Still mortal, still alive

by Bluntie

A eventful morning

The still young rays of a rising sun streamed through an open window on the upper floor of a relatively small ancient building, casting a harsh yellowish light on the silhouette of a pony lying awkwardly in a nest of blankets and other fabrics. Despite the bright sunlight, Twilight dreamily peered out from her perch of colorful material to look out the window. You could hear the chirping of some birds nesting on the roofs of the surrounding houses. A long, soft yawn filled the room as Twilight stretched her limbs in all directions.

Once again, she stayed up late into the night, reading books on various subjects and taking notes in bed. The evidence for this was scattered all over the room. Half-written scrolls and broken quills lay scattered around her figure, tangled on the floor and untidily in her bed. Numerous inkblots stained her crumpled sheets and told her she had fallen asleep again while writing. The inkblots meant she would have to sneak into the laundry room again to scrub them out of the fabric.

"Great," she murmured, annoyed, to no one in particular.

Well, that was simply the price of studying late into the night. But, spoken in her defense, she had no other choice but to stay up late, at least if she wanted the opportunity to read any books without getting in trouble.

It wasn't that reading was forbidden in general, but it would raise the question of where she got all the books. As a child from an orphanage in the city's poor district, even the ability to read was unusual. If someone caught her holding a book in her hoofs, even more, a new and well-cared-for one, she would have to explain how she could put her hooves on it and where it came from. If the truth came out about how she snuck over the stone wall in the fourth adjacent district to steal from the old closed library there, her days of late-night reading would be over very quickly. It's actually a miracle that Twilight discovered her passion for reading and learning at all. People who are so poor only sometimes have the opportunity to look into a book. Here they try to prepare the foals for more "practical" work and regard books as a pure luxury.

She shook her sleepy head awake and slowly unraveled herself from the self-made nest of old rags and blankets she seemed to have made provisionally in her sleep. She was careful about this in an ongoing attempt to remain quiet and not wake anyone in the house, but as she stretched extensively and looked out the window at the sky, a sudden sense of panic spread through her mind. If she remembered the date correctly and the sun was already this high in the sky, that could mean only one thing—oh no. She had actually overslept.

Without another thought to remain as quiet and unnoticed as possible, as she had tried to do earlier, she raced through her admittedly small and sporadically furnished room, tucking all sorts of empty scrolls and books hidden under the bed into a small canvas bag. Hopefully, no one at the orphanage would dare try to stop her and look in there.

Next, she reached onto the small wooden stool beside the bed and grabbed her carefully folded clothes, which she had put there the day before. A pair of tight black pants, made of a material unknown to her, and a lavender shirt, apparently made of linen. In a ridiculous pose, she hastily pulled the pants over her hind legs, the loose-fitting shirt over her Unkempt hair, and finally, over her up-to-now naked body. It was not unusual to walk around naked. Instead, the opposite was true. However, it had become customary to dress accordingly on special occasions to clarify that it was not commonplace.

Twilight always felt like someone else when she put on her clothes. Like someone who didn't belong in a place like this orphanage. Like she was someone important. A thought that others would probably smile at best and scold at worst. Reality always caught up with Twilight in the end. She was no one special. These few rags were nothing more than a mask. A lie you put on to make others feel less bad for you in their presence.

Her clothes were among the End Twi's most valuable possessions, at least in pure monetary value. Nobles always see this as an excellent opportunity to polish their image thoroughly and donate their no longer usable possessions to poor orphanages in the region. As it happens, every noble in the kingdom thinks their old, worn-out clothes would make a perfect donation.

And so it came to pass that every orphan in the orphanage, and probably in every other similar institution, was furnished with more or less fine textiles. Those nobles had no books or anything like that to give away was, of course, obvious. Who needs something like education?

As soon as Twilight was ready and had gathered all her necessary utensils, she vigorously tugged open the decayed wooden door of her room. The faint morning light streaming through the narrow windows of the upstairs hallway cast long shadows in her path as she stormed down the monotonous corridor. Each of her steps made the dusty floor creak as she reached the stairs in record time.

When she ran down the steps, skipping every other one in an ongoing attempt to move faster, she nearly toppled over due to her admittedly small stature. From a distance, the scene must have looked ridiculous. With each of her jumps, the old wood of the stairs protested with an almost unbelievably loud creaking, as if the steps wanted to draw extra attention to their dilapidated state.

Swirls of dust danced in the rays of light that crept in through the broken windows as Twilight continued her way down.

The warm morning light that poured in through the large gates at the end of the hallway drew bright paths across the cool stone floor, making the otherwise plain walls shine in an unusual glow for the facility.

