//------------------------------//
// Aftermath 
// Story: Twin Night Terror's 
// by FluffyDoom 
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	Chapter 11: Aftermath

Shimmer and Eclipse woke up near the house, like their lycan instincts knew that the home was their base. The first thing Eclipse did after waking up was vomiting up a scary number of what looked like twigs, some blood and rabbit. Shimmer copied her, but unlike last time she wasn’t puking up everything. She knew deep inside her body was already adjusting.
After they were done with that Eclipse raised a groggy head, but her usually soft silver eyes burning with anger. “Happy?” She spat.
Shimmers dopey smile faded. “Now I’m not. Eclipse, I really am sorry that you had no choice in what happened last night, but now you can truly understand us!”
Eclipse got up on wobbly legs, and pushed away her fear from last night. Her eyes were a fountain of anger and hurt. “Understand?” She asked in a low voice. “Understand? ANYPONY could see that you two were different. Like the infamous cake twins, one of you had a horn while the other a pair of wings. Those two grew up to become famous thieves, and anypony who read history could see that twins like you guys grew up with great destiny. It takes magick to birth not only two foals, but have the foals be different species. Most ponies don’t have the energy in them to even do it.
“But I derail from my point. You guys were different to begin with, yet you were special, and I loved you guys even without that. I looked into the real you, and I saw bright young ponies. I also saw two wonderful friends. Shimmer, you have changed in the past two months. I don’t know what happened to you, but this power has made you different, more untrusting. Can’t we have our old, innocent, Shimmer back?”
Shimmer was beginning to crack under her words, but at the last sentence she toughened up. “Innocent?” She snarled softly. “I will never be innocent again! I have seen my sister kill animals to survive, and the wolf in me wants to kill. I will never be innocent again.”
Adult and teen glared at one another for a few more seconds, but Eclipse knew she would have to be the better pony. “Lets go tell Astra we are ok.” She suggested icly.
“Good idea.” Shimmer gave a curt nod.
Stiffly, both walked to the cellar to retrieve the vampire from her hiding place.

“Hello girls, have a good bonding time?” Astra smiled weakly, hoping to lighten the obvious tension between the two lycans.
“We ran around and played with the nearby timber wolves.” Shimmer said seriously. “It was fine.”
Half lies, half truths. Eclipse felt Astra would be better off not knowing about the fight.
Astra gave them both a true grin. “Good, everything seemed really weird last night.”
Eclipse gave a light laugh. “Everything is weird with you girls.” She ruffled Astra’s mane.
“Hey, I am not a foal!” She protested, smoothing it down.
“Sorry.” Eclipse gave her a wicked grin of good humor.
Astra rolled her eyes, but smiled back. “So girls, I have been thinking. Tomorrow night we should revisit the cave and look for ways of improving our current living conditions. I have read all the information that the scrolls can offer, and so have you two.”
Shimmer sighed. “To bad I have been unable to put any of it to good use, being that your life was in danger both times.”
“Yeah, that is sad.” Astra agreed.
Eclipse bit her cheek as they spoke. When there was a lull in the conversation she jumped at it. “What if we have to retake those tests again?” She asked.
“Then we turn back.” Shimmer shrugged.
Astra looked like she wanted to protest for the sake of adventuring once more, even if they had already done it, but she did not protest. “Yes, we turn back.” She sighed, which was followed by a yawn. “For now, I need to turn in.”
“Yes, same.” Shimmer rubbed her eyes. “Sticking to a nocturnal schedule is kind of hard.”
Eclipse scuffed at the ground with her hoof. “Mind if I crash here? It is an hour past my usual bedtime I think.”
Astra and Shimmer nodded. They left the cellar and entered the house to crash. Astra did not follow suit though, not until she had hunted.

Eclipse woke up to giggling girls, and the sound of things clattering. As the strange environment surrounded her she wondered somewhat fearfully how she had ended up in a strangers dusty living room. As consciousness came back to her, she began to remember.
Last night, technically day, she had washed up and spoke with Astra and Shimmer after a surprise transformation. Groaning with effort she also began to remember what she had not the day before. In her lycan form she and Shimmer had hunted the nearby timberwolf pack, and demolishing them had been scary easy. With powerful paw swipes they easily dismembered them again and again, until there were no more branches and sap on the ground for them to use.
Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, she refocused on the voices in the kitchen, and was a bit shocked to hear them so clearly.
