The Twilight Effect

by X3n0heart

The First Try's The Hardest

Twilight turned from Rainbow Dash as one of the doctors approached the two girls. He was talking to them, but there seemed to be nothing coming out of his mouth. His lips were moving, but Twilight couldn't hear a sound. It wasn't until Rainbow Dash shook her gently, and turned her face so they made eye contact, that sound flooded back into her ears.

"I'm so sorry." Twilight said, the tears starting again. "I have to go." And with that, she let go of Rainbow and turned, running out the door.

"Twilight!" She called after her, as she took off in chase. Twilight was already at the elevators when Rainbow came around the corner. Pressing the button multiple times, Twilight tried to make it go faster, but for some reason, it seemed to be moving in slow motion. Twilight then headed for the stairs and started to make her way back down to the lobby.

"Twilight, please wait!" Rainbow called after her once more, as she also started to descend the stairway. Her efforts of trying to get her to stop, or even slow down, were in vain as she watched Twilight run through the first floor door, into the lobby. As Rainbow opened the door, she could hear Rarity down the hall, calling after her.

"Twilight? Dear? What happened? Where are you going?"

As Rainbow ran past her, she called out to Rarity. "Come on! We have to catch her!" Rarity, who wasn't the fastest runner, was keeping up with Rainbow Dash as she asked her questions.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"Sunset died, Rarity, right in front of her." She explained, as Twilight seemed to be getting farther and farther away from them. Rarity gasped and slowed down to a walk, before coming to a complete stop.

"Sunset....gone...?" She asked as her eyes threatened to burst forth with tears. "Oh Rainbow, this must be too much for the poor girl." Rainbow stopped giving chase and sighed, as Twilight disappeared into the night. Walking back over to her friend, Rainbow hugged Rarity right when she started to morn Sunset Shimmer.

Twilight just ran. She didn't care that her legs were hurting, or that she was having trouble breathing, she just ran. She continued to run until she spotted the statue and made a direct line to it. Twilight dove through the portal, landing on the other side with a few rolls across the castle floor. Twilight just remained there, as another flood of tears sprung forth, and she buried her muzzle in her hooves. After a few long moments, she finally got back on her hooves. Fluttershy and Apple Jack came walking in, back from their mission.

"Well hiya, Twi." Apple Jack waved a hoof at her as her two friends trotted towards her. Twilight did not even look up at them, let alone even acknowledge them.

"Twilight? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, as they stopped and let her walk slowly by. They noticed the tears still streaming down her cheeks, as well as how red her eyes have become from all the crying.. The two ponies just watched her leave the room and decided to follow her as she left the castle. The only thing they heard her say was something like, "I have to fix this...".

Twilight's head snapped up as she suddenly stopped and looked towards Canterlot. "That's it. I can use that spell!" Twilight bent her legs and took off into the air, flying as fast and as hard as her wings would carry her. Apple Jack and Fluttershy both looked at each other; neither one of them knew what she was talking about.

"That didn't sound very good." Fluttershy commented.

"Aye, you're right. You go after her and I'll get Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia. Did you see how she looked when we saw her?"

"She looked like she was hurt very badly. I'll try to catch up to her. If I can't find her, I'll meet you at the castle." Apple Jack nodded as she watched the pale yellow pegasus fly off after Twilight, before heading back inside to find Spike.

"I have to fix this...why wasn't there anything I could do for her?" Twilight said to herself, as she kept beating her wings. "There must be something I can do. I have to fix this..." Landing in the courtyard, she made her way into the castle and towards the Starswirl the Bearded wing. She told a passing guard to unlock the door for her.

Upon entering the wing, she began to pull books and scrolls off the shelves. She looked at each one, then tossed them to the side, for they did not contain the information she was looking for.

"Where is it? I know it's in here somewhere." she complained in frustration.

"Where is what, my dear Twilight?" Turning quickly at the question, she saw, standing right in front of her, was Celestia.

"The time traveling spells. Please tell me where they are at, Princess Celestia." she begged. Celestia could see the pain and sorrow in her eyes as she sighed and asked another question.

"Why do you want them?"

"Please, Princess..." Twilight pleaded with her. "I need to fix it. I can't do it without the spell." Celestia raised an eyebrow at her and cocked her head slightly to the side.

"You plan to change the past, don't you?"

"There is no time to explain, please tell me where they are!" Twilight's eyes began to water once more, fearful that she wouldn't find the spell she needed.

"Heed my warning: going back into the past and changing even the insignificant detail can, and will, have major influences on the present. Is this something you truly want to do?" Twilight looked down at the ground for a few moments before returning her gaze back up to Celestia.

