S1 CH 7. Recover
Twilight gave a weak whimper as she felt the sting of the cooling cream rubbing on her back. Rarity cringed, but continued gently rubbing it in. “It's going to be okay, dear. In a few days the pain won't even be noticeable. With this ointment, there won't even be any scars after a month.”
Twilight nodded, but couldn't keep the tears from starting to well up in her eyes as the ointment stung her back. She glanced over to Rainbow who was undergoing a similar treatment from Fluttershy. The pegasus had the decency to keep her eyes lowered. “Really, Twilight, I'm sorry. I never meant for--”
“It's fine,” the earth pony said with another groan, followed by a hiss of pain. “You were just trying to protect your friend. It was... really quite noble of you. Rash, ill-considered, thoughtless, hasty, harebrained, but noble.”
“And foal hardy,” Rarity said with a shake of her head. “I mean, truly, what would give you the idea I was being foal napped? I left a note!”
Rainbow cringed again. “A note? What note?”
Rarity groaned and shook her head. “On my door. Did you even TRY to look at my place?”
“What? No, I heard about this whole Nightmare butt showing up and then a bunch of guards came and took you away. I came as soon as I could,” Rainbow said proudly, followed by a low moan of pain and quickly burying her head back in her pillow. Her breathing had gotten faster and it was obvious she was doing everything she could to avoid crying, or at least avoid letting them see her do it. After a few moments her head popped up, eyes wet. “Up tight or not, you're still a ponyvillian!”
Rarity shook her head. “And this, darling, is why you should examine the situation more closely before running off and nearly getting yourself and others killed. Just look at poor Twilight's back, what she had to go through for us.”
“I really am sorry,” Rainbow muttered, lowering her head in shame. “I never--”
“It's fine,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “To be honest, I'm relieved.”
“Relieved?” Rarity asked, her eyes wide. “About a whipping?”
“Uh huh,” the earth pony said before lowering her head. “If the worst she does to any pony is a bit of public whipping, we all might have a chance at surviving this.”
“Worst? Darling, a whipping is hardly a small matter.”
“No, it's not. But it's something we can endure. We can SURVIVE this. When I first met her... well, I thought she was going to kill some of us. Or cripple us. I've SEEN how she can be,” Twilight said before tensing up and instantly regretting it, going loose as she could. “How dangerous and deadly. If the mood took her, she could tear us limb from limb. She would, even. She might feel slightly bad about it later, but at the time?” She gave a shudder. “But this? This'll give her an outlet. A punishment we can suffer, but then survive. As horrible as it sounds, this could be the best thing to happen to us.”
A soft sob came from outside the door and every pony froze. Rarity frowned and slowly moved closer to it, her horn glowing and the door swinging open. Dancer stood in the doorway, frozen in shock. She then, meekly, raised a hoof. “H-hi,” she said softly.
“Moon Dancer?”
The unicorn slowly stepped inside, her eyes lowered. “Twilight... I... I just... I...”
Twilight blinked, looking confused. “Yes?”
“I'm so sorry!” she shrieked, looking on the verge of tears. “I'm so, so sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen. I didn't think it COULD happen! It was all just supposed to be, I mean, my friends and I, we were, if we'd succeeded, I... I-I...”
Twilight stared, her mouth agape. She then gave a little giggle and shook her head. “Oh, Dancer... no. None of this is your fault.”
“It's all my fault! Celestia sent me on a mission to find the Elements of Harmony, and I blew it! I failed! I made my way through all of Nightmare Moon's tricks and traps, then at the eleventh hour I ruined EVERYTHING!” Dancer sobbed and wiped her eyes with her hooves. “I just... I just couldn't do it.”
Twilight frowned and eyed her. “What happened? I mean... why didn't they work? What was the plan?”
“I... I don't know,” Dancer said with a whimper. “I didn't even know about Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia would do that though, often. She'd set me on a task or a duty and... and then I'd figure it out. I'd grow, I'd learn. That's why she was such a great teacher. I... I didn't know why she wanted me to find them, but I knew I had to. And I knew my friends were important for it.” She wiped her eyes again. “Then the time came. I looked Nightmare Moon in the eyes. You know what she did?”
