Twilight's Transmutation

by Epicburst

Chapter 5

Twilight's Transmutation
Chapter 5
Warning: First five paragraphs contain vague spoilers towards the FMA:B storyline

Twilight was sprawled across her bed, tossing and turning violently. She's been like this for hours! Spike looked over the bed and held Twilight's hoof in his claws. No matter what I try, I can't wake her! For the past two hours Spike has been trying to wake his friend. At first he found her tossing and turning amusing, something new for him to mess around with, this idea was suddenly crushed as Twilight began to shake, scream, and cry, not knowing that she was locked inside her mind as she relived the terrifying events of Ishval, and afterwords.

No mater what Twilight tried, she could not control her actions. Countless numbers of stallions, mares, and foals, died at her hands. Her mind failed miserably to comprehend her actions as her perspective shifted continuously. First she was a young foal, a colt, crying for his mother, dead on the floor. Then, after what felt like days, she found herself heavier, locked in combat as a young stallion encased in metal, fighting a red eyed stallion that the people called Scar. She felt herself get ripped apart as his hoof touched her rib cage, if she had one. For days she kept this persona before her perspective shifted again to one of an older stallion. Her mind was racing, she just discovered something important. Something involving a country wide transmutation, but her thoughts were interrupted as the door closed behind her. Her body became filled with adrenalin and a mind numbing feeling. She knew immediately that she was dying. She limped outside to some kind of walk in booth, picked up the device and asked to see a type of stallion. A mustang. Her mind numbed as she turned around towards a mare, Twilight said something about a mole and the mare in front of her changed her form slightly. N-nightmare Moon? The world then went black.

Twilight lived in her nightmare for what felt like months, maybe even years, she would stay as a random mare or stallion, and they would kill, or be killed, then she would change again. She was stuck here. She just wanted to die already, get out of this nightmare. The first couple of times, Twilight actually thought she was actually controlling her body, as it would go and then do something that would cause her to lose a lot of blood, and the world to fade, but then she would just wake up and keep killing. The pain was excruciating, she found herself (when she finally tuned back into what was happening) as a handsome stallion that felt much like Spike did on his birthday. Greedy. She was fighting a stallion, a king, in the sewers, and his blade just kept ripping through her body, over and over again. Twilight pleaded to Celestia to just let her die already, her body was chasing immortality, but she no longer cared. If all of this pain was what it meant to be immortal, just turn back now. Her mind blurred again, as it was the only kind of rest she could get, and found herself as a young colt. She smirked as she sneaked towards a group of stallions holding a lantern. The colt sent shadow tendrils towards the unsuspecting stallions, and killed them in the blink of an eye.

Twilight's mind was exhausted. She had been here for years now, and something bad was happening. Being back as a young stallion in armor, she was being surrounded in the glow of a humongous transmutation circle. An eye opened up in the middle and she slipped inside the Gate of Truth. Twilight saw the young stallion from outside the armor, tendrils pulling them apart, two souls floating side by side. Twilight mentally squinted as she was blinded by a bright light, when she saw a purple mare, and a young stallion side by side. Both were withered by time. "My body!" They both exclaimed. Finally! I guess this is what it feels like to go to Tatarus and back. Twilight felt herself breath a sigh of relief, as her years of pain and suffering was over.

Twilight stretched her aching limbs as she rose up from the bed. Her mind was immediately assaulted by random figures. Upon closer observation, she noticed that her mind was immediately deconstructing everything she looked at and showed her their atomic structures. Her mind pulsed with pain. W-what's going on! Twilight tried closing her eyes, but that just made everything cram itself into the dark space of her eyelids. Twilight yelped in pain, as she fell from her bed. She crawled over to the door and opened it and immediately regretted it. Twilight crawled forward and her hoof missed the first step. She rolled down the stairs, her mind racing to fast to let her fall unconscious. Twilight looked up and a worried face looked back. "P-Princess Luna!" Twilight moaned, feeling a mixture of relief, fear, and hatred. "H-help me! Please!" Twilight's mind felt like it was splintering, and shattering like glass, she just wanted the pain to go away. Princess Luna knelt down and lit her horn, and Twilight felt immediate relief. All of those figures stopped pounding at her head, now she could focus on the more important things. Like getting answers.

Twilight immediately shot to her feet and glared at Princess Luna. "Did you do this! Did you trap me in that nightmare?" Twilight felt energy pulse through her hooves, she could hear the floor humming with energy. "You killed all those innocent ponies! Why would you do such a thing!"

