Chapter 10:
Collapsing
“Whoa hey, Miss Sparkle! Are you all right?”
Twilight had slumped against the wall of a hallway, resting her side against the floor and letting her legs point outwards. She raised her head weakly and tried to see through her tears. The gilded armor suit of a day guard glowed even in her wavering eyesight. The pony in it stood beside her with their head lowered, inspecting her body.
“Are you wounded or hurt? Miss, please speak to me.”
Twilight swallowed to clear her throat and hiccuped. Her voice was cracked and hoarse.
“I’m... fine.”
“You don’t look like you’re fine, if I may be so bold. Is there anything I can assist you with?”
The floor was becoming uncomfortable. Twilight gathered her legs under her and rose to sitting, using the wall as support. She passed a foreleg over her eyes to clear them and tried to suppress her hiccups.
“Who are you anyway?”
“Oh sorry, you talked to me in the throne room the other day. Revealing our names goes against regulations as we’re supposed to be indistinguishable from one another, so you’d have to ask the princesses or somepony with their authority about that.”
Twilight huffed.
“That’s the problem: I have their authority. I’m failing them.”
Twilight fought hard not to lose her composure as another wracking sob shook her. She brought up her Scroll and showed it to the guardspony. The guard’s eyes lit up and his posture straightened.
“Oh I see! Yeah, I don’t envy you. If you have one of those then your problems are way, way above my rank. In fact I should be saluting you. Sorry about that, Miss. Er, ma’am. Too bad you didn’t have that when we talked last, I’d have told you to see Garrison Commander Phalanx. She’s our emergency line to the Princesses, strictly for government use.”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes bugged out. Then she closed them while letting her head hit the wall behind her. An expression of anger and pain flashed across her features, but it dissolved into a loud and hoarse laughter. Tears were again streaming from her eyes, but her face showed weary amusement as the laughter went on and on, interrupted by hiccups and gasps for air. The ghost of her laughter haunted the hallway for several seconds after she finally fell silent. Her entire body was shivering and she was grinning.
“Can I resign? I swear, I am not sma-hiccup-art or strong enough to be entrusted with this kind of power.”
The guardspony cocked his head.
“Ma’am, you’ll have to ask the Princesses that. Though if I may, anypony who could bear that power easily would likely be disqualified from having it. The princesses aren’t looking for power mongers but dutiful ponies who are needed by the Throne to bear burdens for all of Equestria.”
His cheeks reddened slightly.
“Sorry, ma’am. I was quoting. We got this explained in one of the lectures on guards’ duties. Um, you look like you got dealt something really unpleasant. Yeah, I don’t want to or need to know, but... I think I could offer you a distraction. A chance to wade in the shallow end of the pool, so to speak.”
Another hiccup escaped Twilight before she answered.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, with the Princesses suspending their normal courtly sessions and Captain Shining Armour abroad we’re in a bit of a bind, because we’ve got two suspects in the castle dungeon in need of interrogation by a representative of the court and we can only keep them locked in until sunset. Then Equestrian law says we have to release them or charge them with something, and without an interrogation that won’t do. But that Scroll of yours means you can act as a proxy for the Princesses, so it would be really helpful to the arresting guardsponies if you’d lend a hoof to them.”
This didn’t sound very pleasant, but it would definitely keep her mind off the business with the fallen mountain and undead mass murderers needing to possess her. Still, Twilight hesitated.
“Who are they and what are they suspected of doing?”
“Oh it’s a pair of travelling salesponies, I think they are twins. They’ve been going from village to village selling some miracle cure they claim is infused with ash from the fallen mountain, and ponies have been complaining that there have been injuries and poisonings.”
Twilight’s ears fell back until they pressed against her head. Her eyes bugged out and a nervous tic started twitching her right eye.
“What. The. HAY—
~~~~~~
—WERE YOU TWO IDIOTS THINKING?!”
Twilight was leaned so far over the small table in the interrogation room that she was practically lying on top of it. Flim and Flam were huddled together in one chair, quaking and leaning as far away from Twilight as possible. The chair was teetering, just behind the point of falling over. They had not managed to insert a single word in the path of Twilight’s ranting for the last twenty minutes. They were nervously switching their gazes back and forth between Twilight’s bloodshot eyes and her horn, which was ever now and then emitting a short arc of magic – a sure sign of a unicorn pushed so firmly against the end of her tether that you could pluck it like a string. Her furious panting through her nostrils underlined this.
