. It hurt, but she had to bear it.
"It's okay, you're holding up decently. Now, please."
'A piece of cloth was held up to my nose and I blew my nose. He was like a diligent adult pony comforting a small foal, he also wiped away my tears with the cloth.’
"How bad was it?" Twilight immediately asked him about her current condition, still trying to catch her breath.
"Three broken ribs in total, seven closed fractures of the phalanges on all wings. Second-degree burns on your abdomen, shoulder, and your legs, and third-degree burns to your chest and solar plexus. And a shallow laceration thirty centimetres from the shoulder all the way down the sternum, diaphragm and internal organs intact. You'll live if you listen to us. No magic for exactly one week! Eat plenty of food and get plenty of sleep. Sleep is the most important medicine for you right now. Do you understand me?"
"Yes... Thank you..." Twilight frowned a little, for her magic was probably being used to maintain her body, so she couldn't accumulate or restore it. Probably for the same reason she hadn't been found and killed yet. That makes sense.
"Well done, you've done well, now get some rest."
Twilight didn't need much coaxing and as soon as her chest was covered with the cloth, a warmth of peace crept over her body. Once again, with the sound of muffled pain and a tired mind, she drifted off to sleep.
* * *
‘This time the awakening was apparently in the middle of the night, my limbs still resting in some kind of stinking cocoon that smelled strongly of grass. My hooves were much more docile this time, and the fabric of my cocoon was more pliable than I'd thought. Lifting my head and resting on my hooves, I tore the cocoon further. My legs were fine, but I could feel the bandages on my front two legs only now. Yeah, mental note: never get caught in a beam of fully charged Harmony Elements. Or maybe not harmony...’
Twilight slowly stood on all four hooves, those trembling treacherously. A step, another step. Her eyes, after a long rest, were not focusing well in the darkness and only faintly distinguished the outlines of the room and the silhouettes of objects. The building was wooden, hexagonal in shape, completely different from the houses in the small town. Instead of doors, there are wooden beads hanging from the door.
They make almost no sound when Twilight crosses over them. Fresh air rushes over her muzzle, the freshness and chill covers her body, giving off a faint frost. It seems someone noticed the standing figure outside the house and quickly headed towards it.
‘Don't even let me recover for a while. I'll definitely stay here for a day to recover and enjoy the beauty of this world.’
"You can't be here."
A zebra, whom Twilight recognised by the elusive features of his appearance, ran up to her and lowered her gaze guiltily.
"I'm sorry for running out of bed, Doctor" the alicorn's voice was much firmer and stronger than before.
And the zebra surgeon's expression changed drastically to another. A concerned and surprised look.
"Oops! My mistake... I thought you were an intruder. But that doesn't change the fact that you broke bed rest."
"I just wanted to catch my breath... My body is aching from lying down all the time. And thanks again for taking care of me. Can I speak to the chief or the governor?"
"Maybe in the morning? I'll be sure to arrange it... The doctor was still trying to be a doctor."
"Sorry, Doctor, business first. Comfort later," Twilight interrupted him and insisted more firmly. "It's for your own safety..." she added for good measure.
And the doctor gave in, nodding conciliatorily.
"I'll be right there."
The doctor immediately ran downstairs, and Twilight stayed where she was, enjoying the silence. Soon three figures were already walking up to her. One unnaturally tall and two zebras of equal height.
"Queen, this is Twilight, Twilight...."
"Chrysalis and Zecora?" Twilight interrupted him.
A nasty habit she had, though. But now she looked at the former incredulously, the latter she was glad of in her heart, but the tall changeling was not so friendly to her.
"Yes, have we met before?" Zecora said. And strangely, without a poem.
"No. But in my world, it's very different."
Chrysalis also fixed her with an incredulous look.
"I was told you tried to threaten the doctor. That we might be in danger" the queen's voice was as serious and majestic as usual.
"Oh... It's not a threat, it's a friendly warning. You saved me from starvation or hypothermia in the forest at night. Now it's my turn to bail you out. Let me put it simply: as soon as my magic level fills up to at least twice the normal pony level, I will be found again."
"Oh... That's a serious problem. But why did you fight the princesses?"
"They thought I was the queen of this place, and they didn't even try to listen to me. When they saw that my level of magic exceeded theirs, they all rushed at me in unison and attacked almost immediately. I had to defend myself, and when Cadence put up a barrier, they tried to destroy me. But it didn't work... And they ended up using their Elements to kill me."
"No way. No one survives the Elements!" the queen spoke a little louder.
"Perhaps a normal creature wouldn't survive. But firstly, I am an alicorn. Secondly, I too am a carrier of the Element of Harmony. And thirdly, I have to find it every time I go to the next world. Here's the problem: they eat you changelings, but I'm supposed to know how that happened?"
"It... It all came from Luna, who was the first to taste changeling meat when they tried to attack her. But as time went on, she became unhinged and the others followed suit."
"So that's it..." Twilight thought and sighed. "They don't stock any other provisions. I see here you have fruits and vegetables and herbs. They don't have that. I managed to meet a vegetarian in town before the mess started. She gave me a brownie. It was unsweetened and tasted nasty, like branches and sand. Chrysalis, I know and understand where you're going with this. But I want to know, what do you want to get out of this?" Twilight was perceptive, she was waiting for answers.
"I want my people not to be feared, and their eating to be severely punished. And if the princesses don't back down, help overthrow them."
"I hear you, Queen, I will help you. But first, I need to recover and I need your help. I can't stop them alone if I'm wounded. I also need your hive materials to block the magic. You need to make me an artefact to hide my sorcery. For your own protection. After that, I'll try to convince the villagers that sugar and fruit are better than meat."
"And what if they don't listen to you?"
"They will. They have no choice. And if things don't go according to plan, we'll publicly execute their princesses. And put the others in charge" Twilight felt her head spinning and sat down on her croup.
"Twilight! I told you not to get out of bed!" The doctor stood beside Twilight, holding her so she wouldn't fall over.
"I'm fine, I just need to wait until I can use my magic. I think I'll need another three days to recover. But I'd like to have the artefact ready in the morning."
"You heard her. Send two changelings to the hive for material, I need the artefact done as soon as possible. Make a report and prepare, provisions and just in case, weapons! Chrysalis, Zecora and Twilight will be in charge, so let everyone know."
"How many days has it been since you found me?" Twilight couldn't really hear what they were saying, because she was barely conscious.
"Four, if you count this night as a new day" the doctor said as he felt her body grow heavier. He held her tighter, realising where this was going to lead.
"Great..." Twilight let out the last of it and just fell asleep on the doctor's shoulder.
* * *
"Fourth day and she's already on her hooves. That's amazing" Zecora said.
"I hope everything goes smoothly, and we can finally live as we used to, in harmony instead of under the oppression of power and madness."
‘Near lunchtime, I was brought a necklace with black stones secured by tight rods. Now that's a lot of beads. It looks like four kilos, at least. My neck would fall off wearing it for three days,’ Twilight hung it around her neck, but it weighed much less. It also blocks magic completely. She rummaged in her bag and put on an azure medallion with a purple star. And miraculously, it works. "I can use magic and be invisible by magical sensors. I'll be carrying about a kilo in total, it'll make my neck hurt a lot."
"Great. It's all working."
"Lunch, Twilight. You need a good meal!" the doctor brought a tray of assorted food into the room. There were fruit salads doused in sugar syrups. Honestly, my stomach rumbled greedily and demandingly. Such a delicious smell, and also a lot of juice whose aroma filled the whole room, and my mouth demandingly flooded with saliva that struggled not to burst out. - ‘Bon appetit!
‘Soon both zebras left the room, leaving me alone with my lunch. I scooped up the first salad with my spoon and brought it to my mouth. Delicious! Oh Faust! It's so delicious! It's the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my life! Pineapple juice...’ "Twilight felt tears of pleasure flowing down her cheeks, and she forced herself to stop herself from moaning at the pleasure bombs in her head. After the meal, she sat down to her diary again."
***
‘Day 54. I'm sorry I couldn't post before this. I had to work up quite a sweat with three alicorns. The local versions of Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. I'm not mad at you, and I'm not going to think anything bad of you. But understand me, if I can't resolve this peacefully, I'll have to execute them. A sacrifice for peace, so you understand. I sincerely hope your opinion of me doesn't change for the worse after this.
Three days passed. I had to adjust the assembled army. And from the hive material, they made boleadoras. Three ropes, three stones, and the magician was defeated. A night of preparation, and we set off towards the nearest village. I'll act as bait. Chrysalis had taken the form of one of the zebras, and now it seemed that there were only zebras in the army. I was given a cloak over my body in a black and white palette. I myself had more or less managed to repair myself. The fractures on my body I regenerated, as did my wings. It was amazing, Rainbow had told me that pegasi could heal such fractures for months without a hundred per cent chance. But they don't have alicorn magic. But the phantom pain is still occurring and will probably stay with me for a long time. The princesses didn't get off that easy after me, though, so we're about evenly matched. In the supply carts were stashed guns covered with thick cloth. On top of that lay the supplies. When we got close to the village, I stepped forward with Zecora and Chrysalis. I, wrapped in bandages and a cloak, looked almost indistinguishable from the zebras here.’
"Ponies of this town. We come to you in peace and harmony! Please allow us to offer you provisions as a token of goodwill!" Chrysalis said loudly and clearly. Soon a couple of ponies came out to us, while the rest of us were sitting in our homes not knowing what was going on.
"Hello, I'm the mayor of this town... You do realise that with so many zebras..." her accent was not the most friendly and it was clear that zebras were not considered ponies here, "your arrival could be seen as an act of aggression? It doesn't matter what your purpose in coming here is!"
"We understand. So we'd like to discuss all aspects of this diplomatically. Firstly, we are against you eating other sentient species."
"So still an act of aggression. Attention! The zebras are attacking us!" the mayor chanted at once, without even bothering to listen to them.
