The sound of cereal being chewed was the only noise that pervaded the air inside the small home. A man, a woman and a teenage girl were all sitting at the family room table, eating their breakfast in silence. It's not that they couldn't speak, or didn't have anything to talk about; they just didn't feel like saying anything. They hardly even looked at each other. From an outside point of view, it would have appeared that they were each having their own staring contest with a different wall of the house. The scariest thing was that they all seemed to be winning. The gaze of the woman was torn from the wall in favor of the clock.
"Emily, you're going to be late," the woman spoke softly. Emily roused herself awake and turned her head. After seeing that she was indeed already five minutes behind schedule, she nodded and stood up to finish her morning preparations. Rose watched her daughter getting ready, but her mind was already lost once again. Emily walked around, gathering her school supplies.
Backpack.
Coat.
Wallet.
Phone.
Emily mumbled her mental checklist of supplies to herself, as she did every morning. These past two mornings, however, she had to repeat the list to herself a few times. She kept getting lost in thought halfway through and actually forgot her phone two days ago. For a teenager going to school, not having her phone was akin to emotional torture.
She wanted to be upset about it, but at the time, she just couldn't bring herself to care. She didn't know what she wanted to remember. The annoying tingle that came with forgetting something had plagued her as much as it had her parents. Rich and Rose were also affected by the strange mental fog. Rich had managed to put all of his clothes on the wrong way a couple days ago, and Rose forgot her keys yesterday. Rose's accident wouldn't have been so substantial if she hadn't gone inside to get them but forgotten to bring them out again. She did this four times in a row until she finally forced herself to remember.
They each knew that something was wrong. Something was missing. Something that they each cared for immensely...it was just gone. A hole had opened up in each of their hearts, driving them to the brink of madness. They wanted so badly to remember what it was that they were missing...but the answer simply wouldn't come to them. The only thing they could remember was that whatever was bothering them, it had to do with a hospital. Was someone sick? No, that couldn't be it. They would have remembered something like that.
Emily took a few steps towards the door, her backpack strapped around her shoulder. As she approached a door on the left side of the room, however, her feet slowed, dragging along the carpet until she stopped. This room. Whatever she had been trying to remember, it had something to do with this room. She didn't even know how she knew that, but she did. The tingling had grown to an annoying ache the closer she got to the door.
She took a few more steps, trying to move past the door. She had done so for the past few days, with the feeling growing more intense every time. The last two times, she had managed to push herself away and continue with her day. This time, however, she had to know. What was so special about this room? How would it solve her questions? This room had always been here, as far as she knew. The strange thing was, she couldn't ever remember going into it. What had it been used for? Surely, she should know what a piece of her own house looked like.
Emily turned herself back around and marched to the door. She was going to do it fast, like tearing off a bandage. After taking a deep breath and closing her eyes tightly, she reached out to the doorknob, gritted her teeth, and twisted it. The knob squeaked slightly, but turned with barely any resistance. Emily had expected such an unused piece a metal to be slightly stiff, but it moved as if it had been opened plenty of times before.
She stood there for a few moments with the turned knob in her hand. The effort she had used to force herself to open the door had carried her this far, but now she actually needed to push it the rest of the way. A breath left her chest, followed by another one.
Then she pushed.
The door opened wide, revealing the darkness inside to the whole family. Rose and Rich had been watching their daughter, each holding their breath without realizing that they were doing so. They both had felt the pull towards the door, but neither had dared to actually follow through with their gut feeling. They wanted to know so badly...but they were also afraid. What could be behind the door that would draw them to it like that? Would it be good...or bad? Now that Emily had made the first move, they had no choice but to participate.
The two parents stood up, walking over to where their daughter was standing. She had been staring into the darkness, once again trying to find the will to move forward. Past the door, they could see only darkness. The heart rates between the three family members shot up as they stared into the unknown. This was it. They were going to go into the room. They were going to face their fear and find out exactly what was inside the room and find out exactly what it was that affected them so deeply.
With the door now open, the inky blackness was now all that kept them from their answer. With an irritated huff, Emily extended her hand along the wall next to the door, inside the room. She fumbled around blindly for a few moments before her fingers ran over a familiar, switch-shaped object. With another huff, this time of victory, she flicked the little switch so that it pointed up instead of down.
Click
The light snapped on, bathing the interior of the room in its warm, incandescent glow. The sudden flash caught the two adults by surprise, but Emily had been expecting it. They all squinted, their imaginations running wild. What would they see? Why was it that they couldn't remember what had been in this room? What could there-
Nothing.
The room was entirely empty. It looked like it had never been used once. The carpet on the floor was still plush and new. Nothing had ever rested on the surface enough to compress the pile into the telltale depressions that would indicate furnishings. The shades on the windows were brand new with no dents or bends in them at all. There wasn't a scuff to be found on any of the walls. Even the ceiling fan looked like it had never been left running a single time. The lights were all functional. Nothing was out of place; for that matter, it looked as if nothing was ever in place.
This lackluster revelation drew relieved sighs from the two parents. Emily, however, felt completely different.
"What the hell?!" she shouted in frustration, her hands shooting up and running through her long hair. Rich raised an eyebrow at her sudden outburst, while Rose took a step back from the shock of hearing her daughter curse.
