Twilight Sparkle sighed, and relaxed as she sat back. The grass was crisp and cool beneath her back, and the sky above her was blue and clear, the sun shining merrily down on the park where her and her friends were sitting, chatting and enjoying the day.
“Awesome cookies, Pinkie,” Spike chuckled, holding up a half-eaten specimen. A chocolate-chip cookie, but instead of chocolate chips, they looked like topaz.
“No problem, Spike!” Pinkie chirped. “It’s not every day that you get to celebrate ten years of friendship!”
“Whoa,” Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Ten years?!”
“I know!” Rainbow Dash grinned, taking a bite of a cupcake. “Time just flies on by when you’re having fun, right?”
Twilight sat up. “I’ve been in Ponyville for ten whole years.”
“Isn’t it just fabulous?” Rarity laughed. “I have to say, if I’d never met you, my life would be...”
“Borin’?” Applejack guessed.
“I was going to say “quiet”,” Rarity finished. “But yes, it would be... boring.”
“Don’t forget Black Snooty!” Pinkie added. “We’d be living in eternal night if Twilight hadn’t been such a bookworm and read about the Elements of Harmony and dragged us along!”
“Black Snooty?” Rainbow Dash asked, puzzled.
“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight elaborated, recalling Pinkie Pie’s attempts to guess Nightmare Moon’s name.
“Right, totally knew that.”
“Oh, I don’t think I would be half the pony I am today if Twilight never came to town,” Fluttershy said, quietly. “I never would have met any of you, and, well, um...”
“Heh,” Applejack chuckled. “You take your time, sugarcube. As for me, the last ten years were the best years o’ my life, because ah spent ‘em with you gals.”
“Hear, hear!” Spike agreed, holding up a mug of cider.
Twilight raised her own mug. “To another ten years of friendship!”
“To friendship!” five voices called out, and five mugs joined the two already in the air.
Twilight trotted down the road as the sun began to sink below the horizon, sighing in contentment. How Rarity and Pinkie Pie had managed to fit a cake that big and that delicious inside the picnic basket was beyond even her knowledge -- an oddity, but these days, it didn’t bother her so much. Pinkie Pie was involved, that was often reason enough.
Spike was riding on her back, holding a plate with the last of the topaz-chip cookies on it, along with some of the uneaten snacks, watching the world go by.
Suddenly, Twilight gasped as somepony bumped into her, sending her stumbling to the side. The sudden motion upset Spike and he fell off, onto the ground, biscuits, cupcakes and plate spilling everywhere. As Twilight regained her footing, she heard something.
Wake up.
“Excuse me?” she asked, irritated. The other pony, a dark blue stallion, turned at the sound of her voice, and looked at her.
“Pardon?” he asked, confused. “Is there something wrong?”
“You just walked into me!” Twilight pointed out, helping Spike pick up the food that had spilled.
“Did I?” the stallion looked confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t recall.”
“Well, perhaps you should-” Twilight closed her eyes, and choked back the nasty response. “Please be more careful and watch where you’re going, next time.”
“Uh, okay,” the stallion frowned, and trotted off. Twilight watched him go, and shook her head.
“That was odd,” Spike remarked, as Twilight picked him up and put him back on her back.
“It was, wasn’t it?” Twilight agreed.
Spike blew on a biscuit, before taking a bite. “Just walking into you without a word like that. How rude!”
“Wait, what?” Twilight asked, turning her head to look at Spike. “Say that again?”
“Uh,” Spike looked back at Twilight. “He just walked into you and that was rude?”
“No, the bit about how he walked into me.”
“Did you already forget?” Spike asked, “He walked into you, didn’t say a word!”
“You didn’t hear him say anything?”
“No?” Spike looked worried. “Should I have?”
Twilight shook her head. “I guess not. Must be just me. Let’s get home, huh?”
The pair walked through the doors of the dark library.
“Peewee!” Spike called out. “We’re home!”
A chirp responded from the darkness, and a flare of light shot down from upstairs, shooting around the library, touching all the candles.
Twilight’s eyes adjusted to the light, and she saw Spike standing there, with the baby phoenix on his arm. It had only been a few years, but Peewee was almost as big as Spike was, which made the scene rather amusing.
