Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter LXXII

Fear was running vividly through both Twilight and Fluttershy. The two mares both looked at the transformation. A transformation that was happening right before their very eyes. Slowly it managed to crawl up the body of the doctor. Slowly it managed to consume her even further.

Stone itself could be seen across her body. Nothing else but cold stone could be seen around her hands and hooves so far. It didn’t show any signs of slowing down the process, it just kept on crawling further up on both the legs and the arms. Fluttershy wanted to scream as loud as she could in pain, but was prevented that by Twilight.

The hand of the soothsayer was placed upon the mouth of the doctor before the clothing was removed from her body. All but her underwear had just vanished in a zap of magic. The eyes of Twilight gained a look of discomfort next to the horrified one. She wasn’t fond of the fact that she had to strip one of the mares that she called a friend. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but this is for your own best will, I won’t take any personal pleasure in this,” used Twilight as an excuse for herself.

The hand was then removed from the mouth of the doctor. The pegasus just wanted to slap the living daylight straight out of the unicorn, but she managed to behave herself. A deep exhale was released through her nostrils. She felt the stone crawling up even further around her body and the tears sprung in her eyes.

“I don’t care what it takes, Twilight, just don’t let me die here, not like this!” the doctor exclaimed. Fluttershy she was in a genuine state of both fear and fright. Anything could have happened to her and Twilight was her only hope. The soothsayer on the other end stood there as she watched the stoning happen for a minute or two.

Silence had taken over the unicorn while all kinds of spells went through her mind. Everything was considered in the short amount of time that she had. There must have been something inside of her arsenal that could have been of help to her, right? Twilight tried to think of everything, but nothing came up.

Though only a static sound played itself out in her head before she stroked her chin a little bit. The unicorn had a couple of ideas but all of them were just blocked by other thoughts. Anything could have interfered with the solutions as the stoning wasn’t done by any conventional manners of magic. Fluttershy had been exposed to a form of magic with which Twilight had no experience with.

“There’s nothing that comes to my mind to help you, and I doubt that there are any herbs around here that can help you,” mumbled Twilight while she felt the fears rising inside of her own body. The moans and groans of pain that were given off by the doctor went through marrow and bone. One by one did she lost bits of her body to the stone.

She could try to fight it off of course, but the magic of Sombra was just too powerful to do anything against. All that could be done was to pray for the doctor. At least, any other anthrony would have done that. It mustn’t been forgotten that Twilight was at the case. And she wouldn’t have stopped for anything.

“If I apply any of those spells to you,” she stated just before she lowered her legs. An arm reached out to the cheek of the doctor and the fingers stroked it gently. “It might speed it up at worst. I’m so, so sorry, Fluttershy. There isn’t anything I can do for you outside of, being here until the end. An end I never wished for you, of anypony that came along.”

The tears had collected themselves into the eyes of the soothsayer as well. The whole matter was just dreaded to her. There wasn’t anything that she could do to ease the pain her friend was going through. Not a force in the world was powerful enough to make her pain go away, to make both of their pains go away.

“T-Th-,” was whispered in the room. The soothsayer would have looked around to where it came from and wiped away her tears. She realized that it came from nopony else then Fluttershy. Her ears were perked while the doctor tried to speak again. But the difficulty was getting to her even more. There really wouldn’t have been that much time left for her.

Even though the stone only reached to both her elbow and her knee, it felt to her like she was hanging at her last line of life. “T-There’s, Pinkie, Pie.” Slowly did the eyes of Twilight went wide as she too realized that little fact. The lamia for which they had gotten down there was still among them and close by.

How could Twilight have even forgotten such a fact? It was still a thing that needed to be seen in time. But she was ever so glad that the doctor made the statement to her. A feeling of relief was released through her body as there was a shimmer of hope that Pinkie knew anything about the matter. If anything could have helped, it would have been Pinkie Pie.

With a small chance having opened for Fluttershy survival, the soothsayer knew what she had to do. She gave the cheek of the doctor one last stroke before she stood back up and turned her body around. There it came once again into her view. The massive stone table in which the pink scaled lamia laid.

The lamia was still held in place by the dark magic and Twilight nodded to herself. She knew that she had to get Pinkie, but had to leave Fluttershy for a moment. It was without a doubt a hard thing to do. She didn’t wanted to depart from her side given the current conditions.

Though when time went on, she did found the courage that was needed. One small step at a time was made by the soothsayer. One small step at a time until she stood at the table. Both of her hands were placed at the edge and her eyes looked over to Pinkie Pie.

