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// Chapter 20: Illusions 
// Story: Equal Equestria Enlightenment 
// by stupidhand14 
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Starlight Glimmer's Diary Day 409

I'll need to write this fast. Too much to do in such a little amount of time.
I really need to stop staying up at night. I spent hours looking through the spell book, looking for a simple illusion spell. It was only after the fourth hour of searching that I found the spell. It was labelled under "W". The next thing I can remember after finding it is waking up in my bed.
I looked at the clock, only to see that it was already 9:30. Scrambling out of bed, I applied my makeup rapidly and galloped downstairs. There was plenty to do today, and not much time to do it. Outside, I found Double Diamond talking with Crimson Moon. It seemed Crimson Moon was asking some touchy subjects.
"...way we would permit that," Double Diamond said. "We are all friends here, and friends do not hurt each other."
"That doesn't answer my question about ponies who don't accept equality," Crimson pointed out. "What about them?"
"Much like an ignorant friend, we must try to help them see the truth. They just need to realize..." Double Diamond trailed off, turning to me. "Good morning, Starlight."
"Good morning, Starlight Glimmer," Crimson Moon greeted as well.
"Good morning, Double Diamond and Crimson," I replied. "How is the studying going?"
"It's going well," Double Diamond answered. "Crimson is showing a surprising amount of insight into the subject. He has multiple questions each day, though most of them are very philosophical." I looked at Crimson again. He didn't appear to be nervous.
"That's good to hear." I made a mental note to talk to Crimson later. "I would love to stay and chat, but I must be going." I waved goodbye to them both as I walked towards the bakery. The bakery wasn't crowded, but Pinkie Pie was baking plenty of muffins. 
"Good morning, Pinkie Pie," I greeted as I approached.
"Hello, Starlight," Pinkie greeted back. "It feels like I haven't seen you in months."
"These have been a few long weeks." I ordered some muffins for the road. While I was waiting, I realized I had forgotten the spell book in my house. After paying for the muffins, I returned to grab the book. However, neither Double Diamond nor Crimson were outside my house. Instead, in their place was Nimble Vision. He appeared to be reading and writing in a book.
Ignoring him for the time being, I went inside and grabbed the spell book. Before returning outside, I looked outside my window and saw Nimble was suddenly a small distance away, on one of the benches. 
Opening the door, I saw Nimble's eyes shift, slightly. Instead of heading directly to Cinnamon's house, I took a long way there. I kept feeling like I was being followed, and turns out I was. However, it was Violet Glow who was following me, not Nimble.
"Starlight, it happened," she said while stopping right in front of me. She was breathing heavily, probably from following me. 
"What happened?" I asked, slightly annoyed at playing the preposition game.
"Azure Moon earned her cutie mark!" I stood stunned for a few moments. This wasn't the first time a filly had earned her cutie mark, but Azure Moon was very young to be receiving hers.
"How did she get it?" I demanded.
"Last night, she was playing with some other foals near the cliffs. We told her not to go out there, but she didn't listen. Suddenly, some boulders began to fall down... Apparently, she grabbed all the other foals and levitated them out of the way of the boulder."
"How many were saved?" I asked after a few moments of thought.
"15 foals were playing near the cliffs, at the time," Violet answered. 15 ponies saved by a single filly.
"That means she has a magic based cutie mark," I stated. I had to resist the urge to look back at my own concealed cutie mark.
"Yes, a half moon, with a shining star on the missing half," Violet explained. "When are you going to perform the cutie unmarking?"
"Probably in a few days," I responded. "It takes time for---"
"Starlight, please," Violet interrupted, "Moonie is laying on her bed crying right now. Can't we do it any sooner?" I looked into Violet's eyes again and saw the determination of a mother.
"Violet... I'll see what I can do. At most, it will be three days."
"Okay, Starlight. Please, try to make it sooner," she pleaded. Nodding, I turned and continued my way to Cinnamon's house.
Cinnamon was not home when I arrived. Bringing the muffins with me, I entered the room where Twilight was being kept. She was staring off into nothingness, clearly deep in thought. Even my entrance into the room did not disturb her out of her thoughts. I coughed politely, which finally got her attention.
"Good morning, Twilight." I gave her my best smile.
"Hello," she replied tersely.
"I brought you some muffins," I told her as I held out the bag. At first, she looked at the bag with suspicion, but after a few seconds she took them.
"Thank you," she said before biting into one of the muffins. I could tell by her grimace that she had not yet grown accustomed to the texture of the muffins. I let her eat in peace for a few minutes before continuing.
"Are you ready for another discussion?" I asked politely.
"Another one about equality?" Twilight retorted. "What more is there to talk about?"
"No, I believe that a different topic would be nice. How about some of the current magical theories?"
