Twilight stared down at the ground, wondering with growing unease about when Princess Celestia was going to start lecturing. So far, she’d been eerily silent, staring down at Twilight with sad eyes. Twilight shifted under the scrutiny, her heart aching with concern and embarrassment. Twilight had told Celestia why she hadn’t done anything; that she’d thought she’d waited too long, and as time had passed, the problem had only compounded.
Celestia had been silent then as well, taking in the information and Twilight’s apologies, clearly thinking about what had happened.Twilight wasn’t sure she’d be able to take the scrutiny much longer, feeling her aching heart beat faster in response to the stress.
“I’m so sorry, Princess,” Twilight murmured for what felt like the hundredth time. Her voice cracked, and her eyes burned with unshed tears. Twilight closed her eyes, trying to fight the emotions back unsuccessfully.
A hoof gently tilted Twilight’s head up to meet Celestia’s sad gaze, “I know, Twilight. It’s not me you need to apologize to.”
“I know,” Twilight whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks, “but what if he never wants to see me again?”
“Marjoram sees you as a sister. I’m certain he’s worrying himself sick that he somehow hurt you, despite my early intervention.”
“How do I tell him that I nearly killed us all because I thought I was too late to say anything? This is so stupid!”
“A good portion of the fault lies with you, Twilight. I will not lie at that count. However, I should have noticed something was very wrong the last few times I’ve seen him. He mentioned awhile ago that he was having trouble with his magic; I should have tested him then.”
“We’ve known for years that his illness could eventually make him too weak to use his magic,” Twilight protested, wiping uselessly at her eyes, trying to calm herself down,“You couldn’t have known.”
“Nonetheless, Twilight. You’re not a physician. I should have done scans myself, and had the doctor’s here look at him.”
“What would have happened if I told you?”
“Now is not the time for ‘what ifs’, Twilight. You should go to the infirmary and join Shores. She’s probably worried sick.”
“Princess, please, I need to know-”
“Twilight!” In a show of rare irritation, Celestia’s voice was sharp and harsh, “Listen to me. I will not punish you until Marjoram is in his right mind. What he needs right now is to be near those he loves and cares for. He will need all the help we can give him in the next few days. His magic is being forced into alignment, and it is going to be severely detrimental to him. Go. To. Him.”
Twilight watched in amazement as Celestia left, her strides angry and clipped. Twilight mindlessly followed Celestia’s command. Outside of the infirmary, however, she froze. Peering through the cracked open door, Twilight saw Marjoram laying where Celestia had deposited him. Shores was beside him, her face pinched with worry. Twilight was centimeters away from opening the door, but she couldn’t. Eyes still brimming with tears, and her cheeks red with shame, Twilight ran away from the brightly lit infirmary, and fled into the familiar, dark corridors that led to Marjoram’s old morgue.
(LINE BREAK)
He surveyed the line of mares brought in front of his throne, doing his best not to notice the tears and trembling bodies, “Is this it?” He demanded, staring down at one of the guards.
This must have been a new guard, judging from the shaking trembling knees and ill-fitting armour, “Y-yes, Majesty. We fol-followed your directions to the letter.”
He snorted, staring down with uncaring eyes at the terrified group of mares. Then, he stopped, staring at one purple mare in particular. Her coat and mane were filthy and ragged, but that was to be expected; all unicorns worked in the deepest parts of the mines because of their magic. Unlike the others, she was clearly trying to control her fear. Unlike the other unicorns, who wouldn’t dare use their magic against him, the ring that stopped the magic was sparking.
He strode to where she was, trying to look past the dirt and obvious overwork. He motioned for her to be turned around, so he could look at her Cutie Mark. With a smirk, he noted it was five purple stars. It was a Cutie Mark in magic; just like his was.
“She will do.”
“For what?!” The mare cried, being forced to follow by two guards.
He was surprised; no one had the nerve to talk back in years. Shooting a glance over his shoulder, his grin widened, “To be my queen of course. Why else would I look for a mare strong in body and magic?”
The mare nearly froze in shock, only moving when a guard shoved her forward roughly. He took more pleasure from the expression than he should have, “What is your name, mare?”
“Twilight Sparkle,” The mare murmured in reply, her eyes shining with curiosity.
