//------------------------------// // Ch 71.2 Twilight's Sadistic Botany // Story: Twilight's Nightmare // by Nightsclaw //------------------------------// Twilight smiled as she drew back from her latest creation. She knew she wore Night’s malicious smirk, but given who the only witness would be, she did not care. It was not like any of them would even get a chance to tell anypony.   The buzz of her mark sang her praises in her heart. Yet another grand work of magic, yet another successful use of her talent to help others. She proudly rested her hoof on the trunk of the titanic tree she had created. “You are going to save thousands of griffons from starvation.” The four wellsprings within the tree flinched back. The fear that trembled inside the wood had the sweetest of scents. If she was a cat, she knew she would be purring. It was almost as good as the high of making her will manifest through her talent. She moved her head closer, savouring it. With a simple inhalation backed by just the slightest bit of magic, dark wisps bubbled through the bark and flocked to her. Each brought an exhilarating jolt of energy, and a deep sense of nourishment, like the finest of meals. All the lingering fatigue and magical exhaustion just floated away. She sighed contently and took in the full grandeur of her creation. Though she knew many would disagree with her, its efficiency made it beautiful.   A hundred Celestias above her, its bizarre canopy opened up. The four main beaches split off at ninety degrees from each other. To the hundredth decimal, each aligned perfectly with one of the cardinal directions. Unlike the thick, natural, if dark, look of bark that sheathed the trunk, each branch had a different coating. Smooth fish-like scales covered the first. The soft fur of the second. The third one looked as if it was from a twisted nightmare. Its segmented crab-like carapace was littered with serrated thorns that dripped venom. The last leaked water from its almost transparent cloud-like bark. Twilight tapped the trunk affectionately. Her smile at first glance could have been tender, but she knew the sadistic gleam in her eyes would give her away. “I never knew recycling could be so much fun. “ When I aided your study of that spell, I never expected you to do this. You impress me yet again, my host. Twilight tilted her head. Never once had she thought she might hear that particular description as a term of endearment. A year ago, she could never have conceived that she might be happy to hear Night’s voice in her mind. She waved her wing in mock annoyance. “Enough of that now, Night.” As you wish. Night playfully answered before her tone turned more serious. Who knew the same magic that made the Blighted could solve the griffons’ food crisis. “It will still be a few days before the first harvest is ready,” Twilight said. To her eyes, the slow growths on each branch were blatantly obvious. Each second of development provided another data point as she plotted her mental graph. “Four days on its own or only two if some earth ponies can be stationed here.” You would leave any of your ponies here, with griffons? Twilight considered, having the first harvest sooner had lots of advantages, but there were issues. The biggest one is if it was too fast, it might seem like a trick or that this whole situation was an Equestrian gambit and the Blighted were just a part of it. She tapped her chin as she mussed. “With a few adjustments, we could get a bit more than three times the yield in just twice the time.” With a nod, she set words to action. Magenta magic reached into the tree. Twilight reached tendrils of her will into the deepest depths of the plant. Carefully she wove her magic, the strands of power matching every mana channel. “This is going to hurt you far less than you deserve,” Twilight whispered, her voice dripping with malice. The branches trembled, and the raw panic-filled terror that emanated from her creation was almost intoxicating. The emotional energy flowed into her, was processed, and then forced out through her horn. Why did I ever try to work against you? Night asked in a lazy croon. Twilight just smirked and surged power into the aura and twisted it thirty degrees. Wood snapped and splintered as each and every branch ripped in half along its length. The net result doubled the total number but halved their thickness. A few healing spells later and the only sign anything had happened was the shards of strange bark and the inaudible sobbing she could sense with her horn. A spark of empathy tried to rise up inside her, but she ruthlessly crushed it. These monsters did not deserve any mercy. With a quick flash of her horn, the sobbing stilled. Twilight could feel Night’s raised eyebrow. Compassion? For them? A part of her wanted to claim she did that to prevent them from suffering. A more honest part knew better. The numbers simply did not lie... “Pragmatism, they will last longer like this.” Night nodded their shared head. “I’m not certain I like what I am becoming,” Twilight said. Do not lie to yourself, Twilight. It’s that you do like what you truly are that bothers you. “‘I have a lot to think about.” Go, I remember your ‘sales’ pitch well enough. With just a thought, part of her focus shifted to Night’s obsidian plane. The sensations of the meat puppet faded as she joined Night next to the viewing pool that was the gateway between her bastion and her physical body. Night nodded and slipped through the pool like a shark, assuming full control. Twilight trotted over the smooth obsidian ground as the dangerous and beautiful charged storm clouds blanketed the sky. A scroll popped into existence beside her, and magenta words gracefully squirmed onto the paper as Twilight spoke them aloud. “Dear my betrothed... no, that’s too cold… my love? Luna?” The beginning of the letter was rewritten a dozen times before she even reached the front door of her library.