"Emily! Language!" she scolded. Her daughter just looked up to her mother with angry tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She was breathing quickly, trying to keep herself from breaking down any further. The poor girl was frustrated to the point of tears. Rose immediately stopped her impending lecture. Something was still wrong, even if the they had fulfilled the will of the tingle. The mother moved forward quickly, wrapping her arms around the trembling teen.
"What the fuck...? What is...why?" Emily tried to say. Rose flinched at the severity of the expletive, but remained silent. The time for emotionally charged words was now. There wasn't really any better time to be allowed to use them.
"I know, Em, I know..." cooed Rose to her daughter. Emily, despite being a teenage girl, readily accepted the physical affection. Rich joined in on the hug after a few seconds, wrapping his large arms around the two smaller women. The warmth they shared calmed them down just as it always had. Though something still felt...missing.
They continued hugging while the room around them began to change. They were unaware of it while it was happening, being so absorbed in the physical affection they were sharing. A bed formed against the middle wall, plaid sheets covering it. It didn't look like it had been slept in for years, but it was still neat and tidy. The walls changed color, morphing from the bland greyish tint to a new sand color. The sand feeling was completed by the popcorning that the painted of the room had done. Now, instead of being smooth, a brush against the wall with bare skin would likely cause an abrasion.
An old writing desk was the next to appear. It was made of a dark textured wood and showed signs of many years of use. Scuffs, pen marks and chips told the story of the endless hours of schoolwork done on the desk's surface. On the walls, nail-holes appeared at the top of the few large rectangular sections of wall that were slightly lighter in color. The posters that took up those spaces were no longer there, but it was obvious that they had been up for quite awhile before they were taken down.
A dresser appeared next. It wasn't anything fancy; just a large wooden box with a bunch of shelves meant for containing clothing that had long since been removed. It was just back to being its normal self, now. The only thing that sat on top of it was a picture of the being that had eluded the memories of the family for the past few days.
The last thing to change was the family itself. As soon as the room stopped changing, the answer to the question they had all been asking popped into each of their heads. Emily stopped crying and looked around in stunned silence. She knew this room. She knew why it was the way it was. Her parents' eyes shot open, and stared at the room in wonder and consternation. The tears that the two adults had been holding in pushed their way out. Now, all three of the family members were crying. Not making any noise, but the tears still fell.
"Ryan..." Emily whispered to herself. It hit her all at once.
The cabin.
The lake.
The bacteria.
The sickness.
The hospital.
Ryan...dying.
Rose's hand shot to cover her mouth in an attempt to stifle her sob. Rich stumbled a bit, his head darting around wildly, trying to take in every feature of the room. Emily had the worst reaction, however. She tripped and fell backwards onto the blue plush carpet that now showed signs of wear.
No.
It couldn't have happened.
Not to Ryan.
She sat in stunned silence, her brain processing the events from two days ago. She had a big brother. She loved her big brother. She wanted to protect her big brother from the world, since he was so soft. She couldn't protect her big brother from an infection that targeted his nervous system. She visited her big brother every day, telling him to get better or else.
Her big brother was dead.
This was his old room. It hadn't been used in years. He had left it like this when he moved in with Sarah-
Sarah.
That bitch left him alone in his last day of life. Emily wanted to hate Sarah's guts. She wanted to hunt her down and throttle her with a jump rope...but Ryan's last request rang into her mind.
"Could you...take care of her after?" she heard her brother's voice echo. Ryan...he was so stupid. The woman he loved and took care of for two years left him to die on his own-...and he was okay with that? He wanted her to be happy even after he was gone? Emily couldn't understand it herself...but it made perfect sense for her brother. It was just the way he was. He cared more about others than he did himself, even to a fault. Much too forgiving, much too soft.
But Emily wouldn't hurt Sarah. She had meant the world to her brother. If Ryan was watching, somewhere, it would break his heart to see two of his loved ones fighting over him. He had been somewhat okay with it when it was just bickering about who was his main protector, but this would be different. She couldn't do that to him...but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't let Sarah know how badly she had fucked up. Be it directly or indirectly, she would know what she put Ryan through.
Rich and Rose were going through their own emotional fits. Rose was sobbing so hard that it sounded like she was trying to choke herself with her own tongue. The tears that fell from her face stained the worn carpeting, with dark spots appearing around her. Her hand was still covering her mouth, but it did little good to cover the sound.
Rich was staring at the bed against the wall. He had tears running down his face, but he wasn't making any noise. He rarely did in stressful situations; he would just let the event play out and only say what he needed to. He was normally much more active and humorous, but the events from the past few months had drained him emotionally. He didn't want to believe it. His boy was gone. The young man that he had raised from birth was dead and there was nothing he could do to change that. Modern medicine couldn't even save Ryan. What could a pressman with no college experience have done to save him? There was nothing. He had watched his son die without being able to help in the slightest.
Through their tears and inner turmoil, they all had been asking themselves the same question. It was Emily who chose to vocalize it.
"Why did we forget...?" she choked. Her parents looked at her, both flinching. They had felt it, too. How could they have forgotten Ryan? They just remembered something about a hospital...and then nothing. Even now, with their previous memories restored, they couldn't remember what had happened right after Ryan passed away. They were hugging him, but then they were back home. What had happened at the hospital? They didn't even see what had happened directly after his heart stopped.