Unfortunately, once on the first floor, she didn't get twenty feet before a rough and familiar hoof grabbed her by the shoulder and slowed her down. "Wow, what's the hurry today? Otherwise, at least in the morning, we'll be spared from you," an arrogant voice next to her mocked.

Twilight's muscles tensed instinctively, and she whirled around to face the source of the mocking voice, only to meet the cheeky grin of Silver Gleam. He was towering over her, his broad shoulders blocking the light. He was three years older and at least a head taller than her. The difference in stature was only emphasized by the fact that he was solidly built.

"Dressed to impress, aren't we? It looks as though you have something important going on," he said, stepping closer to her with a confidence that filled the space around them. His unwavering grin never left his face.

She took a hesitant step back, deliberately increasing the distance between them, and put on a tentative brave grin, but the subtle quiver in her gaze pierced through the facade. "Oh, nothing really important," she stammered, barely hiding her urge to flee. "I just wanted to take a walk. I'm already leaving," she added, her voice trailing off, "and won't bother you further." She spun around, her hooves barely touching the ground, as she attempted to exit the foyer as quickly as possible and resume her hurried sprint through the city to her destination. Yet, before Twilight could start running, she was grabbed roughly by the same hoof on her shoulder, pulling her back with force. Her heart sank as the realization hit her; there was no easy escape from this confrontation.

Hold on a minute," he started. "Believe me, nothing would make me happier than for you to go away for a while." he let his words hang in the air as if it was a complete statement. "But come on, you're not seriously going to tell me you got all dressed up just for a little walk," his grin widened even more. "Besides, don't think I didn't notice the bag you're clutching so tightly. So, what are you hiding?" he teased, his voice dripping with mock concern.

Twilight felt a knot form in her stomach, her grip on the bag tightening reflexively. She fought to keep her expression neutral, aware that any sign of weakness would only encourage him.

"I... uh..." Twilight stammered. Her voice barely escaped her throat. Her breath hitched, and her heart hammered incessantly in her chest, echoing like thunder in her ears. She knew what he was up to. Silver didn't like her. That was no secret. He was always looking for a way to make her day difficult. Truth be told, Twilight didn't care what he or anyone else thought of her. She had long ago dismissed the significance of others' opinions, focusing on the worlds hidden within her treasured books, far from the scornful glances and whispered judgments.

In the eyes of the others, she was already written off anyway. She was an anomaly. This one dissonant note that didn't fit in with the rest of the harmonic symphony. The freak. A label forced upon her by those who couldn't or wouldn't look past her quirks. But who needs the recognition of others? They only distracted from the essentials anyway.

However, Silver Gleam's mockery cut deeper and proved far more invasive. He had taken every opportunity to make her six years in the orphanage as unbearable as possible. In one instance, Twilight ran through the echoing corridors, her heart pounding as Silver's menacing hoofsteps caught up with her. The chase ended at the old laundry room, where he mercilessly plunged her into a vat of icy, soapy water, holding her down until her frantic struggles ceased.

On another grim occasion, Silver confined her to a suffocating closet, its air thick with mustiness, leaving her imprisoned for the whole night. Or the other time, he had chased her onto the orphanage's roof, where he threatened to push her off. Silver probably would have done it too, but it had occurred to even a brute like Silver that he wouldn't get away with it unnoticed and had left it at, scaring Twilight with the prospect of the fall. He was never punished for his numerous misdeeds.

The house's matron was seldom seen and didn't care much for her protégés anyway, so Silver had been given many opportunities to bully Twilight in any way he could. But probably the cruelest thing he had ever done to her occurred a few months ago on her sixth birthday.

Twilight looked up at Silver. The disgustingly twisted grin on his face resembled a caricature. She could feel the bile rising slowly within her. His gaze and the proud manner in which he towered over her stirred up some painful memories—memories she had tried to bury deep in her thoughts and forget.

As she closed her eyes, the harsh reality of the orphanage's foyer faded, replaced with the scene from a small wooden chamber in which Twilight was hiding.

Author's Note:

Here is a new chapter. It was originally planned to be one long chapter, but I decided to split it into 3 parts for a better narrative structure. The next chapter should be published tomorrow. With bad luck sometime next week.
The next chapter is almost finished.

Otherwise feel free to write me your opinion, thoughts and suggestions for improvement English is not my first language and I'm still a beginner, so feedback on the language and narrative is welcome.

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

Twilight is going to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, is she?

