And then Pinkie got sent to the moon inside of Twilight's mind.

See, the crux of this story is the fact that "Nightmare" Twilight is absolutely wrong, and there's no choice but to evict the only thing keeping her on equal footing with the princesses or send her to the moon. But what Twilight is saying actually sounds quite reasonable, and the only word we have that she's going to ruin everything is the Princesses'. Theirs, and Pinkie's, who's obviously going to be on their side. What if Twilight is right? What if she really can rule better, and keep the Nightmare pacified in the process?

That would put the "good guys" in the wrong, and make their planned treachery, should Pinkie fail, all the more egregious.

Wonderful addition to the story! Can't wait for more

I'm loving the imagery of the inside of Twilight's mind.

Hoping we get some real world Pinkie shapeshifting by the end of this.

Oooh, things are about to get Mythical I bet...

Maybe Pinkie can just pretend to be a memory of herself.

>>988883988883

It doesn't seem to be a matter of Twilight and the Nightmare being wrong.  It looks to be more that the Nightmare is irrational and is driving Twilight to be irrational as well.  Note that Twilight Sparkle's presentation is a heavily facaded form of the essential Nightmare corruption:  Give me power or else.  The fact that there's any sane reasoning in front of it at all is because Twilight Sparkle is so far holding out better against the Nightmare than Princess Luna did.  In all probability it's more a matter of Twilight Sparkle moving faster than Princess Luna did.  Luna probably stewed in envy for a longer period of time, and so was unable to put up as much in the way of sound reasoning when the Nightmare finally drove her into conflict.  Twilight Sparkle on the other hand insisted on acting basically immediately on the source of her discontent with Princess Celestia, and so is able to express more of her own (very rational) personality.

Ironically, this means the Nightmare (at least with its current behaviors) is badly self-sabotaging.  Twilight's approach is clearly superior.  As the story specifically points out, if Twilight weren't afflicted with the Nightmare at all her presentation wouldn't be hopeless.

Cute!

Nightmare Twilight doesn't have a nice ring to it. Perhaps... Torment Twilight? Torment is actually a synonym for nightmare. If it's not good enough, **

Wonderful tour of Twilight's Cognaculum, set out as a landscape, and a lovely chapter overall.

Oh, how I miss lucid dreaming. I've had 14 lucid dreams in my life, most of them clustered around a time when I was changing medications. Oh, to be able to control such a thing - it is not through lack of trying or study. Nothing in life beats a lucid dream. Truly... better than life.

Sigh.

Princess Celestia is day and Princess Luna is night and Twilight is the thing between them, and Twilight Sparkle was the pony who brought them together. Now she's bringing them apart...?

>>989004989004

In writing this, I actually concluded that if it wasn't for Stephanie Meyer, "Breaking Dawn" would be the perfect Nightmare Twilight name.

>>988883988883

You're falling into the same trap as Twilight. The whole premise of MLP is that the princesses are good, wise and benevolent rulers over a magical realm. Once you question that the whole situation becomes surreal, starting with the political system, over the way they dealt with Discord, right down to the fact of weather-administration.

Of course all that can be subverted , but as long as Kwakerjak keeps this tagged as "Adventure" rather that "Dark", the Nightmare is a bad apple.

Ok, first note was " give friends a chance to accept Nightmare ".

Next, memorys of her friend need to ask Nightmare for permission to go outside.

And now Nightmare Moon was shocked, supriced, like she did not expected to see Pinkie here even thought she already prepeared a trap ( I mean, she made a trap and yet she was supriced someone fall into it ).

At this point, I have no idea do Nightmare is trying to manipulate Twilight to get position of power and take her body on her own, or she want everyone to accept her and that her intentions are not so evil after all.

We are at cliffhanger just before finding out do she is a villan here or just anty hero ?

Can not wait to find that ansfer.

Operation Breaking Dawn

Image: http://scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw2604-Luna_saw_what_you_did_there.jpg

>>988883988883

That's just it.  Twilight IS right.  That information could usher in a new age of growth and development for the ponies, and, were she not under the Nightmare's influence, Twilight likely would have secured the knowledge by now.  The problem is the Nightmare, not the justification.  Luna was ignored, and she was right to want more attention and respect.  Twilight was being stonewalled, and she was right to want access to the information.  But the problems they face were never the issue- it's the method they chose to SOLVE said issue.  If Nightmare Moon had held court more often, made more public appearances, etc, she wouldn't have been a "villain" or something to be dealt with.  But instead she stopped the sun from rising, and so she was a horror that had to be put down, before she could destroy the nation.

>>988883988883

Except for the whole problem of the fact that Pinkie is the only known Imaginary Friend that didn't go bad upon independence. And even then, she's kinda iffy at times.  Think of thousands of discord-like creatures, and NMMy slowly corrupting Twilight like she did Luna.  She's reasonable NOW, but that's how the slope to the dark side goes.  It always seems like a good idea to start with, and the next thing you know you're wearing all black and giggling while holding a thousand kittens over the mouth of a volcano.

>>989225989225 So far, the method by which Nightmare Twilight is trying to resolve her grievances is the most peaceful and bloodless one possible. Meanwhile, the Princesses are employing neurosurgery by Pinkie Probe and are planning a betrayal with the Elements at the ready.

I still have more sympathy for her than anyone else. No offense to Pinkie.

>>989276989276

Nightmare is a foreign entity pushing her to do something she'd never do.  

villains are villains.  They don't always have a valid point.  

>>989276989276

If by "Painless and Bloodless" you mean "Twilight is slowly lobotomized and control of the nation is handed over to an entity that has proven it has no regard for the lives of ordinary ponies" then yes.  you are 100% correct.

My sympathies, as always, lie with fluttershy.  WHY IS SHE BEING PUT THROUGH THIS!  THE HORROR!

(shut up people who think this is effecting Twilight.  It's totes only having a negative impact on Fluttershy)

>>989276989276 >>989325989325 >>989373989373

This conversation is quite interesting, and I wish I could join it without spoiling the ending.

>>989392989392

yes.  clearly you are beset upon all sides.  the horrors of being the author.

>>988883988883

>>989225989225

Uh, isn't she trying to get the idea of making Dream Ponies public?

I'm not sure how you could think it would be a good idea.  How ANYONE could think that's a good idea.

Even the Princesses managed to screw up and create Discord.  Even if they could only create a more down-to-earth-magically pony, the problem comes with their personality.  

You could create a legion of mindless drones/soldiers that work only by your command.  You could create a shapeshifting assassin with no ties to yourself.  A living, breathing 'sex doll' to do with as you please.  An insane, shapeshifting murderer.  A con-pony that can shapeshift.  A criminal gang...

There are so many ways that this could be abused and misused.  It's the power to create life.

>>989404989404

oh, it can definately be abused, but in the pursuit of science one cannot allow oneself to be distracted by "ifs" and "buts".  If the information needs to be restricted once the research is completed, then it can be restricted.  But until then, it's pursuit is still a worthy goal.  Does the fact that you can use nuclear fission to cause massive damage mean it has no positive uses?

>>989415989415

And right now, Twilight isn't in a state of mind to do the deciding.

And really, what positives does this have?  Thinking about it, all I can see is potential for abuse, but very few real positive uses.

Why would Equestria need to create tailor made ponies?  That's the big question.

>>989404989404 Really, she's trying to advance public knowledge of magic of all kinds. Dreampony fabrication is just one of those forms. The Princesses are suppressing this knowledge to "protect" ponies from harming themselves. I guess I'm opposed to them because I'm the kind of pro-intellectual that dislikes the idea of those in power hiding the truth from anyone, for whatever reason.

>>989436989436

I think Twilight is more focused on the ability to project an aspect of your psyche, and the spontanious creation of matter.

And does that change any of my points?  I'm the one whose been arguing Nightmare as a villian, remember?

>>989442989442

and that's one of the reasons many people dislike intellectuals.

Just because someone can do something doesn't mean someone should do something.  In fact if the fact you can do something is the only reason you can find for doing it then you probably shouldn't.

Does Nightmare and Twilight have a good point? Yes, which makes them a more interesting antagonist. It is always a good sign (in my opinion) when you can easily argue that the "villain" is not truly evil, that at least part if not all of their argument is sound. Though their methods may be a little bit off, unfortunately, which will probably lead their attempt to be unsuccessful.

Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Luna_apple.png

as jerky as this may sound, It's really cool to see my work on the featured box, even if it is just an image and I'm piggybacking on somepony else's success. Great chapter by the way.

>>989474989474

Many intellectuals make the mistake of assuming that "knowledge" is synonymous with "wisdom." It isn't. Furthermore, the presence of one of these qualities does not necessarily imply the presence of the other.

