The Many Lives Of Twilight Sparkle

by Shitbewackyo

Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 3: Improvised healing

Twilight’s muscles strained as she jumped over another root. Occasionally moonlight would filter through the gray clouds and illuminate the forest in a pale white. Her vision swam and readjusted as she ran, the leftover toxins still wreaking havoc on her body. But failure was not an option, she wouldn’t let Zecora die, and thus she pushed her body past its breaking point as she rushed to her cave. Stray pieces of wooden debris cracked under her hooves.

Everything seemed to stop as Twilight burst into the familiar clearing. She had forgotten about the river. Where before it had been a calm stream now it was a tumultuous, seething mass of water, the moonlight illuminating each whirling edge in detail. But she didn’t let it stop her. Carried halfway by adrenaline and halfway by determination she got a running start and leaped across. She tried to boost herself further with her wings but they were too damaged from the fight and they sent Twilight spiraling through the air, detaching Zecora from her back. They both slid across the dewy grass on the other side and came to a painful and slow stop.

Twilight cringed at the empty sensation spreading where her wings should have been, but that wasn’t important right now. She got up and ran over to Zecora. Luckily no more dirt had gotten into her wounds and the grass had even helped to remove some of the larger clumps. Still, she couldn’t let her remain here, where a predator could hurt her. She had to get Zecora to the cave above.

However, her wings posed a problem. If she couldn’t fly then she’d have to use magic, and using magic on someone with a damaged soul was tantamount to murder, especially an enveloping spell like levitation or teleportation. The magical energies would sever whatever stability Zecora’s soul had left, instantly killing her. And worse, depriving her of well, everything.

Twilight scanned the clearing, looking for something, anything to help her. But there was nothing to use, just a dark clearing partially illuminated by moonlight.

She summoned a simple magic missile but didn’t let go, instead, she lifted it over her head, and only then did she send it barreling towards a tree. The angled spell nearly severed a considerable mass off the tree, exposing the rosy insides of the everfree oak. She grabbed the piece with her magic and yanked, but only managed to slightly strain the wood connecting it to the tree. Another yank, but it held. Twilight resigned herself to use some mana and fired off another missile, finally separating the piece of wood from the greater tree. It was uneven, rough and the insides felt too much like flesh. But it would work.

She went over to Zecora and slowly pushed her onto the make-shift stretcher. It was shoddy, to say the least, she had to keep it at a constant angle so that Zecora wouldn't fall. Either way, it allowed her to levitate Zecora without directly affecting her with magic.

Slowly, carefully, she formed a minuscule magical field inside the log. Usually, this would be a nearly impossible thing, but the Everfree oak had the unique property of being alive in a way that few other trees were. It was almost like a conduit, and thus it could accommodate Twilight's attempts at making sure that absolutely none of the magic would touch Zecora. That’s not to say that it wasn’t hard, it was one of the hardest feats of levitation she’d ever attempted, only matched by the first time she tried the spell. She continued, expanding the field in rhythmic waves until it had almost breached the surface. That was enough.

Slowly the stretcher began to hover up. Twilight had to constantly make sure that one side didn’t rise faster than the other. She felt like she should be sweating, but instead, her skin was still weirdly smooth and dry. The real difficulty started once Zecorra was five meters above the ground and only kept increasing what seemed like exponentially, worsened by the delicate balancing act Twilight had to do.

When the stretcher reached the halfway mark at ten meters above ground Twilight started to give in. Her magic was slipping and she could see Zecora's body start to slide. She needed something extra, and she pulled at herself, willing it to arrive. And in between a doomed struggle with the stretcher, the sound of blood rushing through her, and the flow of the river, she felt a thread inside her. Something reached out to her by her command, and she had no choice but to accept. Then Zecora's body sped up as it neared the edge of the stretcher.

Twilight's eyes widened and her mouth fell, but in beat with her rapidly deteriorating control, an inner fire erupted in Twilight, spreading across her like a cold fever. Immediately the stretcher froze, the magical field within no longer threatening to unravel. Twilight had enough sense to capitalize on her second wind to reposition the stretcher, stopping Zecora.