“What?” Twilight asked softly.
“She broke them! She broke the elements! Destroyed them right before me and my friends! Our only hope at destroying her, at locking her away, gone in an instant!”
The earth pony blinked. “Destroy her?”
“I... I don't know,” Dancer said with a shake of her head. “I assume destroy her. I mean... well... it was...” She took a slow, deep breath. “That's why we were there. To begin with. To stop Nightmare Moon. I mean, I didn't know that but Princess Celestia obviously did. She trusted me to defeat her, to wield the elements. But... I couldn't.”
Twilight frowned and cocked her head to the side. “Couldn't? Why?”
“I don't know! I tried everything! We beat her there, we tried touching them, rubbing them, hitting them with our hooves. NOTHING worked. They just kind of... stood there. This is all my fault, I am so sorry Twilight. If I had--”
“It's NOT your fault!” Twilight snapped, glaring at the mare and shocking her into silence. “None of this is any more your fault than it is mine, or Rainbow's, or anyponies. Nightmare Moon came, she saw, and she's doing whatever it is she wants. There's nothing ANY of us can do to stop her, but I'll be bucked if you think I'm going to let some poor pony accept all the blame for all of... this! Do you think if we could just stop her easily, if just one of us could do it, then she'd have us under her hooves? No! We'd have fought her off by now, beaten her back! But we can't.” She paused and lowered her eyes. “I'm not sure what any of us can do at this point. But we can't wallow in our misery, blaming ourselves for things out of our control. Moon Dancer, you were the princess's pupil. Maybe there is something you can find, something that you missed. Maybe. If you can find it, great. If not... well... we'll figure something out. One way or another.”
The other mare nodded, eying her for a moment before sighing. “Can... can you really forgive me?”
“You didn't do this. There's nothing that needs to be forgiven.”
Dancer nodded softly, lowering her eyes and rubbing the tears out. “T-thank you. And... and Twilight... I... I don't know if there's anything I can do, but--”
“Just tell me what you know. Everything you know about the elements. How were they supposed to defeat her?”
“I don't know,” Dancer mumbled. “I thought they'd just... destroy her. As bad as she was.”
Twilight closed her eyes. “That doesn't make any sense, though...”
“Huh?”
“In the story, the Mare in the Moon. Locked away for a thousand years. I mean... I guess... well... if it was that easy to just destroy her, why not do it then? Why lock her up for a thousand years and destroy her now?”
Dancer gave a small shrug. “I... don't know. Maybe she couldn't? Maybe it was just to banish her for another thousand years?”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “I guess. But that... seems almost crueler. Just locking her away every thousand years? That would drive any pony to insanity. Especially...” She glanced towards the door. “I mean, as bad as she is...”
“What, you aren't actually saying she doesn't DESERVE to be locked up, are you?” Rainbow asked.
“... I won't deny she's...” Twilight rubbed her chin. “Difficult. A complete pain in the flANK!” She shrieked when Rarity hit a nerve with her rubbing.
“Sorry, sorry dear! Please, just keep still!”
“R-right. I mean, she's a pretty... wicked pony. I won't deny that. But, well... a thousand years of being locked away and alone? That would be horrifying. For any pony.” She then paused. “Could any of you really see Celestia submitting a pony to that a second time?”
Silence reigned in the room and the ponies looked between each other.
Twilight sighed and shook her head, cringing when she did it. “Maybe I'm just over thinking things, though. I mean... there's no proof to any of my theories or, well, anything. I just can't help but feel that... there's something else to all this. Maybe it was supposed to strip her of her power. Can that happen to an alicorn?” She laid her head down on the pillow and sighed. “Something just outside my grasp.”
Dancer nodded. “I'm sorry, I wish I could--” She froze and gasped. “I-I'm being summoned. I'll see you soon, Twilight. I hope. I hope the pain subsides!” She then turned and galloped off.
Rarity sighed and slowly dabbed more cream on the earth pony's back. “I think you might be missing the obvious. Celestia... might have just messed up. As horrible as it is to say.”
