No More Running, No More Hiding
The void between worlds is a strange place, paradoxically filled both with every sight, sound, scent, taste, and other sensation possibly imaginable –plus more still that are beyond comprehension– and yet also nothing at all. In fact, even to call it a place at all was utter nonsense.
Everyplace and no place, everything and yet nothing at all. Madness that is so deep it wraps back onto itself becoming sanity again, only to go instantly mad all over again in an endless cycle. Every potential of possibility played out both in an instant and yet also dragged out indefinitely for all eternity. It was somewhere no mortal was ever meant to tread, and yet for the second time in her life a little pony found herself hurtling through this impossible space.
This time, however, was different. Previously she had been barely conscious and bleeding her own magic all the way. Also the falling, always falling as if it had been all she ever knew and all she ever would. Now though, it was more like being sucked through a straw or perhaps as though she were pulled by an invisible rubber band — both at the same time — neither at all — or did such distinctions even matter in this place that was not a place?
Just trying to wrap her mind around such concepts made the little pony's head hurt, and so for perhaps the only time in her life she chose not to question or ponder, but merely accept.
────────────────
Twilight Sparkle hadn't known what to expect, rushing winds, peals of lighting, a sphere of nothingness displacing reality to herald her return before depositing her at the bottom of a smoldering crater. What actually happened though was decidedly anticlimactic. One moment she had been in that impossible gulf between worlds and the next she found herself sitting in the central town square of Poniszawa next to a fountain, almost as if she had never left in the first place. Certainly none of the ponies in the surrounding area seemed to pay her arrival any mind, going about their ordinary daily routines undisturbed, heedless of the lavender unicorn that but mere moments before hadn't been there.
Had she awoken in her bed, she might have dismissed it all as just a dream. It could still possibly have been some kind of delusion, but she was fairly certain she was still sane and in control of all her faculties. Plus, there had been the promises she had made to herself –No more running, no more hiding– not just from the law but from herself either. It was time for Twilight Sparkle to own up to all her mistakes no matter the consequences.
... and yet ...
Could she really do it? Could she really bring herself to just surrender to the authorities?
It would be so easy to just disappear, and even though she had promised both to herself and to the princess, she couldn't deny that the temptation was there. Then she remembered just how lonely and isolated these past few months had been. She couldn't go back to living like that, with no family, no future, no hope. Still, it was hard, and Twilight felt her stomach turning in knots while her hooves seemed as though they were rooted in place, and she was afraid. Not of the punishment and humiliation that awaited her, but of her own cowardice. She feared that if she so much as tried to move from where she sat she would in spite of herself runaway all over again.
"No!"
She hadn't realized her cry was made aloud until another mare walked up to her, "pardon me miss, but is everything alright?"
"Yes... no... I mean..." Twilight stammered as her jaw quavered in dread of the words she was trying to form. "I... I need a..." she gulped audibly, "a police office."
The other mare's expression of concern deepened, "Are you in some kind of trouble, miss? Are you hurt? I can help carry you to the hospital."
"I... just please... please go and find a police officer, and do it as quickly as you can."
The other mare looked confused and hesitant, but nodded. As Twilight watched the pony trot off, she breathed a sigh of relief; it was all finally going to be over; there was no longer any turning back now.
... and yet ...
There was no telling how long it would take for an officer to arrive. Even if she didn't have time to run she could still teleport. It would be so simple, so effortlessly easy that she absently felt the familiar spell weave its way through her horn.
With a smack of her own hoof, Twilight forcefully denied any such traitorous desires. She would hold firm in her resolve and bring the nightmare of these past few months to its final and inevitable close. She repeated her promise again and again like a mantra, whether aloud or only in her own head she didn't know.
'No more running, no more hiding.'
Still, her breaths increasingly came in ever more frantic pants with each passing moment as she sat, eyes clenched tightly shut and every muscle in her body held tense. She shut out all distractions and focusing on the singular task of not abandoning her promise.
'No more running, no more hiding.'
...
