Chapter 9
Being an alicorn definitely came with some benefits. Her wounds healed at an extraordinary rate, and without needing much attention, too. She could’ve done without the itching, but that was a relatively minor complaint.
She had more cause to worry over the fact that they never found the cause of her spontaneous bleeding, though. Doctors and surgeons had a few theories, but they mostly centred on accidental self-mutilation during her sleep or parasites in her skin, none of which satisfied her, for obvious reasons. Firstly, Luna could attest to her normal appearance before sparring, and a thorough check up involving blood samples revealed no freaky infections or parasites. Magic seemed a more likely culprit, but the lack of latent energy from hexing or enchanting stymied everypony who got involved as well.
But as the days passed without any complications or recurrences, she felt increasingly content to put it all behind her and move on from there. After only a week and a half of rest and relaxation in Canterlot at Celestia’s and Luna’s insistence, Twilight’s wounds had pretty much healed completely without any scarring, and she felt eager to get back to her duties in Ponyville.
Her friends actually visited on the second day since the incident and sent her some mail after that, but she definitely wanted to see them again in person. Spike, on the other hoof, wrote almost daily, but she easily noticed his silence on certain matters related to work, probably in an attempt to keep her stress to a minimum. Not very efficient, since she’d have to deal with it when she got back, but she smiled and appreciated the thoughtful sentiment behind it anyway.
Twilight had intended to fly back to Ponyville the previous afternoon, but on a whim had decided to leave it till the wee hours. She didn’t have many opportunities for night flights and had long wondered how it would feel to take to the sky far away from civilisation, with only the moon and stars to light her way.
Now is as good as any time.
Twilight breathed deeply and savoured the crisp, cold air as she soared in the pre-dawn sky over the snowy landscape. The pegasi had scheduled for a clear sky that night after the heavy snowfall the day before, and Luna had painted a gorgeously brilliant sea of stars to light her way home. It felt good to stretch her wings after being grounded for so long, and she wanted to make the most of it before diving into the thick of things.
Instead of flying straight, she allowed the winds to carry her as they pleased, only correcting her flight trajectory when it deviated too far from her destination. Tiny clusters of yellow dots marked where villages and dwellings along the river and rolling hills still had their lights on, and she wondered what ponies would think if they saw one of the princesses flying around on her own.
She whiled away the night on her wings, enjoying the temporary freedom from responsibilities and worries. But that illusion could not last forever, and despite her very leisurely pace, she reached Ponyville at the crack of dawn. Powdery snow cascaded down the slanted roof of Town Hall when she landed on the highest balcony to watch the glimmering lights from windows and the wisps of smoke drifting from the chimneys.
It took a while, but the chilly morning eventually got through her coat and the fading warmth from her flight. She took that as her cue to head into the crystal tree, and maybe get a hot cup of tea or something. But as she flitted over to the crystalline spires, an idea popped into her head.
The long, leisurely flight after so much relaxing had left her feeling refreshed rather than weary, so sleep did not really appeal to her at the moment. Too early for ponies to be up, so calling on her friends for a chat or an outing had to wait, too. She could always do with some study time, though, or maybe—
Golden Oaks.
A sudden thrill went up and down her spine at the thought of checking on the tree’s progress. Having missed the last visit, she’d hopefully find plenty to do in taking care of her former home. Since the pegasi had scheduled for some heavy weather later in the day, she might as well channel her excitement into something productive and get it done before the snow got really thick.
The intensity and persistence of her excitement seemed odd, though. After coming up with the idea, Twilight had trouble keeping still, and her heart rate would jump a couple of notches higher every time she thought about the tasks awaiting her in its basement. She had butterflies in her stomach as well, like one of those difficult-to-sleep nights she’d spend tossing and turning in bed as she waited in anticipation for her exam results the following day.
Whatever the reason, she filed that observation away for later as she entered her room through the window and quietly slipped past Spike’s bed to retrieve her saddlebags from the study. After making sure that she had everything in order, she exited the palace through the same window and headed straight for Golden Oaks Library.
The light shade of blue on the eastern horizon had already spread to most of the sky at that point, but due to the rather chilly and slow morning, she saw only a few sleepy ponies coming out of their houses to start the day. Shivering partly from the cold and partly from anticipation, she quickly flapped up to a fair height and drifted into an easy glide down the street towards her old home. Despite the snowfall, the oak had very little snow or ice on it, and stood like a lonely, gnarled tower with a little bit of green at the top surrounded by a town covered in grey and white.
Twilight landed gracefully at the doorstep and smiled at the memories of welcoming others into the library as she opened the door. The interior looked much the same as before; the insulation provided by its outer wall prevented snow from piling up within, and if it weren’t for the scorch marks, she could almost see her home exactly as it had been before the flames.
But her smile fell as she trotted towards the basement trapdoor. First, a sense of dread and fear crept up on her, clinging to the back of her mind like a parasite. Every step forward became an exercise in willpower as her curiosity warred with the irrational surge in her desire to leave the tree and spend the rest of the day underneath her bed.
Something about it didn’t quite add up, though, so she cast her magical sense outward and frowned when her scan revealed an arcane ward – one apparently designed to induce fear in living creatures that entered its effective radius. Whoever had set up the ward clearly didn’t want anypony going near the basement’s trapdoor.
I disappear for just a couple of weeks, and this happens?
Now that she had identified the source of her fear, the ward lost its effectiveness, and she wasted no time in getting ready to explore the basement. She retrieved a crystal lantern from her saddlebags and charged it with a little magic. And just in case, she also kept some power in her horn ready for any surprises.
Darkness greeted her as the trapdoor creaked open, and the bluish light of her lantern revealed the winding stairs that curled downwards with the oak’s circumference. She held her breath and listened, but found only eerie silence as motes of dust floated in the glow of her lantern. She levitated it down first, half-expecting an intruder to burst out at any second. But nothing out of the ordinary presented itself, and she pondered the matter for a moment before charging up another two crystal lanterns to bring along. The extra light couldn’t hurt.
As soon as she got down past the trapdoor, she immediately felt several more wards ‘beneath’ the fear-inducing one. She recognised one for blocking out noise and another for keeping things hidden from scrying, similar in concept to the spell that Princess Celestia had used to keep the Elements hidden and protected from Discord. Their range stopped just at the trapdoor, which explained why she could sense nothing but the fear ward until she actually got past the entrance. She could feel another ward present in addition to those three: a rather complex one whose purpose she couldn’t yet identify due to its currently inert state.
What in Equestria is going on in here?
Twilight tensed up as she peered into the darkness beyond the lantern light, suddenly feeling glad of her extensive training with Luna. Given the difficulty of layering several complex wards with so little space to work with, she’d definitely found the work of somepony well-versed in magic, who could match her in skill and possibly in raw power, given her current state. But she felt sure that she could surprise the intruder with a few physical moves if their magic proved evenly matched.
