Decay

by Jinxed

Another notch is carved away

The throne room was comfortably clean as they all moved into the spacious interior surrounding the ‘crystal map’ and its thrones, normally the dust was now swept away as best Spike could manage and the giant plateau where the map once displayed itself was clear and lain with a simple golden tablecloth, a gorgeous array of exotic flowers in its centre sitting within an ornate vase that Princess Celestia had gifted Twilight.

It was one of the few objects Twilight still prized and cared for beyond anything else, including herself. The enchanted vase had runes of protection and inscribings on its inner sides and warding spells of truly ancient magic stronger than anything Rarity could conjure, and as such it was like her spell she’d pieced together, only much more refined and powerful.

It made the group smile as Twilight shakily fluttered forward on her disarrayed wings towards her small bastion, Rarity barely managing to keep her spell focused on Twilight alone and breaking into a sweat to extend the distance as she left the limited zone she casted her aura from, a vein beginning to strain against her neck.

Noticing her grimace, Spike rested his hands on Rarity’s shoulders and comforted her.

“It’s alright, you can drop the spell now.” He hummed, working his claws into the tense muscles of her back. “I think Twilight appreciates the sentiment more than the brief respite from invisible critters.”

Rarity nodded, letting the flare of her horn fade and the magic dissipate. They all either shuddered or gave a small twitch as if a chill had worked its way through them and the room, as they felt a ghostly feeling along their bodies. Twilight had of course explained this to them in the past, that whenever they had a strange cold shiver up their spines when it was nice and warm, or perhaps felt like a spider was crawling on them and yet there wasn’t one, or maybe they felt like they’d suddenly walked through a cobweb; it was simply them moving around quicker than usual or swarming.

That information was likely very clear to each of them now as they all felt the familiar sensations. Of course none of them paid it much attention after the thought, simply writing it off as one of those everyday occurrences that older ponies might refer to as ‘somepony walking on your grave’, but not Twilight; she screamed out as if she’d been struck with a burning lance when the magic faded.

They bristled and came over at her distress, seeing her wrap her hooves around the impenetrable vase of flowers and whispering into them.

“It’s alright they can’t eat me, they can’t eat meee…” She lamented to herself, rocking the vase as if it were a small filly in her grasp. “They can dance and play, but the pets will never get their prize, they misbehave.”

Climbing up onto the plinth, Spike knelt down beside her.

“Twilight?” He asked unsurely.

“I’m here, Spike.” She crooned into the petals of a lily. “All that’s left...”

“Alright then. Do you maybe want to have some cake? Maybe play some games?” He said, brushing through her mane again trying to neaten it. “You love pin the tail on the Princess still, right? And you’ve already got a blindfold.”

He shivered at the small tinny laugh she emitted but smiled nonetheless, it was always a small victory when she laughed, even if it wasn’t too pleasing to hear nowadays. Rainbow Dash had appeared beside him when he looked to his right, he gave her a greeting and backed off to let her do what she needed.

“Hey Twi, how you doing?” She said, carefully beginning to smooth and preen Twilight’s wings that were still quite a mess. Taking extremely delicate motions she trimmed the damaged feathers and cleaned up the ones still remaining that were usable. Twilight shuddered at the caring contact her friend was showing. “You really gotta take better care of yourself, yannow?”

“It’s not too important.” Twilight lowly told her. “Monsters surround us all, Rot eats it all away.”

“We can’t see them, or feel ourselves… rotting.” Dash replied, fixing a particularly troublesome feather along Twilight’s left wing. “But I get that it’s a big issue for you. We’re always gonna be here to help, but you can fight this thing by looking after yourself.”

“Rot doesn’t care about prettiness, Dashie.” She grinned. “All it wants is our death, it wants to kill us all until there’s nothing left but nothingness, because then when we’re all dead and our bodies have long since been consumed by its little beasts and Equestria lies in ashes, they’ll eat the ashes as well then turn on each other and eat themselves and Rot will kill them too.”

“I’ve told you this before?” Twilight wondered, turning her blindfolded eyes to her friend, who simply shook her head.

“I think I was more concerned about your mental state during the egghead talk.” Dash smiled, finishing her cleanup of the former Princess’s wings.