'No more running, no more—'
"Excuse me, but I was told you needed some kind of assistance."
Twilight nearly jumped from her own skin when she was tapped on the shoulder. Now, as she slowly brought her eyes back into focus, and with them her mind back to her present circumstances, she couldn't help but tremble at the imposing figure of the uniformed stallion in front of her. Though his face bore a genuinely helpful, if concerned smile, to Twilight it felt almost like a cruel mockery of her impending doom.
Clearly the officer didn't recognize her on sight, maybe because he'd not been part of the raid to capture her, or perhaps he was only a new recruit hired in the interim after she'd made her escape. It didn't matter, though it certainly would have made things so much easier if he had identified her on sight. Part of her would have preferred being violently tackled to ground over this. Again she felt the temptation to flee, or just make up some lie — it would be so easy.
She muttered once over, "No more running, no more hiding," and then held a deep breath.
"I'm sorry I didn't quite hear that."
Exhaling sharply Twilight finally spoke the words that would forever seal her fate, "I need you to arrest me."
The officer cocked his head briefly than knocked a hoof against his ear, "Sorry, but I think I must have misheard that last part. It sounded like you said you wanted me to arrest you."
That traitorous part of her screamed once more in vain, demanding that she flee, that she do anything she could to escape. She could still do it, it would be so— "No!"
The outburst hadn't been a denial of guilt but only to silence her own thoughts before they bested her resolve, and so she quickly amended, "I mean yes. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm a wanted fugitive... and don't look at me like that. I am not insane, I'm just tired. So very, very tired... and all I want to do is see my family one last time before I have to serve out my debt to society."
She held out her fore-hooves so they could be easily cuffed. She also lowered her head, in a mix of defeated resignation, mournful shame, and of course to make it easier for the officer to slip a magic suppression ring onto her horn. She breathed deeply, however, as she sat fully committed, her fears all seemed to finally evaporate. It was all over; at long last it was all finally over.
...
No more running, no more hiding.
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I see no problems (well, a spelling mistake or punctuation mistake here or there, but whatever). Only thing is that it follows a bit too directly from Crisis; the pre-readers probably wouldn't let it through as a story under its own merits. If you like, though, I can add it as an epilogue to Crisis.
3027664
They might let it through since I'm a separate author writing a derivative work based off of yours. Which is likewise what my "lost" chapter of Boast Busted is, or Blackbelt's After the Night was to LNLD, or Lev's addendum fic to AtGGG.
Anyway I'll give it a second (and maybe third) once over to get the grammar and punctuation as good as I can, and then try submitting it later today. We'll keep adding it onto the actual CO2E as the backup plan.
3028107
I think it might be just as well to keep the exact details of her trial and sentencing vague. There's really not much story to tell with her from this point forward until she shows up in that inevitable S2 fic -- there was barely even a story here.
Man, there was a moment there where I thought she might actually run away again. Good show Emeral.
The shades of Shinji Ikari I saw at the end of Crisis have become what almost seems like a full-fledged homage. Seriously, there's only so many times I can hear a variation on "I mustn't run away" before the comparison becomes inevitable. At least Twilight's father isn't forcing her to pilot a giant alien cyborg powered by her mother's soul. Not in this universe, anyway.
Anyway, NGE comparisons aside, this is a great character piece for Lunaverse Twilight, displaying her character growth for all to see. Well done.
3028268
...or not yet at least.
Bolded should be "scent."
Uh oh.
That means... that they're all gonna turn into giant newts and have freaky giant newt babies.
Nice little ficlet. Feels a little short though, kinda wish some more stuff would happen, not the full trial, but at least Twilight getting to reunite with her family.
3028603 THE HORROR! THE HORROR!!!
3028630
Not only do we need to see Twilight reunite with her family, we also need to see her try to get Night Light to make peace with Trixie. After all, I don't think that she wants the events of "At the Grand Galloping Gala" on her conscience.
The opera singer is going to be pissed she messed up her solo
.
