Work Text:
Fucking Celestia everything hurt. Twilight took in a few raggedy gasps, trying to figure out what was happening. The last thing she could remember was wandering the halls of Canterlot castle, in panic. She couldn’t remember why.
Her vision started to swim into focus, though everything looked fuzzy. “Spike?” All she could see as she looked around wildly was a white room with a mirror on one side. There was also a pony, orange and yellow and fiery red in front of her. The ground felt soft under her hooves. No sign of the little dragon anywhere. “Spike?”
“Where’s... where’s Spike?”
The unicorn in front of her had an expression that she couldn’t make out. “Twilight? Oh my god, Twilight! It worked!”
Something made of glass dropped out of the air, falling to the ground with a muffled sound as she was engulfed in a massive hug. “S-Sunset? What’s- what’s going on? Where am I?”
“Twilight! You’re... you’re okay?”
“Where’s...?” She looked around for the little purple dragon, but the only clue to his whereabouts was-
A hoof waved in front of her face. “Hey... Twilight? You okay?”
She started breathing heavily, thoughts growing frantic. “No. No no no no no.” Tiny flashes of memories were trickling back. Her mind had already figured it out for her.
“I didn’t- I can’t have-“ she protested to no one. Her teeth felt dirty. She felt disgust at herself, loathing as she recalled the memory. “Oh Spike I’m so sorry I didn’t- I didn’t mean-“ Twilight hiccupped, halfheartedly wiping away the tears gathering on her face with her hoof. “I’m- I’m-“
“Twilight! Listen to me.”
Those same tears started trailing down Twilight’s muzzle. She barely registered Sunset holding her in a tight embrace. Despite that, she stiffened, though more out of instinct than anything. “You’re... okay now. It’s gonna be okay. We... we found a cure.” She tenderly brought a hoof up to the purple alicorn’s face. “We can- we can save them, Twi.”
“Sunset, what... what have I done?”
Her smile faded. “Twilight, it-” She took a deep breath, failing to suppress a sickened expression on her face. “It’s not your fault. You...”
“I ate him, Sunset. I- I shouldn’t-” Her hooves went up to her face, shielding her eyes in a vain attempt to stop her from bawling her eyes out right then and there. “Celestia, I don’t- I don’t know what to-“
Sunset shifted uncomfortably. “It’s- it’s okay, Twilight. You weren’t in- you weren’t okay. And... it’s easy to make mistakes when that happens. Especially when something else takes control of your head.” She made a bit of a sheepish smile. “It wasn’t your fault. None of it was. I promise.”
The unicorn extended a hoof, offering to help her up with a hopeful expression. Twilight looked up, heart filling with something warm and uncomfortably fuzzy. “I-“ She realized she had nothing to say about it, nothing more she could think of saying. “How did you find a cure?”
“Well, looks like your genius rubbed off on Starlight, because she designed a potion to kill the worms. And Discord did... well, Discord things to it to make it fully fix ‘em up. I don’t really know, but... don’t look a gift mare in the mouth?” Sunset smiled a bit awkwardly again. “Anyways, the others probably want to see you. I shouldn’t keep you all to myself.” Twilight nodded, shoving that uncomfortable warmth down to where it came from. “You guys can come out now! She’s okay.”
The door practically flew open. Out came Fluttershy, Trixie, and Starlight. They all practically attacked her at once, hugging her with full force. Except Fluttershy. “Thank you all. I- you all did really well. I’m... so glad you could handle it.”
“I would imagine so.” A familiar voice came from somewhere to her side. Though she was trapped, Twilight knew exactly who that was. “Considering how you’re all-“ Fluttershy shot the draconequus a disappointed look. “Alright, alright, yes, yes, very good job everyone, go pat yourselves on the back.”
Starlight was the next to speak up, eyes shining with pent-up tears. “I’m just- so glad to have you back, Twilight. I was scared.” Her and Fluttershy stepped back. Trixie took another second to get the memo. “But, with a bit of Fluttershy’s blood, and Discord’s... uh... something, we found a cure.”