"Okay, plan B" Twilight pulled off her necklace and caught the mayor and her subordinate with her telekinesis. She stepped closer and pulled off her cloak. "Remember me? Remember, of course you do! When everyone was chanting and cheering for your ruler" ‘Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!’ - Twilight barely restrained herself from doing something irreparable and let them go, then shouted loudly: "Scratch! It's Twilight! Come here!"
Silence fell in the town, and about thirty seconds later, a limping pony appeared from around the corner.
"Twilight! You're alive!" Unlike Scratch's smile, there was no joy on Twilight's face as she stepped closer to her, holding both hostages with her telekinesis.
"What's wrong with you?" Twilight noticed that one of her legs was in a cast, her mane was scorched in places and there were a couple of bruises on her body. Her eyes immediately flashed with a bad light, and she glared at the two captured. "What have you done to her?" The voice became colder and rougher, not at all typical of a lavender pony.
"We didn't do anything! Honestly! It was the Guards! They were ordered to find everyone involved in helping you!"
"And you just handed her over like that?!"
Bang, and they were both on their backs.
"Twilight! Oh, please! I did it myself! If I hadn't, they would have maimed more people!" Scratch pleaded and touched her back. She just took three full breaths and exhaled.
"They're on their way... Chrysalis! Diplomacy is cancelled. Prepare yourselves! Don't hurt anyone unless they fight back, and free any changelings still alive. Scratch. I'll fix you, but you better hide tight now."
"They'll kill you, Twilight!"
"I'll be fine, they took me by surprise last time, I'm ready now, and afterwards I'll treat you to the most delicious food in the world" Twilight gently stroked her head and threw off her cloak, spreading her wings. The feathers literally glistened from the special wax, and the wings themselves were ready to fly as never before.
She saw three figures flying towards her. The army scattered into the city. Chrysalis and Twilight headed for the three alicorns.
"You survived after all! And I told you to make sure!" Luna began to judge her sister Celestia.
"Let's fix it, then!"
"For the last time I will try to make a deal with you: let the changelings go, or you will not escape your demise. Intelligent species should not eat other intelligent species! Otherwise, I'll talk differently."
"Or else what? If you survived, be proud of it! You won't get any favours this time! Sisters!"
"Strike!" and a wave of red-blue magic shielded them. Chrysalis absorbed it calmly.
"What? Changeling!"
"Yes, Celestia, this is Queen Chrysalis herself. I have come to end your tyranny once and for all!"
"Let's see who's going to finish off who else!" Cadence didn't put up the dome this time, there was no point. She was now fully expending her energy to protect her sisters, and they were no longer shy to use their Elements of Harmony right away.
Here, the Elements probably favoured strength over the ponies' actual friendly qualities. Twilight was the first to be hit, encasing herself in her shield again, but this time Luna didn't pull away. She couldn't, her hoof bogged down in Twilight's shield, and Chrysalis took advantage of this by lashing that one with a beam of green magic. However, the damage didn't follow due to the shield of the folded roof of the house. The beam bifurcated and flew off to the side. Luna's second hoof pierced Twilight's shield and she teleported away, Celestia's attack immediately appearing to replace the shield.
‘Luna is still flying just as fast. Here, Celestia's movements seem to be stilted. Her speed was slower. But because of Cadence, there's no way I'll get near her. Chrysalis, right!’
"Chrysalis! Cadence is on you, I'll take these ones."
"Got it!"
The Queen immediately went on the offensive against the sisters' defender, and Twilight had no choice but to attack Luna and Celestia. A shot of magic - but the sun princess managed to parry it, Luna backed up Celestia. The Elements were hard to pull off. The humming again, but this time Twilight didn't allow the shot to be fired. She deflected it to the side, feeling a bad pressure in her head. Blood trickled lightly from her nose. Licking the bruises away with her tongue, she could taste her own blood again.
She teleported behind Celestia's back, but she'd anticipated the manoeuvre and defended herself with her barrier. Admittedly, it wasn't as solid a defence as Cadence's.
‘These are your weaknesses, princesses! You are strong in one thing! That's what will ruin you!’
Twilight's hoof strike was enough for the shield to crack, but she paid for it by getting hit in the chest by Luna. Pain shot through her entire body, the elastic bandages around her ribcage soaked with blood.
‘Badly behaved... The wounds opened up. I must have patched myself up badly, but they're breathing hard too. Is this a game of exhaustion?’
"Surrender and die!" Luna shouted loudly, trying to finish Twilight off with another hoof strike, but it didn't come.
The lunge landed on Twilight's front leg, blocking the blow. She felt the blood rush from the new wound. The blade lodged in Twilight's limb. She deliberately ducked under the attack and struck Luna squarely in the forehead. Bang - and she flies back a few metres. Celestia fires, but Twilight dampens the blow and overpowers Celestia's beam of magic, sending her into a temporary knockout. The elements hummed, releasing pulses. Twilight forcefully snatched them from the rulers and directed them towards herself.
Courage. Stubbornness. Speed. Strength.
With all her legs she headed for Cadence, for Chrysalis was not having much luck breaking through her.
"Chrysalis! Move aside!"
Twilight flew towards Cadence at breakneck speed. Summoning her shield in the shape of a four-pointed harpoon, she flew into the pink alicorn's shield. The shield began to hum from the collision. Cadence used her Elements to strengthen it, and Twilight used the power of the stolen elements all four at once. Cadence's shield exploded. She didn't have time to dodge the shards and was hit in the stomach by Twilight's barrier. She stopped, catching her in a field of telekinesis and ripped out her Elements. Those hummed and swirled around Twilight. Twilight began to overflow with endless amounts of magic and her eyes glowed white. The Force Elements recognised her as their new mistress and deemed her worthy.
‘Wow. Courage. Stubbornness. Speed. Strength. Defence. Fear.’
She reached down, holding all three alicorns within her magical field. Cadence was unconscious, unlike Luna and Celestia, but they were helpless now.
"Luna, Celestia, and Cadence!" Twilight began. "Your tyranny has come to an end! You have held your people in fear for a thousand years! You have sunk to the point where power and fear are all you need to rule. You three are also charged with the grave crime of cannibalism! You have eaten a sentient species! That is a grave sin! And so, with the help of these Elements... I hereby deprive you of the ability to use magic! FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES!"
Twilight was able to take the magic away from them forcibly by pointing a white light at them. A quiet hum came over them, and soon the brightness of their pupils went from glossy to matte.
"Ponies! of this village and all of Equestria! Your rulers have been overthrown. And at once the law goes into effect: eating any sentient species is strictly and strictly forbidden! Prosecuted by law! And punishable by death!"
The voice, as from Intercom, fell silent and the light from her eyes faded. All the alicorns lay on the grass and felt very weak. They were immediately taken into custody by the zebras. Twilight took the strain on her head hard, and blood rushed from her nose with renewed vigour. Her head whistled, and once again she was caught in a fall, only now by Chrysalis and Scratch.
"Twilight! Twilight!"
"It's okay, I just feel really bad."
"You're bleeding!" Scratch shook panic-stricken, trying to wipe the bloody marks off her muzzle.
"It's okay. It's all right... Keeping all six Elements in check is hard..." Twilight smiled, tilting her head back to stop the nosebleed, but instead started coughing up blood.
* * *
Three more days passed.
‘I healed up, and the ponies here let the changelings go free. All those who had been killed and were already on the stalls were put to the fire and buried with honours. The ponies liked the new provisions very much. They began to realise that they liked it much better than the fibrous meat of the changelings, but they had to work harder for quality products. And so began a trade relationship between zebras, changelings and ponies. Chrysalis, Zecora and a couple of other ponies chosen by vote were now in charge.’
"What's up, Scratch? Tasty?" Twilight grinned as she sat at the table and watched as she munched on the fruit salad, occasionally washing it down with apple juice.
"Wow! Are you sure it's not meat?" Scratch gorged herself with large spoonfuls, seemingly forgetting to even chew. Such foods were new to her, and she hadn't yet fully believed that food could be so blissful. Twilight herself didn't know how blissful.
"Exactly! That's it! Eat as much as you can, there's plenty of food in the forest. But first you have to work hard to get them, they grow in the forest on trees, bushes. I think the zebras will help you. And I hope that soon other ponies everywhere will realise what needs to be done and join the new culture, where everyone will live a much better life. And more importantly, in harmony."
"Twilight, thank you!" Twilight smiled as she chewed her salad and looked at the lavender pony. She couldn't have dreamed of what was happening right now. The smile was so genuine and happy. Gentle and kind.
"Eat, come on" Twilight laughed sweetly, patting the one on the head in a motherly way.
"Mh! Twilight, what are you going to do now?" Scratch mumbled through a tightly stuffed mouth.
"Well, I found my crown yesterday and I could have gone to another world by now, but..." Twilight didn't have time to continue before she was interrupted.
"Twilight, will you go?" Scratch lowered her ears and looked at her disappointedly. She clearly didn't want to say goodbye to her and let her go. No, not right now. She didn't want to lose her new mate.
"Forgive me, this is not my world. I'm an alien to you. And it will be hard for me to say goodbye to you too, but I have family and friends waiting for me at home" she looked at the picture from the last world and smiled quietly. At least this way, she could look at it and remember those she loved.
"Twilight, I'm your friend too, aren't I?" Her smile disappeared somewhere, and her eyes glistened quietly with moisture.
"Of course you are, Scratch! You're my friend! Just like everyone else who's helped me. You're all my friends" Twilight quietly hugged the ponygirl from behind and wrapped her wings around her. "It's just that I haven't seen my family in two months. And I miss them so much..."
Scratch felt something wet fall onto her fur. Sniffling, Twilight wanted to pull away, but Scratch put her own hooves on hers.
"They are waiting for you, Twilight. Know that we will be waiting for you, too. You will always be a welcome pony to us. Don't forget about us, too."
Twilight hugged her tighter.
"I know, Scratch, I know. I will definitely, when I get out, I'll do my best to meet you again, all of you! I will!" Twilight smiled, dropping more and more tears. Indeed, she had seen so many already, and would like to see them again someday.
