The Failed Spell

by silverspawn

Chapter 7

Lying secure in Rarity’s embrace, Twilight could feel her condition gradually improving over the course of the following hours. Maybe, it really had been some sort of illness, or maybe she had just been in dire need of rest. Whatever the reason, the pain was lessening at last.

And something had happened.

“Rarity?” Twilight turned her head upwards at her friend, who had had her eyes closed, but opened them at Twilight’s call.

“Yes, dear?”

“The crow I’m linked to... it landed somewhere. It’s above ground, and it isn’t moving.

She could see a gentle shiver erupting from Rarity’s muzzle, spreading over the rest of her body.

“I know we should have gone to it right away, but-”

“Of course. I decided not to go. But now we have to, don’t we?”

“I think so.”

“How far off our current course?”

“About a right angle."

“Ah, well then. That’s not too bad, is it?”

“Square two times the distance,” Twilight said, and she almost managed a chuckle.

“So it is. You’re feeling better, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I think the worst is behind me.” A gulp. “At least for now.”

“Do you want to start today? Or perhaps now?”

“Not now.” Twilight lowered her head, closing her eyes “I’m... better than earlier, but not good enough to walk."

“Alright.”

A pause.

“Rarity... the song you sang to me. How do you know it?”

“Hmm...” Rarity absently stroke over Twilight’s mane while she answered. “There was a fellow student in my class, long back in elementary school. He was tad bit eccentric, but he and I were friends, and one day, he showed it to me. He had composed it himself.

“But that was before Luna’s return.”

“Oh, I know, dear. It is quite remarkable in hindsight. Most students that age didn’t even know about Luna, yet alone thought of her as anything but an ancient, evil figure, but for him she was a source of inspiration. I’d be curious as to what he thinks about her return, but I’m afraid I’ve lost contact to him entirely.”

“Once we’re back, we’ll find him,” Twilight murmured. “I gotta say thanks.”

More time passed, and while she was curling herself together, Twilight gradually became aware of a rather odd aspect of her current state.

She wasn’t feeling cold anymore.

Twilight was certain that she had been cold in every single moment since the spell, and there was no reason why it should be different now. In fact, she could feel that it was still cold, she just wasn't freezing, as if she were well-rested, well-fed, and had only been exposed to it for a short amount of time.

She wasn’t deceiving herself. The fact that she wasn't freezing meant that something was wrong with her; with her organism, with her brain, perhaps with her senses. It was a concerning thought, and a bad sign, but something she welcomed all the same. Twilight opened her eyes which she hadn’t realized to be closed, and as if to add to her fear, she could see a patch of red fog in front of her, fading into nothingness over the next two or three seconds. Unlike the orb, it was no figment of her imagination; an illusion which she couldn't trace back to its source.

“I want to talk about something,” she heard herself saying, feeling the sudden need for distraction.

“About what?”

“Dunno. I... something. Rainbow Dash. You know any secrets about her? I...” She gulped. “I’m sure our friends would understand if...” She left the sentence unfinished, unsure of whether or not she was right. Then she shook her head. She had not intended to suggest any of this. All she had wanted was... a distraction...

Her mind was not operating with its usual sharpness, and this thought frightened her, perhaps more than anything before.

“Well... I do know that Rainbow Dash secretly likes to wear pretty dresses, but won’t admit it to anypony but me. Telling you this would usually upset her greatly, though I suppose under the current circumstances she will show sympathy.”

“Thanks.” Twilight’s lips twitched. “It is kind of funny, at least. How do you know?”

“She used to come by and model for me, occasionally, always at times when nopony else would notice. It was our little secret.” She gave a cough. “One could say you hit a gold mine.”

“What kind of dresses?” It was a question accompanied by a stitch of guilt, but guilt was an emotion preferable to what she had felt before. “I don’t think Rainbow Dash would be too adamant about not admitting that she likes wearing dresses, as long as they look cool enough.”

“Perhaps, but in truth she likes them all. Everything, down to the girliest outfit I ever had the pleasure of designing.”

“Why?”

