A few hours had passed since the changeling’s failed foalnapping attempt, and it became night.
Twilight walked down the hall, slowly pacing herself, unable to find any sleep due to the slight pain in her wing and the new knowledge she had learned. They scattered through her mind, causing them to be the only thing she focused on. She wanted to figure out a way to help the other ponies with the war, and help end it. Her eyes and legs suddenly grew tired, causing her to slowly blink a few times, and once she reopened her eyes, she suddenly found herself on the floor, unable to have any feeling in her hooves or wing once more. She tried to get up but struggled to find any energy left. She felt it as it drained from her faster than before. She tried to get up once more but was still unsuccessful. Twilight plopped herself onto the ground, giving up.
"It's really happening..." she thought to herself as a tear streamed down her cheek. "What do I do now...?"
Twilight found herself soon weeping softly as she felt a new fear grow into her mind, but she refused to believe it.
Twilight poured every ounce of her strength into her legs, trying to get them to move. After a few minutes of struggle, she found enough strength to manage to crawl across the floor to her room.
Slowly, but surely, she had made it to the door and reached out her shaking hoof to the doorknob, pulling herself up to her hooves as it opened squeaking slightly. Twilight stared over at her sleeping niece, at the side of Twilight's bed. They had decided to put Flurry into her room with her to make sure she would be safe and to keep Twilight company since she felt lonely from time to time. Twilight let out a soft sigh as she rested her eyes for a moment.
Flurry let out a yawn, awakened by the door. She looked over to find her aunt, clinging onto the door, struggling to stay on her hooves.
"Auntie Twilight...?" Flurry mumbled still half asleep.
Twilight was slightly startled at the sudden sound in the room but quickly grabbed onto a nearby dresser to keep her balance, moving closer to her bed.
"Auntie Twilight?" Flurry asked.
"I'm fine," Twilight muttered, climbing into her bed, but she wasn't fine.
Flurry stared at the floor, her ears flopping back slightly.
"I had another bad dream... could I come and sleep with you tonight?" She whimpered softly.
Twilight smiled and nodded slightly allowing Flurry to climb in next to her, carefully moving close to her aunt, snuggling close.
Twilight shut her eyes to rest for a moment as her niece got comfortable. It had been a few minutes since either one spoke again.
"Are you going to be okay, Auntie Twilight?" Flurry asked, her voice whimpering slightly with fear.
Twilight smiled at her niece, kissing her forehead. "I'll be fine, Flurry." Twilight lied.
She hated lying to her. Twilight knew she wasn't going to be okay. Every day, the spell weakens her slowly, causing her to be less and less capable of taking care of herself. Fighting through her coma was only the first step, she knew that the last of her days were going to be worse, but she wasn't going to keep her niece from worrying about her.
Flurry smiled as she let out a yawn, shutting her eyes.
"Goodnight, Auntie. I love you," she mumbled as she fell asleep.
Twilight felt a tear stream down her face, landing on her pillow. Twilight held Flurry close, holding her like a teddy bear, silently sniffing to herself.
She didn't know how much time she had left, but she was going to waste it doing nothing. She wanted to help fight, to protect the innocent ponies who got tangled in this war. Memories of her adventures popped into her mind, reminding her of how she never gave up, no matter how bad the situation got.
Twilight let out a soft sigh, thoughts scattering through her mind, unable to find sleep once more.
Twilight managed to find enough strength in the night to be able to try another walk. She entered a large room, finding training manikins throughout the room, along with weapons and armor. She walked up to a sword, staring at it for a moment. She picked it up with her hooves, but then heard something fire out of the wall, hurtling toward her.
She dropped the sword and shut her eyes, curling into a ball. Twilight noticed she was holding something slightly heavy, causing her to open her eyes and find a shield levitating in front of her by her magic. She didn't even think of using her magic, considering how much struggle it was to use.
Twilight heard an arrow coming toward her from another direction, causing her to block the attack once more. Any pain that was in her body was soon forgotten. Arrow after arrow, she would levitate the shield, blocking the attacks.
Finally, it stopped, allowing her to rest for a moment and catch her breath. She opened her eyes, staring at a guard standing in the doorway, slightly shocked at what he has just seen.
Twilight stared at him, catching her breath, then picked up the shield and put it back where she found it.