Anyway other then that looks like this will be pretty interesting. Thanks a lot for sharing it. It will be interesting indeed to see how Twilight deals with all this. How long are you planning on making this and how detailed though? Are we going to see all the way to her getting established in Ponyville? Trying to know the Elements that were her friends in the other world only for them to reject her? Or not be quite the same? Or is this just going to be the court case and such? Regardless, will be interesting to see!
3028298
Clearly you fellows haven't read "MLP Time Loops".
As for the story... feels more like an epilogue than a story of its own. It brings a little closure, but not much more than the ending to Crisis did. Assuming that Twilight knows what her sentence will be (as Luna seemed to convey before they left), I can't really see her urge to run away to be that strong anymore. It's not a bad story, it just... doesn't add anything. I could easily see this as a flashback scene in another S2 story, though.
3028983
Night Light already reconciled with Trixie (mostly at least) in AtGGG:Ch11, after a little prompting from Ditzy.
3029446
L!Twi left through the portal before M!Twi spoke with Luna about what kind of sentence to pass on her doppelganger.
Otherwise though, you are correct that this fic is more of an epilogue than a standalone fic, and that's all I ever intended it to be -- a brief little character piece. It was L!Twi's mental break down that really sold me on the Lunaverse as a setting because it was just such a brilliant echo to the events Lesson Zero creating a Twilight that was both familiar and foreign all at the same time. So I guess I just felt like giving crazy Twilight one final tribute before S2 moves her to the next phase of her life.
3028630 3029324
Well, as stated above, this was always meant to be nothing more than this lone singular chapter. I'm not even sure how I could write the Twilight's reunion with her family, at least not without it being blandly trite and predictable. It might offer further closure, but I don't think it would advance Twilight's personal character arc in any interesting way. Know one needs me to write something along the lines of they all hugged as tears streamed down there faces while say how much they loved each other, and I think any attempt on my part would only be a disservice true emotion of what such a scene should entail. To me it's a scene that will always be better in our imaginations than anything written out in exhaustive detail.
That said. While I never had any plans to write anything more than what I did here, on further consideration I ~maybe~ have an idea for some kind of further follow up. Then again I really would prefer to focus my efforts on finishing up Elements of Insanity and getting start on Sergeant at Hooves. Especial as any follow up to this fic would likely by necessity contain spoilers to the former of those two fics. Then again, I'm not sure how much longer it will take me to actually finish EoI so spoiling it might be the most efficient way to get the bulk of the loose ends tied up before S2 kicks into full gear.
I don't know though... all I can say is I'll think about it, but no promises either way.
3028268
Oh sure, it's all fine and dandy in the Lunaverse now. But just wait until Twilight decides to turn us all into orange drank and Giant Fluttershy explodes on the moon.
3031063
Who let you in on all our secret notes for Lunaverse season 7?
3031147 I have my sources.
Time to come out of my little corner and be an asshat.
I just don't see why this story was even necessary. It just drags out an issue that was already resolved in Crisis. While it does stand to reason that saying you are gonna turn yourself in, and actually doing it are two different things, there really wasn't any reason to actually show it. It would have been different if she actually HAD run off again, only to stop herself shortly afterwards, but THAT would have undermined her character development in Crisis, which would have been worse.
Okay, I am done. I'll go back to my corner now.
3033350
That's fair enough. I mean, you are absolutely right that this is just an extend bout of angst that drags out the resolution of Twilight's arc from Co2E, but at only 1,382 words I don't think it is overly gratuitous in doing so, and most importantly doesn't actually undercut it since she holds firm in resolve. Yes, ultimately this is a story that in the strictest terms didn't NEED to happen, but I'd like to think it is still harmless in the end and that while it might not add to Twilight's character growth, it still serves as a demonstration of it.
If you don't like it, that's fine though, and I'm sorry if you felt like it wasted your time. I appreciate your criticism every bit as much as the praise others have given me. So don't feel like you're any kind of ass for speaking your mind.
