//------------------------------//
// 19 
// Story: The Blessed 
// by RarityEQM 
//------------------------------//

Twilight staggered her way forward through the darkness of the street, taking each dizzying, swaying step as they came. With every other step, she found she had to stop to fight off a wave of nausea, but she forced herself forward with one hoof after the other. She would not stop until she found Pinkie Pie and saved her from herself. She would not fail this test of friendship. She refused.  

"Pin-key?!" Twilight called, listening to the slur in her voice. Her tongue felt like it was twice the size it normally was. God, what did Pinkie DO to her?! She paused in her march forward, forcing herself to draw in a deep breath in a desperate attempt to clear her head. It didn't help. 

"Ish okay, Twilight. Ish gonna be okay. You can do thish. You can do thish. You got thish. Jush...Jush fine Pin-key. Thash all you gotta do. One hoof in front of the other," She sputtered desperately. Still, though, despite her struggles it seemed like she was making progress. Slow progress, but progress none the less. She'd stumble and trip over her own hooves periodically, but it only slowed her progress, not halt it.  Soon enough, her trek down the street brought City Hall into view, and Twilight felt a weak grin twist at her lips. She'd made it. She'd MADE it!! She stumbled forward, hurrying towards the building only to find her hooves unresponsive. She tripped, crashing hard into the cobble stone road below her with a jarring thud and a flash of pain. She could taste a surge of blood racing to greet her tongue and suddenly, Twilight wanted nothing more than to simply remain where she was. To let the dizzy drowsiness wash over her and guide her into sleep. She was sure she'd broken something in her stumble. There was a numbed sense of pain screaming through her bones, but whatever drugs Pinkie had forced into her system masked it for now. It would hurt when she sobered up, she was sure of it. Her eyes were heavy. Her body was tired. All she had to do was stay where she was. She didn't have to move. Nopony would blame her. It wouldn't be her fault. She didn't have to justify anything to anypony at all, even if the door to City Hall was swinging open. Wait. The door?

Twilight forced her head up, ignoring a fresh surge of pain. Yes. The door. It was ajar leading into a shadowy blackness inside of the building. Pinkie was inside. Twilight could feel it. She groaned and rolled herself onto her side with a whimper. It was there. Her goal was right there! All she had to do was get up. To force herself back to her hooves and march forward. Just a little bit further. Just a little more. That was all she needed to do. It was the last stretch of her test of friendship. It was what Princess Celestia had sent her to Ponyville to learn. Would she fail her princess, just because she was hurt? Would she fail Pinkie again? Would she fail herself? Twilight narrowed her eyes and painfully dragged herself back onto her hooves. 


*  *  *


The building was shrouded in darkness and while bleak and opaque the overbearing gloom was not what sent a terrible shudder racing down Twilight's spine. No, it was the menacing scent of gasoline that took care of that job. The air was saturated with the suffocating fumes, and every step Twilight took deeper into the bowels of the office only served to set off warning bells in her head. Gasoline? What was Pinkie's plan? Something to do with fuel? What sense did that make? None, but it didn't matter. No. Whatever Pinkie was planning, Twilight would stop her. Twilight would save her. She squinted through the darkness, forcing herself forward deeper into the building. From the front doors, there was a lengthy carpet that lined the floors to the multiple offices found inside city hall and it was soaked in a foul smelling liquid that set off even more alarms in Twilight's head, but alarms aside, it also served as a trail. 

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a stagnant breath of air. She gagged, but it was necessary to draw in latent mana in the air. Despite feeling an oncoming headache, Twilight forced herself to cast a spell. A simple ball of witch light to illuminate her path. An easy spell, but one that had drained the last of her energy and left her sucking foul air into her lungs. She coughed and sputtered, but the carpet glistened wetly. A perverse trail of danger that lead towards an open door at the back of the building and one that descended into darkness. Twilight slowed her wobbling gait, approaching the door cautiously with her ears perked and senses open to the world. In the darkness, she could hear a single sound. A strange snapping sound, like sandpaper rubbing against itself, over and over again. SNNNNNHK. SNNNNNNNHK. SNNNNNNHK. SNNNNNHK. Bad. That was a bad sound. Something in her head was screaming that was a very bad sound, but Twilight couldn't quite figure out what it was, even if she'd heard it before, and it sounded familiar. No, her brain was too muddled with drugs and addled by inhaling fumes to process anything properly, which is probably why she decided to head downstairs.