Two guardsponies, including the one Twilight had spoken to, sat against the wall of the room, on either side of the door, watching the proceedings with every sign of enjoyment. They had planned on playing Good Guard and Bad Guard while Twilight acted as notary, but that plan had shattered the moment they entered the room thanks to Twilight rushing up to the table and launching into a tirade of such heartfelt fury that the guards had merely stared, slack-jawed. They’d been startled for only a moment, though, and they quickly found their mental hooves and played along. The game of Good Guards, Bad Twilight seemed to be nearing its end.
Flim (or was it Flam?) finally sensed that he had an opportunity to speak and did so cautiously.
“We don’t know anything about any injuries! Look, we call it the miracle cure infused with Fallen Liquidised Ash of Mountain because we scoop up some dirt together with ash from our campfire and drop it from as high as we can into the bowl we use for mixing it with water! And it’s a miracle if it cures anything other than excess money! A little common ash and dirt can’t poison anypony!”
One of the guards stood and walked to the side of the table, between Twilight and the brothers.
“You planted the idea in ponies’ minds that the ash had curative properties. So they went out and secured their own supply, dosing themselves according to their own fancies. Here in Equestria we are quite fond of the idea that you carry the responsibility for the consequences of your actions. You tried to profit on ponies’ distress and good-natured trust, and didn’t even stop your act to prevent them from poisoning themselves.”
There was a noise, like rocks under great stress sliding against each other. The Flimflam brothers shifted their gaze from the guardspony to Twilight. She hadn’t moved and was now grinding her teeth. Flim and Flam cracked.
“You win! We confess! We sold dirty water to trusting ponies! But we didn’t hurt anypony, you can’t make us responsible for the actions of others!”
The guardspony nodded and gently, very gently, put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, easing her back and revealing an inkpot, a quill and a piece of parchment resting on the table. Flim and Flam fought briefly over the quill before settling down to write their confession in silence, every now and then looking fearfully over at Twilight whose face was still locked into an image of fury, complete with twitching lower eyelid. When they laid down the quill the guardspony picked up the parchment and scanned their writing.
“All right, we’ve got a confession for quackery and fraud. That just might count as cooperation when we present your mass poisoning case to the judge, but it’s up to Her Honourableness to decide. Stay put and somepony will take you to your cells.”
The guardspony who had remained seated now stood and opened the door. Twilight flung herself from the table with a growl and trotted out of the room. The two guards followed, locking the door from the outside. Then they motioned for Twilight to follow and walked down the hallway to a guards’ lounge. When they entered the lounge they broke into laughter.
“Miss Twilight, ma’am, that was priceless! Oh if we only had a picture of the looks on their faces!”
Twilight sat down on her haunches and took a couple of deep, shuddering breaths to calm herself.
“Thanks. I think I needed a chance to yell at somepony.”
She sagged down onto a worn sofa by a coffee table, settling in to the sound of twangs from the sofa’s springs. The guardspony more familiar with Twilight shoved a bowl resting on the coffee table towards Twilight.
“Help yourself to some honeyed oats. Our treat.”
She nodded and levitated one of the golden snacks into her mouth as the guardspony cleared his throat.
“I’m badge number 602, or Ohtwo to my friends. I have a civilian name, of course, but I don’t respond to it while wearing a coat of the guard. You did us a big favour just now and if you don’t mind me saying so, ma’am, I have full confidence in you as an Agent. I’m sure the Princesses weren’t mistaken when they appointed you.”
Twilight lowered her gaze and sighed.
“Thanks, but I don’t feel like it right now.”
“Maybe not, but eventually—”
Whatever Ohtwo was planning to say was interrupted by a third pony of the guard rushing into the lounge and shouting.
“General alarm!”
The two other guards were startled, but reacted instinctively and rushed towards the doorway.
“What’s going on?”
If there was an answer then Twilight didn’t hear it. She listened as the trio of hoofbeats died down. She could also hear additional shouting from elsewhere in the guards’ barracks. Shortly a trumpet signalled, Twilight assuming it was some kind of assembly order. She stood, hearing the sofa groaning with relief, and trotted anxiously towards the entrance of the barracks.
She stepped into the wintry outside of the outer courtyard just as a group of about forty guardsponies trotted out of the castle gates, Ohtwo presumably among them. Other ponies were no less alarmed though much less organised, and everypony was running about. Twilight heard shouts and nervous conversation. She spied a pattern though: there was a general motion towards the castle walls.
Noon was an hour away, so the lands of Equestria were cast in bright light as Twilight reached the crenellations, where seemingly the entire castle staff was leaning and peering out across the wintry lands below, to the pillar of ash in the horizon. Twilight did so too. At first she couldn’t spot any differences from how it usually looked. Then she noticed how widely it had mushroomed. Rather than only having a stubby cap at the top, it now spread out to cast its shadow over a massive part of the land. Twilight had to turn her head in order inspect all of it.