“Heh,” Spike chuckled. “That’s a good boy. Here, I saved you some biscuits. Sorry about the dirt, though, somepony walked into Twilight.”
Peewee squawked dismissively, leaning over and selecting a rainbow-iced cupcake.
“Hoo!” Owloysious hooted from his perch nearby. Twilight turned to look at her night assistant, who clutched a small, crisp, white envelope in his beak.
“For me?” Twilight frowned. “Usually I recieve my mail through Spike...”
“Hoo!” Owloysious dropped the envelope, where it was caught in Twilight’s magic, before hopping off his perch and darting out through the open door.
Twilight watched him go, before closing the door, opening a window for Owloysious to get back in by, and opened the letter.
“Who’s it from?” Spike asked, feeding a regular chocolate chip biscuit to Peewee.
“It’s from...” Twilight’s eyes darted over the page. “I...”
Twilight stared at the page, a mixture of emotions running through her mind. Confusion. Curiosity. Worry. Fear.
Spike looked at Twilight, and sighed as he raised himself onto tip-claws to look for himself. “It’s just a letter from Trottingham Library. Pass it here, I’ll see if we’ve got the book they’re after.”
Twilight numbly handed the letter to Spike. “You... you don’t see it?”
“See what?” Spike looked at the letter. “Is there a code on it, or something?” Spike held the paper up to Peewee, using the phoenix’s light as a backlight for the letter. “No watermarks. What is it, Twi?”
“What do you see on that page?”
“It’s a letter from Trottingham Public Library,” Spike reported. “They’re after a copy of “Hatless Wizard: How to Amaze and Dazzle without magic”, want to know if we’ve got a copy to send to them. That’s all I see.”
“No... other messages?”
“Nope.” Spike turned the letter over. “Actually, wait- no, that looked like a word. Nothing.”
Twilight rubbed her head with a hoof. “I must have spent too much time in the sun.” She walked over to the stairs, and looked back at Spike. “I’m going to go get some rest, I feel wierd. Blow out the candles when you’re done down here?”
“Uh, sure,” Spike nodded. “See you tomorrow, Twi.”
The unicorn mare walked upstairs, and Spike’s brow creased in concern. That was unlike Twilight. The sun had barely dipped below the horizon, for Celestia’s sake!
What was going on, here?
* * *
Twilight blew out the candle in her room, plunging the room into moonlit half-light. Outside her window, the town of Ponyville was still lit up with lights shining through windows, ponies eating dinner and generally making the most of a warm evening bathed in the glow of the full moon.
Twilight had a slight sense of dread. That was two messages Spike hadn’t heard or seen.
Wake up.
Twilight shuddered. Even thinking about it gave her a sense of unease. Definitely too much sun today.
She clambered into bed, and settled down, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow would be better. She was just tired, it was all a trick of her eyes. She let her eyes relax, and her face slipped into a smile as they began to close, and-
Her eyes shot open and she began to hyperventilate. There was nothing there! Fearing the worst, she closed her eyes again.
There, where the ceiling would be if her eyes were open, six letters. Six big letters. Twilight began to shake, and she opened her eyes again, looking around the darkened room.
This wasn’t right. Things were wrong. Was she going mad? She’d know, wouldn’t she? She looked out the window, and flinched.
The lights of Ponyville were unusually lit. Some houses had all their lights, most didn’t. But from here, the lights picked out a particular pattern.
“What in the name of Celestia...” Twilight’s mind clicked onto something. “Discord?”
“You called, dear?” a voice asked, and Twilight jumped out of bed in sheer fright, landing on the floor with a whump.
“Oh my,” Discord said, hopping over the bed to stand next to Twilight. “That was precious! Do it again!”
“Discord!” Twilight spat. “What is the meaning of all this?”
“The meaning of all what?” the draconequus asked, smiling. “Life? It’s forty-two. Or had you not heard? It may also interest you to know that “bird” is the word.”
Twilight got to her hooves, shaking. “I- how did you escape?”
“Who, me, escape?” Discord grinned, a cheshire smile, as he leaned in close and flicked Twilight’s horn, the normally rigid extension of her body vibrating with a comical umdurdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdr. “I haven’t gone anywhere, darling.”
