The first thing Twilight would have expected to see when her eyes opened would have been the leaves shaking under the warm sun and the fresh wind, at least according to the last thing she remembered. Or even so, when the memory of what had happened reached her mind, she expected to find herself on her home, the place where almost everything important regarding the matter at hand had to be discussed.
With that in mind, the last thing she was expecting to see when she was waking up was the bothersome, plain white lights of the hospital, the soft buzzing they made, and the annoying white bright they emitted in front of her eyes. Weakly, she lifted a hand up to cover her eyes from the same shine. Unfortunately for her, it seemed like it did little to nothing to alleviate the pain coursing through her head, as there were other lights in the same room causing the same effect. To try and help herself a bit, she turned in her bed to avoid direct sight into those lights.
And by doing so, the sight of her dear friend, Rainbow Dash, sitting right next to her bed while holding a book in her hands, though said book slowly fell from the pegasus' hands when both ponies made eye contact. Several moments passed while both ponies stared at each other in complete silence. Twilight even lifted her hand again to watch her wrist, believing it was a dream... but Luna's arcane band was nowhere to be seen... she was awake.
Twilight almost jumped in shock when Rainbow's hand suddenly reached up to hers, grasping it firmly and even pressing it caringly.
"Twilight, oh for Celestia... I thought you wouldn't wake up! The doctors... they couldn't find anything wrong with you, but you weren't waking up!"
Rainbow slowly reached out and brought her friend in for a hug. Twilight accepted said hug with a quiet attitude all the while, with her mind already wrecking itself apart while trying to understand what was happening. How much time had passed since she passed out, considering Rainbow had been catatonic for a while, and now she was back to her hooves?
"Twi? You okay?"
Twilight weakly opened her mouth while clutching her friend's robe firmly, as if she was fearing her dear friend would vanish in the moment she let go of her.
"... how long have i been out, Rainbow?"
Rainbow slowly moved her hands down to her friend's arms, slowly pushing her back to the bed, but still keeping her tightly held while she pulled back to sit back again, making a small wince as she laid back.
"Frankly, Twilight? A couple days at the most... at least, since they brought you here... as far as i know, you've been out for several days."
Twilight was shocked to hear that... days? How could that be?
"Days!? Oh, by Celestia... i've been asleep for days..." Twilight almost shot up out of her bed, if not for her dear friend grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her softly but firmly down. "I need to go and check the city, make sure everything is fine and-"
"Twilight! Calm down!" Rainbow suddenly insisted, which seemed to shake twilight off of her worries for the moment as she turned to her friend. "... okay, that's better... now, before you have another one of your crazy nerd episodes... you just have to know that things are going... well enough, considering the situation. The Caribou haven't shown their ugly heads around here so far, so everything is fine."
Twilight sighed softly at that news, even letting herself sink back on the uncomfortable hospital bed. At least, the caribou hadn't arrived yet...
Still, as she opened her eyes once more when he "brilliant" mind suddenly realized something, making her slowly get up again and turn to her friend again.
"... Rainbow... you are..."
"Awake? Aware? Everything else starting with 'awa'? Yes, I am..." Rainbow added with her own smirk, laughing softly at her own joke before leaning back... though after a few moments, her mocking grin slowly began to turn into a small frown while slowly reaching for her knees and hugging them again. "... yes, I am... I am awake..."
Twilight immediately was concerned at that, having to sit on the edge of her bed to try and reach out Rainbow with her hand.
"Rainbow?"
"I'm fine, Twi, don't think too much about it... after all, I am sure your nerd brain is already pretty scrambled with everything going on... the last thing you need is... another burden on you after all."
Twilight almost let out a sob at that, immediately launching herself at her friend to hug her tightly, causing Rainbow to let out a sudden gasp.
"Rainbow Dash, you listen to me... you aren't a burden... you are my friend... and my friends aren't a burden at all." Twilight hugged her friend even tight as she let out those words, even with tears spilling from her eyes.
After a few moments, she felt as Rainbow shifted softly on her place, and then felt her friend's hands reaching up to her body and slowly embracing her in the same way Twilight was holding her.
"... Thank you for the kind words, Twi... but... I am a burden... I couldn't help you in Canterlot... nor could i help you at the battle before... all I did was... rush in, get myself beaten up in the process... and then having to abandon you... I am of no help, Twi... I am just a burden."
Twilight made sure to hold he dear friend tightly while she talked, paying close attention to every word she was saying. After all... it was the same for her. Much like Rainbow, she had tried to fight, she had tried to defend some others... but as things turned out, it only looked more as if she had been fleeing... and failing to the rest of her pony friends. In several ways... they both felt the same way about themselves.
"... and there is... another thing..." Rainbow added after a few moments, and suddenly going quiet for several moments... too quiet, considering it was her athletic friend... when Twilight got worried and pulled back, she finally noticed her friend having a sorry expression on her face, with her teeth gritted to hold back her own sobbing, but with tears falling from her eyes... and finally, behind her, extending behind her were the two appendages that once had been her proud and strong wings.