“It’s the sound that’s the worst, Dashie. Even though Discord dulled it. Rot makes this purely abhorrent noise you can’t hear, but I can always hear it. I can’t shut it out.” She moaned, her voice cracking slightly. “But what the little things can’t eat… it still dies. You’d call me crazy if I told you your words die as they leave your mouth, but they do. Mine too.”

“Alright… maybe we should do something els--” Dash began, but Twilight continued.

“Your face is dying before my eyes, not that I can see it.” She continued over Dash, who decided it was probably best to let her get this out. “Rot tears away at everything that isn’t immortal, I bet it hates me and the Princesses for that. I wonder if it’s trying to figure out how it can make us Rot too. Discord told me once that he created entire planets full of life and love to save energy from being destroyed, but I can’t do that... I’m not strong enough.”

At least she was speaking coherently, Dash thought.

“Twilight, we have your cake over here.” Spike said quietly to the Alicorn, who registered the voice and turned ever so slightly. “I also made some nice daisy sandwiches if you’re up for them, you haven’t eaten very much for a while.”

More of that disturbing laughter came from her.

“Spike, I don’t want to eat.” She patted his shoulder, then immediately stopping and trying to wipe her hoof on something. “Food doesn’t taste good anymore, the only reason I do eat is because my body needs more energy than I can give it without food.”

“Exactly.” Spike agreed. “So please, eat something. I’m worried about you, always am.”

Making an unsure noise, she wordlessly extended her senses outward, feeling her friends auras burning away and decaying as she did. Ignoring that pang in her heart, she felt the rotting of the food Spike had prepared for her. She could smell it from here, it was disgusting and as vile as most the food he made for her. It didn’t matter that it was fresh, or that Spike had probably picked those daisies from the gardens barely less than a half-hour ago, or baked the bread himself this morning.

It was all dying anyway. Despite that, she levitated over a plate with a sandwich on it. Daisy sandwiches used to be one of her favourites, now it was all she could do to not hate them.

Her friends were concerned for her but it was misplaced, they should have been worrying about themselves. No matter that two years had passed and her state of mind continued to descend into madness, they still stood by her. They shouldn’t, they should have abandoned her long ago when she’d done this to herself, they should have forgotten all about her and lived what little they had left of their lives.

She saw everything, she couldn’t not. Everything had energy, and that was more than enough for it to be destroyed. She’d had a plan when this had begun, but it was getting harder and harder to enact it every day as she declined. She wanted to use Rot as a power source like Discord did, to try and use whatever this force was for good, but deep down she wondered if it would ever matter anymore, she couldn’t stop the Rot everywhere it’d simply be impossible, and these bursts of clarity where she could think were becoming so rare.

Not that her friends knew, but she’d spoken with Discord a year or so back on his own plane of existence. He’d only ever invited Fluttershy before, but as time passed they’d become very close friends from the shared burden, and Discord had come to love her company as much as she now enjoyed being in his. The Draconequus had been experimentally playing with a few ideas Twilight had told him, ones that he’d long since abandoned as much too practical for himself and not being in his style, only taking them up at her request.

Her simple ideas of warping reality in such specific and strangely normal ways that to his mind it was simply unthinkable. Of course it all led up to the final idea of her creating whole new universes in her own image, but that was quickly becoming something she didn’t feel like she could do with how fast her mind was deteriorating.

How does somepony explain to their friends that they wield a power so vastly phenomenal that they can theoretically create entire universes and then fill them with entire galaxies and star systems, all of them capable of supporting life? She’d try to tell the girls this and they’d smile and nod like they always did, they didn’t believe Discord could do it as she’d told them he did daily, and of course she knew what they truly thought.

‘Oh no, the poor dear really has gone insane. Not even the Princesses can do that.’

‘Gal’s gone an’ lost her apples, damn cryin’ shame.’

‘Pft, good luck there, egghead. You’d have more luck moving the Sun.’

That last one was actually quite doable, not that she’d ever consider doing it.