"I hope so too. For now, you need rest and a hot bath! And some good food and healing!"
"You're right" Twilight laughed heartily, still pulling away and drinking her juice. Apple this time. "It tastes great."
* * *
Much had changed in the world since then. The selection on the market stalls had been replaced by a fruity variety, and chefs were learning to make delicious salads, desserts, and drinks to please every pony. Culture took off, introducing new routines. However, it couldn't be without a couple of incidents. A couple of uprisings that were put down immediately, almost without loss of life, there were a few cases of cannibalism, but public executions - and that was stopped at the root.
What about the rulers. They're imprisoned for a hundred years. True, they were allowed to go out on holidays and were always fed good food, but they were also given correctional labour for harvesting crops or something similar. Celestia was instantly imbued with these changes and would later berate herself for not trying it right away. Cadence and Luna soon followed Celestia's lead as well. Chrysalis promised Twilight that she would let them go in a year or so, looking at their behaviour.
Twilight, in the meantime, was just basking in a hot bath getting her back and wings massaged by experienced zebra masseurs, while sipping cold fruit juice.
Author's Note
Thank you :3
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Chapter 10 (Epidiocyphobia) [10.1] [Fear of being persecuted].
"Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle! You brought peace and harmony to our land! We will never forget you! May your will still be as strong as ever, and may you get everything you strive for."
Zecora, along with the other inhabitants of this world, accompanied Twilight, who was already standing at the portal. She had already helped them and, unfortunately, hurt them - the latter of which she had seen fit to keep silent in her diary. Perhaps someday she would tell them about it.
‘I shook my head, chasing away all bad thoughts. ‘All that is not done is for the best.’
"I'll definitely be back again, my friends!" Twilight waved her hoof goodbye to them and slowly turned towards the portal, a mute fear running through her young body.
"Why grey..." was the only thing she could manage to mutter.
‘Grey is such an unpleasant colour... Wrong and uncharacteristic for a portal. It's delicious food, it's warm, you're loved and respected... And every time I turn my back on it. For what? I might not come back... They don't need to know that...’
Gathering her thoughts, gathering her willpower, Twilight walked through the ripples and the portal to the other world disappeared.
‘You mean to ask why no one hugged me before saying goodbye? I asked for it myself... No crying, no begging to stay, no hugs... I can't take it. I'm the princess of friendship. And I leave my friends behind every time. My companions are artefacts in my bags from other worlds. Each carries a piece of my friends from other worlds.’
There was a bright flash at the end of the tunnel and a faint pop that the transition left behind. Twilight landed on all four hooves. Her eyes were unable to assess the situation from the bright reflection of the snow, lifting her gaze to the sky, Twilight noticed a second foreign detail: the clouds were black in colour, like those spiky clouds during Discord's chaos antics. Everywhere in the distance, some closer, were strange structures, like a rhinoceros horn reaching far into the sky. A mystery that might be worth solving.
"A futuristic world? Catastrophe?! Again! Aggh!" Twilight felt a burning sensation in her throat as she took her first breath of the air, and regretted it. It felt very unpleasant. She coughed, trying greedily to inhale deeper.
‘Damn it, the damn air! Don't panic! Breathe slowly... It's not working! It's hard!’
Overcoming the lack of clean air, the coughing and the panic attack, she clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.
"The barrier! Oh, the air! My sweet air! Don't leave me again... It's so disgusting to suffocate and not be able to breathe."
After coughing a bit, she scooped up some snow with her hoof and rubbed it on her face to refresh herself.
"Ugh... Ouch! It burns! What the...?! Healing!" Twilight's face was slightly swollen, but regeneration was successful, quickly relieving the symptoms. "What can I do to help this place if I can't breathe? And the snow is burning! Ouch!"
She lifted her hoof, feeling the burning sensation under her fur, and immediately flew off to avoid further harming her body. The skin under her fur and the pads on the end of her hooves, where they came into contact with the snow, were slightly blackened. This alarmed Twilight to no end.
"Healing!"
‘Disgusting... You can't stand, you can't breathe, there's no food here! There's no water to make from this snow! And it's freezing cold outside!’
Wrapping herself in a warm barrier, she climbed higher. In the sudden gusts of wind, she heard the clatter of water droplets against her own barrier.
"Now, we didn't even need rain yet... Wait... What rain?! The temperature is below freezing!"
Heavy drops began to hit the barrier and slowly, reluctantly rolled down it. Twilight squinted at the substance and noticed that the magic consumption of the combined air filter and heating shield had increased dramatically.
"We've got to get out of here!" Twilight turned sharply sideways away from the passing cloud, stopping when the downpour stopped pounding her barrier. "I don't know what that liquid is, but it's increased my magic consumption by an order of magnitude... Ohhhh... Okay, plan... I need a plan of action... I need to take care of myself first, and then figure out how to help this place... One: I need to reduce the amount of magic energy I use. Two: We need to find a safe place to hide. Three: it is advisable to find a way to breathe without the purification spell as soon as possible, otherwise my strength will eventually run out. Fourth: it's a good idea to get on my hooves... I need impenetrable shoes that won't be corroded by these acids. Fifth: figure out how to save this world" Twilight's mind was popping up dots and another and quite depressing one appeared.
‘Sixth. Don't die,’ she sighed heavily and exhaled, fighting the incipient panic attack that had started to set in and gathering her mind together. - Okay, calmly, let's start with a simple one: legs. I need to find something to make hooves out of.’
The first thing that caught her eye were the giant structures on the horizon. Twilight didn't understand the meaning or use of these buildings, but their material wasn't corroded or deformed by acid. It took about an hour to fly to these very pillars. At first it seemed that these structures were much closer, now quite distant.
‘Up close, nothing much is noticeable, aside from the fact that this wall... is completely smooth and has no imperfections, and it's also a white matte colour. So what is it?’ - Twilight tapped her hoof on the material, trying to find out by superficial means what kind it was.
"Metal... From the sound of it, this whole structure is either one solid monolith or it has very thick walls" Twilight tried to scrape the piece off, or at least scratch it with magic, but it didn't work. She pulled her machete out of her bag with her telekinesis and pressed it directly on the white surface, but it didn't even leave a scratch, just a black line. Like pencil on paper. "Yeah. Hardness above an eight on the Huvs-Mohs Hardness Scale. Problematic... I don't have anything harder than a machete... Scan!" Twilight tried to find small fragments of the same material, because she couldn't transform the massive monolith.
"Attention! Three approaching objects detected!" As if in her head, the intercom beeped.
"Here we go..." the alicorn sighed. "Not even alive... Dead objects again..." Twilight turned around, seeing the three dots coming towards her. "Okay, Twilight, diplomacy first, then run or fight. Diplomacy, so... Ugh, calm down."
She rubbed her temples with her hooves, trying to come to her senses. Soon the objects slowed down, flying closer.
"Attention! Object detected!"
‘It was three ponies, but of a very unusual appearance. All three were pegasi the same colour as the wall behind me. One flew closer and shone some kind of green light through me. Still, I didn't feel a thing.’
"Hello?" Twilight hesitantly spoke, trying to make first contact.
"Attention!" continued the pony in a robotic voice. "Android-12079, scout class reporting! Organic life detected."
‘A multitude of elements and segments covered their bodies. Eyes like faceted eyes in insects, wings like metal prostheses in pegasi that had lost them during their injuries. And all, as one, were exactly the same.’
"Orders to ‘capture,’ obeyed!"
Twilight was brought out of her musings by this phrase when he tried to catch her with his hooves, but bumped into the barrier.
"Attention! Magical shield, recalculating! Remove the barrier!" The android stood up, hovering slightly.
"Hey! You don't want to do that! I will take this as an act of aggression! And I will defend myself!"
' The android turned towards me, eyes flashing red.
"Warning! Subject is aggressive! Detain with antimagic trap!"
"Yeah, who'd have thought diplomacy couldn't solve anything?"
Teleporting away from the net attack, Twilight tore away from them in the other direction.
‘If I calculate it right, at the speed they were flying towards me, at that speed they won't catch up to me.’
Indeed, it was obvious that the pegasobots were a bit ‘dumb’. They turned towards Twilight, there was a sudden flash of light behind them, and then they were flying very fast.
"What the tartar?! You can't be travelling that fast!"
The two androids levelled up on Twilight's sides. Their hind hooves turned into rocket nozzles, their wings folded at an unnatural angle, like analogue aeroplanes.
"That's speed..." Sweat dripped from Twilight's forehead and she stopped abruptly as all three flew past and continued onwards. "Would they... Just fly away?"
Suddenly the trails of smoke behind their nozzles went sideways in an arcing trajectory.
"Well... They make calculations when I do something unpredictable. They learn from my example. That doesn't sound like a good idea, but what if we try to destroy them?"
All three androids rushed towards her, their wings now had wingtips for more manoeuvrability. Twilight held her breath, removing the barrier. The same ones put up a net to already catch the alicorn, but Twilight, letting them get closer, abruptly created a new barrier in front of them. They smashed into Twilight's barrier with a rumble and electrical distortion, sprinkling a pile of metal downwards.
"Great, the androids, although dangerous, their artificial intelligence left a lot to be desired. At least we got lucky with that."
Landing the remains of one droid, she stood on the wreckage of the second, making sure not to damage her hooves with the acid snow. With telekinesis, she tried to pick one of them apart, but had to use the rougher method.
"Okay. Take out all the stuffing, and the hooves are ready!" Twilight twirled her hoof to look at her new accessory. Now her limbs were safe from contact with the snow. "One point accomplished. I can let my wings rest. There's little point in making full-body protection out of armour plates, I think, it's likely to be hard to fly... No... Another option. The air would be great to clean, but that would require a mask... or some sort of gas mask."
Twilight approached the second droid.
"‘I hope you won't be too mad if I gut your insides..." Twilight ripped the android's head off and began to remove the stuffing, "even though he's a robot, it still feels disgusting..."