Despite her self-assurances that she could deal with anything down there, her jaw remained clenched and her heart continued thumping far too loudly for her liking as she cautiously descended into the basement proper.
The all-too-familiar hunger had also reared up its ugly head at the presence of those wards, but for the moment, she felt capable of keeping it on a very short leash. It could gnaw and thrash and try to empty her inside out, but she had no intention of letting it get in the way of finding out just who was messing around with her beloved Golden Oaks Library.
Once her hooves struck the bottom floor, she spread her lanterns out to distribute light evenly throughout the basement. Her frown deepened when their light revealed a couple of desks with several stacks of books piled high on top of each at the far end of the chamber.
I definitely did not put those there.
Although admittedly neat and orderly, she only remembered ever bringing down some gardening tools and supplies, and some apparatuses for measuring the tree’s health and soil properties. Those she saw neatly set aside next to the desks, and they looked like they had not seen use for quite some time.
Twilight trotted forward, then shifted her gaze towards a section of wall whose wood appeared discoloured almost to the point of matching the darkness before she’d brought the lanterns in. And then, her jaw dropped when she found a gaping hole in the wall.
Actually, on second thought, it looked more like a tunnel or burrow. The surrounding wood had either rotten away or been bored through, and the opening was roughly circular in shape and nearly large enough for a small cart to fit through at its widest point. She vaguely remembered that the basement wall had split and fractured roughly at that spot during her initial visits, but she also recalled having dealt with the problem by shoring it up with supporting beams or something similar.
Twilight hastily set her saddlebags on the floor and dug out her notebook to consult her records, and—
Something rustled.
A tingle went down her spine and into her hooves as her ears swivelled in the direction of the gaping tunnel. Slowly, she turned her head towards it, and nearly leaped into the air when another rustle and creak followed. And then, she grimaced when a pang of emptiness filled her being. Whatever resided within that tunnel had magic, and its unusual flavour had whetted her appetite.
Okay, stay calm. It’s probably nothing you can’t deal with.
She slowly exhaled and levitated one of the lanterns into the tunnel, noting that it sloped downwards roughly at a forty-five degree angle, and had walls composed mostly of compacted dirt and rocks instead of the soft soil she’d expected. Maybe—
Something long and black lashed out and snagged the lantern, and before she could react, pulled it out of her magical grip and crushed its glass casing. The glowing crystals clinked to the ground and disappeared into a mass of ropey shapes.
Twilight blinked in silence for a moment before her common sense finally kicked in and screamed at her to either flee or get ready to defend herself. She attempted a hasty teleport and felt the world fall away… only to snap back in place as something pulled her back like an anchor on a wayward skiff. Briefly stunned by the magical whiplash, she tottered in place for a moment before recovering sufficiently to attempt setting up a shielding bubble. But the purple sphere had barely begun to take shape when she felt something wrap around her hind legs and pull them out from under her.
She shrieked as she crashed to the floor, and felt several more things coiling around her limbs. She twisted to get a look, and flailed when she saw the awfully familiar black vines covered in thorns writhing out of the hole. Some of them looked almost as thick as her legs.
No-no-no-no-no!
Twilight screamed for help and scrabbled at the dirt as they dragged her into the darkness. She managed to release a blast of magic from her horn, but it only repulsed the loose vines for a moment, and actually seemed to aggravate them once it had faded away. Panicked, she fumbled to channel a stronger blast, but the vines broke her concentration when they curled around her horn and squeezed. She screamed again and thrashed, but that only seemed to encourage them further. They coiled around her body and bound her limbs tightly to her sides, until she could barely even twist around. The pain in her wings told her that they’d probably twisted and broken more than a few feathers.
Then, they went for her throat. Not tightly enough to cut off her air, but firmly enough that she no longer dared to scream for fear of wasting what precious breath she could still get. Thorns dug into her hide, and she could feel the vines dragging her deeper into the pit. The light from the lanterns in the basement shrank away, until more of the vile tendrils blocked her sight and she had to force her eyes shut to avoid the risk of poking them out.
Plunder vines.
She remembered Celestia and Luna rising from the tangled snarl of thorny vines at the base of the Tree of Harmony. She remembered getting ensnared by the same plants as well.
Discord.
This had his name written all over it. He certainly had enough skill and power to place those wards, and though she couldn’t yet figure out why he would lay a trap like this, she promised to make him pay for putting such a dangerous plant underneath Golden Oaks Library, of all places!
Need to get out first.
She strained against the vines and then yelped when the thorns dug deeper into her flesh. If she tried any harder, they’d probably draw blood, if they hadn’t already. She prepared a spell, then gasped when she noticed magic flowing freely out of her horn and into the vines.
Unfortunately for her, unlike Celestia and Luna back then, she had no Elements or Tree of Harmony to save her from the thorny abominations as they drained her away to a mindless husk.
Her breath grew ragged and uneven as she contemplated the vast emptiness within that awaited her. Bad enough that she had less magic than she’d liked, but to have what little she had taken away against her will?
No, it can’t end like this!
She twisted and thrashed again, but to no avail. Sobs wracked her as the futility of her efforts came crashing down upon her.
I can’t.
How long would it take for somepony to find her? The fear ward that she should’ve disarmed would keep the curious at bay for a long while, and even if they formed a search party and somepony managed to bull their way through the artificial fear, they’d still have to deal with the nasty surprise waiting below…
Her heart skipped a beat.
What if it spreads out? What if it gets Spike?
She grit her teeth at the mental image of Spike calling her name, only to find the writhing mass of vines that would drag him underground to suffer the same fate as her, utterly helpless and alone in the darkness…
No, that’s not going to happen.
She could feel some nausea at the loss of magic, so she had to expend her power very carefully. With all those vines in the way, choking on her own vomit would effectively put a swift end to her struggle. Complex spells were out of the question, but she could gradually power up her horn in preparation for a simple one. The vines twitched as she poured some magic into her horn, and she felt the drain on her reserves quicken a bit. She ignored the sensation as she channelled more power, balancing between the increasing drain against the growing sum of energy she had stored up in her horn.
She felt sweat oozing out of her pores as the seconds ticked away. But eventually, the charge in her horn reached her projected critical mass. Despite the dire circumstance, she couldn’t help feeling some twisted glee as she recalled Luna’s lecture on some of her newly acquired alicorn traits.
I’m almost fireproof; you’re not.
Twilight squeezed her eyes shut more tightly, tensed up all of her muscles, and then converted all of the stored magic in her horn into thermal energy. Not all at once, or the resulting explosion could give her a concussion, but gradually increasing in strength, like an ignited sample of magnesium. She heard a loud hiss, followed by blinding light, searing heat, and the snap and crackle of burning vegetative matter.
Smoke filled her nostrils as the vines recoiled from the heat, but not enough to release her. With her eyes still closed, she twisted around to test the vines, but the firmness of their grip made her decide to release the remainder of her charged spell all at once to force it to loosen up.
