Twilight floated. She floated in a seemingly never ending void. She could no longer feel her limbs, and she felt as if she was just barely holding on.
What was she holding onto? She couldn’t remember. All that was left for her in her shattered mind was just bits and pieces of broken memories.
Did she even want to remember? It... it hurt.
She cringed a bit as she floated, pulling her limbs in closer to herself as she shook her head softly.
She didn’t want it to hurt.
She wanted it to stop.
Maybe if she... just let go...
It would end.
Celestia sat down heavily, looking down at the report that the doctor had given her less than an hour ago. She already knew what it said by heart, but it offered a small glimmer of hope. Somehow, miraculously, Twilight’s condition had stabilized. The Princess of the Sun knew that her student was in critical condition still, but she wasn’t getting worse.
She gave a small smile at that before letting out a sigh. There was still a long way to go.
She was disrupted from her musings by her door opening, a familiar dark blue mare walking in slowly.
“Sister,” Celestia greeted, forcing herself to bring another smile to her face.
“Celestia,” Luna replied, giving a courteous nod as she walked into the room and sat herself down next to her sister. “How fare thee?”
Celestia shook her head, before answering honestly. “I don’t know, Luna. I’m hoping for the best... but I know that I must prepare for the worst.”
Luna leaned against her sister comfortingly. “I know,” she said softly, “but I’m here for you now. Never forget that.”
Celestia gave a true smile at that. “I suppose I can’t forget it with you here to remind me,” she said, lightening the mood a bit.
Luna chuckled a bit, before nuzzling her sister once more and getting serious.
“Sister, I didn’t come up here just to see how you were doing. I came up to tell you what I plan to do,” she said slowly, changing the subject suddenly.
Celestia looked down at her sister with guarded curiosity.
Luna explained herself. “Sister, while I may not be able to dreamwalk with the Changelings, Twilight Sparkle was-... is... a pony; I can still sense her, dreaming in her coma. She was not strong enough for me to enter before, but it seems she has gotten some of her strength back,” she said before pausing to gauge her sister’s reaction.
Celestia wore a guarded expression, but Luna knew her sister well.
“I... do not know if I will be able to talk to her, but this will at least give us some idea of what she’s thinking about. If nothing else, I can try to manipulate away the bad memories and bring the good ones to the forefront of her dream,” Luna said, taking a breath. “I can remind her that her friends care for her,” she added.
Celestia nodded slowly, thinking. The silence stretched on for a bit before Luna found herself embraced in a hug.
“Thank you,” Celestia said, her façade breaking for a bit as she hugged the smaller Alicorn.
Luna jumped a bit at the sudden hug, before relaxing and hugging her back. “She is my friend too,” Luna gently reminded Celestia.
Celestia chuckled a bit, holding the hug. “Yes, yes she is.”
Twilight floated on. It was cold. So very cold.
She shivered in the dark.
It had been warmer earlier, hadn’t it? A brief moment of warmth among the cold.
She had liked the warmth.
Where had it gone?
She shivered again slightly, before she felt warm again.
She stopped thinking for a moment, before she did something she hadn’t done in a while.
Twilight Sparkle smiled.
Luna walked into the medical ward that was holding Twilight, startling the Doctor that was in there looking at a clipboard. Looking up, the doctor’s eyes went wide and he hurriedly hung up it back on the bed and nodded his head respectfully towards the Princess.
“Doctor Haywick,” Luna replied with a nod of her own.
“What brings you here, Princess Luna?” he asked, before looking back at Twilight. “On second thought, I might know the answer.”
She smiled sadly. “Indeed, Doctor,” She said, before pausing as a vibrant blue caught her eye from the corner of the room. “Loyalty?” Luna seemed confused seeing the pegasus on the other side of the room. “What is she doing here?”
Haywick chuckled at that as he nodded. “She’s certainly living up to her element, Princess. After Twilight... went into cardiac arrest and quite literally died for a minute, and Dash has refused to leave her side, only doing so when her other friends come to drag her away for food,” he said with a hint of cheeriness at the last part, although frowning thereafter at the mention of the earlier incident.