"I..." was all Rich managed to get out as a response. What had happened? The hospital...he needed to know. Without another word, he turned himself around and marched out of the room with purpose. The two women left in the room stared after him, both wondering what he was doing.
"Honey?" Rose spoke out, though meekly. The large man continued walking around the living room, gathering his car keys and coat. Emily and Rose followed after him, once Emily could get her legs to stop trembling enough so that she could use them. She had to almost jog to keep up with her father.
"Dad, where are you going?" Emily asked. She was still out of breath from the fit she had been having. Rich just continued gathering his things before turning and directing his march towards the door.
"Hospital," was all he said. The women followed him out the door without another word. They didn't say it out loud, but they were both thinking the same thing that Rich had been.
What in the actual hell had happened at the hospital?
The car's engine roared to life not even seconds after Emily and Rose had clicked their seat-belts into place. Emily was feeling a sense of growing determination, which helped clear her mind somewhat. She needed something to do while the recent events sank in for the second time.
A mystery. It was perfect. Something to work through, something to solve. Even if solving the case didn't bring Ryan back.
Shiver
Emily let out one more tear before steeling herself and staring out the car window. Rose was reacting in a different way. She was still crying softly to herself, her face finding comfort inside of her hands. She didn't want to keep crying like this. Her family was being so strong! Why couldn't she be just as determined to figure out what was going on?
Oh, right. Ryan was dead either way. Her baby was gone.
Rose let out another strangled sob into her trembling hands, no longer trying to hide her misery. She just wanted Ryan back. He had been such a good man his whole life. He didn't deserve the pain that he had went through in that damned hospital. She wouldn't have wished that kind of torment on even her most hated enemy, and yet she had to watch her very own son go through all of it. The wilting, the fading, the shutting down...Ryan deserved so much better than that.
Rich was responding closer to the way Emily was. He was pushing out every little bit of his sadness in order to fill himself with resolve to find out what had happened. It just didn't make any sense. Why had they been at the hospital with Ryan, and then back home right when he died? They hadn't even had time to confirm the time of death...
...Ryan could still be alive. Rich knew that he was most likely wrong, but even the slightest chance that his son was alive was enough to keep him driving forward. The small Subaru flew down the highway, going way over the posted speed limit. Normally, Rose would scold him for going so fast. This time, she was too distraught to do pretty much anything to stop him. Emily was glad that her father was taking this as seriously as she was, she-
The memories of Ryan left as suddenly as they appeared.
He left a car full of confused family members behind when he left. Rich blinked once before he noticed just how fast he had been going. He foot immediately shot to the brake to slow the car down. He pulled off to the side of the highway, finally slowing the car to a stop. As he put the car into park, he took a moment to gather what thoughts he still had.
What were they doing out here? Why was he going so fast? Why hadn't Rose stopped him from speeding like she always did? Looking over at his wife and daughter only brought more questions. Why was Rose's face covered in tears? Emily was being oddly quiet...what in the hell happened? All he could remember was walking into that spare room that had been empty for so long...
...and now, this. Speeding on the highway with his family in the car. He would have kicked his own ass if he wasn't busy trying to figure everything out. His wife was busy looking into the mirror on the visor, fidgeting over her tear-streaked face.
Emily was just staring out of the window, trying to recall what it was she was supposed to be doing. Something that was very important...something she did every day. What was it?
School.
"I'm late for class!" she shouted suddenly, drawing the attention of her parents. They looked around before their eyes settles on the car's clock. Their eyes grew wide when they realized how late it actually was. Whatever they had been doing, it took off a good half-hour from their schedules. Rose squawked out her own problem.
"I'm going to be late for work! What is going on?!" she wailed in confusion. The other two couldn't offer her any kind of logical answer. This whole situation was just a massive mess. They didn't have time to sort things out right then; they would have to figure out what happened after they each went to their respective day jobs.
With a grunt of frustration, Rich clicked the car into drive and pulled back onto the highway with the intention of turning around at the first exit they came across. The tingling they had been feeling returned. It just got stronger for every second they went back home...Emily couldn't stand the feeling.
"What the fuck is happening?!" she shouted out loud.
"EMILY! LANGUAGE!"
****
Twilight and her friends followed Princess Luna out of the room in a single file line. They weren't too keen on standing out at that moment, what with Luna's jealous twitching. They could feel the malice pouring in waves from the princess, but nothing really came from it. The large blue alicorn looked very conflicted about something, though she tried valiantly to hide it. Why was she so angry at them? Had they done something to anger her? Spike had noticed the tension in the air and sneaked away to find something else to do. He didn't want to be around arguing adult ponies.
Twilight Sparkle was keeping a very close eye on the older princess. She very distinctly remembered the warning she had received regarding Ryan and didn't want to do anything to cause those threats to become actions. It was through her attentiveness that she finally took a glance at Princess Luna's mane.
"What..." she squeaked out in surprise when her eyes caught sight of the glorious dickmane. The sound was noticed by everypony except for Luna. Twilight held her hoof up to her mouth as her friends turned to look at her. She received simultaneously confused looks from Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy wasn't looking up anymore, so Twilight couldn't see what kind of face she was making. Pinkie, on the other hoof, had already been giggling herself silly. Twilight assumed she had also spotted the many...phallic images...in Princess Luna's mane, but she could have been mistaken. It was Pinkie Pie, after all. It was only when the purple alicorn looked up did she notice that Luna had been staring at her. She shot her eyes down to the ground again, hoping to avoid Luna's protective wrath.
