Everypony knew that Princess Twilight was a bookworm. Literally every conversation she had, she would slip in a quick reference or quote, just for fun. She might as well have been the Princess if Reading. Knowing this, one would be shocked to hear of a book she hadn't at least heard of.
"Spike!" Shouted the Princess from the hallway. "I'm just going out to the bookstore, okay?" No reply came, since Spike was still fast asleep, so Twilight quickly jotted down a note on a nearby sheet of paper in case he woke up before she came back. That wasn't likely though. Once Twilight stepped into a bookstore on a good day, there was a chance she wouldn't come out until closing time. And today was a good day.
Twilight flew out the doors of her castle - quite literally - and scanned the area. The bookstore was only a few minutes away, so she didn't really need to fly, but she wanted to see how many ponies were queued up outside the bookstore.
Zero.
She quickly dived down into the street, which was mostly empty apart from one or two ponies who had just got up. Luckily for her, the owner of the bookstore was one of them, and she was busy opening the shop up. Twilight trotted up to her, and entered the bookstore when the door was open. Inside, to her delight, was the book she'd been looking forward to reading ever since it's announcement long ago - 'The Great Feats of Starswirl the Bearded' , a book all about the life of one of her idols. She picked it up off the shelf it was on and stroked the cover. Finally, a new release for her to loose hours of her time reading. This was a good day.
Of course, she simply couldn't leave without purchasing more that one book. She needed to satisfy her urge to read. Maybe she would find a newer copy of one of her old, worn out books, or maybe something for Spike to read - after all, most of the books in her possession were about matters far too complicated for a baby dragon to wrap his head around. She looked around. Nothing. She'd read all of them. Daring Do - check. Every edition of Advanced Science - check. Even a copy of The Official Guide to Breezie Spotting - check. She reckoned there wasn't a single book left in Equestria that she hadn't read.
She would have paid for her Starswirl book there and then, but then, something bright caught her eye. The cover of a book she'd never seen before, illustrated with strange pictures of pendulums and spirals and coloured with mesmerisingly beautiful hues. She was curious, intrigued, maybe even captivated. Surely, this couldn't be a new book that she didn't know about. She knew about every book. But nevertheless, she was drawn in by the book's vibrant colours and mysterious vibe, and once she saw the title, she was even more interested in this strange new book.
"Hypnosis and Mind Control - A Guide," Twilight read. "I thought I had every book on the workings of the mind... But I suppose not..." She slowly flipped the book over and read some of the blurb, but still couldn't stop looking at the wonderful colours. "'Ever wanted to know the secret to controlling the minds of others?'" She read. "'All of the secrets to becoming a master hypnotist are contained between the covers of this very book. Learn basic and more elaborative methods of bending the minds of others'. What in the world... I suppose I might as well take it." She walked over to the reading area and opened the cover of the book, which she realised was a lot bigger that she thought it would be - She reckoned it was at least two-hundred pages. The more she skimmed through the first chapter, the more appealing this so called mind control became to her, and the more she needed to test it out on somepony - almost as if the book had hypnotised her. She absolutely had to read more. She needed this book more that anything right now. Starswirl could wait for a day or two. She was truly under the mystical book's spell now.
"Excuse me. I'd like to make a purchase, please."
The owner of the store tallied up how much the price would be , which came to around 50 bits. Twilight didn't mind. She didn't care if she had to spend a hundred bits to get that book, as long as she could own it. As she rushed out of the bookstore and flew back to her castle, she knew that she couldn't wait to read that book. And she would test out the mind control. Hypnotising a pony or two would probably be easy for her. Maybe even fun. She looked down at the book she was levitating and smiled. This was a very good day indeed.
For a short moment, a hidden darkness began to fill her mind. Her smile became twisted and almost... Evil. As if the idea of controlling others was pleasing to her. But as she landed before her crystal castle, almost all of her cruel ideas vanished from her mind. As she trotted through the castle, she noticed her note to Spike, and since he still wasn't up, she picked up a pen to write a new message, reading, 'I'm going to be in my reading room for a while today. ' And with that, she entered her reading room to read and read and read.