Rarity smiled. “You tell me, dear. I’m not a good judge of character. I appreciated having her model for me, and never bothered to ask.”

“Hum...” The feeling of working on a puzzle was a pleasant one, although Twilight quickly thought to know the answer.

“She wants to be desired...” Her voice trailed off, but something inside her was confident that she was right. “I... think. She never lets anypony get close to her. It must be a way to feel... precious.” She gave a sigh. “I wish I had known.”

“You know now. You can talk to her about it once we get back.”

“Yeah...”

The unspoken implication hung between them, and Twilight felt that it was time to get moving again.

“Give me... a few more minutes.”

“The crow has landed on something?”

Twilight nodded, glad for the distraction. She wasn’t sure how her condition compared to other moments since the spell; it was better than earlier, but walking again was exhausting.

“Do you know what it is?”

“No. I know that it’s about four times our height. It could be a tree, or a rock, or... or some kind of shack.”

“Hm.”

“Twilight?”

“Yeah?”

“The crows.” Rarity made a pause. “What? And why?”

Twilight hung her head, but suddenly, something changed. Without knowing why, she found her ears perking up. Her gaze pierced forward, and she realized that... it was raining.

It was raining. Heavy drops splashed onto the ground, constantly, creating a soothing wall of noise...

And other than the rain... nothing. Twilight pivoted around on the spot, casting glances in all directions. There was nothing... brown soil... nothing else...

And after all, the rain wasn’t so bad, was it?

And she wasn’t cold...

“Twilight? Dear?”

“Huh...” Twilight shook her head, closing and opening her eyes a few times.

Blinking.

A wave of fear surged through her when her mind caught up with her senses. Fear. Of her condition. But not only that.

Fear of the end. Of extinction. And of failure.

The shivers that caught her body were not lost on Rarity, and without saying another thing, she turned around and gave Twilight a gentle hug.

But it was no use. Twilight felt herself hyperventilating, and a the urge to cry returned, but this one was of a different kind. Not pain, but fear.

“I’m scared, Rarity. I don’t want to die.”

It was the first time that she had said this, and with the words came a surge of dizziness, and she knew she would have collapsed at the spot if not for the white hooves holding her...

“I’m so afraid. I’m so... do you know when you were a kid and whenever something happened that you thought was terrible, your mother would just make it right? But now there is no-one. There is no waking up from this, Rarity. This is real.”

This was real. Twilight had thought that the realization had come a few moments ago, but it hadn’t truly come until now. Only now, at this moment, did she really, truly understand the gravity of what she had said. The merciless reality of the moment.

It was real. This was their lives, and they were one step away from distinction. There had always been someone watching over her; by the time she had understood that her mother wasn’t all-knowing, Celestia had already been there to take her place. But not now.

Fear washed over her, a dark, heavy fog, clouding her vision, drowning her, drowning everything.

Fear.

Fear.

Fear.

Fear.

Fear.

She woke up.

The first thing she realized was that she wasn’t cold. The second thing was that Rarity was sitting crouched next to her, maybe sleeping, her eyes closed.

“How are you still dry?”

Rarity’s eyes flickered open. “The dome,” she said immediately, not needing more than a moment to react to the question. “It’s still there.”

Twilight looked upwards. So it was.

“But that’s... I...” She stocked, not wanting to say that it was impossible.

“Twilight, darling. What is happening to you? Please, tell me.”

“I...” Twilight made a pause, almost expecting the fear to come back, but it did not, at least not for now. “I’m not cold anymore. It happened earlier today. And I have... moments when my thinking is slow. And sometimes I have hallucinations.”

She tried to listen inside herself, but now, everything seemed to be normal. Her vision was clear, her mind wasn’t clouded, as far as she could tell... only the cold was still absent.

“I’m not cold,” she said again, calm, observant. Then, “how long has it been?”

“Three or four hours, I would say.”

“Oh...”

“You asked me earlier today – or, perhaps it is more accurate to call it yesterday – how I felt, and you said that you yourself feel comparatively good. How could this all have happened in such a short span of time?”

