“You don’t have to go, Lucid.” The girl said as she looked to the man who stood in the portal of a device she had built, her face detailing the intense measure of fear she held within her. Her hair was tied tightly behind her head to keep it out of her way. Because of this her forehead was fully visible, revealing the streaks of grease and various other elements that had smeared over her face while she had been working on the machine.

The surroundings were those of an abandoned warehouse. Dust and grime were commonplace around the building and the night time light gave no ease to the frightening shadows that danced in the corner’s of one’s eyes. It was desolate and unorganized in the basest of terms and any who entered would detail it as long forgotten were it not for the collection of metal and wires that stood in the center of it.

Lucid turned from his position, revealing the long, white, beak-like, mask that rested on his face to obscure his features. He was dressed from head to toe in heavy winter clothes, and nowhere was any of his skin visible to even the sharpest of eyes. After a moment of silence to process the words of the girl, he reached into his large coat and withdrew an aged notebook. After flipping through several pages that were decorated with various medical notes the man came to a blank page and began to write with a pencil that was on its last legs.

In short hand barely readable the being wrote out his message and handed the notebook to the girl. Her eyes scanned the words on the page and looked back to the man. “But if I do this then I will be no better than those murders that roam our streets.”

The girl moved to hand the notebook back when the man shook his head and held up a single finger. Realizing where he was going with this action the girl stopped and turned to the most thumbed page of the notebook, the one she had been asked to read on several different occasions, a page that contained a single sentence. ‘Doctors are those who seek to relieve pain.’

After a moment of silence the girl closed the notebook and handed it back toward Lucid again. “Alright, if you insist on dying. I will make sure that they do not receive the honor of ending your misery.” The girl said, sudden determination in her eyes. With his obscuring mask, the girl couldn’t see the emotions that might have shown, but she clearly saw the nod of the man’s head before he put his notebook back into his coat.

“I’ll miss you Lucid, I just want you to know that.” She said to the man in a quiet tone before walking over towards the control panel to the device and placing a pair of goggles over her face. After the flipping of several switches the girl looked to the man and hesitantly raised a thumb, which was returned by a gloved hand. Letting the hand relax the girl took a moment to inhale her breath before grasping the handle.

“It’s off to the outer reaches of space then. Where you will die almost painlessly and they will never be able to read your studies.” The girl said, trying to talk her heart out of the path that it wanted to take. Another deep breath to calm her mind and she slowly slid the handle into place, activating the circuit and starting the machine.

“God speed, Lucid.”

Twilight breathed deeply, or tried to, but was thwarted as the wound in her side flared in pain once again. She had attempted to wrap the wound but she had done so knowing full well that it was in vain. She was infected, she was going to turn in a few moments and she wasn’t going to wake up again. But that wasn’t what had pained her the most, nor was it her scar, nor was it any phsyical wound. Rather it was the sense of disappointment that she held to herself.

She had failed to do as Celestia had bidden, she hadn’t found a cure for the plague and as her friends had started to turn she found herself trapped within her tree with a dwindling supply of food and a further dwindling supply of companions. Spike had been to last of the group to succumb to the sickness, having left Twilight to come downstairs to a note that detailed his leave of absence in desire to let her live.

She had been so alone then, and when the notes had stopped coming back from Canterlot she had found herself with no connection to the outside world. The days had swiftly become greyer and greyer to her. Whether because of the thickening cloud cover or because of the loss of hope and friendship in her life she couldn’t tell, she just knew the end was coming.

This had been her last bid to freedom, she had prepared for a long run into the forest to lose anyone who had followed her magic trail but had been infected almost immediately after her first teleport. The plague-ridden, as she had taken to calling them, had been there as soon as she arrived and had left her with the wound on her midsection.

Another teleport later and she had found herself alone enough that she could bind the wound, preventing blood loss but doing little to slow the infection that she could feel crawling through her veins.

With a pained exhale Twilight fell to the floor of the forest, her legs unable to support her weight any longer. With the last of her strength the unicorn rolled onto her back and looked up to find a clear shot towards the sky above her between the branches of the trees. As she gazed at the sky her mind turned toward her teacher, who had come to some ill fate in Canterlot and felt once more the familiar pang of sadness in her bones. Though it was duller now after so long.

In her dwindling conciousness the unicorn barely spotted the streak of white that shot across the sky and felt a small degree of hope return. “Luna always said that when things seem their darkest that a shooting star would save us. All we had to do was wish on it.” Twilight coughed, her eyes shifting to an unhealthy green as the disease started to run its course on her outward appearance.

“Here goes nothing then. I wish for somepony, or someone, to save us. Some being that can help us in this hour of hopelessness.” Twilight said, relaxing slightly as she felt her mind start to go.

Nothing happened, Twilight’s vision darkened until she blacked out. Before she completely lost herself though she thought for a second she saw the a humongous wide bird looking down at her, its head tilted to the side with worry.