"Yes. I am prepared to take all the responsibility for my actions." Celestia nodded to Twilight as she walked towards the back off the wing. She went to one of the smaller desks that looked like it hasn't been used in ages. Using her magic, she unlocked the drawer and pulled out a very old scroll. Turning around, she floated it over to Twilight, who took it with her own magic.

"Using this irresponsibly can cause damages that could be irreversible. Remember that, Twilight Sparkle." With that, Celestia left the purple alicorn by herself. Twilight unbound the scroll and opened it. Reading the spell she carefully, studied it, taking a few deep breaths while she memorized it word for word.

"I'm coming Sunset." was all she said, before she closed her eyes, and started concentrating on casting the spell. At that moment, Fluttershy came galloping in, skidding to a stop right in front of her.

"Twilight!" she called to her, as the Princess' body suddenly went limp and fell to the floor.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she found herself standing at a podium with a bunch of ponies sitting at tables, looking up at her. To her right was Princess Celestia, who leaned close to her and spoke softly.

"Everything alright, Twilight? You just stopped in the middle of a sentence and kind of just stood there for a moment." Twilight nodded to her, then turned her attention back to the other ponies in the room.

"I'm sorry everypony, I lost my train of thought. Let us continue." The spell must have worked, but why did it send me here? she thought to herself, as she continued her speech. "That is why it is my duty to spread the magic of friendship throughout Equestria. Now I will leave Princess Celestia to wrap things up here, and to answer any questions you might have."

Twilight nodded to the Princess, then stepped from the podium as Celestia took over. Twilight proceeded to head out of the building and outside, before taking to the air and heading back to her castle. She noticed that the sun would dip below the horizon in about an hour. Hopefully she would have more time with Sunset.

Landing right outside her castle, she used her magic and opened the doors as she trotted inside and headed towards her study. As she entered her room, she heard that familiar buzzing sound. Grabbing the book with her magic, she flipped the pages to the new message.

Hey Twi! It's me again. Hope your day went well. Mine was a blast, and I'm so happy I get to see you again tomorrow. Anyways, going to keep this short so I won't bother you too much longer. Ohhh...I just felt a bit dizzy, so I'm going to go lay down and get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be the best day ever!

"I need to go see her now, before things get worse." Placing the book back where it belonged, Twilight galloped to the room where she kept the portal and jumped through it. Stepping out into the other world, Twilight noticed that it was dusk out. She didn't see Rarity or Rainbow Dash by the stairs like last time she came through. Maybe I should go check the hospital... Twilight thought to herself, as she turned and started making her way there.

Stepping into the brightly lit lobby once again, she headed to the nurse's station and asked if Sunset Shimmer was admitted. After a few moments of looking up her information, the nurse said she was in room 623 and pointed her towards the elevators. She also mentioned that visiting hours would be over in about 15 minutes. Twilight thanked her and made her way towards the elevators, pressing the up button.

This is very strange. It's like dejavu, but it is real. Twilight became lost in thought and didn't notice when the doors open, that she almost bumped into Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight? What are you doing here?" Rarity said, as they stepped back into the elevator. Twilight pushed the button with a six on it.

"I'm here to see Sunset. She's sick, and I want to be with her." Rarity and Rainbow Dash both looked at each other, then back at Twilight.

"How did you know she was sick?" Rainbow asked her.

"It was in the message you sent me." Twilight seemed a bit distracted as she pushed the button a few more times, as if it would make it go up faster.

"Twilight, dear, Rainbow hasn't sent you any messages. We just got the book from Sunset and were going to as soon as we left the hospital." Right then, the doors opened and Twilight stepped out, ignoring the comment as the other two girls followed after her. Upon reaching Sunset's room, Twilight opened the door and walked in, with Rarity and Rainbow in tow. Making her way over to her bed, Twilight saw that Sunset was awake and slightly looked better than when she did the last time Twilight saw her.

"Twilight...?" Sunset said surprisingly as she turned her head towards her.

"Hi, Sunset. I'm here." she replied as she walked over to her bed and gave her a gentle hug.

"But how? I just asked Rainbow Dash to update you about what's going on." Sunset seemed a bit confused as she now noticed the other two girls standing not too far from Twilight.

"Yeah, that's the strange part of it. When we got back down to the lobby, she was just right there. Almost knocked her over if Rarity wasn't the one who spotted her." Rainbow explained.

"How are you feeling? What happened?" Twilight asked her as she sat on the edge of her bed, holding her hand close to her.

"I feel okay right now. I'm not to sure what happened. They took some blood and are running some tests to see why I collapsed all of a sudden. We were working on a new song when it suddenly happened." Sunset explained.

