//------------------------------// // Limba // Story: Unfortunate Side Effects // by DWhay //------------------------------// Twilight winced in pain as she picked Cadence’s earring out of her, making very slow progress due to how deeply it had been embedded. She was letting Limba have the reigns at the moment, since she had yet to release her after Cadence had fallen asleep and she’d slipped out. She was lying in the bottom of Luna’s empty bathtub, a small trickle of blood running down her flank and onto the perfectly white porcelain. Limba only occasionally tensed as she did the work, pulling the golden half-ring out of her centimeter by centimeter with a pair of tweezers. Twilight as watching from afar, still in shock from how badly she’d been hurt by the one pony she’d believed to be a pacifist. Cadence had watched her all of her young life, and now her vision of her was skewed by what she was keeping inside, waiting to hurt others just like she had scarred her. Limba could feel how numbly her host was moving around in her subconscious, like she was lightheaded. Her antithesis sighed and continued her work, feeling slight guilt. It normally wasn’t in her nature to feel anything, but this was one of the few things that did make her heart shudder. “If it gave you clarity and brought you back to reality, would you like me to explain just why I’m helping you recover?” Limba said through her host’s mouth. Twilight didn’t respond with words, just made an indignant sniff from the back of her head, still beyond upset that she’d listened to Limba for even a second. She thought that it was shameful to have been tricked like a clueless filly. “I will take that as a yes.” Limba said in response, plucking again at the earring, which was nearly out, but there was a large bulb on the end of the ring that wouldn’t let her pull it out as easily as she would have liked to. “I did that because I wanted to show you that… I’m not all bad. And I’m not out to make you miserable. I want you to know that I do what I do because I want you to have a fun eternity. With that said, I had no idea that this would happen. It would simply seem that Heartbreaker is more exuberant than I originally thought.” “Heartbreaker?” Twilight thought to her. “That’s it’s name?” “Yes.” Limba answered in the affirmative. “I knew that she was itching to get her hooves on a pony that would make for a good time, but I didn’t think that she would be so disturbed as to pierce your labial fold. Which I’m quite sorry for, by the way. Also note that the only reason I’m sorry is because it’s mine too, and thus we’ve both been hurt here. I want to keep your body in as pristine a condition as possible, and thus I’m helping you to remove this ring and return your body to its original state.” Twilight was astounded that her other half could even grasp the concept of being sorry. She knew now that the only reason for her helping her was that it was in inconvenience for her as well. Limba winced as the golden earring pulled free and fell to the bottom of the bathtub, clattering on the dry porcelain. She cast a hasty spell and the wound sealed itself, and with nearly unnoticeable glow of purple, the rest of her loins returned to the way they’d been before, healthy and untouched. “There.” Limba said, clapping her hooves, smiling broadly. “I could have done that myself, y’know.” Twilight hissed irately, wanting control of her body now that she was done. “Oh please.” Her darker half scoffed. “We both know that you only got a ‘C’ in your healing magic class, and that’s because you cheated off of the colt beside you. You’re about as adept in healing as you are in wielding draconequis magic. Which, by the way, you should probably learn. It’s more effective than the magic you and I know right now.” Twilight bristled, hating that she’d gotten such an average grade in anything, especially a magical subject. She loathed how she couldn’t bluff towards her other half, since she and her shared a mind and memories. She pushed impatiently at the back of her head, making her intention to regain control of herself very clear. “Oh hold your horses.” Limba said, still very much in control of Twilight’s body. “If you think that I’m going to release you just because I have a conscience, then you’re sorely mistaken. I made it up to you by fixing you, but now I get to have a life. And you can sit at the back of my head, unable to do anything but hope I slip up and let you out.” She got up out of the tub, picking up the ring with magic and throwing it at the garbage chute so hard that it tore a hole in the metal grating and went banging down the inside, echoing every time it contacted the wall. Limba smiled to herself and admired her form in the full-body mirror, opening her wings to rub it in her host’s face. She had all the power now that she was in control, and she was going to use every opportunity to flaunt it to Twilight. She turned away and closed her wings, thinking of what to say to Luna. It was after eleven in the evening, so that meant that she was awake, and probably looking for frantically for her. After she’d freshened up a bit the darker half of the alicorn turned to the door and walked out, her alibi as flawless as a freshly cut diamond. Twilight roared her anger at the back of her head, but all Limba had to do to block her out was flash a quick image of her groveling beneath Cadence to make her stop, too ashamed to keep cursing and negotiating the terms of her freedom. Limba walked upstairs to see Luna sitting in a chair while Spike explained to her how he’d thought that she had left for an early breakfast. When he saw her he sighed with relief, glad that she was alright and still in control of her own mind. Or at least that how it appeared to be. Limba smiled at him, walked over and took a seat on the