“Twilight?” The door was suddenly flung open, flooding the room with light from Peewee as he rode on top of Spike’s head, the small dragon standing in the doorway. “I heard a thump. Is everything alright?”
Twilight blinked, and looked around. No trace of Discord. The lights of ponyville were normal once more.
“No, Spike, nothing is alright. I think I’m going insane.”
“What?” Spike looked alarmed as he ran over to Twilight. “That’s- are you sure? Perhaps you just need to wake up.”
Twilight’s pupils shrank to nothing as she looked at Spike. “Uh, say again?”
“Perhaps,” Spike repeated, concerned, “You just need a good night’s sleep.”
“Oh,” Twilight giggled nervously. “I thought you told me to-”
“Wake up.”
Twilight looked at the speaker -- Peewee, preening his wing. Spike followed her gaze.
“Twi... are you okay?”
“No. No I am not. Peewee just told me to wake up.”
“Wha?” Spike tilted his head quizzically. “That’s... he didn’t say anything. Twilight, stay there, I’m going to go get help, okay? Peewee, keep an eye on her.”
The baby dragon took the phoenix off his head, and with a flap of flame, the phoenix flew over to a bedpost, where it sat, watching Twilight. Spike nodded, and with haste, left the room.
Twilight stared back at Peewee, sweating bullets. Peewee opened his beak.
“Poor Twilight. Losing her mind, are we?” Peewee said.
“Guh.” Twilight pressed up against the wall, and walked along it, making her way for the door.
“Can’t have that,” Peewee said, waving a wing. The door slammed shut, and clicked as it locked. Twilight ran over to it, pulling hard with her magic, to no avail.
“Let me go!”
Peewee shook his head. “You can’t go on like this, Twilight. You have to wake up.”
“No!” Twilight’s eyes spotted another exit. “No, no, no! You’re not talking! It’s not real!”
“You’re right, Twilight,” Discord chimed in, stepping out of dark shadows behind her. With a squeak of terror, Twilight ran over to exit number two, the window. “None of this is real, it’s all in your head.”
“Discord!” Twilight accused. “You’ve done something to me! Stop it!”
“We can’t stop it,” Peewee said, sadly. “And we didn’t do this to you. Only you can stop it. All you have to do is-”
“Wake up?” Twilight guessed.
“I was going to say, “the macarena” but that works too,” Discord admitted.
“I’m not waking up,” Twilight shook her head. “I’m already awake.”
“So the dreamer says,” Peewee said. “This charade has gone on long enough. Twilight. Wake up. Now. There’s no time.”
“No!” Twilight pulled the window open behind her, and clambered up onto the windowsill.
“If you don’t wake up,” Discord said, advancing slowly, “They’ll come for you. Two by two, hooves of blue.”
Twilight wobbled on the sill, and looked down. Below her, there was a convenient cart of hay. She swallowed, and looked back at Peewee and Discord.
“I’m not waking up,” she declared. “I’m already awake.”
With a push of hooves, she pushed herself off the windowsill. The purple unicorn fell through the air, mane fluttering in the wind. The window shrank before her eyes, as she fell ever closer to the ground. She looked down, and saw that there was no hay cart. Only unforgiving tiles and a fall that was now certain to kill her.
Wake up, Twilight.
Crack.
Twilight struggled to pull her eyes open.
“By the moon, she’s awake!” a stallion said.
“Praise be,” a second stallion agreed.
Twilight’s mouth moved, and she formed two words. “What... happened?”
“Ah,” the first stallion said, swimming into focus; a pale yellow unicorn with a red and white mane. “You don’t remember? You took a nasty tumble, yes you did.”
“Quite a tumble, yes,” agreed his compatriot, an almost identical unicorn with moustache agreed. “You’re lucky to be alive! If it wasn’t for your friends-”
“Flim!” Twilight gasped. “Flam!”
“Oh!” exclaimed the bare-faced unicorn. “You did hear us when we introduced ourselves! See, brother, I told you it wasn’t a waste of time!”
“What are you two doing?” Twilight looked around. “Why am I in this dark stone room?”
“Well,” the moustachio’d Flam said, “We’re your doctors, yes we are!”
“And, well,” Flim said, rubbing his mane, “This dark stone room is, well, a cell. A prison.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Since when were you two cider salesponies doctors?”