Spike looked at Twilight in shock, she knew better than to speak that way to the Princess! Princess Luna took a step forward, not even slightly surprised by Twilight's disrespect. "I have shown you what you needed to see in order to understand the tragedies behind the art of alchemy Twilight Sparkle. Yes, I did trap you in that nightmare, because it is the easiest way to get my point across, you just lived through the worst years of my life as an Ancient, and only six hours have elapsed. To answer for those murders, I find it interesting that you saw those beings as ponies. The dream must have warped itself slightly to make it easier for you to grasp. I did what I had to do to please Father. I could not disobey his command." Princess Luna walked towards the door, and turned her head. "You should get going now Twilight, your friends could use your advise right about now." Princess Luna spread her wings and shot off into the early morning sky.

Twilight grumbled and lifted Spike onto her back with his magic, immediately setting out at a light canter. She decided to go check up on her friends, it felt like years since she last saw them thanks to Princess Luna's bucking nightmare. She chose to go to Sweet Apple Acres first, trying to burn away her frustration with exercise couldn't hurt right? By the time they reached Sweet Apple Acres she could already hear the yelling. Seeing that the door was unlocked, she walked right in. Immediately, she was welcomed by Applejack yelling at Rainbow Dash and Gilda, Pinkie Pie sitting on a chair with her hair down, Rarity sitting next to her, and Fluttershy hiding behind the couch crying. What the hay was going on here?

---

Two Hours Earlier

Applejack was busy bucking apples, enjoying the nice sunny day, listening to Apple Bloom's story about her latest Cutie Mark Crusader adventure, and how they totally missed the point of discovering your own special talent involved doing something you actually enjoyed doing. Applejack continued her apple bucking, going from one tree to the next, enjoying the feeling of her muscles tingling, and her face sweating. She was immediately brought back to attention, as she heard Fluttershy approaching her. Applejack turned towards her friend and immediately knew something was amiss. "What's wrong sugarcube? Ya looked like ya had a bad day." Fluttershy nodded weakly as Applejack led her inside. Fluttershy sat on the couch looking down and swinging her hooves over the edge of the couch gently, as Applejack sat on the floor, looking at her. "Now," Applejack began, lifting Fluttershy's chin gently in order for her to make eye contact with the small, yellow pegasus. "What's got ya down sugarcube?" Applejack waited patiently for an answer, and just as Applejack was about to speak, she could just make out Fluttershy's soft voice.

"I-I don't think Rainbow likes me anymore . . ." Fluttershy said weakly. Applejack was staring at her so patiently, Fluttershy couldn't keep her waiting forever. "W-well, Rarity and I, we were at the spa yesterday, and I told her why I was so upset. Afterwords she said that I . . ." Fluttershy began to blush furiously at the thought of what Rarity said."That I was in love with Rainbow Dash." Applejack gave a little nod, understanding Fluttershy's reasoning perfectly for why she would be in love with her prismatic maned friend. "B-but when I went to Rainbow's house to tell her how I feel, Gilda was there. S-she said that her and Dash are going to the Griffon Lands for flight practice. I tried talking to Dash about it, but she couldn't say how she really felt about me. Gilda told me that Rainbow is ashamed of me, she said that I was wasting the Pegasus gift of flight, and that I was holding her back. . ." Applejack could see Fluttershy's heart breaking, as she sat trying her best not to cry, but failing miserably. "A-Applejack . . .I-is it true . . . do I hold you guys back?" Fluttershy looked up at Applejack. This was one of the saddest moments of Applejack's life. Do Ah tell her the truth, and break her heart even further? O-or do I lie to her?

Applejack took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "Sugarcube, I will tell you this," Applejack made sure Fluttershy was looking directly into her eyes. "You are a burden worth carrying ten times over sugarcube. Everypony has their own problems, and ya must never think badly about yerself because of it. Now, let's go have a chat with Rainbow." Applejack trotted over to the door. "Now Ah'll be right back sugarcube, get some rest while yer here." Fluttershy sighed and rested her head on the pillow Applejack gave her.

Comments

[starshine_dash]

This is all confusing and weird and the focus keeps jumping around.

[Epicburst]

2947006
Sorry about that, I was just trying to get all of my thoughts out. I'll try harder from now on, and try not be so impatient. Thanks for your patience.

[starshine_dash]

2947090
I have that problem to. What I do (at least now...) is I just dump out the entire chunk I have in my brain the way I used to, sit on it for a day or two, edit it, expand parts here and there, and then find someone to pre-read and edit spelling/grammar, then go back and expand more if needed until 1,000 words becomes 3-5.

[Epicburst]

2947228
Thank you so much for the advice!