‘I'm going to put someone's skull on my head, I wonder how that can be morally judged...’
Finishing the job, she tucked the plates slightly on the inside and widened the area under her head slightly. Trying it on, the princess made a couple more adjustments to the plates until everything was at the peak of satisfaction.
"I'll have to put two filters in..." she made round holes on either side of her mouth and joined them together at the lip area with solder. "Right, I'll get one from you. Ooh! Round tube-shaped iron, that'll do. I don't know what kind of material it is, but it suits me very well."
Gathering a pair of cylinders about four centimetres thick, she carefully folded in several layers of fluffed paper from the blank pages of her diary. Closed this stuffing with a lid with holes in it.
"So... let's test it out," Twilight tried the assembly on her head.
‘So, breathing is pretty tight, but tolerable, just takes some getting used to. The air is usable. There is a problem - two filters are not enough, there is an option to clean with magic, the result works. Well, problem two: I can't talk because I didn't have that option, and if I have to start a conversation with someone... I'll have to take it off every time to say something to someone. That'll do for now. Problem three: I can barely hear anything. I could make holes for my ears, but then my ears might get clogged with something I don't need, although that's not critical either. The main thing is that I can breathe in this place and reduce the amount of energy I use. Problem four: I can't see anything through this plastic...’
At this point, the eyes, which were purple plastic, were completely useless without electricity. Twilight had to make them much thinner and fuse them into one mass. Now the visibility was about eighty per cent, but she had to sacrifice the strength of the material, making it brittle.
I'll be sure to deal with this in a less artisanal setting,’ Twilight took off her newfound helmet, looking over her work. - Okay. We've reduced the magic consumption by a factor of three. I've got nothing for the rain, now we need a place to sleep. It's getting evening already...’ she looked up to assess the state of the sky. It's bound to be quite cold here at night.
‘I hate to leave my trophies behind, but I need shelter.’
Twilight looked around again, but revealed nothing suitable... Just a wasteland with white barchans of snow. And tall poles.
"A barchan? Snowdrifts that high don't come naturally..."
Twilight moved towards the tall pile of snow and realised she was right. A hollow capsule opened up to her view, and she teleported inside without thinking long.
"Luck! Kha-Kha! Air! - she travelled outside again." I'll try to cut a hole in the capsule for ventilation... And the ventilation will have to be made with a filter... No... I don't have that much paper... Okay... I'll just make a hole in the side and sleep in my helmet.
Once inside, she curled up into a crouch, throwing her cloak over herself, the bags being an extra source of warmth for her sides.
"Good night, Twilight" she wished herself and closed her eyes. The emotions and events of the day had exhausted the poor girl and mercilessly plunged her into a deep sleep. Truly, she only dreamed of peace...
* * *
Twilight had had a wonderful day, and she was getting ready for bed. Starlight and Spike were still preparing themselves, they were like two guards watching Twilight's condition and didn't want to leave her all alone. The day seemed to have gone well and should have left positive emotions, but here Twilight saw otherwise as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She touched her chin with her hooves and stared into her own frantic gaze, then her mind slowly staggered, going over every possible event. Her sense of self swam somewhere, as did the image in her eyes.
"A-ha-ha-ah!" came the hysterical laughter in the bedroom, which echoed louder and louder outside the room. "They're afraid of me... Ah ha ha! They're all afraid of me... Cadence was looking at me with terror even then. Ah-ha-ha! I've waited so long, learnt so much, overcome pain, shame, humiliation, for them to be afraid of me?! A-ha-ha-ah!" tears streamed down her face, leaving wet paths of mussed fur.
The laughter grew shriller and longer, but the laughter changed abruptly to a hoofbeat against the mirror, and the glass shattered with a clatter and clang. Shards splintered under the hanging cloth, and there were two hoof indentations in the wall.
"I am no longer Twilight... Saviour, warrior, warrior, terror, murderer, anyone... but not Twilight... I can't be her, I have no friends... They are all behind me... Pain and a shattered mind, my last companions in life."
She looked at her trembling hooves, slowly realising that blood was pouring out of them. They weren't healing as they usually did. Twilight had completely forgotten that it was because of the restrictive measures of her magic and not from her own unwillingness to repair them, taking it as a sign. She settled back on her croup and let out a childish cry that turned into a tantrum. Her hoof picked up the broken mirror itself, immediately bringing it to her throat with the sharp end. One swipe along the right side of her throat at her carotid artery and she would not be saved in time. Her hooves trembled, she wanted to end this, but something was still keeping her on the shutters of the remnants of her mangled mind, though she couldn't figure out what.
"Twilight!" The unicorn's loud voice pulled her away from the matter, Starlight pulled the shard from her hooves, leaving a line of cuts. "What are you doing?!"
She ran closer to her to look into her eyes and finally saw the state she was in. The tears that flowed so treacherously from the corners of her eyes, the blood from her hooves that wouldn't stop flowing, leaving a noticeable puddle on the floor, and the emptiness in her eyes. It even hurt to look into them, and now her eyes read a state bordering on the remnants of self-consciousness and utter madness. Starlight missed the point of her behaviour and her dangerous mood.
"They're all afraid of me..." Twilight was breathing heavily, wanting to press her hooves to her face, but Starlight stopped her, keeping her from rashly rash actions. She stopped her from smearing the glass on her hooves on her own face.
"Firstly, they're not used to your changes. Secondly, no one is going to feel better about your tantrums and your attempts to destroy yourself. Thirdly, you're not used to this change, and fourthly... I shouldn't have left you alone, I don't know what was going on in there, but I do know it wasn't your fault. You just need to socialise with someone more often" she placed her hooves on her injured hooves and gently treated the wounds with magic. "Let's get your hooves healed before Spike sees the state you're in."
"I'm a monster..." Twilight only whispered in a voice that was out of character for her.
She tried to calm down before Spike arrived, looking closely at her healing wounds.
"The fact that you're holding up like a cube of steel right now is great, but sometimes you have to be a little more pliable, like plasticine. Understand, you've been holding yourself back for centuries. Afraid of death, afraid of not getting out of the endless loop, through blood and time. Twilight, if anyone had been in your shoes, he or she would have failed."
Starlight began picking up the shards of mirror from the floor, really, there was nothing she could do about the hole in the wall right now. Taking an old handkerchief from the shelf, she began to wipe the tears from Twilight's face. The sparkle in her eyes was slowly returning with the realisation of what she had almost done, and Starlight berated herself for leaving her alone.
"You're home, Twilight. You need to realise that you're safe and protected" the apprentice continued, running a hoof over her head. "Tell me, what can I do to make you feel better? I'll try to arrange it."
"I can't sleep... I want to dream... Beautiful and good dreams... Starlight, just sleep like a little ordinary pony! I don't want to rot in my calculations forever. I want to be happy, just to finally have happiness and friends."
Twilight abruptly changed the subject, forgetting about today. And about what she just wanted to do to herself. If she did close her eyes, it was just to either pass the time or doze off, as if putting herself into an economical energy consumption mode, but she couldn't sleep. If she was induced to sleep by drugs or herbs, she soon woke up, developing an immunity to spells and drugs.
"Twi..." Starlight hugged the lavender pony from behind, cradling her affectionately. "I understand your fears and those of others, but remember, I'm not afraid of you, Spike isn't afraid of you. The rest of us are just afraid to come over right now and make things worse. That's what everyone's afraid of. Isn't that a sign of love and friendship, Twilight?"
Soon the tension in Twilight's back eased and she relaxed a little, letting herself be hugged tighter, her wings soon relaxing as well. Blinking a few times, warding off extraneous thoughts, she looked up, up at the ceiling.
"I... I'm really scared..." her voice shook slightly, but was calmer. "It's funny, isn't it? But it's the fears that determine whether you're sane or not..." Twilight breathed more evenly, and self-consciousness was slowly being restored, the door ajar, the evidence of the incident having been successfully destroyed.
"Are you all right?" Spike's quiet, childish voice brought them out of their static. She hastily rubbed her eyes and turned her head to the dragonkin, smiling softly.
"Yes, Spike, I'm just not used to the fragility of the objects in the room yet and I accidentally crushed the mirror."
Ta smiled a little wider, while Spike stepped closer, scrutinising the situation. He watched Starlight's face as she stroked Twilight's head, then turned his gaze to the wall, where there were a couple of healthy dents.
"Twilight, you can always share with your assistant the problems that are bothering you... You don't have to try to pretend to feel good when you actually feel bad. And if you don't want to tell us what's making you so upset, you can always just hug someone and cry."
Twilight hugged her dear friend tightly, dropping tears that were embarrassing to her. She berated herself for what she had almost done.
"S... Thank you... You..."
* * *
Waking up wasn't very comfortable this time. Because of her helmet, Twilight couldn't hear her surroundings very well and only woke up when the capsule was opened with a smooth cut right in the middle and lifted up sharply. She would have pinned her ears back in fear if she could have. Around her hovered about thirty androids in the air, with one droid standing out among them.
"Report: organic object found!" reported one of them, flying up to the purple coloured special droid. The special droid replied in a female voice, slightly different from Twilight's.
"Confirming a positive result."
' The droid landed towards me and I squinted even more through my fogged eyepieces, however I would have to remove my helmet to try and talk and see the picture more clearly. After blinking a couple of times, I noticed that there was a droid standing in front of me that looked very much like me. This is very strange...’
"Attention, I am the oldest android of the TWI-113 commander class. Organic subject, identify yourself."
The alicorn's surprise was unrivalled.
"Twilight Sparkle..." the alicorn said quietly. The 113th began to study her.
‘She differs from the others greatly. The purple hue of the armour, the time warped plate elements in places. And her eyes were not faceted like the others, but monolithic screens of green, and she seems to blink? Why? She's a robot! Though, the manner and tone of voice is different too, she's apparently an older model type.’
"Scanning the database bank!" she uttered, and her eyes changed to a diagram of a cardiogram, followed by the hissing of old TVs when there are no TV programmes. "There was no match in the database. Provide DNA."