*rubs chin slowly*

Hmm...

Indeed!

That is all.

Journcy Out.

>>989474989474 Respectfully, there's a difference between "because we can" and "because it's the way forward."

Twilight doesn't want to pursue this forbidden knowledge because it would be cool to find out what it is. She wants to study it because she wants to help ponies with it. At least, that's my interpretation of it.

>>989578989578

You're assuming she's rational and the Nightmare is essentially just giving her the push, the confidence if you will, to study this.  Rather than pushing her instability and beyond logic.

Look at it this way, in the show Twilight discovered that all a time travel spell did was create a predestination paradox.  She didn't start looking to develop a more effective one.

>>989578989578

And there might be positives.  I can't really think of anything off hand, but I'm not the most learned person, nor am I the author who knows what the Dream thingy is capable off.

But Twilight, right now, is not the pony to make that decision.  She's under the influence of a creature that simply wants POWER.  That cares little how it gets it, just that it does.

>>989634989634 Actually, the "escalation" of new knowledge is something I think was introduced to her character in this fic. Twilight found out she "gave birth" to Pinkie Pie, and soon invents Pinkieology. Going by your time travel example, that's equivalent to drawing up blueprints for the TARDIS.

>>989525989525

Yea, verily.  I've been accused of intelligence once or twice, but Celestia forbid anyone should think of me as wise.  

On the other hoof, I'm smart enough to see what's going on here.  I think.

>>988975988975

I've noted that.

Nightmare's problem is that she's almost straight-up Id. Very strong in the department of tempting individuals with the things they desire, but equally weak when it comes to long-term planning.

Near as I can tell, Twilight is as much a victim in this as anything.  Nightmare Twilight is not the villain, Nightmare is.  Consider: the Princesses say, "Ok, your totally right, have fun ruling the country.  PEACE."  Twilight takes over, maybe ushers in a new era of prosperity, at first.  But Nightmare is still in there, doing its thang, and before too long, Twilight becomes a tyrant, who squashing down anyone whose ideas differ from her own.  No bueno.

Oh and for that ending.

Image: http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/shit-just-got-real.jpg

Been wanting a chance to use this image.

Well, now that Pinkie's found her, I expect we'll get to see just what this "accept the Nightmare" business is all about. There are several ways you could play Nightmare at this point. Although her looking "shocked" leads me to believe that she'll be a bit more than her standard power-hungry self. If that were the case I'd expect more of an angry response. What we have here is a "Wah! How did you get there?"

>>989814989814

I think the accept the Nightmare thing is all on Twilight.  Nightmare's tempting her so Twilight is convinced it wants what's best for her and Equestria.  It's a friend then.  But it also has the history of trying to take over Equestria so no one will just accept it.  So she's thinking of ways to get her friends to be friends with it.

The fact Nightmare has problems with memories and Twilight doesn't mind is because they're just memories.

You know what would be great? If Pinkie Pie teamed up with her old friend "Smarty Pants" inside Twilight's mind! You know, the imaginary 'living, breathing' version of Smarty Pants that Twilight came up with as a little filly.

I'm enjoying this story very much. I was originally skeptical of the idea of Pinkie being an imaginary friend when I read 'Petriculture' but now that I see it in action in this story it's gotten very comical and interesting :)

>>988965988965 She should have stayed as Surprise. Nightmare doesn't know about Surprise!

Maybe she can still outwit mean old Black Snooty! by doing this!

Image: http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/236/5/8/pinkie_pie_by_deathpwny-d47orxy.gif

>>989646989646

Okay, but if you want to put THAT little tidbit into effect, let's assume that after the whole thing with the Time Travel spell, she did start drawing up blueprints for, and ended up building a TARDIS. If you've seen Doctor Who, I think you'd understand just how dangerous the Doctor stresses that Time Travel can be. It's not available to just anyone, for we've seen it capable of causing terrible things to happen. You know, like causing paradoxes, ripping open holes in the fabric of time and space, and letting Reapers in to eat the planet. There's a reason why the Starswirl the Bearded wing is locked.

It's a fact that the knowledge she's pursuing is SERIOUSLY dangerous. The Princesses' jobs are to protect their citizens, and frankly, they have more experience and wisdom. They know that this is a power not to be tampered with lightly, and that letting it loose on a public as naive and not particularly acquainted with danger as Equestria can only lead to disaster in the long run. As soon as somebody deranged gets ahold of this power, or somebody makes an honest but fatal mistake, the number of lives lost could be exponential.

It's like a parent making sure not to let the kid know where the gun in the house is. It can only lead to trouble. If that includes hiding information in this case, then yes, I'll agree with you that it does leave something of a sour taste in my mouth as well, but it's a necessary evil.

I don't agree with a government controlling information in most cases either, but then again, in MY society, the sort of information the government controls is things like covering up their own mistakes and wrongdoings. That sort of thing. Equestria is a vastly different culture, and somehow, I doubt that they have to worry about that much. If the Princesses; beings who are thousands of years older than I and have seen way much more, were to tell me I'd be better off not knowing, it would be smarter, wiser, and better to default to their wisdom.

>>990014990014 All very valid points.

To continue the analogy, I'm in no way saying everyone should be given a time machine and free run of the space-time continuum. I'm saying everyone should be allowed to know that time travel exists.

Nightmare set the trap but was still shocked? I'm intrigued. Do go on

>>990042990042

Well, if that's the case, then I don't think that the Princesses are at fault at all. After all, at the beginning of the story it was said that Pinkie wasn't really hiding it anymore. To folks close to her, like the CMC and the Cakes, she freely told them that she was an imaginary friend, and she no longer gave anybody the 'rock farm' business when they asked her her origins. So in other words, she's not hiding anything. She's not purposefully offering anything up to those that don't ask, but she's not hiding her nature.

So in that case, they're not hiding the fact that such a phenomenon exists, they just aren't willing to explain how any of it works. Again, to use a parent/gun analogy, that's like the kid asking a parent "daddy, do we have a gun?" the father would say "yes" but when the kid asks where it is, the father says he can't tell him.

>>990122990122 Ok, I sort of misspoke there. What I'm trying to say is:

All knowledge should be free, but most power should be guarded.

And since knowledge is power, the Princesses cracked down on it. See, by now, everyone knows what Pinkie is and how she works, but the power to duplicate her origin is safely beyond most ponies. Likewise, everyone should know what this "forbidden knowledge" is, but should be informed of why they shouldn't make destructive use of it - if they can use it at all.

>>990158990158

Again, I agree in theory but in practice there's no way this isn't going to be abused. It sounds good on paper, yes, but paper is a flimsy thing that turns transparent when you put your burger on it.

Let's compare this to a real life analogue. It is perfectly legal, and frankly quite easy, to use the internet to find out how to construct high explosives. Many bombing incidents today are the result of some disgruntled person only having to look online to find out how to build a pipe bomb, and as a result, many lives have been lost. And of course, everybody has been told why they 'shouldn't' make destructive use of this knowledge and use it to kill people, and yet it does keep happening.

Is it 'right' for people to be able to access that information? Especially since we know that people with that information have and will continue to abuse it?

Now my immediate reaction is to say 'yes it is.' As I said, I mostly agree with the notion that information and knowledge should be accessible. On the other hand, why would anybody need to know how to build a pipe bomb? Is there any reason that somebody who isn't intending to murder people would have to know this information? Is knowledge for knowledge's sake a good enough excuse? With all the people using it to do bad, are there enough people who will find ways to use it to do good to make it worth it? There are no easy answers here.

As for this, well, honestly the same thing applies, but the answer is even harder. For one thing, there's reason to believe that yes, it absolutely can be used for good if it can create matter. That can allow it to feed the hungry or house the homeless or all sorts of thing. Furthermore, there would appear to be a lot less bad apples in Equestria than on Earth, who would use it for good rather than ill.

... on the other hand, we've proven, given the fact that it can create things like Discord, that the use of this power can be absolutely apocalyptic. And we also know that there ARE bad apples in Equestria who more than likely would use it for evil purposes, no matter how few there may be. And once that happens, well, the whole planet might as well kiss its ass goodbye.

Like I said, there are no easy answers here. But saying that Twilight is definitely in the right about this, or that the Princesses are definitely in the wrong is not a clear cut issue. And frankly, given how easy a 'worst case scenario' would be and the sheer scope of the destruction this knowledge could cause, I think I, for one, would sleep better at night knowing that people don't have access to this sort of thing.

>>990158990158

One important thing to remember is that Celestia and Luna aren't actually hiding information about how to bring imaginary friends into the real world, because they don't know how it works themselves. Twilight's real issue isn't that they're hiding information, but that they chose to stop their investigation, and they don't want to assist her in hers.