“I think Eclipse will make a fine Lycan.”
“I don’t know, she seemed a bit strained when you guys greeted me.” Astra concluded.
“Aw don’t worry, even if she doesn’t like it, it is only once a month.”
“Point.” A sigh  escaped her.
Deciding eavesdropping was a bit too rude for her taste she got up and trotted into the kitchen.
In it Astra and Shimmer sat at the table. Shimmer was eating, while Astra fiddled with her hooves. “Night girls.” Eclipse greetining.
“Yo.” Shimmer said, chewing her food happily.
“Hi Eclipse. You just caught me, I was about to go out to hunt. I think a deer is in order for tonight too.” The vampire spoke as she stood up. “Though deer is beginning to become a bit too dry for me… Kinda like the rodents did.” She wrinkled her muzzle in distaste and walked out.
Eclipse watched her go, and let out a gusty breath.
Shimmer’s demeanor changed, luckily it only differed slightly to the adults relief. “So Eclipse, how do you feel about that? My sister kills deer.”
She spoke it like she was proud, which irked her, but she only replied in a friendly tone. “I feel sorry for the deer, but this is who Astra is now. I only hope she can be around other ponies soon.”
Shimmer didn’t seem disappointed with the answer, which helped Eclipses confirm, that deep down hope that Shimmer still wanted to be her friend. Visibly relaxing, she sat down at the table, enjoying the moonlight that streamed in.
“So, it was mentioned that you’re taking school?” She asked.
Shimmer nodded. “Yeah, turns out Luna has loads of schools for nocturnal ponies, and homeless ponies.”
Eclipse smiled gently. “Our night mother is a caring, loving, pony.” She amended. “Though few still know it today, even after 6 decades.”
Shimmer was silent for a moment, but when she spoke, she did so slowly. “Night mother, I like that term.”
Eclipse knew why too, from her knowledge, Shimmer had only had a mother for a few years.
After that the dam broke, and each pony told one another apologies. Shimmer apologized for being so suspicious and untrusting, while Eclipse said sorry for running away. They told one another of their month, and bonded over the moment.
For the whole month Astra had indeed stayed home, perfecting her skill and coming to term with herself. Shimmer found herself jumping to more advanced classes in the homeless school, and hoped that she could soon get to a high school grade education. Eclipse had worked silently at her job, and throughout the whole month fretted over the twins with deep concern. It was a loving moment for each.
As they finished, Astra returned. She stumbled into the room and laughed lightly.
“Heya girls!”
Shimmer scrunched her eyebrows together, while Eclipsed raised one questioning manner. It appeared that Astra was drunk, yet there was not a whiff of whiskey or any other beverage on her.
“Astra dear, are you ok?” Eclipse asked.
“Yeah, peachy, just got a talk with that bug guy. Marcus.” She giggled. “Didya know that when he changes form it ain’t just an illusion, he actually becomes a pony!”
Shimmer jumped up, yellow eyes serious and casting off an old glow. “Astra, what happened?” She growled, all seriousness.
Astra did not lose her air of humor yet. Staring right at her sister she revealed bloody fangs. “An equal trade! Blood for love! Haha!” Her laugh was high pitched.
Eclipse cursed. “Astra, how do changelings take love?” She prayed it wasn’t like the rumor. If so, Eclipse wasn’t sure if she would even want to hold Shimmer back.
“Easy.” She snorted. “He took the form of Shims, and began to act like her, really good acting. I bought it. And then He offered his leg to me, and I drank his blood! Yumyumyum!” She giggled airily. “While I drank his blood, I guess his horn returned, cause it rested on my forehead and I felt myself lose a bit of energy, but not too much. Next thing I knows, he is taking his leg away claiming that was enough, and flying off!” She ended in a grumpy child-like frown.
Breaths of relief were let out. “Astra, I think you should rest. We can go adventuring tomorrow.” Eclipse said. “The night is young yet, but I have no idea when your… State will wear off.”
Astra looked at her crossly. ‘No, I wanna adventure now!” She whined, like a foal throwing a tantrum.
“No Astra, back to bed.” Shimmer ordered.
“Advencha!”
“Bed!”
“Advancha!!”
“Bed!” The two sober ponies shouted.
“ADVENCHA!” Like a flash of lightning, Astra had rushed out the door.
“Dear Luna!” Eclipse gasped, running after her. “She is drunk off of blood!”