“The name you’re to address me as is Marjoram,” he replied, “Guards, take her to her room! I expect you to be ready in an hour.”
“Ready for what?!” Twilight cried, being forced to go down a different hallway.
“Dinner.”
Marjoram’s fluttering heart and rapid breathing brought him into consciousness. He was confused for several minutes, because it was dark, and his eyesight was bleary, and the dream had been so real. Trying to move beyond opening his eyes was excruciating, and nauseating. His horn ached fiercely, and his eyes were throbbing in time with both his horn and his heart.
Trying to see through eyes that didn’t work properly was difficult, especially in the dim light. Marjoram couldn’t be sure if he was alone, or if Shores was still there. Trying to blink away the bleariness resulted in little change, but Marjoram could swear he could see the outline of somepony sitting in a chair beside his bed, though he couldn’t be sure.
Marjoram shut his eyes once more, and focused on what he remembered happening. It was fragmented, and made him feel sick thinking about it, but he needed to remember what had happened. He had almost killed Twilight, and in his rage, he would have likely tried to kill anypony he’d come across.
Marjoram, even remembering Shores’ warning about moving, threw all of his strength into his legs, wincing as the world spun and bile lingered in the back of his throat. Swallowing the burning stomach acid, Marjoram pushed himself onto his feet. His headache intensified, and he could feel his magic trying and failing to compensate. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Marjoram stumbled forward, his body protesting the entire way. I need to find her, to apologize...if she’ll let me. Marjoram didn’t want to think about what would happen if Twilight wouldn’t accept the apology.
Marjoram made it to the door, when a sudden surge of sickly, horrible, magic bubbled up from his horn, lighting the room with an eerie green light. Pain blinded Marjoram for a moment, and he stumbled against the door, leaning heavily into it, trying to breathe. Shouldn’t they be monitoring me, or something? Marjoram wondered dryly. Once the pain had settled enough for Marjoram to see a little, he continued onward, not willing to look back to see if Shores was there or not.
Running on autopilot, Marjoram’s hesitant hoofsteps lead him down to where his office had been. Marjoram could barely breathe, was half-blind, and could almost feel himself losing consciousness with each passing minute. Marjoram pushed the door open, just in time for his legs to give out. He collapsed hard onto the cold tile, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Coughing harshly, Marjoram’s eyes teared up, and his horn lit up with the horrible magic again, making him cough harder. Marjoram felt blood coating his lips.
Panic set in, but Marjoram couldn’t access his magic, didn’t have enough air to attempt to speak much less call for help, and he knew he wasn’t moving anytime soon-
Suddenly, the feeling of cobwebs dissipated, and Marjoram found himself able to breathe. Marjoram’s body gave out entirely, trying to get as much oxygen to his aching muscles as possible. Marjoram opened his eyes, and tried to see who had saved him.
“Twilight?” Marjoram asked, amazed, “Y-you...saved me?”
“What are you doing?! You’re not supposed to be leaving the infirmary!” Twilight scolded.
“Trying...trying to...find you,” Marjoram wheezed, “Want to...ap-apologize.”
“For what? I should be the one apologizing!” Twilight’s voice grew in volume and pitch, “I nearly killed everyone in the castle! Possibly Canterlot!”
“I...I attacked you!” Marjoram growled, trying to move, but his body was unresponsive, “I-I almost killed you-”
“And because of me, you destroyed your room, and attacked me! If I had just told you what was going on, none of this would have happened!” Twilight let out a choked sob, sitting down hard.
A choked, self-deprecating laugh escaped Marjoram, “Twilight...you didn’t know...Agree to disagree?”
“You don’t hate me?” Twilight asked tearfully.
“You don’t...hate me,” Marjoram replied.
Twilight nodded, “Thank you.”
Marjoram relaxed against the cold floor, “We can...talk later?”
“Of course,” Twilight sniffed, wiping her eyes.
“Good...I’m gonna p’ss...out…” Marjoram’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body slumped into the ground.
Heart beating fast, Twilight checked his vitals, and found him still breathing. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she used her magic to bring him back to the infirmary. She found Shores fast asleep in a chair beside Marjoram’s cot. Twilight tucked Marjoram in carefully, and quietly brought a chair to Marjoram’s other side. She would support him, and she would fully explain herself the next time he regained consciousness. No tears, just the honest truth. He needs to know it was just a stupid mistake.