>>988975988975>>989225989225

And the great tragedy is, now that she's been 'tainted' by the Nightmare, nopony will listen when she says "Okay, I still think I'm right, so let's try that again without the external force corrupting me."

"since the earth pony did indeed intend to throw a “Twilight’s Not Crazy Anymore” party". Pinkie Pie is best random.

i see this more as the Night Mare asking for help in getting a body of her (its?) own, because being a psychic parasite/puppetmaster sucks so badly than it taking Twilight over

>>989276989276

Not in the overall debate. As a proofreader I prefer to abstain.

But as for this:

So far, the method by which Nightmare Twilight is trying to resolve her grievances is the most peaceful and bloodless one possible. Meanwhile, the Princesses are employing neurosurgery by Pinkie Probe and are planning a betrayal with the Elements at the ready.

I still have more sympathy for her than anyone else. No offense to Pinkie.

Keep in mind this is explicitly stated to NOT be the Nightmare's decision, but Twilight's ( “No, we’re doing this my way,” she whispered to herself before opening her eyes and returning her attention to the others in the room.) They are NOT portrayed as merged into one being, but rather a psychological manipulator (Nightmare) preventing an OCD genius (Twilight) from seeing the forrest for the trees by focusing on one specific solution to a complex issue: Power. All the Nightmare wants is power, and she is manipulating Twilight's otherwise (as you infer) altruistic intentions to gain said power. Nightmare couldn't care less about the greater good through dissemination of magical theory, she is only ramrodding Twilight toward a subversive victory.

The issue is not Twilight's argument for her cause, but the Nightmare's sinister motivation at furthering it.

While i'm not uninterested in the discussion going on in the comments, i am unable to keep up with it. So, i will just say: when is next chapter?

"the Nightmare, who was now looking down at her with an expression of shock."

Shock. Not Rage. Not Anger. Not a cold Glare. Shock.

I have a very distinct feeling I know why Nightmare is doing this, and the funny thing is, if I'm right, this should be very, very interesting.

Even without an evil parasitic entity living in her head, Twilight would make a terrible ruler.

She causes enough grief trying to perfect and micromanage every aspect of existence on a small-town librarian scale and even that often drives her to neurosis when it becomes too much for her.

There is simply no way she could responsibly handle governance of an entire country, she'd go nuts and start making terrible decisions.

When we consider this situation has twilight being several magnitudes more magically powerfull Han usual, her crazed 'solutions' are gonna be a hell of a lot worse than Lesson Zero. Add to that her inset ended field of study has the potential to create Discord-level beings, and that she DOES have an evil parasitic entity inside her head that could use Twilights neurosis as a steering wheel to get her to do absolutely anything it wants...

So basically that's why she cannot be allowed to succeed, despite her noble intentions.

>>989415989415 Yes, but how many people can whip up a Neuclear reactor or bomb in the safety of their Back Yards with fairly little Requiste Effort? That'd be a better Comaprison.

>>991634991634 The Difference between this Fic and Lesson Zero is that In Lesson Zero, she couldn't Delegate. Twilight Sparkle KNOWS how to delegate, How to tell Ponies to go and do stuff she's unable to do. Thats why she's All-team Organiser. That's why she's the De Facto Leader of the Mane 6. Twilight Sparkle is a Good Leader. She can Function well under pressure, but only when that pressure has a way to escape, A Goal for her to focus on.  The reason Twilight was Spazzing out in Lesson Zero was she was on a Deadline she was Unable to see a way to meet. As Far as she Knew, She WASN'T allowed to delegate. Lesson Zero WASN'T about Twilight's Failure as a Leader, but as a Showcase of her Neurosis. She'd probably make a BETTER leader with the Nightmare in her Brain, Because the Nightmare'd be there Urging her Not to Collapse under her own Fear of Failure. The Nightmare with all of Twilight's vast mental faculties would eventually work it's way to a point where even if one of its plots were foiled, another would be helped Foward.

You know, one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was S7E23 "Extreme Measures" because playing mind games was its primary plot line.

I think you're doing it even better than that

>>991554991554

I think I know why Nightmare is doing it too, but I'm keeping quiet.  Wait-and-seeing.  This story is so good!

It might have been interesting to see what the transition is like when Pinkie projects herself into another pony's mind. I suppose it's a stylistic choice though. You can never quite tell when you actually fall asleep, and the only difference here is that you're slipping into someone else's subconscious.

>>990240990240

The theory behind energetic materials is absolutely fascinating. Since it's something anyone who's taken high school chemistry can grasp, there will always be some imbeciles who use that knowledge to do harm, but the unspoken majority are those like myself who prefer to keep all their digits intact.

Creation magic is probably the Equestrian equivalent of nuclear physics. Even if the knowledge did become commonplace, only the most powerful and devoted magicians would ever be able to use it. Moving the celestial bodies is probably simple in theory, but there's a reason only the princesses can do it. Further study might even lead to a way to dispel the manifestations, annihilating Discord once and for all.

>>990158990158 >>990240990240

Have to agree with the author here:

>>990250990250

the problem here is not neccesarily the amount of damage the "science of imaginary friends" can or cannot do, or that the information is being hidden:

The knowledge isn't there yet and the research is being obstructed. The whole point of scientific inquiry is that we DO NOT KNOW the results.

If the research is continued, and the results are deemed too dangerous to be made general knowledge, very well.

If the results are beneficial and difficult to misuse, even better.

For all we know, twilight might discover a way to neutralize harmful imaginary friends, thereby making discord much less of a threat, should he ever escape again (or should another dangerous imaginary being get created). Or she might find a way to materialize imaginary objects, allowing a revolution in industry. Or there might be a way for non-imaginary ponies to enter the mental landscape, allowing for huge advances in psychology and related sciences.

Or she might find out Equestria is all a dream in the mind of a sleeping Scootaloo.

We. Do. Not. Know.

Therefore, we should find out .

That said,

Nightmare: bad idea.

See precedent, as well as current knowledge of twilight's mental landscape and speech

WOO, intellectual discussions on pony fanfics!

me gusta mucho

>>993906993906

WOO, intellectual discussions on pony fanfics!

I know! I don't even mind the fact that I seem to be losing, the sheer amount of unbridled civility in here is amazing.

>>993906993906

>>993983993983

That's one of the things I love most about the Bronies. When we argue, it's the internet equivalent of peace talks between Canada and Switzerland!

Minor correction: Applejack is sorrel, not palomino.

>>995175995175

I dunno... looking at the Wikipedia articles, I'd have to say that the palomino coloring reminds me more of AJ than the sorrel coloring, especially when you take the mane into account.

Hmmm...Probably totally wrong about this but what if Nightmares plan the entire time was to lure Pinky back into Twilight's brain, figure out how she got out in the first place, and make it's own body using a similar method.  Seems like something along those lines may make a bit of sense considering how quickly and transparently she revealed herself.

Yeah that's probably totally off base though.  Anyway lovely story and concepts.  Almost always a treat to read your stories please keep them going!

Two words to comment on this

Finally

Daaaaaaaamn!!!!!

The best way to keep a secret is not to let anyone know you have a secret at all.

The best way to keep a secret is to let everyone know what it is. Then keep secret really mundane things. It keeps people on their toes.

Nightmare is trying to get her own body, and wouldn't mind ruling equestria whilst waiting. Multiple goal focus isn't good for completing your checklists. Get new body first, THEN rule the world.

Technically, Nightmare is an imaginary friend. I think Twilight is trying from the inside to manifest her so she doesn't have to bother anypony to share bodies anymore. Hence the get friends to accept Nightmare reference. Close?

MOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!!!

Pinkie in a sticky spider web with Nightmare looking right at her.  This is not going to go well.

>>988883988883

I know I'm a little late to the party here, but just the free and irresponsible release of knowledge is rarely a good thing.  I'm not one for keeping knowledge a secret, but sometimes you have to draw a line.  What it Twilight later discovers a spell to silently, tracelessly, and remotely kill somepony?  Do you think Nightmare will discourage her from spreading it, empowering allies to kill other ponies who "need" to be removed (by whatever logic Nightmare is supplying Twilight with)?  Also, I'm doubtful that Nightmare will allow Twilight to spread subversive knowledge once she is in power.  Twilight's argument is only a tool; a means to an end.  Once it gets Nightmare where it wants to be, it will be discarded.  Nightmare is only concerned with power; it doesn't give a damn about the welfare of other ponies (if it did, it would never have encouraged Luna to create eternal night), and I am certain that it does not have any of Twilight's interests at heart.  It's only manipulating her, reinforcing a philosophy that Twilight truly believes and turning it to its own ends.  Even as it forces Twilight to neglect other things that she believes just as deeply; such as the lessons about friendship that has allowed her to achieve so much.  So no, I don't have any sympathy for Nightmare; no one but it will benefit from this in any way.

