“Hey, the bleeding’s stopped! That’s good, right?”
“Well, Rainbow, that’s because I’m using my magic to stop any more blood leaving her body, which is both very tiring for me and probably very painful for her, so it’s probably time to start thinking about a new plan.”
“We need to get her to Nurse Readheart’s!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, hovering worriedly above the downed Wonderbolt. “She’ll know what to do!”
Twilight shook her head. “That’s on the other side of town, my magic won’t hold out long enough for her to get here, and moving her over there is just as bad.”
“Well, can’t you do some spell or something? Surely you know something to heal wounds?”
“Not for something as big as this, Dash. Healing magic is a completely different thing to what I do, it’s not something I can just research in the, at a guess, ten minutes we have to solve this!”
All the ponies in the room could see that ten minutes was quite an ambitious estimate - beads of sweat were already forming on Twilight’s brow as she worked to keep her spell going.
“What, are you saying there’s nothing we can do?”
“What I’m saying is that I’m doing all I can right now, if we can close up this wound, I might be able to do more. So, honestly, any suggestions would be great, girls!”
“Dash!” Applejack said, her eyes widening. “I remember y’all tellin’ me about one time ya had a nasty crash back in Cloudsdale. Summat about gettin’ a big ol’ cut on ya back and they had to do some really out-o’-date treatment?”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes also widened. “Oh yeah!” she said, surprised that this thought had not come to her. “I got a wicked nasty cut right down my back, I was flying to close to our Town Hall and slashed my back on one of the flagpoles while I was doing a barrel roll. It was some dare that what’s-his-face asked me to do...”
“Dash,” Twilight said, her face now straining with the effort. “If we could get to the important bit of this story as soon as possible...”
“Oh yeah, sorry. Well, they said they needed unicorn magic to fix me up properly, but obviously, no unicorns up in Cloudsdale, so while we waited for one of the doctors from Canterlot to get flown up, they did something to make sure I didn’t bleed too much...I forget what it was called, but they sort of...tied up the wound? Using a needle and some really thick thread. Hurt like hay, but it stopped the bleeding alright.”
“You mean stitches?” Rarity said, talking for the first time since Spitfire’s arrival. “Like how one stitches up a dress?”
There was a moment of silence, as all eyes in the room fixed on Rarity. She gave a confused look, before realising the thought that had entered everypony else’s mind.
“Oh no no no no...you can’t be serious!” Rarity exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock.
“You gotta do it, Rares!” Rainbow Dash replied, darting over to the unicorn. “She’ll die if you don’t! It’ll be easy for as good as dress-maker as you!”
“But, if I make a mistake on a dress, I can just throw it out and start again! I can’t exactly do that with a pegasus can I?”
“Well, how often do you make mistakes on a dress?”
“...not very often, it’s true, but this is entirely different! A twenty-four hour deadline is pressure enough, and you’re asking me to do this in ten minutes? And with the knowledge that one slip could cost Spitfire her life? It’s that sort of thing that mistakes thrive on!”
“Not to rush you,” Twilight said, her face screwed up in concentration, “But it’s more like five minutes now. Rarity, there’s some needle and thread in the second drawer of my desk, you left it here when you fixed up my curtains. Not exactly surgical grade but it’ll have to do for now. We can move her into the other room so you won’t have everypony over your shoulder...”
“Twilight, I can’t...”
“Yes, you can, Rarity. It’ll be tough, and it’ll be weird as hay, I’m sure, but it’s either that, or she bleeds to death right here.”
“Yeah, Rarity, you can TOTALLY do it!” Pinkie Pie said, her cheerleading reflex appearing in the midst of the panic. “Just pretend that Spitfire is a dress, a totally awesome dress that you’re making her for the Gala! You’ll be fine! And hey, she won’t be able to wear that fantastic dress if she’s de...”
“Okay, okay, Pinkie, I get the picture, she’s a dress,” Rarity interrupted, preferring not to be reminded of the consequence of failure. “Fine, I’ll give it a try. I’ll just make sure to add this to my list of “memories to repress.””
