Twilight stumbled as she pushed the door that led to the outside streets of Ponyville aside, her head dizzy from repeatedly bashing her skull into that table in a foalish attempt to stem the inappropriate thoughts Nightmare Moon streamed her way. She felt sick: one from eating too much of Pinkie's savory, moist cheesecake, and two from the mind-splitting headache that wracked her brain, courtesy of the physical and mental torture.
However, she would continue. Twilight was never one to do things halfway. She was on a mission, a forced one, but a mission nonetheless. The purple mare turned to head deeper into the town, knowing the dark goddess residing in her head would enjoy commenting on each of her friends in the most lewd way possible. It was hard to ignore the throbbing pain, however, and Twilight hoped she hadn't given herself a concussion.
"Twilight...if you don't feel up to it, you can go back home and rest," Nightmare's tentative voice said, an underlying tone of concern baked into the sentence. She may have liked teasing her hostess by pointing out all of her deliciously curved friends, but Twilight's well-being was important.
"I thought you said you wanted to see all the mares," Twilight responded spitefully, feeling every bit as foalish as she thought she would. Just because Nightmare had suggested returning, Twilight would continue into town defiantly. However, the slow and powerful throbbing of her injury wasn't really helping her mood either; Twilight was feeling unusually testy.
"The mares will be there tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure the day after that. There's plenty of time," Nightmare answered, trying to sound somewhat detached, "It's my job to make you happy anyway, and this pain isn't really helping...though... if you like pain I can easily...."
"Shut it Nightmare..." the lavender mare cutoff, not even bothering to contemplate what the naughty night goddess had intended to say, lest another violent blush arrest her face.
"Alright. Alright. But really, let's just go home Twilight," Nightmare conceded. She really did want to go check out all the potential, but her mistress came first.
"First you want me to go out and force me, by bodily possession, to check out mares. Then you harass me while we do, and now you want me to go back when we're not even finished just because I'm in pain. Gee....I'm glad you care so much," Twilight responded sarcastically, putting all of her frustrations into her response. Nightmare cringed, feeling the bite of her host's words.
"Well....yeah...it sounds bad when you put it that way," she muttered, feeling guilty again, especially after the Derpy incident.
"I'm surprised that you even cared that I was in pain. Isn't it your mission to fulfill my dream 'though any means necessary?'" Twilight questioned darkly, knocking her head with her hooves again, trying to dispel the most recent waves of scorching pain that seared her brain. She was nothing more but a service, and her happiness, a payment.
"Hey! I may be manipulative, crass, obnoxious, and a little perverted," Nightmare protested violently, earning an incredulous, mental stare from her suffering host, "But that doesn't mean I don't care!"
"Whatever..." Twilight muttered stubbornly, recalling all the statements Nightmare had flushed into her head from the last half-hour, most of them having to do with Pinkie's flank and "eating her delicious candy" which resulted in Twilight's face meeting the varnished wooden tables....repeatedly.
The purple unicorn continued on stubbornly just to defy her housed goddess. She was going to prove she could still do what she felt like doing, with or without Nightmare.
Unfortunately, she forgot one crucial detail.
Twilight's legs suddenly swung around on their own, changing her destination from the marketplace to the center of town, towards the library.
"Hmmph. You're going home to rest. You're going to put some ice on that bump, or I'll just use your body to do it myself," the dream goddess decided firmly, as her power forced Twilight's limbs to carry her back home.
"Let me go!" Twilight shouted as her limbs refused to cooperate with her.
"No. You're hurt and tired. There's plenty of time to fulfill your dream, and it's not going to get done nor is it any easier with you injured like this," the black alicorn answered matter-of-factly, much to Twilight's frustration. Unable to physically resist, Twilight bombarded the goddess with mental curse after mental curse. Nightmare grimaced, able to feel the resentment Twilight was piling up against her. She sighed; none of her past hosts had ever made such a fuss. They were always ready and happy to let her do what she willed. "You're one stubborn mare you know that?"