Lol, "legalese". Anyway, really nice job again, can't wait for more!

I have two theories as to what just happened, and I can't decide WHICH is the more subversive one:

1) This isn't actually The Nightmare, but is in fact Twi's memory of Nightmare Moon, flavored with Luna's Nightmare Night actions, and the hindsight realization that, aside from the collapsing walkway, all of NMM's attempts to stop them were also "Secret Tests". I mean, cutting the mustache off of a water dragon? Trying to lure Rainbow Dash to the Dark Side rather than just CUTTING OFF THE OTHER END OF THE BRIDGE? Yeah, there is a good chance that said memory of NMM would want to kick her namesake back out of Twi's noggin.

2) This IS The Nightmare, ALL she really wants at this point is her own body, but her very presence in Twi's brain is driving Twilight crazy. Well, crazier, anyway. In point of fact, The Nightmare is trying to get Twilight to back down, but it is Twilight herself, albeit not thinking strait, who is escalating the issue.

something tells me nightmare is starting out doing good for the research but use the research to free herself from twilights mind hence giving her a physical form (im assuming the nightmare assumes twilight is less powerful than it but luna was powerful enough to not make the dream research effort or simply was ignorant of it) and then attempts (succeeds?) in overthrowing celestia

or the above but she wants to be free and is really good and her occupants mind set effects her attempts in breaking free (lunas jealousy caused nightmare to try and take it by force and twilights need for knowledge to cause her to take a intellectual approach)

Quite captivating. Hope to read more of it  soon!

Somehow I have the feeling that Nightmare is only so much interested in the "bring your imaginary friend to live"-thing, because she plans to become "living" in the same way (so she wouldn't need a host anymore).

Nice story until now, I will follow.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

-Killing some time at a public terminal, so this post isn't going to get far into the story.

Big Macintosh’s birthday party (celebrated two and a half weeks early),

-Nice touch.

Celestia had told them not to alienate her during the week, <SNIP!> This wasn’t all that easy, however, since the unicorn refused to leave her “Nightmare Twilight” form. She’d been telling the other residents of Ponyville that it was an accidental side-effect of a spell she’d been studying,

-Not seeing why this would be an especially difficult problem, especially with how little Twilight would be getting out of the library.

Pinkie and her friends had managed to keep curiosity about the matter to a minimum

-Ah, so it isn't so much not THEM alienating Twilight, as keeping the rest of Ponyville from alienating her.

This, technically speaking, was not a lie, since the earth pony did indeed intend to throw a “Twilight’s Not Crazy Anymore” party, and the mare in question would definitely find it surprising.

-I may have forgotten what Shiny is doing. Is he supposed to be helping to keep a lid on her either on an ongoing basis or as a first responder if she starts hurting somepony?

which, when translated from legalese, apparently meant that she wouldn’t get in trouble for anything that happened in Twilight’s head

-Not that she would have anyway, but when you have time to have all the paperwork filled out in advance I guess it makes sense for the Diarchs to do so.

accentuated the gravity of the situation.

-That is important too.

what she’d taken to calling “Operation Breaking Dawn.”

-Doesn't sound like Pinkie, but then again she doesn't have to hide her genius any more.

She politely excused herself to use the little ponies’ room, not bothering to mention that she’d be making a detour to the small meeting room where Twilight Sparkle was getting ready for her most important lecture ever.

-Setting up a whoopie cushion to break the tension? Leaving her a note in some place she won't find it until after the lecture in case things go badly?

-To be continued.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

-Going to keep taking nibbles at this in the chunks this library and my brain allow.

Twilight looked up from the copious notes splayed over a modestly-sized desk as she heard the door knocking. “Come in.”

-Should be "the knocking on the door" since it isn't the door doing the knocking, rather the door being knocked on... unless Pinkie is being REALLY weird. Also, I see that Pinkie is going to say or do something to Twilight, rather than doing something to the room. She could give her a letter to open after the meeting, but I would think that The Nightmare MIGHT make her peek, although Pinkie might consider that worth the risk. Maybe Pinkie will just be giving her a hug and "I will love you like a sister no matter what happens.". That would fit.

“Uh, yeah, the Mayor said nopony was using it, so I just decided to do my final preparations here instead of the library,”

-Was this arranged so that any last minute nerve attacks would put her closer to the other Elements, Shining Armor, and the Diarchs?

“Good luck? But I thought you didn’t want me to take over.”

“Well, I guess I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be happy if you fail.”

-Or maybe she is covering for the fact that she is wishing the REAL Twilight good luck? But I think you established that the difference isn't very much at all since The Nightmare can't force anything, only guide persuasively. Well, whatever... Pinkie Pie is going in to make contact with SOMETHING and that is the part she is wishing good luck.

It may be a trap, but he doesn’t prove anything, she didn’t add.

-Good point. He probably has almost nothing to do with their primary plan.

After all, Shining Armor was mostly here for the backup plan of grabbing the Element of Magic and performing a quickie banishment.

-Right.

“If he was going to do anything serious, he would have brought Princess Cadance along so she could power him up.”

-So she is on call to teleport in? Or was it not worth the risk? Also, I wonder if that works quite as well when they AREN'T up against Cadance's polar opposite?

“And the fact that you’re wearing the Element of Laughter is completely inconsequential.”

-Good point.

“Uh... well... I guess you could say he’s here in case things go really, really bad, but you have to remember, the Princesses have had really, really bad experiences with the Nightmare before.” She wasn’t supposed to have mentioned that, but the Princesses had said she could use “whatever means necessary” to pull this off, and telling Twilight the truth (or at least part of it) certainly seemed to fall into that category.

-That works.

It’s just... this could really change everything. The imaginary friend magic, I mean. I can’t just let the Princesses keep sitting on this.

-That was her major point of contention? I thought she just saw it as symptomatic of a larger lack of good leadership decisions?

Pinkie shrugged. “I mean that I think it’s all going to turn out okay, that’s all.”

-Which, given the fact that Twilight is willing to make the presentation at all, should be plausible to Twilight.

“No. I’m just optimistic. You want what’s best for Equestria, and so do we, so it has to work out.”

-Not actually the reason for her optimism I don't think, although I guess if she didn't think there was anypony left to reach inside of Pinkie she wouldn't have proposed this course of action in the first place.

but one would be hard-pressed to guess that as she nervously shifted her weight from side to side as they took their seats at the large conference table that had been set up for the occasion.

-See "Lesson Zero" for how nervous she can get over people who she knows very closely.

But this was nothing compared to Shining Armor, whose attempt to hide his disappointment behind the comforting smile he usually gave to his sister was a complete and utter failure.

-Nice, I guess the Diarchs aren't faking happiness because it would be disingenuous (and raise suspicion).

thus giving vanguards from all walks of life more time to devote to life’s difficulties.

-Not 100% sure of using the word "vanguards" in this way.

however, for various reasons, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have seen fit to stifle these potential innovations.

-Consider a closing quote-mark.

and second, that the current rulers have fallen into patterns of behavior which will make similar errors in judgment more likely in the future.

-I wonder if part of the epilogue of this will be the Diarchs sincerely asking her if she has any suggestions for how they might change their approach now that her judgement is unclouded? Could be an additional point in their favor to show how really and truly benevolent they are, even if nothing ever comes of it. Maybe they will even comment that Twilight made some valid points in her presentation. Of course, as I understand the plan, the key part is during the rebuttal by everyone BUT Twilight. Or maybe it will be some opening statements? I forget... maybe they were just going to ask really boring questions? Wow... Pinkie Pie being boring... greater love hath no mare than she lay down her defining personality trait for her friend...

A quick glance through the contents of the binder revealed that her entire argument hinged on the idea that Celestia and Luna were either unwilling or unable to learn from their past mistakes,

-Which implies that the epilogue I suggested might actually be happening, so you can show the audience the flexibility of the diarchs, rather than just telling them. Maybe you will instead give some specific historical examples. Certainly the end of Lesson Zero is one such example, but it is a bit small-scale.

combined with an implied threat of violence if Twilight didn’t get her way.

-Yeah, that doesn't help... taking her case to the populous would be a more measured threat...

As Twilight Sparkle began explaining the concept of a mage’s personal time as a limited resource in more detail, Pinkie Pie eyed the mug of hot cocoa that she’d spiked with Zecora’s sleeping potion. The second that the unicorn’s voice started taking on a “droning” quality, she quaffed the entire mug in three gulps, and within five minutes, she had drifted off.  