“You’ll have to get the stuff and carry her in, Rarity,” Twilight said, keeping her focus on her magic and not turning to face Rarity. “Dash, get the door please. And Pinkie Pie, since Spike has done the actually quite impressive task of staying asleep through all this noise, I’ll need you to grab a book for me.”
As Rainbow Dash darted for the door, Pinkie Pie started her trademark bouncing. “Ooh, you want one of the medical books, Twi’? I made sure I knew where they all were, in case you asked. Graymane’s Anatomy? That’s just over he...”
“No, Pinkie, it’s not a medical book I need. It’s a book called Mind Over Matter, I might need it after Rarity’s done. Just bring it in here once you find it.”
Pinkie Pie brought a hoof to her forehead in salutation, before hopping to the opposite end of the library. Rarity’s horn flared as she retrieved the needle and thread from Twilight’s drawer, and carefully rose the pegasus from the ground, moving her as gently as she could manage, directing them all through the open door, as Twilight walked along at Spitfire’s side. Rarity exhaled deeply.
This is going to be difficult, she thought, thinking of the task ahead of her. But hey, a stitch in time saves nine...I suppose it could save a Wonderbolt too.
* * *
Nightmare Moon was now back in Celestia’s chambers, and this irritated her. She had planned to begin the march to Canterlot at least an hour ago, but the new insurgence from the Cloudsdale pegasi had forced to postpone, something which she was seriously unhappy about. The march to Ponyville would take the best part of a week, and while her plans to stir up fear and dread in Ponyville included leaving them to agonize over their fates for a few days, waiting even an hour longer than necessary was something that she didn’t want. Not because it gave Ponyville another hour to build defenses or escape, but because it was an hour longer to wait to exact her vengence on the Elements of Harmony, something she was very anxious to do.
Well, anxious is probably the wrong word, Nightmare Moon thought, looking out of Celestia’s grand window once again, watching the Royal Guard Pegasi take to the skies. Anxious might imply that I’m worried, which certainly isn’t the case. I told Twilight Sparkle that I would see her very soon, and I would hate to be called a liar.
While she was irritated at the delay, it was certainly a necessary one. Cloudsdale’s attempt at rebellion was something that needed dealing with as soon ass possible. Nightmare Moon had to admit that she had been blinkered slightly by her thoughts of revenge - despite Canterlot being the seat of power, taking it did not mean taking the world. Nearly everypony in every major city would want to take up arms against her, and taking the entire force of her army to Ponyville would be a slight misstep. The whole army was almost certainly not needed against a comparatively backwater town like Ponyville, especially when bigger threats lay elsewhere.
So, Nightmare Moon had revised her plan. The Pegasi would not be joining them on the march to Ponyville. She knew it would’ve been useful for reconnaissance to have them with her, if nothing else, but it wasn’t like Ponyville was an impenetrable fortress. Plus, she had Trixie, a pony who had lived in Ponyville for a few days during her travelling show, who had assured her that she could remember the streets of the town llike the back of her hoof.
“Honestly, at a trot, it’s barely ten minutes end to end,” Trixie had said. “That’s if you don’t count Sweet Apple Acres, of course, but there’s nothing but a barn there, not a hugely defensible place.”
Nightmare Moon had deemed that the pegasi wouldn’t be necessary. Instead, they would be heading first to Cloudsdale, and then to Manehatten, to neutralize any nearby threats. Towns like Appleoosa could wait - they were far too far out to be of any trouble at the moment, and would almost certainly simply fall in line once word reached them of Canterlot’s takeover. Nightmare Moon had also instructed the pegasi to give Manehatten a choice of unconditional surrender, the chance to keep their lives and city if they would follow the new rules of the land. However, Cloudsdale would be given no such chance. She saw them like Ponyville now - a place which would never fall in line no matter what. Only total annihilation would suffice for them, and that was exactly Nightmare’s plan.
