There was no time left. I could feel the presence of the Equestrian ponies, and at least one of them was approaching. The two in front of us were infected, maybe... "Stop." I said it with all the force I could muster and clopped a hoof for emphasis. "Stand in attention."
Twilight looked like she wanted to move, squirming, but Fast remained quite stuck on what she was trying clumsily to accomplish. The effort of doing so was taxing her visibly. Trying to make love with lame legs with a suddenly struggling partner made everything too difficult, and she appeared ready to burst into fresh tears.
A new idea came and I moved up on her. "Alright, relax, lay still." Twilight quickly relaxed with a sigh, but she wasn't who I was reaching for. I put a hand on either of Fast's hips, caressing her cutie mark of a pony that was pink in the back and blue in the front with a towel over the dividing point. I reached for her gift and began to rouse it to action. Thankfully the magic stun seemed to have faded. I channelled the energy into those malfunctioning legs of her. She howled with sudden pain as poorly formed bones snapped and reconfigured and long atrophied muscles attached at better places.
With the worst of it past us, I focused on strengthening her and devouring the gift along the way. The interference within her, that clash of Equestrian and void energy that we called the 'gift' ground together, producing that vital energy that I put to work swelling her repaired muscles. The unicorn stood up on quivering legs, my hands still at her hips. Mobility restored, she went for Twilight easily, and Twilight accepted her. They were making love. Despite the manic need that had pushed them into the act, they gazed into one another's eyes and nuzzled gently. They loved each other.
Twilight sighed and flushed as some amount of coherence returned to her. She looked past Fast to Cindy and me. "How did you fix her? I've tried--" Her words were cut off with an energetic motion from Fast that brought out a lewd moan from Twilight. "Oh Celestia, yes!" Her cheeks were flushed and red. "Is it supposed to feel like this? Am I sick? Why is every, mmm, touch so nice? This doesn't feel like being sick."
I double checked and saw that Fast had been purged. The lovemaking she was doing was at least partially just because she wanted to be with her lover. I couldn't fault her for that, though doing it in front of a stranger was a bit bold. Cindy settled beside the two and brushed a hand gently along Twilight's snout. "We can clean you too, I think. Equestrian ponies react mostly the same to it. We have to give the energy something to do to expend it. We use it on her legs, fixing them and making them better."
Twilight arched her back as she was rutted into. "I-I'm sorry, but it's... very hard to focus." She clutched at Fast with her hooves, pulling her in tight as the two ground and thrust against one another. "Please! Fix this. My foal... Can you make sure it's alright?"
That made Fast slow her motions. "Buck! I forgot about that." Her forehooves gently caressed over Twilight's swollen belly. "Shh, it'll be alright. I'm sure your foal's just fine."
Twilight smiled at Fast with a quirk. "Thank you for saying that, but let's be sure, please... Are you alright, Fast?"
Fast nodded, and slowly drew from Twilight. The news of the foal's potential injury had deflated her mood, and she seemed back in control of herself. "Yeah, I'm fine." She raised a hind leg and kicked it in the air. "Hey, what'd you do? It hurts all over, but... it works. Did you shapeshift me?"
Twilight rolled up onto her hooves with Fast no longer on top of her. She wobbled a bit in place and panted for breath. The urges were clearly there, but she had a better grasp of her sense of self for the moment. I imagined that the lack of 'clean' pony in reach to try to infect helped with it. "T-thank you for helping Fast Change, but, please, me next. I don't want to carry some terrible disease, and my foal, please..."
She sounded desperate. Cindy looked towards me as her thoughts brushed my own, ~Her powerful energy drew in powerful energy. She's the equivalent of a princess... of princesses? If she mastered it, she could become horrifically powerful.~
~I don't think she wants that. Can we burn off that much gift?~ I peered at Twilight with my second sight and saw she was a burning sun of void energy. She dwarfed the potential held in Cindy and I. We could only hope to compare, and even then dimly, when we were in contact. ~We'd better team up on this one.~
Cindy reached for me and we held hands, both hands. We could feel our internal energy flowing in a peaceful circuit through those connections, and we became stronger through our bond. We became as one, at least magically, and turned our combined attention on the sweating and panting Twilight.
Fast moved up to Twilight and gently rubbed snouts. "I don't understand exactly what happened, but I'm sorry for coming on so strong like that." A gentle smile quirked her lips. "You didn't use the safeword though."
Twilight burst into gentle laughter. "I was... embarrassed. They're guests, Fast! But... you're my wife. I don't... begrudge... you touching me." She snorted like a bull and stomped a hoof. "I feel so wrong inside, please!"
We didn't want to change Twilight, leaving us with the only option. Energy wasted became heat, and heat we made. She began to glow and the air shimmered with distortions as the air became warmer quickly. Fast winced as it reached painful levels, but she didn't retreat from Twilight. She held Twilight and murmured to her, even as it became hot enough to make some of Twilight's vials explode violently. Our fur was starting to smolder with how much heat we were putting off.
I remembered a little bit of physics and turned some of that energy to light. Twilight gasped and shuddered as she began to glow in rapidly bursting circles of colors that matched her mane and coat colors. It was blindingly bright, but it was some energy being spent on something other than heat.
~Her foal is missing energy. It doesn't seem entirely healthy. I'll fix that.~ Cindy turned her focus towards Twilight's center and sent a large portion of the void energy into Twilight's womb, reinforcing the foal. Now that I had my attention on it, I could see that it was missing something, but that something was quickly filled in by Cindy's efforts. The room began to cool.
