//------------------------------// // 008 – Miracles and Magic Are Real Part 2 // Story: Puella Magi Twilight Magica // by SoulboundAlchemist //------------------------------// Puella Magi Twilight Magica By darkponyD 008 – Miracles and Magic Are Real Part 2 Location: Ponyville Medical Center, Recovery Room 101, Ponyville East Rainbow Dash sat on a chair next to Acoustic Blues’ bed, watching him as he lay there listen to his CD player. She had been there for a while, but the blue colt hadn’t said a word, not even to greet her. Finally, she decided to break the silence. “Whatcha listening to?” she asked. “Dust in the Wind,” he answered. “Ah, by Hoofany, right?” Rainbow replied excitedly, happy to have finally gotten him to speak. “It’s such a beautiful song!” She paused for a moment before continuing. “I-I guess I don’t strike ponies as the type who would listen to acoustic music. Sometimes, ponies get so surprised when I can name a song like that. I guess it’s so unexpected, ponies sometimes get impressed with me…” she trailed off, the smile that had been plastered on her face slowly falling as she looks away. “It’s only because you taught me about all this. If not for you, I may have never given acoustic music a real chance. Maybe not for my whole life, even.” “Hey, Rainbow…” she turned her head towards Blues. “Yes?” “Are you torturing me?” Rainbow’s eyes grow wide as he asks this question. He takes out his earbuds, setting them on the bed next to him. “Why are you still making me listen to music? Are you trying to cause me more pain?” Rainbow gasped. “But I thought you loved music, Blues…” “I don’t want to hear it anymore!” he roared, cutting Rainbow off mid-sentence. “I don’t want to hear these songs that I can’t ever play again! That I can only ever listen to anymore! I just… I just…” With a roar of frustration, he brought his still healing wing down on his music player, breaking it and cutting up the wing. The cyan filly gasped, leaping up from her chair and pinning his wing before he could do more damage, tears leaking from her eyes while Blues started crying his eyes out. “I can’t move it… I can’t even feel the pain anymore!” he choked out between sobs. “What use is a wing like this…?” “It’s going to be OK,” she said as she released him. “I’m sure someday, somehow… Just don’t give up hope and I’m sure someday –“ “But they’ve already told me to give up,” Blues said cutting her off, tears streaming down his face. “They said I had no chance of ever playing again. The doctor came and told me himself. He said with current medical practices, it just wasn’t possible. My wing will never move again. Not until the day miracles or magic start existing in this world.” “They do exist,” Rainbow said, her face taking on a determined look. Blues turned his head in shock, not expecting his friend to say something that, in his mind, was so ridiculous and impossible. “Miracles… and magic… are real!” Rainbow lifted her head, catching a sight that chilled her to the bones. What she saw was the silhouette of Kyube, standing on the windowsill. *** Location: Stirrup St., Ponyville Central Stirrup St. The shopping district of Ponyville. Everywhere you looked, you’d see ponies entering and exiting shops, browsing the wares of street venders and generally being busy. There was, however, one lone pony with her head bowed, and her hooves partially dragging across the ground. ‘Fluttershy…’ Twilight thought to herself as she wondered aimlessly along Stirrup St. ‘When I actually tried talking with her, it seemed like we could really be friends. So why did she end up fighting with Pinkie?’ A flash of white in the corner of her vision draws the purple filly from her brooding. She lifts her head and catches sight of Rarity. “Rarity!” she calls, running towards her friend. “Don’t you have your lessons to-“ she stops short as she spots a small purple mark on her friend’s neck; a Night Mare’s kiss! ‘No!’ Twilight thought in shock. ‘It’s the same as that mare’s!’ The purple filly quickly runs in front of her friend, blocking her path. “Rarity!” she shouted, shaking the white filly’s shoulders. “Hey! Rarity, snap out of it!” The white filly slowly brought her eyes down to gaze sedately into Twilight’s. “Ah, Twilight! Good evening!” she said, smiling at the purple filly. “What’s happened to you?” Twilight demanded, scarred for her friend’s life. “Where are you going?” Rarity raises a hoof to her muzzle in thought. “Where am I going, you ask? I’m going somewhere far better than here…” Rarity smiled as her already glazed eyes glaze over even more. “Oh, yes. You simply must come along, darling! Yes, indeed. It would be so wonderful!” With that, the white filly walks off, Twilight turning to follow. The purple filly trails along behind her friend as the white filly sways from left to right as she walked, something you would never see from Rarity under normal circumstances. ‘What should I do?’ she thought as she followed, quickly noticing a gathering crowd, all heading towards the same destination: an abandoned construction yard condemned to demolition. ‘If only I could contact Fluttershy…Oh, but I don’t know her phone number!’ The crowd slowly began to stream into the unfinished building, gathering around a figure that had seated himself on an empty crate, his wings hanging limp by his side. “It’s true… I’m completely… Worthless…” the pegasus mumbled. “I couldn’t even keep one tiny Pegasus Device running… In an era such as this… There’s just no place in Cloudsdale for a pony like me…” The exit behind Twilight closed with a loud CRASH, as a mare approached the seated pegasus, carrying a bucket and two bottles. The mare drops the bucket, opening the two bottles and dumping the contents, 1 litre of shampoo and 1 litre of bleach, into the bucket. The sickly smell the combination gave off was enough to make the purple filly gag as she watched another pony, a stallion this time, approach with an enormous bottle of ammonia. Twilight gasps as words from the past echo through her memory. //***\\ Location: Home of the Sparkle family, East