-Oh, so Twilight doesn't have to be asleep, it just has to be plausible that Pinkie would be asleep? Maybe Twilight has to be "in the groove" so she won't notice stuff happening in the back of her head or have whatever awareness she maintains against external mental influences tripped. I wonder if there is a danger of Pinkie fading out as she returns to her native environment? Both the chance of being lost inside Twilight, and the chance of her fading being noticed by Twilight. At least this makes more sense than being able to send Twilight to sleep with drugged drink, which she would have probably taken precautions against.

slightly curved hallway,

-I wonder if the curve means anything. Just a limitation of sight-line that the dreamscape necessitates for some reason?

two dozen rows of slate grey filing cabinets that went all the way up to the edge of an arched ceiling of grey stones

-Memories, and archived in a restricted setting... or maybe it is more like every nook and cranny of Twilight's being is so filled with knowledge that the place is primarily a corridor, and only a distant second an information-storage location. I wonder if digging through the analytical side to get at the heart and soul will be part of Pinkie's challenge?

(who, to her mild surprise, was still a pink earth pony, instead of a white pegasus)

-Well, that is a good sign as far as not getting trapped. Shows she is more her own pony, rather than less.

which she had grandiosely named the “Hall of Knowledge” as a filly

-Let me guess... she took that phrase a bit too literally, which is why it isn't a multi-story layout with racks of shelves on each floor? Or maybe it represents linear thinking?

the various corridors would be arranged in concentric circles,

-Oh... almost guessed this earlier, let me guess, most secret stuff in the center? Or most basic? Or most currently being used/easiest remembered?

with filing cabinets on one half, and bookshelves on the other.

-Isolated facts versus systematic information on certain topics?

As she did, she noticed that the soft indigo carpeting had been replaced by highly polished white marble, resulting in an audible “clack” every time one of Pinkie’s hooves touched it.

-The nightmare making her less compromising and accommodating? Something that happened because the floors at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns were marble, whereas the floors at her elementary school (NOT magic kindergarten) were carpeted, so her idea of what the decor of a store of knowledge was was influenced some?

This wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the pink earth pony was hoping to stay undetected for as long as possible.

-She can't just be "Wary Wary Qwuiet"? Then again that never really seemed to allow Fudd to get close to Bugs without being detected... Or conjure a ninja costume complete with hoof-pads?

which Pinkie assumed was the result of her recalling some fact or figure in the “real” world.

-So Pinkie is in an area that is currently seeing high-access? That could be bad. Or maybe it is symbolic enough each file doesn't map to a specific fact, and things get accessed throughout whenever she is thinking.

Either way, it was a really big room with an even higher ceiling than the shelving area.

-I must have missed the ceiling being especially tall (even more tired than usual right now). That does make the access rate more plausible. Never heard of an aspe. Was looking forward to learning something, but Wikipedia and ask.com failed me. Is it really that obscure, or did you misspell? Also, I took a break at this point to eat a single-serving bag of corn chips and while I was doing that it occurred to me to wonder if the Diarchs had briefed Pinkie on everything the DIDN'T tell Twilight, just in case it would be useful. I can think of two reasons against this: First if the information were USEFUL they would have told Twilight already, and second, if it would be MORE useful to The Nightmare (infinite reality warping minion spawning for example?) then they wouldn't want some avatar of the Nightmare catching Dream!Pinkie if things go wrong and torturing the information out of her.

carved with geometric designs that Pinkie was 95% certain had some significance for magic, science, or both.

-Labeling what types of knowledge are behind them? If magical they could be wards against intrusion, but if so they were probably constructed by The Nightmare. Then again, when you are at Twilight's clearance level, having a few booby-traps for something trying to read state-secrets out of your mind would be good, and Celestia could have simply advised Twilight that she probably would want to learn and set up such things without actually cluing her in to just how high her clearance level IS.

with a nearby bulletin board being the closest thing to a decoration it had.

-Door to the "what am I actually doing" section, with the bulletin board being "What do I do next?"

“Pinkie Pie’s birthday to be celebrated alongside Spike’s this year.... Purchase new encyclopedia for library....

-Ok, so more long-term than I was thinking. Also, I wonder which of their birthday-related problems the combination was supposed to prevent? Because both "Party of One" and "The Secret of My Excess" were about birthdays.

Make no assumptions about Rainbow Dash’s personal life until she tells you.”

-Nice one!

“Very important: Give friends a chance to accept Nightmare.”

-So she is reminding herself to not jump straight to violence? Or by "accept" does she mean "accept into their brains"? As in she is going to try to spread her demonic possession?

Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure if this just meant accepting the Nightmare as a pony, or if Twilight actually wanted them to join her in giving in to it.

-Well, it obviously isn't a pony it is a purely spiritual/mental entity... unless she means their composite form? But otherwise this mirrors my questions, which is usually a good sign, since putting the reader very close to being in the (horse)shoes of your main character is often a good idea for 3rd person limited POV.

She hoped it was the former, but she was suddenly fearful that the latter was true instead.

-Could be both of course... which would be as bad as the latter alone, but is different tactically.

She slid a hoof into the door’s path to keep it from closing completely so she could take a peek inside.

-Interesting choice... interfering with subconscious operations, rather than just trying to walk in behind the letter. Guess she figures that the architecture and operations themselves aren't what is going reveal her to Twilight and/or The Nightmare.

Twilight Sparkle was standing in the middle of the room, going over some obscure point of Equestrian history, while the Princesses listened intently and the other committee members attempted to do the same, while she herself was sitting at the end of the table, softly snoring as a result of her ostensible failure to pay attention.

-Ah, so Twilight's situational awareness (although that is a martial arts/military term, and thus MAY be slightly off). At least Pinkie isn't faded out HERE. I wonder if her escape if The Nightmare tries to trap her will have to be to jump into her own body? Maybe a tactical withdraw to "take a potty break" and pass along some vital information about a plot that The Nightmare is trying to enact while they are all distracted before she comes back and falls asleep again?

-Well, I need to renew my session. Following comments will probably be shorter as extensions become fewer as library becomes busier.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

-It occurs to me to wonder about both the chapter and story titles. The chapter title could be that Twilight is both the architect of the location that Pinkie must infiltrate, and a prisoner of her own mind. Although the imprisonment is more in the manner of an abused wife who physically COULD walk out the door at frequent intervals, than of a kidnapping victim. As for the story title it could be similar to the idea of a "dreamscape" or "mindscape" but it is also barely possible that finding the part of Twilight's mind that is willing to listen will be easy, but bringing that avatar to the seat of power that allows it to be acted on will require "freeing" it from its confines. "Inward" (to the core of being/seat of power) + Escape = Inscape. If The Nightmare detects them just as Pinkie meets up with the free part of Twilight, this could turn into a chase or jailbreak depending on if The Nightmare opposes them more via the one or more avatars (bloodhounds... or rather hellhounds focused on tracking), or on creating barriers in the environment.

-*Goes back to reread Pinkie's plan from the previous chapter.* Comes across the following line:

I bet you I can handle the Nightmare from inside just fine.”

-Sounds like she isn't necessarily trying to make discrete contact, but rather might be going full-on The Mask (or a heroic version of the villain from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" in the last scene). Her efforts at stealth might just be trying to get the drop on it, at which point she is going to drop an ocean liner on it or shoot it with a "Party Nuke".

he unicorn giving the presentation was not the tall, authoritative-looking pony whom they’d almost grown used to over the

-Twisted horror, or the same old Twilight as ever, showing she believes herself to be the same person, just empowered.

the normal-sized mare that they all knew and loved.

-Ah, well, that answers the question about the symbol, I wonder how quickly we will discover (if ever explicitly) if it means what I think it means.

First, the Staging Room was exactly where she remembered it being,

-So it represents Twilight's forethought where she plays things through in her mind before doing them or something like that?

which meant that the odds were good that she’d still be able to find her way around the rest of Twilight’s mind.

-Continued verification that time and Nightmare haven't altered the terrain is good.

more importantly, she’d just confirmed that deep down, Twilight Sparkle was still the same pony she was before,

-Ah, so it goes a bit deeper than "she thinks of herself as being the same".

still reason to think this situation could be resolved without anypony having to get hurt.

-Seems reasonable.

she had to find the Nightmare,

-Ok, so confrontation is at least her first plan. Maybe if it proves to be too powerful for her, she will have to make connections in Twilight's mind (see earlier ideas about "escape" -> Inscape).

had always preferred creaky doors—she said that they “imparted gravitas” to any situation

-Huh... I would have though that "all quiet in the library" would have outranked that, but it makes a certain sort of sense.