Twilight let out her own tears away after seeing that. In no way was Rainbow a burden to her... but the Caribou had taken away something very treasured for her dear friend: her wings. She was no stranger to shedding, a process in which some pegasi had to pluck some feathers away, specially those that were beyond repair, to make way for new feathers to grow. But in Rainbow's case... no feathers were growing back, and nothing in them seemed to indicate they'd be back soon...
"... t-they... they took my wings away, Twilight... MY WINGS!" Rainbow suddenly shouted up, almost leaving a buzzing on Twilight's ears... and then just as she threw her head back to shout, her mouth opened again to release a pain filled cry while she hugged her knees even tighter.
Twilight was trying her best to say anything, but no words got out of her mouth... as much as she wanted to say something... she couldn't find anything to say. Instead, she could only stand there in front of her broken friend with an awkward expression... but then, she remembered some words somepony had told her once.
With that, she threw herself at her friend once more, hugging her firmly and pushing her face against her shoulder, letting out her own tears as well... Rainbow kept crying loudly for several minutes, with Twilight merely being there for her in her most darkest moment. And finally, while Rainbow's cries slowly began to die down, Twilight spoke up as well.
"... I know how you feel in some ways... I was in Canterlot, too, Rainbow... and after you left for help... it was a nightmare... so many poor, innocent mares being raped or degraded... and i was powerless to help them... and the Caribou have also taken away something really precious to me, Rainbow. They took my friends, my family, and the princesses as well... I was powerless when they cut off Celestia's horn... when they raped Luna in front of me... when they made that horrible parade in which so many mares suffered... I understand you, Rainbow... I know the feeling..."
Rainbow's cries did not cease... but at least seemed to slow down as Twilight spoke...
"... and then... when that battle happened... I wasn't fast enough to help you... and even now... I am powerless to help you... it is I who is a burden, Rainbow... what a princess I turned out to be, didn't I?"
Twilight had repeated those same words over and over in her head for the past weeks, sometimes even finding herself pondering on who to name a leader above her, as more than once she doubted she had the power, much less the will to lead a group of ponies against a mighty enemy as the Caribou. They needed a strong leader... and Twilight more than once thought of herself as everything but strong.
But at that moment? As she finally let out those words, she somehow felt as if a great burden had been lifted from her chest... as if she could finally breathe again.
"... well... I suppose that makes us a pair of losers, huh?"
Twilight blinked softly at that, having to pull back to look at Rainbow who was wiping away some of the tears falling away from her eyes with her arm, all while having a small smile on her face.
"I mean... that is good, right? After all, is it not on geometry where negative and negative make a positive?"
Twilight blinked a couple of times in confusion at that. Not only for the incoherence Rainbow had said... but also because such a dumb phrase had somehow brought a smile to her face.
"That's on algebra, Rainbow."
"Whatever, Nerd."
And then, laughter. Twilight was still confused. Why were they laughing? She did understand that they were simply laughing at a very bad joke... but then again... they were on war with a mighty force whose eyes were set on conquering all of Equestria... and there they were, laughing like a pair of fillies.
They should be making plans for countering the enemy when the time came... but there they were... laughing.
And yet... it was as if it was the happiest moment in her life, and probably Rainbow's as well. And that was making the laughter much more enjoyable. At that moment, there was no war, there was no Caribou, there was nothing else... just Twilight and her own friend.
"So... anything yet?"
Twilight let out a soft groan when that same question was made for... was it the seventh or eight time? Oh, by Celestia, she had already lost count.
"I'm still checking, so please, stay still Rainbow. Or do you not want your wings back?"
Rainbow's answer was an annoyed huff, and then crossing her arms over her chest as if she was a brat whose parents had just berated at her for having fun. Twilight let out a soft chuckle of that.
"So...?"
Twilight, kept inspecting her friend's "wings" for a few moments, even using a magnifying glass to look closer.
"Once again, I've found nothing yet Rainbow. I am still not sure how Caribou magic works at all, and i am not really sure what i am seeing here. So far, I know the Caribou use runes to invoke some kind of 'anti magic', which completely nullifies every kind of magic us Ponies have..."
Twilight kept pondering to herself for a few more moments, before noticing her friend had gone silent again. Turning to her, she was received with a flat stare of her friend who simply pulled her wing back, turned to her and then delivered a couple of soft knocks on Twilight's forehead.
"And am I supposed to understand all that nerdy stuff you just said, Twilight?"
Twilight's cheeks puffed in mild annoyance at that, turning away from her friend and adopting the very same pose Rainbow had taken just moments ago, to which Rainbow let out a soft laughter as well.