"What is bothering you, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna said softly. A hint of barely-changed anger was still evident in her voice, even though she was forcefully keeping herself calm. Was she mad? If so, at whom? Was Twilight in danger of being destroyed? The younger princess scuffed her hooves nervously, still keeping her gaze locked onto the ground.
A memory played inside of her head. Ryan's voice...
"Aren't you a Princess, too? You don't have to let her shove you around, you know...do things your own way."
Twilight replayed the advice a few times in her head. Ryan was right. She was a princess. Why should she be so easily intimidated by another princess? If she wanted something...who was Luna to try to stop her from going after it?
...Besides Ryan's marefriend.
"N-nothing, nothing. Just, uhm...enjoying the view," she stammered. As soon as the words left her muzzle, she wished she knew a spell to catch sound waves and return them to their source. Why had she said that? Out of all the excuses she could have made to push the attention away from herself, she chose that. It was meant to be a clever way of referencing the many male parts floating around behind Luna's head, but it just sounded sexual from the way she had phrased it.
Princess Luna blinked a few times, a look of confusion etched across her blushing face. She gave a quick glance back to her flank before pressing her waving tail closer against her rump. Twilight wanted to teleport to the farthest end of Equestria at that moment. She had basically just told another princess that she had been staring at her backside while walking behind her. Oh, if only she could go back in time and stop herself from-
Nope, not again. That idea was disastrous enough the first time.
Never again.
"Ah told ya, I'm not tellin'!" Twilight heard hushed whispers behind her. Her attention was thankfully pulled away from her unintentional catcalling and placed instead on Applejack's angered yet quiet voice. Huh? What was Applejack talking about? What was she refusing to talk about? Twilight listened in to the unaware debaters behind her.
"Oh, come on! You knew! I saw you write it down! Just tell us, already!" she heard Dash's voice respond in a much-less quiet whisper. Twilight's ears were swiveling around in place, trying to pick up every syllable of what was being said. It only took her a moment to realize what she had been missing.
The answer to the last question! Applejack had known it! But how? Twilight was probably one of the biggest OtherWorld fans in Equestria and even she hadn't known anything about any...secret fetish. Sure, Sarah had teased Ryan quite a bit with her rump, but wasn't that just normal attraction? There wasn't much secret about that...
What could the answer be? A secret kink that nopony had known except for Applejack...could it be a love of mammary glands? Uhm...maybe a love of feet? Twilight was pretty unused to human feet, so she didn't know whether or not those could be possible attraction zones. Could it be...
Gulp
An asparagus fetish?
The thought alone brought so many disturbing thoughts to Twilight's mind. The very idea that somepony could find some sick pleasure in the most evil of tiny-legged plants was revolting.
But...
It was so dirty. Ryan could be into something so...so...dangerous. The repeated story alone had sent numerous troublesome humans to the ER. And when they released the 11-part miniseries detailing the entirety of the asparagus plant story...Equestria had ground to a halt for the better part of a day. Hospitals were filled to the brim with ponies, frothing at the mouth. Some even had to be put in strait-jackets. Twilight remembered how confused Princess Celestia had been. To have a simple show affect so many ponies...Twilight was surprised that she hadn't outright banned the show. Thankfully, Celestia had only banned that miniseries from ever being sold again. All remaining copies were dumped into a landfill and sealed in with a barrier of solid diamond. Truly, the asparagus was the plant of nightmares.
Twilight broke from her heated musings when she noticed that she couldn't hear Rainbow Dash or Applejack arguing anymore. She turned her head and saw the exact thing that she had been dreading: Princess Luna standing in front of the two mares with her large blue wings splayed out in a show of dominance. Uh-oh.
"I will repeat myself no more! That information is Ryan's personal business and you have no place knowing it! Young Applejack knows simply because of an accident on my part. Stop asking for her to share her knowledge! Ryan does not deserve to be objectified like this!" the large blue alicorn scolded. Both mares were looking down, but Applejack just looked to be hiding from the noise. Thankfully, the lecture was not aimed at Twilight and she seemed rather proud of herself for upholding Ryan's request. Fluttershy was trying her best to drown herself in her mane, while Rarity and Pinkie were just watching the confrontation with uncomfortable looks being shared between them. Rainbow Dash, however, was looking like she was stuck in a mixture of anger, fear, and shame. Any sane pony would have known to not antagonize an already angry alicorn.
Rainbow Dash was not a sane pony.
"He doesn't deserve to be left alone, either..." Dash mumbled under her breath. The sounds she made were still loud enough to be heard by an increasingly furious Luna. Twilight's pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks. For Celestia's sake, Dash! Now was not the time to vent your frustrations! Princess Luna apparently shared Twilight's sentiments.
"Excuse me?" she seethed through clenched teeth. For a moment, Dash looked like she would do the smart thing and back down. Then the anger flashed across her face again and she raised her gaze to meet Luna's. The two stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, trying to push the other away with a stare.
"You heard me. At the hospital, you...you left him to die..." Dash growled. Luna flinched back at the memory of what she had put Ryan through. The pained look turned into one of indignation.