3033435
Well, I wouldn't say it's a complete waste of time. My issue was with the nature of the story, but certainly there was no flaw in the writing. The characterization is spot on, and admittedly it stands to reason that Twilight would be having some second thoughts once it came time to pony up as it were, even if they were relatively minor, and suppressed. It mostly just seemed, unnecessary, but nothing downvote worthy.
3042498
That is both refreshing and indirectly disappointing.
I mean I'm glad you didn't find this fic offensive or anything; yours is an opinion that I generally respect. Still though, I've got four downvotes on this fic, so it was kind of nice when I thought I knew why one of those existed.
Oh well, haters gonna hate and I try to not concern myself with those who won't explain their reasons. Besides those 58 upvotes more than offset my few detractors.
3042656
I am VERY stingy with my downvotes, and I only give them when I feel that something has gone VERY wrong with the story. I try not to give them out if the problem is largely a personal one, (which is the case here.) though admittedly, I am very free with my upvotes. (Funny really, I upvote if I like a story, not necessarily if I think it's an amazing piece of literature. I know that those two concepts are not wholly mutually inclusive. However, I only downvote if I think the story is very badly written, but not if I personally did not like the story. Go figure.) In any case on those few occasions i DO downvote, I make sure to leave a comment explaining why. (Which is probably why I am more picky with downvotes than upvotes.)
3042656
Huh.
I was about to go check my favorites, and I noticed that the downvote button was colored.
I don't recall hitting the downvote button, and I shouldn't have because of the reasons detailed in the previous post.
Regardless, that would, in fact, explain where one of the 4 downvotes came from. (I was kinda cranky yesterday, I guess.) In anycase, I have fixed that mistake. (I would rather it have an upvote when I didn't overly care that much, than I downvote I don't think it deserves.)
3042811
Why thank you, in both regards.
Area, heedless
(But I did get the funny image of a bunch of headless horses milling about town....)
Tired
(And here I got the image of a multi-tiered unicorn...whatever that means...)
Besides that... Very good! I lovelovelove L!Twilight, and I am glad to see this happen
3049673
TY for the corrections. Also, always good to hear from a fellow L!Twi fan.
Ostensibly my favorite pony in the Lunaverse is supposed to be Raindrops, but it was still the presentation of Twilight that truly sold me on the whole idea of this setting as a viable AU. Which could be why this is the third fic I've written with her as a main character... well, that and I find it very easy to put myself in her headspace, which might suggest unfortunate implications about my own state of mind.
3049819
I wish there was more of Happy!Raindrops, but that would cheapen the switch
Raindrops is pretty awesome here. She might be my favorite. I kinda connect with CT, but her "wet" personality is just too fun!
Hey, so I finally read this, and I think it was fairly interesting. A nice little addition to Crisis, doesn't work against it, compliments it well. Should have read it a week ago
3092919
I know that feeling all to well myself.
Anyway glad it worked for you as intended, as yeah, it is just quickie little extension and mostly just meant as a sort of final tribute/send-off to crazy L!Twi.
3092954 At least it didn't take me five months, which has happened far too many times
Well, yeah, it worked pretty well. So great job!
I got sent here from "Magic Tutor". In that story, I kind of wondered why she didn't just go to visit her family and then turn herself in, or let herself get arrested on the way home if that's what happened. In the original, I can see better how terrified she was of losing her nerve. Good story.
A few nitpicks:
peels of lighting
Bananas peel, lightning (or rather thunder) peals.
in her bed the she might
This should either be "then" or be deleted.
didn't quite here that
hear
screamed once more in vein
"in vain", if you mean futilely. If you mean "in the same way it had already been doing", then I think "in that vein" or "in the same vein" would be better.
3159118
I'm always happy to get corrections, so TY.
Good epilogue to Crisis. A good... finality, for lack of a better word.
3248224
Thanks... I think?
...or rather that is to say, after some of the harsh words we exchanged recently, I guess I wasn't expecting to hear anything like that from you.
3248243 I can still compliment good work.
A bit on the short side, but a rather decent short fic nonetheless.