Avisus Gaiuni Psychuarere

Avisus Gaiuni Psychuarere

Carrot Top woke up, on the floor, covered in dirt. Twilight found herself unable to do anything to prevent the barrage of insults and the rampage that she thought would ensue. She stuck to repeating, "I'msosorry I'msosorry I'msosorry," for a while, even though the rage and the frustration never came. Carrot Top realized Twilight was going through a mental breakdown or something, so she simply shrugged and cleaned herself up, heading downstairs for breakfast after she was done.

Upon returning to her body, Twilight was immensely hungry. Going 24 hours without food wasn't exactly foreign to her, but she was usually too distracted to notice. The first thing she did was eat, then she spent the rest of the afternoon and evening documenting the information she gathered.

The next day came and when Carrot Top asked about what happened that night, Twilight went into another apologetic breakdown. She threw herself at the "violated" mare, apologizing and wishing they could still be friends, until Spike and Carrot Top managed to calm her down and convince her everything was fine. The unicorn then went into everything from the sudden control, to the trip to the library, to the experiments and tests, all the way to when Carrot Top woke up.

Deciding simply apologizing wasn't enough- messing with another pony's body was one of the worst things she had every done-, Twilight invited Carrot Top to an apology dinner at any restaurant she chose. The latter found she couldn't turn down the offer after the fifth time and reluctantly agreed. They chatted about all kinds of random topics, one pony eating while the other spoke, one speaking while the other ate.

Carrot Top practically lived in the library on her days off; she decided after their dinner to become Twilight's research assistant. Spike wasn't pleased with that particular arrangement at first, believing the mare sought to become his replacement, but was ultimately reassured when both the intruder and Twilight swore to never let him be left out of anything research-wise. Carrot Top ended up letting Spike in on the daily schedules and plans, as Twilight consistently forgot about everything except her research once she got started.

As it turns out, Carrot Top was the only pony in all of Ponyville willing to let Twilight perform her spell. It was weird, though. Twilight was certain that a little persuasion from her assistant about how perfectly safe and non-dangerous it all was would take for another pony to jump at the offer, but they didn't. Except Fluttershy. Twilight knew Fluttershy didn't actually want to, so she decided to just pass her up. It was pretty disheartening for a few days, but then Twilight sent a letter to Princess Celestia asking if she knew anypony willing to let her do her thing.

Of course, she came to regret the letter the instant Spike sent it off. She even went so far as to tackle Spike to try to stop it, successfully grabbing the written question before it burned in the dragon's fire. Twilight realized asking Celestia to let her invade somepony's mind was a bad idea and Celestia would not approve, maybe even punish her for asking such a thing, so it was good that she managed to grab it before it was sent off.

Everything else in the letter was fine; just a report on the journals and her project; a few things she could do, should she successfully become an alicorn- she had written a few pages, front and back, detailing the intellectual benefits she would receive from such an endeavor-; and a short addendum asking Celestia about Starswirl's life and research techniques.

Twilight was still collapsed on top of Spike, who was trying unsuccessfully to push her off. She was beginning to form a mental list of everything Celestia might ask and a reasonable response for each when Carrot Top rescued the dragon from beneath her. Said dragon immediately walked off into another room while grumbling about Twilight's antics and the earth mare decided to just leave her be.

Seven sheets of paper were soon covered in bulleted lists of every foreseeable positive and negative aspect of Twilight's project. That way, should Celestia actually be partly open to letting her pupil invade one of her subjects, Twilight could show her the lists for some extra convincing.

The library was filled with the scent of food by the time Twilight had finished her list-making. She set them aside and turned to where Carrot Top and Spike were in the other room, walking over to join them for dinner.

Dinner was interesting, as it had been the past few days since Carrot Top signed on as Twilight's assistant. Spike went on and on about this, Carrot Top would change the subject to that, Twilight would throw in some extra information on both, then Spike would go off on a tangent and the cycle would repeat.

Spike headed into the kitchen to do the dishes, leaving the two mares alone in the library. Twilight decided it was the perfect time to resume her research, so she turned and started looking through her bookcases. She wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for, just that she would know what it was when she found it.

"So, umm... Twilight..."

"Mmhmm," came the librarian's reply, barely paying attention to the newly-created conversation.

Carrot Top idly scraped the ground with a hoof as she talked. "So, I was wondering..."

"Yeah?" The book she was looking for- even though she wasn't exactly sure what it was- was somehow evading Twilight. She moved to the next bookshelf.

"Well, since you don't really... get out much... I mean..."

Twilight decided to stop her search for a while and looked over at Carrot Top. She was staring at the ground, rubbing it with a hoof, glancing up every once in a while.

"Carrot Top?"

Said mare looked up at Twilight with such speed that her neck cracked from the sudden movement. The unicorn noticed Carrot Top's rosy cheeks, which was pretty weird; it wasn't very hot in the library.

"Oh, nevermind. It was nothing," said Carrot Top unconvincingly, looking just about everywhere except at Twilight. She unicorn was about to press the matter further when Spike ran into the room.

"Twilight! Twilight!" he shouted, trying to catch his breath after the tiring run all the way from the front door. His legs were nubby; it wasn't his fault the short run had that effect on him.