"Blood?" Twilight wrinkled her nose, peering at her. She didn't know how to communicate with a robot, and clearly didn't want to provoke aggression. Still following the first method of first contact. Diplomacy.
"Android-01220, take an analysis."
‘Soon an android flew up to me, no different from the others except for the moment a needle came out of its hoof and slowly touched me. I didn't fight back as he took some blood from me and scanned me, and much faster than his superior. Apparently, they have command passed down from the most senior droid. Then what happened to 112's predecessors?’
"Warning! No matches detected."
TWI-113 blinked a couple of times, glaring at Twilight. It seemed to Alicorn that this droid's AI was clearly far more advanced than the younger versions, and that bothered her. She must have been making a decision on what to do now.
"Attention, disassemble Twilight Sparkle's subject and search the database for matches!" The 113th commanded her droids and flew away from Twilight, a couple of droids behind her murmuring.
"WHAT?! I'm not a robot! If you take me apart, I'll die!" tried desperately to get through to 113 Twilight shouted loudly at her with indignation and fear.
"Warning. If it will help us awaken the creators, such an action is permissible."
' It was like water splashing again, tail treacherously piped up. Thirty droids. They're nothing in essence, but if... Fight again, remember, Twilight, robots aren't living things, they can be broken.’
"I refuse!"
‘Once again, an attempt to reach 113 with the hope that I might be able to disrupt her thinking algorithms in this way, but no such luck.’
"Attention! Refusal will not be accepted! Disassemble the object Twilight Sparkle!"
‘Three droids flew towards me at once, their hooves replaced by griffin-like claws, and I don't want to feel their sharpness on me.’
"Teleport!"
‘Poof!’ and Twilight was gone, and a bunch of droids were left without a victim, looking around the capsule in confusion.
"Attention, target has disappeared. Scanning the area! Scanning complete, no results found!" reported one of the droids.
"Results accepted! I'm analysing! Adjusting operation! Use the magic echolocator!" 113 immediately found a suitable solution.
"Attention, we have detected a source of magic 300 metres north of here!" The scout droid immediately gave the information to his colleagues.
"Droid RDSH(ER-DE-ESH)-11011, RDSH-11012. Catch up with the target and capture!" The 113th called for reinforcements and already using the data received from the dead droids made calculations and deduced new algorithms of behaviour.
‘Oh wow... Quickly they discovered me, and this special droid is rapidly learning and learning new information. That's who they have behind all this. She said she can't awaken the creators... So they're probably dead, though that's odd,’ Twilight redirected her magic to fly faster and faster. So far, she was doing just fine. - If they were dead, those would probably realise it from the scan. The creators appear to be in some sort of stasis... I don't even know... Will I be able to wake them up?’
Two pulses of magic were felt behind Twilight, causing the air to ripple and shake. Two dots flew towards her and were catching up to her rather quickly.
"Overcoming the sound barrier... I can't fly that fast. Rainbow could do it, but definitely not me... Tartarus... Those same creators must have definitely taken the best of their world. I'd be flattered if they weren't trying to tear me to pieces!" grumbled Twilight, trying to get away from the two daredevils in flight.
They had already caught up with her, and she braked hard to push them against her barrier, but they instantly circled her, having already anticipated this outcome from experience. As they flew around the barrier, they clipped both of Twilight's front hooves, bending them right behind her back.
"Teleport!"
Twilight immediately pulled away from them, but if she hesitated just a little, she could have suffered fractures. For robots, there was no such thing as being caught in one piece. Twilight exhaled when she was temporarily safe and immediately tried to attack them, but unfortunately it was useless. Shooting at them would be like hitting flies with a water pistol from a hundred metres away.
"I promise! When I get home! I won't miss Rainbow practice! I promise!"
Twilight tried to break away from her two pursuers again, praying loudly in her voice and repenting that she wouldn't slack off again. They won't let her escape, hit with magic she can't. Telekinesis to knock them into each other doesn't work because of the strange material in their armour. They also really want to cut her open and gut her because it will supposedly make their creators wake up!
"It's a stalemate, there's nowhere to hide, they'll find us everywhere."
Behind them, the pulses came one after another. And the Dash-droids were no longer two, but about seven.
"Oh, come on!"
113 had already made a calculation and realised that this number of droids would be enough to catch Twilight. Quickly catching up with the alicorn, they took up the position of heptagonSemigon. flying with amazing accuracy at the same distance from each other, and the distance was rapidly decreasing.
‘Are they trying to trap me in the ring? I won't let that happen!’
Only now did she realise that she was trapped - behind her a magical net, like a butterfly net, was trying to catch her prey by the droids chasing her. Ahead of her was the pillar of a building.
‘They're sucking out the magic with that device!’
Twilight immediately slowed down, feeling weak. She had to give a lot more magic to her hooves to keep from losing her advantage.
‘Come on, intuition, don't let me down. These pillars must be hollow.’
"Teleport!"
Boom. Three droids flying along the upper and lower edges of the lined up figure crashed into the building, losing their combat ability. The others flew apart.
"Attention, target lost!" reported one of the entire Dash-droids.
"Result received! Attention, making calculations, correcting algorithms, return to the hangar" TWI-113 again noisy as an old TV set, and gave the order to depart.
"Attention, adjustments accepted, return to hangar" soon the four Dash droids flew off to an unknown destination, as did the rest of the individuals.
‘Doesn't bode well, no one cancelled the momentum after teleporting at speed.’
Twilight flew through several rooms, and only the good old drywall that made up the walls cushioned her speed.
‘Ugh... It could have been worse. I could have crashed through the wall of this building.’
Climbing out of the rubble, she lifted her head to see exactly where she was now.
"No way..."
Author's Note
What about the inverted commas """" It's embarrassing...
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Chapter 10 (Epidiocyphobia) [10.2] [Fear of being persecuted]
‘As I climbed out of the rubble, I felt a nagging pain in my front hooves, for it was with them that I rammed into several rooms, instinctively covering my head.’
Twilight stared upwards and concluded that the interior space seemed much larger than the outer frame and didn't look so white anymore. There was text on the plaques, the language of which she didn't know and didn't understand the structure of it to make even the slightest approximate transcription. The thought or memory came to mind that the droids spoke Equestrian, her native tongue with a slight variation in a couple of unknown dialects. So perhaps these very creators were either older or younger than the droids.
"Very strange... I bet I was literally gulping for air on the street, trying not to choke, and here my lungs have no trouble breathing in fully. I still don't understand the point of these buildings, but I'm inside and I'm safe. So I have nothing to complain about. Healing!" Twilight cast a spell to regenerate her bruises and minor cuts left behind after a rough break through a few rooms.
‘The amount of dust on the floor, directly tells me that no one has been in this place for a long time... And in so many years, no, probably decades, I'm the first visitor.’
Twilight walked down corridor after corridor, scrutinising the different rooms, but the dim light from the long-ago lamps carefully obscured the veil of many artefacts and details. Soon she found a very warehouse-like room and curiously, without remorse, began rummaging through old papers, but unfortunately to no avail. The language in which all the documents and studies were written was unfortunately not available to her at the moment.
"Can I have a translator?!" Twilight shouted loudly, passing the seventh room with the same result.
With nothing but dust and unknown signs everywhere, a door appeared before the alicorn's gaze. A door that was closed tightly with a thickness of multi-ton metal, nothing remarkable on the door, not counting a couple of centimetres of iron frames, padded around the perimeter.
"Hmmm... if there's a thick heavy door, does that mean there's something carefully hidden behind the door? And if it's kept forbidden in a locked room, that means it's something very important and necessary. And if it's something necessary, then I could use it too?" Twilight smirked at her amusing childish monologue, sometimes you still need to take your mind off your problems and relax, if only for a little while.
"Twilight, Twilight, it must suck not having a companion... Why, must it? It really sucks. You're sitting there on the crab right now, wondering whether or not you should try to open that door. What if I teleport in there and there's a cryo-freezing chamber? Or a fully stocked room of concentrated sulfuric acid? Or worse, it's all made of a substance that doesn't let magic through, and I'll never get back out again... Let's be logical. The second option with liquids is out, usually such experiments involve a tank, not a room. Then a cryo-freezing room? But... I don't know... I'd keep gold or other valuables in such a place. And why the hell would they freeze anything? Noooo..." Twilight continued her monologue thoughtfully. Perhaps she was soothed by the echoes echoing off the nearest wall in response, or maybe she just wanted to hear her own voice.
* * *
It had been about an hour since Twilight had been paranoid about the door. Teleporting at random is dangerous, because when you know where you want to go and you've been there before, it's no big deal. If there's even someone inside, you'll be moved a bit sideways or, at worst, the spell won't work. If, on the other hand, you're literally trying to get into a place you've never been, a few things can happen. You'll probably get stuck in a wall, and if your panicked mind doesn't ‘invent a bicycle’ at that point, die rather quickly. The second option is that you could kill someone with this action, and the responsibility falls entirely on the caster.
* * *
It was the third hour of pondering, only this time in experienced ways. Tapping on the door with her hoof, she tried to calculate the thickness of the door by echolocation, but that method was probably considered artisanal. There were attempts to open the door with various spells. It was possible to scratch it, though the recoil was hard on the mistress' body with fatigue. The experiments even prompted the alicorn to do the most idiotic thing: lick the material.
"Yeah, well... What did I expect? Although, knowing some people, I realise that they first lick and stick their noses into a vial of different liquids, and then think about whether or not it was wise to do such a thing." Letting out a heavy sigh, she looked at the monolith. "Why doesn't this thing have a trivial handle?"
Abandoning her futile attempts to open the door, Twilight decided to get some rest. Four hours of brainstorming and the interrupted sleep of the flying glands had yielded nothing but drowsiness and migraines. For better or worse, it was a relief. Twilight found a rest room or, more likely, someone's office, and most importantly, a soft bed. She plumped herself down and willingly drifted off to sleep.