Ponyville, 5 years earlier “Listen closely, Twilight.” Velvet told her daughter, as she began to clean the house. “Don’t ever try to mix ammonia and bleach together, or the results could be fatal. Our entire family could end up dead because you tried to make a better cleaning solution.” \\***// “Stop!” Twilight cries as she attempts to run at the stallion. “You can’t use those!” The purple filly is immediately stopped by a white hoof being jabbed into her stomach. “You mustn’t interfere,” the owner of said hoof said, blocking Twilight’s path. “This is a sacred ceremony.” “But those chemicals! They’re dangerous! Everypony here will die!” Rarity’s smile widens. “That’s right. All of us are going to journey to a magnificent new world together. Don’t you see how wonderful that will be? These physical bodies would simply get in the way. You’ll understand very soon, Twilight…” Twilight stares in shock at her currently hypnotized friend, the silence broken only by the soft applause of the ponies around them at Rarity’s speech. The sound of the applause snaps the purple filly out of her shock, prompting her to shove her friend to the side. “Out of my way!” she cried as she raced to grab the bucket in her mouth and hurl it out the window, effectively halting the mass suicide and causing the filly to close her eyes in relief. The sound of a container dropping to the ground snapped Twilight out of her relief, as she opened her eyes to find a large crowd of angry ponies stumbling towards her. She slowly inches her way to the right, knowing full well that she couldn’t open the window quickly enough to escape the angry crowd. She jumps in surprise as her tail brushes up against a doorknob, prompting her to bolt through the newly discovered door, closing it just before the angry ponies can get in, and locking it behind her. The purple filly moves from hoof to hoof in a panic as her mind races, constantly muttering “W-what should I do?! What should I do?!” She was so enwrapped in her fear was she that she didn’t notice the slowly forming cloud of water behind her until it was too late. The water twisted around her body as several TV sets behind her explode to life, Familiars spawning from the screens and holding her fast. The filly screamed as the water engulfs her, causing the filly to disappear. *** Location: Abandoned Construction Yard, Stirrup St., Elly’s Labyrinth Twilight awakens to find herself falling. Falling? No, that doesn’t seem right. Floating? Yes, floating. Floating in a space right above a Night Mare. This Night Mare was essentially a flying TV; it was a large, flat-screen TV with wings, the familiars around it mimicking its appearance. On every single one of these screens, memories of her life were playing, but not just any memories. The memories playing on the screens were all scenes of her time with Pinkie, the most prominent of which was her death at the mouth of Charlotte. ‘I wonder if this is my punishment,’ she thinks as she is forced to watch the memories that play around her. ‘For being a coward and a liar. I guess this is a fitting punishment…’ The purple filly closes her eyes as she waits for the inevitable. Her end, however, does not come. Instead a bright blue blur whizzes past her, aiming straight at the Night Mare, releasing Twilight from its grasp. Her eyes snap open to see a familiar blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail hovering above her, glaring at the Night Mare. “Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight gasps not believing her eyes. The cyan filly zoomed ahead, small steel blades gleaming on her hooves as she sliced and hacked her way past Familiars, carving a path to the Night Mare, and quickly building momentum. “This is the end for you!” she cried as she shot through one side of the Night Mare, and emerging on the other, causing it to explode into black goop. As the labyrinth dissolves, quickly being replaced by the real world, Twilight can’t help but stare at Rainbow’s new look, which consists of a short skirt, and long blue cape. On her front hooves, she carries twin hoof blades designed to look like guitar plectrums. Rainbow chuckles as she hovers over to her friend. “Hey, sorry about that! I cut it pretty darn close, didn’t I?” Twilight blinks in shock as she realizes what happened. “Rainbow, those clothes… Did you…?” “Huh? Oh! Uh, well. Guess I had a change of heart,” Rainbow says, grinning all the while. “But don’t worry, I’ll be fine! After all, I did pretty well for my first time out, didn’t I?” “But-“ Twilight is cut off as a hoofstep is heard behind her by the door. The pair turn to find themselves face to face with Fluttershy. The yellow filly glares at Rainbow, who, of course, ignores the glare, returning it with one of her own. “Aren’t you a little late, Transfer Student?” *** Location: Ponyville Medical Center, Recovery Room 101, Ponyville East Acoustic Blues awoke with a start, pain coursing through his injured wing, a sensation he thought he’d never feel again in the limb. He slowly raises the wing in front of his face, watching as it performed the movements to play the G chord, then D chord, then Em chord. He couldn’t believe it. Rainbow had been right! Miracles were real! *** Location: Just Outside of Ponyville “I didn’t think you would come…” Kyubey said, addressing the filly sitting next to him. “I heard ol’ Pinkie Pie had kicked the bucket,” the filly replied through a mouthful of apple. “So I came all the way out here from Fillydelphia. But what’s the deal?! Sure looks like the story’s changed from what you told me.” Kyubey winced. “Sorry, but this territory has already been taken over by another Magical Filly. Though she only just made The Contract a couple hours ago.” “What?!” the orange filly cried in shock. “That really ticks me off! Y’know, I find the idea of handing such prime territory over to some rookie hatchling to be pretty annoying!” “What do you intend to do, Applejack?” The orange filly, Applejack, grinned. “There’s only one thing to do. I’ll put the new filly out of commission. Permanently.”