//------------------------------// // Stop it! // Story: Disease in the Darkness // by Kaii-Leiko //------------------------------// Time really did seem frozen to Twilight. Letting things slip like that was unlike her. Those were some intense words to drop on somepony. Especially somepony one had only been dating for a few days a most. To make matters worse it was Fluttershy of all ponies. The kindest yet shyest mare in possibly all of Equestria. This was bad. While Twilight thought about what she said, all while holding back panic, she realized she'd also meant it. It had come out at an inopportune time but it was heartfelt and meaningful. Fluttershy had been there for her more than anypony had ever been including Princess Celestia. It was Fluttershy who brought her out from the darkness, Fluttershy who had gotten her to feel when Twilight thought her emotions were dead. Fluttershy had saved her from herself and despite the impossible situation Twilight was in Fluttershy had managed to make her smile. All of those things were important, and Twilight would have to explain. Salvaging the situation came first though. Fluttershy's eyes were locked with Twilight's and neither of them spoke for the longest time. Eventually the silence grew awkward and surprisingly Fluttershy was the one to break it. "What did you say, Twilight?" Twilight opened her mouth to say something but time froze again, except this time it wasn't a metaphor. Time literally froze in Twilight's eyes and she didn't understand what was going on. All the color seemed to fade from the world around her. It all drained to a grey color, monotone. Fluttershy wasn't moving either, she simply stood there. Twilight looked around the room, trying to figure out the source of whatever was going on. Her blood ran cold when she heard a familiar distorted chuckle. From seemingly nothingness her doppelganger materialized before her. It started as a black cloud and slowly it took the shape Twilight was familiar with. The other Twilight seemed to be in an unusually good mood. Twilight thought maybe it had something to do with her very recent love confession to Fluttershy. What could that monster possibly gain from my love confession though? Twilight mused. She had a feeling she was going to find out soon. As usual the doppelganger enjoyed taking her sweet time getting to the point. It strolled back and forth in front of Twilight with that same twisted smirk upon her face. Twilight wouldn't give her the satisfaction of a reaction. After all the last time she'd messed with this other version of her she'd tried to drown Twilight. Or had that not actually happened? Twilight wasn't sure anymore. The doppelganger turned from the real version of herself and walked towards Fluttershy. It walked by Fluttershy's side and strolled behind it only to walk back towards Twilight from Fluttershy's other side. The other Twilight's eyes never left Fluttershy's body the entire time and the doppelganger let out a whistle before flashing Twilight a grin. "Not bad, Twilight." She seemed almost proud of the real Twilight. The way the doppelganger looked at Fluttershy made Twilight uncomfortable. Her others eyes were filled with a sick twisted desire for Fluttershy. Twilight couldn't deny she'd never thought of Fluttershy in that way. It was perfectly natural after all. When she saw her other look at Fluttershy that way though it was wrong, twisted. As though if the doppelganger were to become intimate with Fluttershy it would be wrong. It would be nothing like Twilight imagined love making would be like. It would be more like Twilight's other simply using Fluttershy to satisfy her carnal desires. It made Twilight angry, angrier than she thought possible. "Stop looking at her like that!" Twilight shouted and then without warning she dashed forward and rammed her shoulder into her doppelgangers side. It knocked her to the ground with a loud thud. It had probably hurt but the doppelganger showed no sign of pain. Instead it just stood up and laughed hysterically. As though there were something ironically funny about what Twilight had just done. And to the doppelganger there was something ironically funny. "Taking a page out of my book eh? Atta' girl." Another twisted smirk. Twilight anger grew. She could practically feel it physically in her chest. A large hot burning ball of anger, something else too. Something Twilight had a hard time identifying because she never thought she would feel it towards anypony. Hatred. Pure unadulterated hatred. Even the anger gave way to make room for the hatred to take over. Twilight found herself wishing to hurt her doppelganger. It was only fair wasn't it? After all if one was to think about it it was this twisted version of herself that was killing her. Twilight was just thinking the other day how unfair the entire situation was. That after saving Equestria so many times she deserved better. Why shouldn't she destroy this revolting being? Twilight shifted her weight and leaned forward, her deformed horn pointing towards her enemy. She was ready to charge when she caught a glimpse of the frozen Fluttershy behind the other version of herself and everything snapped into perspective. "Maybe we aren't so different, you and I, after