Twilight nodded. “What about everyone else?”
“We, uh. Haven’t really gotten around to fixing everything else just yet. Not even the great and powerful Trixie – and her star assistant – can solve this on their own.”
Fluttershy giggled at something Discord whispered into her ear. He pointed to the four of them.
Twilight rubbed her eyes, looking around at her friends that surrounded her. “Well, then there’s... no better time to start than now, right?”
...
“Greetings, Twilight. I am glad to see you are doing... better than before.” The princess of night winced a little looking at the smaller alicorn’s left eye. It would probably look mutilated until the day she died. “Are you doing well?”
Twilight looked up from the mess of papers on her desk. “Hi, Princess Luna. I’m...” She trailed off, unsure what to say. ‘Fine’ would suffice, but she didn’t feel particularly good. “I don’t know.”
The princess walked over to her desk, looking over the papers. Twilight tried in vain to hide what little moisture had seeped into the pages. “It is alright. In truth, I... do not always know how to feel either.” For a while, she just watched as the purple princess tried to pick herself back up and refocus on the research from Starlight. The effort was in vain.
“Luna?” Twilight swallowed. “I-I just-“
“Yes?”
“Did Celestia really- I just can’t believe she-“
“Yes, Twilight. And she will not be coming back to Equestria.” The princess’ tone of voice was resolute, though there was a slight waver. “She wished to abandon her empire out of fear. Tia...” Luna took in a long, deep breath to compose herself. “Celestia is a coward. She is unfit to reign if she treats her position so... frivolously.”
Twilight wanted to say something, but her head was empty. She didn’t know why, but a traitorous part of her mind wanted to defend her mentor. “But she wouldn’t-”
“The evidence is clear.”
The dark blue mare had a conflicted expression on her face. “But- she always cared about us-“ Twilight’s good eye was reddened from tears. She tried to convince herself, desperately wanted to believe that Celestia wouldn’t have just... abandoned them all once faced with something she was unsure about. “She couldn’t have- I- she can’t have-“
“She did.”
Luna’s face was unreadable through the tears clouding her eyes. Her voice had a steel edge to it. Twilight nodded, staring into a distant mirror, a little too lost in thought to recognize the pony looking back. She shook her head. “It just... feels wrong without Celestia in charge.” Her thoughts strayed to the sun-marked throne; somehow, it felt sacrilegious to imagine it vacant, like something was wrong with her for even picturing anyone other than her ruling over Equestria.
Silence fell between the two. Luna looked away for a moment, presumably gathering her thoughts. “Oftentimes, we may find that those we looked up to... are not who they present themselves as. Celestia has shown her true colors and fled when Equestria needed her most. And as loathe as I am to admit it, I followed in her hoofsteps. I am similarly at fault.”
“But y-you came back. You did more to help-“
“No, Twilight.” She shifted on her hooves uncomfortably. “This is my load to bear. You need not trouble yourself with my problems.” Arguing wouldn’t get either of them anywhere. Both of them knew that. Luna sighed. “I believe your friends may need your assistance at the hospital. It would certainly do you more good to spend some time with them, rather than... this.”
She was right. As much as she wanted to keep trying to figure out the mystery of the potion, talking it out would probably help, if just a little. “okay.” Her voice was fragile as she took a step back from the table. Luna started to walk away, though Twilight managed to give her a quick hug before she left.
“Twilight, I-“ Her grip tightened. Luna just smiled and returned the embrace. “Thank you, Twilight.”
She nodded, withdrawing. “Thank you, Princess Luna. For...” The younger alicorn swallowed. “For everything.”
“You are welcome. And, um... just Luna is fine. We are both princesses, are we not?” A chuckle escaped the older mare’s muzzle. She gave Twilight a half-hearted wave before leaving the library.
...
Twilight was walking down the streets of Ponyville. It was uncomfortably empty; maybe one or two ponies in sight. And she was starting to worry about the rest of her friends.
Fluttershy was in her cabin with Discord. She’d been staying inside much more often, though she really couldn’t blame poor pegasus. After all, there were many days she wanted to do the same and just rot in bed. A hoof tapped on her shoulder.
