Chapter Text
Twilight Sparkle treats you like her latest lesson, a puzzle to be solved, a challenge to be won rather than you as a creature with feelings. She has a perfect version of you in her mind, one with no flaws or faults and believes you can become this vision if you follow her restrictive and frankly bazaar rules, which stem from her all-consuming paranoia over the outside world. You cannot eat food until she inspects and approves it, and you have a set bedtime in which she forces you to maintain by teleporting into your house (if you are not living with her at this point) or, eventually, drugging you into sleeping. She holds the fact that she is the Princess of Friendship over your head if you do not follow her rules and has no qualms abusing her power in order to make you follow her will, guilting you by crying about "just wanting to keep you safe".
Her paranoia will increase as the relationship goes on, making her more and more protective and at one point, she refuses to let you leave the house unless she or any of the other mane six are with you. She would only get worse from Princes Celestia's misguided view of the relationship as she is fed a severely skewed version of events by Twilight (and her friends if she can convince them).
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The book was old, definitely one of the more older books in Twilight's library. What was once a royal crimson cover had now faded into a sluggish brown hue, its golden corner clasps dulled an off-putting yellow. Getting the actual book open was a task in it of itself, ancient magic keeping the wretched thing rightly closed. It took the purple alicorn two whole hours to rip out any spells that lingered in the book. Whoever owned this before Twilight really didn't want anypony reading it.
Twilight lifted the front cover, which took almost all of her strength. The pages were thick and a motley off-cream colour, the smell of mothballs flooded out of the book like a swarm of insects.
Old Ponish had been scribbled onto the pages with thick, scratchy horn writing.
It took Twilight all afternoon to not only find the damn thing she wanted to find and translate it from old Ponish.
At last, at two thirty in the morning, she had finally recovered the entire ingredient list.
An inkling of irritation wriggled in Twilight's mind. For a potion and spell so frowned upon and hated, it wasn't all that impressive on its layout. Only half a page long, it was just the ingredient list and the spell. Twilight was hoping for some history, or at the very least warnings of it. But nothing.
The purple alicorn began to read the list or ingredients, making mental notes (and several written ones) as she read on.
In the end, she had to collect 5 whole Griffin flying feathers, a powdered changeling horn, a whole bottle of Sea pony tears, Dragon scales the hairs of the pony that Twilight wanted, as well as her own, bug Bear blood, yak spit and a single Zebra hair.
Out of all the things on this list, the most challenging one to get, in Twilight's mind at least, was a piece of your mane.
It took about 5 weeks to get everything together. The Bug Bear? Filly's play. The yak spit? Pinkie had some of that herself, although Twilight didn't really want to know why. The Griffin Flying feathers? They shed those every spring! Collecting them off of the ground was easy and yeah, it looked a little weird, but the purple mare just said it was for "research". Twilight didn't know if they believed her, though.
Surprisingly enough, Rarity had a single piece of your mane. It was in one of her many mane brushes; she used a personalised one for every one of her "loyal and esteemed" customers. You had come in for a fitting for some outing (it was the interview for the job you wanted. Twilight had marked it in her calendar) and you also needed Rarity's opinion on it. Said opinion and fitting came with a free mane styling.
As Twilight held the mane brush in her hooves, the glowing pulse of...something began its tune in her chest. It always made itself welcome when she was in the vicinity of you or stuff that belonged to you or things that reminded the purple alicorn of you. Twilight pocketed the mane brush when her unicorn friend wasn't looking. It wasn't stealing, not really. She would give it back when she was done with it.
Once in her private study, Twilight set to work. She handled the lesser ingredients with only mild interest, but placed your single hair and her many hairs into the cauldron with as much precision and care that her shaking hooves would allow.
Inside the cauldron, the potion was an off-putting shade of pink, too bright to be enjoyed or looked at directly, the smell of roses and ye olde confectionery pierced her nostrils. It reminded Twilight of a Pinky party - the bad part of them, anyway.
With the hairs added to it, however, potion bubbled and fizzed before fading into a pleasant hue, one that looked like both of your hides colours mixed together. The smell of fresh linen and the sea and your perfume began to waft out of it.
Twilight bottled it up in her nicest jar and got ready for the next day. The day she would give this to you. The most important and terrifying day of her life.
~Present day~
Twilight gulped as she approached your front door. Applejack's advice still echoed in her ear "Just be yourself, sugarcube! Show 'em who Twilight Sparkle really is".
The purple alicorn was sweating bullets, a small chalice held in her satchel upon her back. Given last night's activities, Twilight hadn't had time to really brush her mane or...shower. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead as she just stared at your door.
After a paralysing few minutes, she knocked.
You opened the door almost instantly. Your face was flush and cheery, your day bag half-flung over your back. You looked surprised.
"Oh, Good morning Princess Twilight!" You said, happy and yet confused to see the Princess of Friendship at your door.
"Can I help you with anything?" You ask.
No answer. The alicorn princess didn't look too well. Her mane was greasy and knotted, she was shaking like a leaf, her eyes awake and focused on you, yes, but they were bloodshot and heavy. Sweat was pouring off her.
"Oh no," you say, taking a few steps towards the Princess of Friendship. She takes a step back, unconsciously. "Are you alright? You look unwe-"
"ImadethisforyouitsafamilyrecipyIhopeyoulikeitbye."
"I'm sorry, wa-?" Before you had time to even process what the alicorn had said, she pushed something into your hooves and...vanished. No, that wasn't right. You heard a magical 'poof!'. Maybe she had somewhere else to be? Something more important? Oh well.