couch next to Spike. She looked over at Luna with a flawless impersonation of Twilight’s normal facial expression. “Sorry to worry you guys.” She said, mimicking the guilt in her host’s voice. “I was over at Cadence’s house.” Luna narrowed her eyes, as if that was some cause of disturbance for her. She looked at Twilight closely, then noticed that directly beneath Twilight’s jaw was a large red mark, left from Cadence’s ferocious biting. Her brows knitted together as the pieces of the puzzle fell together, glancing over at Spike. She couldn’t confront her about it in front of him, not without destroying what little innocence he had left in him. “Spike, go and get us some tea, would you? I’m sure that Twilight got hungry on the long walk over here.” The princess said, unable to take her eyes off of the bite on her student’s neck. It was easy to see beneath her coat, and looked like it had nearly pierced the skin. Once Spike had wandered off Luna began to berate her. “I see that you met Heartbreaker.” She exclaimed, gesturing with her hoof to her jaw. “That, plus your breath, was a rather clear indicator that you’ve met Cadence’s resident demon. It smells quite potent, and you may want to brush your teeth after we’re done talking here, as well as heal the bites on your neck.” Limba did an amazing job as an actress, blushing vividly as she covered her mouth with a hoof, lighting her horn to heal her bites, just as Twilight would have if she’d been in control of her body. “I’m so sorry, Luna… it just happened, and once it began I couldn’t get her off of me without hurting her, so I didn’t have a choice but to play along and hope you’d forgive me….” Luna sighed and shook her head, not angry at her as much as she was irritated that Cadence hadn’t been able to control herself. “I’m not upset, not at you, but I want you to ask me before you go anywhere from now on. Between your Id wanting to make a foal out of you and all the other things that want to get their hooves on the new alicorn, it’s too dangerous to let you wander without somepony knowing where you are.” Luna paused for a moment, then bit her bottom lip, as if she was wondering whether the next question was hers to know the answer to. “It’s none of my business, of course, but did Heartbreaker… did she… hurt you? I know you’re… that you’ve never been with anypony romantically before, so it would put my heart to rest knowing that you’re still… erm, intact as you should be.” Limba turned a shade of red near sanguine, her cheeks on fire. “No, I’m still okay. I healed myself right after she was done, so there’s no telling that it happened. I’m completely fine, inside and outside. I swear.” The princess breathed a sigh of relief, glad her student had some trace of her youth left. “I’m glad, I know that it’s… important to decide who gets to have you first, so I was just wondering if you needed to talk about it. Seeing as how she didn’t wound you in any sort of permanent way, it’s fine. Unless you still want to tell me anything, then that’s okay.” “No, it’s fine.” Limba said, giving Luna a meek smile. “She only used her tongue, so there aren’t any marks or anything. The only problem I’m having right now is that it’s rather uncomfortable to sit down and the aftertaste is rather… sensual.” Luna turned her head to the side, shaking her head as she did, embarrassed for her as she said the word ‘sensual’. “I really don’t need to know the details, dear.” She said uncomfortably. “Whatever happened you don’t have to tell me or any other pony. I’m sure Cadence herself is going to be taking an amnesia potion tonight, so there’s no need to tell anypony about it. I recommend that you use the one in my alchemy table upstairs, as I’m sure it’s still bothering you that it happened.” “I’ll take it later, before bed.” Limba said casually, as if nothing of real note had happened. “Right now I want to go and see Rainbow Dash. Where is she?” “She left this morning.” Luna said, surprised that Twilight had gotten over being molested as she had so quickly. “Are you sure that you’re still not in shock, dear? You seem awfully calm about something that isn’t to be taken lightly. Your body is yours, and if somepony abuses you it is cause to be upset. Which you don’t seem to be.” “I’m fine.” Limba said, turning her head away from her. “I might just keep the memory, to make sure I’m never to so careless around her again. I was almost asking for it, the way I was dressed and the way I was acting in front of her. I’m sure that she interpreted it as me flirting, there isn’t any other reason I’d have shown up at her door, alone, in the middle of the day. I was egging it on, so it is partially my fault.” “It is no fault of yours, Twilight.” Luna said. “Cadence is a hundred and ninety-three years old. She should know how to control herself by now.” Like mist, the subject dissipated after that. I seemed that those words had exhausted the conversation, and now it was time to talk about something else. Luna looked Twilight over curiously. There was something… off about her. The way she was reacting to all of this was almost post-traumatic. She was acting as if it wasn’t anything to be worried about. The Twilight she knew would be screaming with indignity and crying like a foal, scared and violated beyond reason. But she was going about her day like she was fine, and it was as common as tripping and falling down. She was suspicious, unable to accept that she was behaving so coolly. “Twilight, if you’d like I could send a letter out and get another one of your friends to come.” She said, changing the subject, still wanting to voice her suspicions. “Who do you want to visit you next? I was thinking that we could get the ponies that would react the most to your new state, so how does Rarity sound? She’s probably going to overreact