"Hello, Chrystal Mane," Twilight uttered.
"Forgive my interruption your highness, but why must you put your weapon away?" he asked.
"Because..." Twilight said, her ears folding back slightly. "I'm weak," Twilight said, her ears folding back.
The guard walked up to her, putting a hoof around her shoulder. "You are not weak, why must you pull yourself down with false comments?" he asked.
Twilight let out a sigh, keeping her tears inside. She remembered seeing Chrystal Mane a few times while Flash was on duty, and knew he was good friends with the stallion.
"You are a strong mare, capable of anything you put your mind to, just like you did now when you were being attacked."
Twilight couldn't hold it in any longer. "But I..." She tried to say, her words choking her.
"You know Flash would say the same about you," Chrystal said, putting a soft smile on his face.
Twilight shut her eyes, feeling her face becoming wet with tears, remembering something that felt like years ago...
Flashback...
Twilight and Flash walked together, finding a place to have their picnic together. They walked towards the edge of the Everfree Forest nearby Sweet Apple Acres, thinking that it would be the best spot.
Twilight levitated the picnic basket onto the ground. Once the blanket had been placed onto the ground and took a seat beside Flash as he opened the picnic basket, pulling out a daisy sandwich for Twilight with some berry punch.
After a few minutes, most of their food was eaten.
"So, Flash..." Twilight blushed, fluffing her wings slightly. "How's it going in training and things...?"
Flash shrugged. "Nothing much, same old same old. How are things with you?"
Before Twilight could answer, there was a soft growl in the trees with an unbearable smell reached their muzzles. Twilight and Flash looked over with worried looks on their faces.
They saw green eyes glaring through the dark forest, growing slowly closer and closer, then a giant timber wolf burst out of the bushes, letting out a loud howl.
"Run!" Twilight managed to say as she rushed onto her hooves and trotted as fast as she could, but stopped when she noticed Flash was not beside her.
She turned around, finding him flying above the creature, throwing a rock at its face, only to aggravate it more.
The timber wolf threw its paw into the air, smacking into Flash, causing him to crash into the ground hard unconscious.
"Flash!" Twilight yelled, rushing to his side. She stood beside him, unable to figure out a situation due to all the panic in her mind.
"Oh, what would Rainbow Dash do..." she thought to herself as an idea suddenly popped into her head.
Twilight charged toward the creature, her horn igniting brightly, shooting out a blast. The creature let out a grumbled growl, shaking its head, then found the pony flying above its head shooting another blast from her magic.
She kept her mind focused, not allowing anything that was around her to distract her. Twilight ignited her horn once more.
Flash grunted slightly as he opened his eyes, feeling sore from the impact.
"Ow..." he mumbled, spitting out dirt from his mouth as he rubbed his head.
He then turned his head to view his surroundings but found Twilight flying above the creature, trying to defeat it, but it only growled and threw its paws into the air, hitting Twilight. She let out a scream of pain as the claws made an impact with her wing and descended towards the ground.
Flash took action and flew after her, flapping his wings hard, determined to catch her. He didn't let any soreness in his body stop him.
Twilight flapped her wings ferociously, trying to catch herself, but only was to no success as she plummeted to the ground.
Suddenly, she felt herself land into Flash's hooves, her screams muffled and flails stopped. Flash soared toward the ground, landing them both to safety.
"Are you alright?" Flash asked concerned. "How's your wing?"
Twilight turned to her side, trying to pull out her wing, but only responded with cries of pain.
Flash carefully pulled out her wing, finding a few feathers had been pulled out with a large scratch mark across the wing.
"It looks bad..." Twilight grunted, wincing slightly from the pain as Flash examined her wing.
The growl grew closer once more, revealing the timber wolf standing in front of them once more. The two ponies stared at the large monster in front of them.
Out of defense, Twilight shot another beam, impacting the creature, causing it to turn to a small pile of broken twigs. Twilight let out a soft sigh, relieved the creature was gone. She turned to Flash with a soft tired smile on her face. She slowly got up with Flash's help, then allowed him to hold onto her for balance as they trudged slightly back towards her home.
---
"Yeah..." Twilight uttered. "I know..."
She let out a sigh, thinking for a moment shutting her eyes. She then opened them, staring at Crystal Mane.