“I have no idea.” The answer was given without hesitation, and Twilight had nothing add.

“I see. But, what about now?”

“Good. I’m... well, the fact that I’m not feeling the cold could be a bad sign, but right now I’m... good. Better than ever since the spell, probably. You?”

“I’m fine. Twilight... this is only the fourth day. There is no reason why three days without food should have such a strong impact on either of us. I was thinking about this while you slept. Something is wrong.”

Twilight shook her head. “No shoes. No food. And no warmth. And three days is a long time. I can... it feels like the spell is... a long time ago. I... you don’t know what all of this can do to a pony.”

“I have never heard of ponies getting hallucinations due to a lack of either of those. The pony body can survive two weeks without food. Given the constant exhaustion we’re putting ourselves through, I suppose you could reduce that to ten days. Ten days, Twilight. This is the fourth, if even. And your spell...”

“The spell isn’t causing this.”

Rarity gave a small nod, not questioning the assertion. “Then, it should be even longer. It can’t be right.”

“But what happened...” Twilight stocked, interrupting herself. “We should continue,” she said instead.

“Of course.”

“What happened wasn’t because someone else made it happen,” Twilight said, as soon as both of them were walking. “I took out the elements because I was being drunk and stupid. I tried to do the thing with Fluttershy, and the elements backfired. I felt my spell going out of control, forming random patterns, and I interfered to change them. If I had done nothing, they would have blown up the library...” She sighed. “Which would have been the lesser evil, I’m sure. It would not have killed any of us. But my point is that I caused this. I changed them into the next best thing, and it happened to be a teleportation spell. Not that it was unlikely, but it could also have transformed into pure light, or even heat. It was coincidence.”

“That does sound convincing,” Rarity said, “but it does not solve the problem. Let us list the things that are wrong about this place. One, there is rain. Two, both of us are in worse conditions than we should be, especially you. Three, the crows. And four, I suppose, the dome.” She made a pause. “Maybe someone has taken control after you teleported,” she offered.

“I... don’t think that’s likely. But... yeah. It’s not impossible.”

“Is there anything you can do, anything that might clear things up?”

Twilight let her mind wander. It was hard, because she didn’t know what kind of spell would be tricking her, what she should look out for. There were a multitude of ways to deceive ponies, and a multitude of things which the deception might cover. Rarity had not specified what you believed to be false, which of course was because she didn’t know.

“I’ll think about it.”

Rarity gave another nod.

“If... if you are right,” Twilight said carefully. “If we’re being fooled in some way. Do you think the crows... uhm... do you think they’re... pulling the strings, in some way?”

Rarity gave a third nod. “I was thinking that. It does not mean that I believe it to be true, but I’d say their presence is the most unlikely element we have yet encountered. And don’t forget the blood, Twilight. I am far from an expert on animals, but never have I heard of an animal with a blood that has a color other than red. Why should nature go such a strange path?”

“I don’t know...” Twilight bit her lip. For a moment, she tried to imagine that Rarity was right. Because although she didn't believe in it, she was at a point where she couldn't rule it out. It was possible.

Then... was it true?

Was there really someone watching them?

Was something out there?

Comments

[Hillbe]

Twilight dear when we get home I'm going to take Spikey on his first date, Is that all right with you?
Sure it will make is wish come true.
Thank you Twilight I'm so going to screw his brains out! thank you so much. . .you're such a dear. . .

[AlsoSprachOdin]

Well, if there's a mystery to be solved, maybe all hope isn't lost.
I wish you'd mention sometime whether or not Rarity is still wearing her element necklace, already. I'd assume she is. Wish Twilight would at least consider trying something with it, maybe send a signal back to the other elements.

[EverfreePony]

So far really enjoying the story and the character mental development under such circumstances. I'll give you a long proper review once I reach the end

Just a line that caught my eye and I though I could share a fact or two...

I am far from an expert on animals, but never have I heard of an animal with a blood that has a color other than red. Why should nature go such a strange path?

It's really common for invertebrates such as crayfish or some snails to have blue 'blood'. Some annelids have green blood.