She watched the pegasi hovering, all level with the Royal Chamber’s pane-less window, all looking expectantly at their queen. They had been given their orders, they knew the task at hand, but they had also been ordered to wait for their new commanding officer, the pegasus who would be leading the charge into Cloudsdale.
That pegasi, a member of a trickster pegasus air show team known as the Wonderbolts, was standing next to Nightmare Moon at this very moment, surveying his new troops in silence with a hard gaze.
“Are you ready, Soarin’?” Nightmare Moon said.
“Yes, my Queen.”
“Then go.”
Soarin’ needed no further encouragement. He rocketed out of the empty window, his trademark thundercloud trail becoming the most visible thing in the darkened sky. The hundred-strong collection of pegasi ceased their patient wait, and followed him west to the barely visible white clouds of Canterlot.
Nightmare Moon smiled. Soarin’ had been easier to break than she had first thought. She had expected him to put up more of a fight, especially given his feelings towards his teammate Spitfire, something Nightmare had noticed was foremost in his mind while she was wandering around it. However, at the end of a day, he was only a pegasus. Only an extremely powerful unicorn would have a chance at resisting such powerful magic - despite Soarin’s reputation as a Wonderbolt and one of the greatest fliers in Equestria, he was no more difficult to break than any random pony from the streets of Canterlot.
“You think we can trust him?” Trixie asked, taking the spot next to Nightmare Moon that Soarin’ had vacated.
“The beautiful thing about this magic, Trixie, is that trust is taken out of the equation altogether.” Nightmare replied. “They see me as their leader...rather, I have forced them to see it. I have rewired their minds to such an extent that my orders are all that they are aware of. There are no feelings of fear, no questions of why, no fleeing from the field of battle. They do it because I tell them too. So, yes, we can trust him. Because now, he doesn’t even have the capacity to think of betraying me.”
She turned to face Trixie, her smile widening.
“This is what distinguishes you from them, Trixie. You still have your mind. You still have the capacity to betray me. Logically, the question of whether I should trust you take precendence of whether I should trust him. He is a puppet on strings, but you still have the free will to do whatever you want.”
A worried expression suddenly appeared on Trixie’s face.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me? I am more than loyal...”
“That isn’t what I’m saying, Trixie. I very much trust you. If you think about it, you are the only person under my command where the word “trustworthy” would be suitable. Like I said, all of the others are just puppets on strings. Trust isn’t needed when I control their actions to this level. But I’ve let your mind remain yours. You could have tried to stop me, you could have refused to follow my orders, you could have refused to “kill” Celestia, to kill that wounded pegasi. But you didn’t. You are the only pony in my entire army who has followed my orders because you chose to, not because you were forced to. That has earned my absolute trust, Trixie.”
Trixie returned the smirk. “It might be a cliche, but I was born ready, my Queen.”
The alicorn rose her front hooves, placing them against the sides of Trixie’s head, just as she had done to drain Celestia’s power not a few hours ago. This time, however, she had complete opposite intentions.
“If this is anything like the first time,” Nightmare said, preparing to channel her power. “It will simultaneously be the most painful and the most pleasurable experience you will have ever known. So, you might want to brace yourself.”
There was a second of silence, before a white-hot blinding light filled Celestia’s chambers.
* * *
“...but maybe a blanket stitch would work better, I mean, it’s not as nice to look at but that’s hardly the point, is it? Oh, but if we’re pressed for time then probably a topstitch, but that’ll probably be less sturdy...”
“Yes, Rarity, as you said, we are indeed pressed for time, so if you’ll stop panicking then we can...”
“Stop panicking? How do you expect me to do that, Twilight? You’re essentially asking me to stab somepony a few dozen times!”
Twilight had carried Spitfire into her spare room, her strength waning with every second. Pinkie Pie had, in record time, found the book Twilight had asked for, and Rarity had been quick to lock the door before Rainbow Dash could sneak in to watch the fate of one of her idols. Despite the fact that keeping Spitfire’s blood in her body was starting to take its toll on Twilight, she was having a much harder job at getting Rarity to keep her cool.