For a fraction of a second she wondered where the power had come from, but then she noticed that the fire was burning something, and it was burning it fast. With a panicked exhale, she pushed Zecora up the final stretch and let her slide off the stretcher, depositing her into the relative safety of the mouth of the cave. With a sigh of relief, she released her hold on the now-empty stretcher, and comfortingly the fire within ceased. She wanted to take a moment to reflect, but the dryness in her throat was excruciating. She hadn’t even noticed until now.

With a desperate gait she walked over to the river and stuffed her snout into the churning river, greedily drinking it. She had to pause to cough as she occasionally got some water in her nostrils. Finally, when she was sated and the symptoms of magical exhaustion abated she let herself think.

‘Alright, Zecora is somewhat safe, no predator will get to her. Now I just need some liquid lifeforce.’ Twilight thought.

The soul is a complex thing, and to date, nopony in Equestria really knew what it was or how it looked like. The only thing researchers knew for sure was that a soul let a pony pass on to the afterlife and that it held a pony’s essence, but everything else was a mystery. However, there were several theories, and the leading one postulated that the soul was split into an outer shell and a core. The outer layers were composed of lifeforce, the physical soul, and they shielded the core: the spiritual soul.

It made sense, after all, several creatures could live without lifeforce, but none could live without their spiritual essence. Since the spiritual side was responsible for mana, and Zecorra was leaking it uncontrollably, Twilight could only come to the conclusion that she had breached the outer layers. If she could give Zecora an infusion of lifeforce then she'd contain Zecora's soul’s core, healing her. There was of course the thought that she had mangled her inner soul, but that simply wasn’t possible. A damaged outer layer could probably be fixed, but to mangle her inner soul would be to mangle her very essence. It would destroy everything Zecora was, it would be worse than killing her, and she did not kill Zecora. Zecora simply needed healing, this was a problem that could be fixed. She had a plan.

The problem was locating the necessary lifeforce. Twilight couldn’t use her own because then she’d be reduced to a feral monster, and would just hurt Zecora again. She needed a timberwolf, whose heart roots were brimming with it. However, tracking them was hard even with spells and she couldn’t gamble any mana now, she would need her strength to take the timberwolves down, and then to heal Zecora. However, there was one nest that she knew of, quite close to Applejack's orchard. She studied it occasionally. But to get there she’d need to trek across tens of kilometers of forest.

‘That’s several hours at least...’ But she had no choice. She took a final sip of water and got ready, shaking off the water that clung to her muzzle. Now, with her adrenaline spent she wouldn’t dare to jump over the river, and with her wings damaged she couldn’t fly either. Just before she tried to find a place to cross the river she heard a loud boom, and for a second the night was lit up by a prismatic wave high in the sky, expanding in all directions. The sound could almost be felt.

“Rainbow dash…” Twilight whispered and stared before turning back to the forest, she had other things to worry about. She disappeared into the growing thickets, determined to finish the long journey as fast as possible.

The clock was ticking.

The cold, humid wind lashed against Twilight’s cheeks, penetrating her hard skin as she climbed to the top of a hill that looked out on the forest. She had to take a breather before she continued, she had been trekking, nearly running, through the dark forest for several hours and she needed to rest before tackling the nest. The fire came to her periodically through the run, and she was still feeling the cold numbness it left behind. As she stopped and her eyes adjusted to the unobstructed moonlight she got a full view of the aftermath of her battle with Zecora.

To call what happened to Zecora's house “catastrophic” wouldn’t do it justice. The column of smoke rising from the forest was as thick and tall as a stormcloud, but as if that wasn’t enough it was constantly changing color and blending patterns together, like a deadly kaleidoscope. At times the outer layers would swell and burst like zits, sending magic flying through the air, the emissions being clearly heard even from the distant hill.

Swarming around the column were two dozen pegasi, with new volunteers regularly arriving, their bodies only being seen at this distance due to the colorful trails they left behind. Already they had formed a weak pseudo tornado that helped to contain the threat, but it couldn’t last and it was just a delaying tactic so that the professional weather team had time to wrangle the Everfree weather into rain.