"So you haven't noticed anything different at all recently?"

"Not that I can remember." Sunset thought to herself for a few moments before continuing. "Well, come to think about it, I have been feeling a little weak ever since we defeated the sirens. Like I can never get 100% of my energy back no matter how much I sleep, or take it easy." Twilight took note of that as she held her lover's hand and gave her a smile. "I'm sorry I can't remember much of anything else."

"That's alright Sunset. You have done all you could." Twilight leaned down and softly kissed her forehead. She noticed that she was a bit warm and placed the back of her right hand against her forehead. "You feel a bit warm, are you sure you feel okay?" Twilight asked once again.

"I'm fine, Twilight. I pro..." suddenly it seemed like Sunset started to have trouble breathing.

"Sunset? What's wrong?" Twilight called to her, fear dripping in her voice. Nonononono! Not again! she thought as she tried to figure out what was going on with her. Turning to her friends, she told one of them to go get help. Running out into the hall, Twilight could hear Rainbow Dash yell for help as Rarity came and stood next to Twilight.

"Rarity, what do we do? What is wrong with her?" Tears welled up in her eyes once more, as she looked to her friend.

"I do not know." she replied, just as worried for Sunset. Not a moment too soon, a few doctors and nurses came rushing into the room.

"Get those girls back!" One of the doctors called out, as a nurse pushed Rarity and Twilight towards the back of the room. Rainbow Dash joined them. The three of them watched the staff members work quickly to figure out what's going on with Sunset.

"Doctor, her blood pressure is 149 over 95 and rising." one of the nurses called out.

"Quick get me 2cc's of Hydrodiuril!" He called back, as the nurse prepared the needle and injected it into her arm. Turning back to the machine, she quickly called out another reading.

"167 over 102 and it keeps climbing." They quickly tried a few more ideas as Sunset's body started to go into convulsions. The heart rate monitor continued to beep rapidly, getting faster and faster with each passing moment. Twilight and Rarity held each other as they watched, wide eyed, as Rainbow Dash stayed close as well.

"196 over 120! She's going into cardiac arrest, doctor!" the nurse called out again, turning around to help the other four attending Sunset. As her body shook violently, it took three of them to hold her down so she wouldn't injure herself in any way. What seemed like an eternity to Twilight, everything just suddenly stopped as quickly as it started. Sunset's body lay still with the monitor giving off a consistent, uninterrupted beep.

"Not again..." Twilight said to herself as she covered her mouth with one of her hands and started to cry, watching the scene unfold before her. "I lost you once already. Why must I lose you a second time....?" Rarity just looked at her, puzzled by her question, as one of the doctors called for a defibrillator, as another started to give her chest pumps.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5..." Twilight watched her push down on her chest, followed by breathing into her mouth a few times, then repeating the process. As they plugged in the small machine, which had two smaller paddles that the doctor placed his hands into the handles, he turned a knob and waited for a few seconds.

"Clear!" he called out, and the other doctor moved out of the way. Placing the two paddles on Sunset's chest, a slight buzzing sound was heard, followed by a sudden shocking sound that made her back arc. There was no movement from Sunset as the doctor called out, "Again!" After a few more seconds of it charging, he called for another clear and placed the paddles on her chest again. Another zap. Still no movement.

"Turn it up to 400. Again!" he called out as it charged up a bit longer this time. "Clear!" The other doctor moved out of the way once again, for she was pumping her chest between the shocks. One more shock that arced her back even more than the previous one, Sunset remained still, the monitor never changing once.

"I'm sorry. We've done everything we can for her." the male doctor said to the others, as he replaced the paddles and looked at his watch. "Please note time of death is 7:42pm." Turning to the three friends who were all in shock from what just unfolded in front of them, he apologized once again, before ushering them out as the rest of the staff cleaned up.

A flash of light blinded Twilight for a brief moment before she was back in her body laying on the floor of the Starswirl the Bearded wing. More tears streamed down her face as she brought up her hooves to cover her muzzle. She broke down for the second time in one day. Fluttershy was there and laid down next to her good friend. Her own eyes were full of tears, for it was all she could do to comfort her.

"I failed..." Twilight said as she took comfort in her friend's hooves. "I failed...and she died again..." Fluttershy did not say anything and just Twilight let it all out. "I must fix this...I can't lose her like this...not like this." Twilight cried uncontrollably, in the hooves of a friend, on the cold, dusty, stone floor of the castle.

Comments

[narusakufan]

Poor Twilight. I hope things will go better.

[brisa_mlp]

I hope Twilight saves Sunset