Uh-oh, Spike was getting agitated again, she must have been sitting still and quiet for too long. That happened when she actually managed to have coherent thoughts and think like she used to. It was always when the girls visited or when Spike was singing to her --His voice was amazing-- when she tried to sleep.

“I’m here, Spike.” She’d told the drake before he’d even raised his arms to touch her shoulder, making her giggle at his alarm from her perception. “I’m always here.”

Please eat Twilight… please...

Ah right yes, he’d wanted her to eat didn’t he? She let herself smile as his relief washed over her in droves when she lifted the sandwich to her mouth. It did indeed smell vile and she really did want to throw it across the room and vomit, but instead she took a few bites. It also tasted horrible, and it was all she could do to only gag once or twice. The Rot had taken taste from her, when in the beginning it was one of the few things she could still enjoy.

The next half an hour was taken up with her friends not so casually being worried for her as she sat by trying not to be violently ill. The Rot and its little beasts were eating away at the sandwich and her tongue was coated in a layer of saliva that still tasted of the sandwich, and her stomach was the loudest thing in the room to her senses. She was thankful she wasn’t needing to belch, and she dared not open her mouth to smell the sandwich she’d just ate.

With a quick teleport she was on the other side of the plateau next to the cake Pinkie had made for her. She could smell the ruby and sweet chilli sauce within it, which weren’t as offensive as the daisy sandwich had been. Immediately cutting a large slice away with her telekinesis she bit into the sponge and almost moaned in delight as the powdered ruby immediately and temporarily destroyed most of the ability of her taste buds. She could only --if just for now-- taste a bare hint of sweetness from the sweet chilli sauce within the offputting mixture.

She couldn’t help but eat another slice despite the overall taste, already sighing in contentment as the ruby went to work suppressing the churning of her digestion and stopping the worst of it from coming back up her throat as she breathed out. It all felt like so much effort just for the tiniest amount of good.

Depressing as it was, she brought herself some amusement by picking up the fake tail from the pin-tail game in her magic, and feeling where the hole was on the card stuck to the wall, placing it perfectly into the groove. She laughed quietly at some of her friends surprised ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ to this simple trick of sensory awareness. To this day only Pinkie knew how she did it, and that was because she was Pinkie.

Unfortunately, she found her throat was on fire suddenly as she vomited without warning, the pain wasn’t overwhelming but it was incredibly unpleasant as she did taste blood among the disgusting taste of rotting cake. She directed her head down so she didn’t get it everywhere, and only when it stopped did she lift her head up. She felt like she hadn’t drank anything in years, her throat as parched as the deserts of Neigypt.

Oh, she’d fallen over right into the vomit, going by the quick lurch and stickiness that surrounded her…

Well that was lovely, things had been going well up until that point.

She heard the cries of distress from the girls, Spike being the loudest. The noise hurt her head as it echoed through her skull like fiery needles being driven into a pane of glass, the sounds screaming in their own agony as they eroded into nothing, it was all she could do to not scream from her own displeasure.

Feeling her weight shift, she thought she mumbled an apology to Spike as he hurriedly lifted her up and ran with her body in his arms, but it probably got lost among all the other noise and chaos as she was rushed elsewhere. What little weight she had was jumbling around as she was carried through the castle.

Where they were going, she didn’t know, and right now she didn’t care. She’d have loved a glass of water, despite that it would taste stale and tainted. The noises were getting louder, the screams of activity were bouncing through her head so hard she feared her ears might bleed, the decay of the sounds endlessly petering out as new ones rushed in.

It took a moment to realise she was bawling like a little foal, stopping as best she could manage once that was apparent, it would only concern her friends more.

Spike for his part, was almost knocked out cold when Twilight started to go into a full blown panic attack, thrashing wildly upon leaving the castle. She hadn’t immediately figured out where they were going, and they had hoped she wouldn’t realise, but the Sun hitting her was enough for her to become very aware of the situation. It took a lot of energy from Rarity to cast a spell that lulled Twilight into a state of drowsiness, she nearly passing out herself from the sheer amount of effort it took to attempt such a measure upon even a weak Alicorn. Fluttershy caught and kept Rarity steady as she tripped over herself after the casting.

