Read Between the Lines

by TayLu

First published

After Twilight's Alicornation, Twilight wonders what these wings and crown truly mean. In her eyes, it becomes a curse...

After Twilight's Alicornation, Twilight wonders what these wings and crown truly mean. In her eyes, it becomes a curse. Given to her by a friend most dear...

[This was written before season 4]

Before

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The clock ticked and tocked as if nothing had changed, after all, it was just a Monday afternoon. It was the quiet life for Twilight Sparkle, and she liked it this way, so peaceful. So rarely did she ever have to do anything dangerous, like fight a corrupted princess. Or a dragon, or a swarm of invasive bugs, or a chaotic Draconequus, or a terrible disease, or a evil queen with a enormous army of minions, or maybe a evil king. Okay maybe she did, but always with friends!

All that aside, Twilight went back to her reading. It was one her favorite novels, she could always seem to relate. The mare was an introvert, and a few close friends. She was a unicorn, but specialized in greetings. You know, like the one's in cards. It was often humerus as the mare tried to be serious with her friends with friends and just fail. Twilight let out a chuckle.

That would be her last laugh.


Twilight jumped out of bed with a spring in her step. Her eyes were wide with excitement.That little thing of a urge to sing crawled up her throat and sprung in to the air. It came out of no where, with often rhyming words. "Morning in Ponyville shimmers! Morning in Ponyville shiiiIIIIIIiinnes! And I know for absolute certain, that everythng is perfectly fiiiiiiiiiine!" Her voice carried throughout Ponyville and that little urge was caught on everyponies' tongue and songs filled the small town.

Twilight felt beams of light hit her from all sides. It kind of tickled. The light engulfed her, she couldn't see. She felt herself become lighter, rise from the ground. A sound filled her ears before the shouts of her friends panicking. She wanted to struggle, but didn't. She closed her eyes and let herself go. And then, she was free. She felt different as if she had learned something incredible, she just didn't know what.

Twilight opened her eyes. pain shot through her eyelids. All she could do was open them in to a little slit. Pushing herself of the ground, Twilight looked around. At first she thought she was dreaming, all the blue swirls with green patterns did little to bring her to reality. The pain, of course, did. After such a long day, all Twilight wanted was to get some rest. She was sure that wasn't happening anytime soon.

Her eyes could now open more. Twilight took hold of the chance before it got away, should anything happen. Bolting upright, her senses sharpened to listen to the familiar clippty-clop of hooves. These steps sounded heavier than the average pony.

Even with her hazy eyes, Twilight could make out tall, slender, white mare with a long horn and a flowing mane. She had a bump on each side of her, which Twilight guessed to be wings. Princess Celestia! A flicker of hope sparked to life inside her. Celestia would help her! Get out of this place, and explain that this wasn't her going crazy.


Princess Celestia finished her song. Twilight was scared. All the thought of progressing in life was not a subject she like to dwell on. She was still a kid! But Celestia seemed to have other plans...

Twilight's thoughts were coming and going faster than RainbowDash in a race! What is Celestia taking about? Does she want me to become a teacher at her school? I'm to young and unqualified! Is she going to make me part of the government or royal family or something? I have no knowledge in that area other then the most common protocols of the princess, advisers, sentient, and what to do in the case of disagreement between members of the royal families! I'm already her pupil, what more could there be? Does she want me to be her spy? Or the new mayor of Ponyville?! I not fit for leadership!

All these thoughts froze as Twilight was lifted into the air. A new unpleasant sensation reached out to all her limbs. Light swirled around her. Her purple coat was now illuminated with a azure blue. The light encased her in a brilliant shell. Before any new worries could even arise, the sensation strengthened. Once again pain and agony stood dominant over her. It felt like she was being held up by her heart. Her body felt cold.

Something in her blood was changing. Twilight forced her eyes to look down. A horrifying sight was stuck to her brain. Her vain was bulging to an unnatural size. Instead of red or blue, her vain was green. Twilight tried to look away, put her strength was depleted. Just moving her eyes took far to much energy.

Twilight felt a little queasy. It became the lest of worries as two jabbing pains stabbed her right below her shoulders. She felt something growing, and growing fast. The pain was to much and Twilight just wanted to give up and faint, but her body wouldn't let her. She wanted to scream, yet no breath filled her lungs. Her ears were filled with the strange, gore-ish, sounds that came from her back could still hear that to no air flowed in or out through her nose or mouth. Twilight could feel her empty lungs, but it was as if her body forgot how to breathe.

Finally it ended. It was only a few seconds, but felt like hours...


After

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It all happened so quick. Twilight floated down in a pink star similar to her cutie mark. Her friends gawked over her and Celestia just told her she's a princess! Not only that, but the princess of her entire world bowed to her. Even after they all dispersed the shock shook within her.

Twilight walked back into the library. She sat down on it's sizzling wood floor. Wait- what?! Twilight whipped around to stare at the floor. There, was a large, still smoking, scorch mark. The memories flooded back to her. How her friends gathered in a circle as she fixed the spell. Her friends screaming as the elements fired to life. She realized now that that's where she stood before she was transported to, what Twilight called, the Celestial Plane.

" That's not going to fun to fix." Grumbled Twilight.

Though psychically drained of energy, her magic felt even stronger. Dreading the stairs, Twilight simply teleported to her bed. It felt softer... The pillows of never been so welcoming, nor has the comforter seemed so luxurious. Twilight snuggled under the blankets and felt the soft warmth sooth her aching body. Twilight closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.