She waited a moment for her assistant to catch his breath before Twilight responded. "Yes, Spike?"

"Derpy's at the front door, says she's gonna let you cast your spell!" Spike exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face.

Twilight, however, was just confused. She tilted her head and looked at the little dragon inquisitively. "What spell?"

Carrot Top decided it was her turn to enter the conversation. "The-"

"Oh, right! The mind-moving spell!" Twilight exclaimed, clopping her hooves together and rushing to the front door. Derpy, as Spike had said, was waiting just outside the door. She was idly staring at the candle atop it, as well as one of the flowerpots inside. Upon noticing Twilight, she turned and smiled.

"Hi, Twi-"

"Hi, Derpy! I'm so glad you could make it! Come in, come in!" The over-eager librarian began gently nudging Derpy into the library. The pegasus wasn't sure what was going on, but offered little resistance. "Are you responding to the ad I put out?"

"Yes." Actually, Derpy's presence was only half-influenced by Twilight's ad. She half-wanted to help the mentally insane unicorn when Carrot Top ensured the safety of everything, but she was much too busy. A twenty-five bit payment was all it took for her to jump at the offer.

Twilight was happy. She had a pegasus to study! Derpy was pretty normal aside from her vision, which was trivial to the nature of pegasus magic, which made her a great pony to study. Of course, it was pretty late at night, which meant Twilight wouldn't have much time to document any of her actions. Then again, she had told everypony that the spell would allow her to take control of the body once asleep. Maybe Derpy had planned it. None of that really mattered. She began heading to the stairs, half-listening as Derpy talked about the thing she'd done.

Once at the top, Twilight hopped onto her bed, got comfortable, and cast the spell. She didn't have to leave a note this time; Spike and Carrot Top already knew what she was doing.

At first she thought she cast it wrong, that everything was blurry because she made a mistake, but then she remembered Derpy's wall-eyed-ness.

Oh, wow, I never realized how hard it must be for you to see...

Huh? Oh, yeah, you'll get used to it, Derpy mentally replied, starting to traverse the stairs. She noticed Carrot Top at the bottom, so she smiled and waved. Carrot Top waved back, following next to her when she passed by.

"Hey, Derpy. How is it, having Twilight in your head?"

"I dunno. It's weird, I guess." Derpy was out on the streets and began her walk home, Carrot Top in tow. She wasn't really sure if it was weird or not. There wasn't anything noticeably different about anything, so it was hard to tell.

Okay, but I'm gonna research some sight-enhancing spells once I get back in my body.

"Hehe, yeah. Pretty weird. But hey, Twilight said you can think to yourself if you try. Just thought I'd let you know," Carrot Top said, turning to head back to the library.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that. It's alright."

Carrot Top stopped and turned around. "What?"

It was Derpy's turn to stop and turn, confused. "What?"

"You just said-" she cut off, promptly introducing hoof to face. "Nevermind. I'll see ya later, Derpy." She walked back to the library as Derpy resumed her journey home.

Twilight was having a hard time focusing on emotions and thoughts. She was too distracted trying to focus on things she could barely see. She knew she would have to research some kind of sight enhancements or something similar, or she would never be able to live with herself. It was actually pretty surprising to her when Derpy successfully opened her front door on the first try. Now that she thought about it, she began to wonder how she managed to walk down the stairs back at the library.

"Mommy's home!" was heard in the house the second after the door opened. A pale purple filly sprinted towards Derpy and tackle-hugged her neck.

"Hello, Muffin." Derpy smiled and wrapped a hoof around the filly as she walked deeper into the house. Dinky released her grip on her mother's neck and Derpy, in turn, let go of the filly.

"So where's Twilight?" she asked, running back to the front door in search of the unicorn.

Twilight lost track of everything that happened after that. Her mind hurt too much from Derpy's eyes focusing on two things at once, everything lost in a blurry haze. She decided to forgo her research until she could figure out a way to fix eyes. Nopony deserved vision that poor.

She spent the remainder of the time Derpy was awake focusing on anything she thought was detrimental to vision. Her eyes moving about independently was pretty much the only thing she noticed. Every once in a while the eyes would align, and Twilight would be graced with a perfectly clear picture. The next moment, everything would be back to vaguely object-shaped colored blobs.

Once Derpy was asleep, Twilight tried to focus on random objects. It was pretty difficult; every time one eye moved the way she wanted it to, the other would go off in some random direction just to spite her. She wasn't exactly one to give up, but she couldn't even see anything. No way was she going to be able to conduct her research. Eyes closed, Twilight willed herself to sleep.

Twilight returned to her own body the next evening. She'd actually learned quite a bit about pegasi and wings from Derpy. She was sure there was plenty more to learn since she was only able to focus for a few hours before the spell wore off, but the restoration of vision was her top priority. Right after eating. And bathing.

Since Spike and Carrot Top knew when Twilight would wake, dinner was just being finished when she descended the stairs. It was the usual affair: Twilight told the two about her new plans, Carrot Top mentioned something, Spike said something almost completely unrelated, and the conversation continued from there until Spike decided he was full and excused himself. Twilight bid him wait, so he waited and received the ruby-encrusted sapphire she owed him from almost a week ago. Not that she forgot, it just slipped her mind.

