The room was dark. A bright light illuminated the entirety of the room, but the room itself was horribly dark and sterile. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of a black stone that shimmered in an almost too-pristine manner; as though it had been scrubbed of absolutely any inconsistencies.
Along the far wall, Twilight could see dozens of black cupboards, all composed of the same black stone as the rest of the room. Counters of shimmering black held what seemed to be a sink, and next to the sink were a series of glass jars filled with many odd herbs and salves Twilight had never seen.
Turning her head, Twilight noticed the white Unicorn mare hunched over the only furniture in the room; a medical gurney, upon which lay Applejack. Above the gurney, the bright light was embedded into the ceiling, shining down onto Applejack’s unmoving form. Blinking, Twilight observed the Unicorn slowly and deliberately moving a thread using her magic. All in total silence.
Looking down, Twilight noticed a plastic bag with two freshly baked cookies within. She stared at them in confusion for a second, before the mare still bent over the gurney called out to her.
“Oh, you’re awake, how wonderful.”
Twilight was unsure how she knew that Twilight was awake, as the mare remained back turned, and hunched over, intensely focused on her work. Twilight glanced up from the cookies on her lap, towards the mare at the gurney.
“Oh, um, thanks uh…”
What’s her name again? I can’t remember. Twilight’s heart began to race, her thoughts grew frantic as she desperately tried to remember the name. Why can’t I-
“Rarity.”
The regal-sounding voice cut through the turmoil in Twilight’s mind; causing her frantic heart rate to return to normal once more.
“Huh?”
“My name Dah-ling, is Rarity. You may refer to me as Aunt Rarity, however.”
“Aunt...Rarity?”
Nodding, while still stitching the wound, Rarity responded encouragingly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Twilight felt a bit bewildered at the declaration. It didn’t make sense to her.
“Why ‘Aunt Rarity’? Are we related?”
“Not at all. To be truthful, you and I have never met before tonight, nor do we share the same blood.”
“Then, why?”
Rarity paused momentarily before giving her answer.
“Why indeed? The same reason Rainbow Dash does. As does Pinkie Pie. The same reason Applejack and Fluttershy are my sisters. Family comes in many forms, Twilight. Not always by blood.”
Twilight suddenly remembered her conversation with Applejack in the hallway. Family comes in many forms, not always by blood. What exactly did that mean though?
“So then, why?”
“Because child, we are all we have in this unforgiving world. We, ‘Living’ must stick together.”
“Wait, ‘Living’? You’re alive?”
“As are you child.”
“There’s been some mistake, I’m of the Dead, Mrs. Rarity.”
Rarity lifted her head, a thoughtful look on her face as she turned to stare at Twilight.
“Are you, now? Hmm...Hold on.”
Her magic still levitating the still stitching thread, Rarity caused one of the black cupboard’s doors to slide out; a file cabinet. From within a folder floated out to open before Rarity. And as she read aloud, the stitching continued slowly repairing the gash in Applejack’s back.
“Hmm...Twilight ‘Luna’ Sparkle…Realm of the Dead...Age 17...Species: Nightmare/Unicorn...Let’s see…”
Twilight stared in shock as Rarity seemed to read off every event in her entire existence.
“...Received half marks for grammar on her report on Celestia’s Royal Lineage. Hornwriting was illegible, mostly…”
After thirty minutes, Rarity concluded.
“...and is currently located in Rarity’s Medical Bay.”
“Wait what? How could it possibly-”
“Here take a look.”
As Rarity passed her the folder, Twilight saw Rarity wasn’t joking, and then her eyes went wide as she read the following:
Dead: created by Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, Niece to Celestia Sparkle; current Tyrant of Equus.
Date of Creation: 12/31/992 CS 12:00:00 AM
Edit: Status: ‘Lost’, as of Ponyville Massacre. 10/31/1000 CS 8:45:36 PM
Addendum: Attempted Revival 11/02/1000 CS 11:55:32 PM, by her Aunt Celestia Sparkle. Forbidden Ritual of Life performed. Complete replacement of internal organs via magical transfusion. Operation: Successful.
Re-Registered as Celestia’s Daughter. 11/02/1000 CS 12:00:00 AM
---
And then Twilight saw the last entry and her blood grew cold:
Current Status: Alive. 12/31/1008 CS 10:45:54 PM
Her pulse raced, and her pupils dilated at the words. Alive. There must be some mistake, this isn’t possible! Out of impulse, Twilight glanced at a clock on the wall above Rarity’s head, and it said 10:45. At exactly six seconds, the hand clicked to 10:46. Slowly looking back down at the file, she blinked in disbelief; the same line now read:
Current Status: Alive. 12/31/1008 CS 10:46:03 PM
“This can’t be! There has to be some mistake!”