There was silence for a moment before Dash snored softly, causing Luna to give a small smile before she looked up at Doctor Haywick and spoke. “Look, Doctor, she is smiling!” Luna exclaimed as soon as she witnessed Twilight’s smile. It bought a moment of joy into the Princesses’ heart to see her smile, knowing Twilight had something worth smiling about.
Haywick shook his head. “Princess Luna, she’s in a coma, she can’t,” he stated, before looking at her and raising an eyebrow. “Or... she can!” he said, a mixture of dumbfoundedness and surprise written across his face.
He shook his head. “I really shouldn’t be trying to apply regular medical practices to this particular case. Nothing about this is normal,” he muttered, before speaking louder to the clearly bemused princess. “Yes, well. That is most likely a good sign. If I had to guess, and I am completely guessing here, I would say that she’s probably responding to some internal stimuli. Which is good, because it shows she’s having higher brain functions.”
Luna gave him a quizzical look, tilting her head to the side slightly.
“It shows she is dreaming,” the doctor simplified. “Probably.”
Luna turned away from the good doctor and smiled again. “Of course she is, Doctor Haywick. Why would the sleeping not dream?” Luna quizzed.
Haywick thought about that question. “I... honestly wouldn’t know, Princess.” He answered. “We just assumed that those in coma’s don’t.”
“And, no one has thought to ask me, the princess that can dreamwalk?”
Haywick opened his mouth to respond, before closing it it with a shrug. “I didn’t really think to come to you to ask if our patients dream while comatose,” he said, giving a sheepish smile.
Princess Luna smiled back. “Relax, Doctor; I am merely teasing,” Luna said with a sly grin before her smile dropped a bit. “Do you have any idea of her mental state, Doctor?” she tentatively asked, looking back at Twilight whose smile had slipped a bit.
“Unfortunately no. Her smiling right there was the most emotion we’ve seen from her since she’s been admitted,” he said, rubbing the back of his head as he thought. “But from what I’ve heard — just rumors mind you — she’s literally been to hell and back. No one can go through that and be okay in the end. Twilight should be fine physically, but then again the mental anguish she’s had to endure at the clutches of Chrysalis… She might need extensive mental therapy. When she wakes up I’ll send in a psychologist to gauge her mental state when appropriate.”
The dark blue alicorn nodded slowly before breaking the silence that threatened to fall across the room. “Doctor Haywick, I am going to attempt to dreamwalk,” she started, “I have no idea how Twilight will react to my presence; I have never done this in this sort of situation before,” she explained.
Haywick nodded before speaking up. “If she were to have an adverse reaction, would there be any way for me to stop you?”
Luna nodded in affirmation. “Yes, all you would have to do is just shake me awake.”
Haywick nodded, biting his lip for a moment. “Okay, Princess. I’m going to have to trust your knowledge in this one.”
“It is not misplaced, Doctor.” Luna said before taking a deep breath, her horn lighting up with a soft light blue aura. “Although you would have more confidence had you consulted me about your comatose patients in regards to dreaming. I will be a while, Doctor Haywick. You might wish to find a seat.” Luna closed her eyes, the glow on her horn intensifying with the act. With that, Princess Luna became still, the only movement of her body, now, was her breathing.
Haywick nodded to himself, watching the Princess for a moment before smiling softly. “Right. Chair.” He said to himself, before leaving to go find one quickly.
Princess Luna opened her eyes in Twilight’s dreamscape, prepared to see a broken landscape appear before her. What she saw instead surprised her.
There were no nightmares for her to ward off.
There were no memories playing through Twilight’s mind.
In fact, as far as Luna could tell, there was nothing at all on Twilight’s mind.
Luna had never, in all of her time as protector of dreams, seen this before.
It worried her.