A gentle smile formed itself upon her face before the horn charged its magic. Another tear was quickly wiped away from her eyes before the spell was cast. Luckily for her was the dark magic easily overcome. Pinkie’s rescue was perhaps a little less flashy than they had anticipated when they began. Though nopony could complain about it in the moment.

The moment when motions could be made again would Pinkie have opened her eyes, glancing around the scene. Outside of the emptiness of the room did she saw Twilight just standing there. Her body rose itself up with a confused expression clearly readable upon her face. She hadn’t even the slightest of clues about why anypony would have gotten after her.

But the questions couldn’t be asked, Twilight had pointed over her shoulder. Pinkie didn’t understood it but she feared for the worse. She had heard the sounds of the battle and the whispers at the end, but she didn’t dared to look at it.

Though the time had come for her. The time to witness the damage that had been done to Fluttershy had to be revealed to her. The lamia stretched her body a little bit so that she could have looked over the shoulder of the soothsayer.

Only to have a gasp for air to leave her mouth. Both of her hands were brought over to her mouth as the tears also sprung in her eyes. Words couldn’t have been spoken by either party as the mental devastation that was raging on, had defeated the both of them.

Without a word had Twilight turned herself around and wandered back to the stoning mare. Inch by inch had it crawled up further to the pegasus her body. If it would have reached the heart or the head, it would have been game over.

Pinkie dropped herself off of the table and slithered quickly back to the two anthronies. She took place on the opposing side of the doctor who was in agony. The feelings of her limbs being turned to stone were devastating. It not only did it tore Fluttershy physically, but mentally just as much. The realization of death became one that was all too true.

Though Twilight hadn’t given up the hope just yet. Pinkie Pie had been freed. It was perhaps a longshot, but anything was better than that they wouldn’t be having anything to go with. A deep exhale was released through the nostrils of the mare as her horn charged up.

Fluttershy dared to open up her eyes and glanced straight into the light. Gasps for air were made as no word followed up. Only after the fifth attempt she could finally speak in a broken language. “What, you, plan?!” she spoke slow and in a painful tone. She needed to have answers and she wanted them quick, before another moan was released by her mouth.

Twilight looked the mare deep in the eyes and the little twinkle of hope could be seen deep within them. Everything that could be tried, would be tried upon the mare. Charge after charge was being pulsed down into the pegasi her heart. Pulse after pulse had Twilight changed up the spells to see which one were having an effect.

Pinkie just stood there with a horrified expression upon her face. Now that she had seen what the Gorgon One was actually capable of, she suddenly felt incredibly stupid that she had gone back into the mountain. She was the one who had caused it upon the mares and she felt like she had to take responsibility. The question could be asked at her at any given time, so she might as well prepared herself for the answer to give.

Twilight seemed to have been done with the pulses of magic. She seemed to have found a spell that was in fact worthy of being able to slow the curse down. Perhaps the levels of pain would increase as everything just went slower, but it was a risk that Twilight was willing to take for the pegasus. If there was anything that could reverse the effect of the eyes, she would have taken it.

The horn of the unicorn discharged itself as a whole. Twilight then began to look with a more keener eye to the stone. She picked up one of the hands and held it close before her eyes. Every single inch of stoned skin was shown to her as she tried to figure out just what kind of stoning it was.

Was it the kind that only gave some sort of stone coating over the skin, or was it the kind that actually turned flesh, blood and everything in between straight into stone? Those kind of things still had to be figured out for the definitive cure to be found.

The soothsayer placed the arm gently next to the body and closed her eyes for a moment. In her mind she compared it to other kinds of stonings she had seen in her life. She had to find at least one that matched with the typing she was dealing with. The only problem happened to be the very little fact that this stoning was done by a creature whose very magic was based upon it.

Twilight herself was only used to the stoning done through spells in classrooms. Never had she dealt with a wild stoning, but for everything there would have been a first. Whether it was actually liked or not.

A deep exhale was released through the nostrils of the unicorn before she dropped her body to her bum and assumed a sitting position. Her eyes opened up against as she shook her head calmly from right to left. It was even worse than she had expected.

Not only didn’t the type of stoning add to anything she had seen before, it even seemed to have been a lot worse. The body was turned into stone as a whole, all the bones, flesh and blood would have become pure granite for all Twilight knew. But the worst part had to be the fact that the soul of the being would remain locked inside of the statue.

Ready to be called upon by the master whenever it was needed until it was destroyed. A gulp was released by the unicorn. She only knew it just by inspecting the stone as it was forming, casting Fluttershy. But in silence and without aura had she also activated her horn. A horn that had been scanning the dark magic with which the spell had been cast.