The two raced after her, Shimmer by air and Eclipse by hoof. Shimmer was obviously the faster of the two as they tracked down the laughing vampire.
“Hahaha! I love tag!” Astra giggled like a kid. Suddenly her wings snapped open. “Only fair is fair!” She called to her flying sister.
Pumping her bat wings, she shoot into the air and then to the trailhead.
“Astra, no!” Shimmer shouted. “You can barely even fly, and FUI is a serious offense!” She doubled her speed.
Astra giggled. “I wonder what this power does?” She pondered loudly as she began to cast some of her vampire power around wildly. To answer her question, the vampire disappeared from sight.
Shimmer groaned and scented the air, though she found the act useless.
“Woah!” Came the breath from a nearby, yet unseeable, Astra. “Where’d I go?”
“You tell me, Astra.” Shimmer answered, irritation obvious in her voice.
“You don’t wanna let me adventure though!” Astra cried, and with a whoosh sound of her wings, Shimmer could tell she had fled.
Following a drunk pony was hard enough, following a drunk invisible pony by scent alone was near impossible. Good thing Shimmer had an amazing sniffer, and it allowed Eclipse to catch up with them.
“They can’t catch me!” A voice giggled from farther away than Shimmer would have preferred.

The chase went on for longer than anypony would think reasonable. Wouldn’t her blood-high, or whatever it was, have worn off after thirty minutes at least? Nope, it appeared that Astra’s blood-high was going to last a while, and the farther they went into the Everfree, the angrier Shimmer became.
Along with her intensifying anger, she began to feel uncomfortable prickles along her spine, but easily ignored them in her hot pursuit.
Finally, after what appeared to be a good three hours, Eclipse called up, obviously unable to go on.
“I… can’t… fly… Can’t… run… far…” She gasped and panted between each word as Shimmer flew down. “You.. Pull… Ahead…” She gulped.
Shimmer sighed as she saw the sweat beading the ponies forehead. “No, you are going to keep up, Eclipse.” She snarled, letting her anger rule her words, but keeping a filter on.
Something in Eclipse seemed to change as her fears flipped downward. She flinched from the yellow gaze of Shimmer, but nodded in obedience.
Shimmer nodded and flew up once more, knowing that Earth ponies weren’t made to run for long, but rather work hard. She zoomed off, regaining the scent trail.
As she tracked the scent trail she realized the scent had changed. It lost a metallic scent and gained a less flavory stench. It was sour, but something in it appealed to her. Unable to pin it down, the Pegasus shrugged and flew on. At least the appealing scent calmed her nerves and stopped that incessant tingling in her back.
While they were chasing the errant Vampire, she had lost track of time, so when she checked the moon, it appeared to her that three hours had passed. Three hours? Why so long? It was unreasonable that a blood-high could last so long!
Unless… Shimmer snarled, her anger lighting up once more. Her sister was leading them on the chase, clean sober, and on purpose!
“Double your efforts, Eclipse!” She hollered down. “My idiot sister is missing on purpose now!”
Eclipse only answered with a cough.
Hesitating, she slowed down and landed. When Eclipse saw her floating down, she collapsed on the spot.
“You aren’t going to die, are ya?”
Eclipse only spluttered out another cough.
Worriedly, she put a hoof around the Earth pony. “I bet you were never this active before you met me and my sister, huh? Listen, why don’t you continue at a hobble to the Night Cave, because she appears to be going in that direction. I think we are getting there at a faster rate because we ran most the thing without any stops too.” She patted Eclipse on the back. “When you get the energy though, I hope you can start running again.”
“Imma cramp so bad…” She moaned. “Not fun” She coughed again.
“Yeah, wings take ponies father than hooves, commonly known.” She giggled. “Well, cya, Eclipse, try not to get eaten by the animals here.”
Eclipse breathed heavily and glared at Shimmer, who merely grinned in protest. SHe zipped off from the ground and was back in the sky with a flash.

Astra huddled in the Night Cave, not even bothering to check her surroundings. She wasn’t sure how she got there, and she was soon regretting her continuous flight. Just, her sister could be hard to deal with when she got angry. And nowadays she was easily angered.
Astra wasn’t sure what had changed in her beloved sister, and Astra wasn’t sure what had changed in her, but ever since that first full moon, things had been different. Astra was more submissive to her sister, who seemed to cast her yellow glowing eyes around like candy to foals. Astra wasn’t even sure her sister noticed, which was scary. Scarier still, even Eclipse seemed to be affected by it.
