Twilight stood in shock as she stared at her flank. Spike was right it was disappearing. The pink star was cracked down the middle and it had become pale, almost being the pale purple of her fur. the white stars surrounding it had almost completely faded and were barely visible. It scared her. There had never been a case of cutie marks spontaneously disappearing.
“Do you think this has something to do with the dark magic?” Spike questioned, Twilight realised he may be correct. It all lined up to well that she, someone who rarely got sick, would become ill after practicing dark magic. Her line of thought was interrupted when her headache hit her at full force again.
“Spike have we got any more pain relief?”
“I think you had the last two, I’ll go check though” Spike ran off from the bathroom, Twilight made her way back to the bedroom. She prayed they had more. She did not want to endure a headache like this for much longer. She collapsed on the bed and pulled the pillow around her face.
why is my cutie mark disappearing? Is my talent going to go to? When will this damn headache go away?
“Twilight…we don’t have…anymore. I’ll go to the hospital to pick up some more ok?” Spike said, his voice full of sympathy. Twilight’s response was a muffled and mumbled version of “alright”. Before spike left her alone, he gave her leg a squeeze.
Twilight was left alone in the library again. Her head was ripping itself apart and her nose felt incredibly tight. The skin around it had become so sensitive the soft pillow was irritating. Her muscles protested as she turned onto her back. She lifted the book from her bedside table above her face in her magic, which was dark without her even trying. The book plummeted and dropped on her face as a stab of pain rushed through her, losing control of her magic. The book hit the hardest on her nose, but her teeth also caught some of it. She licked them with her tongue.
Her teeth felt weird. Almost thinner instead of the wide squares they usually are. She rubbed her tongue around the rest of her mouth. The gap between her incisors and molars suddenly felt quite lumpy. There were little sharp points underneath the gums. As her tongue dragged down her gums she could feel a split. Twilight gasped slightly and felt it widen. But as her gums opened they seared with pain and she yelled.
Twilight leaned herself over to look at her face in the mirror. Her mouth had torn but at the same time it seemed neat. The blood that was slightly starting to appear wasn’t its usual crimson, but a pure white. Almost silvery and shiny. Twilight stared at her new face, it didn’t look like her yet it did. Her nose had lengthened and the bridge became less angular and was smoothing out.
Her horn had bent some more. It was getting darker at the top, the same colour as her eyes. It had become more segmented and the back of each segment, to Twilight’s horror, had a single spike stretching out of it. It made her horn serrated down the back like a bread knife.
Twilight stared over at the trunk of books. She ignited her magic but forced her own out of her horn. She was focusing on keeping her magic stable so hard she was struggling to undo the lock on the trunk. Slowly she opened it and lifted the book from yesterday over to her. Her magic wobbled between light and dark, between magenta and black. She opened the page to those umbrum creatures. She just felt like her face looked like them.
The picture of the stallion was before her again. Twilight realised that her new face appeared similar to his, just more feminine. They both had longer snouts and their horns were both curved and serrated. Twilight started to read over other things about them.
“It seems dark magic might be the reason they have silver blood…there manes and tails float like a alicorns, however it appears their-ow stupid head- it appears that their mane is part shadow…adults have claws on their hindlegs whereas the foals have hooves, there is a lack of evidence, however it is believed this change must happen through puberty.”
“Am I turning into…an umbrum. No it can’t be it must be something else…but it just seems like it is” Twilight shut the book and placed it to the side. Deep in her mind she knew she was being changed by dark magic, she knew it was partly her fault.
She heard the door open downstairs. Then the quick footsteps that she could easily identify as Spikes. The searing pain returned in her head as she slumped back down into her pillow. Spike appeared in the doorway with a smile.
“I got some” he said merrily as he placed them on the bedside table, he picked up the now empty glass and went downstairs to refill it. After a couple minutes Twilight took some more pills with the cold water he had bought her. Spike then stared at her new face, a look of horror spread across his.
“Twilight…” his voice shook. Twilight reopened the book and turned it to the correct page and gave it to spike.
“It said they were corrupted by dark magic. I think…I think I might be turning into one” Spikes eyes were still wide as he picked up some parchment and a quill.
“Spike. Please don’t tell Celestia she’s the last po-“
“You don’t have a choice Twilight. She’s going to notice eventually so you may as well tell her now” Spike told her as he began to scribble on the note.
“Please Spike-“
“No Twilight. You have to tell her. Besides, if your corrupted by dark magic then what if your element won’t work?” Spike raised a good point and it’s what made Twilight let him right the letter and send it. He was right. Celestia would find out eventually and so would everyone else.
Twilight watched as the letter turned to smoke and flew out the window. The light hurt her eyes, the pain relief hadn’t kicked in yet and sitting up to watch it was a bad idea. Her head became woozy as she flopped back down. Her hindlegs were hurting more than she realized. They ached and complained as she moved them. A letter appeared in a blaze of gold before spike.
“She said she’s busy but she’ll be here as soon as she can” Spike told her. Twilight nodded as she rubbed her forehead.
“I’m going to get something to eat, do you want anything?” Spike asked as he got up to leave the room again.
“Something small” Spike nodded as he left and went down to the kitchen. After he left Twilight groaned as her hindlegs started to complain even more. A deep aching pain was in them. Her bones creaked and grinded against each other. Her eyes screwed shut as a single movement triggered a flood of pain.
She pulled her legs out from under the covers, they seemed normal but her hooves appeared crooked. The cloven split extended further up then what it normally did, it was at this point Twilight was happy that she couldn’t feel her hooves.
A small plate of salad was placed next to her. Twilight smiled weakly at Spike as he sat on the bed next to her. He started to eat his bowl of gems, although rather slowly. Twilight could tell he was upset.
“Are you alright Spike. You’re eating quite slow” Twilight asked him softly.
“I’m worried for you Twilight. What if Celestia doesn’t know what to do and what if your element doesn’t work anymore. What if- “
“I’m sure she will know what to do Spike. Let’s just relax and wait for her to get here. I’m not in the mood for panicking” Twilight said as she began to eat her salad. She ate it straight of the plate, not wanting to play a game with her magic again. Twilight ate slowly as to not upset her stomach. After some time they both finished their small meals.
The sun slowly began to set as Spike took the plates away. Twilight picked up another book he had bought her yesterday. Slowly she began to read while the pain relief finally started to kick in. yet the pain in her legs simply didn’t go away. fortunately it slipped into the back of her mind when she got engrossed into a good book. Her fever run body eventually fell asleep, the book resting on her head.
Twilight didn’t have a restful sleep however. While she told Spike not to panic she really was doing so. Her fever should have gone by now, but at least the headache could be subdued. Her face had changed so suddenly she still couldn’t process it. let alone the fact she looked rather dog like now, yet there was a strange mix of equine still in there. Her hindlegs had started to hurt and her horn was curved and getting darker. She couldn’t keep her magic straight and her cutie mark was vanishing. Twilight just hoped Celestia could help.