“Rarity, we ran out of time about half a minute ago,” Twilight said, almost having to strain to get the words out. “Don’t worry about making things worse...not only could they not get any worse, well...sometimes you have to make things worse before you can make them...better...”
“...alright. Let’s get this over with.”
Rarity’s horn glowed, as she used her magic to pull some thread through the needle.
“In any case,” she said, bringing the needle to the pegasus’ wound, “That “make things worse before you make them better” thing might go well in a letter to the Princess. So, yeah, silver lining.”
The needle came down, piercing Spitfire’s skin.
* * *
“Not to sound uncouth in the presence of royalty...but this feels awesome.”
Nightmare Moon didn’t know exactly what would happen to Trixie after she had channeled her power into her. She knew she’d be able to take the strain, and knew at least that she’d survive the event, but there was still the outside chance that the rush of power would short-circuit her mind. Not fatal, but certainly getting rid of any use Trixie would have. It was unsurprising that this wasn’t the case, however. Nightmare Moon had picked Trixie initially for her magical potential, and the past 24 hours had done enough to convince her that she was ready for royal power.
What she wasn’t sure about, however, was what physical changes Trixie would experience. Would she change at all? Nightmare Moon knew that her body as Luna was a far sight different to her body right now, and was curious to see if Trixie would undergo a similar change. In fact, she kind of hoped for it. There was no question that Trixie was powerful, but, like Luna, she wasn’t exactly the most intimidating looking of ponies. Even Nightmare Moon herself would’ve guessed that she would’ve struck far less fear into the hearts of ponykind, had her body remained the same as Luna’s.
Now, her question was answered. The change had not been as obvious as the change between Luna and Nightmare, but was still very apparent. Trixie was a fraction bigger than she was a minute ago, with longer legs and a larger torso, and her once magenta-coloured eyes had turned to a dark shade of red. Neither of these things were the most obvious change, however - that came from the dark blue lines, a few shades darker than the cyan of her coat, spiralling and shooting across her body. Nightmare Moon could only liken them to veins, carrying magic in place of blood. Lastly came the ethereal glow surrounding her new body, similar to the deep violet mist that made up Nightmare’s mane, only much darker, and lingering around her entire body.
Haha, NOW she looks intimidating, thought Nightmare Moon.
“I wouldn’t worry about sounding uncouth, Trixie. It’s probably the best word to describe the feeling, after all. Plus, you’ll probably be saying plenty of uncouth things once you see your new look.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow, and turned to look into one of the chamber’s long mirrors, catching sight of her new body with an intake of breath.
“Wow, that’s...different.” she said, surveying her image in the mirror. “I look pratically...demonic. I mean, well, the red eyes would’ve done that on their own but those lines...what is that? It’s like...the power is literally flowing through me. Ohohohoho, this is fantastic! Those back-country mules will run at the mere sight of me!”
Unable to help herself, she started posing for herself, trying to visualise the looks on the ponies faces when they saw her extreme makeover.
Twilight Sparkle isn’t going to take me so lightly now, she thought. The Element of Magic is nothing compared to what I’ve got here. Just wait until...
Trixie’s train of thought was interrupted by a sharp crack in the room, turning just in time to see a bolt of lightning hurtling towards her. She reacted quickly, her horn flaring, and suddenly the bolt stopped dead, inches from her face, sparking and crackling in place, before dissipating into the air. Her eyes dared around the room, attempting to find the source of the energy, before resting on Nightmare Moon, whose horn was also glowing, a slight grin adorning her face.
“Wh...what the hay was that for?” yelled Trixie, confused. “You give me your power and then try and kill me off right here? What, am I too powerful, is that it?”
Nightmare Moon simply laughed, another of her witch-like cackles reverberating from the walls.
“No, no, Trixie, you misunderstand.” she said, still giggling. “Just a test. You may look the part but that means nothing if your actual magical prowess didn’t improve.”
“Well...you didn’t have to surprise me like that!”