"Ryan already told you all that it was a misunderstanding! He-"
"Ryan's Ryan. Of course he would forgive you. That doesn't mean we will," interrupted the prismatic pegasus. Princess Luna took a few steps back, clearly shocked that a pony would have the nerve to interrupt her. Twilight was just as shocked. Rainbow Dash...she was crazy, but Twilight had to admit that she had a point. Ryan always gave way too many chances to those that didn't deserve them. He hated hating people.
Princess Luna hadn't seen what they had seen, had she? She hadn't been there to witness Ryan's heartbroken face when he heard that Sarah had left him. She hadn't been there when he chose to let himself die. She wasn't there when...he passed. Sure, it could have been a misunderstanding. But Twilight had no doubt that if Luna really wanted to, she could have stopped it. She let it happen. Rainbow Dash was just giving voice to what the rest of her friends were too afraid to say.
"Wh-what is this about? What, do you want Ryan for yourself?! Is that it?!" the increasingly flustered blue alicorn grated. Dash blinked and lost her words for a moment. She hadn't been expecting to find herself in the spotlight so suddenly.
"H-huh? I, uhm...o-of course not! That's...that's stupid! I'm just trying to find out why you let it happen! And now! What are you going to do about it, now?! What about the baby?!" yelled Dash in frustration. Initially rocky, Dash rallied quickly, her words leaping like slung stones from her lips.
The room went silent, except for a startled 'Eep!' from Fluttershy. Luna's ears splayed back as she processed the words that had been tossed into her face. The only emotion she could display was confusion. The rest of the ponies nearly blanched at the verbal assault. Princess Luna's pregnancy was something they were all very aware of, but had avoided bringing up. Luna was Sarah, right? So she was expecting a child in a different form. How would that even work?
"What? What baby?" she asked, her anger being replaced by flustered curiosity. Every other mare in the room blinked. How could Princess Luna not know about her own foal on the way? She had been holding the pregnancy test...she had to know! Rainbow Dash sputtered out a jumbled mess of words before she could say something even half-resembling a sentence.
"Buh-but...wha...you-you're pregnant! Th-the episode..." she mumbled more to herself than to the larger alicorn. A look of realization flashed across Luna's face. So that's what she was talking about. The princess cleared her throat before speaking with the intent of killing the confusion at its source. Looking around, Luna could see all of the ponies looking at her fearfully. She couldn't tell for sure, but she had a very strong feeling that they thought the same thing as their rainbow friend.
"You are all mistaken. I am not pregnant. That was just a manipulative ploy played by the storyteller in order to make the story even more dramatic. Rest assured, Ryan and I have only done 'mouth st-'oooh..." she tried to cut herself off before the words left her lips, but had failed. The room sat in a stunned silence for quite awhile. Every pony had a strong red blush on their face. Princess Luna, ruler of the nighttime, had just...told them about her sexual exploits with Ryan. Luna was all too aware of the six pairs of eyes burning into her. Rainbow was about to say something in response, but her attention was captured as her gaze moved up to Princess Luna's mane.
She blinked hard, like she was trying to rid herself of a stray hair. Then a small smirk started to form. It was joined by her biting her lip, trying to keep herself from laughing out loud.
"O-oh? Are you sure that's all?" Dash choked through her mirthful expression. Luna just tilted her head, unaware of the many dicks floating in the constellations behind her.
"Yes, I am sure. Why?" the blue alicorn asked cautiously. Just what was Rainbow Dash getting at? Dash just snorted once before she could gather herself enough to continue.
"So there was no...'mane' stuff?" she chortled. At these words, the rest of Rainbow's friends looked up to Luna's mane. Twilight let out a silent gasp. Why, Rainbow, why?! The other four ponies finally noticed the 'art' drawn into the large swirling blue pool floating around Luna's head. Their eyes grew wide once more, the blushes returning in full force.
"Oh...mah..."
"H-how lewd..."
"So that's what they look like on a human..."
"WOWWIE!"
"What?" Luna asked the crowd of blushing ponies. Was there something in her mane? She twisted her neck a few times, trying to see what it was they were looking at. However, every time she turned, the end of her mane would whip out of sight before she could find anything. With a huff, she stormed off towards where, she presumed, she might find a mirror. When she had gone from their vision, the six ponies got into a huddle to discuss what had just happened.
"DASH! What the buck is wrong with you?! Why are you antagonizing her?!" demanded Twilight. Dash just shrugged and flipped her hair, looking bored. Inside, though, she was still shaken from the fierce presence that Princess Luna carried. She would never admit it, but Luna did scare her a little bit. Especially when she got like that.
"She deserved it. After what she did to Ryan..." was Dash's response. Twilight just smacked her face with her hoof in frustration. She had a feeling, but she never had any definitive proof until now.
Rainbow Dash was trying to get herself killed.
Be it through crazy stunts, insane speeds, or stupid remarks, the battery that measured Dash’s lifespan was running dangerously low on juice.
"But did you see her mane? Pfft, that was awesome! Did Ryan do that?" laughed Rainbow Dash loudly. The remaining princess just lowered her hoof to the ground and sighed.