Twilight Sparkle had chosen to organize her mind using a similar topography.

-She consciously chose that? I guess with enough imagination games, and memory training, and mental discipline to improve her mind (and fortify it against outside influences? There has GOT to be a more effective counter to "Want It, Need It" than just averting your eyes if you notice yourself desiring something suddenly.).

SPOILER ALERT!!!

albeit one that was neither as tall nor as steep as its real-life inspiration

-Humility? Or merely the fact that little has changed since the topography was defined by a filly too young to grasp how big the mountain really was? Or maybe simply the limits of a mind mere decades old? In any case this is in contrast to the idea of "dreaming big" (cf Inception, although a hill is "bigger" than a grenade-launcher in certain ways).

From there, a small city spread outward like a fan.

-"city" implies inhabitants, but I suspect that the total population might be as small as three. Of course, it is generally the mode in this way that there should be multiple avatars or at least modes of presenting them-self for the figure whose mind is the battle-field. The evil invader can be more limited sometimes, but sometimes not.

Much like the building Pinkie had just left, it could be separated into two distinct areas,

-Left-brain and right-brain? If so it should be fairly imbalanced, although according to Celestia at the end of Season 2, Twilight does have good instincts, and needs to keep trusting them.

there was the Imagination District,

-I may have accidentally glanced ahead and seen this.

to highly controlled thought experiments.

-Ah, not so much right versus left brain then I don't think, although it has been a while since the neurology chapter of the basic psychology class I took.

Pinkie Pie had spent quite a bit of time there as Surprise; as an imaginary friend, it had been more or less her workplace for years.

-Ah... but since The Nightmare seems to be leading her astray with bad logic it will be lurking in the part that Pinkie is less familiar with?

-Going to have to cut this short.

Commenting on these sorts of things is tricky. On one hand, discussion is nice and thought provoking. On the other, I almost hate to guess and be right. With that said, the "Get friends to give Nightmare a chance" post-it got me thinking about redeeming the Nightmare, which I think would be an odd direction to take things. Redeeming villains is a long process and doesn't always shake out well.

Observations:

1. We've only seen the Nightmare present in other pony's minds.

2. It craves power and, in my reading, attention. Validation, perhaps.

3. Presumably, the Nightmare has been dormant within Twilight since the incident with Nightmare Moon. Speculation on my part, but I think it's reasonable.

4. It chose now of all times to manifest. If it only wanted power it could have pushed the Time Travel line to great effect. Surely Twilight could have been convinced that altering the past was possible with more effort, or at least that the topic was worth further experimentation. If it only wanted control over Twilight it could have chosen any of her emotionally unstable periods during season 1 and 2 (i.e., the story could have splintered from those times), presuming it wasn't still reeling from the Jumbo Care Bear Stare it received.

Predictions:

1. The Nightmare is either a primal disembodied spirit of some sort - not a ghost, more like an a personified aspect of nature or an avatar - or a half-born imaginary friend gone very, very wrong.

2. In either case, it wants to be real. It wants a body of it's own. That's why it chose now to manifest. Heck, some of Twilight's insistence in Petriculture could have been pushed along by the Nightmare once it had some inkling as to Pinkie's true nature (if indeed it was an imaginary friend at once point).

That's my take so far. Keep up the fantastic work.

In response to the discussion from a few days ago, I will refer you to a (possibly butchered) notable quote: "The scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stopped to think if they should."

Progression for progression's sake is a bad thing. Find a problem and solve it rather than trying to discover something new and hammer it into place as a solution.

Yes, I'm quite late, but in my defense... Eh, okay, I don't have one. I'm just really behind on my reading.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Still, despite her desire to see what kind of improvements Twilight had made since she’d been there,

-Yeah, between actually making friends and maybe even the bonding of the Element of Friendship (although I am not sure if that would show up here), not to mention all the intellectual, magical, and academic growth... I'm surprised the place doesn't show obvious signs of growth.

Twilight had always preferred the word “hippomorphization,” because it was very long and using it correctly in a sentence inevitably caused grownups to compliment her on being such a smart filly

-I like it, but I wouldn't think that Twilight would be much for hippomorphizing concepts since it would tend to detract from their purity. I may start using this when discussing people drawing characters from other fictions as ponies... IE Ponifying them, but, as you say, more eggheadish.

The earth pony didn’t want to confront the Nightmare blind, and that was the part of Twilight Sparkle’s mind where she had the best chance to get information.

-Seems like that would be a two-way street, and seems contrary to her stealth to this point. Then again, if she finds a little-used concept that knows her from before that isn't likely to be brought to mind by either The Nightmare or Twilight, that COULD work. I wonder how deep the personalities of the concepts are? Theoretically they should be completely cardboard personalities.

But first, now that she was definitely out of Twilight’s earshot,

-So Twilight's self-awareness of her own brain is limited to her avatar in the staging-room?

it was time to limber up a bit.

-Going to do some stuff she can't do when physical? Should give us a rough idea of her power-level and style now that she is on her home turf.

She decided to test her shapeshifting abilities, since those would probably be useful if things turned ugly.

-Nice start, and it makes sense since Twilight might not imagine her the same way every time, if only out of convenience to the mental scenario of the moment.

, but for the most part she’d limited herself to stretching out various appendages for dramatic effect

-Wait, it was a conscious decision not to do more than that? I guess it makes sense since she didn't want to freak anypony out more than she already does?

the only reason she’d done so was because she thought Iron Will might have been another imaginary friend, since the only other one who had ever managed to get the demure pegasus to act like a great big jerky jerk-face was Discord

-She guessed that Discord was an imaginary friend? And didn't tell Twilight? I guess that is understandable, but wouldn't that make her just as "guilty" as the Diarchs? I guess The Nightmare might not have known that Pinkie knew that.

“Flat like a pancake, round like a balloon, pointy like a pincushion, square like a cube.”

-How... geometrical. Then again, she did spring from the mind of Twilight.

Next, it was time to try something a bit more complex. “Speed round! Pony, griffon, donkey, moose! Pony, griffon, donkey, moose!”

-Interesting that that is harder than simple geometry. Then again, that may be a product of a left-brained creator?

into pink everything-else-on-the-list in rapid succession.

-So she has the same "no, actually I can't use this for stealth" limitation as Beast Boy on the cartoon of Teen Titans?

soon her pink coat had lightened into a bright white, while her mane became a light yellow and her eyes and cutie mark turned a shade of purple that matched the violet streak in Twilight Sparkle’s indigo mane.

-No wings? Still, that doubles her color-palette options in theory, and wings shouldn't be too hard to add if she can do a Griffon. Interesting she hasn't tried for Hydra or 50' dragon, then again that might be sort of noticable, even if those would be the sorts of things I would expect to be the most useful for direct combat... then again she may be using "deadly dodging" and falling anvils more than going kaiju to kaiju on it... not that The Nightmare will necessary be/pick something big. I wonder what collatoral damage to buidlings translates to as far as effects on Twilight... would hate to give her brain-damage, and attracting her attention could also be bad, especially if she knows any counter-spells against mind-influencing effects. Not that those would necessarily work against Pinkie... and if the spell has better judgement than Twilight does at the moment it might eject The Nightmare too... I wonder what the seat of her spell-casting looks like in this world? An ivory tower? A purple one that looks like a 20 story version of her horn? Of course, the size depends on if it is in proportion to the importance she places on magic, or her actual power. If it is importance based, I suspect that such a tower would have multiplied in size by an order of magnitude or two when she got her cutie-mark, after a steady rate of growth starting from her first Summer Sun Celebration. Would have been shrinking post NMM as she places more relative value on friendship. Anyway, Pinkie may have missed the growth and shrinking. I would say that Twilight might have her magic so integrated with the rest of herself that it wouldn't have a specific location, but she isn't that free with using it in EVERY situation.

Pinkie Pie giggled as a pair of wings sprouted from her sides. “Silly me.”

-Well, that was easy. I guess wings are nice, although flying does tend to attract attention. Still, it might make her more familiar to the hippomorphizations. I wonder if she is any more fragile in this form? Probably not since she probably gets more of her resilience from toonishness rather than earth pony nature... I wonder if she even HAS an earth pony nature when physical? We haven't seen her interact especially well with plants or animals or show great strength or endurance.

but Pinkie Pie ultimately decided against it,

-Yeah, too likely to get spotted by something she doesn't want to be seen by.

returning to her normal “pink earth pony” shape.