“If you were expecting the attack, it would’ve been far easier to stop. And I had faith in your new abilities. I must say, however, that you exceeded my expectations. I had expected you to deflect it, or just suffer the hit with next to no ill effect but...stopping it in place? With no warning? That’s some feat.”
“...you...you see that as a feat?” Trixie stammered, trying to regain her air of confidence. “That was nothing. A trifle! Hell, you might as well have thrown an actual trifle at me for all the damage it did.”
“I’m glad to see your arrogance wasn’t lost in the transformation, Trixie. That’s good. You probably need that for your next task.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, waiting for the Queen to continue.
“There are some prisoners down in the dungeons that might be able to help us in our endeavour. Just outside Ponyville, there’s a series of caves and hollows which would make a good hiding place for a certain collection of ponies who may be fleeing for their lives at one point, and these prisoners know it well. They’d be useful should such a case present itself and, well, given who they are, I imagine they’d be vicious combatants. Not only that, they hate our targets just as much as us.”
“Who are they?”
“Oh, I won’t spoil the surprise. But you’ll find them. They’re the only prisoners actually in the dungeons at the moment, but you’d spot them either way. One last test for you, Trixie. Use your persuasive talents to get them to join our cause. I’m almost certain they’ll come in handy.”
Trixie nodded, and turned to the door without a word.
* * *
In stressful situations, some ponies will be surprised by the random thoughts that enter their mind in their uncomfortable state. Inappropriate thoughts, inflammatory thoughts, indecent thoughts, or thoughts that are just plain weird. As Rarity was applying stitch number six to Spitfire’s wound, she had a thought that was a little of all of these things.
Even if you put the moral implications aside, I don’t see pony skin taking off as a fashion choice. It’s just impossible to work with...
She shook the thought from her mind, mentally chastising herself for letting it distract her. Stitch number six was complete, and she stopped to look at the wound, which was now half shut.
“It’s less of a strain to hold the blood back now,” Twilight said, “So this is definitely working. Keep going.”
Rarity brought the needle down again, repeating the motion she had done six times already. The resistance of the pegasi’s flesh was still making her shudder, but at this stage, it was getting easier to remind herself that she was almost certainly causing Spitfire no more pain than she was in. She brought the needle through and out of the top of the wound, pulling the thread through, and moved the needle to the bottom. She had tried to put the stitches as wide apart as possible to save time, while making sure they would still be tight enough to hold the wound shut. In quite a surprise to herself, Twilight’s praise and the now only inches long wound, she had done a fair job of it.
“Ok Rarity, I’m gonna stop my magic now, hopefully the stitches should keep the bleeding back for now.”
Rarity didn’t reply, her eyes still focused on the pegasi’s abdomen. Twilight smiled.
Just like working on a dress, she thought. Un-distractable.
For the first time in half an hour, Twilight’s horn stopped glowing, joining Rarity in not taking her eyes off the wound. There was a few seconds before it started bleeding again, but this time the bleeding was far slower, and far less. What once was a life-threatening wound was now more comparable to a paper cut.
Unless...oh no.
Twilight was skilled enough at magic, so the five second break she had was more than enough to recharge her batteries. Her horn flared as she picked the book that Pinkie Pie had brought for her, and laid it down open in front of her, the pages turning frantically.
“Twilight?” Rarity sensed that Twilight was panicking, but didn’t take her eyes of her work. “What’s wrong? This should only take two more stitches...”
“Either the bleeding’s slowing down because there’s less of a wound, or the bleeding’s slowing down because she barely has any more blood to bleed.” Twilight replied, scanning the pages as the turned. “Not to criticize your excellent work, but if it is the latter, then it needs fixing quickly.”
“How?”
“You keep going, the answer is in this book.”
“But...you’re going to use magic?” Rarity asked, bringing the needle down for what would be the last time. “What was the point of this stitching if you could just...”
“It’s a different kind of magic, one that’s very risky, potentially dangerous, and very very much illegal, which is why I was hoping to avoid it, but...”