"Now, are you going to pick a weapon?" Crystal asked.
Twilight let out a soft sigh, thinking for a moment, then picked up the shield once more, along with a sword, carrying them with her in front of the guard and setting them onto the ground in front of her.
"Let's begin, I won't take it too hard on you since you're still healing."
Twilight took a deep breath, then nodded her head, saying she was ready.
Chrystal Mane made the first move without warning. He immediately took off, flying towards Twilight with his sword in his grasp, but Twilight's instinct lead her to her first move.
Her horn ignited once more, shooting toward Chrystal, but missed him by a few inches as he flew past the blast.
He then made another attempt for an attack, and another as Twilight would block each one. Finally, Chrystal ran towards her, his sword in tight grasp once more. Twilight quickly levitated a shield from behind her to her front, causing an impact between the two objects. Twilight shoved the object forward, pushing the guard away from her a few feet.
Twilight then ran toward the guard, holding onto the sword with her magic, charging toward the guard. Suddenly, Twilight lost her balance, causing her to trip over her hooves and slide across the floor. The guard jumped out of the way to prevent getting himself stabbed with the sword skidding across the floor, then rushed back to her side to help.
"Are you alright, Your Highness?" he asked as he helped her up.
Twilight shook her head, regaining herself, and slowly arose from the ground. "Yeah, I'm fine," She said. "I just lost my balance for a moment."
"Maybe you need something lighter. We can craft something new."
Twilight stared back over where the shields were, finding her brothers. It looked similar to his cutie mark, but without the giant spark on the center. She slowly walked toward it, trying to lift it with her magic. She then felt a sudden burst of energy as she lifted it into the air, feeling slightly stronger than before. As she held it, a sudden idea came into her mind.
She turned over to Chrystal Mane. "Is it possible to remodel a shield?" Twilight asked.
---
Twilight stared at her new shield, staring at the small gems edged onto the plate. She took a deep breath as she ignited her horn, focusing her mind on what she loved about her friends and what they meant to her. She let out a grunt, pushing harder, as the spell was tricky for her to cast, with how much power that was needed.
"Come on Twilight, you can do it!" Cadence said, trying to help push her sister further.
"I... can't get it... to..." Twilight grunted allowed.
"Yes, you can! Keep trying Twilight!"
Twilight's grunting grew louder, her horn's glow brightening. Small sparks flew from her horn. The gems slowly started to glow, slowly growing brighter and brighter as Twilight pushed harder and harder.
Twilight let out a scream from the pain of all the strength she was using.
"You're almost there, Twilight!"
Twilight finally let go, her horn's glow dimmed fast. She then fell to the floor, exhausted from all the strength she used, but she knew it was all worth it.
Twilight opened her eyes, staring over at the shield, watching the gems glowing slightly, she then looked up at her sister with a tired smile on her face. She felt the presence of her friends, thriving strong through the room. Twilight sat herself up, letting out a tired sigh as a small frown on her face.
"Cadence..." Twilight muttered, her voice shaking slightly. "There's something I need to tell you..."
---
Cadence held Twilight in a tight embrace, tears streaming down their faces. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner, I can be such an idiot sometimes..." Twilight sobbed. "I... I..."
Cadence held her sister tighter, letting out a few sniffs. "Twilight, don't do that to yourself! You're a strong mare and will fight through this!"
"But... I can't..." Twilight wiped her face.
"Yes, you can, I know y-"
"No, I can't!" Twilight shouted, pulling herself out of the embrace staring into Cadence's eyes, unable to contain her rage any longer. "Don't you see? Even though I've fought the spell, it's still inside me, killing me slowly every day!"
Cadence couldn't find her words, too shocked at what Twilight had said.
"I don't just want to just give up, and let innocents suffer because of me. I want to do all I can with what short time I have left..."
Twilight slowly walked over to her shield, picking it up with her hooves and strapping it onto her waist, then walked toward the door, but was stopped by Cadence's hoof. Twilight looked up at her sister.
"No, you're not," Cadence uttered. "Not by yourself. I want to help you."
Twilight put a soft smile on her face, then continued walking out the door back into the training room, Cadence at her side. She stopped when she found Princess Celestia and Luna in front of her, with small confused looks on their faces. She stepped forward, ready to speak her mind.
"I want to fight," she uttered.