That information revealed just so much more to her. That was the revelation that caused her to know most of the things. They were once again out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Yet what was worse than any other time was that there were only two of them. Only Twilight and Pinkie would have been able to solve the matter.

No words could have been spoken by Twilight and she shook her head once more. It was just more bad news after the last in the eyes of Fluttershy. Who in her own turn had become tired, she was tired of waiting until death came to get her.

The eyes of the doctor were shut with strain again, after which her whole body gave a little spas or two. Cries for help and mercy that went accompanied with agony were given off by her. The doctor wanted the pain just to be stopped. But with the pain that was surging through her body, there also was another thing that happened to the once to calm, timid and shy doctor.

She would turn into a beast. A beast that was looking for somepony to blame her very misery upon. And who better than the mare who had convinced her to go down and spoke the reduction spell over her? The eyes were set upon Twilight while the wheezes left through her nostrils.

The sheer amount of effort that was collected by the pegasus to place all of the blame on the soothsayer was truly remarkable. But she had lost her mind in the moment. Fluttershy wasn’t the Fluttershy that they all had come to know and perhaps love.

Soon enough had the two mares gotten each other. Twilight had begun to prepare herself for the words that would be following. Just by looking into the thunderous glance of the doctor she realized that it wouldn’t have been anything pleasant. A deep exhale was given off by Twilight before she spread her arms.

“Okay, speak up what’s on your mind. Place all the blame for everything upon me. Now is just as good of a time as any,” she said to the doctor. Fluttershy just released a deep huff in response as she was ready to spew the words of hatred.

Her voice had changed as she began to speak. Every last word that came out of her mouth was just spoken in the deepest form of anger. An anger that neither Twilight nor Pinkie had seen before, not from her at least. “You, give me, a slow, painful, death, Sparkle!” she spoke through the pants for air.

Talking had turned into a difficulty for Fluttershy. The stone was still setting course for her heart and head while she tried to fight it simultaneously. “You’re to, blame, f-for everything! T-This whole q-quest of yours… D-Die, by a m-magic o-overload!”

All of them were powerful hits, all of them were powerful enough to make the eyes of Twilight tear up a little bit. Perhaps the doctor was right on the matter. Perhaps it was a lot better if she had ignored the words of the goddesses and not had partaken in the quest. Perhaps it was just better if they all didn’t do anything.

Then again, there were many sides of the same coin. The best example that Twilight could give in the moment, was that the knife sliced at two sides. One piece was clear to her as it had happened while the other was the ‘what if’ part of it all.

A tear managed to escape the eye of the soothsayer and it travelled down the cheek. “Perhaps, I’m indeed to blame. But you have to believe me, I’m not giving you a slow death, Fluttershy. I’m trying to find something that might help you with your problem. All I need is more time,” the unicorn replied with a great sadness in her tone.

Pinkie Pie had turned around and faced the two of them. The tones in which Fluttershy spoke against Twilight were just unacceptable for her doing. The urges to just slap some sense right into the being were there. Her hands balled up to fists as she gritted her teeth firmly together. She wanted to slap something just so badly, and one wrong word could have been enough to make her burst.

Twilight curled up upon herself and she wrapped her arms around her legs. She would almost have laid her head upon her knees. She had one more thing to say to Fluttershy, or at least she wanted to do such a thing. Instead she couldn’t keep her tears to stop flowing. The powerful unicorn soothsayer had erupted once again in tears of sadness.

“Oh look at you, big foal!” Fluttershy snarled to her without any interference. Though before she knew what had happened, had Pinkie launched herself forward and delivered the slap in the face. The lamia could be found on top of the body of Fluttershy with her hand ready to give the face of the mare yet another slap.

She stood there, panting deep herself, the fires could be witnessed right in her eyes. “Go ahead, I dare you. I double dare you, to speak like that again! Come on big mare, are you scared all of the sudden?!” Pinkie said in an angered tone. She was far from done with Fluttershy. Even though the pegasus was literally dying beneath her, she would speak every last word that was on her mind.

“Twilight has only helped you to the best of her abilities, she had called upon all of you because she had the reasons and the means to do so. So don’t blame her for everything that has happened. You’re all equally to blame! Stoning or not, it’s not a way to talk to her, after all she had done for you!”

The sudden slap in Fluttershy’s face also translated over to Twilight. For the unicorn soothsayer opened her eyes wide again when soon as the words echoed in her mind. She blinked a couple of times as she couldn’t believe the words that were being said by the lamia.

The soothsayer rose up from her position as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She had to stay strong, she had to remain in the lead. The mare looked over to Pinkie and gave her a nod before the unaskable question was asked. “Do you know, how to reverse or stop it?”