You want my magic? Eat this!
In her childhood spent watching the myriad of celebrations and festivals in Canterlot, Twilight had once wondered what would happen if one of those huge fireworks went off course and exploded in her face. Apparently, the results included ringing ears, disorientation, singed hair and a whole lot of pain. At least the vines felt it too, for they loosened up sufficiently that she managed to snap the charred ones around her neck and chest.
It took her a moment or two to regain her bearings, during which she stared at the glowing cinders floating in the smoky air. She tasted blood when she sucked in breath through her nostrils. Once her head had cleared, she cast an illumination spell and grimaced at the sight of four still-intact vines wrapped around each leg. Growling, she dug her hooves into the dirt and pulled, using her wings to provide some reverse thrust. The vines pulled back, and for a moment, they seemed evenly matched, until another half-dozen or so lashed out to replace their charred kin.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Twilight grunted as they snared her wings and wrapped around her neck.
She leaned backwards in an attempt to compensate, but her hooves and the dirt by themselves could not provide the traction and resistance necessary to hold against the vines. She slid and landed painfully on her tail just before getting dragged back into the mass of vines. Her horn’s light went out, and the darkness swallowed her once more.
No, not again!
Twilight felt like crying in despair when she felt them resume sapping her magic. But even though she only sobbed, something inside her screamed and roared as her strength faded away. It wanted her power back. It would not take no for an answer. With no alternative in sight, she looked inward at the vast expanse of emptiness awaiting her if she failed.
Failure is not an option.
Growling in disgust and cursing her weakness, she surrendered to the eldritch hunger.
Two could play at that game. She blinked away her tears, which glowed green and purple in the light from her horn and eyes. With disturbing ease, she recalled the arcane matrices and channelled the last of her reserves into powering her own siphoning spell. Black tendrils shot out of her horn and ensnared the vines themselves, and she took savage pleasure in watching them shiver and writhe, seemingly in pain, as the spell took back her magic by force. As quickly as she reclaimed her magic, she used more of it to power the siphoning spell, and before long, the vines closest to her showed signs of withering.
She inhaled deeply through her nostrils and shivered when she tasted the vines’ magic. If unicorn magic could be compared to water, then this variant was like some element in a constant state flux between solid, liquid and gas, with just about every flavour she’d ever tasted in her life all mashed together. In other words, it tasted of chaos, and she briefly recoiled at the thought of consuming more.
Failure is not an option.
The vines still held her fast. Twilight shook her head and inhaled more of their magic, listening to them shrivel and dry up. She yanked one of her forelegs backwards, and gritted her teeth when the vines around it raked her flesh with its thorns before snapping like an overburdened rope.
But before she could properly free herself, the familiar throbbing in her chest overwhelmed her as the foreign magic fought to break free from its new vessel. Her horn went out, and she clutched her chest with her free foreleg and groaned when the chaos magic strained against her mortal form, testing its limits and searching for a weak point to burst free.
The unexpected incapacitation gave the vines an opportunity to truss her up once more, and beyond the agony in her bones and veins, she vaguely felt them throwing more coils around her body with fresh tendrils.
“Just… wait. We’re having… another go,” she choked out between uneven breaths. The pain had already ebbed away to something tolerable, and she would soon have the strength and concentration to get back to weakening the vines.
Failure is not an option.
The vines tried to snag her horn when she recast the spell, but she swatted them aside with her free foreleg and quickly breathed in another helping of chaos magic. This time, she knew she had to use her physical strength as well, or the vines might try something else whilst she curled up on the floor to deal with the consequences of taking in so much magic.
She struggled to all fours, and when the next wave of pain came, she dug in three hooves and pulled with her other snared foreleg. Somepony screamed, but she ignored it and used the agony in her chest to blot out the feeling of thorns tearing at her as the vines either slipped loose or snapped. Once she had both forelegs free, she shifted her weight and focused on breaking the vines around her barrel. Sounds like snapping twigs and splintering wood filled the air, and she added her own ragged voice to them in between breaths of chaos energy.
The vicious plant sent out a particularly thick vine at her, probably in a last ditch attempt to reel her in, but she’d already broken so many and siphoned so much power that she nearly laughed when it wrapped around her midriff. She braced for the inevitable pull, and nearly toppled when it squeezed hard enough to make her ribs creak and yanked with far more force than she’d anticipated. Grunting, she wrapped both forelegs around it and stood on her hind hooves, as if playing tug-of-war, and pulled with every ounce of her strength reinforced with siphoned magic.
Failure. Is. Not. An. Option!
She heard something like the crack of a whip and stagger-stepped a few paces backwards when the resistance vanished. She used both wings to arrest her momentum before crashing to the ground, and proceeded to twist off the feebly twitching vine that had shifted up her torso and gotten stuck at the base of her wings. Slowly at first, then more forcefully once the thorns no longer stuck in her skin. And for good measure, she stomped on it after throwing it onto the ground.
As Twilight stood in place, panting heavily, she heard the crisp rustling and saw the feeble remnants of the plunder vines retreating deeper into the pit. Relief washed over her, and she turned to ascend the tunnel and get back to the light in the basement.
But after taking several steps, she gradually slowed until she came to a standstill, right at the tunnel entrance. The vicious plant still posed a threat, and she had a chance to deal with it permanently before it could recover and hurt anypony else.
She set her mouth into a grim line as she trudged back down and flared her horn to sweep aside the shadows. Now that she had proper lighting, she could estimate the tunnel’s length at around twenty paces. Some of the oak’s thick roots bulged out from the tunnel’s walls, but for the most part it looked very cleanly dug. And right at the end, the tunnel widened into a small chamber with muddy earth at the bottom. She saw the vines sprouting from several black, bulbous lumps that resembled thorny onions the size of pumpkins. Many had split ends that oozed bluish-black sap, and they seemed to recoil at her approach.
Good. So it knows what’s coming.
Twilight charged up her magic to burn the whole cluster of abominations with fire, but her incineration spell refused to manifest. She stared at the plant as a whirlwind of ideas swept through her mind.
Just this once…
The purple glow of her magic slowly intertwined with green energy.
It would be poetic justice.
Turning the tables made her smile. Black tendrils branched out from her horn and engulfed the vines, and before long, a sickly blue cloud of magic leached out of the vegetative matter as they withered and shrank. The withering began at the tips, and gradually ran the full length of the vines until even the swollen bases split and cracked like desiccated fruit.
And then Twilight drank in its power. Fire raced down her throat and roared through her lungs, then turned to lightning that arced through her nerves and veins before finally diffusing into every fibre of her being. It filled the emptiness, and she felt her body swell with renewed vigour.
She drained the plant within an inch of its life, then stopped as the tremors in her limbs signalled the onset of another internal power struggle. Not wanting to writhe and twitch in the filthy tunnel, she dashed upwards as quickly as her legs could manage before they finally succumbed to the muscle spasms.
