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In the Time You Have Left
By twilightgamenightCreated: 2021-07-16 21:31:33
Updated: 2021-01-31 22:03:02
Expiry: Never
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                                            1.
                                            >”Stay with me, Anon! Everything will be okay!”
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                                            2.
                                            "No, it's... it's okay, Twilight."
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                                            3.
                                            >You reach around blindly, unable to turn your head for some reason.
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                                            4.
                                            >"Just stay awake," she sobs, pressing her hooves into you. "Stay with me!"
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                                            5.
                                            >Trying to staunch the bleeding, probably.
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                                            6.
                                            "Did we..."
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                                            7.
                                            >It's hard to talk.
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                                            8.
                                            >Probably the rib that's piercing your left lung.
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                                            9.
                                            >"Don't say anything! Just stay still!"
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                                            10.
                                            >She looks around frantically, her head swivelling this way and that as she searches for something.
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                                            11.
                                            >"Fluttershy will be here soon, and she...she ..."
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                                            12.
                                            "That's not important."
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                                            13.
                                            >"There's nothing more important than you!" she cries, shutting her eyes. "Not to me!"
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                                            14.
                                            >She can't bear to see you like this.
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                                            15.
                                            >You almost feel guilty.
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                                            16.
                                            >You should have fought better.
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                                            17.
                                            "Did we... did we get them all?"
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                                            18.
                                            >You’re dying. All that is left is for you to do what you can with the time that remains.
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                                            19.
                                            >Slowly, she nods.
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                                            20.
                                            >Her lower lip is gripped between her teeth.
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                                            21.
                                            >She’s trying not to cry.
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                                            22.
                                            “The enemy are all…”
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                                            23.
                                            >You cough, speckling your princess’s face with your own blood.
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                                            24.
                                            >”Yes, Anon,” she mumbles, “they’re dead. They’re all dead and your fight is over. Just rest now. Fluttershy –“
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                                            25.
                                            “Twilight…”
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                                            26.
                                            >”Yes?”
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                                            27.
                                            >There.
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                                            28.
                                            >Your hand finds what it was hunting for.
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                                            29.
                                            >”Yes, Anon?”
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                                            30.
                                            “The fight… is never over.”
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                                            31.
                                            >Her eyes flare open, hunting for the threat.
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                                            32.
                                            >With effort almost beyond you, your fingers curl around the wooden handle.
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                                            33.
                                            >She gasps as you try to raise your arm.
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                                            34.
                                            >”No, don’t! You’re hurt.”
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                                            35.
                                            >You know this.
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                                            36.
                                            >”You aren’t in any condition to fight!”
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                                            37.
                                            “That’s why… why I have to…”
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                                            38.
                                            >”I’ll take care of it! Whatever it is, I’ll take care of it!”
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                                            39.
                                            >Her breathing is rapid and shallow – she’s on the verge of panic.
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                                            40.
                                            >Trying to stop your bleeding, trying to find the enemy – her fear for you, her fear for everything, it’s all too much for her.
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                                            41.
                                            >You struggle to stand, but your body refuses.
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                                            42.
                                            >It’s not a matter of being too weak; the necessary tendons and ligaments simply aren’t attached anymore.
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                                            43.
                                            >”Don’t move!” Twilight cries, pushing you back down. “You’re making the bleeding worse!”
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                                            44.
                                            “It’s okay, Twi…”
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                                            45.
                                            >You’re out of breath before you can say her full name.
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                                            46.
                                            >Huh.
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                                            47.
                                            >It’s a cute nickname – Twi – you wish you had thought of it before now.
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                                            48.
                                            >Before it was too late to matter anymore.
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                                            49.
                                            >Shame.
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                                            50.
                                            >Twi looks down at you with such compassion and tenderness, all other concerns forgotten.
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                                            51.
                                            >At this moment, you and your injuries are the sum of her world.
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                                            52.
                                            >You try to sit up, eliciting a fresh wave of crimson from your wounds and snapping Twilight out of her trance.
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                                            53.
                                            >”FLUTTERSHY!” she screams. “FLUTTERSHY, HURRY UP!”
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                                            54.
                                            >She’s given in to her panic.
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                                            55.
                                            >”HE’S BLEEDING! OH, SUN, HE’S BLEEDING OUT! FLUTTERSHY!”
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                                            56.
                                            “Twi…”
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                                            57.
                                            >Her head snaps back to face you.
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                                            58.
                                            “…it’s okay…”
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                                            59.
                                            >She’s crying.
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                                            60.
                                            >She’s crying for you.
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                                            61.
                                            >Why?
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                                            62.
                                            >”N-no, it’s – it’s not…”
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                                            63.
                                            “Yes, it is.”
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                                            64.
                                            >Somehow, you raise your hand to stroke her cheek, smearing the blood spattered across her purple coat.
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                                            65.
                                            >It almost looks like the blush of a lovestruck schoolfilly.