It felt as if the lamia had been hit by a brick all of the sudden. Twilight was asking for her aid in the matter and Pinkie had prepared for that ever since she felt it would have been asked. Countless matters had already been going through her head upon how she would answer the question. But also there had been matter going through her about solutions.

Anything that could have helped them to probably help the slowly turned to stone doctor. Anything would have been a help, but Pinkie only could come up with one thing that probably could have helped them. A thing that she wouldn’t want to share with them for reasons unknown.

A deep exhale was released by the lamia as she slithered off of the body and looked in the eyes of Twilight. Who in return noticed instantly that there was something going on. The lamia knew something but it would be coming at a terrible high cost. A little something that she didn’t wanted to rush out by any means.

The soothsayer got a hold of her staff again and held it as some sort of walking cane. Almost as if it was used as some sort of third leg. Time would be granted to the lamia to get with an answer. Though some haste was required because of the fact that Fluttershy still laid there.

A minute or two passed by like that. But to them it felt like two whole hours had gone by. The lamia was curling around herself as she didn’t knew what she had to say to the soothsayer. She could have told her a massive lie and risk the death of Fluttershy upon her name. Or she could have told the truth and risked a great pain happening to her.

It was a massive scale upon which the lamia balanced. Both thoughts weighed deep upon her mind and she didn’t wanted to do either of them. Yet she knew that –even though she only knew the company for just a couple of days– that Twilight could be trusted. Pinkie had gotten a strange bond with her. Almost like that between a dog and its owner but with the exception of her being a little bit less obedient.

She looked back to Fluttershy and noticed how the mare had returned to gasping for air. It just looked horrible in her eyes which were closed a mere second after it. What could she have done in the matter? Lying was of course the easy thing. But could she live with the fact that she had ended the life an innocent mare? Not to mention the fact that lord Sombra probably would be going straight after her.

Lying seemed to have been a great solution in the short term of time. The truth however, was one that seemed to be the better option. Yes, she would be having pain for a short time. But at least Fluttershy would have had a chance.

The thoughts raced through her mind for a couple of seconds before she opened her eyes again. They were aimed directly at Twilight once more just before the words followed up. “There, there’s probably something that, that I might have that can stop it. I, I don’t know about reversing it.”

The hopes of both Fluttershy and Twilight just sky rocketed upwards when they heard the words. The doctor wanted to exclaim in happiness, but the groans of pain had become almost too much for her. So only Twilight was the one who released a deep exhale of relief. “Care to tell, what exactly it is that you can do to her?” Twilight asked in an honest and respectful tone to the lamia.

The soothsayer was treading upon new terrain in that moment. The soothsayer had become a student again for a change. Whether Pinkie liked it or not, she had turned into the teacher. Whether they knew their roles or not remained to be seen by them all. The eyes of Pinkie were shut for a moment as she wanted to say no on the question, but it was too late already to crawl back.

Pinkie braced herself with her body before she spoke the words. “The turning of a statue can be stopped, but only by a gruesome act,” she explained in utter terror to them. Twilight didn’t even dare to interrupt her as her eyes did constantly look down to see if Fluttershy’s conditions were getting any worse.

Another deep exhale filled the room as it originated out of Pinkie Pie. “In order to stop it, one must consume the blood, of a lamia, through the mouth. F-Fresh, blood.”

The eyes of Twilight went wide of horror when she heard those words. Never in her life had she expected to hear such things. Yet there they were spoken almost as if they were nothing. The soothsayer released a deep gulp before she rubbed her face. There was no proper response to the matter with the exception of possible one.

One that made Twilight feel even sick to her very soul as she asked it. “Are you, willing to, to do it? Cut yourself, to save her? It’s, it’s not an everyday sacrifice, you know that as well as I do.” Pinkie looked back to Twilight as there was only one reply that could have been given to the matter. There was however, one massive gamebreaker. Proof that nothing went ever easy.

The doctor had listened to the words as well and her eyes had shot open wide because of them. She gasped for air a whole lot more vivid while she tried to speak the words of worry. Twilight and Pinkie didn’t understood a single thing of what was being said so they placed their ears closer. And there they caught it. There they caught possibly the biggest change that they had ever heard in anypony in their lives.

The secrets that the doctor had for all of them had to be laid bare. All of them just had to be revealed in order to prevent any kind of further harm. For that was the thing that probably would have happened if Pinkie fed her blood to Fluttershy.