* * *
‘Sleep... I haven't had a dream in a while. It could mean something important! Perhaps I'm being contacted?’
"Princess Luna! Are you here?! Luna!" Twilight shouted loudly, hoping to be heard.
Surprisingly, someone answered her call. She spotted a pony walking towards her amidst the dark haze.
"Princess Luna! You've finally come for me! Princess!" Twilight's tears flowed with happiness at the sight of the nearby pony. Seeing the familiar figure in good health and throwing herself at her with hugs, she felt only coldness and something else foreign. Pulling away and hearing no word or reciprocation of the hug, she looked up at her, again trying to assess the situation sensibly.
"You're not Luna?"
Her lips trembled treacherously, and the tears came with renewed vigour. But not from happiness and relief, but from dashed hope and growing cold. Twilight lowered her head, bad thoughts crowding her and seeming to put her master into an apathetic, depressed state almost instantly.
"Tarwitseme Apuasi."
Twilight raised her head, looking at her questioningly. She clearly didn't understand what her interlocutor had just said. A second glance, more sober, made it clear that it was not Luna, but most likely someone very similar in appearance. She didn't immediately realise that the copy was slightly shorter than her, though it had the same body shape as Luna. Purple coloured fur and a blue mane, while the cutiemark was in the shape of a full moon resting on the scales of Themis. Also, she wasn't an alicorn, lacking wings. Though she was surprised that Twilight herself was an alicorn.
"I don't understand... Say that again..." Twilight tried to listen to her interlocutor, while the interlocutor tried to ask her for something.
After some attempts, she sat down on her croup and began to explain her thoughts with her hooves in sign language. The first thing she did was to press both hooves against her, implying the word ‘Nam’. The second action, she kind of beckoned with her hooves, meaning ‘Need’. The third action, pointed a hoof at Twilight, emphasising the word ‘Yours’ with it. The fourth gesture indicated the crosshairs of her hooves on her chest. ‘Help.’
"You need my help..."
Twilight's emotional breakdown was now replaced by seriousness, and she nodded silently. She couldn't leave someone in distress, especially now. With her next gesture, Twilight raised one eyebrow. Asking, ‘What needs to be done?’
The interlocutor diligently showed a square and asked her to open it, and Twilight realised that it was the very door she had never been able to get in through. The next body movement involved her pointing at herself.
"You are behind that door, and you need my help. Understood. I'll do my best to get you out."
The interlocutor smiled, nodding at her:
"Ki-itos!" More emotionally responded with the word. It probably meant ‘Thank you.’
* * *
‘My awakening was rather sudden. I realised I was lying on the floor, my hooves awkwardly tangled by the blanket and sheet. Feeling a nasty mark on my face, I touched it. Turns out I'd been crying in my sleep. It was silly to think that they could find me and bring me home so easily... But still, hope springs last. I still really hope that they are looking for me... No... They are definitely looking for me! It would be a crime to think they aren't! They are my friends.
"Help... She needs my help!" Jumping up from her nest, Twilight shook her head, trying to tidy up her dishevelled mane. "The door... Now I'm pretty sure there's no poisonous liquids or anything like that behind it. Teleport!"
Instantly at the door, she made another leap through space, but inside. Clamping her eyes shut, Twilight strained her ears, trying to listen.
‘Water gurgling...’ - Finally daring to, she cautiously opened her eyes and saw several flasks. Cryogenic chambers of grey hues stood along a wall three metres high.
"They are in anabiosis after all" Twilight needed to build up a little more confidence to approach one of them. "It's not grey, it's a layer of dust. And it's probably glass? Do I need to break the capsules? No... there would probably have to be another way to get them out of there."
Wiping one pane of glass with her hoof, she peered inside, trying to see something through the murky blue water, but nothing came out. Repeating the same action with the second capsule, she saw a completely clear liquid, and inside was a unicorn sleeping. Judging by its build, appearance, and beard, it was a stallion, and a mature one at that. The third flask. A yellow coloured mare, a unicorn.
"I think they preserved only unicorns on purpose." Looking at the fourth capsule threw her into a slight stupor... "It's you, it's you I dreamt about!" A smile stretched across her face for a moment and then slid off. "I'm talking to myself again. Sometimes you have to be more patient and try to look at yourself."
She didn't look at the other three flasks.
Her attention was drawn to the table with the buttons, which also had a brief instruction on how to use them in the form of pictures, so meticulous that it seemed that even the dumbest person could figure out what was what.
"So, press the red button, wait for the water to pump out."
Twilight pressed the tight button, waiting for the machine humming nearby to pump out the water. Indeed, a little while later, all the pods were empty, and there was even a clattering sound from the inside of one of them. Twilight didn't bother to check what it was and followed the instructions further.
"The blue button is responsible for the gas exchange in the capsule. Press it and after ten minutes, lower the lever all the way down."
Twilight even laughed a little at the number of down arrows on the instructions. Pressing the blue button, there was a prolonged hissing sound. The capsules were filled with some sort of vapour.
‘I think it's disinfecting or supplying oxygen.’
"So, all that was left was the lever!"
Pulling the lever handle down as far as it would go, Twilight froze in anticipation of the result. Steam rushed into the room, and the capsules opened their lids with the sound of a pressurised gas bottle being opened. The ventilation immediately hummed, causing the fog in the room to become clearer and clearer. Turning to the capsules, Twilight smelled a foul odour and only cast a sympathetic glance at the capsule on the left.
"Rest in harmony..."
That capsule contained only the skeleton of a pony. Apparently its hardware had malfunctioned in the meantime, and the pony in it had died... But the others were alive, and right now the alicorn was concerned about the condition of the others. They were breathing, but they didn't open their eyes, they were still asleep.
"We should get you into your wards."
Which the alicorn did. Holding one of the ponies with her telekinesis, she teleported out the door and placed one by one into the wards.
"I guess it should be automatic, or the very droids should be doing it. But something has clearly gone wrong since I'm doing it... I'm not complaining! Honestly. I just feel like a babysitter right now. I hope I don't have to put them in a chair to go to the toilet..." Twilight continued her one-sided monologue, and eventually she entered the room where her companion was sleeping. After a while, the one began to open her eyes, coughing. Lavender immediately ran over to help her catch her breath, lifting her up and helping her into a sitting position.
"Healing!" Twilight immediately realised what the problem was: it was residual fluid in her lungs, and she had successfully rid the pony of it.
"Kitos..." breathing deeply, she said “Thank you” again in her own language. Blinking, she looked around the room, and then her gaze focused on Twilight. "Mika woosi nut he? [What year is it?]
"I don't understand your language..." Twilight said guiltily and gestured near her head and shook it.
"Oh-ooh..." came from her interlocutor, and she immediately brightened up, indicating for her to get a paper and pen out of her drawers. Twilight did so, and soon she had a piece of paper and pen on her hooves. Twilight thought for a moment, looked at the sheet of paper with the faded text, and began to draw numbers. ‘00.00.0000?’
"Date? I don't know that one, sorry..." Twilight took the sheet and began drawing and trying to explain that she was an alien to this world.
Again drawings from her where there was a drawn pony, an arrow and apparently their headquarters in question.
After a few drawings a bit of important information was revealed. Three of them are scientists and the other ponies are reserves. Then the unicorn had questions about how Twilight could have a horn and wings at the same time, which was answered with an explanation that she is from another world by origin and is an alicorn. A couple more questions regarding the droids, followed by the news that they had to wake them up.
The following dialogue is done with drawings.
‘Droids? Attacking you, led by a droid that looks like you?’ - The unicorn looked at the one again surprised, explaining that they weren't supposed to attack her.
‘Yeah... They were trying to catch me and disassemble me... They said something about the creators and that maybe if I was disassembled it would wake you up.’
Again the surprise on the unicorn's face, Twilight on the other hand was too exhausted to show any emotion.
‘Those are our droids... They're supposed to wake us up after a hundred years, but why aren't they here?’ - Eyes like sapphires darted into the blank sheets beside Twilight, waiting for an answer. A little while later, she had already taken a pen to her mouth and began drawing with her mouth. Magic was too tedious to work with.
‘I don't know... explain to me what happened to the world? Why is it so dangerous outside?’ - Having finished the drawing of a planet, a question and a skull and bones behind it, she now awaited a response from her interlocutor.
‘Have you been there?’
‘Yes... And there's a very heightened level of hostility and danger there, but your droids have apparently adapted. The 113th told me it can't wake you up.’
‘113th?’
‘TWI-00113.’
Her expression was filled with delight, to which Twilight couldn't sincerely support her interlocutor and was simply already bowing her head in a half-smile.
‘?’ - question mark, the only thing Twilight left, tired of drawing.
‘This is our first sample with advanced AI. We had no idea they would be able to function for so long.’
‘That's why it looks older than its subordinates then.’
‘Subordinates? We've been making a dozen of them to beautify our headquarters.’
‘The last number I heard was a 12,000 batch.’
‘No way... They weren't supposed to create their own kind, much less command their troops...’
‘The AI exceeded your expectations?’
‘Even too much... This could turn out to be a disaster for the world!’
Twilight sighed heavily, peering at her spitefully.
‘Can you explain to me why there's snow, anti-magic rain, and killer drones outside the acid environment?’
‘I don't understand...’
Twilight sighed again, soon turning her head towards the exit before drawing the next large building and an arrow outwards.
‘I'll show you, follow me,’ Twilight helped her new friend up on all four hooves. She was shaking like an aspen leaf. Twilight supported her with magic to steady her on her hooves. She walked towards the dusty rubble of drywall, and after noting the distance, Twilight enveloped them both in a sphere, lifting herself and the filly into the air.
"Teleport!"
There was a blizzard in the outside world and the situation was even sadder than before. It was a habit for Twilight, but the expression on her face left a lot to be desired. She was confused, and her emotions showed endless, immense sadness and grief.
"Miten se Tapahtoi?" [How did this happen?]