The pages of the book stopped turning, as Twilight’s eyes darted across the page, absorbing the information she would need.
The thing about illegal magic is that they only ever teach you theory in school, Twilight thought, frowning. And even then, they skimp on the detail. For good reason, I suppose. But I think my reason for doing it is better.
She shut the book, just as Rarity finished the final stitch. Twilight trotted around to Spitfire’s head, and exhaled, preparing for the task at hand.
“What are you going to do?” Rarity asked, as her horn stopped glowing, and she wiped the sweat from her brow.
“...I’m going to take control of her mind.”
She moved her head to Spitfire’s ear.
“Spitfire, if you can hear me, then...well, this is probably going to be a bit uncomfortable. And, I apologize in advance if this goes horribly wrong.”
She moved her head closer, touching her horn against Spitfire’s forehead. Her horn started to pulse, but in a different way that Rarity knew - she seen the regular pulsing of a unicorn’s horn, usually attributed to very powerful spells, but this was different. Twilight’s horn was pulsing with no discernible patter at all, the walls flashing with the light like the flickering of a candle. It made Rarity feel odd - dizzy and sick, yet happy at the same time.
“Twilight, what is this?” Rarity said, closing her eyes. “It’s making me feel...weird...”
“Oh, yeah,” Twilight said, “You might not want to look directly at this, it could affect you too.”
Rarity kept her eyes tightly closed, but she could still see the pulses of light behind her eyelids, flashes of orange replacing the white.
Look away because it might affect me? Rarity thought. What is that girl doing?
Her wondering was cut short by the sound of a groan coming from Spitfire’s mouth. She gasped - it had been the first noise Spitfire had made since she collapsed.
“Holy hay, Twilight, she’s okay!” Rarity said, opening her eyes but making sure not to look at Twilight. “It’s working! I mean...it is working, right?”
“So far. Spitfire, try to relax, okay? This shouldn’t take much longer.”
Spitfire’s groaning was becoming louder, and she was starting to fidget. Had Rarity not known Twilight’s intentions, she would’ve said she was struggling.
“Is this throwing you off, Twilight?” Rarity said, having to raise her voice slightly to be heard over Spirfire’s increasingly loud moans. “Do you want me to hold her down?”
“No, don’t. The fact that she can move at all is good news, it means it’s working.”
“But...what is going on? It looks like you’re hurting her Twi....”
Suddenly, everything stopped. Twilight’s horn stopped pulsing, and Spitfire suddenly became as still and silent as she had been for the last thirty minutes. The only difference came from the smile that had found its way onto Twilight’s face.
“Rarity...” she said, turning to face her. “It worked.”
“I’m glad, but...what exactly worked?” Rarity asked.
Twilight turned back to Spitfire, looking her over. “Basic pony biology,” she explained, not turning. “Were not one hundred percent on what exactly it is, but, basically, when you get cut, whether it’s as big as this or as small as a paper cut, blood rushes to wound and heals it up, scabs it over. But, of course, if the wound is too big, then too much blood comes out, and not enough blood means...well, you know. Now, obviously, the body has a way of making more blood, it’s not like you have a set amount of blood and then you’re done, otherwise people would run around screaming if they so much as scraped their knee. We don’t know how it happens, but it does. It’s a slow process, though. Too slow for our situation here. Spitfire needed more blood in her veins and she needed it fast.”
“So you....”
“So...I told Spitfire’s mind to make more blood as quickly as possible.”
“Like...mind control?”
“Sort of. More like...mind persuasion. It had the choice to not take my advice but after I told it how much danger Spitfire was in, it followed my instructions pretty well.
“Wait...you had a conversation with Spitfire’s mind?”
“Essentially. You might’ve noticed the pulses of light from my horn weren’t regular?”
She paused, receiving Rarity’s nod of confirmation.
“It was Horse code.” Twilight continued, looking very proud of herself. “Short and long pulses of magic spelling out a message to Spitfire’s brain, telling it to get the lead out.”