“Uh... Twilight?”
“Oh! Hi, Sunset.” The alicorn tried to smile, stretching her muzzle into some strange imitation of one. She must’ve looked a bit like a skinwalker. “I’m just, um, going to the clinic. In case Starlight needed any help.”
“I was on my way too. You, uh, wanna go together?”
“Sure.” They started walking to the hospital in silence. The entire town was silent, save for their hoofsteps on the dirt ground.
Sunset winced. “Hey, Twilight? Are you doing better? You were a little bit...”
“I know.”
She waited for an explanation that never came. After a moment of awkwardly waiting, the unicorn looked to the side. “Any news on the others? I mean, they’re probably doing fine, somewhere out there...” Her tone didn’t sound convinced. “But maybe they don’t know it’s safe to come back?”
“We don’t know what happened to them.” She felt kind of awful for being so brisk. Especially when she looked away from her like that. “Don’t you have things to do in Canterlot High?”
She shook her head. “My friends’ safety come first. That includes you guys, too. I told them I might not come back.”
“How did that go?”
“I... don’t know? I kinda... left a note and shut the portal on that side.” Sunset looked back at her with a shameful smile. “Still not sure that was the right thing to do.”
Twilight slowly reached a hoof out, gently resting it on Sunset’s left shoulder. “You did what you thought was best. That’s the most important thing.” She managed to give her an encouraging look.
Her expression turned from surprise to a sort of content within a few moments. “Thanks, Twi.” Her gaze shifted downwards. “You know, we’re a lot better at comforting each other than ourselves.” She was correct, Twilight observed.
“I guess so.”
Sunset looked around the street. “
They kept walking.
Starlight was in the lab in the hospital. She practically tripped over her own hooves to greet them. “Twilight! Sunset! Uh- Hold on, this batch is nearly done.” She smiled and took the potion off the heat, bubbling pot levitating onto a covered table. An oddly shaped vial was poured into the mixture. “Hey! Did you come to help us out?”
Sunset and Twilight looked at the mess of a lab, somewhere between Zecora’s hut and a clinical science area. The white tiles looked stained with spills of something unknowable, though Starlight didn’t seem to mind as the syringes filled themselves up. “Uh... yeah, pretty much. What’cha need?”
“Great! Well, um, if it’s okay, we can split up? I need a few more hooves and, well-”
A startled yelping came from further in the hospital, undoubtedly Trixie’s. “...yeah.”
“I can help Trixie. You two work on making more potion?”
“Isn’t it technically insecticide?”
Sunset scoffed, a smile plastered on her muzzle. “Whatever you wanna call it, we’re gonna need a lot.” She turned around, picking up a few syringes and walking off into the treatment wards.
For a moment, Twilight didn’t realize Starlight was staring at her with a bit of an odd look. She snapped back into reality just as the pale unicorn recoiled a little, trying to say something that came out too fast. “Oh, I-I didn’t mean to stare, I just-“ A deep breath. “Let’s... keep making some worm killer?” She winced and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.
...
It was some kind of miracle seeing the infection come undone. Twilight had opted to watch Sunset handle an injection while Starlight continued to make another batch. “You sure? Not a very pretty sight.” She’d just nodded. “Alright. Let’s go.”
The glass that separated them was thick and showed no signs of fragility. Inside was an infected stallion that had been led inside by none other than the blue (slightly rattled) showmare. The only sound was a fain hum from Sunset’s horn as the needle pierced the infected skin.
The creature let out a shriek, thrashing as the contents emptied themselves deep into their chest. Sunset grimaced as she wrested control over the glass appliance from the infected.
Slowly at first, black smoke started to seep from its openings, eyes, nose, and mouth as torn muscle and skin started to regrow over the raw, diseased flesh. It didn’t look comfortable.
Eventually, as the wisps of darkness faded into the air, the pony gasped for breath. Twilight’s heart started to hammer faster as she tried to process what she’d just seen. Sunset unlocked and opened the door to greet them.