"I could say the same to you," Twilight answered bitterly, but she couldn't help but feel glad that Nightmare was taking her back home.
♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
Twilight sighed happily as Spike, having returned from his errand, applied the bag of ice to her forehead again, thanking the literally mind numbing sensation for relieving her of some of the pain.
"So how did this happen again?" Spike asked dubiously as he held the icepack in place, the thick scales of his claws able to feel the bump through the bag.
"Uh...I attacked a table?" Twilight answered sheepishly, earning an incredulous stare from her assistant. "Anyways...did you get everything." He nodded.
"A month's worth of scrolls. Fifty wells of black coal ink. Ten packs of premium griffon quills. And twenty pounds of Equestrian black, honeycomb coffee," Spike listed off expertly, earning an appreciative grin from the student unicorn.
"Great job Spike," Twilight replied, making a mental note to pick up some ice sapphire treats when she went to Canterlot later on that month. "At least one thing is normal today..." she muttered, low enough so that Spike wouldn't hear it. Suddenly, three rapid knocks sounded from the front door.
"Twilight!" a loud and brazen voice called, "Are you in there!? Twilight!" The called for mare groaned. Of all the times Rainbow had to use the front door, why did it have to be now? Ironically, she wished her cyan pegasus friend had just crashed through the window to visit her as usual; it would at least be a little less noisier.
Spike allowed Twilight to take the bag as he walked to the front door while the purple mare endured Rainbow's continued yelling and shouting.
"Rainbow! Can you keep yer voice down?" Applejack reprimanded, "Poor Twi's prob'ly sicker than a rattlesnake in the middle o' wint'r!"
"Oh dear...oh dear," Fluttershy's worried voice carried through the wood, "I hope she's getting the right things to eat and drink. Bad nutrition could prolong her sickness."
"She looked okie dokie lokie to me today when she visited the bakery!" Pinkie announced, "Didn't look sick at all. Nopeety nope!"
"The poor dear's most likely putting on a brave face. You know how she is. She would hate for us all to worry!" Rarity chimed in as Spike opened the door, "Oh Spikey! Is Twilight in?"
"She's in the kitchen," Spike answered, grinning at his endearment, and he led the girls to the suffering purple mare.
"Uh..hi girls," Twilight groaned, trying to sound as happy as possible while readjusting the icy bag on her head to a better spot. Her headache was already coming back.
"Oh my goodness! Darling, you look even worse than earlier!" Rarity declared as she fawned over the sitting purple unicorn. "Whatever did you do to yourself?"
"Long story...don't want to tell," Twilight ground out as she shut her eyes, wishing that sound could relate directly to eyesight, and she braced herself for the wave of undeserved and loud concern. It still warmed her heart though, even if it hurt her head.
"What in tarnation! Twi, looks like ya went three to five with a no good timber wolf!" Applejack exclaimed, examining the head wound closely. She whistled. "That's gonna to hurt in the mornin'."
"It's nothing," Twilight assured weakly, trying to play off her self-induced injury as unimportant. She would feel extremely dumb if she had to admit the head wound was her own doing.
"Nothing my hoof!" Rainbow responded loudly, "If I didn't know any better, I would have said you crashed because you didn't plan an exit strategy for a stunt.....Not that I would know anything about that!" Twilight rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine guys...really," the purple mare tried, "I've just been...occupied. This is just a small thing." She was pretty sure having a body-possessing, perverted dark goddess inside of her was exponentially more expensive for her sanity.
"With what?" Pinkie asked as she popped her head out, one of her eyeballs stretching impossibly out of her head, "I bet it's a super-duper secret. I'm on to you mister and your sneaky ways!"
"Uh..Pinkie...Twilight's a girl," Fluttershy pointed out, confused, "Are you sure you're okay Twilight?"
"Yeah..." she responded, wishing she could just break out and tell them what was really going on, but every time she thought about it, various, horrible reaction scenarios filled her head.
"Hey guys...Nightmare Moon's spirit is actually alive and living in me, basically harassing me to find a special somepony and bed them until bodily exhaustion." Yeah...that would go over well.
