Twilight raised her head and focused back on her spell. Starlight’s wound had easily healed, but the blood loss was concerning.
Twilight had found Starlight late at night, after her return from a lecture. She was lying on her stomach with blood dripping down from behind her mane; her neck was almost fully stained with dried life essence. Luckily, the Alicorn had been alone. She had been tired after a full day of work, but rescuing her friend was paramount.
She easily sealed the wound and cleaned Starlight. For the entire night, Twilight scoured her library for a manner to gift Starlight with new blood.
She did find it, eventually. Night had ended by then, dawn had been long gone; it was shortly before noon that the spell was cast, awaking Starlight with its intensity and the sudden rush of life essence into her veins.
Her cauterized wounds leaked. Then, once more, blood descended back down her neck.
Blood was restored; a tired Twilight refocused on the problem at han- hoof… hoof.
‘Still hurts?’ asked Twilight, finalizing her spell to seal Starlight’s neck wound.
‘It itches,’ murmured Starlight.
Twilight let her book fall on the floor. ‘Then it is working perfectly well,’ she sighed. She dropped onto the couch. Twilight forced herself not to close her eyes. Coffee was useless – plus she had drunk all her reserves. Spike had forgotten to resupply the kitchen. Again. But he had gotten an entire warehouse's worth of Foalshire tea instead. It had almost replaced water here. She wondered if-
‘Can’t you… dull it down? Please, Twilight,’ complained Starlight.
‘Gave it time.’ Twilight lazily returned the book to its bookshelf. She offered Starlight some tea. There were two cups on the table, both filled with cold tea, and both drank from. ‘Now, tell me,’ she cleaned her face, ‘what happened?’ Twilight smiled to reassure Starlight.
Twilight scratched the back of her neck… Errrr…. Starlight did… Starlight did. ‘I think they mentioned being… nacrons? Necrons? Something like that. They were made of metal, and they glowed.’ She paused to take a deep breath. ‘One of them, called Orikan… Yeas… Orikan wanted to know how I did the time-traveling thing.’
She did not like Starlight’s hesitation. Twilight threw a sweat-soaked towel toward her – Starlight’s sweat, she had yet to turn into a degenerate. It did not hit, but the close call refocused Starlight.
‘I don’t think I can tell you much. I don’t think they can even use magic, either.’
‘How you arrived here?’
Starlight shrugged. ‘Thank you for helping though.’ She awkwardly smiled.
‘Don’t mention it. But whatever those things were, they are dangerous. How you managed to escape practically unscathed is just… Well, just lucky!’
‘Lucky? They’ve… But…’ Starlight hesitated to continue.
‘Spit it,’ she demanded.
‘I understood that Celestia had once been an unwanted guest of both…’ Twilight got up off her couch in a frenzy, invading Starlight’s private space in less than a second.
‘But they harmed her.’ She obsessed over her friend’s expression.
‘I-I guess… Maybe… Perhaos- Perhaps…’
Twilight grabbed Starlight. ‘We have to go tell the Princesses of their return! Maybe we are under threat from them!’
‘They have released me and asked for stupid things. I assume they already know enough of our world for them to have-’ She paused to quell a headache – that rambling was completely unnecessary, anyways.
‘In brief!’
Starlight shook her head, disparately trying to keep down the headache.
‘Nothing?’ forcibly added Twilight.
‘No…’ sighed Starlight. ‘Give me time, Twilight.’
She did. Almost a full hour to recount her misadventure.
As soon as she had finished speaking, Twilight teleported them to Canterlot… next to a restaurant, at first. Then in Twilight’s old chamber, finally ending up next to the throne room’s doors.