‘You caused this Twilight.’ She thought, and despite the wave of guilt that hit her she didn’t move, didn’t shift about. She had been overexposed to it today, and by now the only thing she felt was a vague sense of discomfort.

She turned away, having gotten as much rest as she could allow herself and crested the small hill, putting her into striking distance of the timberwolf nest. The distant fire and the sonic rainboom had set them on edge, and six hunters were patrolling outside their cave. Immediately they turned to look at Twilight, who could only stop and stare back. She had chosen specifically this angle due to the Timberwolves usually scouting the treeline, which would let her sneak up on them. Then she realized what had set them off and dragged her right forehoof across the other.

“Blood.” She muttered, looking at the green smear on her hoof.

The wolves began etching forward, keeping low to the ground. Two wolves split off the main group, moving to flank Twilight. Twilight tensed and called forth her magical reserves and the wolves moved back in response, intent on getting away from whatever Twilight was casting. But the wolves weren’t fast enough. Around her body, a green shield materialized, and a ringing resounded as the shield rapidly thickened into several layers, growing inward. Just as quickly as it had thickened the shield burst. Shimmering chunks flew in all directions around Twilight as the hill and the Timberwolves were pelted by short-lived magical shrapnel. It barely even dented them before it harmlessly fizzled out, but it did distract them long enough so that when they looked back the changeling was gone.

While the wolves were still shocked Twilight ran down the hill and towards the cave, putting as much distance between herself and the timberwolves as she could. Her mind flickered through several possible new plans and discarded them just as quickly, before finally settling on one. Behind her angered snarls emerged, and she pushed her muscles to the very brink. With one last stretch, she was finally off the hill and right in front of the cave.

Thanks to her night vision she could see the insides, as well as its inhabitants. The two guardian timberwolves within rose in defense of their four young, glaring at the intruder. These were much larger than the hunters, as tall as two ponies standing on top of each other. They bared their fangs, green fumes emerging from their maws. Bark ground against bark as they settled into a fighting stance. Behind them, the scared pups huddled together close to the cave wall.

Twilight fired off two high-powered missiles as she charged straight into the cave. The first hit its target square in the center of mass, throwing the giant wolf into the air as it yelped in shock and splinters erupted from the collision zone. The other projectile wasn’t even close to hitting, and the wolf that it was meant for took the opportunity to get ready to brutally retaliate against its foe. But it didn’t expect what happened next.

Instead of pushing her advantage, instead of firing off more spells, Twilight threw herself into the pups. They yelped and tried to flee, but they couldn’t prevent Twilight from grabbing a hold of one of them. She held tight onto it even as the sharp, malformed branches threatened to pierce her hardened skin. The other pups scattered, running back towards the opening of the cave and putting the two guardians between them and Twilight. The guardian that had gotten hit stopped its recovery as it realized what had happened.

For a single second everyone in the cave was staring at Twilight. The guardians in shock, the newly arrived hunters in confusion, and the pups in utter terror. Twilight looked back for a second, then she disappeared in a green flash.

Flash. She was a distance away from the cave, bramble scraping against her back. Howls erupted from the cave.

Flash. A trail of rainbow passed far overhead, and Twilight nearly screamed as she cast the spell again.

Flash. A darker section of the forest. Flash. She nearly slid down the wet rock under her into a fast river. Flash. The sounds of some scurrying creatures as they fled from the burst of magic.

Flash. Twilight was gasping for breath, laying drained on the forest floor as everything but the damned ringing in her ears was muted to her. Something was squirming in her forehooves. She tightened her grip and ignored the pain. She closed her eyes, focused her breathing, and cast the final teleportation spell.

The squirming ceased as what was in her hooves escaped. But Twilight didn’t care, she felt the grainy rock beneath her. She was finally in the cave, she had made it.