"Sorry, I know i can be annoying sometimes, Twilight... but hey, when it comes to scientific, egghead stuff, i prefer to leave it to you." Rainbow quickly jumped from the bed she was in and adopting a "brave" pose, letting out a few jabs at the air in front of her. "I prefer to get more... physical, if you know what i mean."
Twilight let out a soft huffing after Rainbow said that. But internally, she was smiling. Rainbow might not have been the shiniest tool in the shed, as Applejack declared more than once... but she was indeed loyal.
"Alright, Rainbow... then, I'll let you know when the Egghead comes up with something else for your wings." Twilight said with a small smile as she began to levitate some bandages and a variety of items to wrap around Rainbow's wings. "Meanwhile, this'll have to do so they don't get infected. We'll have to check again in a couple days."
Twilight said with a smile, receiving a nod from Rainbow as she covered again with her robe. "Okay, Doc Twi."
Twilight smirked at that comment... if only she knew she had a Ph D. on magic studies. "Okay, patient Dash... anything else that ails you, or should we go back to town so they stop worrying about us?"
Twilight said while beginning to look for her things in the nearby drawers for her clothes... hopefully they wouldn't be... stained from her incident before. She sighed when she saw her clothes not only had been folded neatly, but also had been washed. She was beginning to undo the bag holding them when Rainbow spoke once more.
"Actually... there is... something else." Twilight turned to her friend, who was looking away from her. This immediately made twilight concerned. Until that moment, Rainbow had been relaxed and even happy... but she had returned to the closed attitude... "You see... there is another issue with me..."
Twilight softly put her hand on top of Rainbow's shoulder, making her look back at her. Rainbow turned to her friend, showing an embarrassed and blushing expression.
"Rainbow, what is wrong?"
"... I-I... this is... something strange, you know... but..."
"Rainbow, what is going on?"
".. I-I... I'm in heat..."
Twilight's face blushed in the same way as he friend's. "O-Oh... well... maybe you can ask for the doctors to provide you with some medicine to lower your hormone levels and such..." Twilight was already detailing in her mind every medicine she could remember that would help them, but that was suddenly stopped by Rainbow.
"N-No... not like that... I mean, it kind of is... but it's not... natural, you know? Not like the usual cycle... and I feel like it is wrong."
Twilight immediately remembered some of the runes she had seen, how some of those had an specific effect on females and males...
"When did it start, Rainbow?"
"Since... well... since i face the crazy geezer outside the wall, you know?" Rainbow stopped for a few moments while she crossed her arms over her chest once more, rubbing her arms, as if comforting herself... or encouraging. "... And since then... I-I... I've been having these... dreams whenever I close my eyes..."
A chill suddenly ran down Twilight's spine when she heard that... it was the Corruption... the symptoms were clear for her. But somehow... it seemed like the effects on here were... greater, considering Twilight hadn't lost her wings' feathers, neither the pegasi who had come with her... and yet...
"... every time i try to sleep... I see them... and i see myself... begging for them to fuck me, to enslave me... And even when my eyes are open... I still feel that desire, you know? As to just... get down on my knees and..."
Rainbow seemed to want to continue... but it seemed like either her will or her energies were running out, and no more words would come out of her. Twilight quickly reached out to her friend's shoulder to rub it softly, encouraging her friend to trust her. At first, Rainbow flinched and her shoulders got tense...
Still, after a few moments, Rainbow relaxed for a few moments, and then turned to her friend with a few tears on her eyes.
"Still... when I heard you had been taken into the hospital... something... I don't know how to describe it... but something inside me told me to... take care of you. I suppose you could say... something gave me a push..."
Twilight nodded softly at that. Somehow, she had felt the same several times... including the time where she ran to face the runemaster just to help her friend. And she knew enough about magic to know what it was. It was pure friendship...
"... something told you that you needed to help... a friend." Twilight said quietly, more than a mere whisper, but enough to be heard by her dear friend, who turned to her with a smile.
"Yeah... Something like that..."
Rainbow embraced her friend once more, spending some more moments like that... at least until she felt things were too... awkward. Had Twilight ever been that... beautiful? As if to recover some semblance of "coolness", she suddenly reached up to her face, holding her head firmly with one arm hooked around it before ruffling her mane, earning an annoyed look from her friend, who now had her mane with a more... cool look, if she said it herself.
Twilight, on the other hand, while having an annoyed frown on her face, was glad to see her friend (mostly) back in good health, both physical and psychological... at least for the time being. After all...
She looked outside of the window towards Canterlot, which strangely enough, seemed to have no shield at the moment. Her face steeled at that, knowing full the next assault might come at any moment.
"Come on, Rainbow... we have to prepare. They might come at any moment now..."
Twilight began to get her clothes on again, all the while pondering to herself while she continued to look at the city in the mountain. Her own psyche was at the verge of breaking down... but she'd have to hold on for the moment...
After all...
They were at war.
But they'd face it...together, as friends.