“I told you my assistant was just as powerful and intelligent as I,” Trixie said triumphantly. This managed to elicit an irritated huff from the alicorn. She didn’t respond, however.
The healed stallion thanked Sunset with tears in his eyes and unsteadily began to walk outside, whooping in delight upon seeing the sun once more. She gave Twilight a funny look, which made her giggle, at least a little bit.
The Princess of Friendship was practically bursting with questions by the time she’d made it back to the lab. “Starlight, your- this potion is amazing! How did you- alright, alright.” Twilight took a deep breath, much to the amusement of the startled unicorn. “Can you explain it to me? Ill get Spike to-“
She stopped for a moment, trying to push down the festering realization in her gut. “N-nevermind! I’ll just... write it myself.”
Starlight gave her an uneasy glance at that but nodded. “O-okay... well, um... I’ll start with what it does.”
...
The sun was starting to paint the horizon orange by the time her companion had finished making the last batch of potion. Twilight was surprised at how efficient she was when it came to magic; it puzzled her how the mare could find it so easy and yet struggle with talking to other ponies.
The four of them had managed to clean out nearly everypony in the hospital; everypony who survived, anyways. This last batch should be plenty enough for the remaining infected in here. Starlight had insisted on cleaning up by herself, telling Twilight to rest and that she could handle herself.
That was why the alicorn was walking down the dirt road, accompanied once more by Sunset Shimmer. She wasn’t fully sure Sunset had a place to stay, but they could figure something out. Probably. “Must’ve been pretty nice, huh?”
“Yeah. It was, actually.” She understood the stallion’s excitement to be out in the sun; she’d felt the same when she’d been cured. “It’s... not really an overreaction.”
Sunset nodded grimly. “Well, at least we can help them now.” Twilight registered the words in her head but didn’t respond. She glanced over at the alicorn staring into the distance, before waving a hoof in front of her face.
“Huh?”
“Earth to Twilight?” Probably a human world thing.
“Sorry, I just- was thinking.”
She stared into Twilight’s eyes for a long few seconds. “You know, if you ever need to-“
Their conversation was abruptly cut off as she toppled to the floor with a loud crash, legs wrapping around her affectionately. “Twilight! You’re-“ A blue pegasus glanced at her eye and moved her head back and forth a bit. “You’re... okay?”
Sunset just glanced at the two of them. “Yeah, she’s, uh, she’s all healed up now.” The mare was unnaturally good at putting on a smile. Twilight got up, trying to regain a grip on the situation. Rainbow Dash had- Rainbow? She’s alright?
“Oh. Hi, Rainbow.”
Dash had sheepishly gotten up from accidentally pinning Twilight to the ground and rubbed the back of her head. “Do you, uh... know where everypony else is? Also, your new eye is awesome!” It didn’t feel very awesome. She knew what Rainbow had said was true to her feelings, though. That made her feel a little better.
An irritated, familiar voice called out from behind both of them. Twilight swiveled her head to observe who it was, getting up from the dirt ground. She would have to wash up tonight, if anything. “Dash, what did we tell you about- oh my Celestia. Twilight?” The two younger Apples ran towards her, though Sunset stopped them before they could tackle her to the ground again.
“She’s... a bit tired,” she’d explained to Applejack. “And I think affectionately attacked enough times in the last minute.”
The purple alicorn shook herself off and silently thanked Sunset. “I’m glad to see you two are alright.” She looked at Applejack for a moment. A crushing sense of reality and relief took ahold of her as she realized that they were okay, even if Applejack looked rough and worn out. A few wounds were still crusted with dried blood. “Can you... tell me what happened? Tomorrow. It’s getting pretty late.”
“Sure thing, sugarcube,” the earth pony replied carefully. “I’m jus’ really glad you’re okay.” Twilight hadn’t ever heard Applejack’s voice crack before then. I guess there’s a first time for everything. She wiped some tears away and hugged her, but only for a short moment. “You had us all worried sick.”
“Applejack, are we going yet?” Applebloom stood behind them, testily walking in circles. “I wanna go home! Where’s Big Mac?”