Twilight sat up, clutching her head with one hoof as everything around her shifted from blurry to painfully detailed. She saw Zecora lying face-up on the rock, next to the overturned stretcher, looking almost completely dessicated. Twilight could still sense sparks of mana occasionally radiating from her.

And further… the pup. It was staring off into the forest, but it kept its distance from the ledge, unwilling to risk falling. It shivered, and weakly barked into the night. Twilight looked at it, it was an innocent creature, it had just been born and despite being a predator it wasn’t a cruel creature. She had been the one to convince Applejack to let the timberwolf nest be, she had helped Fluttershy take care of several pups, and she had studied the Timberwolves on multiple occasions. She knew them, she knew they were intelligent creatures, just as much as her owlowiscious.

Could she do it? Could she kill an innocent, intelligent creature?

She hoisted herself up on her hooves and managed to momentarily stabilize herself. The sound of carapace against rock rang through the small cave, and the pup turned around. It lowered its back and tried to move as far away from the changeling as possible without stepping over the ledge, almost as if backing itself into an invisible wall. Its glowing green eyes stared at her blue.

She hobbled over, trying her hardest to keep herself on her hooves. And step, by step, by step, by step she got closer. She looked over at Zecora, at the dying Zebra, one of her friends. At a friend that was only suffering like this because of her. At a helpful individual, a fellow researcher, and a dependable friend. With a growing grimace and a deep sense of betrayal of Celestia, of her lessons, of Equestria, and of herself she realized a terrible truth.

She could.

She gripped several of the twigs comprising the body of the pup with her magic. She couldn’t keep her eyes open for what came next.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

She pulled each twig in separate directions as the magic of the young timberwolf gave way and the heart root fell to the floor along with the rest of the Timberwolf’s former body. Fluttershy had told her it was the most painless way to euthanize a timberwolf. She had been very quiet when telling her that. Being a caretaker wasn’t easy.

Everything after the pile of wood hit the floor was muted, distant, as if happening in a distant dream.

Twilight scrubbed Zecora's wounds clean with her magic. She tried to make it as painless as possible, but she kept losing focus, and when she returned she often found that she had gripped a bit too hard.

She brought the heart over, watching it as it rose from the pile of wood and floated over to her. The texture was almost unnatural, too smooth and pristine to be anything mundane. She cracked it open, careful not to spill the green fluorescent fluid inside. She stopped herself from tasting it, Zecora needed it more.

She first spread the liquid across Zecora’s wounds, and then moved on to generally rub it onto her body. Lifeforce was like that, it wanted to bond with that which was alive. It would have been more effective to have Zecora drink it, but she couldn’t risk it with Zecora's state.

Zecora was about halfway smeared when Twilight looked back into the heart, and a familiar hunger started to make itself known as she observed the nourishing ambrosia. Almost without thinking she brought it to her mouth and began to drink with the intensity of somepony lost in a desert.

Zecora not getting the lifeforce was bad, Twilight going feral again was even worse, and the taste was just too good, too sating. Still, she understood that she couldn’t let herself drink it all, and she willed herself to stop, dragging the heart away. It had only been a second, yet most of the heart was now empty. She spread the last of the liquid across Zecora in defeat. Zecora needed more lifeforce if Twilight didn’t want the cure to be a gamble. But she didn’t have enough energy to hunt another timberwolf, and not nearly enough strength to kill again.

Twilight looked at Zecora. Magic was still flying off her, and even if this worked she would be leaking mana for a few more hours while the lifeforce was absorbed by her soul. By all rights she should have given her better care, she should have used a healing spell on her, she should have properly disinfected her wounds. But she was spent. There was nothing more she could do.

Twilight looked at her with hollow eyes, and after in delirium muttering out “Come on Zecora.” she let magical exhaustion claim her. Twilight fell, landing unconscious next to Zecora and the empty heart.

Outside the cave the Pegasi had finally managed to create rain, which was slowly but surely quelling the burning column just as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this an anthology?

[Starlight Nova]

10900096
Don't you hate it when your comments don't get a response?

[Shitbewackyo]

11039329
No, it's a continuous story.

[Cyana Flame]