"I don't think anypony else could have done it..." Twilight lamented. Why did Ryan do these things to himself? Luna had already turned him into a female version of himself and locked him inside of his own mind for a night for just kissing her head. What would happen to him now? He had basically humiliated his marefriend in front of a crowd of her subjects and another princess.
...Though, Twilight couldn't help feeling a sense of proud justice coursing through her. In one regard, Twilight did agree with Dash; Princess Luna did kind of deserve some repercussions for what she had been doing. The problem was that nopony else could really punish the Princess of the Moon. 'Nopony else'...
Ryan was not a pony. He had the strongest connection to her and was absolutely safe from any serious danger. He was the only one who could have done anything to let her know she had done wrong, and he had done it in a completely harmless way. The only casualty in this situation what Princess Luna's pride. Speaking of which-
"GODDAMN IT, RYAN!"
Five of the ponies were left to nurse their ringing ears. Even through solid crystal, Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice was still akin to someone setting off an air horn next to somepony's eardrum. Twilight had the foresight to cover her ears before Luna shouted.
"There it is," she giggled to herself. Ha, take that, Princess Dickmane.
The Scoreboard of Ryan sat currently at Twilight: 1, and Luna: 0.
"Uhm...why didn't she just use one of the walls?" Fluttershy's tiny voice squeaked. Twilight blinked and looked around at the hallway they had been standing in. True to Fluttershy's word, the crystalline walls were very reflective. Surely, Luna could have just took a few steps to the side to see herself?
Twilight didn't hear any of her other friends speak...and that disturbed her. Pinkie Pie was being quiet.
This scares the Twilight.
The purple princess turned her head and watched the pink terror. Pinkie Pie was just standing there, her face the brightest shade of pink- well, more than it usually was. Her eyes were still locked onto where Luna's mane had been floating. Her smile was...
...growing beyond the limits of her face. Twilight wanted to run away, but she was stuck. The magic behind the smile had caught her and now it was going to eat her. Her and her friends were just food for the smile now. Nothing could-
"Party," spoke a voice from right next to Pinkie's ear. The pink earth pony shook her head a few times, now fully returned to her normal self. Pinkie looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Party? Where! Party where? Party...party where?!" she chanted while bouncing in circles. The one who had saved them all, Rarity, was smiling gently in front of her pink friend.
"Oh, soon, Pinkie. I'm sure we'll find some reason or another to have a party~" assured Rarity in her singing voice. Pinkie deflated a bit at having to wait, but the promise of a future party was still pretty good. She hummed a little tune to herself while the rest of her friends gathered once more.
They were going to continue their discussion when they each noticed smoke floating around inside the hallway, distorting their vision. Twilight waved a hoof through it, noting its particular...texture. It wasn't like normal smoke. It was far more light and swirly. As she moved her hoof around, the smoke would twist and twirl around it, as if in a dance.
"Uhm...is there a fire?" Pinkie asked, looking around at the pretty smoke that circled around her. Twilight shook her head but didn't say anything. She knew that with the castle being made out of crystal, there wasn't really much to catch fire. It couldn't have been that. She then noticed, with growing horror, that the smoke was much too...
...purple.
The feeling of dread spread throughout the room at a much quicker pace than the smoke had been traveling. The smoke had already moved down the hallway and out into the rest of the castle. Twilight's heart started pounding in her chest, pulse roaring in her ears. Her friends adopted similar nervous looks. Even Pinkie Pie was shifting around uncomfortably on her hooves.
"T-Twi...?" Applejack asked, her voice trembling. She knew. They all knew. Something was wrong. The last time the air had been this purple had been when...
"RYAN!"" came a shout from farther down the hallway. The sound of beating wings filled the air, letting everypony know just who was charging down to meet them. Princess Luna came into view, her mighty wings blowing the smoke around to increase visibility. She landed so hard that she almost toppled over. Her eyes were the most panicked that any of the other ponies had ever seen before. "What's going on?! Where is he?!"
Just then, more sounds filled the hallway. Through the thickening purple haze, they could hear distant shouting that moving moving closer. The yells were accompanied by the distinct sounds of frantic clopping of hooves on crystal.
"Help! Princess Twilight! Princess Luna! It's Ryan!" came Bon Bon's voice. She quickly moved close enough for the rest of the ponies to see her. She was being followed by Prime Warner, who looked even messier than he had before. His mane was flattened at one side, akin to the worst of bedheads. Rarity would have recoiled at the sight, if she hadn't been now entirely focused on finding out what was going on. Luna hurried over to meet the two charging ponies.
"What has happened?! Where is my Ryan?!" she shouted, her worried voice filling the hallway once again. Bon Bon and Prime stumbled as they stopped, their momentum trying to push them over. They were both clearly out of breath. Bon Bon tried to speak, but her heaving chest reduced any sound she tried to make to gurgles. Prime recovered enough to speak before she could.
"It's...they're in the same room. We don't know what happened, we just fell asleep...and now Lyra and Ryan won't wake up! He's leaking some kind of purple smoke, and...oh, Celestia...I don't know what's going on!" he wailed into Luna's face. She didn't mind. He gave her enough information to work with. Before he could even recover the breath it took to speak, Princess Luna was off. Her large wings beat quickly, parting the smoke to either side of the hall in her wake. Within a moment, she was out of sight.