“Well, uh, sorry to cut this short. I better get going.” She smiled, turning around. “I missed you, Twilight. See ya tomorrow.” Her and Applebloom waved goodbye.
“I’m going with her.” Sunset gave Dash a half-lidded smile. “What? Stop- don’t give me that look!” The pegasus just stuck her tongue out and disappeared in a rainbow blur.
It was just the two of them again; the pair had left just as suddenly as they’d arrived. Twilight glanced over at the unicorn awkwardly shuffling on her hooves. “Um. I don’t actually have a place to stay. Would it be okay if...?”
“Yeah. Th-that’d be fine.” She looked pointedly away to try and hide any more ridiculous faces she could be making. Her emotions were frazzled at the end of the day; she was probably caught up in the heat of the moment. That was why she felt all warm and fuzzy about the idea of spending the night with Sunset.
The two of them just walked the streets of Ponyville in silence. It was comfortable, if a little unfortunate to have nothing but her thoughts to occupy her brain. Sunset’s presence was oddly soothing; she felt close to relaxed for the first time that day.
Neither spoke up until they reached the crystalline castle. The orange unicorn trailed close behind Twilight as she led the way. “This is my room. The guest room-“ Starlight uses that now. “The guest room is taken. You can sleep here if that’s comfortable.” Truth be told, the only bed aside from hers was Spike’s, and it would be incredibly rude to give Sunset the short end of the branch.
“Cool. You mind if I take the rug?”
“I- you can take the bed.”
“You sure? It’s your room.”
“I’m used to it.” Moreso that she was used to falling asleep randomly when her body saw fit. Which was most often on grass if she was lucky, or a boulder if she wasn’t. The parasites didn’t really care. Sunset bit her tongue for a moment.
“...if you say so.”
Twilight settled down on the rug and watched Sunset uncertainly climb onto her bed. She was tired and while the rug felt nice, it was still a bit chilly. Her thoughts strayed towards the idea of sharing the bed. It was big enough.
“Sunset?”
The unicorn perked her head up a bit. “Yeah?”
She hesitated, the words dying on her tongue. “...nevermind.” I’m such an idiot. She might take that the wrong way.
“Oh. Okay then.”
...
She couldn’t move. Her body was not her own. It moved regardless of what she told it to do, what she wanted it to do. That was a far too common occurrence. And Celestia above, it hurt. It hurt so fucking much. She could feel her muscles being digested as the hunger consumed her from the inside out, each little damned parasite happily joining in on making her life a living hell.
Something inside her was furious at... something else. At what, she couldn’t exactly figure it out; the feeling was nebulous at best. “SHUT THE FUCK UP, SPIKE!” The dragon in question was stumbling about blindly. His eyes were gone. They’d tasted so fucking good dear celestia it was like nothing she’d ever
what am I thinking?
She breathed heavily as she stared into the concrete walls. The short moment of lucidity had already worn off, leaving her nearly salivating at the mouth for hope of food. There wasn’t any in this CELESTIA FORSAKEN CELL
stop
not again
and it was driving her up the FUCKING WALL. Twilight looked around just to check, as if anything would’ve changed. Maybe a few minutes passed as she stared at the bland, tasteless walls. Then, suddenly, a wonderful idea came to her mind as she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it sooner
please
and she sprung to her hooves, merrily trotting towards the dragon, the blissfully unaware
Twilight stopped looking. She closed her eyes, did anything to stop looking at what was happening, but her ears and hooves and tongue still betrayed the slow, sickening crunch of his skull and the feeling of something wet and the taste of blood sating her desire, blissfully stopping the agony if only for a few seconds but oh celestia it was so worth it
she wanted to cry out, to protest, do anything to stop munching at his carcass.
but her body was not her own.
A few moments passed. The only sounds she could hear were the muffled crunching and a faint echo of a voice. It was getting louder now, calling her name. “Twilight? Twilight! There you are. Are you-?”
