//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: An unfamiliar ceiling // Story: My Little Evangelion // by ProfCharles //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle I awoke with a gasp. What a terrifying nightmare, I thought to myself, staring at the ceiling. Lying in my bed, I reviewed the dream. So much pain and anger, blood and rage. And that scream of pure, primal fear! But why can I not remember any details? I continued to stare at the ceiling, when a small nagging feeling came over me, the feeling that something was wrong. I decided to count the white tiles on the ceiling ti pass the time when something occurred to me. That's not my ceiling! This isn't my room! Sitting up, I looked around at the gleaming white room in panic, trying to work out where I was. Some medical equipment in a corner caught my eye. A hospital? Suddenly the full weight of last night's memories hit me. I swayed in the bed, clutching my head and my arm as the phantom memory of pain throbbed through me. The door slid open, Luna walking in. Distracted from my thoughts, I stared at the dark blue alicorn. She was the same height as me, her ethereal mane blowing in a nonexistent breeze. One of her wings was bound in a sling. She's beautiful I thought as she approached, a blush colouring my cheeks. "We see that you are well," Luna said, the force of her shout nearly blowing me back. I stared in shock at her voice. There was no emotion in it—no compassion, no friendliness, no concern, nothing. It couldn't even be described as cold. It was just empty. Empty and loud, like she didn't know what emotions were and made up for it in volume. "Come with us, The Princess wishes to speak to you." "Princess Celestia? What does she want?" I asked, pulling myself out of the bed. "You are to be debriefed on your battle with the angel two nights ago." "Two nights ago? You mean I have been asleep for an entire day?" "Yes." We walked out of the room and down the corridor in silence. A dozen questions filled my mind, but every time I looked at the Alicorn and her emotionless, doll-like face, they disappeared. I contented myself with examining her. She stood at the same height as me, although her horn was longer. Her slender legs and long, thin wings gave her an appearance of fragility, whilst her finely curved flanks—I snapped my head forwards, a blush reddening my face. Luna gave no indication that she had noticed my behaviour. Slowly, my eyes turned back to her. Her mane was a lighter blue than her coat, whilst her cutie mark occupied her entire flank, a cresent moon on a field of stars. I wondered what it meant. The corridor came to an end, a lift waiting for us. We walked in, Luna selecting the top most button. Side by side we stood, the awkward silence persisting as the lift rose to the top floor. The door opened and we walked out into a large, open room. Its only feature was a desk in the middle, behind which sat Celestia. Luna and myself bowed in sync as we approached the desk. "Thank you Luna, you may go now," Celestia dismissed the blue Alicorn. When she had gone, she turned to me. "Now then, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, what happened two nights ago?" I took a deep breath and recounted what happened that night. --- "-ight! Can you hear me Twilight? Twil-" Cadance screamed, her voice fading in and out as I hung on to the edge of consciousness. I am going to die, I thought. I am going to die, crushed by this monster. It's not fair! I didn't get to learn anything and now I am going to die! I felt anger stir in my heart, my thoughts twisting with hatred towards the monster that was trying to kill me. I will not let this abomination kill me! Suddenly, I felt the MAGIC move, its broken arm lifting up and grabbing the red lance before it could strike again. I didn't do that! It moved by itself, just like back in the hanger! I looked on in amazement as the Eva picked itself up, still holding the lance and roared defiantly at the angel. The MAGIC threw the Angel backwards, before swinging a hoof at its face. An octagonal wall of light blocked the kick. "An Absolute Terror field!" I heard the Doctor yell in shock over the headset. "Nothing can penetrate an A.T field!" I ignored him and watched as the MAGIC rose up on its—our?—hind legs and swung down, impacting on the glowing wall with a mighty crack. As the Eva leaned back again, I saw an A.T field start to form around our—its?—front hooves. When we came down, the wall of light shattered underneath the blow. Once more we struck and this time there was nothing to prevent our attack. Blue blood flowed down the street as we stared at the gory mess of muscle and bone beneath us, the Angel's pulverised meat sticking to our hooves. At some point during the fight, we had become as one. Now that fight was over, I regained control of the Eva. Panting heavily, something caught my eye. In one of the buildings, the MAGIC's reflection could be seen—the armour plating over the face broken, revealing a large, grotesque, organic eye swirling around in its socket. Suddenly it stopped and fixated upon me, staring into my soul. I screamed, fear overtaking my mind and driving me into unconsciousness. --- I finished my report, emotionally exhausted. Did that really happen? a small part of myself asked, unable to come to terms with what had happened. Throughout the retelling, Celestia had remained impassive, not speaking, not moving, eyes focused on my face. Finally, she spoke. "Thank you Twilight, that will be all." I stared in shock. No congratulations, no thank you? Not even a 'how are you?' She was my adoptive mother, after all. I caught the look in her eye and bowed, quickly leaving the room. I managed to make it to the lift before I collapsed, sobbing, tears dripping down my face. The lift pinged and the door slid open, revealing Cadance. "Oh, Twilight," She murmured, picking me up and placing me on her back. I must have passed out, for the next thing I remember is waking up in another bed, this room small and cosy compared to the large clinical room I had first woken up in. Another unfamiliar ceiling, I thought to myself. A clock on the wall told me it was early evening, whilst a grumble from my stomach reminded me that I hadn't eaten in nearly two days. Falling out of bed, I wandered out of the door and made it to a kitchen, where Cadance was eating. "Good