-That doesn't make as much sense. I guess it is more familiar to her now, and thus better for moving around? She can always become Surprise again while making contact... although logically showing your are a shape-shifter is NOT the best way to prove you really are a long-gone friend. I wonder if that might explain why she was shouting "Do me! Do me!" to the changeling? I mean not that it didn't make sense even within the constraints of her canon abilities and personality, but still. This relates in to the idea that Pinkie Pie might BE a changeling. Not compatible with what we have here unless Chrysalis is an imaginary friend with limited self-replication abilities. In any case, the some of the lyrics to "Smile, Smile, Smile" indicates that she might plausibly feed on the happiness of others... in a non-destructive way of course.

She’d only just noticed it, but every door she saw was closed and every window shuttered, with nary a pony to be seen.

-Hiding from The Nightmare, killed by it, or did they die off as Twilight became enough of a theoretical and abstract thinker to not introduce inaccurate judgement by hippomorphizing (and thank you again for that word!)?

where ideas and imaginary friends mingled freely, always ready to exchange friendly words with each other—kind of like Ponyville, actually.

-There were other imaginary friends? And were ONLY hippomorphized concepts found on these streets? In any case I can see that clear analysis would be something that The Nightmare would want to prevent, so scaring the concepts into hiding so it can subvert their function of making connections between ideas would make sense. Or maybe it is Twilight's monofocus for an extended period sending them into torpor from disuse?

The earth pony walked down a deserted street with increasing trepidation.

-You MAY be falling into "Lavender Unicorn Syndrome" (AKA not using names enough of the time), but I don't know.

a tired-looking palomino earth pony pulling a cart of apples and wearing a rather distinctive hat.  “Applejack?”

-Had to look up the definition of Palomino to realize this was actually applicable. I thought it meant "spotted" and was off on a tangent about Pip before I checked and thus deleted. Anyway, I guess that the tiredness is either from a strained friendship, or this is her memory of AJ over-working herself, thus demonstrating the importance of accepting help lest Twilight end up like this.

“Wha?” she said as she made an obvious attempt to stifle a yawn.

-This argues for the "Applebuck Season" theory.

I’ll be sure ta help you with your cupcakes later, just like I promised.”

-More evidence. Of course, it COULD be an strained relationship causing the exhaustion of a universal (rather than incident-specific) avatar of Applejack. I also wonder what the effect of Pinkie, plus five avatars of her friends (either residents, or pulled from their minds since she can PROBABLY jump there if she has reason) weilding imaginary versions of the Regalia against The Nightmare would be. Of course, finding a cooperative avatar of Twilight might be tricky but if the fight between The Nightmare and Pinkie gets intense enough, it might attract her attention. Not sure about the "cooperative" part of the need for the Twi-avatar given the fact that it has been established that The Nightmare can't force a host to do anything in the first place. Of course, if Twilight rejects The Nightmare due to its actions during the fight, it might be able to brain-damage her, or simply escape instead of being destroyed/imprisoned in a more permanent manner.

She asked a question to test her theory: “Would you like some help?”

-Good idea... doesn't even take a genius to come up with the test, and as sociable as Pinkie is, making the connection is... well, OK, Pinkie isn't reliable about reading other ponies, she is HIGHLY variable from clueless to incredibly insightful... well, I am not so sure about the insightful part, she may get by mostly on shear exuberance, although she did deduce Cranky's problem pretty well.

Sleepyjack

-Good word.

“They’re mostly all inside their homes, probably. Nightmare don’t like it when we’re out without official business, like deliverin’ apples in my case.

-What I said about keeping Twilight from making the connections that would disprove her belief that the Diarchs are incompetent and her coup attempt is rational.

I need to talk to the Nightmare.

-Shading the truth? Then again, this is the pony who threw a party for Gilda in hopes of cheering her up so she wouldn't act out any more.

Do you know where she is?”

-She? I would have gone with "it". My mind actually first went to "he", but that doesn't make any particular sense. I guess the "mare" part might indicate that at least its avatar, if not its true nature might be female. I do hope you use something more imaginative than NMM for the avatar. I guess Full-Nightmare!Twilight could work, but even that would be less than what I would expect.

the Dreamfields? What’s she doing there?”

-*checks to make sure those weren't mentioned before*, guess we are about to learn something.

palomino mare

-When not using the names, try mixing it up a bit more. For instance "cowpony" or "farmer" might work here. Of course, the one place names don't fit is where the identity of the individual is in question, but even there I think you got a little repetitive, although only this last instance was a problem due to either of the terms I mentioned being an assumption that couldn't be firmly concluded from the visible evidence. Which reminds me, Pinkie is being a lot more logical than she was in "MMMMMystery on the Friendship Express" until the very end... guess she learned well?

flat and largely featureless at the moment, when the unicorn slept, the Dreamfields played host to some of the most bizarre and mind-boggling sights, sounds and experiences Pinkie had ever seen.

-I wonder if she could enter them when they were active? Also it is interesting that the terrain ONLY seems that malleable there. I guess that Twilight is a very systematic mind even if she does have her moments of insanity. I also wonder if The Nightmare knows she is coming and picked a place that would allow it to match her abilities. If so it may be a mistake, because with nothing being permanent in the dream-fields anyway, the potential for brain-damage from wrecking the place would be less, and since Pinkie IS a lucid dreamer she might be able to warp the environment equally well as The Nightmare can. I guess The Nightmare has more experience, in much the same way that Celestia has more experience casting spells than Twilight does, although this may be the first time that The Nightmare has fought on these grounds. I also wonder if The Nightmare might be trying to jump to Pinkie's sleeping mind, not knowing that Pinkie only fell asleep to pull the same thing. The Dreamfields might be a logical jumping-off point for it to do such a thing given its limitations. Of course, as a tempter, it would need more time than it has to corrupt Pinkie. The Nightmare might have literally started out as a nightmare, just as Pinkie started out as an imaginary friend, so this might be its home turf. Or it might be hanging out there to corrupt Twilight when her mental defenses are the lowest. Or maybe it just enjoys being able to warp reality and is entertaining itself or plotting out battle-simulations against to fight off the Diarchs, the other five of the Elemental Harmony Squad, and Shining Armor all at once after the presentation is over if they don't hoof over the thrones (which it probably suspects they won't more than Twilight does).

Thunder rumbled ominously as the town receded further into the distance

-I note that in Equestria thunder is ominous for somewhat different reasons, in addition to the usual ones. The usual ones only show up when the weather ponies get behind in their work (see: Look Before You Sleep). Other than that it is an expression of personal power, as shown by Rainbow Dash, Trixie, and especially Luna (who used it for punctuation and then pranking even when she wasn't using it as a weapon as Nightmare Moon).

Twilight had never been this detailed when creating the weather inside her mind; it had to be the Nightmare’s doing.

-Well, there is also the fact that when Pinkie was last here Twilight wasn't good friends with someone for whom clouds are sculpting materials, tornadoes a big project at work, and rainstorms the bread and butter of her current profession.

She had almost decided to turn back

-Pinkie? Genuinely scared? Was she really going to wait for The Nightmare to come out? She is on a time-limit due to the presentation breaking up. Although Luna could try to shadow Twilight with Pinkie on her back with the initial pretext of "carrying her off to a better location to continue her nap"(technically true) if the fight didn't start as soon as the presentation ended.

when she saw it: a midnight blue, vaguely pony-shaped something off in the distance.

-Could be Full-Nightmare!Twilight for the avatar, or something more twisted if "vaguely pony-shaped" is do to something other than just the vagueness of rain and distance. Which also makes me wonder if getting above the cloud-cover as Surprise or a griffon-from and diving into the center of it wouldn't have been a safer approach. Good place to drop anvils from too. That could have been a logical source of her considering a "tactical withdraw". Of course, if The Nightmare can see through its own storm, or was above it itself that would be a bad idea since she seems to want to sneak up on it.

had her back turned toward her.

-Decoy?

This was her chance: she had the element of surprise on her side, which meant that she might be able to put an end to this madness.

-Try "a quick end" unless you really mean to say that Pinkie doesn't think she has ANY chance in a straight-up fight. I also note that Pinkie is VERY good at surprises, so much so it used to be her name. I also wonder how much of a power-up her Pinkie Sense gets in here. It seems to have a limited number of things it warns her about in the physical realm, but I seem to recall it was more general purpose when Twilight first imagined the ability as a source of comfort.

only to be blinded by a flash of light as strands of dark blue magic formed  a web-like net around her

-Just a generic magic flash, or showing that "light is not good" and The Nightmare wields light and dark with equal ease? Of course, it could just be lightning, with was already being thrown around a lot anyway.

Pinkie had no intention of staying to find out,

-Time to vanish like Roger Rabbit slipping out of handcuffs?

no amount of shapeshifting could possibly free her from it.