Twilight watched the smoke refill the empty area, still too stunned to speak. The rest of her friends didn't dare speak either. The only sounds that could be heard now were the two exhausted ponies trying to recover their breath.
"N-no...why...this is...why can't anything just go right?!" Twilight suddenly shouted. Her friends all flinched out of their dazed states to look at her. They didn't know what to do. Something was happening to Ryan. Again. Why couldn't the poor man just get a break? Twilight surprised them all again by teleporting out of sight. The flash of bright purple blinded every pony in the room for a moment, but they quickly recovered. The light was muted somewhat by the smoke that had been swirling around them all, distorting their vision. They already knew where she had gone.
Without another word, the five friends took off into the section of hallway that Luna had disappeared into. The smoke thickened, encroaching on the group until they could scarcely see three feet ahead of them. Bon Bon and Prime were still recovering from their last panicked sprint, so they couldn't keep up and quickly fell behind.
****
Twilight reappeared again in a flash of light. She was immediately engulfed in the purple smoke again. She couldn't see anything. Even the hoof that she tried holding up to her muzzle was lost to her. She swore she could even taste the purple as it entered her lungs with every quick breath. The haze had filled the entire room, cutting off everything from vision. The sun that had been pouring in through a high-up window merely illuminated the entirety of the fog. Twilight wanted so badly to just run over to Ryan and help him, but she didn't even know where she was. How was she supposed to find him in this fog? Her answer came in the form of Princess Luna's shriek of terror.
"Twilight! Over here! Ryan's...I need help!" Twilight blinked for a moment. Luna was asking her for help? If it was something that even Princess Luna wasn't sure about handling...just what had happened? She shook her head and broke herself from her thoughts. Ryan needed her help! She couldn't sit there pondering about nothing! She ran in the direction from where Luna's voice had come from. It only took a few seconds of running before she almost crashed head-first into Luna's large blue form.
"What's...oh, sweet Celestia..." squeaked Twilight as her eyes managed to pick out the motionless forms on the grounds below her. Lyra and Ryan were laying there, hugging each other's still bodies. The mint-green unicorn had a look of panicked sadness on her face, as if she were having a continuous nightmare. Ryan's face looked...peaceful. Non-expressive. Blank.
...Dead.
Twilight could see his chest still raising with each small breath he took, but the dark purple smoke that was gushing from his nostrils only worried her further. The thing that scared her the most, however, was the greenish aura that was connecting the two. A thick strand of what looked to be Lyra's essence was flowing from Ryan's chest into Lyra's horn. As the aura continued to flow, the smoke only got thicker and darker. What what going on?!
"What is..." was all Twilight could get herself to say. Her eyes moved over to Princess Luna. The larger alicorn was shaking visibly, even through the thick veil of smog. Twilight could only just make out the tears streaming down her muzzle as she stared down at the man she loved.
"It's...th-the link..." Luna choked out. Twilight didn't know what Luna meant by 'the link'. Unless...no, that couldn't be it. Luna couldn't be talking about the link between Ryan and his creator. That was Lyra on the ground with him! Good ol' Lyra Heartstrings, one of Ponyville's happiest ponies! A unicorn that...hadn't really...been around in the public for the past few years...and rarely spoke when she did...who always had Bon Bon talk for her after whispering into her ear...and was never, ever around for viewing parties...
The realization hit Twilight like a bomb. Lyra was the creator of OtherWorld! All this time, the ever-elusive storyteller of the greatest story that Equestria has ever seen...she was right in Ponyville, under everypony's nose. How could Twilight have missed it? All those little hints...passed right under the radar. Lyra was the one who imagined Ryan. She made him the amazing person he was. Then...she took him away. Twilight had saved Ryan from the mint unicorn's head. And what was with that link? Had it always been there? Was is just more visible now? Twilight didn't know whether to be starstruck, angry, confused or panicked. A shove from the Lunar Princess that had been shouting into her face made her decision for her.
"SPARKLE! I need your HELP!" Luna shrieked, the tips of her large wings smacking Twilight from side to side. Twilight shook herself out of her reverie and looked into Luna's eyes. They were the widest that they had ever been, her irises squeezed into the thinnest of rings. The purple princess cleared her throat before trying to speak.
"What do we do...?" she squeaked. Luna looked relieved that she finally had some help, but was far from calming down.
"I don't know! I've tried to separate them, but the link won't stop! He's leaking back into her! The link just won't go...the link," Luna stopped her rant for a moment, her face smoothing as realization dawned. "That's it! Twilight, we have to break the link between the two!"
Twilight recoiled at this. Luna wanted to break the link between Ryan and the pony whose head he had been pulled from. That...would that solve this? Wouldn't that mean that he wouldn't go back when he did go off, though? The only relief that Twilight had regarding the nature of Ryan's body was that his mind would not be lost if he ever did blow up. It would return to his creator, via the link that still lingered between the two. Without that connection between them, his entire self...would it just drift away without a body? And what about the process itself? If they snipped the ribbon of magic, what would happen with Ryan's body? Would it just go off without a place to return to? They could potentially be risking the lives of every pony in the surrounding area.
...But if they didn't do something, Ryan would go back to Lyra and his body would be left behind without a reason to stay together. Either way, there was a risk of an explosion. Twilight took a deep breath. The option was obvious to her, regardless of how much it scared her. On one hoof, leaving Ryan to return to Lyra's head would set his body off and kill them all, anyway. On the other, snipping the link only might set him off. The other consequences could wait. They had to act, and they had to act fast.