“Oh, thank-you darling.” She murmured as her eyelids fluttered dangerously low, resting herself on Fluttershy while Twilight began to fully collapse in Spikes grasp. “That took more out of me than I believed it would.”

They watched Twilight go limp, the drake holding her gently repositioning so she would be more comfortable and her wings weren’t awkwardly sticking out. She was still awake and mumbling things they couldn’t understand, her mouth moving and chanting phrases unknown to them. The scene of a dragon carrying the former Princess across town with her five best friends following was drawing a lot of attention, many ponies looking on in a mix of fear or worry, a few taking their foals behind them.

Had ponies known Twilight had brought this entire condition upon herself, they’d likely be much less sympathetic to her, but as it was they simply knew that something had befell their Princess and she’d gone insane, so many were supportive and offered wishes for her health or a concerned look as she was taken through the town centre towards Ponyville’s hospital.

It didn’t take very long for doctors to grab Twilight in their magic and take her to assess her situation. Spike explained what had happened and they hoped things would progress for the better from there.

Everything was simply a blur of motion for Twilight.

She’d not really registered their small trek across the town, and she hadn’t seen the white uniforms and the clean walls of the hospital, but she could sense the air of it all and the general feeling of illness that surrounded her. She tried to teleport away but found she was too weak to do so. That would have scared her but she had to admit she was feeling very relaxed right now, even if her throat felt like it was being scratched over and over by Opalescence while having salt poured into the wounds.

She abhorred hospitals.

They weren’t so bad before all of this, but since the change they’d become houses of horror and the primary reason she’d been driven to want to wear the blindfold all the time. Right now she could sense everything dying as usual, but it was going over the top. If there was a limit to a pony’s decay simply by living then it became tenfold when they were hurt, they would simply waste away all the more and the little parasites would redouble their efforts and be almost frenzied to eat what was parting from their life. The dead were the worst of it all; if a deceased pony happened to be taken to the morgue in passing, the sheer volume in both noise and amount from the beasts skittering over the carcass was downright evil as they all became nothing.

So in short, hospitals were the Rots favourite mainstay.

And here she was.

Struggling feebly as she was lifted onto a bed, she managed to get off of it for less than a second before collapsing in a heap. The ponies around her were thinking such irritating things about how she was so interesting to have here or how sorry they felt for her, she’d probably smack them if she could. She tried again to get free as she was placed back onto the clean cot, this time earning a forceful bout of magic that immobilised her limbs.

“Don’t you worry, we’ll have Miss Sparkle in tip-top shape in no time.”

Bite me. She thought, annoyed at the stallion’s happy demeanour. Still sensing her friends around her, their pain was more apparent than her own. For now, she accepted she wasn’t getting out of here, laying back as the beasts crawled all over her. It didn’t matter how many times this bed was cleaned, nor how sterile they thought this place was.

“You’re not going to live much longer.” Twilight giggled to the doctor that came over to inspect her throat. His thoughts were erratic as his brief panic from her lie allowed her to enter his thoughts more deeply; he was still quite new here, his family was proud of his achievement of becoming a doctor, he hated cherry, he loved hoofball, the mare he was dating was very gorgeous and he felt like the luckiest stallion to have won her love, he didn’t want to be near the crazy purple Alicorn that creeped him out, and now add ‘He was afraid of what that Alicorn meant’ to the list.. “Don’t worry, I don’t taste of cherry.”

His fear rose a little more and he retreated as fast as his hooves would carry him. She could feel Spike’s eyes focus on her in disapproval as she laughed like a madmare. It was sobering that the girls also didn’t like that, but at least Dash and Pinkie found some humour in it.

It took the medical staff almost half an hour before they could check Twilight properly due to her constant playing up and downright refusal to be seen. In the end it took another spell from Rarity to make her manageable, Rarity herself passing out after the casting with Spike gently holding her after catching her from hitting the floor.

Twilight’s throat was slightly blistered from the ruby, which had caused great irritation in her stomach as well as a few small ulcers. The doctors had guessed the only reason this was the first time her body had reacted so violently was because she’d been healthier when having eaten ruby powder before and her Alicorn physiology had likely meant she’d healed the damage before any true harm could happen, but with her condition as bad as it was they were quite surprised she was still functioning at all.

