/ Two Steps Back/ Story: The Prince Of Darkness/ by ShadowStallion/-/
"Please Twilight, you have to help him!" Nightmare exclaimed, begging the unicorn before her who only backed away in disbelief. Her eyes shifted quickly between the pony that threatened Equestria in the past, and the human who is currently dying in the middle of her library.
"I uh... wha..." Twilight stuttered, incapable of uttering a single sentence. She was ready to make a break for it and get help until she noticed the tears streaming down Nightmare's face. Releasing a sigh of defeat, she approached Derek and inspected his wounds.
"His injuries can be fixed fairly easily, Just stay with him and let me go get my medical kit from the bathroom."
After Twilight tended to his wounds and brought him to her room to rest, both her and Nightmare found themselves in the kitchen quietly sipping tea. They remained silent for what seemed like hours, both hoping that the other would speak up. Eventually the silence was broken but not by either of them, but by the door to the library opening and shutting.
"Hey Twilight, sorry it took me so long but Rarity needed my help moving some of her supplies. What are you up to- OH CELESTIA IT'S NIGHTMARE!" . Spike made his presence known. He made a rush for a parchment to send a note to the princesses only to be stopped and levitated by a familiar purple aura. Twilight had picked him up and brought him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table. Neither Twilight nor Nightmare had looked up from their cups of tea that had began to grow cold. As he sat there, he looked worriedly between the two powerful creatures. Despite the awkward situation, Spike had proven to be less patient than the other two.
"Okay, I'll bite. What in the world of Equestria is going on here?" He asked, slamming his hands on the table. Nightmare simply closed her eyes and slumped down, trying to make herself as small as possible. With a disapproving glance at her, Twilight took a deep breath before beginning.
"Apparently, Nightmare was never gone. She remained at the castle ruins plotting her revenge. Realizing she needed help, she pulled our good buddy Derek from the human world to aid her in overthrowing Celestia. During the very short time he was here, they formed an intimate relationship that eventually began to give him powers that both princess Luna and Nightmare possess while at the same time awakening an old psychological disorder he had that is apparently a murderous psychopath, and to make matters worse, said magic within him is quite possibly going to kill him. And also I should add that my mentor knows that she is still around and in fact welcomed her to be back. Does that about sum it up?" She finished with a cold glare at Spike, not angry at him but simply angry at the situation itself.
"So where is he right now?" Spike inquired, attempting to remain calm after learning information he wished he hadn't known.
"Pretty close to a coma from severe blood loss and the magical strain on his body." Twilight said, staring at, Nightmare as she fought the urge to yell at her "guest". She merely regained her composure and kindly looked at her assistant.
"Would you mind setting the table for dinner, we're apparently having company."
With the table set and dinner prepared, everyone except their patient took a spot at the table. Twilight and Nightmare sat at opposite ends of the table while Spike sat in between them. They all ate in complete silence with the only noise coming from Spike as dug into his food with gusto. Twilight ate casually while her "esteemed guest" merely prodded her greens with a fork. Without looking up from her plate, Twilight addressed Nightmare.
"You can either stay in my room with Derek or stay in the basement. I suggest the basement just so you don't get seen by anypony walking through, plus it will allow you to stay out of my hair. And Spike, once we finish dinner I want you to send a letter to Celestia only to let her know that both of them are here. Do not include any names." Both of them nodded to show they understood.
Once the letter was sent after Twilights approval, Nightmare headed down to the basement to honor her host's suggestion. With not any form of bed in sight, she set her eyes on a corner at the far end of the cold room. As she lied down, she released a sigh. She was happy that he was still alive, but learning that he was dying because of the magic he gained from her diminished any spark of happiness she possessed. Nightmare replayed the conversation she had with Twilight in her head, thinking of any solution to this new problem.
"Will he be alright? Please just give it to me straight." Twilight nodded in response without even looking up from her patient. Curiosity flood over Twilight. With her magic, she began to inspect his body for a reason unknown to Nightmare.