“Uh,” Flam said, “Backtrack a little. Cider? We’ve never sold cider a day in our life!”
“He’s right,” Flim said. “Flim and Flam, travelling physicians nonpareil! The Queen is paying us handsomely to make sure you’re well and healthy!”
“I think we can add bringing ponies out of comas to our repertoire, brother,” Flam said, grinning. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle -- what was the last thing you remember?”
“I... I fell,” Twilight frowned. “I fell out of my bedroom window. I should have died?”
“Bedroom window?” Flim asked. “That’s curious, because your chart says... hmm,” the salespony-doctor looked at the chart. “You slipped off a cliff in the Everfree Forest about ten years ago, now. You were brought in by one Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, apparently they tried to catch you, but, well, for the lack of a better term, fumbled you. You fell quite a way. Less than you would have if they hadn’t caught you at all, but...”
“Ten years ago!?” Twilight exclaimed. “But Ponyville! Spike! Discord! Nightmare Moon!”
Flam drew in a sharp breath. “Ooh, you know the Queen?”
“Nobody but the Queen’s closest advisors call her “Nightmare”,” Flim added. “Although why she wants you in a cell alongside traitors if you’re her friend is beyond us.”
“T-traitors?” Twilight asked. Flim and Flam nodded in unison.
“This is Blackstone Prison,” Flam added. “It gives me the willies. But this is where anypony who tries to go against the Crown is sent. Ain’t nopony ever been sentenced here and left this place alive.”
“Now that you’re awake and fully alive,” Flim guessed, “I reckon they’ll tell you what’s what.”
“But- Prison?” Twilight sat up straighter, wincing as her head throbbed. “I- I’m Princess Celestia’s prized pup-”
“Shh!” Flam clapped a hoof over her mouth, looking behind him at the closed, wooden door. “Don’t speak the false goddesses’ name! That’s a crime punishable by instant death!”
Twilight’s face fell.
“I don’t know what fantasy world you’ve been living in,” Flim said, packing up his bag hastily, “But... I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“Our advice,” Flam said, quickly, packing his own bag, “Stay quiet, bow to everything and maybe, just maybe you’ll survive long enough to find out the rules of this world. The Queen’s Guard are merciless and won’t take it easy on you for any reason; they’ll probably hit you harder because you’re the prize pupil of the false goddess.”
“But I-”
Flim and Flam bowed hastily, backing away. “We’re so sorry, miss Sparkle.”
The two stepped smartly over to the door, and knocked on it. With a clunk, the door opened just enough for them to get out, before a dark hoof slammed the door shut again, where it locked. Twilight ran over to it, and reared up to look through the window.
“Flim!” she called out. “Flam! What’s going on?”
“Get away from the door, prisoner!” a heavy voice growled. “No talking!”
Twilight pressed her face to the bars. “Who do you think you are? I’m-”
A golden lance was touched to the bars below twilight’s face, and with a jolt and a scream, she was thrown backwards to land on the floor, smoking. A face appeared at the window, stern eyes framed by a blue-steel helmet.
“Prisoner, stay away from the door. Next time, you will be whipped. You will not talk unless spoken to by a guard, and you will not escape; am I clear?”
“Crystal,” Twilight grunted, getting up.
“Good,” the guard growled, his face vanishing from the door. “That was your one warning. Be good and you might last longer than two-oh-six did. Prissy little snot of a unicorn, whining all day.”
“Rarity!” Twilight cried. The guard’s eye moved back to the window slit, glaring at her.
“I didn’t ask you to talk, prisoner. Do not talk unless spoken to. Two-oh-six didn’t quite understand that, and she paid the price. Look out the window, and you’ll see what I mean.”
Twilight frowned, keeping her mouth shut, and looked at the rear wall of her cell. Standing on her cot, she looked through the barred window, and gasped.
The moon sat high in the sky, illuminating tall walls and a large gate; on the horizon, she saw the lights of canterlot and other cities. Above the gate, six bleached skulls sat on poles. Five equine, one draconic.
“Cheer up,” the guard snorted. “You outlived the other traitors by a whole seven years. You might just make history and die of natural causes! Ha ha!”
Twilight clutched the bars tightly, and looking out over the new landscape, wept.