11856746
Also does Twilight become an Alicorn before or after she dies. (Assuming she gets reserected or something after she dies from the first chapter because I highly doubt the story ends with Twilight dying, and if it does, well, that's horrible writing.)

Also how come whenever there's a story where Twilight is an orphan she gets bullied? There is one story where Celestia adopts Twilight after she took the exam and hatched the dragon and it mentions Twilight got bullied, only difference was someone was actually defending her which was one of the workers at the orphanage.

Actually now that I think about it, this might be the only other story where Twilight gets bullied at an orphanage.

Most stories doesn't go into much detail about what happened at the orphanage with Twilight.

In fact all stories actually start off with Twilight being in an orphanage for 1 chapter and than she instantly gets adopted around age 5-12.

Oh yeah, I also checked "Twilight of the Royal Family" group and the chances of Twilight getting adopted by Celestia is low, either the Author hasn't added there story to the group or it doesn't happen.

So if she does get adopted, I am absolutely unsure who it is. But I'll keep checking for hints on what the plot of this story is about.

To be honest this is kinda fun finding out what's going to happen to the story before it actually happens. Of course I'm not gonna spoil it for anyone else, unless of course people want me to. (With spoilers of course)

Oh and another thing, I'm also glad your keeping the chapters under 2000 words, makes me motivated to read more because I don't like to read stories where Twilight dies with each chapter being an infuriating 10,000 words each. It's also the reason why im trying to figure out if Twilight does become an Alicorn and if Twilight does in fact gets revived because Twilight is my favorite fictional character not just from the show but from the entire Internet therefore I don't like knowing that Twilight is going to die to begin with.

Also great chapter.

[Bluntie]

11876345
Yes Twilight is on her way to Celestia's school... I don't think I'm spoiling anything for anyone by admitting this now.

Whether Twilight becomes an alicorn before or after her death you'll probably only see in the course of the story. I'm already annoyed that everyone knows she's going to be an alicorn because I put the story in the group...

You have to let me make a few revelations.

I must briefly mention that the orphanage and Silver play a role in more than just the first chapter.

I won't tell you yet whether Twilight will be adopted and by whom.

But I don't think I even knew about the "Twilight of the Royal Family" group... so...

And make up as many theories as you like. I like to do that when I read other people's stories.

And Twilight is also my favorite character. One of the reasons why I write a story with her as the main character. It can happen that the chapters get a bit longer in the future, I usually try to set the chapter boundaries sensibly so that they fit the narrative.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11876358
Oh I'll make a ton of theories, I make theories for alot of incomplete stories like these, especially ones that are interesting.

Though I do have one quastion, does this story take place in a Alt universe or a different timeline? For example did everything from the show happen up to the point where Twilight was born? Because it mentioned Twilight was in the orphanage for 6 years and her age is 6 which either means her parents died or they abandoned her and just put her in an orphanage.

But I'm also curious if Shining Armor or Cadance exists, if they don't exist than that means this story takes place in a Alt universe.

[Bluntie]

11876361
different universe fits better. Shining Armor and Cadance exist, but are slightly different from the ones in the show. Cadance is not an alicorn and Shining is not related to Twilight.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11876364
Hmm

Either means Shining Armor was born in a different family or Twilight's parents aren't Nightlight and Twilight Velvet which could explain why she looks different in the story cover. Although cutie mark is still the same so I'm going to guess everything at the exam plays out the same.

Wait.... Twilight dies at 18. Twilight's cutie mark is the element of magic. If she's 18 and is the element of magic and is dead than that means.... Who's going to stop Nightmare Moon? Or discord? WAIT A MINUTE! Unless they don't exist? Or maybe they don't come back at around the time they do in the show, unless Twilight wasn't born 18 years before the Summer Sun Celebration and was born before than.

Well at this point I'm never going to run out of theories, well until the story ends but I doubt that will be anytime soon. I think I just got myself more motivated to read this story!

Though I do have theories how Twilight dies in the first place and where she died, but not enough evidence to know I atleast have a 70% chance of being correct, so I won't say anything yet.

[Bluntie]

11876370
Some of the things you mentioned in the comment are actually important details, even if I won't tell you why or which ones exactly.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11876378
Oh I do know something else that may or may not make you just as upset as me knowing Twilight becoming an Alicorn.

I've noticed that in the "Badass Twilight = Total Domination" group, your story is under the sections "good," "pissed," and "evil". I actually just found this out after posting my last reply.

With this information I'm going to guess Twilight does not become the personal student of Celestia and if it does things are not going to be all that great.