"I don't know how it happened. When I got here, it was already like this" Twilight almost knew what she was talking about, and the logical undertones did a good job of it.
"Onko Se Totta?" She turned her head towards her, but Twilight ignored her, unable to hear her. Her gaze fell to the foot of the tower, where in a small snowy gap she could see the hooves of the androids that were following her. She ducked lower, telekinesis pulling them out of the snow.
"There, they were trying to catch me..."
Now it was the unicorn's turn to be silent and uncomprehending.
Soon both were caught back at the headquarters with the wreckage of the droids. Twilight immediately warned them not to touch the remains, it could be dangerous due to chemical burns. Leaving her stock of parts in the warehouse, she turned to Luna.
"I'm Twilight. And you are?" She wanted to know the name of the person she was talking to after all. It would be easier to communicate.
"Amanda" she pronounced and looked around her curiously again. "Alicorn... Luna?"
Twilight nodded silently.
"Olen Jaikelainen" [I am her descendant!]
Twilight was starting to get annoyed with the language barrier, and she glared at her interlocutor, raising an eyebrow and frowning slightly.
"Ahh..." she nodded understandingly, drawing a family tree and indicating that she was a tenth generation descendant. Luna is her great-great-great... great-great-grandmother.
‘Now it's clear to me why she looks so much like a princess. I hope she didn't think anything unnecessary when I hugged her... then that explains it all, no... Why do the droids understand me and they don't? She already said they created those droids, so why don't they know my language? Am I just going to communicate with her on hooves and paper?!’
* * *
It's been twenty-four hours. Many of the scientists had already recovered, and Twilight was asked to explain how she was able to get in without opening the door. She replied that she had simply teleported in, and then used the same method to get them out. As luck would have it, they wouldn't let her sleep or even rest, yanking her back and forth. She answered them patiently. But the questions got weirder and weirder. ‘Have you come to capture us?’, “Why didn't you prepare the headquarters before we woke up?”, “Who sent you?”. Amanda tried her best to calm them down and told them she was their friend.
‘What is this strange suspicion of me? I didn't hurt you and I'm not trying to do so! That's enough!’
"THAT'S ENOUGH! What is wrong with you?! Why are you trying to accuse me of something?! I got you out of there! And instead of saying, ‘Thank you,’ you're blaming me!"
The sudden surge of emotion and fatigue had taken its toll on Twilight's appearance. And really, all day long only to questions like ‘explain’ and ‘show me’, ‘what's going on’, to everyone. Someone can not understand you, and you have to explain yourself with rock methods, drawings and gestures. Amanda immediately noticed Twilight's emotions and gave everyone a siege look, already swearing at them in her own language.
* * *
A while later, they seemed to realise that they were clearly demanding their own off-topic somewhere. If it wasn't for her, they could have rotted in those pods for the rest of their lives. Twilight nodded in agreement, but her desire to help them was noticeably diminished. Soon they were able to open the door, it opened with difficulty under the unicorns' pressure, Twilight had to help them because she could no longer hear the nasty scraping of the metal hinges, welded shut by rust and an unknown oxide mixture of metal and oxygen. Again that unpleasant smell hit the noses of everyone already gathered. The alicorn wanted to leave the place and finally go to bed, but Amanda asked her to stay.
‘It wasn't long before they spotted the first pod and there was a heavy cry from one of the green coloured ponies. It pained me to see it, maybe it was her lover or a close friend, relative, I don't know. There's nothing I can do to help.’
"Veli! Veli! Hey! Mixie?!" [Brother! Brother! No! Why?!]
Twilight couldn't make out the speech of the unicorn, who went into a stupor. But when she almost jumped at her, wanting to pick a fight, the two stallions stopped her at once. Her eyes were filled with anger mixed with tears. How much pain sparkled in those eyes....
"Se he shinun Shiutashi!" [It's all your fault! Argh!!!]
' She literally growled those words to me. I raised an eyebrow and wanted to say something back, but her sudden action beat me to it, she just spat in my face. Needless to say, my patience broke at that moment? I had to muster up the will not to retaliate with something, like punching her in the face with a hoof,’ the alicorn gritted her teeth in anger and realised that the room was silent, only Amanda's frightened guilty glance at Twilight giving her more or less enough time to recover from the mess she had made. Heavy breathing accompanied the alicorn as she walked away from them.
Wiping her face with the sheet, Twilight threw it off on the floor and just lay back in bed.
"That's it... That's enough... Just a little more and I can't take it anymore..."
Twilight threw the pillow over her head, trying to induce sleep. Many thoughts raced through her mind, but right now she wanted one thing: to hear the rhythmic pounding of her heart. It was the one rhythm that more often than not could soothe Twilight in her time of need.
"I guess I'm just tired..."
There was a knock on the door after a while, but they couldn't open it. Alicorn had purposely padlocked the door to give her a break from the people around her, so she wouldn't be barged in for anything frivolous.
"Tivailleit!" came Amanda's voice with a funny accent, as she too had a hard time with the language barrier. But she was trying hard.
"Amanda, go away! I want to rest!" came a tired voice from under the pillow. "I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now!"
"Ssiory! Twilight!"
‘'Ssiory? Ahh... ‘sorry?’ I don't think I said that word in front of her, how did she know?"
Twilight exhaled and walked over, opening the door. Behind Amanda stood the figure that had been crying over the skeleton today. Twilight's facial expression immediately melted into a disgruntled and unfriendly grimace.
"What, have you come to spit in my face again? No need, I've already showered!"
"I don't underestdand!" She tried to justify herself. She looked guilty.
"I don't understand you either! I brought you out at Amanda's request! And what do I get?! A lot of disgruntled ponies and a spit in my face! It's great, isn't it?! If I'd known, I would have left you there and tried to find my own way out! Amanda, huh?! That's enough! I will not stand for any more of your misunderstandings and humiliating behaviour!" Twilight continued to yell at them, both of them watching her with their heads down.
"T is tireeds..." Amanda looked at Twilight sympathetically. Her bags under her eyes and whites poured with blood clearly made it clear that she had worked hard today and without a break.
"I'm tired, right. Look, Amanda. I'm resting tonight, and tomorrow I'm out of here! I'm gonna find another place to stay! Since I'm not welcome here!"
"Pliiase! Don't go!" Amanda begged, clutching Twilight tightly in her arms.
Something clicked in her head. She had hugged Amanda in her sleep in hysterics and tears just like that, but she had destroyed her hope with her ignoring her. Now she and the others were in the opposite situation and, at worst, they were going to starve to death. Twilight looked up, covering her eyes, and exhaled, hugging the one with one hoof.
"Good. I'm not leaving" Twilight looked at the other one, the one that was guiltily and persistently drilling the floor with her gaze.
‘Losing someone is hard, losing your own family members is very painful... They're probably emotional and very scared. Amanda on the other hand, by virtue of her genetic capabilities, was able to penetrate my dream by asking for help. I can't abandon those in need, and I think I know something will clearly please them.’
"Amanda, would you like a snack?"
"What?.. " Amanda pulled away from Twilight, asking her, not understanding.
"Eat, yum yum."
The latter lowered her head guiltily, shaking her head.
She lowered her head guiltily, shaking her head.
"syorrys, no there is..." They were clearly having a few problems learning Twilight's native tongue, and the first was the problem with provisions.
"You don't get it."
‘From my second bag I pulled out my stash. It is commonly said that the way to a stallion's heart is through the stomach, but in this analogy, the way of the world to a pony is through supplies.’
"Let's go eat" Twilight smiled at Amanda and the one behind her. "You too, let's go. Let's eat and calm down."
All three of them walked towards the dining room, where a heated argument could be heard, which stopped as soon as Twilight entered. Only the laziest of eyes widened as Twilight's supplies were poured onto the table. At least for once, there was enough for everyone to eat.
"Bon appetit!" Twilight nodded and turned around to go to her room. But Amanda stopped her and dragged her back.
Everyone bowed their heads and chorused:
"Twilight! Forgive us! And thank you! For saving us!"
Now it was time for Twilight to be surprised, for they all said it in a language she knew. And she smiled, her face softening.
"These are apples, eat them. You were out of spirits because you were hungry. I forgive you. Eat up, I need to rest."
My heart was thumping in my head, a symptom of high blood pressure from sleep deprivation and nerves, and my eyes were stinging.
"What about you?"
Twilight wasn't really hungry, she never kept much food, like a squirrel. So she calmly gave them her supply of provisions.
"I'm fine. I've already eaten today."
Amanda was still struggling to overcome the language barrier, but she understood Twilight perfectly.
‘Actually, I wouldn't mind some fruit salads at that tourist resort.’
Chunks of fried changelings immediately appeared in her mind.
"Ugh... Brrrrr..." she shook her head.
Truth be told, right now Twilight really just wanted to rest. Let the brainy ponies do the brainy activities, and Twilight just needed to sleep.
Just when her face touched the pillow, there was an immediate knock on the room.
"You've got to be kidding me...? Mggh! Come in!"
She was already too lazy to get up, so she just continued to lie face down in the pillow. Someone came into the room and quietly snuck in.
"I haven't slept in twenty-seven hours... Can I get some rest? The questions can wait until tomorrow, Amanda..." the same muffled voice from under the pillow.
"syorry. We don't need your help."
"I need to sleep" Twilight snapped at Amanda's request.
"Help us get in touch with TWI-00113, please! She can help us with the pyrovision, and she can explain to us what happened on that planet! That's very important. You-"
"Can't it wait till tomorrow? I'll honestly be very angry if you don't let me rest" Twilight asked more insistently.
"Yes... We understand that you're very tired. And we're sorry to ask you to do this."
"Amanda! Two hours, let me sleep for two hours! Just long enough to build up a steady supply of magical energy. I've used the teleport seventeen times today. I used transmutation a couple of times. I used shield, telekinesis. And I haven't slept in 28 hours! You apologised and I think you understood me. So what the hell was supposed to happen, since only your elite and most intelligent assassin droid can help you?"