Was it a lycan thing, or had Shimmer simply changed from a head strong, yet sweet filly, to a bossy bully who terrified those who didn’t agree with her? Or did the night classes she receive make her feel more cocky? Astra could not tell, and usually she would try to ignore the thoughts, but when she had become stupid on blood, they surfaced to the top.
Shimmer may have stopped Astra from drowning in self-loathing, but she had also changed from a loving creature, to one who would rather take charge and lash out at those who disagree. She was bullying Astra into doing things she didn’t want to, like turning Eclipse, though it had been unneeded anyway.
Damn that blood-high, and her lack of thinking or control while during it! After it had worn off after a good ten minutes, she had simply flown away because she was scared of her sisters fury.
A noise dragged her attention away from her confusing thoughts.
“Twin!”
She rolled her red eyes. “Shimmer.”
Shimmer walked into view and glared at her sister. “You really are something, ya know? Why did did you keep flying?” She demanded.
“Because I hate it when you yell at me! And you are going to do it again!” Astra stated harshly.
“I only yell at you, because sometimes you act like an imbecile!” Shimmer growled, yellow eyes flowing yellow. “Like you just did! Eclipse is still struggling to get here, you know?”
“Alone, why?” Astra asked. “Why not wait for her?”
“Because we both love you, and agreed that in order to catch up to you, I, the fastest, should pull forward.”
“It’s dangerous out there! You say I don’t make smart decisions, but leaving her alone out there is dumber than anything I could do!” Exclaimed Astra.
Shimmer shrugged. “Oh well.”
They waited in a stony silence until Eclipse finally walked up, choking down air and sweat glistening all over her fur.
“Never. Again.” She choked out, glaring at them both.
“Yes, Eclipse.” Astra murmured.
Nopony said a word as they all sat there quietly. Slowly Eclipse’s breathing began to regulate again, but that encouraged nopony to start talking. They all ignored their surroundings instead as they lost themselves in thought.

The night passed at a quick pace, and only Eclipse moved, or muttered occasionally about cramping, but besides her, nothing happened. The twins were as still as stone, while Astra hid amongst the shadows, Shimmer stared at the slowly lightening sky. As the sun touched the horizon, Shimmer finally broke the night-long silence.
“I hate all this fighting.”
The other two murmured agreement.
“So I am going to end it.”
They gave her questioning looks.
Stiffly, the Pegasus stood up. “I… I know I am the cause of all the fighting.” She murmured, and went on when they tried to protest. “I have grown bossy with my powers, and arrogant with my knowledge. Just, Astra, we have been homeless our entire lives. When I finally had money to spend, a nice bed to sleep on, constant food, and power, I let it get to me. I was in control of my life for the very first time. I was no longer scrounging for food, fighting off rats, or looking over my shoulders for unwanted ponies who would try to manipulate me. I loved it. Too much.
“So I tried to control you two also. I tried to force our… is it a gift or curse, on Eclipse, and I have been bossing you, my lovely sister, around all months, forcing you to do what I think is best. I did help you, once, but now I keep messing up. I have thought the entire night on this, on all my actions. Astra I might have convinced you that you are special, and you deserve to live, but now I am holding you back. I am the voice in your ear, saying you can’t see other ponies. And why? Not because you won’t control yourself, but because I want to control you.”
As she spoke more an more, tears began to trickle from her eyes. “I am sorry. To both of you. Please don’t protest, but I have to go away now. If you don’t see me by the next full moon, well then I guess you can say I got lost.” She took a deep breath in to finish. “While I was thinking about it, I also thought about where I was going to stay, and I know the perfect place. Getting food shouldn't be difficult either, considering I have lived as a homeless pony for my whole life. I need to leave now.”
“Shimmer… No.” Astra whimpered. “I can help. I am your twin.”
Shimmer looked her dead in the eyes, and Astra felt her soul being splintered slightly as her sister began to mentally drift away, and soon physically. “You can’t though. Only I can. I realised I needed to change on my own, and granted with you pointing it out in a kinder way than I deserved. Now I must change, and on my own. I don’t think a month will be long enough for me, but it will show me what I need to do.” With that she flapped her wings and sped out of the cave, and possibly the Everfree forest.