The Shriek of the Wire

Celestia always had to have the last word.

If there was one thing Twilight had always resented her old mentor for, it was that. Be it some hoary bit of common sense wisdom, a barely relevant anecdote, or maybe a few words of impressive sounding Latin, the ancient alicorn could never let an incident go by without a coda to mark the occasion.

Even when she thought there was no one around to hear, it seemed. What that implied about the depths of Celestia’s egocentrism could be a dissertation in itself.

In any case, Twilight was glad for the sudden darkness. She didn’t have to see the cream bubbling out of her misshapen cunt as she hoofed herself to the action only a few meters nearby, though the squishy, sticky sounds of her clopping were muffled by an anti-perception spell so potent, not even the Sun Princess herself could see through it. It was an improved version of the spell Celestia had taught to young Julie while she wasn’t filling the girl’s belly with sperm…a spell she’d also taught to Twilight, once upon a time.

When the little alicorn had stopped receiving her regular reports from Celestia about the status of their investigation, she couldn’t help being concerned. Doubtless, with the dramatic change in her circumstances following the Bali affair, it wouldn’t be strange for the Sun Princess to be distracted.

And yet…Celestia had never, ever gone completely incommunicado unless disaster was afoot. Not in all the years they’d known each other.

Twilight had decided to look into the matter personally, in her own clandestine ways…and the past few days had been eye-opening, to say the least. She hadn’t been quite sure what she’d find out…but this extreme behavior was not it.

The purple alicorn brought a sticky hoof to her mouth, and she absent-mindedly tasted her essence as she considered the possibilities. Mind control? Some sort of powerful drug? Twilight found these hard to believe. Celestia had taken extreme precautions since that terrible day 300 years ago, and Twi had checked those defenses herself soon after their uneasy reconciliation. At this point, there was nobody in either dimension more hardened to mental manipulation than the Sun Princess.

That didn’t completely rule out the possibility, of course.

Cloning? Twilight shook her head. The Axiom of Singularity had held for all this time. Why would it fail now? And if it had, where was the original?

If the Axiom had truly been negated, then they had problems much bigger than a barely magical, yet pleasantly scented fruit. Unimaginably bigger. The implications beggared the imagination.

But she couldn’t rule out the possibility. One thing was clear: this creature in the darkness was not the Celestia she knew. And now, Twilight had another mystery to solve. Some things never changed.

Yet, some things…some ponies certainly did. Twi was still resisting her natural, heroic urge to save Emilia from her ravishment, just as she’d resisted coming to Julie’s defense during the worst of Celestia’s games.

She told herself she was no longer a hero. That she was no longer beholden to those expectations. That confronting Celestia directly was too dangerous without a concrete plan.

Bullshit. Twilight was just as fucked up as the rest of them. She’d come to terms with that fact at last. A part of her wanted to be in Mary’s place, letting go of all inhibitions as she sated her simple desire to empty her full nuts into the nearest hole.

Another, darker part wanted to be where Emilia was. The old scars were still deep, still raw.

Well…Celestia had told it true. Twilight would repair Emilia’s fractured mind…and Mary’s, as well. Because it was obvious the good doctor was out of her depth, and she’d need help to recover from the Sun Princess’ venereal influence.

The little alicorn had a good idea about which pony she’d have to get in touch with to assist with dragging Mary back into the light. After Twilight left, the Legend in question had sequestered herself in the depths of the Everfree, and she hadn’t been seen since. But the gentle pegasus would not ignore a request from an old comrade. Their relationship was too strong, even after all this time.

Twilight chuckled in the total darkness as Mary came in Emilia for the third time. The sound of the torrential backsplash from the girl’s full womb only vaguely registered in the alicorn’s mind as she considered how nice it had been to see Applejack again. And now, another of the Legends would appear in a moment of need. Just like old times.

Adversity truly did bring friends together. For better or worse.