Twilight’s heart pounded in her chest as she shouted over and over at how the file was wrong and there was no possible way she was alive. Rarity sat quietly, now focused on reconnecting the muscle tissue on a microcellular level, within Applejack’s severed neck; having finished the reconnecting of the spinal cord. Her ears twitched in annoyance as Twilight became more and more frantic.
Attempting to calm her down, Rarity spoke to her through clenched teeth; the loud noises getting on her nerves.
“The file is never wrong Dah-ling. Please relax, it isn’t so bad being alive.”
These words only seemed to exacerbate the situation. Rarity’s eye twitched as Twilight’s shouting grew louder.
“No, you’re wrong! I am not alive!”
Still stitching the thread with her magic, Rarity snapped and a dagger materialized in the air. Levitating it, she turned and magically hurled the blade; causing it to land, embedding itself between Twilight’s eyes.
“Do shush!”
Twilight blinked as her forehead trickled a stream of sparkling red. However, though it hurt, it had little effect on Twilight, aside from causing her hysterics to cease immediately from the shock of the assault.
“Ow, that hurt! Why did you-”
Rarity laughed as she continued stitching the muscle tissue of Applejack’s unconscious body.
“Yes, it does but it did not cause you to perish, did it?”
“No, I-”
Twilight paused. Why didn’t it end her existence? The wound would have been fatal to any dead, causing their soul to perish on the spot. Why was she still here? Rarity’s cold voice tore through her thoughts.
“That’s because the weapons of the dead cannot kill the living. No matter the wound they inflict, the pain it causes would never cease but the wound will never kill a living creature. That is why you are not lost, and why Applejack survived her wound. You are very much alive, Twilight. Now, please be silent while I focus.”
Rarity was quite flustered, and as Twilight sat there in stunned silence, her stitching seemed a bit more frantic; the delicate maneuvers becoming erratic and clearly displaying her annoyed demeanor. Now and then, Twilight could hear Rarity grumble about her presence there, almost as though she was debating it with herself.
“Annoying little…”
“...Just a filly…”
“No excuse...how...”
“She’s just a filly. She’s learning.”
“Yeah...learning...so were Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.”
“...she isn’t them, you know. You can teach her.”
“Like I taught them?”
“....from the mistakes you made...help her excel.”
“...can I...?”
“Just try.”
As the sparkling crimson lifeforce slowly trickled down her forehead, Twilight watched the curious display in silence. Rarity’s voice never changed as she held the seemingly aggravated debate with herself; almost as though she was trying to give herself a pep talk. And then, after the furious monologue, Twilight watched as a photo materialized within Rarity’s hooves. Looking down at it, Rarity sniffed and heaved a heavy sigh. The photo vanished and she closed her eyes momentarily.
Twilight heard her mutter to herself.
“Right. For them. For her. For the future.”
Rarity’s eyes snapped open and she turned back to face Twilight and was shocked at what she saw. Before her eyes sat Twilight, quietly watching her, while the knife Rarity had thrown lay still embedded in her skull; the wound still trickling the same sparkling red magical liquid that Applejack had. The ice broke between the two, and Rarity burst into a fit of giggles at the sight.
“Dah-ling, you don’t have to leave that in, you know.”
“I wasn’t sure what to do and…”
Rarity raised an eyebrow as Twilight finished her thoughts.
“I didn’t want to distress you even more.”
“So you sat there, with a knife in your skull?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Yes.”
She would rather endure pain, than anger me? She really is precious and naively innocent, isn’t she? Maybe I can teach her after all. Maybe Applejack and Fluttershy are right. Maybe there is a chance with this one. A gentle smile appeared on Rarity’s face as she stared at the scene. She just couldn’t stay mad at such innocence. The handle of the dagger became encased with the light blue hue of her magic, though the needle and thread were still at work behind her.
The dagger slowly came out of Twilight’s skull, coated in a viscous, sparkling red. Twilight curiously lifted a hoof to the wound, only to find much to her surprise, the wound was quickly closing up, as Rarity turned her attention to magically sterilizing the dagger until it sparkled without a single impurity. Within a few seconds, the knife had become completely sterilized, down to a subatomic level.
Twilight sat there, marveling in awe at Rarity’s multitasking use of magic.
***
While magic was a basic use all Unicorns were taught at the academy, multitasking was considered so impossible to do, that it had only been performed by one creature in known history: Princess Celestia.