Twilight’s groan dragged on into an agonised scream as she curled up on the basement floor. Her chest felt on the verge of splitting open from the pressure within, and her nerves burned with volatile, unruly energy. She attempted to exert her will on the chaos, but it resisted control and wreaked havoc with her body; her heart rate fluctuated wildly, her lungs repeatedly expanded beyond comfort and shrank until she wheezed for breath, her eyes roved in their sockets, and her limbs twitched independently as if they had minds of their own.
Keep calm, keep calm. You’ll get over it. You always do. Happy thoughts… that’s it…
Slowly, oh so slowly, her suffering petered out. She blinked and slowly rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling, wincing a little. After shifting a little to ease the pressure on her wings, she shivered as the tingling worked its way from her spine to her extremities.
Still alive.
A soft moan escaped her when the warm, fuzzy tingle reached her horn, but gradually turned into a groan as she realised the enormity of her mistake.
“You blew it. For real, this time.”
She tried to get up, but her muscles did not feel up to the task of standing, so she let her head thump back onto the floor and stared off into space. Given all that she’d gone through, though, she couldn’t help feeling entitled to a little enjoyment of being whole again. So she waited for her bodily functions to settle back into their normal ranges, and whiled the time away counting stars on the ceiling that may or may not have been imaginary.
Ouch.
Her euphoria could not last forever, and when it finally faded away, the knives in her flesh came back. She rose to all fours and winced as the movement twisted or pulled the gashes left by the vines’ thorns. Her eyes widened when she saw the red smears on her coat and the considerable puddle on the floor.
An exploratory attempt at teleporting resulted in a mild tug from a spatial anchor, so that was out of the question. She probably didn’t have the time to disable the ward before suffering the consequences of severe blood loss. She flicked her gaze wildly about, searching for a solution to her predicament, and her eyes fell on the desks stacked with odds and ends. With luck, one of them might have medical supplies or at least something that she could improvise with to staunch her wounds.
She retrieved one of the crystal lanterns and set it on one of the desks. Both had rather tall stacks of tomes and inkwells, quills, a few sealed glass jars, metal instruments, phials and beakers on top of them, but after a quick sweep, she felt her eyes drawn to a pair of worn notebooks that looked like they had seen extensive and abusive use. One of them lay open to the middle pages, and had brownish stains and smudges on the paper.
Before reading it, Twilight shifted uneasily and glanced around; she didn’t want to get caught by surprise again. Despite finding no one else in the basement with her, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that somepony had their eyes on her. Magic pulsed in her horn as she ground her teeth and returned her attention to the crusty notebook.
Whatever. Anything that gets the jump on me is going to regret it.
The writing looked familiar, but she swept aside her ponderings on the owner’s identity when she realised that the pages contained very detailed and extensive notes on healing magic. She’d read a few medical journals for fun before and was no expert on the subject, but she felt pretty sure that no unicorn doctor had previously used the arcane matrices and primers detailed within. Her pulse quickened; the notebook’s owner had some very innovative ideas of interweaving unicorn, pegasus and earth pony magic to overcome each other’s limitations.
She stuck her tongue out one side of her mouth in concentration as she flipped through page after page, ignoring the mild metallic taste of her sweat. The notes were meticulous, but arranged so methodically and efficiently that she could absorb one concept after another without needing a break.
Twilight gasped when a splotch of red popped onto the page and hastily wiped it with a hoof, and then growled to herself when it turned into a nasty smear. She backed off a little to avoid bleeding on it again and resumed reading.
Within twelve minutes or so, she had memorised the process and felt ready to try the spell.
About time, too, she thought at the sight of the fresh puddle beneath her.
Twilight shut her eyes and started by coating her form in sensory magic. Every cut, every gash resembled a valley, every line of blood a river to her mind’s eye as her consciousness raced over her physical body, taking note of every irregularity that needed correction. After cataloguing her injuries, she followed up with the regenerative spell to weave her torn flesh and skin back together. Time had slowed, or maybe her perception had accelerated to the point where she could watch as blood droplets bulged out from gaps between the strands of tissue she wove together. The process stung like crazy, but the spell also granted her super-equine control over some of her non-voluntary functions, which enabled her to temporarily dull the transmission of pain through her nerves and retard her muscle spasms while she worked.
Mending anything deeper than half an inch proved exceptionally difficult, and after nearly tangling up a vein with muscle tissue, she decided to simply focus on healing her skin. Most of the damage was superficial, anyway; nature could take care of the rest. So, one after another, she sealed her wounds and finished just in time to watch a single breath stretch the newly-woven skin tissue on her chest. Pleased that the mended flesh held together, she then focused on re-growing her coat to hide any trace of the pinkish lines.
And… there we go.
Twilight sighed as the spell’s final component took effect; it dulled her aches until she felt as if she’d just had a long, hard run or flight instead of a life-threatening struggle with chaos-powered, thorny vines. The significant amount of magic she’d consumed could’ve played a part in that as well, but—no, she could worry about that later. She plopped onto her haunches, leaped up again and mentally chided herself for getting her tail and rump all sticky and disgusting.
Now that she didn’t have excessive blood loss hanging over her head, she could afford a little more thoroughness in her search and found some cleaning agents stowed under the desks, along with an ample supply of rags and medical gauze. She also spotted a crude faucet fixed to a pipe that went up through the ceiling.
Apparently, the place still had functional plumbing, though at a very low pressure. She used a wet rag to clean up the worst of her coat before turning around to stare at the huge mess in the basement. A trail of red splotches ran from the puddle beneath her, through the half-dried, body-sized splatter in the middle of the chamber, and into the hole from which wisps of smoke drifted out.
It’ll take ages to clean that up…
She shook her head and glared at the desks. That could be dealt with later. For now, she had to figure out who had set up such an elaborate trap in the middle of what was starting to look like a supervillain’s secret hideout or twisted laboratory.
Her suspicions about Discord’s involvement no longer held as much weight as before; despite the presence of his plants, the whole setup seemed a little too elaborate and precise for his style – for a trap, at any rate. And even if he had other uses for it, why bother with Golden Oaks Library when his amnesty granted him access to places vastly superior in terms of secrecy and usefulness?
No, it has to be—hey, wait a minute…
Twilight frowned when her eyes went over the piles of books; she recognised the visible titles, and when she shifted others to see their spines, she recognised nearly every single one. The missing books from the new library, the mysterious ‘extra’ copies from the supplier, plus a few others that shouldn’t have been accessible outside of the restricted sections in Canterlot Library…
So, somepony had snuck books off and smuggled them under her nose the whole time! Grinding her teeth, Twilight scrutinised the desks with renewed determination. The jars held an assortment of desiccated plant matter, more than a few of which had magical properties that might’ve whipped her other hunger into a frenzy if she hadn’t already fed so—moving on. One jar contained those black, crusty seeds that Chippy had sold her nearly three weeks back, and everything froze for a moment. She glanced at the tunnel behind her, and it took more than a little effort to resist flinging the jar of seeds away and smashing it against the wall.