Oh and I also saw the story under the section "Misguided/Redemption" which probably confirms some of my earlier theories I haven't said earlier but I'm still not over 70% sure.

But with this information I'm going to guess something happens later on in the story (most likely the next couple of chapters) that causes Twilight to become "evil" but eventually "good". And my theory is that it probably starts at the exam of Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, if it hasn't happened already with whatever happens in the next chapter.

To be honest I am not that excited for the next chapter, mainly because I kinda already know what's going to be happening in a bad way, probably some bullying. Hopefully the other chapters are better but if my theories are correct, well.. Twilight is going to have a horrible life, worst than her life at the orphanage.

Although I don't see why Celestia wouldn't take Twilight as her student, considering if her cutie mark is the element of magic, Celestia would be desperate getting her sister back and Twilight's cutie mark would already seal the destiny that Twilight is in fact going to be bearing the element of magic and would be the only one of 6 who could bring Luna back.

Plus if the 6 pointed starburst has the 5 white smaller stars surrounding it, that also means her destiny is with the other element bearer's.

The more I'm typing, the less I'm unsure if my theory is correct because now that I think about it there would be no absolute reason why Celestia wouldn't take Twilight as her student if her cutie mark was the element of magic.

Which would mean something doesn't happen until later on in the story.... Hmmm. Damn, now I'm confused. The only explanation I could think of is either 1.) Twilight does not get her cutie mark at the exam but later in time or 2.) Twilight does become the student of Celestia but certain events Happen in time causing her to be "evil". But I don't know how that would be possible since being the student of Princess Celestia would basically be the best thing to happen to her. Unless it's Celestia herself that's the problem...

Wait, if this story is in other groups besides groups feature Twilight, I wonder what would happen if I searched other groups that doesn't involve Twilight. More research!

(Edit: I didn't find anything) I'm starting to wish you could see every group a story is in, it would make me so happy and my life so much easier just to find out what happens in this story.

[Bluntie]

11876521
I have to admit, the "evil" folder doesn't fit at all anymore (as I said, I've revised the story a lot). But good and pissed still fit very well.

You're right, the next chapters will be a bit darker. Chapter 3 will be a bit more exciting. Chapter 4 then becomes the entrance exam, which in this story consists of several parts.

I don't think Twilight's life will be quite as bad as you imagine, but a peaceful life looks different. You might want to read the description of the story again. I also revised and adapted it today.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11876538
Oh...

That actually explains a lot, and now I see the first chapter in a different light. And with this information I think I might have found out where Twilight has died.

99% sure that its at Canterlot, 80% sure that its within the castle, 75% sure it's within the dungeons. And Celestia might have something to do with her death or something else entirely.

Also does these strange dreams involve Nightmares Moon since I just saw her being added to the tags?

Also is her biological mother Nightmare Moon/Luna?

Also with chapter 3 being exciting, I'm probably not gonna read chapter 2 until chapter 3 comes out. But knowing me I'm probably gonna read it anyways.

Curse my over curious brain.

[ZanarNaryon]

Well twilight has it rough in this au, very curious about how we get from here to the prologue

[DarkSnowGaming]

11884451
Well if you know as much as I do, you would probably think that is the case.

In fact the more I find out about this story, which groups this story is in and the sections in those groups, the more I believe this to be the case.

I'm gonna go with second option.

Also for the Author, when is next chapter? Because I'm a little worried. And considering that it was said the next chapter would be released the day after the last chapter was released, I have a lot of patience, which is good because I would probably be a little upset.

That's probably an understatement.

Any update on the next chapter?

[Bluntie]

11886323
Everything is slightly delayed. I've been ill for a week now and haven't really gotten around to writing. The next chapter is finished, but because it is closely related to chapter 3, I really wanted to have both finished before I publish (otherwise I might change chapter 2 afterwards and that would be a shame). But don't worry, I'm sure I'll be able to finish it this week.

[0thefool]

11886323
Well, it all depends. If she survives then either by her own failsafe or by a quirk of being an Alicorn (e.g. in case of death, simply manifest a new body, regenerate, etc.)

[DarkSnowGaming]

11886634
Alright, also you should keep everyone updated posting blog posts, that's kinda why they are there. Lots of Authors don't and then people who have been reading the story wonder when the next chapter to the story is going to be added.

11886648
Now this one I'm completely unsure, but I would have to go with the second option slightly more as it would be more likely.

However there are other options, It could be simple resurrection. Maybe someone else saves her? Or she somehow saves herself.

Also if she did make a failsafe, I'm pretty sure that's just overkill as it would mean she just invented immortality. Not like I would be complaining.