like she always does, but I want to get that out of the way, so that it can be easier for you as time goes on.” “I was thinking Fluttershy.” Limba said, smiling. She could only imagine what she could do to her and get away with, and how much it would hurt Twilight inside to know that she’d been responsible. “She’s the nicest, and I think I could really use somepony like that after what happened.” “Okay.” Luna lied, putting another tally on her board of suspicious reactions from Twilight. She immediately knew who she would invite. The most headstrong of her friends, Applejack. She would be the mare to tell her if something was off with her student. She would alert her if something happened. That was her namesake, after all, Honest Applejack. She had the senses of a wildcat and heart of gold. If anything she could at least tell Twilight she wasn’t acting like herself. “Okay then.” Limba said, standing up, stretching as if she’d been sitting around far longer than she’d intended. “I was thinking I’d go to the kitchens now. Can Spike come with me?” Luna sputtered with how quickly she was leaving, again. She had just gotten back a few minutes ago and she was already eager to go off again. She was starting to get the feeling that Twilight didn’t like her anymore, and was thinking of reasons to get out of her tower. She threw that theory away, thinking of how attached they had become after she’d moved in with her. It was something else. She was planning, or purposefully doing the opposite of planning. To Luna it seemed that she was thinking of things she could do to distract her from her recent victimization. She looked her student over and nodded, her course of action already decided. As she watched Twilight leave, walking down the steps as she had done so many times before, Luna narrowed her eyes, focusing on her flank. Her Cutie Mark wasn’t the way it used to be. It was one large black star again, with six red ones in the largest one’s orbit. She leapt out of her seat, pulling the golden bracelet off the desk beside her and racing after Twilight, every hair on her body standing on end. No wonder she had been acting so peculiarly. She wasn’t Twilight, she was the part of Twilight that her student had failed to contain. The same one that she had seen come into existence back at the library a week ago, with the same Cutie Mark, down to the last follicle on her coat. Sadly, once she was down the stairs and out of the tower, Twilight was gone, and now she had to search for her and Spike before she did something awful. Something that was extremely hard in a castle the size of a mountain. “Why are we here?” Spike asked as they walked into the vacated section of the castle that was mostly storage. Nopony ever came down there, so he didn’t see the point of being there if they weren’t going to be doing anything. “I mean we could probably come back sometime later, if you want.” “Spike, has anypony ever told you that you’re annoying when you comment unnecessarily?” Limba snapped at him, unlocking the door with magic. “Because I may second their notions, as far-fetched as they may be.” Spike fell silent, thinking of how off that sounded coming from his caretaker. She had been acting funny all week, but this was something else, her openly insulting him. He couldn’t help but feel they were growing apart of late, since she was spending more and more time with Luna and Cadence. She didn’t seem to be able to find the time for him. He was starving for attention, or at least somepony to say hello at some point in the day. He was being ignored, and it chafed. Now Twilight was openly insulting him. He was beginning to think that working for Celestia was a better alternative at this point. Better to be used and appreciated than to be ignored and unappreciated. Twilight whistled as she worked, until the lock opened with a satisfactory click. She pushed the door open into the storage room and gestured for Spike to follow, looking around for anything she could use. There wasn’t anything, nothing but a loft high above her for further storage. She sighed and looked around, eyes scanning for anything of use. On the second try she saw three boxes, about the size of saddlebags, tucked under the stairs to the loft. She smiled, shutting the door the moment Spike was inside. He jumped, looking at Twilight for a reason for locking them in. She shrugged and pulled the boxes towards her, opening them with her magic. Inside it was an intricate case for a sword, which as she pulled out of the box, she remarked was quite heavy. Nodding, she pulled out the rest of boxes’ contents and scattered them around her, placing her hoof on her chin. She was thinking of a way she could use these things to make it look like an accident. She nodded her head as an idea came to her. She could simply push him from the loft, align him with the sword, and make it act like he’d impaled himself. That would do… but she wanted something more elegant. That, and the idea of him seeing it coming appealed more. He had been an irritating thorn in her side ever since she’d come here to the castle, with all of his unwanted advances, but not wanting her to be intimate. He had no right to make a request of that gravity. She knew that these would progress, and that he might live to be a thousand years old before he expired, so she was simply removing the problem before it was any more trouble. Like removing a tumor before it compromised any of the surrounding tissue. She could always use the old rope and candle trick to hold up the sword, with him tied beneath it, waiting to be cleaved in two when it dropped, but it seemed too cliché an approach. Perhaps if she had a long, flat piece of metal she could fasten as a guillotine, then it would work. In addition there was no way to make him hold still for that