Once that was done, Spike went off to some other room in the library. Twilight noticed Carrot Top's plate was empty but decided not to comment, instead focusing on eating and striking up a new conversation.

"So, about that-"

"Twilight, can I ask you something?"

If she was asking to ask something, Carrot Top was probably nervous. As if the hoof-rubbing, avoidance of eye contact, looking around everywhere, lip-biting, and awkward repositioning didn't make it blatantly obvious already.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well, um... Nevermi..." she trailed off, having spotted something off to her left. It apparently left the moment before Twilight tried to look at it, and Carrot Top continued. "I mean... Do you-"

The now-sweating mare was cut off as a bright light entered the room, both ponies and the peeping dragon shielding their eyes. The mares simultaneously regained their vision and, upon opening their eyes, bowed to Princess Celestia. Carrot Top stayed in that position as Twilight got up and walked over to her mentor.

"Princess Celestia! What're you doing here? Not that I don't want you here, I was just-"

Celestia chuckled and shook her head. "Twilight." The pupil shut her trap and calmed down. "I'm afraid I don't have much time to spend here. You have Starswirl the Bearded's journals, correct?"

"Yes, they're up in my room," she said, and the two headed off in the direction of the stairs. When Carrot Top gathered the nerve to raise her head she saw Celestia turn, smile, and wink at her. She didn't know for certain what it meant, but couldn't stop the heat from rising to her cheeks.

The two journals floated their way over to Celestia and she grasped one of them in her own magic, examining it to ensure its authenticity. She was apparently satisfied with what she saw, for she nodded and thanked Twilight before vanishing in a flash of light.

Twilight was confused, but chalked it up to Celestia being busy and went back downstairs to look up some sight restoration spells.

"So what did Celestia want?"

She turned to her draconic questioner, unsure of why her mentor needed the journal so badly. "She just came over to pick up Starswirl's journal."

"And you just gave it to her? After how long it took you to find it?"

"Yes, Spike. I can't just deny the Princess for no good reason. Besides, I already copied everything down," Twilight explained, walking over to one of her less-cluttered tables. "See? '2275: 'Twas my final and dearest hope for Sanctuary. No, 'tis my-'"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, I get it," Spike rudely interrupted. He really needed to learn some manners.

Carrot Top poked her head in, flicked her eyes this way and that, then reluctantly entered the room. "Where's the Princess?"

"She left a while ago. I was just telling Spike about-" Twilight was cut off as Spike loudly coughed into his hands, over-exaggerating to great lengths once he realized he had an audience.

"Oh, geez, you two. I think I'm sick. I should just go upstairs and take a nap. Bye!" The moment his foot hit the first step, he turned to Carrot Top and failed to inconspicuously nod to Twilight. When he saw Twilight's half-confused, half-annoyed face he turned back and rushed up the stairs.

Once that weirdness was apparently settled, the unicorn turned to her earth pony assistant. "What was that all about?"

This snapped Carrot Top out of her apparent reverie. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and thought of some way to avoid any conversation she didn't want to be in. Twilight loving books, she decided to take a chance. "So... what was that you were reading?"

Carrot Top could've sworn Twilight's eyes sparkled the moment those words came out of her mouth.

"Oh, right! It's Starswirl's last journal entries. They don't really say that much, other than he was chased and probably ended up being killed by some Everfree creatures or something. Here, I'll read it to you!"

It was at this moment Carrot Top realized she was doomed.

Nerd Mode engaged, Twilight levitated a small stack of papers in front of herself. "2275: 'Twas my final and dearest hope for Sanctuary. Now, 'tis my grave. My Shield, this spell, is daily, hourly weakening. Know that I do not Fear the inevitable: They most surely will overpower and break through this, through my Heart soon as well.

"Now, this entry is a lot shorter than most of his other ones. In the last one, Starswirl mentioned a "He" that created something terrible, but the "they" really threw me off."

Yes ,Carrot Top was certainly doomed. Wherever she went, Twilight would somehow manage to follow, read, and avoid any obstacles in her path. Carrot Top even jumped over a table hoping crashing into it would knock Twilight out of her rant, but it was no use.

"At first I thought "they" were the things "He" created, but Starswirl only ever mentioned him creating one thing. And then I read his last entry.

"2276: Now, to the Heavenly Celestia, I pray. My final, futile Sanctuary is lost. I can not, will not, shall not at all survive. I now know. I believe that, excluding Heavenly Luna and Sister, is this Forest corrupted with, and by, magicks of Darkness. The two, they both never are short of coming. They both never seem to let into themselves any pain, nor other emotions. They follow while closing in my room, my body, my folly, my regrets.

"Now, I thought that was really weird. Not only is his writing style completely different from his other two- his journal writing and his research documentation styles-, but this is the only entry where he mentions either of the Princesses. At first I thought he was living somewhere the Princesses had less influence, but..."

Carrot Top gave up after that. Her mind went blank, her body went numb, and her eyes closed as she fell asleep.