Twilight dozed off just as the moon began to set, and she could see the sky begin to lighten.
(LINE BREAK)
Rainbow Dash paced the length of the hallway, her mind spinning with a tangle of emotions and thoughts. She was absolutely furious about what had happened; that Marjoram had almost killed Twilight. She was also confused, because the whole situation was due to the fact that Twilight hadn’t done what she should have done.
Marjoram may have tried to kill her, but it was because of Twilight that he’d nearly done it at all.
Not only had Twilight taken the hit hard, she had also been unconsolable. After Celestia had summoned her away from her friends, Rainbow and the others had been left in the dark. They hadn’t received any news about anypony at all. They didn’t know if Twilight had been banished (or worse), or even if Marjoram was even alive.
Rainbow had tried to sleep, but she hadn’t been able to. Neither had any of her friends, and they had spent most of the night talking, trying to figure out how such an ‘egghead’ like Twilight could ever mess up so badly. They also wondered what would happen to Marjoram; since he had destroyed a portion of the palace, and had nearly killed somepony.
They wondered if they would ever see either of the unicorns again. That had lead to a discussion about what would happen to poor Spike, who had been in the kitchens when the initial explosions had occurred. In all, the situation was messed up, and nopony could begin to guess at what would happen.
There was only five days until the early Hearth’s Warming Celebration that was supposed to happen between the friends. As awful as it was to imagine, Rainbow briefly thought about if she should return the present she’d gotten for Marjoram or not.
The familiar sound of claws clicking on tiled floor made Rainbow look up. Spike was trotting down the hall, panting for breath, “Twilight wants to see everypony! I’m supposed to get you!”
“Where is she?”
“In the infirmary,” Spike panted, coming to a stop. He rested his paws against his legs, trying to catch his breath.
“I thought she was okay!” Rainbow exclaimed, her voice almost cracking from the sudden change in pitch.
“She’s fine. She’s with Marjoram. Go get the others, she’ll explain everything!”
Rainbow had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, but she did what Spike asked her to do. She fetched everypony else, and followed Spike down to the infirmary. Rainbow couldn’t help but be amazed at the room.
The infirmary was massive. Large stone pillars held up the decorated ceiling, far above the ceiling. Several clouds were held up high above the floor, probably to make the pegasi patients and doctors more comfortable. The hum of machinery and magic blended together so it was impossible to tell one from the other, and it was easy to see that the ponies who worked here really did the best they could. Dozens of cots were intermixed with machines, equipment, testing facilities, and doctors milling around. Nurses were helping the few patients toward the back wall, and a few ponies were changing sheets, mopping the floor, and making sure things were as hygienic as possible.
Marjoram was easy to spot; since he had the cot closest to the door. Shores was in a chair on the left side of his bed, sorting through papers. Twilight was on the other side, curled up in a chair, her nose buried in a book.
Twilight heard the large wooden doors open, and looked up from the book. She set it down on Marjoram’s cot, and got up to greet them, “I’m so sorry, girls! I didn’t mean to leave you all for so long, I just got caught up in everything-”
“Forget us! What about him? Why hasn’t Celestia banished him yet?”
“He’s not going to be banished!” Shores looked aghast at the mere suggestion, “It wasn’t his fault!”
“He almost killed Twilight!” Rainbow protested, gesturing to the prone stallion on the cot, “and he destroyed some of the palace! Isn’t that treason or something?”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Twilight repeated, “It was mine. It happened because I didn’t tell him the truth about what was going on with his illness or his magic.”
“Darling, what do those things have anything to do with the other?”
“A unicorn’s horn is a conduit for magic,” Shores began blandly, like she’d heard the speech multiple times, “It stores some magic as well, but the majority of the magic that a unicorn draws upon is in their body. It takes strength to do so, as well as willpower. If a unicorn’s body is not strong enough to direct the magic into the horn, the unicorn can’t cast spells. With Marjoram’s illness, we’ve been worried the illness would finally make him too weak to access the magic. That’s what he thought was happening to him.”
