Twilight looked around the room, confused. Had everything been a dream within a dream? A terrible dream, but still a dream? The book was the one she had before. The light was the same. It must've been a normal dream.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound at the door. Twilight jumped, recognizing the scenario. She sprinted down to the bottom floor and locked the door. Twilight then searched the library for her personal references. There had to be some sort of explanation. Dreams were never inside other Dreams like that. It just didn't happen.
A window opened upstairs and Twilight diverted her attention to the stairs. Somepony came down on silent wings, gliding to the ground. She looked around, going straight for the non-fiction section.
Twilight grabbed the book her friend was looking for in magic and pulled it out towards her. The pegasi froze midair, wings being the only thing moving. Slowly turning, Rainbow Dash faced her friend.
"Hey, Twi," she said nervously. "I didn't think you were home. I was going to pay for the book."
Twilight just pulled the book forward, searching the pages quickly. Maybe there was an explanation in there.
"That's the book I was looking for," Rainbow said. "I guess I don't need to look for it. Could I take a look at that for a minute?"
"You can have it when I finish reading through this," Twilight said, still scanning the pages. "Something's happening."
"Are you feeling alright?" Rainbow asked. "Normally you jump at the chance to give me a book. Sometimes literally."
"I'm fine," Twilight said. "I just need to figure something out."
Rainbow stayed hovering in the air for a few moments before breaking the silence again. "What's going here?" she asked. "You not only didn't leap to give me the book, but you haven't asked a single question or taken any notes."
Twilight ignored her friend for a few seconds so she could finish the last of the book. "It's not here!" she screamed in frustration. "There has to be some sort of explanation!"
"Explanation to what?" Rainbow asked.
Instead of answering, Twilight teleported up to her room to see if there was anything she had missed that had a chance of explaining it. She searched the room until every last speck of dust had been inspected for a clue.
Sighing, Twilight sat down. She didn't know what to do. There was nothing she could do. The day kept happening and there didn't seem to be any reason for it.
Rainbow looked at her friend for a moment. "What was all that about?"
"You'll think I'm crazy," Twilight said.
"You were visited by your future self once," Rainbow said. "You knew about Nightmare Moon when nopony else did. You did what you could to save the world many times. I'm pretty sure you can't top any of that."
"I'm reliving the same day and I have no idea why or how," Twilight said.
Rainbow looked at her skeptically. Then her expression changed a bit. "Is that how you knew about the book?"
"Yes," Twilight said.
"Maybe you should try doing the same thing you did before to see if the same thing happens," Rainbow suggested. "But if you were going to do that, then that means this entire thing was set up."
A groan escaped Twilight's mouth and she ran out the door to Sugarcube Corner to get some food. She couldn't think straight when she was hungry.
Upon her arrival, Twilight remembered the previous encounters here. She ordered her breakfast to-go and waited at the desk.
Nightwolf walked up without Twilight noticing. "Hey," he said.
Twilight jumped a bit, realizing who was behind her. "Hi," she said nervously. Every time she had gone through the day, something bad had happened to him. There had to be a pattern.
"I don't see you here very often," Nightwolf said, dragging Twilight out of her thoughts. "What brings you around?"
"I was just picking up some food before going about my day," Twilight replied.
"Is there anything I can help with?" Nightwolf asked.
"No," Twilight answered, a little too quickly.
Nightwolf cocked his head, curious. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Twilight said, paying for her food and leaving with the bag in her telekinetic grip. She moved quickly, not caring about what was going on around her. She had to figure out what was happening before she was permanently trapped in a loop.
Twilight returned to the library and made sure she wouldn't be disturbed. There was already too much that could go wrong. If just one thing didn't work, she would have to start all over.
She pulled as many books on time and space off of the shelves as she could and started searching anywhere and everywhere for a solution. None of the books had anything like this. None of the books had any solutions.
"Twilight?" Spike asked from upstairs. "What are you doing?"
"I'm busy," Twilight said. "Can't talk right now."
"You're supposed to relax and have a day off, remember?" Spike said.
"I can't have a day off," Twilight said. "There's too much to do. I need to find the problem."
Spike looked at Twilight in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
A laugh rippled through the library at that exact moment, taking Twilight completely off guard. That was the one thing that had been different each time. The timing of that laugh had always changed. That meant that there was a solution. There had to be.
Twilight closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. Something had to be causing this problem. Something had to be happening that had a connection to the timeline.
When she opened her eyes, Twilight was face down in her book again as the morning light shone down through the window.
Twilight sighed, laying her down on the book. The page was a little lumpy and pressed hard against her cheek.
Twilight looked down at the page. There shouldn't have been a lump in the book. It was a fairly new one, sent by Luna after the old copy had been damaged. This one shouldn't have had anything wrong with it.
Twilight looked closely at the page, recognizing the sticky pages that were causing the lump. Gently pulling them apart, Twilight straightened out the pages and moved to put the book back when something fell out of it.
A small container with a note attached was now laying on the floor. Twilight set the book down, curious about what this thing could be.
Opening the letter, Twilight finally made sense of what had been happening.
My dearest friend,
Strange things have been occurring across Equestria. I do not have any full reasoning why, but I do have a few suspicions. Some ponies have said that they were living the same day over and over again without being able to escape. Some said their homes were not their own when everypony else remembers the homes as they are.
My reason for sending you this letter is because I do not want you to be unprepared for the possibility that something strange will happen to you. I do not have a way to stop it, but I do have a way of showing others what you have been experiencing.
There is a metal device that should be with this letter. It can only be used once, so be very careful of who you bring into the trap. It will show the pony what you have seen and it will allow magic to bend around them, bringing them into whatever magic you have been trapped in.
Please solve this mystery before it gets out of hoof. I wish you the best of luck.
Your friend,
Princess Luna
After staring at the letter for a few moments out of pure shock, Twilight was able to start piecing things together. If this had happened to others, then there had to be something extremely powerful behind the entire ordeal. There had to be something that enjoyed watching all of the chaos around and seeing ponies running around in a panic.
And there was only one thing that found this sort of thing amusing that also had the power to do it.