//------------------------------// // 91. There's a Hole in the Roof // Story: Azure Edge // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Pinkie moped with her cheek pressed up against the cold train window, watching the starlit plains of Equestria going by or whatever. “What’s up, Pinkie?” Applejack asked. “You don’t seem like your usual chipper self.” “I’m just grumpy,” Pinkie huffed, crossing her arms. “I don’t like that Granny is always so mean to you.” “Eh, it’s not so bad,” Applejack shrugged. “She’s not wrong to be disappointed in me.” “Yes she is!” Pinkie puffed up her cheeks. “She’s totally wrong, cuz you’re awesome and amazing and stuff!” “Thanks, Pinkie,” Applejack chuckled sweetly, “I appreciate that.” “It makes me mad too cuz my parents are,” Pinkie groaned, “y’know, like that.” “I know,” Applejack sighed. “But some stuff just is how it is, and even when it’s shitty, we kinda just gotta accept it for what it is.” “That sucks,” Pinkie said flatly. “Yup,” Applejack laughed, and Pinkie felt a giggle bubbling up inside her too. Pinkie jumped off her bench and sat next to Applejack, leaning up against her while Applejack put her arm around Pinkie, who sighed in mixed relief and frustration. “And look on the bright side,” Applejack said, “we still got Apple Bloom, and Big Mac, and your sisters. And even more’n that, we got a great family waitin’ for us back home.” “Yeah,” Pinkie yawned, closing her tired eyes and deciding to catch a few winks. “When we get back to Canterlot, let’s go to the library, okay?” “Sure,” Applejack said, stroking Pinkie’s shoulder, “I’d like that.” Pinkie yawned again and whispered as she fell asleep, “I wonder what Twilight’s doing right now.” **** A putrid smelling rainbow fluid came out of Twilight’s mouth and spilled over the attic floor as Twilight tried in vain to grab ahold of something to keep her steady. Instead she fell to her knees, vomiting more of that colorful liquid all over her knees and hands. Everything hurt. What had started as an ache in her chest, and evolved into a scorching pain throughout her body, was now full-on torturous agony the likes of which she’d never felt before. She felt like some other creature had made its home inside her body but was much, much larger than her and was trying to stretch Twilight’s skin and muscles out to fit its body. Almost like she had a dragon inside her, trying to break free of a pony-sized body it was trapped in. Twilight didn’t register that she had screamed until she felt two little hands desperately clutching her hand. “Spike,” Twilight let out a mangled cry that vaguely sounded like her son’s name, “please, get out of here. It’s not safe.” “No!” Spike said, still clutching Twilight even as tears blurred his eyes. “I’m not gonna leave you like this, Twilight!” “Spike, please,” it was only as Twilight put her hands on Spike’s shoulders that she saw the rainbow fluid leaking steadily from her fingertips, “the library, I’m going to—“ Twilight retched and expelled more of that magical liquid, letting out a brief, pained whimper before screaming yet again. Spike didn’t budge, and while Twilight respected his bravery and was endeared by his loyalty, the last thing she wanted was for him to see Twilight forced to transform, or for him to be caught in the ugly aftermath of the Conflux spell, which was quickly turning the library into a withered husk of its formal self. And then it hit Twilight. The Conflux would have disabled most, if not all, of the library’s protections. And Twilight couldn’t hold onto her pony-transformation spell, plus was in horrendous pain. She wasn’t going to be able to control her fiery breath, and she and her son were inside of a rapidly withering and completely unprotected tree. “I need to get out of the library,” Twilight gasped desperately, but as she tried to stand, merely fell flat on her side onto the hardwood floor, helplessly reaching a limp hand toward the stairwell to the bottom floor. “I need to get out of the library!” Spike’s fingers wrapped around Twilight’s hand and he struggled to pull her toward the stairwell. Twilight whimpered as tears stung her eyes, a mix of pride at her son’s consideration for her and agony at the thought of what might happen to him if he’s caught in her transformation. “Spike!” Twilight hacked and coughed, spilling magic fluid all over her chin and chest. “Get out! Get out of the library! I’m gonna burn it down!” “What?!” Spike gasped in horror. “Why would y—oh no, you’re transforming?! I thought the Conflux just wiped you out! Oh no, no no no no no no no, Twilight we gotta get you out of here!” Spike grabbed Twilight’s forearm and tugged as hard as he could, but his tiny body just couldn’t move an adult-sized