With the ears ready and primed were both the soothsayer and the lamia listening carefully to whatever the doctor had to say. Through the gasps of air she spoke them in a tone of utter terror and fright. For the first time in her life had the doctor actually been afraid for something to happen. “D-Don’t feed, m-me blood. I’m, I’m, I’m a, f-fruit…”

She had to recollect her breath for a moment and gave a dry swallow. What followed next was a cough. Twilight thought that she was just playing with them as Pinkie kept her attention close to the doctor. Whatever would be coming next, it would have shocked them both. “I’m a, fruitvampthrony,” the doctor then exclaimed. That last word was pushed out into the world to the best of her abilities.

Twilight and Pinkie were almost just got gob smacked because of them. Out of everything that they possibly could have heard out of the doctor, it were those words that had been spoken. So long ago had Applejack thought that she heard a change to Fluttershy. A change that turned out to have been actually true. “Oh my goodness,” the soothsayer spoke up softly. She couldn’t believe the fact that Fluttershy was a fruitvampthrony.

Though at the same time it did explain just so much. Countless things about the doctor’s life were explained right upon the spot. But those were all matters that didn’t matter at the time they were in. Yet Pinkie was confused. She didn’t understood the words that were spoken and focused herself upon Twilight. “What’s a fruitvampthrony?” she asked to the unicorn.

The soothsayer ruffled a little bit with her own hair as it was throwing just so much soot into their dinner. Everything from which they thought was to be working could have been flushed down the drain just like that. New plans had to be forged as well as explanations given. She released a deep sigh as one thing at a time was being done. First, the explanation. Secondly, the new plan.

“A fruitvampthrony, is basically a vampthrony. They live upon the juice of living things. A normal vampthrony drinks the blood of another being, according to folklore. A fruitvampthrony does the same, except it does it by fruits like apples, pears and so forth. Harmless, but often confused with the real deal by times long gone by. Gosh, one wonder unto the next, this trip keeps on amazing me,” said Twilight before she rubbed her face once more. “Depending on how you look at it, really.”

The facts given to her were just mind-boggling. Naturally she would have loved to conduct some experiments on the doctor, weren’t it for the fact that said doctor was slowly dying. “But, why can’t she drink my blood?” Pinkie asked as the confusion had only struck higher to her.

“Because,” started Twilight started when she also began to think of new plans, “she’s afraid that if she drinks blood, the transformation will actually set in further. Making her a bloodthirsty monster, instead of a fruit juice one. …That’s something I didn’t expect to say. But where was I..?”

The unicorn turned her gaze down to the doctor and noticed something that shouldn’t have been there. “Oh my, change of plans!” she exclaimed. The body of the doctor had made a significant jump forward in the stoning process. It had almost reached her heart and the breathing became even heavier. There perhaps was only one more thing that could be done in order to save the doctor.

Yet Twilight wasn’t ready to do such a thing yet. But their talking had caused the events to have gotten to the lengths of what they were. The chance was big that Sombra would have won the round and claimed his first anthrony in a long time. Tears sprung in the eyes if Twilight before she shook her head. The unicorn couldn’t believe it.

She couldn’t believe the fact that she had made the events come down to such a critical matter in time. A deep exhale was released through her nostrils as the tears were wiped away. “Okay, there’s still a little bit of time left. Just a tiny little bit. Oh you two are so going to hate me for this, but it’s the only way I can possibly save you,” said Twilight while she looked over to Fluttershy.

The doctor glanced back in the eyes and the hope for anything had gotten desperate. Anything that could have saved her life would have been more than welcome. The eyes of Fluttershy turned into an old pair as they finally revealed her true age. But she, she was still far from being done with the world. Everything she had accomplished in her time, everything that had happened to her, she didn’t wanted to throw it away just yet.

The horn of Twilight charged itself with a gentle motion. Then the eye contact was being broken. For what happened next could Twilight only pray to the goddesses. Her eyes went shut as they turned to Pinkie. Her head was tilted forward and then the whole scene just seemed to have gotten straight out of a horror story.

Before the lamia could have even done a thing, there was a sharp pain that went through her. Quickly did she glanced down her body and noticed how an arcane knife had pierced her body. Stutters of disbelief were released by her as she looked back to Twilight. “Y-You, s-stabbed m-me,” she brought out while the knife remained stuck.

They both knew that if they would remove it, the wound would have gotten worse. Then it happened. The stream of blood travelled over the blade while Fluttershy’s mouth was opened by the magic and her head held in place. The blood travelled in a near perfect arc straight into the mouth.

Just for five seconds could the doctor collect the blood before the knife turned itself into a magical patch. All that could have been done from that moment onward was just to wait. Wait for what would happen next from both of the mares. Twilight hoped for the best, yet she prepared for the worst.