She flapped her wings, moving around in the inky mindscape, keeping an eye out for anything that contrasted. For a while she just traveled in one way, nothing ever changing in the bleak mindscape until something strange caught her eye.
There, as a slight glimmer on the horizon, was Twilight.
Luna gasped, flapping her wings quickly to speed herself up. She flew towards her friend, until she had to stop as dread filled her heart.
Twilight Sparkle was gray.
Oh God, not Gray!! Everything but GRAY!!
I'm kidding, I'm too excited about what's happening next!!
Well done and Keep up the good job
How have I not found this story before? This is great!
Pretty good.
WTF Twilight.
Everybody knows you never go full gray!
Oh great, now Discord's in her mind making her emo again.
Twilight needs 500cc's of whisky, STAT!!
Nothing like a depressant to chase the blues.. or greys... away!
were the hell is discord in all this?
5546429 Actually; Twilights parents are not named in the show. They are both named in the collectible card game. Her mother, Twilight Velvet, is only named in merchandising and in the mobile game. In the game her father is referred to as "Twilight's dad", though their in-game house is called "Night Light Book Binding House". Thus Night Light. Twilight's dads design is also based on a G1 pony called Nachtlicht (German for Night Light).
Click here.
So you can't blame someone for not knowing their names. Not everyone buys merchandise AND collects the cards AND plays the mobile game AND knows about G3 AND visits the wiki (I just visit the wiki). Most people just watch the show and forgets about the rest.
So don't get your panties in a bunch.
5546655 My theory is that since discord was the one who created the changelings, and Twi has become a changeling(part changeling). It affects her mind/emotions/personality the same way it did when she first met Discord bringing her into a state of depression so she can have the mentality of a changeling (maybe even have the need to sustain herself with love because of that).
So Discord isn't in this story per se but the consequences of what he did long ago are.
5546429
Sorry Admiral Q, I hadn't realized. I'll probably go back and edit it in later~
5546607
Haha, Twi's going to need a stiff drink before this is all over.
Grey Twilight in an empty dreamscape? Now, this will be interesting...
discorded? maybe? just throwing random particles into the black hole here.
Nothing a fresh coat of paint can't fix
Gray huh? I'm interested.
5606465
There was a green flash that lit up the fog outside the library that was housed inside a tree :P
EDIT: I'm actually working on a side project that will rewrite chapters and add stuff in that'll make the story clearer/better overall.
Nice chapter! I'm guessing you're going with "being grey" not being something specifically Discord related, but rather a symptom of what he did back then, seeing as i he isn't in the story (as far as i know, based on the character tags); I'm interested in seeing what the significance of being grey is.
5608381
Haha, hey Moss. I was wondering if I'd see you comment~
And, to tell the truth, it's more to do that she's lost her spirit, much like in the discord episode. You guys got Discord right, but got the wrong timeframe with him.
5608499
Mkay.
This is an excellent story so far. I'm really looking forward to that next chapter. Keep up the good work.
hi need more, story is decent but could be better just some small things
1) flesh it out more it feels to me like a scratched dvd in whole scenes are missing, its tagged sad but you are just barley tugging at the strings to get the tears flowing.
2)My god get some oil for your dialogue, It is so stiff and wooden it feels like listening to two robots talking to each other.
3)Think about what you are having characters do in your story try and make it realistic eg: you had shining armour who had just found out that his sister was missing drop everything stop by and give a two sentence explanation to the girls that celestia could of given instead of continuing with trying to find his sister.
all in all the story is decent not great but not bad, If i was you i would finish it (because it would be a crime not to) get some more experience under your belt and then re write it realy this story should be closer to 50,000 words by now
Ok, i think I have waited long enough to say this: Please update
6118594
Soon
6123738
Good to hear. Given the number of fics I follow that have been slapped with the dreaded "Canceled" tag, any sign of life is good news to me.
I don't like how the ponies keep talking about hell, how would they even know about hell? Shouldn't they be talking about Tartarus instead?
But did she see crosses grow on Anzio?