“But that’s not what happened,” Twilight butted in, “At the Summer Sun Celebration Nightmare Moon awakened his body’s potential for dark magic. Every time he cast a light spell, the level of dark magic rose to fill in the space. His light magic weakened as time passed, and the dark magic grew. He couldn’t work of the excess magic, because he didn’t know it was there. I did, I thought I was making things better, but I only made everything worse. He found out what I did, and it sparked a base instinct to use the dark magic. Once it started, it couldn’t stop on its own. When he saw me, the person who had done such a bad thing to him, the instinct took over,” Twilight sighed, “He didn’t even know it was me until later.”
Rainbow blinked, “So...you really messed it up didn’t you?”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah, I-I really did.”
Shores sighed, “He’s forgiven you Twilight. Don’t forget that. If you don’t mind, I have some more paperwork to go through. Twilight, you go with your friends. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
Twilight nodded, and reluctantly followed her friends out of the infirmary. She didn’t want to leave, but knew it was best to follow Shores’ wishes. Twilight allowed Spike to climb onto her back, to give Marjoram and Shores some privacy.
Once Twilight and her friends left, Shores turned to Marjoram and smiled, “You’ve gotten better than when you were a colt, but don’t try to think you can fool me into thinking you’re asleep when you’re hooked up to a heart monitor.”
“That bad?” Marjoram wheezed, opening his eyes.
“How are you feeling?” Shores asked.
“Bad,” Marjoram attempted to sit up, but relented when Shores pushed him back down.
“Celestia said she’d be by sometime later today, to see how everything’s settling,” Shores said quietly, “After your trek to freedom last night, I doubt she’ll be pleased, so stay laying down will you?”
“Why do I need...to stay down?”
“To help I guess. Haven’t you felt worse when trying to do stuff?”
“I always feel bad...when trying to do...stuff.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Shores replied, “But please don’t make yourself worse. Is there anything I can do?”
“Water?”
“Of course. Dr. Pnemo remembers you. He left a pitcher here for you.”
“Tell him...thanks.”
“You’ll see him soon enough, I’m sure. He’s on his lunch break now, I think.”
“Which means he’ll be...by any minute.”
Shores smiled, “Probably. That stallion is almost as stubborn as you are.”
Marjoram snorted. Shores poured him a glass of water, and held it for him as he drank, “There. That better?”
“Much,” Marjoram replied, his voice sounding a little better.
“Good. Now-”
“Good morning, Marjoram! I’d like to say it’s good to see you, but I usually only see you if you’re very ill,” A middle-aged stallion, with a grey coat and black mane and tail, interrupted. He held a clipboard in his magical aura, squinting at the small writing, even with his glasses.
Marjoram let out a wheezy chuckle, “Are you surprised?”
“Not after all these years, no. Though, your lungs don’t look as bad as I’d feared they would. Drink plenty of water, and get lots of rest. Princess Celestia assures me everything should be back to late winter norms in a few days at maximum.”
“Thanks Dr. Pnemo,” Shores smiled, “Make sure he eats, will you? We don’t want him losing any more weight.”
Dr. Pnemo chuckled, “I’ll take it up with the nurses. Don’t worry, Shores. I’ll make sure your boy is as good as he’ll get.”
“I appreciate it.”
“I’m sure Marjoram here will appreciate not being bedridden,” Dr. Pnemo hooked the clipboard to the end of Marjoram’s cot, “I’ll be back later to check his vitals. I’ll see you both soon,” with that, the doctor left, going to the back of the infirmary to see what he could do to help.
Marjoram relaxed into his pillows, feeling his heavy eyelids threatening to close, “Shores?” He asked quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Would you sing that song that...you used to sing to Carnation? Please?”
“Of course,” Shores leaned in close, and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, trying to remember the words and melody of the song.
“Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise,
Sleep, my pretty pony, and don’t you cry,
I’ll sing you a lullaby.
Cares you know not,
Therefore sleep,
While over you a watch I’ll keep.
Sleep, pretty pony, don’t you cry,
I’ll sing you a lullaby.”
Shores’ voice broke on the last note, as she remembered singing to the twins just after they arrived in Canterlot. They had been a little old for that type of song, but they hadn’t cared. One of the last things Carnation had heard while lucid had been that song. Wiping at suddenly teary eyes, Shores found Marjoram fast asleep, snoring softly, a smile playing on his lips.
Shores closed her eyes once more. Thinking of the bright, young filly, Shores sent up an almost-prayer. Please let him sleep peacefully. You of all ponies know he deserves it.