We spent the next hour or so talking advanced magical field theory. This was mostly diversionary, though we did touch upon equality near the end. After my time had run out, I got up and began to walk out. However, Twilight had one more question.
"Do you really think that you're doing is right, Starlight?" she asked scornfully. "Do you honestly believe you can equalize Equestria? What about you, in this new world? Aren't you your own antithesis?"
I didn't answer her question. I closed the door behind me, locking it once again. I pulled out the spell book and found the simple illusion I had searched for last night. Casting it upon the door, it looked like any other wall of the house. Without a detection spell, most ponies wouldn't even notice it. Smiling at my handiwork, I went outside.
I spent the next five hours making pleasantries and socializing, making sure everypony was still of the right mindset. It was around 4:00pm when I saw some guardsponies coming into town. Each of them looked ready for trouble, and Shining Armor was leading them.
"Welcome back," I greeted them. "Do you need something?" Shining Armor stepped forward and pulled out a single scroll.
"Princess Celestia," he began, "has given us permission to conduct an extensive investigation on this town, in search of somepony who slipped a sleeping drug into the cider that was given to us as a gift." He paused and looked directly at me. "We will be searching every house, every room, every hiding place until we find what we are looking for."
"Somepony... disturbed the cider I gave you?" I asked in false confusion. "I promise, you shall have our full support in finding this pony who has betrayed our trust."
"Thank you, but only compliance will be needed." Shining Armor turned to the rest of his stallions. "Fan out. Search every part of this town."
I kept up the charade and told everypony to cooperate with the guardsponies. They took control of the old reeducation building, since it was one of the vacant buildings, and are using it as a headquarters. Unfortunately, I no longer have the ability to ask them to leave.
After doing a thorough investigation of the warehouse, the guardsponies split up. I am certain some of them are searching the other houses for any evidence for other allegations. After two hours, I was called into an interrogation.
"Starlight, do you believe that your town is fair?" the interrogator asked.
"Yes, it is fair."
"Then tell me, did you ever go to the warehouse where the ale was?"
"I did on a few occasions, yes," I answered honestly. The stallion wrote something down on a scroll.
"And did you ever notice anypony near the barrels?"
"Not to my knowledge, no."
"Did you ever visit the warehouse with anypony else?"
"One time I did go with a mare named Lightning Dust," I replied. He wrote her name down before looking back at me.
"Did you put anything extra in the cider?"
"No! I would never do that!" I said, lying through my teeth.
"Now, would you please explain the use of the houses with the sound systems in them?" The interrogator stared at me, as if looking into my soul.
"W-what do you mean?" The houses have nothing to do with the incident. Why were they investigating them?
"We found several houses, including this one, where a sound system is set up to play prerecorded messages. What is their purpose?"
"They're our form of punishment, for anypony that breaks the law." He paused again to write down more information.
"Thank you, Starlight. That will be all for now. You may go." As I turned to leave, I saw him write down more information on his scroll.
I returned home to find two guardsponies investigating. They were rifling through my wardrobe and one of them was reading my first journal.
"Excuse me, what are you doing?" I demanded as I walked in. They both turned to me calmly.
"We are searching for any evidence relating to the crime," the taller stallion responded.
"And you think going through my diary is going to give you evidence for a crime that happened a few days or weeks ago?"
The two stallions looked at each other, but both remained calm. "No, I suppose that wouldn't provide evidence for this crime. Come on, Arctic." With that, they left.
After a few minutes of thinking, I went to Double Diamond's cottage. He answered the door immediately. 
"Starlight? Why are you here so late?" he asked in confusion.
"Double Diamond, listen, I am going to be gone for some time," I told him as I pushed him inside and closed the door behind me. "I have to. You're in charge until I get back."
"What? You're not making sense."
"I will be gone tomorrow morning. Hopefully that will draw the guardsponies away. I need you to lead the town while I'm gone. Don't let our friends scatter."
"O-of course but... when will you be back?" I couldn't speak for a few seconds, I got choked up.
"Twilight is inside Cinnamon's house, in a back room," I told him, diverting the question. "It's hidden behind an illusion wall. As soon as Shining Armor is gone, bring her out. Don't let her escape... convince her of the truth."  Double Diamond stared at me, confusion marking his face. He attempted to speak a few times, but nothing came out.
"Good bye, Double Diamond," I said before walking towards the door.
"Nothing is going to happen to you, Starlight." He abruptly stepped in front of me, blocking the door. I couldn't help but smile.
"If something happens to me, I'll try to make sure somepony sends you word of what happened to me."
"Starlight..." he trailed off.
"Thank you, for all your help over these years, Double Diamond," I concluded. I brushed past him and walked out the door, leaving Double Diamond staring after me.
I have made preparations and my provisions are in a bag. Tomorrow, I leave through the secret passageway. May it be enough.