Looking at the chalice in your hooves, a thin, bubbly liquid swirled inside. It was opaque and it had a nice colour. You think the princess said something about a family recipe? How lovely! You should run by her castle later and return the favour, you think.
You take the cork out of the bottle by pulling it with your teeth. There wasn't any smell or hint of what the liquid tasted like - only lazily rising plumes of blue stream rising out of it, swirling atop your head and curling around your ears.
Taking the chalice to your lips, you take a sip of its contents.
The immediate taste of blackberry muffins overwhelms you. Sugary sweetness overpowered your mouth, and it took actual effort not to gag. You force the liquid down your throat with a loud gulp, and immediately you are met with the feeling of hair stuck at the back of your mouth. You cough again, this time sending the stray hairs down into your stomach. Gross.
Not known to you, an alicorn was staring at you a few feet away, hidden by a bush. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates, her mouth as open as it would allow. You drank it. You actually drank it. You drank it infront of her, oh sweet Luna.
A sliver of drool began to dribble out of Twilight's mouth as she watched you gag on the liquid again, before corking it and placing it into your bag.
You lock your door and begin your morning routine, just like she remembered it. You would then go to Sugarcube Corner, order your favourite breakfast pastries, then head to Sweet Apple Acres to get some apple jam, maybe some cider or a sweet treat. Twilight didn't know what to do now. You took it. She didn't think you would take it, to be honest. She'd thought that you would've called her weird, maybe a freak, and refused her gift. Maybe even pushed it out of her hoofs. No, that wasn't you. You wouldn't do that.
Twilight took a steadying breath and closed her mouth. Her horn alot with magic, and she popped back into her library with a quiet poof.
Twilight clicked her tongue and set her bag onto the table. Now, this was the easy part. The waiting game. One of the few lines of the spell that wasn't instructions said that the effects could take from a few hours to weeks, depending on the other creature’s natural feeling towards whoever made the potion. Twilight could wait. She was good with that.
“Um, Twilight?”
The sound of somepony speaking made the purple mare’s head shoot straight up, wide purple eyes meeting concerned green ones. It was Spike, standing at the edge of the doorway. He was fiddling with his claws, anxiety filling his young face. “Are you alright?”
“...Me? Oh yes, I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine, why do you ask? Do I not look fine?” Twilight responded, blinking rapidly.
“Uh, not really. You look sick. Do you want to lay down? Maybe have a shower or something?” asked the small dragon, glancing at Twilight’s eye bags and greasy hair.
Twilight blinked again, attempted to protest, then thought about it. The spell was done. It was all you to you now. She could have some rest. She wanted to look good for you when (if? Stop thinking like that) you came over.
“Y-yeah, um, I actually don't feel too great. I think I will have a shower- and…and a nap. Yes. Thank you, Spike.”
Twilight smiled at him, and gentle calm slowly flowing through her.
“Sure!” The little dragon perked up immediately. “I'll make it a bath. I'll grab that fancy soap Fluttershy gave you. It's good for your mane or…or something.” He turned to leave, but looked back.
“You've got some drool on your face, Twi.”
Twilight felt herself cringe.
You were dying. You knew it.
You wheezed out slow, hazing breaths as you walked up to Twilight’s castle. Dragging your aching hooves across the seemingly scotching hot cobbles left you panting in soft, unsteady puffs. Your mane was greasy, your face gaunt and shiny with sweat. Despite it being early spring in Ponyville, you could swear the heat pulsing around your body was only born from the hottest of summers.
It had been two long weeks since you had last seen the purple alicorn, and you needed to see her. Urgently.
You pass a mare with her two fillies. The kids peered at you inquisitively, while the mother took one look at you and steered her two children in the other direction. ‘Must be the wheezing’, you thought. ‘Probably think it’s catching.’
You had to be cursed. Just had to be. There’s no way this was a bug, or even an infection. You had gone to the doctors the day after the symptoms first started (the Doctor had prescribed you with “plenty of rest, lots of water and don’t push yourself. Laughter can be the best medicine, maybe call a friend or two to help? Have a nice day!” and sent you away with a lollipop. An actual lollipop. You weren’t a filly anymore, sweet Celestia).
When that failed, however, and you went back the second time, you did look a lot worse for wear. More sweat, you had lost some weight from not being able to keep anything down, your mane and tail a mess. This doctor took you more seriously. He still gave you a lollipop, but this time more sincere.
“I’d suggest getting rest, not using magic unless absolutely necessary. Think back a week or two. Did anything different happen? Did you eat or drink anything out of the norm?”
And immediately that…potion came to mind. The one Twilight gave you. But she wouldn’t do this on purpose, would she? No, of course not. She’s the princess of friendship! She wouldn't intentionally hurt somepony.
Finally, finally, the castle’s door came into view. Stepping into the castle’s shadow was like being bathed in cold water, and the relief it gave to your aching body was almost palpable. You lean against the doorway for a moment, catching your breath before you knock.
The clang of the wood against your hoofs felt like cannon blasts against your skull, and you bit your lip in pain. As you waited for somepony to answer, you suddenly realised that 1) Princess Twilight might not even be in right now, 2) she might be in but still be very busy, either with the Elements of Harmony or with princess stuff, and 3) she just might not want to talk to you. Which would be understandable, considering your current state-
The door swung open, and you almost jumped back in fright. Princess Twilight was standing in the doorway, one hoof on the wood. Her eyes were wide and darting around, searching for something, before they landed on you. Her figure immediately tensed up, and suddenly everything you had been feeling the past two weeks simultaneously lifted and crashed back down twice as hard into your body.
You swayed on your hooves. Your vision swirled. You fix your eye onto the mare in front of you.
“Princess Twilight, may I come in?”