Her body looked up at the princess, grinning manically. It took her a few moments to register who it was she was staring at. “Twilight, I-“ Luna cut herself off before simply pulling her into a hug. “I apologize. I had no idea...”
Something wet landed on her shoulder. A shuddering breath came from the larger mare. “This is all just... a bad nightmare. You will be alright. None of this is real.” She couldn’t see the princess’ expression from there, but returned the embrace.
“Th-thank you, Princess.”
She did not reply. For a time, they laid like that, Twilight’s heavy breathing punctuating the otherwise still air. Finally, Luna acknowledged her. “Dispelling nightmares is my royal duty, is it not? I am... happy to be of service. Dreams should be a safe haven absent from the worries of the real world.” A drawn-out pause followed, hanging in the air. Her voice had fallen to a whisper. “Saccharine stars, you poor thing. If... if you desire so, please do not hesitate to talk to me, or any of your friends.”
“...Princess?”
“Yes?”
“Promise me, too.” Twilight’s voice was hoarse; it felt painful to use something that felt so dry and caked with blood. “Not to doubt you, but... nopony can carry the world on their wings, right? Please, don’t keep it all bottled up.”
“I... suppose that is true.” Their surroundings faded into something indiscriminate; dreams didn’t try too hard when nopony paid attention. “Very well. I shall do my best, Twilight. I can promise you that.”
The void wrapping around them warped into that of her old library home, something that felt like a lifetime ago. It was quiet. A mug of hot chocolate, still steaming, sat on the counter, along with a book of some kind. “I must go now; I trust that you will be alright?”
“Yeah.” She wished Luna could stay just a little bit longer, but she no doubt had others to guide through their nightmares. “I’ll- be okay. Thank you.”
“Sleep well.” She smiled for a moment before disappearing into a shower of sparkles. Twilight silently wondered how Luna had known to bring her here, or perhaps if her own mind had thought of a comfortable place for her.
The book laid out on the counter wasn’t one that she recognized, so she examined it a little before opening it up. The drink also tasted good. She buried herself in her thoughts, too focused on the book to notice the shadows flickering in the back of her mind.
...
Nearly a week had passed. Rarity’s funeral was in a few days; Discord’s power had its limits, as it turned out. Pinkie was missing her exuberant energy, and the contrast was... offputting. Without anything better to do, Twilight had thrown herself into making a new gateway to Canterlot High, though little progress had been made.
Sunset was setting up a complicated scrying spell on the glass fragment, reading through a book of magic to make sure the steps were going correctly. Twilight was looking through an old history book in a vain attempt to figure out when and how the mirror was made.
“Hey, uh, Twilight?” She raised her head in response somewhat listlessly. “Are you... sure about this?”
“What?”
“This whole... returning to Canterlot High project.”
She paused and let the question register. “Don’t you want to go back home?”
Sunset smiled a little awkwardly. “It’s my job to finish it. I’m the one who broke it, after all.” The unicorn stopped any other words from leaving her muzzle.
“I can still help.”
“That and Dash has been complaining about you being a shut-in for the last week.” Her expression turned sardonic. “Besides, I’m not the first to learn that... friends are there to fall back on. Can’t hurt to take a day off work, right?” Twilight turned the idea over in her head. Taking some time away from this massive headache was a rather enticing possibility.
She winced. “I don’t know. I-”
The unicorn gave her a worried look. “You know it’d be good for the both of us. One day can’t hurt, right?”
Twilight groaned internally, letting out a sigh. “Okay, okay, fine-“
Sunset’s muzzle broke into a large smile. “Sounds great! They’ll be at the hayburger shack in about ten minutes.” Her orange legs wrapped around Twilight in a moment of giddy happiness. “I knew you’d do the right thing!”
That managed to draw a smile out of the alicorn, even if just for a few moments. “...thanks, Sunset.” A hoof scratched behind her ears. They just stared at each other for a moment. “For... a lot.”
“Consider it a debt repaid. Anyways, are ya ready?” She flashed a smile before darting to the door. “Let’s go!”
Twilight giggled to herself. A day off sounded like a wonderful idea, now that she thought about it a little more.
...