No! Princess Celestia! Stop!"

" You are not fit to be a princess!"

" What are doing?! Stop!"

" Alicorns have one fatal spot! The HEART!"

" No.. please........

Celestia held above her a war axe stained with blood with her magic. She stood over Twilight with her front hooves holding down Twilight's front legs. Celestia's horn suddenly became brighter as her magic now held Twilight's neck, wings, mouth, and legs. At the very tip of Celestia's horn was a flaming bit of dark magic making Twilight's horn useless. Celestia leaned back, as the axe hid behind her. Twilight had just enough time to scream as the axe swung around heading for her chest. Twilight opened her mouth-

~~~

" AHHH!" Twilight shot up from her bed. Drenched in cold sweat she spun her head around to see what was happening. Nothing, absolutely nothing. It was all a dream, just nightmare. The amount of relief was more than all the parasprites that ever came into Ponyville. Twilight got out of bed and walked to her dresser. Her legs were tired, but not as bad as last night. She slowly walked down the stairs and through the doorway to the kitchen. Spike was already making pancakes, more specifically Chocolate Chip Starwberry Banana with Rainbow Sprinkles Super Awesome Pancake, her favorite.

" Good morning Spike." Said Twilight drowsily.

" Oh you're up!" Spike began turn around to face Twilight," I'm making your favorite pan- SWEET CELESTIA YOU HAVE WINGS!"

" Oh um yeah about that..."

" HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?!

" Spike! Please calm down! It was late you were asleep! I was tired-"

" NO! Did you maybe think that maybe it was worth waking me up to tell me that you are a FREAKING ALICORN?!"

" And a princess..."

" OH COME ON!"

"Spike please stop shout-"

" NO! I'm leaving I'm sure you still have to tell your friends- OH WAIT! I bet you already told them last night and had a bring ol' party without me! I hope you had LOT'S of fun!"

" Spike, that really hurt."

" I. DON'T. CARE!" Screamed Spike as he slammed the library door behind him. The whole library shook from the amount force Spike put into the door.

Tears started to form in Twilight's eyes. Soon tears were streaming down her face and fell to the floor. Twilight hadn't moved an inch after Spike left. A puddle had formed below her. Twilight's head hung so low she could she a distorted reflect in the the collection of tears she had created.

These wings were a curse.

3

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Twilight moaned as she lifted herself off her bed. The pillows were soaked with salty tears once again. Every night since Spike had left the house in rage, and has yet to appear, Twilight sobbed in her sleep. Sometimes the crying continued as she awoke.


*flashback*
Twilight's nose was runny and her supply of tissues were low. She gazes out the window, Looks like a trip to market in the rain for a good morning's start. she thought. Slowly putting one hoof in front of the other, Twilight awkwardly walked downstairs. Her legs felt weak, her neck was sore. Even her horn seemed to be a bit dimmer when she levitated her rain boots onto each hoof. When she looked to the coat rack to find her coat, a pain shot through her heart. The lower rack, Spikes, was empty. Fearing the worst, Twilight found some inner strength to run upstairs only to find more sorrow.

Spike had taken his blanket along with certain objects. Twilight dug through his drawer and noted what was now missing. The gem Rarity had given him, his suitcase, some parchment, and a few quills. This of course was not what hurt Twilight. It was that Spike had left a old locket that she had given him when they were young. It was gold and the locket itself was a simple oval. Inside was a picture of him as a baby. Another one was added later of him and Twilight together, it was taken quite recently. Twilight was sure that Spike was purposefully trying to hurt her now. He had left a note inside the locket that read:The Twilight I knew. ~Spike The picture had, of course, been taken before, when she was still a unicorn.


The misery from that memory left Twilight in uncontrollable sobs. Lucky for her it was raining so she could better hide her tears. After she made her purchases in the market and dropped them off, she made her usual trip around Ponyville in search for Spike. Every day she would search for him in his favorite hiding spots and friends to see if anyone had seen him. Of course no luck on her past 8 searches so why would today be any different. Twilight has been balancing having hope to giving up so that if she never found him she wouldn't be crushed, but would still have motivation to still try. First the hiding spots, done. Then other friends, Cheerile, Bon Bon, Lyra, Roseluck, More like no luck thought Twilight. Now to her close friends.

Rarity was first, but of course she hadn't seen him. When I was curious to ask Sweetiebelle, Rarity said that she was out with Scootaloo and Applebloom. Next was Fluttershy, then Pinkie, and finally Rainbowdash. Nothing.

Twilight rounded the turn to Sweet Apple Acres. The sky had cleared up by the time Twiight reached the first tree of Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight trotted through the the many apple trees that surrounded the area. Each apple gently reflected the soft, afternoon light. A small breeze drifted through the orchard causing the leaves to flutter. Pulling herself away from the calming scene. She focused on holding in her tears, as the rain was no longer there to help.

She reached the barn and knocked twice, soft and slow. I few seconds passed before a tall stallion opened the door.
" Howdy Twilight."

" Hello Big Macintosh, is AppleJack home?"

" 'Fraid not. Is there somethin' ah can help ya with?"

" Not really, but if you see Spike anywhere do you think you could tell me?"

" Eyup,"

" Thanks, tell Aj I said hi." Said Twilight as she turned and started to walk home.


Twilight was just able to reach her pillow before she started to cry.

" Oh Spike, where are you?!" Cried Twilight as she sobbed in to her pillow.