"What are you doing to him?
"I am inspecting his major organs for any damage that your magic may have caused. As far as we know, his kind are not accustomed to dark magic let alone any kind." The aura stopped at his head and the unicorn's jaw slowly dropped in shock.
"What's wrong, he's going to be just fine right... right?" Twilight stopped her magic and faced the worried alicorn.
"As I looked through his body, I noticed trails of magic impurities spread throughout his organs and his veins. I just figured that it was only a side effect because he was so new to it but now that I look at his brain..." She took a deep breath, readying herself to give news that, Nightmare would much rather not hear. "There is very heavy damage at the frontal lobe which among many things, is also associated with personality and behavior. It is changing who he is over time. Any differences in his personality and actions are caused by this strain. As I dug deeper I noticed that almost every other portion of his brain are wearing away. He can heal, unfortunately very slowly, but he has to limit himself to get a fighting chance to harness it or within time, this dark magic could either leave him completely immobile or worse case scenario, kill him slowly and painfully...
No matter what situation they manage to get through, a new one emerges just to throw a wrench in the gears. No matter how hard they try, the light of their relationship immediately gets a shadow cast over it; and not just any shadow, but the shadows from her past, present and quite possibly even her future for now it is beginning to appear as if none of this was meant to be.
She got up from her spot and began to pace around the room, thinking of any solution to help save his life. Knowing him, there is no way he would limit himself. She stopped her pacing when she heard the door to the basement opened with Spike walking through it with blankets.
"Sorry to disturb you but I have some blankets for you. Don't want you catching a cold or anything." He set them down next to her and began to walk off. Nightmare wanted to ask how Derek was doing, but could only muster up a 'thank you'.
As he made his way to the stairs, Nightmare lifted the blankets toward her with her magic but she did not lay them on her, she instead stared at the aura surrounding them. Once the door shut, she sat down and spoke to herself.
"Dark magic is killing him because it's dangerous in its own nature... What if he managed to balance it out with some other form of magic?"
Twilight stood at the end of her bed, observing Derek as she wondered how much longer he could hold on. It surprised her that he managed to still be completely functional despite the damage. She then began to think about all the physical trauma he has been through ever since he arrived. Puncture wound from the branch in the ravine, falling about one hundred feet on to solid ground, scratch marks that could only be caused by timber wolves. The list seemed to just keep growing and he appears to just walk everything off.
For a few minutes she pondered how he managed to still be alive and have surprisingly very few wounds and or scars. It was as if he was protected by something that no one could see. Thoughts and ideas for possible explanations began to flood her mind. She was so infatuated with him that she did not hear Spike come upstairs.
"Hey Twilight, I gave her the blankets like you told me to do; she seems really torn up about this guy." Twilight said nothing. "Okay then, I'm just going to head to bed. You be sure to get some rest too." He said as he made his way to his bed.
"Spike..." She said, getting his attention. "Come here for a moment, I want you to do something for me." With a sigh, Spike made his way back over to her.
"What do you need?" She pointed at his exposed leg.
"I want you to try and scratch his skin. I don't mean leave him with gash, just enough to possibly break the skin." He merely cocked his eyebrows in disbelief.
"yeah um, how about no. Out of all the bad ideas I have heard, that is probably the worst." The dragon said as he backed away from the unicorn he is now beginning to think is going nuts.
"Come on Spike, think of it being for science or something."
"If injuring a comatose patient is science, then I want nothing to do with science."
"But Spike-"
"No, Twilight," He interrupted her. "Haven't you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat. In this situation, I feel like I am going to be said cat." He rubbed his eyes and let out an irritated sigh. "Look, It's been a long and quite disturbing night. We all just need a little sleep and in the morning the three of us will sit down and talk about this when we are all calmed down a little more." In defeat Twilight let her head drop before nodding in agreement.
"I guess you're right. I'm gonna go sleep on the couch, goodnight Spike." She said, prompting him to return a goodnight.