“She hasn’t been eating much, or looking after herself at all.” Spike explained sadly to the head doctor who’d performed the examination. “Obviously the girls and me do try to look after her as best we can, but we can’t force her to do anything. Last time I tried to make her sit down and actually eat a decent meal she teleported me into another room and escaped elsewhere into the castle.”

Thankfully the doctor understood, having had a few patients that refused help until they were too weak to do anything about being helped. He turned around, going back to the dazed Alicorn who was mumbling to herself.

“It all comes crumbling down… We’re not going to fly…” She whispered, her limbs twitching as she still tried in vain to move, likely out of the bed. “Rosemary will hate that dress and wants it in red…”

Taken aback, the doctor faced Twilight directly. “Pardon? What did you say?”

“We’re going to crash, doctor.”

“No, about Rosemary.”

“It’s a very nice herb to put on your food.” She smiled. “Well it used to be.”

“No! Rosemary’s dress!” He urged. “What did you mean she’ll hate it?”

Both Spike and Applejack came forwards, realising Twilight had done that thing where she knew things she shouldn’t. It was something she did to them on occasion but thankfully it wasn’t often or at least wasn’t as often as she let them know, as they knew she’d likely done the same with the young doctor earlier, but that wasn’t why they were reaching out for this stallion. Clearly this doctor preferred a direct approach, which wouldn’t work with Twilight, and it was very unfortunate that apparently it required him to try making eye contact.

“Doctor, stop!” Spike shouted, but it was too late.

Twilight was very calm and very quiet as the sheer piercing of noise ripped through her head when both the doctor and all of the girls screamed in what was either fear or revulsion. Spike pushed him aside forcefully and tried to hold back the tears as Twilight stared back at him.

Or she would have, if she had any eyes.

Comments

[SurpriseKitty]

More?

[Jinxed]

8770457
I mean I just finished this chapter, but aye there's gonna be more.

[Razath]

What i want to see is Discord. He knew she'd go a bit mad, but i doubt he would expect mutilation. i think the others would try and have him help as well.
It's either he helps or Twilight hangs around with him because he knows what she senses on a grander scale. or something like that.
all in all, great story.

[Mister E]

Bravo!
Very well done, especially the reveal at the end.
I’m looking forward to what you have in mind for Twilight. Will she eventually embrace the Rot fully, and become as Discord? Will she continue to reject it? Becoming thinner, and thinner, but unable to die, eventually becoming flesh and bone and magic?
Whatever direction you go in, you have my blessings. Great job!
Mister E.

[Jinxed]

8774747
Nice to see you back again.

[Vaguely Demented]

All things considering I’m surprised Twilight doesn’t just permanently damage her olfactory nerve.

[Katus]

Like this story a lot! Cant wait to see how insane you make Twilight go.

Also love the song that you are naming the chapters after, corn is an important part of my breakfast after all

[Pony Knight]

Well this is definitely become one of my new favorite fanfics. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next

[Nerfyy]

this is an OUTSTANDING and just fantastic continuation of Rot and i LOVE IT! So bizzare and obscure!
Youre doing amazing and i really hope youre gonna continue this story :D i CANNOT WAIT to see interaction between Twi and Discord! Love the fact that they became close friends throughout this terrible proccess.
keep up the stunning work!

~Nerfy

[darklight731]

I really think a person would have adapted to something like this over time, especially with so many friends. I am shocked at just how much she has fallen. Not to mention the eyes... that was a nice surprise.

[DarkRedemption]

I really like the pacing and progression of events! I find it rather sensible and tense! It's also cool to see such subtle madness, it's a nice touch and I'll admit I was grinning wider than I probably should've been when Twilight kept screwing with ponies. Though I can't help but wonder what allows her to do that? Is it something that comes with chaos magic? Being able to see into the chaos of others thoughts? Or perhaps she just got to a point of habitually reading minds with magic as a further way to sense things with the lack of one of her physical senses. Which...might I say...AWESOME plot twist! That was executed flawless and was a complete shock that could not have been expected at all! A true surprise!

[Harsen]

Or she would have, if she had any eyes.