That Chippy mare from Hollow Shades somehow had her hooves in this after all, and she’d been harvesting Discord’s plunder seeds! Could she be the culprit? Did she have accomplices? Was there a mastermind orchestrating something messed up? Possibly. Likely. An outsider would’ve needed somepony who had access to the crystal castle to have gotten her hooves on so many books without being discovered for so long. Not to mention the marepower necessary to set up a makeshift – she glanced around the ruined basement – lair of sorts complete with a nasty booby trap plant in just under two weeks, all without attracting any attention right in the middle of Ponyville!
But why?
Twilight rifled through one of the notebooks for clues. She found an entry on Chippy’s contact details and profession, along with the addresses of several other ponies from all over Equestria. An herbalist in Hollow Shades, a psychologist in Manehattan, a doctor in Baltimare, a botanist specialising in Ghastly Gorge ecology…
She bit her lip when she got to the part where the author had notes on the schedules of the townsfolk and castle staff, including hers and Spike’s. Business hours, pegasus weather plans, work life and wandering habits of her former neighbours...
Her brow furrowed as she read the notes on constructing the arcane wards protecting the basement, and then her remaining blood chilled when she started on the entries detailing various attempts at cultivating magical plants in the basement. Dragonseye perennials failed because they couldn’t subsist on crystal light. Too much clay in the tunnel soil for blisterroots, and they didn’t like pots. The plunder vines, though… they turned out perfect for the culprit’s plans. The author’s horn writing – probably too precise to be mouth writing – had grown scratchy and light from apparent excitement in those entries as he or she projected its growth rate and possible yield.
But something seemed off. There were a whole lot of entries, and a quick glance at the dates told her why: the first one started nearly eight, no, nine weeks ago.
Okay, that’s crazy. I was here. There’s no way they could’ve done that right under my nose, in between my visits. Not possible.
Twilight set the notebook down and scratched at her neck and chest with the edge of her hoof.
Time dilation? Probably not; that’s outside the skill and capacity of just about every unicorn alive today.
As she considered and discarded one theory after another, she picked up a third notebook and absentmindedly leafed through its pages.
I’m sorry.
Twilight’s string of hypotheses snapped at the intrusion of the stray thought. She focused on the book writing before her eyes, and then frowned. The middle of the notebook had wrinkled pages that looked like it had sustained some water damage, maybe from rain, and it had just two things on it: a date, about nine weeks ago, and the words, ‘I’m sorry’ written multiple times across several rows.
She flipped a page forward.
‘I’m sorry.’
Another page revealed multiple rows of the same words again and again.
‘Sorry. I wasn’t strong enough.’
‘Still can’t do it. I’m sorry, again.’
‘I’m an idiot.’
The messages all had gaps of a few days in between them, and the next few ones were written in more or less the same regretful or self-deprecating tone. The latest entry, just over two weeks ago, had only one sentence, and looked more like a giant scribble where the author had ripped the quill back and forth through paper like a knife to underline its last words:
‘TWILIGHT, YOU WEAK, SPINELESS COWARD.’
She bristled at the insult and felt her muscles tense up as she widened her stance ever so slightly in anticipation of an assailant appearing at any moment. Even when nopony did so, her hackles still refused to go down. So, it looked like somepony had a personal vendetta against her, and she must’ve stumbled upon their half-done project for exacting revenge on her. But who and why?
The rest of the notebook had empty pages, so she began flipping through it in the other direction in the hopes of shedding some more light on the author’s identity. The earlier pages contained extensive notes on more spellwork, specifically on spatial anchoring to block teleportation in and out, and another on psycho-thaumaturgy.
That one piqued her interest; she’d found no evidence of mind-affecting spells upon entering the basement, but if the author had used it in some way…
Twilight shuddered at the memory of Shining’s glazed expression when the changeling queen exerted her will upon him.
The notes were as detailed and methodical as the healing spell and had references to a couple of the books on psychology nearby. Later pages had extensive instructions on how to integrate some of the concepts with an arcane ward template to shift its effects toward the mind-magic spectrum.
As she read the notes, Twilight remembered that one time she tackled a greyed-out Applejack to the ground in order to administer a memory recall spell. The author evidently had more than a passing familiarity with the same spell, except that he or she had twisted and reapplied some of its components to damage memory recall rather than aid it. In other words, she’d invented a spell for wiping memories.
That’s bad. Very bad.
Twilight remembered sensing an unusual ward on her way in. Inert, but it only needed somepony to prime it in order to activate, and she had no intention of sticking around for that to happen.
But her curiosity demanded a couple more minutes with the notebook, and the next section had an easy how-to guide on priming the memory-wiping ward so that anypony who went through the trapdoor would have their memories from the past hours forcibly purged, adjustable with the amount of power fed into the spell.
The odd, repetitive lines started after that page.
Okay, if this were a novel, this is the part where the villain shows up. I need to get out of here right now.
She grabbed the incriminating notebook with her magic and whirled around to scoop up her forgotten saddlebags from the floor. But as she turned to make a break for it, her eyes settled on the dark tunnel to the monstrous plant, and for a moment, her legs refused to move.
Shoot. It’s still alive.
The plunder vines would probably grow back. She’d need to come back to make sure they didn’t get out of control and overrun the town. She should just finish it off. Yes. That would be prudent. But… then again, come to think of it, not many ponies had a chance to study such a unique plant. If careful, she could come back every few days and regulate its growth.
Her legs began carrying her towards the tunnel…
Grow back. Come back.
The words suddenly stuck out in her mind like a sore hoof, and she froze in mid-step to glance down at the books she held in her magic. The first one with healing magic, covered in drops of dried blood. The second one, filled with information on growing the vines. The third one, filled with dubious mind-magic spells.
Twilight’s mouth suddenly felt very dry. She tried to swallow, but the gummy stuff in her mouth refused to go down her throat.
Slowly, she trotted back to the desk, took a quill from its inkwell, and flipped the third notebook to the pages with series of repetitions. Biting her lip, she repeated the words ‘I’m sorry’ in her mind and wrote it just beneath the lowest line, near the bottom of the page.
Twilight’s eye twitched.
Aside from a few minor deviations, her writing matched the author’s perfectly. She flipped to the next page and tried it again. Another match. When a third attempt yielded the same result, she dropped the book onto the floor and sat on her haunches.
“Heh. This is crazy. Twilight, you’re crazy,” she choked out between shaky giggles.
An itch around her midriff demanded her attention, and she gladly scratched to give her hoof something to do before she started trotting in circles like a madmare. The itch gave way to a prick of pain, and her hoof slowly slid off her coat, tracing the now invisible gash beneath it.
An itch. One that she remembered well. A recognisable pain, too, given that her healing spell only went skin-deep. A little exertion, a stretch too far, a twist too many, and it would split again.
Stars above, I really am a coward.