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                                            66.
                                            >”B-but –“
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                                            67.
                                            >Your grip on the handle is strong.
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                                            68.
                                            “Twi, it’s okay. There’s… there are only two left.”
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                                            69.
                                            >You run your fingers through the vibrant strands of her mane.
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                                            70.
                                            >”You’re bleeding.”
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                                            71.
                                            “I know.”
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                                            72.
                                            >You feel stronger now, strong enough to raise your other arm.
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                                            73.
                                            >The final burst of energy before life leaves you altogether.
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                                            74.
                                            >You’ve seen it many times, on many battlefields, in many warriors, from the wastes to the walls of Praag and Erengrad and beyond.
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                                            75.
                                            >And now… here. In you.
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                                            76.
                                            >How odd.
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                                            77.
                                            >You always thought you would live forever. You thought you were special.
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                                            78.
                                            >”You’re bleeding,” she repeats dully, too traumatized to find other words, other things to say.
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                                            79.
                                            “It’s okay.”
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                                            80.
                                            >Her eyelids flutter, trying to blink away the tears.
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                                            81.
                                            >”It’s not.”
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                                            82.
                                            “It’s okay.
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                                            83.
                                            >Twi closes her eyes, but the tears come anyway.
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                                            84.
                                            “It’s okay.”
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                                            85.
                                            >”S-stop saying that.”
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                                            86.
                                            “But it is.”
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                                            87.
                                            >”Why!?”
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                                            88.
                                            “Because Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows –“
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                                            89.
                                            >Twi gasps in pain as the fingers running through her mane become a fist, gripping her and holding her in place.
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                                            90.
                                            “-ONLY THAT IT FLOWS!”
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                                            91.
                                            >She screams as your axe cuts into her neck, for as long as she is able.
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                                            92.
                                            >It turns into a wet gurgle as she chokes on her own blood.
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                                            93.
                                            >The mare tries to rear back, tries to run, but your grip on her mane holds her in place with the insane strength of a dying man.
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                                            94.
                                            >In panic, in mortal terror, without even being aware of what she is doing, hooves hammer your chest, breaking bones and rupturing organs.
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                                            95.
                                            >It doesn’t matter.
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                                            96.
                                            >You’re dead anyway.
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                                            97.
                                            >It’s only a matter of how much blood you can spill before the last of yours is drained.
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                                            98.
                                            >You pull your axe free in a fountain of red.
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                                            99.
                                            >The look of betrayal and confusion that flashes across her face hurts.
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                                            100.
                                            >She should have known this would happen.
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                                            101.
                                            >You had told her.
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                                            102.
                                            >Chaos will have blood.
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                                            103.
                                            >Yours… or theirs.
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                                            104.
                                            >The axe smashes into her neck again, sanguine spatter turning the crystal floors red as her blood mingles with yours.
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                                            105.
                                            >Twilight’s eyes roll back in their sockets, bringing a hint of a smile to your face.
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                                            106.
                                            >So very like her, to roll her eyes at you even in her final moments.
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                                            107.
                                            >With a shudder, she falls, collapsing heavily on legs that cannot feel anything.
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                                            108.
                                            >She’s dead.
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                                            109.
                                            >Not dying.
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                                            110.
                                            >Dead.
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                                            111.
                                            >You didn’t want her to suffer.
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                                            112.
                                            >There is no glory in sadism, only in blood.
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                                            113.
                                            >Your death takes longer; you lay there, trapped under the body of your friend, your strength all but spent.
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                                            114.
                                            >Hoofsteps resound sharply, a quick four-beat cadence singing throughout the crystal castle.
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                                            115.
                                            >”Twilight!?”
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                                            116.
                                            >It’s Fluttershy.
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                                            117.
                                            >”Anon!?”
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                                            118.
                                            >The hoofsteps stop.
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                                            119.
                                            >You can’t turn your head to face her.
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                                            120.
                                            >”TWILIGHT!? OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU… Twilight, are you… oh, Celestia…”
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                                            121.
                                            >Hesitantly, the mare approaches, slowly coming into your field of view.
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                                            122.
                                            >You… you might have it in you for one more swing.
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                                            123.
                                            >”Anon… what…?”
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                                            124.
                                            >You will never reach her.
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                                            125.
                                            >That’s okay.
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                                            126.
                                            >Chaos will have blood.
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                                            127.
                                            >If not theirs…
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                                            128.
                                            >”Anon, why are you smiling!?”
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                                            129.
                                            >Slowly, too slowly, yet as quickly as you can, you raise your axe to your throat.
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                                            130.
                                            “Blood…”
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                                            131.
                                            >If not theirs…
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                                            132.
                                            “… for the Blood God.”
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                                            133.
                                            >… then yours.
 
                         by twilightgamenight
                         by twilightgamenight
                         by twilightgamenight
                         by twilightgamenight
                         by twilightgamenight