"Wait...what are you occupied with Twilight?" Spike asked, curious about what Twilight had taken on. Usually, he was the first to know when Twilight picked out a new project. The five other ponies looked at Spike questioningly. Normally, he always knew what Twilight was working on.
"Emergency group huddle minus Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed, pulling the four other ponies and the dragon into a conversation huddle.
"Psst! So what do you think is going on with Twilight?" Rainbow asked, her whisper barely quieter than her normal voice, "I hope she's not freaking out about being tardy again."
"Oh hardly darling, Twilight came to us the first time that happened. We would easily know if that was it," Rarity countered, "No no...this is something secret, so secret that even her best friends in the whole wide world cannot know about it. Oh, it must be something dreadful!"
"Or embarrassing..." Fluttershy squeaked, wondering what kind of mortifying secret Twilight held.
"Maybe she's actually a changeling. And she's stressing because the higher-ups are demanding her to kill everyone in Ponyville, but she doesn't want to! It's like: 'Twilight, we want you to kill all of your friends!' 'But I don't want to!' 'But you must! Muhahahahahahaha,'" Pinkie rambled, as the edges of her poofy hair began to slightly straighten and darken.
"Uh...No," Applejack deadpanned, "But I don't think it's our place to pry. Her business is her business."
"But if it's doing her bodily harm, maybe we should know about it," Fluttershy argued quietly, her mind analyzing the large bump on Twilight's head, "As her friends, it's our job to protect her too."
"Perhaps she is stressing over personal issues. She doesn't get out a lot, and I hardly think it does any good for her social life and mental well-being..." Rarity continued dramatically, no idea how close she was to hitting the nail on the head.
"Her social life? Really Rare?" the apple farmer responded with high amounts of doubt, her brow furrowing in disapproval.
"Well whats your explanation then Applejack? I hardly see you offering any brilliant ideas."
"Oi! That don't mean nothing. I'm just trying to be courteous and not pry into other pony's lives. Something that you don't seem to be able to NOT do!"
"Pry?! It's clear that something is wrong with Twilight! I'm just trying to do my part and help her!"
"Uh...guys? I'm still sitting right here," Twilight said, coughing to grab their attention. Her headache was intensifying, and the ice pack was rapidly melting as it took in the extra heat from her head. "I really appreciate the concern guys, but my headache is only getting worse," the lavender mare announced. The group broke up quickly, embarrassed.
"Terrible sorry darling. It's just that SOME of us are awfully worried about you," Rarity apologized, glaring at Applejack who returned the glare in full.
"I'm plenty worried," Applejack defended herself, "I just have the SENSE to know when to back off."
"Why you little!"
"Argh! Can you two just shut up?" Twilight groaned as she clutched her poor head, "You're making my head spin....I just have somepony plaguing my mind is all." She twitched. Twilight had not meant to say that.
"Oooo!" All five of the visiting friends gushed as they crowded around the lavender unicorn, interpreting what she said as something completely different. Twilight groaned.
"I told you it had to do with her social life!" Rarity declared victoriously, giving her best, ladylike smirk to Applejack.
"And I told you that it was something to leave alone," Applejack fired back hypocritically, feeling just as triumphant as her white unicorn friend. She may have preached privacy, but even Applejack couldn't resist hearing more about Twilight's special friend.
"Guys! I'm pretty sure there are more interesting things to figure out here," Rainbow reminded them, shaking her head hopelessly.
"So so so! Who is it? Who is it!" Pinkie yelled as she bounced in placed excitedly. She saddled herself up right next to the suffering purple unicorn, the tip of her nose practically touching Twilight's, her whole frame shaking in anticipation.
"Go on Twilight. Tell us who the lucky stallion is!" All five of her friends and Spike urged, wide and mischievous grins plastered on their faces. She facehoofed, and Twilight swore she could hear a certain black alicorn rolling around and laughing hysterically. How in the world was she supposed to answer that?!