Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 1
Twilight Sparkle slowly awoke to the smell of coffee brewing and golden sunlight pouring in through a window, making the specks of dust in the air sparkle prettily. Still half asleep, she breathed a contented sigh... This bed wasn't her own, but it was very comfortable... with a blanket that had a green and white checkered pattern with apples on it. Hm, she thought groggily, must have spent the night at Applejack's... rough night. I still feel tired... what happened?
Twilight thought back, trying to remember why she had spent the night at Applejack's farm... When it hit her. No, that had to have been a dream, just a nightmare! She jumped out of bed – or tried to rather. At the first movement, the pains in her bones awoke all over again, making her cry out. She quickly resolved not to try that again... but the pain still being present... that had to mean it was real...
Despite any evidence to the contrary, Twilight almost managed to convince herself that it was indeed all just a bad dream, as Big Macintosh pushed open the door and walked in, carrying a tray. His once huge frame was still tall, but now gaunt and thin from exposure to the disease. Spike's letters had mentioned that the whole Apple Family had come down with the plague, but Twilight had never expected it to take such a toll on the strong earth pony.
She had to know the truth. As Big Macintosh set down the tray next to the bed, she asked, slightly surprised at the weakness of her voice, “Applejack?”
As a short wince crossed Big Mac's face, before being quickly replaced by his normal stoic look, Twilight already knew the answer she dreaded to hear, “Eeyup... I saw to what needed to be done.” His eyes looked more than a little pitying. “They're all in the family plot up on the hill.”
Twilight's heart sank, and for a long while, she merely retreated into herself, losing all interest in Big Mac's tray of food, and in his efforts to get her to eat some. Her mind was consumed with thoughts of her friend, now gone forever... and thoughts of her mentor, who had seemed like the anchor of Twilight's life... she had always been there, and she always would be... except, now she wasn't.
As the day's events replayed over and over in Twilight's mind, she came upon a sickening revelation. It was all her fault.
If she had gone to get the elements first, rather than going straight to Celestia... If she hadn't called out that stupid stupid warning at exactly the wrong time...
She was brought out of her reverie by a hoof brushing the tears from her eyes. She followed the bony red leg up to see Big Mac's face looking down on her, still there, still caring. Now that she looked closer, she could see the red eyes and tousled hair... It looked like the stoic earth pony hadn't had a very good night either.
She spoke, or rather whispered, as her voice was still weak, “My friends – my other friends – they ran away... we have to find them!”
Big Mac just looked down at her and shook his head, “Enope. You're in no shape to travel, and I can't leave yet. You want to go get your friends, you've got to get better first... and you want to get better, you got to start by eating this.” He took a bowl of soup off the tray, and though it was more than a little cold by now, it still smelled delicious.
He moved to feed it to her, but she brushed him away. “I can do it, don't worry.” She lifted the bowl with her magic – or rather, she tried, only to wince in renewed pain from her horn, and only a few weak sparks to show for her effort.
“Eeyup. You probably shouldn't be trying that just yet,” Big Mac said.
Magic overload. Her teachers at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns had taught her about that. When a unicorn overreached the limits of her power like Twilight had with her long distance teleport, it could cause real harm... sometimes permanently. She groaned with a little dismay and self-pity as Big Macintosh lifted the bowl up to her again... but didn't refuse this time. Slowly she ate her meal, a delicious, if now tepid, tomato-based soup, a few mild biscuits, and some juice... evidently the coffee she smelled earlier wasn't for her. Her stomach complained a little at even what she had now, and she decided that was for the best.
As she finished eating, she noticed the sun going down... that was odd, it had been rising as she woke up. “It's sunset already?” She asked Big Macintosh.
“Eeyup,” He replied, “Well, sorta. Sun's been acting a mite strange the last few days. It just circles around the horizon bobbin' up and down above and below it every few hours.”
“Few days?” Twilight asked in reflexive surprise, “How long was I out!?!” She lost Big Mac's reply, however, as the enormity of the disaster manifested itself. The sun was out of control... the whole world was out of control. Her grief had been personal, all about what Celestia, and even Luna had meant to her... but now she felt the loss of them to the world...
Her anxious thoughts of the fate of the world fought a losing battle against her full belly and tired body's insistence on sleep... She mumbled a few objections as Big Macintosh pulled the covers back over her, but she fell asleep before seeing him pick up the tray and walk out the door.
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