There was a shout and some pony along the wall pointed downards. Twilight lowered her gaze and looked. She saw a long train approaching along one of the railway tracks, throwing up a cloud of smoke. Behind it was another train and behind that another still.
“What’s going on?”
Twilight asked out loud.
A maid by her side answered her.
“The ash fell on Baltimare during the night, and the ponies are fleeing the city as fast as they can.”
Somepony on the other side of the maid spoke up.
“How many ponies in those trains, do you reckon?”
Another voice submitted:
“I dunno, looks like twenty carriages on the first train and I can see ponies on the roofs, so say they are crammed full? A thousand ponies per train? So that’s three thousand ponies headed this way.”
Another still:
“Haven’t we been sending some of our refugees to Baltimare?”
“Yep.”
A chuckle.
“Boy are they gonna be annoyed at being back here.”
Half-hearted laughter. Then a voice by Twilight’s side.
“Miss? Are you okay?”
“Nononononononono...”
The last voice sounded increasingly desperate, and Twilight worried somepony was about to lose their mind. Then she realised it was her voice. She had sat down with her back towards the parapet and covered her eyes with her hooves. Somepony tried to drag her hooves away, kindly but insistently, but she resisted and leaned away. She realised she was hyperventilating just as the edges of her vision filled with stars.
Stars are okay. I trust the stars.
She fainted.
She woke up. She opened her eyes and stared straight at Applejack’s concerned frown.
“Twi? Is everything all right?”
She drew a breath like she’d been drowning.
“Nothing is all right anymore! Ponies are hurt and dying and I am too weak and—”
Five simultaneous exclamations of alarm were uttered as Twilight flew up from her bed, her eyes wildly scanning her surroundings. She charged for the door, making Pinkie Pie and Applejack dodge away.
“After her!”
Rooms and hallways sped by. Twilight was not the fastest runner, but the sheer mania driving her, together with her friends’ inability to guess where she was going, meant they were unable to do more than follow. Her friends shouted after her, wasting their breaths. Twilight listened only to her own panicked breathing and the pounding of her hooves.
Five ponies turned around a corner at an intersection, chasing after Twilight, only to be met by a dead end and no pony. Rainbow Dash braked hard in order to avoid slamming into the wall, which meant Applejack ran around the corner and crashed into her with no time to react. The other three followed and added to the pileup. They stared at the wall for a moment once they managed to gather their wits, utterly bewildered. Applejack rose and walked over to her hat, flipping it onto her head.
“Girls, we need to get the Princesses.”
~~~~~
A boom echoed through the halls as Twilight threw open the double doors to the Embargoed Texts. She galloped into the gloom.
Back so soon? That was unexpected.
She didn’t answer, instead gritting her teeth and running on.
Miss Sparkle?
Twilight arrived at the shelf with the solitary book and grabbed it in her magic, bringing it towards her until the chain shackling it to the shelf was pulled taut. She fought hard to stop her panting becoming hyperventilation again.
“Possess me!”
Pardon?
“I said, posses me! I am sick of being weak! Sick of being powerless to stop this!”
Those are all the wrong reasons to seek this knowledge, Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight screeched with desperate rage and shook the book with her magic, tugging at the shelf via the chain. The bookshelf seemed to be bolted to the floor as it didn’t budge. She grabbed the book with her hooves and strained to break it free from its shackles but her grasp slipped and she fell onto her back, the impact pounding the air from her lungs. She lay there for a moment, limbs splayed, too stunned to move and coughing weakly. Then she hugged her legs close and turned onto her side. A dull thumping sounded as she lifted her head only to let it fall back against the stone floor. Thump, thump, thump.
She whispered. “I give up.” Thump. “I don’t want anypony else to die because of me.” Thump. “I don’t care...” Thump. “...What happens to me.” She started sobbing, but struggled on: “Just please make everything better.” Thump. “Please.” Thump.
Oh dear.
A gray aura enveloped Twilight and she was floated into the air, still cowering, huddled like a foetus. She could see through her tears that Libram was enveloped in a similar aura.
Twilight Sparkle, your heart is in the right place.
Libram levitated itself back onto the shelf while bringing Twilight to hover in front of the book. Her tears were lifted from her cheeks.
Your mind... is not. Did you not heed my story? My life? You would only ruin yourself and those around you if you were to acquire this knowledge in your current state. But worry not. I will gladly cooperate with you once you can ask for it with both a strong heart and a clear mind. For now, though, you need rest. So sleep!
Blackness and stars comforted her.