unicorn, much less one that was about to start turning into a gigantic beast of volatile flame and magic. “Spike!” Twilight shrieked. “I’m ordering you to get out of the library! NOW!” a pang of guilt ripped through Twilight’s heart upon seeing Spike’s stricken, mortified expression, and she affected a gentle smile. “Please. I can’t bear to lose both of you.” Spike pursed his lips as the tears started rolling down his eyes. He tried to say something, but it just came out as blubbers, so he nodded his head and ran for the stairs, leaving an agonized but relieved Twilight alone in the attic. Twilight still tried to crawl her way to the stairs, desperate to save the home where she’d made so many memories, but every inch she managed was accompanied by screams of pain, and now there was rainbow fluid pouring from her eyes as well. She screamed in horror as the flesh tore on her fingers and scales took their place, the bones increasing in size even as they tore through muscles that regenerated and were torn apart again just as quickly. Her fingernails became talons that she dug into the hardwood floor and tried to pull herself on, but her back was seizing up, and soon two spikes pierced through it and tore slits in her skin where massive, leathery wings stretched out from, ripping the flesh and tendon from her body on their way out, spraying blood all over the attic as Twilight whimpered helplessly. Her hooves were the next thing to be torn to shreds, as her feet were stretched, torn, and finally split into large, clawed feet, but Twilight could barely focus on that pain through the agony in her tailbone as it extended and tore out through her body to form that massive lizard tail. Next thing Twilight felt was her teeth throbbing with ache, growing in size and cutting her lips as she tried to bite down as if that would stop her transformation somehow. Twilight tried to scream as her horn split in two down its center and curled behind her head, but her scream came out as a roar instead. A roar, and flame. Twilight breathed a stream of violet flame at the ceiling of her tree, burning a hole in the ceiling through which she could just barely see the starry night sky above, and the rest of the ceiling quickly started to burn, branches and beams falling from it and crashing into the attic floor. Another roar of flame came unwelcomed from Twilight’s mouth, spreading across the floor and leaking into the lower level. Twilight wanted to weep for the books that she had spent her life collecting, and for the memories she had just started building, but most of all for the life she wanted to give Spike, which was now quite literally going up in flames. But she couldn’t focus on anything but the pain. Even with her body fully transformed and her disguise spell ripped away, the magic exhaustion didn’t leave her. She still felt like her heart was primed to explode, like all of her organs and internal systems had been ripped out her body through her mouth and then re-implanted through her eyes, but everything was in the wrong place now. But as she writhed on the floor of her precious home, breathing streams of fire that destroyed every item and piece of property that she cared for, one clear thought rang through her head. What if Rarity finds me like this? Twilight dug her claws into the hardwood and stretched her wings as far as they would go, before leaping into the air and crashing through the hole in the ceiling, obliterating anything that was left of her library’s roof. What would happen to Spike if anyone found out who—or what—his mother really was? How betrayed and heartbroken would Rarity feel if she found out? Her friends, they all despised and were terrified of dragons. What would they think of Twilight if they found out that she was a dragon? It was a thought that plagued Twilight daily, and it was never more present on her mind then when she forced herself to fly through the ceiling of her home, forced herself to charge through the pain and carry her restless and broken body in the skies over Canterlot’s Moon District, praying that she could reach the mountains nearby even as she continued to vomit that rainbow fluid. The ponies of Canterlot were sleeping in their beds; it was entirely possible that Twilight could still make it to the mountains before anyone knew what had happened with her. If the others came back and found her library, what would they think? It didn’t matter. Twilight would rather them think that she died than for them to learn the truth, and if she could just make it to the mountains, then maybe, just maybe, she could recover her strength and go back to her home, and all that she would lose would be a tree and some old books. She just prayed that nobody saw her egress.