all." The doppelganger said smugly. What am I doing? Twilight couldn't believe herself. She shifted backwards standing back normally. Everything she'd just felt was so foreign to her. While she was feeling it she felt good but now....Now she wished she could take it all back. It felt awful. The hatred, it had felt as though it would consume her. She knew now that if she ever gave in to feelings like that she would lose herself. If she'd done what she was about to she would have never been the same again. Even if that thing before her wasn't truly alive, not truly a pony the simple act of doing it would have cost her everything she believed in. "What do you want now!?" Twilight snapped, her anger still having not fully subsided. "Temper, temper." The doppelganger said. She paused before adding "I just wanted to talk this time." This time? "So you did try to drown me!" The other Twilight looked to the side, feigning innocence. "I haven't a clue what you're talking about." "You're just trying to make me think I'm crazy!" "You are going crazy, darling! Or have you forgotten?" Twilight wasn't sure what to say. Her other had a point. "Back to the point though. True love, huh? " "So that is what you wanted to talk to me about?" "Yeah. She's a fine mare, Twilight." The doppelganger spoke tauntingly, yet with a somewhat sultry tone. "I love her." Twilight said simply. Her doppelganger ignored Twilight's statement. "Do you know the things I could do with a beautiful mare like that?" Twilight couldn't figure out why what her other was saying was getting to her so much. It did more than make her feel uncomfortable. It upset her, far more than it should. "Stop it." "She would be one hell of a buck." "Stop it!" Twilight screamed. "It's always the quiet ones that are the freaks." A chuckle. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Twilight swung her head back and forth as she screamed it. No matter how loud she screamed it didn't stop her from hearing her other perfectly. "I bet she's never even been with another pony. Let me take the reigns. I'll teach her a thing or two." A wink was thrown to Twilight. Twilight shut her eyes tightly and all she could do was keep screaming "Stop it!" over and over again. That demented version of her was trying to upset her on purpose. The reason why wasn't clear but it was working. Maybe there wasn't a reason, and the doppelganger was just doing what it did best. "Just imagine Twilight, that look on Fluttershy's face when you push her down onto the bed. She wouldn't even be expecting it..." The doppelgangers words became a very, very graphic account of what Twilight could do to Fluttershy. There was nothing sweet or romantic about it. The way the doppelganger made it sound it almost seemed forced, and that was a thought Twilight wouldn't ever approach. Twilight fell to the ground on her belly. She put both of her front hooves into her ears and began screaming over and over again. She wasn't even saying words anymore she was just screaming to drown out the noise. Still she heard it though, and not just the other Twilight's sick ideas of what she wanted to do to Fluttershy. Everything her doppelganger had ever said to her rang in her head, overlapping. Twilight was being assaulted with horrible thought after horrible thought. What made it worse is they weren't even her thoughts, they were simply being pushed in her head. By the end of it Twilight didn't even know what she was screaming. It had evolved from a steady stream of "stop it" to simple screaming and now she wasn't sure why she was screaming what she was. With her eyes shut tight she never knew when time resumed for her. She didn't know Fluttershy was kneeled beside her possibly more worried than she'd ever been watching Twilight scream. "I love her! I wouldn't hurt her! Stop it, stop it, stop it...-" "Twilight." "Stop it, stop it, stop it,...-" "Twilight!" A hesitant yellow hoof reached out to touch Twilight's shoulder gently. Twilight flinched when she felt something touch her shoulder. "STOP IT!" Finally she opened her eyes. "F-Fluttershy? What happened?" "Twilight, I was so worried about you! I-I don't know what happened. You just started muttering to yourself, I couldn't hear what you were saying. Next thing I knew you went to the ground and started yelling. I didn't know what to do. Spike came in here and he was so worried, I had to ask him to leave because I couldn't handle both of you at once." Tears threatened to overflow from Fluttershy's eyes. Twilight quickly recovered at the threat of a crying Fluttershy. She kneeled up quickly. "No, no, no don't cry Fluttershy." "Why won't you tell me what's going on?" The tears began to fall. "I don't...Understand." "Every time something like this happens you push the subject aside, you tell me everything's fine when I know it's not. I keep letting it go because I just assume you'll tell me when you're ready; but you never do. One one hoof you tell me you love me on the other you won't talk to me. Maybe you're not the only one who's in love Twilight!" Time froze again, this time in the good way. Fluttershy loves me? "You love me?" Twilight repeated aloud. "Of course I do, do you think I'd be here if I didn't?" "You love me." Twilight repeated again. Fluttershy