“No… Not fair… Why?” she moaned, holding her head in her hooves as tears welled up and dripped onto the open notebook.
Everything fell into place as she stared into the abyss.
Golden Oaks had never needed her care; she’d simply used it as pretext for her little project to feed her hunger. Contact a mare with access to exotic magical herbs and maybe purge her memories after acquiring what she'd needed so she couldn’t spill the beans. Cultivate plunder vines under the oak. Ward the basement to hide it from everyone. Feed. Heal wounds if necessary. Guilt. Wipe own memories to get around her conscience. Hypothetical: temporary susceptibility to suggestion; use checklist to aid brain in creating false memories and encourage another visit. Repeat. Wipe Spike’s mind as well if he got involved. Any injuries beyond her skill to mend could simply be attributed to her sparring sessions with Luna.
A brilliant plan. An endless cycle of satiation and guilt. Twilight wiped her eyes and looked at the bloodstains on the floor.
No, it couldn’t go on forever. She couldn’t keep the plunder vines under control indefinitely; at some point, it must’ve gotten strong enough to fight back and injure her. And her extended stay in Canterlot had only allowed it to get even stronger. At some point, probability dictated that events outside her control or anticipation would allow it to defeat her; it had come uncomfortably close to that this time.
“No, I can fix this. There’s always a way. I got into this mess; I can get myself out,” she muttered, feeling the onset of a manic grin. “Burn it. Burn it with fire. I can end this right now.”
Twilight flared her horn, but couldn’t bring herself to set fire upon the desks. Memories of nights spent curled up in bed, crying herself to sleep as the emptiness within gnawed her mind and heart came unbidden. Sickness. Worthlessness. The world drained of all life and colour, with her wallowing in the river of time that had slowed and thickened into a cloying marsh that stretched to eternity. She couldn’t go back.
She hung her head as her spell died.
I’m not strong enough... Past Twilight, what the hay were you thinking?
Twilight slammed her hoof on the floor and ground it against the hardwood as she levitated the notebooks back onto the desk in the exact arrangement she’d found them.
You stupid, stupid pony. Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me? And now I’m going to do it to Future Twilight, too. Oh, stars above, I am so messed up.
She had half a mind to travel back in time and kick her past self’s flank into next Tuesday for coming up with such a devious and stupid plan. But that obviously hadn’t worked, or she wouldn’t have gotten into this mess in the first place. Or maybe doing so would only give Past Twilight the idea and cause a stable time loop with circular causality. Heck, for all she knew, she’d already done it and just forgotten.
But… that didn’t mean she couldn’t get some satisfaction out of pummelling stupid Past Twilight. Trying wouldn’t hurt, and it apparently never made a difference. Sniffling a bit, she got onto all fours and prepared to jump back into the past to deliver a well-deserved punch to her face.
Once done, she’d have to come up with more effective countermeasures against unforeseen deviations in her schedule. With any luck, they’d help to avoid another incident of letting the vines grow excessively strong.
But before she could finish the time spell, she felt a surge of magic from somewhere above the ceiling. Magic that her wards should have kept hidden from her senses. Alicorn magic. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the trapdoor creak open.
“It’s here; I feel it. Make haste!”
Hooves thundered down the stair spiral. Twilight glanced down at her chest and touched the blood-spattered amulet around her neck with a trembling hoof. She tried to move, to hide, but her hooves had turned to stone and refused to obey.
Blue and golden light flooded the basement as Luna and Celestia reached the bottom of the stairs, and they gasped when they laid their eyes upon her. Barely a moment later, Spike, Rainbow, Pinkie, AJ, Rarity and Fluttershy came half-running, half-tumbling down the stairs, and their gaggle of voices turned to silence almost immediately. Rarity put a hoof to her head and promptly fainted onto Rainbow as the rest of them stared with their jaws hanging.
Celestia’s brow creased and the line of her jaw hardened as she swept her gaze around the basement. Her mane suddenly blazed with tongues of orange-yellow fire as she spoke with a rippling voice that promised ruination to the one who’d crossed her. “Twilight, who did this to you?”
“I—I don’t…” Twilight choked, frozen to the spot. She’d never seen her mentor so angry before.
“Sister, look,” said Luna as she pointed to a scrap of charred vine with a wing, “plunder vines!”
In the blink of an eye, Celestia’s horn flared and Discord appeared in a flash of light.
He turned to the sun princess, frowning, and said rather irritably, “Really, now, did you have to summon me quite so forcef—yikes!”
Discord’s form suddenly glowed with golden light and slammed onto the floor, hard enough to send cracks spidering out from the point of impact.
“Explain yourself. What have you done to her?” Celestia roared as Luna rushed over to Twilight.
Everything’s gone wrong.
Twilight leaped backwards and away from Luna, shaking her head as hyperventilation set in.
Say something, you coward!
Her mouth remained firmly shut even as she watched Discord squirm.
“Really, I have done nothing but help, I—”
Celestia slammed Discord into the floor again, levitated a piece of charred plunder vine into view, and thundered, “No lies, Discord!”
“It’s not his fault. I did everything! This whole thing was my idea! Please stop hurting him!” Twilight cried out.
Everyone stared at her with varying degrees of confusion.
Discord, still trapped in a golden aura with a trio of mini-Celestias flying in a circle around his head and sporting a swollen eye, chuckled and said, “You know, you could have saved me a concussion by saying that just a few seconds sooner.”
Understanding seemed to dawn on Luna’s face. Her gaze shifted between the two desks and the dark tunnel’s entrance littered with broken vines before focusing on her and boring right into her soul. Her ears and wings drooped as she whispered, “Twilight, what have you done?”
“I…”
I’ve betrayed everypony’s trust. I let Discord get hurt. I’ve dragged Spike and who knows how many others into this mess and violated their memories. Nopony is safe near me.
She remembered the seething fire in Celestia’s eyes as she demanded to know the culprit’s identity. But as the echoes of her admission and Luna’s question died away, that anger had turned to confusion, and then… to pity. She saw the same pattern happen with everypony else, despite her suspicion that they might not have gotten the whole picture.
Twilight grit her teeth as the barrage of coddling and sweet-talk began.
They dare to pretend they understand? To know that it’ll all get better just like that? Treating me like a foal… They have no idea what I’ve done to myself. As if any of them could’ve made it this far without breaking!
Illogical, irrational, and yet their affirmation of her weakness made her blood boil. Her vision shifted towards a greenish hue as they came forward, and she grinned when their eyes widened at the sight of purple and green lightning heading their way.
As one, the whole lot of them screeched to a halt and scrambled backwards as the half-dozen bolts struck the floor, and they stared at her in stunned silence as smoke wafted from a semicircle of charred wood between them. A second later, a bluish barrier appeared between them as well.
“Oww…” someone groaned.
A hole opened up in Twilight’s gut when she looked through Luna’s shield and saw Spike clutching his tail, blackened at the tip with a couple of loose scales glowing red-hot at their edges.