"Luna, I need you to form a barrier around us in case this...goes wrong," directed Twilight suddenly. Princess Luna looked into Twilight's eyes, the realization of what she was asking sinking in. To Twilight's surprise, Luna complied and nodded her head in understanding. She had tried to grab the link earlier, but the magic was not hers. She couldn't just grasp the aura of another pony like that, it was outside her knowledge. It was Twilight's magic that was on the receiving end of the link. She was the only one who could cut it off in the amount of time that they had. She was risking her life, but if she didn't...then she was potentially risking the lives of so many other ponies, as well.
"Very well, Twilight Sparkle, I...I wish you luck. And, for what it's worth...I am sorry for the way I have been treating you. You did not deserve to be threatened in such a way," Luna admitted with a small, nervous smile. Twilight turned her head away from the man on the ground. Had Luna just...apologized to her? Twilight couldn't help the feeling of relief that surged through her for a moment before her determination replaced it. She gave Luna a confident smile and motioned with her head. Luna nodded in response, her horn glowing brightly.
All around Twilight and the two unconscious forms on the ground, a dome the same color of Luna's aura arose. Twilight was no longer worried about the safety of the rest of the town; Luna's magic barrier would be able to withstand much more than what could possibly be thrown at it from inside the bubble. Ryan's body might have a lot of magical pressure built up behind it, but Princess Luna moved the moon every morning and every night. She was had plenty of energy to keep the possible explosion contained. Now the only possible casualties would be herself, Lyra and Ryan.
Gulp
"Okay...let's do this..." she told herself. She charged her horn, and mentally focused herself around the green aura that was sucking away at Ryan's being. He still looked just as expressionless as before, but Lyra was sinking even further into her unconscious depression. Twilight didn't even want to think about what was going on inside their minds.
She slowly worked her way around the green aura, getting a feel for how it moved and the way it worked. As far as she could tell, the memories of Ryan were being shared between the two bodies, but didn't exist fully in either at that moment. She needed to get rid of the link before the memories could go completely back to Lyra and leave the explosive shell behind. One half of the connection felt so familiar to her. It was her, after all. That's what gave her the leverage it took to grab hold of the link and pull.
The link held strong. She almost lost some hope before she noticed the twitch that occurred on Ryan's face. The little motion brought her confidence to a soaring high.
"I can do this..." she said to herself shakily as she pulled, trying to work past the elasticity of the link. "I can do this!"
The connecting thread still refused to break. She pulled and tugged in every which way, but it just wouldn't give. Twilight only then became aware of the tears pouring down her face. She was scared. If she couldn't do it, she would die. Lyra would die. With Lyra, Ryan would disappear as well. The fates of three different beings rested in her magical ability. She wanted to cry, but she pushed past those urges and kept digging.
What was she doing wrong? Well, it was obvious that what she was trying wasn't going to work anytime soon. Maybe...maybe she was thinking about it in the wrong way. Maybe, instead of imagining the link as a rubbery ribbon, she had to think of it as a chain. A chain with two separate ends in which it was tethered. The two ways to break a chain were to either find the weakest link...or remove one end from where it was anchored. The link idea hadn't worked; she had spent the last few minutes systematically probing the entire length of the link. So that only left...
"I got it!" she proclaimed happily. She knew what might work! Instead of tugging at the link itself, she had to go to the weakest end and remove the area it was attached to. Ryan was made from her own magic! She quickly focused her magic on the area the link was floating from. Instantly, she could feel it weaken. The unconscious man's face grew a pained grimace.
Emotion! He wasn't empty anymore! It wasn't a happy expression, but at least he was feeling something. Twilight focused her energy on the point and gave a mighty tug.
Snap
The green aura floated back away from Ryan's body, retreating into Lyra's horn. The purple smoke also stopped flowing so heavily from the man's nose. Twilight knew that he would probably need outside help stabilizing, so she cast her magic over his body like she was used to doing to bring him back together. Internally, she was waiting for him to go off. It could happen at any moment. It was too dangerous for Luna to drop her barrier. He could still go off and kill a bunch of ponies if they weren't careful. Twilight took a breath and held it while her magic worked on refocusing Ryan.
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3
"...whew..." Twilight sighed in relief. Ryan had not gone off yet, and it had been a good few moments without his link. It looked like him being separated would not doom the surrounding area to a fiery death.
Beside her, Lyra started to stir, with a few tears falling down her cheeks. She looked like she had just woken up with a really bad hangover. Emotionally, she very well might have. It was Ryan's movement that drew Twilight's attention, though. He took a few seconds to stretch his arms before his eyes blinked open.
"Ryan!" Twilight squealed. Her exclamation was joined moments later by Luna's. The Princess of the Night had dropped the barrier the moment she saw Ryan moving. She rushed forward and threw herself on top of the waking man.
"Oh, you're alright! Ryan, I'm so...I'm..." Luna's words were clouded over by her incoming sobs. She had almost lost him. Again. But now that the link was gone...maybe things would be easier. Ryan's first panicked words blew those thoughts out of the water.
"Holy shit! What the fuck are you-?!"