took it as a question again. "I-I just said I did." "No, no sorry." Twilight exhaled. "I just. I love you too Fluttershy." Twilight was subconsciously trying to push the subject away from her 'episode'. It didn't work. "Then tell me what's going on, please? Just talk to me about it and then we can spend all night cuddling, and being lovey dovey. If you want me to I'll tell you I love you all night long if it'll make you happy but please just talk to me." There was so much desperation in Fluttershy's voice, it hurt Twilight to see her like that. Twilight didn't really want to talk about it, then again a few days ago she didn't want to see anypony either. Fluttershy had saved her and done so much for her. This was the least Twilight could do. "I...There's this...Thing. I don't know what to call it, it's part of my sickness. It talks to me, Fluttershy. It's in my head and it's always watching. It shows up in my dreams." Twilight's voice was slowly descending to fear. "It says it's a physical manifestation of my disease. It's like it's there to hurt me." "What happened this time?" "It...Time stopped. For me, but I guess you saw things just fine. It appeared and it talked to me. It said horrible things about you, Fluttershy. It made me so angry. The way it looked at you. I shoved it and I felt something I never felt before. I hated it, and I wanted to hurt it. Kill it." Twilight spoke so quickly, almost Pinkie-like. She wanted to get it all out. She was ashamed to admit this. She had a whole new perspective on herself. "Oh, my..." Twilight felt as though Fluttershy were disgusted with her, even though she knew that the pegasus wasn't. Perhaps some emotions stemming from her doppelganger? How long before her other would be able to affect her for real, if she would even be able to do so at all. "B-but then I saw you and I got a hold of myself. I feel so...Bad, like I'm a bad pony and now I'm just worried as time goes on I'm going to hurt you Fluttershy." There it was. Everything was out in the open now. "Twilight, you won't hurt me." Fluttershy sounded so certain, her tears were starting to dry. "You don't know that..." "But I do. People always talk about how kind I am but the only reason I'm kind is because I have friends, and now a marefriend, like you." Since they seemed to be on an honestly role Twilight decided it was time. With confessions of love in play it changed everything. "What happens when I'm gone Fluttershy? I feel like I'm just building you up to knock you down...I'm so selfish. All you do is help me." "Is that really what you think or is that what 'it' tells you?" "I-..." Twilight stopped. The only reason she'd thought that at all in the first place was because of her other. This entire time Fluttershy had been stroking Twilight's mane, and Twilight hadn't even realized it until then. Fluttershy was so good at calming her down, so good at being there for her. It was no wonder Twilight had fallen for her as quickly as she had. "I'm going to be sad when you're gone." Fluttershy's voice cracked. It was her turn for honesty. "I think about it all the time. It's so, so worth it though. I always felt lonely and scared and you're changing that about me. It's no wonder I fell for you so fast. How could I not when you're the best part of me. I've never felt more complete than I have in the last few days, and when you're gone it's going to be like losing a large part of myself. I'd regret it more if I didn't see this through though. That's how much I love you." Twilight was sick of tears, but these ones she was happy for. In a sudden movement she pounced on Fluttershy, knocking her to the ground. Their lips met in a glorious kiss and Twilight didn't pull away until her brain was desperate for oxygen. They'd had their moment of honesty, of sadness. Now it was time to move on. "Everytime you have an episode or anytime she bothers you I'll help you. She's just a bully Twilight. And for you I'll gladly stand up for." "Thank you, again Fluttershy. For everything." Another, shorter kiss. "So...You love me huh?" Twilight blushed and giggled. "Yeah. I love you." ** After that they'd gone to bed and Twilight had finally gotten a full night's sleep. She awoke next to a still sleeping Fluttershy. Fluttershy had been doing so much for her Twilight figured it was her turn to do something for Fluttershy. She snuck out of the bed, being as quiet as she could. She didn't want to accidentally wake Fluttershy. She tiphoofed downstairs and started making breakfast. She hadn't felt so rested in a long time, after all when she'd crawled into bed with Fluttershy it had still been the middle of the afternoon. Oh well, it's not like it did me any harm. A knocking came at the door. It was still early so Twilight hadn't the faintest idea who would be visiting at such an hour. She thought maybe it would be Spike, returning from when Fluttershy sent him away. He'd probably been worried sick all night. The knocking came again and Twilight hurried towards the door before whoever was on the other side knocked again and woke up Fluttershy. When she answered the door her heart skipped a beat. "Twily!" Next thing she knew she was scooped up into her big brothers arms and pulled into a crushing hug. Oh no. Again.