Twilight nodded. “I suppose. Perhaps she thought a thousand years of solitude would help calm Luna down. I can understand why she didn't want to kill her own sister.”
Silence reigned in the room and the ponies stared at her. Then, in unison. “SISTER?!” Followed by “Ow,” from Rainbow.
Twilight blinked and chuckled. “Ah. Right. Yes. Her sister. She's uhhh... Celestia's sister. It seems. I'm not sure if it's biological or... well, there are still a lot of questions I haven't had answered.” She gave another sigh and buried her head in her pillow.
“What do you mean sister? Nightmare Moon is Princess Celestia's SISTER? But she's evil!” Rainbow said, shaking her head and cringing.
“She's... brutal,” Twilight muttered. “I've spent enough time around her that I'd hesitate to call her straight evil. But she is definitely not nice, or sweet. But there may still be some good in her, some... possible piece of Celestia within her. It's really just a matter of if she'll ever show it to us. If we can use it to maybe fix things.”
“I'll be honest, dear, I'm quite interested in hearing all that it is you've learned,” Rarity said firmly. “I mean, this is simply... I'm not sure if it's good, or horrifying news, to be honest.”
Twilight sighed. “You're right. Ughhhh. Rarity, can you get me my notes from my room? If I'm going to be laid up in bed, I should get back to work. There's... a lot of information I need to get out to ponies.” She closed her eyes. “A lot...”
Rarity paused, eying the mare. She then shook her head. “No. I think now is not the time for that. In fact, I'm sorry we asked.”
“What?” Rainbow asked.
“You're hurt and exhausted, now is not the time for you to worry about explaining these things to us. There will be plenty of time once you're healed. For now, how about a snack?” She pulled out a small bag. “These are from a good friend of ours from Ponyville. Here.”
“I'm not really hun--” Twilight had the small pastry stuffed into her mouth and coughed. She glared at the unicorn. However, after a few moments she chewed and swallowed, staring down at the treat. “That... that has to be the greatest apple... what is it?”
“An apple fritter,” the unicorn said.
“What, Applejack packed us apple fritters?” Rainbow asked. “Sweeeeet. That almost makes the whipping worth it. OW!”
“Sorry,” Fluttershy said meekly.
“Applejack?” Twilight asked.
“A... delightfully rugged pony. She works on Sweet Apple Acres down in Ponyville. They make some of the most delectable, if quaint, apple treats. Perhaps if we are able to steal you away from the castle sometime, you can meet her. I believe you two would get along just fabulously.”
“Mmmm, if she cooks like this, I might just have to,” Twilight said with a chuckle, nibbling on her pastry. She hated to admit it, but the mare was right. She was hurt, that meant she needed to rest and recover. The ponies of Equestria would just have to wait a little longer for now. She just hoped nothing too bad would happen before then.
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Man, I love this fic.
Glad to see you're writing again. This story's a cool concept, and this was a great chapter.
This Twilight isn't as neurotic as canon Twilight. I like her.
good story, need more,
*dies from excitement*
Hey there. Once again, thanks very much for getting this chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. It took a while, but was well worth the wait. Once more, excellent job on the exchanges, emotional content and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I particularly like how Twilight Glow is still bonding with the rest of the canon Mane Six as well as Moondancer both in spite of and partially because of the altered circumstances. :-D I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this, but I can perfectly understand that real-world concerns have to come first.
I'm going to say it because no one else seems to really be noticing this.
Please author, please don't do this. Don't make this a defeatest story, where ponies shouldn't be expected to be able to do anything to change the fate of the world, but just hopelessly march underfoot of the giants and trying to appease their goddesses and hope that they aren't trampled by them on a whim.
Because that's the message here. That ponies have limits and shouldn't try to rise above them, else it ends in pain and suffering.
7450796 Well, this is an AU where the Elements never worked in the first place. There's no precedent for ordinary ponies overcoming superpowered threats, and this story doesn't quite set the right tone for a resistance movement against N.M.M. It might be happening offscreen, but this Twilight wouldn't have the proper mindset to be involved.