“Now see here, Twi, I know yer upset and all, but did you really—”
“What the hay, Twilight! We almost—”
“Calm yourself. There is no need—”
Everypony’s voices merged into a garbled mess of background noise as Spike turned his tearful eyes to her.
Twilight tried to say something, but words could never make up for what she’d done. Pathetic noises escaped her throat, feeble excuses for selfish actions that didn’t deserve anyone’s attention. She didn’t deserve anyone’s friendship. So undeserving, that Luna had even erected a barrier to protect everypony from her.
They’d disarmed her wards.
She closed her eyes and teleported away.
Cold air greeted her when she popped back into existence several thousand paces in the air and about a couple of miles away from Ponyville. She squinted against the wintry winds as they buffeted her around, carrying along snow and dark clouds.
After steadying herself, Twilight swept her gaze around, searching for a safe place to glide for a while. But she had to banish all thoughts of rest when three coloured streaks shot up into the sky from the centre of Ponyville, angling towards her. One gold, one blue, and one rainbow.
She couldn’t face them. Not after attacking everyone. Not after hurting Spike.
Twilight tried to teleport again, but the ache in her horn prevented the spell from manifesting. She’d have to rely on her wings for the time being. So she turned tail and fled as quickly as her wings could take her.
Unfortunately, her damaged feathers prevented her from reaching top speed, which would’ve been bad enough without taking into consideration the fact that she had Rainbow Dash, Luna and Celestia on her tail.
“Well, that got out of hoof in a hurry.”
Or Discord.
“Leave me alone,” she growled at him as he drifted in the air alongside her.
“You’ve actually surprised me,” he said with a grin, as if congratulating her on passing an exam. “I would never have expected such devious machinations from you, at least not so soon after your ascension. Thirty years? Oh, yes. But less than a couple? Oh my.”
“Twilight, please wait!”
She turned and saw that Celestia, Luna and Rainbow had come within shouting distance already.
Gritting her teeth, she powered through the pain in her horn and teleported as far as she could. Direction didn’t matter, so long as it took her far away from everypony.
A snowy mountain range appeared beneath her. But before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, she detected three instances of spatial warping as Discord, Celestia and Luna teleported after her. They appeared in a triangle around her, and she took a steep dive to escape.
She wove between the tall pines that grew on the mountains, but Discord proved agile enough to keep up with her whilst her fellow alicorns swept above the treetops, calling out to her. She flattened her ears to shut out their voices and concentrated on flying. An unexpected branch clipped her wing, but she managed to correct her spin in time to dive through the resulting shower of snow, duck behind a rocky outcrop and teleport whilst they had no line of sight. With any luck, they might miss her magic and assume she’d flown on.
A river in a snowy valley, this time. Slaking her thirst felt like a good idea. But just as she angled into a downward spiral, her pursuers returned, and she turned the spiral into another dive to pick up speed.
How do they keep finding me?
As if on cue, a particularly strong gust struck her and produced a muted, clinking noise somewhere near her chest. She looked down and snorted when she saw the lifeward amulet still around her neck, dancing in the wind.
Of course. Add that to the list of stupid mistakes I’ve made. One more wouldn’t hurt.
She ripped it off and tossed it to the winds.
After watching it disappear into the valley, Twilight looked up just in time to see Discord teleport directly in her flight path. She yelped and fired a blast of energy straight at him. He dodged it, but stupidly chose to fly by her side again.
“My dear, it would really help if you would just calm down and talk for a minute. We just—”
The void inside her writhed at the presence of so much active chaos magic. So close. She needed more.
No!
“Stay away from me!” Twilight shouted as she forced it back down and stormed ahead, cutting through the air like an arrow.
Discord didn’t listen, and neither did Celestia or Luna. They closed in on her, calling out, and she felt her blood heat up again at their stubbornness. Or maybe she had her hunger to thank for that. Either way, she couldn’t stop the flow of dark magic in her horn.
“I warned you. Leave me alone!” she roared as she twisted around to coast on the air resistance on her back and wings, relying on inertia to keep her going. And then, she let her hunger loose. Black tendrils whipped out and lashed at them, siphoning some power in the process.
Twilight drank as she beheld their shock and fear, and then teleported away before she could hit the ground.
A vast expanse of white and grey woodland greeted her, as did gale-force winds laden with snow. She hissed as they twisted her wings and attempted to shield herself from them, but the backlash of pain in her horn nearly made her lose what little control she had left. So she tried to ride the winds instead.
In that moment, after all the abuse they had endured in the tunnel and in the frigid air, her primaries snapped. Some parts broke off, whilst others simply bent sharply at awkward angles one after another as they lost structural support from their neighbours and yielded to the wind. Spreading her wings to brake only worsened the damage, but she had run out of ideas.
She screamed as she accelerated towards the ground. Even when she had run out of air, she couldn’t stop her wordless cry for help to draw breath. The wind’s howl grew into a roar in her ears as she backpedalled uselessly in the air.
Luckily, she retained enough awareness to spot a large snowdrift as it grew closer and larger, and she used the last of her strength to steer towards it. She had just enough intact feathers to alter her angle of approach, and once aligned, she spread her limbs to maximise her surface area and hopefully slow her velocity to something non-lethal.
What a way to go.
At the last moment, Twilight curled up tight and braced for impact, hoping that the snowdrift had enough volume to cushion her.
She felt a split-second of cold before a silent impact shook her body, like one of those times when she’d dreamed of falling and woken up just before hitting the ground. Except that this time, she couldn’t open her eyes, everything had gone numb, and she could hear the sound of splintering wood and planks cluttering against one another.
With a weary sigh, Twilight surrendered her consciousness to oblivion.
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Well....damn.
Knew it.
And knowing only makes this all the more depressing.
Everything is problems.
Well, shit.
‘TWILIGHT, YOU WEAK, SPINELESS COWARD.’
wow. authors usually try the whole downward spiral thing in one form or another at some point, but this was one of the best ones i've seen to date!
that gotta hurt.
Ouch, weeks of pseudo-recovery and then a nice slam right back to rock bottom and then into a new low.
Also, such cliffhangers...
For some odd reason, when Twilight awoke and shouted "books" I instantly thought of this
5471666 I think this very short comment sum up my impression of this chapter.
Holy damn ; I was way off and it was even worse than I thought!
Twilight really messed up , regularly wiping her own mind to hide something she knew was incredibly wrong even from herself ; but then presumably doing the same to Spike EVERY TIME they have been having "happy mend the tree library" time together ? Damn thats twisted. I'm still sympathetic , but even with the best outcome she's got to be under some really heavy surveillance from now on. She's is real terror; and has shown she's willing to hurt / abuse her friends to get away with it and really can't be trusted to handle anything on her own.
You're earning that Dark tag
Wow. Just. Wow. Incredible.
So good.
This chapter was a punch to the gut, man.
