By: MAGICMAN7997
Deep beneath the city of Canterlot, hidden away in the very mountain the city was built upon, one very exhausted alicorn sat tending an experiment in progress. Her eyes struggled to remain open as the past few days came crashing back upon her. She was so close to fulfilling her wish now. The two foals, nestled securely in their life pods were nearly full term. In the span of a short 3 weeks she and Chryssy had managed to successfully create the new lifeforms thanks to her royal highness's spawning pools. If everything went according to calculations, in the next few days, Twilight would have the first two of her friends back. If all went well, she will have made amends for two of the five lives that were on her hooves…
“Twilight! Run! You have to get the other princesses out of here. We can buy you some time! Don't worry, we'll be right behind you in ten seconds flat.”
“But I won't leave you! I can't! We all have to leave together or the portal might close! I won't take that risk Rainbow!”
“We'll be right as rain Twilight! Besides, it's Gummy's birthday tomorrow. And I have to throw him a party!”
“Oh, Pinkie...”
No matter how much time passed, the pain of losing her five closest friends still haunted her. Twilight had managed to carry the limp bodies of Celestia, Luna, and Cadance to the portal's entrance. Gently, she placed the three mares on the other side and turned to charge back into Tartarus to save her friends. It was then that the horror of the situation was made real to her.
Twilight turned just in time to see an Eldritch demon consume the life essence of Fluttershy and Rarity. The behemoth towered over the four remaining ponies as it deposited the first two lifeless corpses into a river of lava. The tears flowed freely now from Twilight's face. The despair of this too much for her to reconcile. In the end, a quick shove through the portal's entrance by none other than the Element of Loyalty herself had saved Twilight from a similar fate.
“Rainbow, no!”
“It's okay egghead, you've got a lot more to do in this world than I do,” her smile trying to lighten the mood. “Besides, everyone's gotta go. I just get to be awesome when I do it.”
The magic around the portal destabilized then and sealed Twilight and Rainbow to their respective fates. There was no stopping the heart wrenching sobs that came from her chest now. She didn't want to wake Chryssy, but now, she couldn't stop if she tried.
Sensing the sudden wave of negative emotion, Chrysalis shot upright from her bed. Frantically she searched the chamber for Twilight and saw the lavender alicorn in the midst of her breakdown. Quickly, she came to her marefriend's side and nuzzled her. She let her guard slip for only a moment and tried to siphon off some of the negative emotional energy that poured from Twilight's very soul. Painful as it was to absorb, any pain was worth enduring if only to help ease Twi's misery.
“You saw them again,” she asked. “They're getting worse. Do you think it might be time to talk to Luna? She is, after all, the keeper of the dream realm. Maybe she could help you.”
Twilight sniffed away a rogue tear, “I'm fine. Nothing to concern the princesses with.” She rose to her hooves and stretch out every muscle that she could. “Besides, I don't think there's much she could do for me anyway. These aren't nightmares, they're a guilty conscious reminding me of the sins I've committed.”
“You committed no sin dear. You saved the rulers of your kingdom from a very ancient demon king. You and your friends knew the dangers when you entered that hell. The fact that ANY of you walked out of it is a miracle in and of itself.” Chrysalis pulled Twilight into a firm but warm embrace. “You can't keep doing this to yourself. It's not healthy. Besides, when we are successful, our first two younglings are going to need their mother,” she said with a wink as glanced over to the spawning pools.
Twilight sighed into Chrysalis's neck. She was right. Getting herself worked up wasn't going to do anypony any good. Especially somepony who was about to be the mother of twin filly foals. Her body began to relax as she shifted into a more comfortable position against her lover. Suddenly twin alarm spells went off as the spawning pools began to bubble. Confused and worried, Twilight rushed over and began to analyze them with her magic.
“I don't understand. My magic says everything is normal! What's happening?”
“Something wonderful,” Chryssy said with a smile. “Two new lives are about to enter the world.”
Chrysalis took her place at the terminal connected to the twin spawning pools. Deftly, she used her magic to begin draining away the nutrient rich fluid that surrounded the pods. As the liquid receded, Twilight began to see the translucent pods much clearer. She could see the two fillies beginning to stir and become a little agitated. She worried that they might somehow suffocate inside the egg like structures.
“What if they can't breach the pods? They won't have enough air!” Twilight moved herself into position to remove the first pod from the rack it was attached to. Chrysalis's voice stayed her hoof for just a moment longer.
“They need all the time in the pod we can allow. Trust me, the drone carrier strain I selected is quite hardy. They'll be fine and will break free with not a problem at all.”
Seconds seemed like hours as the last of the liquid drained from the pods themselves. Twilight began to fear the worst as the only sounds she could hear was the last few drips of fluids coming off the racks. Finally, just as despair threatened to take hold, she heard the faintest of crackling noises coming from the pods. More and more cracking joined the original noise until the room sounded with the cacophony of hatching. Suddenly, with a great crunch, the pods split open and the room fell silent once more…
Except, for the sound of two wailing pony fillies...