time, without her getting the satisfaction of him being conscious while she waited for him to perish. She could always conjure something, but that felt like cheating to her. It was all part of the challenge to use only the materials available. She stood and began to pace the perimeter of the storage room, thinking of the most satisfying way to off him. She would have loved to just cut his tail off and watch him bleed out, but again, it needed to be an accident. She couldn’t be blamed and deemed a threat, like Luna had been with Nightmare Moon. She didn’t envy the idea of being sent to an endless plane of dust and boulders. Just as an idea came to her Luna appeared in the loft, having seen the lock on the floor outside the door. She was lucky; Spike was still intact and Limba was still struggling to find a way to murder him. As quietly as she could she made her way over to the hole in the loft, looking down at Twilight’s Id, whom was still pacing the walls, thinking out the exact details. She didn’t waste any time, but wasn’t prepared for any resistance. Luna picked up the sword’s hard case, holding it directly behind the other alicorn’s head, simply intending to knock her out. Then, like disturbance in the air had alerted her, Limba swung around, ducking as the case swung at her. She tore the sword from the case, then unsheathed it, turning it on Spike. The young dragon had no idea what was going on, so he did his best to stay out of the way as things escalated. The case swung yet again at Limba, who dodged and lit her horn, turning the case to ash and ridding Luna of a weapon. Little did she know, one of her assaulter’s most practiced schools of magic was in arcane dueling. Luna made her way downstairs, unafraid of Limba. “I saw the lock on the floor. You’re quite sloppy for being a part of Twilight.” She commented, stepping over the pile of ashes that was the case. She didn’t seem in the least phased by the sword the other alicorn had pointed at her. “Look, I know Twilight wouldn’t do this, so tell me, what’s your name? My Id has a name, and so does Cadence’s. I’m quite sure Celestia’s has one as well. So what have you titled yourself?” “My name is Limba, and if you come any closer I’ll make sure you never have to worry about going back to the moon.” She said, her threat sounding hollow even to herself. “Don’t even move.” “I’m sorry for this, I really am.” Luna said airily, as if she was trying to reconcile for what she was about to do. “I can give you the opportunity to give Twilight control again, but I don’t think you’d ever take it.” “Never!” Limba shouted, feinting towards Luna, aiming to cut her horn from her head. Like it had always been there, a long section of stone chain leapt from the wall, leaving an indent where Luna had used the stone to make it, and wrapped around the sword. It was snapped in two by the tendril of stone, like it was a toothpick between the fingers of a giant. Luna didn’t even seem remotely threatened, appearing to be disappointed instead. Like she could have prevented all of this if she’d simply been more attentive. She mouthed an apology one last time before a section of stone separated from the wall, travelling in a blur until it struck Limba in the back of the head. Her eyes rolled up into their sockets as a sickening crack echoed around the chamber, the stones returning to the wall. As Twilight slouched to the floor, unconscious, the princess turned to Spike. “Are you okay? I’m sorry you had to see that, I know she’s special to you. That wasn’t actually Twilight. It was her darker half, like I have Nightmare Moon. “ Spike only nodded, in shock. “What was she doing before you showed up?” Luna thought about giving him the real answer, but she shook her head, knowing it would only disturb him more than he already was. “She was planning on doing something awful, that is all that you need to know.” The princess trotted over to Twilight, who was as still as stone except for the gradual rise and fall of her chest. Luna shook her head she wondered just what Limba’s logic had been in attacking her. She could see killing Spike, he was a malefactor, somepony that she didn’t want to live with for the next thousand years. Under normal circumstances she could outlive a nuisance like him, but since he had the unique disposition of being a dragon, her only option besides enduring his advances was to quiet them permanently. That train of thought was sound, and had a steady foundation. But attacking her when she interfered didn’t make sense to her. If her whole goal had been to get Spike out of the way subtly, without casting blame upon herself, then why had she tried to kill her? Alone, Spike could easily be seen as suffering an accident. But it was harder by a landslide to kill an alicorn, and on accident, impossible. She mulled that over for a while, wondering just what had driven her to fight back so fiercely. Then like the sun parting through the clouds, it came to Luna. She had wanted her out of the way just as much, and might even have a plan to remove her from her life just as soon as she was rid of Spike. Not only that, but Twilight, being the rather attached mare that she was, craved affection, over a long period of time. She sought rather intimate, personal connections in a relationship. Luna had been the recent epicenter of Twilight’s affection, and they had been getting extremely close. Limba obviously felt the opposite, and didn’t want any strings attached when she was in a relationship with anypony. Spike posed that threat, and so did she. So it made sense that she would strive to off them. Nodding as her logic checked out, clearing the sanity test, Luna turned back to Spike. “Head back to the tower and get her bed ready. I have a long night of fighting ahead of me if she’d going to wake up as herself again.”