//------------------------------// // Another who lives // Story: Benevolence in Black // by LucidTech //------------------------------//         Twilight once again woke from her dreams, though it was starting to become hard for her to tell the difference between her waking and sleeping states. The events with her friends, the picnics and parties, had started to become more real whilst her waking moments seemed separate and split. In her delusion she was still quite aware of what was happening. She was losing her mind as the dramatic experiences caught up to her, meanwhile her days bound to the table did little to convince her of what was real.         The monster hadn’t loosed her bonds, hadn’t eased her muscles in anyway since she had awoken the first time. Sometimes in between her imaginings she would witness as the creature left the room, followed shortly thereafter by the closing of the door to the building. It was in these moments that the unicorn was struck fully by loneliness. Even though the being didn’t speak nor comfort at least it was something, something that she could hold onto with the idea of it being alive. Twilight found herself unable to sleep one day after the monster had left, her mind instead shifted to what the sickness could be. Perhaps it was retribution, some form of punishment by beings stronger then Celestia and Luna that wished to see the world turn to ashes underneath their crushing power. Maybe it was a crazed unicorn who had created the disease unknowingly and let it loose on the world. Maybe it was both. Her mind was starting to faulter, she could sense it. The world was distorting around her. She was probably falling to the sickness, it could have spread from her heart to her mind. She saw the end coming and she knew that she would die here, underneath the dark eyes of the bird-like biped. And all alone. That was when a gasp interrupted her musings, a sound that the librarian hadn’t heard in a long time. She glanced toward the door and saw that the being had returned once more, this time however another unicorn accompanied him. Her mind couldn’t process the figure correctly, though it seemed familiar. Something about the tattered cape it wore. And why was Twilight so hungry now? The unicorn looked at the creature for a moment before hobbling over toward Twilight, a missing leg hampering her movements. “Twilight, Twilight Sparkle?” Her voice sounded like someone she had known before, but more kind. The other unicorn awkwardly placed her stump of a leg on the bedside and raised her other hoof to the imprisoned mare’s forehead. Whilst a surge of thirst ran through Twilight’s system, having come from no known source. “What happened to her? She has a soaring fever and these ropes are choking her blood flow!” The unicorn replied harshly, her magic gripping the ropes and untying them where Twilight’s had only faltered. With the grip loosened Twilight started to move but was held down as the bird-masked creature held her to the table with a soft grip. She looked up at the being and watched with slight horror as it removed the clamp that had been holding her stomach together. The creature looked at Twilight for a moment before turning his attention to the mare who stood at the table side. Once again without a word the being slowly removed his grip from Twilight and returned to his table, coming back with a thermometer and a cask of water. He placed the thermometer in the Twilight’s mouth and waited several minutes before retrieving it and again. Glancing at the measurements he handed the water to the unicorns and walked back over to the table. The librarian attempted to move, only to have her legs buckle helplessly, leaving the water out of reach. The bag was lifted from the table and brought to Twilight’s mouth, allowing her to drink from the contents whilst her senses slowly returned. She began to cough slightly and the bag was removed, instead having the other unicorn drink from their supply. Before she could thank the other unicorn though, she fell into a dreamless sleep again. It lasted almost no amount of time and she was swiftly awake again to the sounds of the other unicorn arguing with the creature. “What do you mean ‘she still might be contaminated’? I thought you said you removed the tumors!” The sound of anger in the voice fully triggered Twilight’s memory and she slowly pushed herself up to get a better look and check her guess. “Trixie?” She asked, her voice rough. Taking a moment to look at the tattered cloak that was tied around the other unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle. Thank heavens you’re awake.” Trixie said, steadily meandering toward the now awoken librarian as best she could with a missing leg. “What...” A cough interrupted Twilight as her dry throat fought to keep her silent. Despite the drink of water she had taken not a moment before. “What happened to your leg?” “One of those monsters got me. I managed to beat him away though and I got into the hospital before blacking out. I had seen you out in the forest and when I saw that,” she took a moment to indicate the creature with her head. “thing taking you back towards town I followed.” “How did you get to the hospital and then follow me into town?” “No, I followed you into town and then the hospital thing occured.” “Oh...” Despite the fact that she was with another pony again their was a thought that kept dancing at the back of her head. “But the real question is. Why are you so warm when the dark is so much more comforting?” The librarian’s smile twisted as she lowered herself off the table and approached Trixie. “Twilight... What are you doing? Twilight!” The mare wasn’t halted, instead she jumped at her prey, knowing it would be an easy kill. But was stopped as a sudden pressure knocked her to her side. With anger in her body the mare whipped her head around to see her attacker only to spot the emotionless white mask staring at her. The soft scent of lilies reached her nose. And then, all went black once again. (In case you're wondering, the general idea for writing this story is 'how can I make this a little more creepy?' -N64Fan)