I don't like the subtext either, but it does fit here.
7378699 Cremated likely.
7378727 Oh I loved that movie...
7404761 The majority, at least. I will have a few aside moments, but the majority will be Twilight.
7422441 Of course. Her story has always been so sad.
7450301 Thanks, I love your pic.
7450316 Thanks. ^^ I was scared it sucked.
7450411 Well, she doesn't answer directly to a princess. :P Well, she didn't. She'll be neurotic soon.
7450527 Is coming, slowly.
7450791 Nooooo! Don't die! D:
7450794 Oh yes, so very much bonding. So many characters i need to try and develop and grow. This story is going to be huge and terrifying.
7450796 Ah, no. It may have come across that way, but really not the intention. Twilight more jsut means they can't beat her with brute force. Trying to just defeat her is a waste of time, so blaming themselves for not being as strong is a waste of time and just self defeating. Instead they have to try and find other means, other ways to get around it. I guess I didn't portray that as well as I hoped.
7450872 You snuck in while I was responding! Um, above response. Don't you two worry, I have plans. Evil, evil plans.
7450872
The only thing that changed from canon is who Twilight Velvet married, and all the changes that came from that. It can be assumed that otherwise it would have been very near canon otherwise, meaning that both ordinary ponies overcame superpowered threats in the past (Hearths Warming, Discord), and that the Elements are viable if activated properly. They just weren't activated properly here, from the sound of things because Moon Dancer didn't have the epiphany that Twilight Sparkle did when Nightmare Moon 'destroyed' the Elements.
7450880
But... it could have worked, and thus not a waste of time.
I'd have no problem if Twilight Glow argued from a point that other methods were better rather than brute force was impossible and shouldn't be tried for that reason alone. It may be justified from Twilight Glow's upbringing and her situation, but it has a really depressing subtext attached to it. It's not much different from the situation of children that grew up under segregation in the Civil Rights era.
"If you are a Unicorn, you are open to more possibilities because of magic. If you are a Pegasus you are open to reactions and travel. If you are an Earth Pony you have to be grounded and recognize 'realistic' outcomes, and can't do what the other tribes can."
so far not a bad story, just was kinda expecting Pinkie to pop up.
This is REALLY good so far. I'm loving the characterization, the writing, everything.
...everything you touch turns to mufflers? Oh, wait, you said not the mechanic...
An intriguing take on the original episodes. It has piqued my interests.
Also, I can't really draw, so that contest ain't for me. Ah well. My OC is actually a Deerfolk, so I'm not even sure she'd be able to fit in this one.
Maybe it's Statue of Liberty copper, or Tungsten.
What I'm saying is, you can't beat yourself up too badly. You want to read a bad story, read my stuff, it stinks.
Wait if Twilight is an Earth pony and the rest are the same tribe then is Pinkie the other Unicorn? Because that is the only thing that makes sence to me right now, unless she is still an Earth pony...Hmmm.
7451972
or AJ. Horn hidden under hat surprised all
Damn, somehow I missed that you actually continued this and now I'm caught up and am late getting to bead... Darn.
Well I sure would love to read more of this! Hint hint
7451972
derpicdn.net/img/2016/5/17/1155875/thumb.png
Now that would be interesting... and I'm using the Chinese meaning of the word...
Now I kind of want to ship Twilight Glow with Apple Jack o.o
WHY DOES ANYONE LIKE RAINBOW DASH?!
7682785 well hero's do what she tried to do all the time they go head first into danger without a second thought yet we like them.
7727382 Most people like heroes.
wounder how whipping feels like
7889350 Painful. Horribly painful.
Come on MoonDancer, your smarter than that.
7682785
I doubt anyone likes you
9094551
Hahaha nice
7504743
If they've been in a scene together, ship 'em
Everybody should kiss everybody, except the one who wants to kiss everybody, he should kiss nobody
(The acupuncture scene from King Fu Panda)
7902930
You have Experience?
9739960
The boy scout rope has other uses that just tying knots. Sometimes kids like to whip it around and eventually hit someone. At least, that's how I experienced whipping myself.