Magic, while itself unexplained, took many forms, and using more than one form at one time was more than simply dividing one’s attention, it required an abundance of magical knowledge as well as a vast well of endurance to cast said magic.
Rarity was somehow able to levitate, cleanse and even mend all at the same time, on multiple objects with seemingly little effort.
***
As Twilight sat there, a strange yet familiar smell wafted through the air. As she sniffed at it, Twilight felt a familiar taste upon her tongue. The bittersweetness that could only come from one source. Know that taste and remember it well. Her mother’s magic. Just like Rainbow and Applejack. Does that mean-
“Those cookies aren’t tainted, you know.
Twilight was shaken from her thoughts by the bag of cookies being shaken in front of her eyes. Rarity had taken the folder from Twilight and was now bent over the floor cupboard placing it within its confines. Meanwhile Twilight stared hungrily at the two cookies hovering before her within the bag. A fetid aroma came from within, one the little filly had relished growing up; it reminded her of her mother’s baking. Head still down in the drawer, Rarity’s voice reached her ears.
“Go on, it’s alright, dear.”
Seconds later, Twilight was gleefully chewing and savoring the taste of the two somehow still warm cookies. Rarity closed the drawer and lifted her head, turning and smiled at the display. There sat Twilight with flecks of warm flesh on her face, happily eating the acrid cookies.
“Some filly seems to be enjoying them.”
Between mouthfuls, Twilight nodded enthusiastically.
“Just like mom makes! Thanks, Rarity.”
“Aunt Rarity, Dah-ling. And I am glad you enjoy my culinary efforts. I am nowhere near as talented as your sister, Pinkie Pie is, however.”
Twilight paused in between bites.
“My Sister?”
“That’s right.”
“Um...Rari-”
“Aunt.”
“Right, sorry. Aunt Rarity, can I ask you a question?”
Rarity seemed to freeze for a moment, before biting her lower lip. Turning, she did not answer Twilight as she sat down once more, in front of the needle and thread. After a few tense seconds, she spoke to Twilight.
“Be a Dah-ling and fetch me the jar labeled ‘Para-oil’, Twilight.”
Twilight was a bit startled by the change in demeanor, and the fact Rarity had ignored her. Still, she did as she was bid, and went to the counter; finding a jar of glowing lavender oil labeled ‘Para-oil’.
Surely Rarity could levitate such a jar with ease, Twilight thought to herself as she passed the container to Rarity, who then made her reasons known. Rarity levitated a few drops out of the jar after unscrewing the lid, and while she did so, she spoke to Twilight in an uncharacteristically soft, yet cryptic, tone.
“The common parasprite. Such a useless creature within our world. It provides no benefit to flora or fauna alike, doing nothing but consuming anything it can strip bare; flesh or vegetation. However, when liquified and combined with peppermint oil and menthol, the worthless becomes invaluable and becomes a wonderfully magical oil; capable of relieving even the most egregious agony, replacing it with a gentle freezing sensation. Watch as I add these three drops to the irritated area around the opening.”
Twilight curiously watched as a single drop was applied to an area of the skin outside the wound, which had become red from irritation. Before her eyes, the single drop expanded and grew, becoming a layer of light blue gel that flowed and settled over the inflammation. When the spreading had stopped, Twilight watched as it pulsed a bright lavender for a few seconds before hearing the unconscious Applejack sigh happily in her sleep. Rarity explained as she quickly placed two more drops on the other side of the wound.
“The oil still has the feeding desires of the Parasprite, but the peppermint oil and the menthol force that consuming nature onto the infections and the pathogens within the affected area. As you can see, it relieves any aggravation within the body. All from combining it with other ingredients was it able to draw forth its beneficial nature. And so it was for us, Twilight.”
Twilight, who had been watching in focused concentration as the liquid became a gel and slowly branched out across the wound, looked up in surprise at the comment.
“Huh?”
Rarity continued her soft-spoken explanation. She sounded almost wistful as she told her tale.
“We were lost. That night, 8 years ago, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and myself, perished in Ponyville. Luckily, we had managed to lock Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in a secure location before they took them. The Cultists took those we held dear, though not how we originally thought. By dismemberment, what we thought to be performing sacrifices, they were ripping the soul from the corpses.”
Chuckling dryly, Rarity paused for a moment, a forlorn expression on her face as she continued.
“The Dead are a selfish, self-absorbed, and unfeeling lot towards other creatures. But you already know that it’s simply how the Dead operate, however, that night we tapped into a part of ourselves we never knew, and without knowing of it ourselves. Foregoing our own survival, the 5 of us did everything we could, to save those three. And we succeeded. And in the process, our souls were shredded to the aether.”