Fast slumped to the ground with a wheeze. "Damn girl. I know I've said you were hot before, but this takes it a whole new level."
Twilight spread her wings in a snap. "Are you alright?!" She began to fawn over Fast while I checked over Twilight. The gift within her was purged. Like someone catching a sickness once, she wouldn't play host to the same sickness twice, and calamity had been spared us for now. I let go of Cindy, and the burns I had received suddenly became manifest without the calming circuit of our connection. We were both scorched badly. Standing directly over the source of heat was, perhaps, not the wisest thing we've done in a while.
The door to the lab burst open as an earth pony stallion rushed in with Neon's tongues restraining and draining him, but he refused to be slowed much. "Princess! Fast! Are you two alright?"
Twilight looked up and squeaked. "Don't hurt Rough Tumble! He's our guard, and our friend. Rough, we're perfectly fine, now. Everything's under control."
Rough stopped pushing in against Neon's tongues, which were glowing with stolen energy. "Are you sure?" He looked at Cindy and me. "They look awful. Should I get a doctor? What happened in here? It's like a bomb went off."
Neon withdrew her tongues and came in around Rough Tumble. "Oh fuck!" Soon the rest of the herd rushed in, and we were guided to the ground to rest. Neon applied Rough's stolen energy to me first, which is when I learned that moderate burns hurt more than severe ones, and agony exploded over my body. I groaned in pain, but she was already moving on to Cindy to use the other half of the energy she held to turn those fourth degree burns down to third.
Twilight hastily explained as she watched Neon work with obvious fascination. "They used the magic inside of me. I'm not sure exactly what they did, but they let it all out in heat and light and I became a living fire for a little while there." She gently thumped Fast. "You did not have to stand next to me while I was doing that! I appreciate the loyalty, but you could have been seriously hurt."
"Worth it," said Fast defiantly with a smile.
Rough Tumble nodded. "Alright. Should I take them to the hospital? They look really bad still."
Neon wrinkled her nose. "We have three healers in this herd of ours. We just need energetic and healthy ponies to donate to the cause, like you just did."
Rough bristled. "I don't remember saying it was OK to do that, but it was for a good reason, I suppose."
Karen shook his head. "It isn't safe for me to do that. I don't want to infect anyone."
I looked to Karen and focused my thoughts. ~Twilight and Fast are both safe. They were infected, but they're clean now.~
He nodded with the receipt of the message and looked to Twilight. "May I borrow some of your... magic, Princess? It will come back like it normally does." Twilight nodded, then squeaked in surprise as several tongues lashed out and wrapped around her.
"I know what this remind me of!" she cried with an abrupt joy. "It's just like the--" Karen's tongues began to glow brightly as he drew the energy, or magic, whichever you preferred, out of Twilight and sent Twilight to the ground in a sudden daze.
Karen reached out a tongue to Cindy, Fast, and me individually and that energy rushed into us, nudging things along. I knew I was safe under their care, and consciousness fled me.
I awoke in a large bed with Cindy half-sprawled on top of me. I gently nuzzled her as I sat up and she woke with a yawn. We looked much better, with out fur regrown and the burns banished from our bodies. We emerged from the bedroom and found the others downstairs in the dining hall, chatting around a table. On seeing us, Twilight smiled brightly. "There you are. Thank you, even if you were kind of the source of this trouble."
Fast swatted Twilight on the shoulder. "Hey, don't blame them. It was my bright idea that got the ball rolling." She nodded towards Cindy and me. "Thanks for what you did. It's really weird walking around without trouble without shapeshifting it away. I never thought I'd feel my natural legs carrying me like that... I gave up such a long time ago on that. Really, thank you."
Twilight tilted her head curiously. "What did you change in me, or was it all that heat and fire?"
Cindy nodded at Twilight. "Mostly. We didn't want to change you if we didn't have to, Twilight, so we put most of it out in light and heat. Your body was unusually ready to emit both. Have you done that before?"
Twilight blushed brightly. "Only a few times..."
A small humanoid dragon rolled his eyes. "Only when she gets really frustrated." He sounded like a youth by his voice. "Oh, my name's Spike. I don't think we've met?"
We shook hands with him. His hands were scaled and clawed, and he looked like a very adorable and upright dragon. When I asked him about that, he nodded. "Oh yeah, I'm a baby dragon. One day I'll be as big as this whole castle!"
Sandra chuckled at that. "You'd be a very large cute thing."
Twilight shook her head. "He'll be less adorable when he gets larger, but he'll still be Spike." She put a hoof around him and hugged him gently.
Cindy suddenly asked, "Do you know any reason your foal might lack in energy?"
Twilight went stiff a moment. "How? I mean... yes... My foal was... It's been a complicated journey. Its original body was destroyed, and its essence scattered through its original mother. It was a miracle that I could take it in like I have. Is everything alright?" She looked worried, and I didn't blame her.
Cindy quickly placated her. "Everything is fine, more than fine. I noticed your foal needed some more, and you had a lot extra, so I help balance the two. Your foal should be healthy and sound."
A thought suddenly came to me. ~Doesn't that mean the foal was infected?~
~Perhaps? It looked clean. It should be fine.~
What effect would that void energy have on the still developing life, I knew not, but we'd probably be gone before we found out.