Damn.
shrugs. definitely impactful. though i always thought that all twilight did was remind her friends about themselves. they did the whole break free from discord's control by themselves.
A beast I am, lest a Beast I become.
chapter 9 made the story ascend
shit she was doing so good, danmit all to hell, i want to favorite this because its so good but already have so ill put that read later sign so i know to come back once this is all over but danm is this not the shittiest but best development in character ive seen
gawd
5471996 You thought of it because its impossible to forget.
Books!
...
...
damn...
I really... just... damn... I don't know what else to say... damn...
5472124 Indeed
When Twilight Wrote "I'm sorry" I had to stop for a moment as it all just came to me exactly what had been going on, and holy shit I was not prepared for that.
This chapter hits you like a ton of bricks in both the worst and best possible way. Truly fantastic writing.
Mwahaha...
I'm glad to see this new chapter bring some new darkness...
Called it. I wish I had been wrong.
Holy HELL!
there are no words right now... just...
FUCKIN WOW!!!
delete
________
5471683
You knew about the Plundere Vines being behind the mystery wounds? But yeah finding out the rest I pretty much surmised (not that it was in the library basement though) was pretty depressing.
5472245
Just started on this one, I'm liking what I see so far, and by the sound of everyone's reaction, 9 is a chapter with impact.
I said the longest "hole sheeeeeeeit!" of my life.
And then I started laughing, hard. I have no idea why well the laughter connected to sobs and then "WHAT THE HELL SPARKY!"
You just pulled out all the emotional stops didn't you?
I've said it before and Ill say it again. This is why you shouldn't do drugs.
Damn that was a good chapter.
The actions of all the others in this chapter piss me off. Celestia and Luna are supposed to be multi millennia old wise creatures that should have encountered physiological issues before but they still continue to pressure Twilight when anyone with two brain cells to rub together could see that any other course of action would have been better. Even violent incarceration would have been better than what they did, it was unforgivably stupid! Not only that but the actions of her friends....... did they REALLY try to coddle her like a child? SERIOUSLY! OMFG JUST NO JUST AARGHHH
If I was a drug addict and someone tried that with me they would be getting a broken nose and a concussion. I know for a fact I'm not strong enough to do that but I would still give it my best shot. These morons got off lightly with a magical blast. These creatures are SUPPOSED to be the paragons of friendship and they STILL tried this shit? I just don't understand.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120922153750/adventuretimewithfinnandjake/images/thumb/9/9f/Facepalm_facepalm.png/640px-Facepalm_facepalm.png
It was still an enjoyable read but I will be disappointed if they don't get some form of retribution for the put idiocy that is gushing out of this chapter in torrents.
Wait... so Twilight was feeding herself info to keep her addiction going through time travel?
5472329 What Idiocy. I saw them try to calm down their injured, scared and unstable friend who was clearly not in her right mind. What would you have done if you walked in and saw that. Scream at them? Tell them to get their shit together? They were not trying to baby her, they were trying to stop from her before she completely lost it.
Explain to me exactly what they should have done in the short time they had to process what they found and with the state that twilight was in. Hmm?
5472391 No, she gave into temptation and was using the plunder vines to feed every time she visited the library, she cast wards to keep others away including one that wiped the memory of what was down there that activated every time somone left.
So basically she was draining magic and then forcing herself to forget after each time. Go read the last half of the chapter again it will probably make more sense.
Well damn! What a twist!
Seriously, though, I'm hoping you take this down the good old Then Let Me Be Evil path.
Regardless, whatever you do....
threadbombing.com/data/media/2/THISGONBGUD.gif
Definitely looking forward to reading more!
I love this story.
5472273 like a bullet train to the ribs!
5472273 You have no idea.
Wow! this story was, in my opinion, quite average before; enjoyable enough to continue reading, but that was a whole new level
- i feel like that's really something Twi would do as well.
Holy shit.
5472329
Only moron here is you. Nothing in your post makes sense. You're just mad because you're an idiot and don't understand what you're reading. No one did anything to harm Twilight, even out-of-hand, they've been careful, they've been scared FOR her, they all love her so much that it hurts them to see her hurting, that it hurts them to see her HAVE to hurt in order to get better. How are you confusing love for malice? What is wrong with you as a human being?
Twilight is rapidly becoming Darth Nihilus.
DANGIT TWILIGHT
I'm feeling like Fluttershy right now:
Oh my goodness! Oh My goodness!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!
Anyways, jokes aside, I was expecting Discord at the beginning of the chapter, and then BAM! Revelation that Twilight had already broke!!
I have two theories about what's going to happen next, but I'll wait 'til the next chapter to prove them...
Keep up the good job, I love this story, and I can't wait to read more!!
5472872
I never said anyone did something to harm Twilight, I have no idea where you got that idea from. My point was that Celestia and Luna should have noticed that chasing her relentlessly would not end well and either let her go to cool off or overpowered and captured her before she could hurt herself any more.
Her friends should have realised that advancing towards her in such a state was poor for her health and theirs and extreemly likely to cause her to run off, which it did.
Yelling over each other at her for panicking is not likely to make her panic less.
I have no idea where you got the "confusing love for malice" bit but I'm going to asume you believe that because I disagreed strongly with the characters actions I believe that they were attacking her or something? NVM I really have no idea what you are on about and frankly I find your insults unnecessary, it seems you have done to my post what you believe I have done to this chapter. You have read parts of it and assumed the worst.
5472403
No I would not have screamed at them, I would have calmly asked what exactly had happened without being accusatory, given them as much time as it took them to answer without advancing and causing them to panic and then attempted to come up with and give them some simple instructions to get on the road to making things better. By keeping their mind and body busy with productive tasks, there will be less chance of them lashing out, less chance of running off and allows them time to collect their thoughts which is exactly what Twilight needed here without her friends being pushy.
5473332 Next time be more careful about how you word things, because whatever it was you ment to say was completely lost to everyone else.
Well holy hell.
I was feeling an epic sigh coming on at the start of the chapter, when we started to see what might have been a big bad, but then as soon as I started seeing the Spineless Twilight comment in the book… well, I happily retracted that sigh and re-puckered my asshole ready to continue this ride.
Brilliant!
Anyone know what just happened there or why? I feel like I'm must have missed something, because I certainly have no idea myself.
Who hoo , new chapter the day after I finished reading the last chapter . If only all updates could come out so conveniently .
If there was ever any doubt as to if I was going to continue fallowing this story, they are all gone. Excellent job so far, I am at the edge of my seat.
I think the reaction of Luna and Celestia was spot on, people often can stay the best way to handle a situation, but that is someone what happens when the thing actually happens. I can attest to that first hand that surprised, especially one as big as this I.woUPS just blubber for.a few minutes.
I mean how would you react.to a.room full of.blood and twilight taking responsibility for it? it would be like you walking in on your sister cutting herself.with a.knife it's not something a close friend can just respond rationally too.