evening, sleepy head!" she called out in a sing song voice. I grunted some sort of reply at her causing her to laugh. "If you're hungry, help yourself—I made soup." I raised an eyebrow at this—Cadance had never been able to cook. Peering into the pot and the black sludge within, I summarised that she still couldn't. Putting the pot down, I hunted though the cupboards until I found some cereal. "Maybe I should cook from now on," I said, sitting across from her at the table. "What's wrong with my cooking?" Cadance asked, an indignant look on her face. "How about, everything?" I deadpanned back. We shared a laugh at this. I suddenly noticed the can she was drinking from. "Is that hard cider?" I asked, incredulous. I had never known Cadance to drink before. She took an over dramatic swig, before slamming it on the table. "Yep!" She replied letting out a small burp. "Want some?" I shook my head and she carried on drinking. We settled into an uncomfortable silence, broken only by the sound of eating. After a short while, Cadance took my hoof in hers and looked me in the eye. "You did well." --- Later that evening, I twisted and turned in my new bed, but every time I closed my eyes, the grotesque eye of the MAGIC would fill my mind, preventing any chance of sleep. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't sleep. I climbed out of bed and wandered into the apartment. "Twilight?" A groggy and slightly drunken voice called out from across the hall. "I'm just going for a walk," I called back. Snores answered me. I smiled and tip-toed my way out of the apartment, into the cool night air. Picking a direction at random, I trotted down the street, only paying enough attention so I wouldn't get lost. After a short while of aimless wandering, I stopped outside a brightly lit shop. The Sugarcube Corner? I noticed that it was still open, even at this late hour. Since I had a few bits on me and was still feeling peckish, I wandered into the faux gingerbread house. Inside was a brightly lit cafe, with a counter displaying fresh cakes and sweets. The only other person in the room was a pink earth pony with cotton candy hair. She had her back to me and was currently gorging on an ice cream sundae almost the same size as her. I watched in fascination as a series of twitches coursed through her body, culminating in her turning around and seeing me. She gave a gasp of surprise and rushed over to me, enveloping me in a big hug. "I've never seen you before and if I've never seen you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and if you're new, that means you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, so I thought, I know, I'll be your friend!" the pink pony rambled on, crushing me in her hug. "Can't breathe!" I gasped out. The pink pony dropped me, looking apologetic. "Sorry, but I was so happy to make a new friend. I'm Pinkie Pie! Want a cupcake?" she said, bouncing around the room. I was feeling exhausted just looking at her. "Twilight Sparkle." I frowned as she helped herself to the cupcakes behind the counter. "Are you allowed to do that?" "Don't worry, I work here. Here you go, on the house!" she said, passing me half a dozen cupcakes. I bit into one and was overwhelmed by the sugary goodness. It was like eating happiness itself. I told Pinkie this, which pleased her greatly. "I'm glad you like it, 'cause making ponies happy is my special talent!" she said, pointing at her flank, which had three party balloons as her cutie-mark. Her ear twitched a couple of times. "Uh oh, my pinkie sense is telling me someone's unhappy. Why don't you tell auntie Pinkie about it?" she said guiding me to the table. "I ... I am not sure I can. I made a promise to keep it secret." I said, thinking of the declaration of secrecy I had signed. "Pish-posh. If it bothers you, I can make a pinkie promise not to tell any one. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Despite the silliness of the promise, there was a certain seriousness to it as well. I took a gamble and told her everything. Losing my family at Second Impact, my adoption and subsequent abandonment by the Princess, and how even Cadance left me, the events of the past few days, everything. At the end of it, I looked up and saw a rather surprising sight. Pinkie's hair had deflated, for want of a better word, and was now hanging flat. There was a dark, somber expression in her face. "Sachiel was in my nightmares too. I am glad you killed it," she said quietly. "What? How?" I asked, incredulous. "You said you got your cutie-mark on the day of Second Impact?" I nodded an affirmative. "So did I. I saw the rainboom and it made me happy, truly happy for the first time in my life. And from that moment I knew I had to make everyone feel the same happiness I did. Then Second Impact happened. We were poor farmers—so poor that I had to work, removing rocks from the fields so it could be ploughed." Pinkie gave a small laugh. "I did it so much, that for a while I thought it was a rock farm! When Second Impact happened, we were hit by a drought. I didn't know it at the time, but there wasn't much food. My parents gave it all to my sisters and myself. All I knew was that I had to keep everyone happy and laughing. My parents died of starvation, smiles on their faces. That was when the nightmares started. And I knew, just knew, that the monsters in my nightmares caused Second Impact, that they killed my parents." I stared in horror. Everyone had a Second Impact story, but to hear one like this, in the bright cheery setting of the bakery, from this hyperactive, laughing pink pony, was just too much. I held her hoof in mine and we just sat there, in companionable silence. I glanced at a clock and saw that it was nearly dawn. "I need to be getting back home," I said apologetically. "Thank you Pinkie, for the cupcakes and... and for listening to me. You are a good friend. No, you are the best friend I have ever had." Pinkie perked up at this, returning to her bubbly, happy personality. The sudden change was a little jarring. "And thank you too, Twilight! You will come and see me again, right?" "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-OW!" We shared a laugh at my clumsiness and said our goodbyes. I returned to Cadance's apartment—my home now, I suppose—with a light heart and slipped into my bed. For the first time in years, I slept peacefully.