“And, you said this was dangerous? And illegal?”
Twilight nodded. “Certainly. If the mind made too much blood then it would’ve...well...exploded out of that once gaping hole, and then you’d have a whole other wound to stitch up. Or I could’ve messed up the Horse code and given the brain the wrong message. And yes, illegal. Ponies less...nice than me could use this power to just convince the mind to tell the body not to breathe, or not to eat, or jump off a cliff...fortunately, I don’t think Spitfire will be pressing charges against me.”
“...too right...I won’t.”
The ponies turned to see Spitfire unsteadily getting to her hooves, a slight smile on her face.
“Just how many times am I gonna owe my life to an Element of Harmony?” Spitfire asked. “Seriously, first Rainbow Dash, now you two...this is getting embarrassing.”
The three ponies laughed, actually feeling joy for the first time that night, for a brief moment forgetting the gravity of the current situation.
“Seriously though...how the hay did you save me?” Spitfire asked, taking a glance at her now stitched-up wound. “Been a while since I’ve seen stitches used, and I’m pretty sure there isn’t an Element of Medicine.”
“Oh, well,” Rarity said, preparing herself for praise. “It was nothing, really, thread by thread, stitching it together and all that. No harder than a dress in the end. Twilight did the hard bit, making sure you had enough blood to get by with.”
“You...gave me blood? I’m guessing you didn’t retrace my steps and scoop it from the floor?” Spitfire said, grinning.
“Nope,” Twilight replied, returning the grin. “Long story, but, let’s just say, the power of the mind can solve every....”
She stopped, her mouth locked in position on the next syllable, as her brain suddenly went into overdrive.
The mind, the mind CAN solve everything! I saw it in that book, another spell, one that I can use to defend this town! Again, illegal and potentially very dangerous, but doing nothing is probably more dangerous at this point. Rarity will need to make another trip to the caves...we’ll need holes dug and crates built...yes, this just might work...
“Er, Twilight?” Spitfire asked, waving her hoof in front of Twilight’s face, to no response.
“Oh Celestia, she’s just had an epiphany.” Rarity said, shaking her head. “This isn’t going to end well.”
Twilight Sparkle had, indeed, had an epiphany. And, it was indeed, illegal and potentially dangerous. But, at the moment, it was the only plan she had, and the only way to protect Ponyville.
Or, she thought, at the very least, destroy it on our own terms.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writers Note:
Hey ponies, just a quick note from me. Firstly, sorry about the HUGE wait between chapters, yes, I know I said they’d be closer together now but I’ve had a few personal issues. Let’s just say counselling sucks, as well as taking up a helluva lot of time.
For those joining the story after Season 2, two quick things. One - yes, I know Luna isn’t officially mega evil anymore, but I half-expected to get canon-balled there, and two, yes, I know that how the Elements of Harmony work was kind of half explained and doesn’t quite gel up with what I’ve said. The story is alreadly all done in my head, though, so these inaccuracies are staying, so don’t bother with the complaints on that :D
Also, and this is purely to satisfy my curiosity - why do you guys like Grimdark ponyfic? After a semi-debate on another of my fics on EqD (SHAMLESS PLUG IS A GO) it just got me to thinking what the appeal is to reading about watching our beloved ponies get butchered and mauled. Personally, I just enjoy the contrast between the two things, but I’m curious to know why this sort of thing tickles your various fancies. Let me know in the comments or drop me a line at milosaysrelax[at]gmail.com
Finally, I’m looking for a new proof/beta reader. Anypony interested in helping me out? Again, let me know in the comments or e-mail me at the address above.
As I’ve said before, the feedback from the community has done nothing but helped my writing, IMO, so please keep up the wonderful constructive criticism. Hopefully you shouldn’t have much of a wait for part 6 this time!
Thanks again,
MiloSaysRelax
PS, yeah, I know I kind of chickened out of properly going into the whole stitching thing. I plead ignorance to medical procedures and, to be honest, stitches kinda squick me out. Which is why I thought that scene was a good idea :P