Pausing to screw the lid back on the glass jar and levitate it back to the counter, Rarity took a deep breath before continuing her tale.
“The story, our story, didn’t end there, however. One second we were crying out in pain, and the next we awoke, on five stone tablets mere hoofs-length from each other. Opening our eyes, the 5 of us found ourselves in a stone room with a single door leading out of it. On the other side of that door, we found Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, waiting for us and behind them, sat Tyrant Celestia, herself; that eternal glare of hers focused on us.”
Rarity froze in place and shivered momentarily.
Twilight stared at her curious at the display.
“What’s wrong?”
Rarity laughed and reassured the concerned filly.
“Being in your mother’s presence can unnerve even the bravest pony. She can be quite intense.”
Twilight nodded with a smile.
“Mommy can be quite intimidating.”
Rarity grinned.
“That she can be. Though-”
Rarity frowned.
“She had a strange air about her, it was rather disheartening to see, instead of the rage-induced Tyrant we so feared, she was calm. Her breathing was heavy, her stance unsteady, as though she had expended untold energy recently. Her wings hung down, limp as though she could barely lift them.
Though, even in the weakened state, it was clear she was still the strongest creature in our world. Her eyes glinted with the usual ferocity that had terrified and enamored us since our creation. She pushed our siblings towards us and said we could have 10 minutes with them. Afterward, we were to report to her throne room. The words were spoken through clenched teeth further evidence of her being in great pain. Shortly after these words, she turned and limped away.”
Twilight blinked in disbelief.
“Mom, injured?”
Twilight thought about all the times she herself had been commanded to kill Celestia, failing to ever leave so much as a scratch, even in nightmare form, letting loose the absolute extent of her magic.
“ What could hurt her?”
Rarity shivered at the memory and as she finished stitching Applejack’s neck shut once more, she whispered.
“Herself.”
In the stunned silence that followed, Rarity rose from her chair and walked to a floor cupboard, opening it and pulling forth two specially made gas masks, as well as a canister of some kind, from within. As she used levitation magic to secure a mask to Twilight’s face, Rarity explained the purpose of the masks to the still-stunned filly.
“Ametsa Gas. Forged from a sample of filtered Nightmare Magic; provided to me by Princess Celestia and infused with lavender and vanilla. It causes the inhaler to fall into the deepest, purest of dreams; in which their bodies rejuvenate all cells and regenerate bones as well. Not only that, but all patients so far, have expressed it’s the best sleep they’ve ever had. Tell me Twilight, can you breathe easily through that air filter?”
Attempting to answer her, Twilight quickly discovered she was unable to vocalize outside of the mask. She began to panic, looking wildly about her until Rarity comforted her.
“These masks are specially modified to deaden all sound leaving them. The air filter is a one-way chamber coated in magic to absorb all noise. It is intentional and imperative that no sound be made during this process. Before I secure my own mask, I want you to sit in that chair over there along the wall. Nod if you understand.”
Twilight nodded and turned towards the chair, sitting comfortably in it within seconds. Rarity meanwhile attached the same gas mask to her face, locking magnetic clasps located along the side. Turning to make sure Twilight had situated herself as instructed, Rarity nodded to her in approval, receiving a nod in acknowledgment.
Rarity then placed the canister on the floor after attaching a crystal clear hose to it; the hose opening no more than a hair’s breadth wide. Barely turning the valve after connecting the tube to Applejack’s nostrils, a loud hissing came from the tube. Rarity, however, stayed focused on Applejack’s face, and within an instant Twilight understood why.
Applejack’s eyes flew open, before slowly closing once more, a pleasant smile upon her muzzle. Quickly Rarity turned the valve once more, disconnecting the hose as soon as the hissing stopped. Immediately, with her mask still attached, Rarity used her magic to quickly scrub the tube to a sub-atomic level. Inspecting it, Rarity nodded at her handiwork, before signaling to Twilight to release the clasps on her mask.
Rarity removed her mask and with a flick of her mane, she spoke gently to Applejack.
“Sleep well, Dah-ling.”
Twilight sat looking at the mask curiously, only to have it lifted by Rarity’s levitation, and watched fascinated, as Rarity proceeded to scrub the masks in the same manner as the tube.
Unlike with the tube, however, Rarity didn’t stay silent while cleaning the masks. She spoke to Twilight and she continued her tale, and by its end, Twilight would finally understand what her mother wanted. And part of her would wish she had never heard it at all.