-Oh, only that? I wonder if the "Spikey" form she practiced could shred it? Actually that name makes me think... she knows a guy now who can breath fire and wouldn't be harmed by the web burning... turning into a pink baby dragon could be a good move here... the scales wouldn't hurt since I suspect that the move after "pin" is "kill" for The Nightmare. It doesn't seem the sort to waste time gloating like a bond villian in and of itself. Sure NMM did, but that is probably because Luna is a Large Ham. Certainly Nightmare!Twilight isn't acting anything but efficient and logical (within the bounds of her delusions).

who was now looking down at her with an expression of shock.

-Either it was just paranoia (perhaps expecting Celestia to try a memory spell?), or it is shocked that Pinkie fell for such a simple trick... or maybe The Nightmare is using the Nightmare Moon memory as a stalking-horse (joke not intended, but it is welcome since it came). In which case THIS Nightmare is both less powerful, and had no idea what was going on... it could even be a completely false reading from a creature that is only a memory. Then again, Sleepyjack wouldn't make that sort of mistake... or would she? She could have easily seen the clouds and assumed that they were from The Nightmare, rather than just a memory that The Nightmare powered up for general mayhem, or to set up to use as an ally, perhaps as a summoned ally. Maybe it felt like removing the memory to the more subconscious area was a good way of keeping Twilight from making a connection between her own behavior and that of Nightmare Moon?

((Sorry if I am quoting too much... force of habit that I realized I was doing when it might not be appropriate and by then it was too late to easily go back and edit.))

>>989404989404

"It's the power to create life."

-So, technically, is parenthood, although this allows more fine control and probably doesn't take as long (although given that the Cake Twins were saying there first few words at 1 month old it is probably faster than for humans).

>>989474989474

In fact if the fact you can do something is the only reason you can find for doing it then you probably shouldn't.

-Depends on how dangerous that "something" is. I kinda think the space-race worked out pretty well, both for the advancement of technology (although in that regard it some of it was basically picking something hard for the purposes of learning stuff along the way to accomplishing it), and probably in terms of being a peaceful way of giving a show of force related to ICBMs, thus helping to ensure that the Cold War didn't turn into a nuclear exchange. People climb mountains because they are there, people make certain types of art because they can say something, not necessarily because that something is particularly significant. Doing new things "because you can" isn't any more problematic than doing old things "because you can". Power trips and discovery have a lot less to do with eachother than the mad scientists in the movies would make out.

GENERAL NOTE:

-I also think that if the information were USEFUL, that Celestia WOULD have shared it with Twilight. It probably wouldn't particularly help her, and if Celestia wanted to shut down the investigation she would have ordered her otherwise a long time ago, or distracted her with other projects.

>>989502989502

as jerky as this may sound, It's really cool to see my work on the featured box, even if it is just an image and I'm piggybacking on somepony else's success.

-Not jerky at all to me.

>>989525989525

Furthermore, the presence of one of these qualities does not necessarily imply the presence of the other.

-No, but discovering something for its own sake usually is an act of no particular negative wisdom. It is USUALLY what is done with the discovery that is where wisdom becomes required.

>>989634989634

Look at it this way, in the show Twilight discovered that all a time travel spell did was create a predestination paradox.  She didn't start looking to develop a more effective one.

-Says who? I could see it being perfectly plausible that she would devote some of her research time ("ha"... note lack of exclamation point or capitalization) to improving that particular branch of magical study. She learned a little bit about the futility of worrying yourself silly, but that has nothing to do with wanting or not wanting to research to build on the spell.

>>989877989877

You know what would be great? If Pinkie Pie teamed up with her old friend "Smarty Pants" inside Twilight's mind! You know, the imaginary 'living, breathing' version of Smarty Pants that Twilight came up with as a little filly.

-That could, indeed, be interesting.

-Eh, bored now. Going to stop commenting on other comment, at least for the moment.

>>10259911025991

She guessed that Discord was an imaginary friend? And didn't tell Twilight? I guess that is understandable, but wouldn't that make her just as "guilty" as the Diarchs? I guess The Nightmare might not have known that Pinkie knew that.

Actually, in the first chapter, Pinkie says that the rest of the mane 6 would have figured it out on their own, except that they didn't know imaginary friends could exist at the time. In other words, "Petriculture" happened after the Discord incident (for my narrative purposes, it replaces the events of "Sweet and Elite," in that it also uses Twilight's birthday as a plot device, although there's nothing that would rule out the possibility that Petriculture took place the following year).

This fic have really inspired a lot of speculation. But honestly I cannot see why any of you would agree with "Nightmare Sparkle" The Nightmare is a parasite that wants power for its own sake and not in the good way like Emperor Palpatine of Star Wars (just kidding)

Also the question of information, knowledge and power is of course very complex.

I think however that "happiness" should be the overall goal of any government.  How to acquire happiness is of course infinitely complex but I believe that a key element of happiness is when people are "fulfilling their true purpose".

In Equestria that is much easier to define then on Earth as each pony's true purpose is simply represented by their cutiemark.

Knowledge is unlike happiness, not something that I think can have intrinsic worth, having a worth in and of itself, and not just a worth in relation to a higher purpose it can serve.

History is important, because it tells us who we are,

Biology is important because it tells us what we are,

and physic is important because it tells us what there is.

The internet has of course presented us with many problems as well as giving us more freedom. But as with knowledge freedom is not something that has intrinsic worth. We must of course have the freedom to find our true purpose, but too much freedom can be confusing, and actually prevent us from finding what we are supposed to do. Also and this is actually very important, in order for something to be truly precious we have to fight for it, something that we have to go though water and fire to acquire is infinitely more precious, then that which we are merely given for free.

To the internet, a lot of things can be misused. As it is a global network, its control agency should also be global, therefore a GIAA (Global Internet Administration Agency) should be under the direct control of the United Nations, and it should only have the power that the security counsel grants it.

Censuring things like how to make bombs is something I am sure all the great nations would get behind, because it is not good that you can find this here. That kind of knowledge is dangerous and mankind is not benefited from having free access to it, just like mankind are not benefited from having free access to firearms.

I'm a big fan of total civil disarmament, as there is no justification of civilians to have access to weapons as long as their government is just, and even if it isn't. A governments primary duty is the security of the state and its citizens. This duty precedes the duty for justice and fairness, as their cannot be justice without order.

>>10397641039764

I find your argument quite similar to how the Nightmare might try to take over Celestia.  What's to say that any such GIAA wouldn't crack down on political viewpoints they find distasteful, citing the Arab Spring revolutions as anti-order and anti-security?  Or perhaps a racist cabal comes into power and restricts the use of the Internet by blacks, or Jews, or Polynesians?  Or perhaps they'd get tired of having to see ponies everywhere, and restrict us to our own servers, which they'd have the power to shut off at any time.  Ghettos, once built, are hard to tear down.

Freedom is scary, because of the danger of misuse, but it's better than the alternative.  Let's say the nutritional security of a nation is threatened by internal overpopulation, so the government decrees that couples may only have a set number of children.  In the name of order, further children are ... forcibly prevented ... from being born.  That is the very picture of order as first priority.

As to civil disarmament, my views on the matter were made concrete on the Sunday after the Colorado movie massacre.  My dad and I went to see Spider-Man, and one of the trailers was for End Of Watch, a film about heavily armed drug cartel members trying to kill two cops who accidentally got in their way.  I turned to my dad and told him, "I just thought of a reason for law-abiding citizens to have assault rifles."  Besides, if guns are made illegal, knives will still exist, as will fists.

>>989017989017 I think if it were used as a name it should be Broken Dawn. Which could be used with out being corrupted by Twilight (the book) fans.

Twilight had always preferred the word “hippomorphization,” because it was very long and using it correctly in a sentence inevitably caused grownups to compliment her on being such a smart filly

I doubt that's quite true. Long words are their own reward; impressing others is just an incidental benefit.

>>10261661026166 So far as I can tell, it is, strictly speaking, the ability to instantly create life at any stage of development, with any mindset, and with superpowers. There's definitely potential for abuse. However, I assume it takes a considerable amount of magical power, so it's hopefully not really much of a threat to the security of Equestria in practice.

>>10240891024089 I would reply, far more belatedly, with the quote that "the laser is a solution in search of a problem" and a request that you kindly turn in all CDs, DVDs, Blue-rays, and related materials, anything you ever bought from a store with a barcode scanner, your eyes if you ever had laser eye surgery, and all your other possessions just to be safe. It would save us the trouble of having to bother with all the slightly less perfect examples. Basic research is the foundation of modern society; it is far easier to discover solutions and throw them in a bin until they're needed than to intuit when there's a better way to do something and then craft it from whole cloth. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but "because I can" is the mother of innovation.