"She's a computer... And if she doesn't restart the batteries using her system, we'll probably never be able to shut down the station! We've got three hours. That's why we're asking you to help us..."
‘Three hours... Considering I have almost no energy left... I still have to contact that murderer, and we don't have much time...’
"Oh... Will this help you with provisions?"
"Yes! We can recreate the DNA of your appeles[apple] and begin accelerating the growth of appiles on our lower tier plantations." It was amazing how quickly the current pony got rid of her alien accent. It was as if she had a local analogue of the AI built into her head.
"You owe me provisions, which means a hot bath. I'm really looking forward to a bath."
"Okay, no problem. And we're sorry about what happened."
"Eh... Back to work again..." Twilight reluctantly got up from the bed and followed to the place where it all started. "Amanda, what if 113 doesn't listen to me?"
"Give her my name, she'll have to stop."
"And if she doesn't?" Twilight, unfortunately, didn't hear the answer and exhaled worriedly. "And if she doesn't, she'll kill me... Well... Break a leg..." Twilight teleported outside the building.
"Save magic to the max... Just wings and only a breathing helmet. I should be good for the next three hours." Twilight purposely sent a bright beam of magical light into the sky as a beacon to find her. Twenty minutes had passed since she saw the rainbow-headed bolides already hurtling towards her. "If I surrender to them. Would they bring the 113 faster?"
Twilight waited for both droids and stopped them with a barrier, preventing them from getting unsafely close.
"Droids! I will surrender to you if you summon TWI-00113. Without a fight!" Twilight had actually taken a risky step at this point, however she needed to hurry. Double or nothing.
"Transmitting TWI-00113. This is DSH-12000. Subject Twilight Sparkle is willing to surrender, provided TWI-00113 is present. Acknowledged. Going into standby mode."
Both hovered in place, exerting little to no effort to maintain flight. After a while, a bunch of moving dots also appeared in the distance. Ten, twenty, thirty dots, all flying towards Twilight. Apparently, the slowest of them all was TWI-00113. Because it was flying ballast attached to one of the droids.
"Twilight's subject. TWI-00113 has arrived. Now surrender to us so we can take you apart!"
"I will surrender. But I have something to report to you."
Twilight removed the barrier, letting them grab herself. Immediately, one droid disintegrated, transforming into something like a wide two by three metre platform, immediately chaining her to it. Apparently droids are strangers to the concept of sterility in this regard.
"Disassemble Twilight and hand over her samples for analysis!" commanded 113.
"One hundred and thirteen! We need to talk! I found your makers! And they need you!"
' I had to plead, as being crucified on a platform is not a very promising idea, two of them even already prepared to saw me off.
"STOP!"
"Negative, our sensors have not detected any living organisms!" The 113 was unsteady and didn't give Twilight a chance to stop the autopsy.
"They're out there in those buildings!" Shouted Twilight as the small saws with the sound of a dentist's apparatus approached her chest.
"Impossible. Scans are inconclusive!" Parried the 113 again.
"The scan doesn't go through these things! You'll just have to take my word for it!" Twilight was already panicking and squeezing her eyes shut, she had no way to escape, nor the strength to break free.
"Attention! Disassemble the object Twilight!" 113 commanded loudly.
"No! Amanda will be mad at you!!!" remembering Amanda's words very, very timely, Twilight felt a faint cut on her chest.
"Stop the operation! Amanda?" The robot immediately pulled away, and 113 began to operate under a different mode for the first time, you could tell by her thinking? Robots can't think... They calculate... But now it was as if she had come to life. Her robotic voice changed to an almost normal voice, without those metallic notes, from the speaker.
"Yes! She's waiting for you!" Twilight felt the blood silently flowing from the wound. The droids had managed to hurt her a little, but luckily 113 had stopped them.
"I'm coming with you. Show me where Amanda is!"
‘My hooves were untied, and I exhaled. Already I thought I was finished. It scared me a lot... Shocked me, even. Being gutted alive didn't bode well.’
"They need to restore the base's generator" she sighed as she felt free. But she'd better hurry, in case she changed her mind. "One hundred and thirteen, get over here. They're inside this building. I'll teleport us both there."
"Kidnap threat!" shouted one of the droids.
"Deny the threat! I trust those who know Amanda!"
'She trusts those who know Amanda? That's a very weak defence she has. I guess that's how the other droids died.’
"Teleport!"
‘I nearly passed out from the exhaustion of the magic, and when I arrived inside I was literally lying on the floor, barely able to get words out of my tired throat.’
"Amanda! We're back!"
"Tivylight!" The filly happily ran up to them both and saw TWI-00113.
"Subject Twilight no longer needs to be disassembled for DNA! Operation cancelled! The creators have returned!" The android turned around, not understanding why there was no response.
"Wait! They can't hear you from the walls of the building! Perform a restart of the lab's generator, and please tell us how much time has passed since our anabiosis."
The android hummed, fishing for information from the database, connecting to the lab's computer in the process. Soon the light from the lamps began to burn much brighter, and now the base resembled the brightly lit rooms of a hospital.
"Attention! It is now the 18th of November in the year 3125 of the Equestrian era! 1117 years have passed! The generator has been rebooted! No damage!"
"How come we've been asleep for so long?"
"Attention! Protocol 84 has been executed. Technogenic disaster! All androids are withdrawing from the buildings and attempting to locate survivors. At this time, 23 of the 635 labs and anabiosis chambers are still intact. The rest are currently non-functional!"
"This is terrible! Out of three thousand six hundred, there are only about one hundred and twenty ponies left alive, and that's at best! What if there's only six of us left? That's the death of an entire civilisation..." Amanda lowered her ears, not knowing what to say. "Twilight! Do you have any ideas..." she only now noticed that Twilight was already sleeping right on the floor and couldn't hear her voice.
"Oh..." Amanda tried to lift her up, but couldn't.
"Attention! Vital signs are normal! There's medium magical exhaustion!"
"It's okay, TWI. She'll wake up soon, we had to ask her for a lot of things and so she's exhausted. Although, you probably don't realise..."
"I do! I've been looking for ways! To wake you up!"
Amanda telekinesis lifted Twilight, carrying her into the room. She noticed a small bloodstain on her chest.
"I don't remember us planting a message like that."
"Warning! Data is missing! This message is generated from ancient letters."
"I didn't realise your AI would become so advanced. I'm actually surprised you've kept it running for so many years."
"Attention! I have developed a self-repair algorithm and optimised the maximum longevity of my resources."
"Amazing. You were created by our Chief Engineer for a reason."
* * *
It's been a few days. Thanks to the transmutation, Twilight was given the fruits of various fruits. And the alicorn herself got a well-deserved rest in the form of a hot bath and full bags full of fruit. As Amanda explained, the fruit grown on the lower tiers sprouted at an amazing rate. The replicator chambers had also been restored. There, embryos of new foals created from DNA would be grown. Unfortunately, the survival rate of such foetuses would be around 10-15%.
The crown soon appeared by itself, and Twilight was ready to use it.
"Twilight! Please, before you go... Let us take your DNA" the stallion scientist hurriedly approached her.
"Why?"
"We want to rebuild the population."
Twilight blushed, not sure what he meant. Like a schoolgirl who'd been asked out on a date for the first time, and after a year of a relationship had suggested having a foal.
"Wh-what?" she stuttered.
"No, no, no, no! You misunderstand us. We want to take some tissue samples and combine with our DNA data to produce offspring and increase survival rates! If we're lucky, a few alicorns will be born and we can rebuild the population of our own world and save it. You see, your species is long extinct, as are the pegasi. Perhaps if we could crossbreed your DNA with ours."
I-- Okay. You can have a drop of my blood. But please hurry."
"Of course."
Stan stepped closer to Twilight and with a maniacal look, anaesthetised her quite professionally. Afterwards, an impressive cut of meat weighing about two hundred grams fell into the bowl. Twilight grimaced and didn't let him start sewing the skin back on.
"Healing!" The wound healed almost instantly and she looked up at him, exhaling in relief.
‘Don't think of future foals as your children, they're just bred clones with your DNA. Brrrrr... No... I won't think about that.’
"Twilight! Before you go, we'd like to tell you that we treated you inappropriately at first... And we're really sorry... We'd like to apologise to you and..." the green pony's speech was immediately interrupted.
"No need... Say thank you to Amanda. Without her, I would have just walked away, leaving you to fend for yourselves." Yeah, that was pretty much rude to them at that point.
"Subject Twilight, wait."
' 113 approached me on her own and held out something strange.
"What is it?"
‘An oblong object made of the same white material with a button on top, like a pill jar.’
"A stimulant, or whatever you think it is... Doping! Use as needed! Replenished with magic!"
‘He explains it to me so calmly. It would be a lot easier to see her as alive if her face was distorted in the emotion she's expressing.’
"Thank you. I'll be sure to use it as needed."
‘And even now, looking at 113, I'm already having strong doubts, is it really a robot? ‘It's too illogical by the standards of a soulless machine.
"Goodbye."
The crown shone brightly, opening a new portal, and all would have been fine, but the colour of the vortex was now not just alarming, it was downright frightening. A black substance twisted in thin threads near the centre. Twilight's lowered ears and wide-open eyes made it clear that she was, to put it mildly, frightened and didn't want to go in there.
"Twilight, is everything okay?" Amanda put her hoof on her shoulder.
"Yes... It's just that this is the first time I've seen a portal of such a dark repulsive colour. On your world, the portal was a shade of grey, and the environment here is extremely negative. I can't imagine what's going on out there..."
"Maybe we should help you." Amanda suddenly suggested it.
"No! You can't... If you go out there, you'll never come back... Don't make my mistakes. I'm in my third month... Struggling and trying to survive, and I'll tell you this: don't ever try to travel between worlds. Appreciate what you have and explore what's near you. Because even space will be closer to you than what I have to wade through..."
Twilight took one last look around and plunged into the darkness of the portal. With a burst of magic, it disappeared from the sight of the inhabitants.
Author's Note
it was very hard...
