//------------------------------// // tImE uP // Story: Ever Watching // by Redback Spino //------------------------------// Twilight sat in the dark of her bedroom, her head hung. Her eyes had sore, red rims around them, brought on by several days lack of sleep, and tears leaving tracks down her cheeks. She had stopped crying a few minutes ago. She couldn’t cry anymore. She was out of tears. On the ground before her lay two sheets of paper. The first was a familiar-looking scroll, the broken wax-seal stamped with the royal seal. It lay open at her hooves, next to the other, the front page of a newspaper. Rubbing her eyes, Twilight read through the scroll again, written not in the round, swirly writing of her mentor, the Princess Celestia. Instead, it was written in a more thin and subdued style, with much more old-fashioned language. She read over the scroll for the third time, before gazing off into space. To think it was not even noon yet. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ She had awoken in her usual spot in the middle of the library room, in her makeshift bed. It had been the first decent sleep she had gotten in several days now, ever since her talk with her masked ‘friend’. Throughout the nights she had tossed and turned, mulling over his words, desperately searching for any sort of discernible secret behind his words. When this failed, she would simply lie down and try her best to get some rest. But even on the rare occasion when she could clear her mind of the maelstrom of theories and worries, his voice would echo through the darkness of her mind: “Just who can you go to, Twilight Sparkle? Who can you trust?” What did he mean by that? Why had he said that? She had been through everything with her friends by her side. Even her days as a loner in Canterlot, she had Spike with her. She trusted each and every one of them with her life. Why would she suddenly no longer trust them? For that matter, what had he meant about the Princess? She had sent her all her research to Celestia in hopes she might know more about the whole problem than she did. What if she did? What could she know? But for the first time since the conversation, she had been able to completely clear her mind and get some much-needed rest. When she awoke that morning, she even found herself smiling! She felt invigorated, rejuvenated and like she could take on the Slendermane Itself in hoof-to-hoof combat! Then there came that ever-familiar belch! Followed by a brief glow of green. Celestia had replied! Twilight raced downstairs to the library’s main room, where she found Spike picking up a scroll. But something was different. The parchment was a different colour, it was much paler. And she distinctly remembered that the letters Celestia sent her were always sealed into scrolls with a seal of red wax. The seal on this scroll was a silvery white wax. “Oh, mornin’ Twilight. Here, this just arrived for you…” Spike began as he saw his friend’s bed-haired head peep round the door. Before he knew what was happening, Spike found himself on the floor, several feet away from where he had been standing. Twilight suspended the scroll before her face. Ignoring the dragon she had essentially just body-checked, she hastily broke the seal of the scroll, undid the blue ribbon that wrapped around it, and unfurled the message: “To Ms. Twilight Sparkle. Enclosed is this morning’s edition of the Canterlot Enquirer. For the sake of sister of mine, as well as thyself, I hope that thou hast some sort of explanation for these happenstances. Yours faithfully, Her royal highness Princess Luna.” As she had unfurled the scroll, there came a gentle thud as the aforementioned newspaper landed between her forehooves. She hastily levitated the paper before her. “Twilight…? What’s up?” Spike asked as he got up. As he stood on tiptoes to read the scroll or the paper over Twilight’s shoulder, he was taken aback as she once again pushed him aside. Without a word, the unicorn ran upstairs to her bedroom once again, the newspaper and the note fluttering around her head like some strange birds. She shut the door, shut the curtains and sat down in the centre of her room. Unfolding the newspaper again, she felt a chill through her whole body as she read the front page: "Strange goings on in the Royal Palace- Celestia no longer fit to rule? The mental health and wellbeing of her royal highness, Princess Celestia, has been called into question today, as the order came for a lockdown of the entire Canterlot Castle. The Princess had been seen by members of the castle-staff beforehand, pacing up and down the corridors of the castle, apparently unaware of anypony other than herself. For several days prior to the lockdown, Princess Celestia had been seen to be notably less calm and collected than she is known to be- She had been locking herself in her quarters for whole days at a time, and muttering to herself. The nature of the lockdown order only adds to this mystery. The stated reason for the lockdown, as written by the Princess, was “To keep Him out”. The peculiar nature of this order has led many to question the legitimacy of the order, believing it to be a practical joke of some kind. But palace officials have been quoted as saying that “The royal Equestrian seal and the Princess’ signature rather speak for themselves.” Since the time the order has been given, word has spread via the palace staff of the Princess exhibiting strange behaviours, such as pacing up and down the corridors, muttering incoherently, ignoring anypony who tempts to make contact with her. A recurring theme appears to be a mysterious person, referred to by the Princess as “Him”. A statement from the Royal doctor reads “We have reason to believe that her Highness’ current mental instability stems from a recent mental shock. Her symptoms- Anxiety, mental regression, dazed expression, incoherent mutterings of an enigmatic ”Him”- all point to a recent recollection of a repressed memory from previous life. I can assure you that all that can be done is being done to return her Highness to a sound state of mind. “ Until such a time that Princess Celestia is deemed fit to rule again, Princess Luna has stated that she will be taking over all royal duties henceforth. In a further statement, she assures everypony that the passage of the sun and the moon will not be affected as she will take control over them in her sister’s stead. However, due to the time consuming nature of ruling over Equestria, and controlling both celestial bodies, all Royal Courts or royal functions shall be cancelled until further notice. Twilight let both the letter and the newspaper fall to the floor as the glow of her horn dissipated. She let her head hang, her purple hair hiding her face. There came a gentle plip, plip, plip as fat, wet tears left tracks down her cheeks, falling to land on the unfurled scroll at her hooves. She did not bother to hold back her tears, but she could not bring herself to weep or wail. There was no point. That was it, then. Her last hope of rescue. Gone. With the masked pony’s words, Twilight had been anxious for any sort of help from the Princess, any letter of comfort or advice. Instead, her well-meaning actions had only made matters worse! But what was it the doctor had said? ‘Repressed memory’? Twilight pondered to herself through her tears: Has Celestia seen this creature before? If so, just how old was it?! But if the princess had repressed the memory of it, as the doctor theorised, then that would mean that whatever encounter Celestia had had with the Slendermane, it was so horrifying, so terrible, even the Princess felt the need to never think of it again. And I reminded her. Twilight slumped on the floor of her room, her body twitching gently with each silent sob. I brought this on her. I sent her those notes about It. She felt low as a dog. No, lower…lower than the lowest form of protoplasmic life there was! The masked one’s words echoed through her mind once more: “You may have made my job a whole lot easier…If you wanted her help, you shouldn’t have done that.” “She…she just wanted to forget about…H-Him…” She muttered aloud, her voice wracked with grief “…And I brought it back…I m-made her remember…My teacher…” And with that, she did the only thing that came to her mind. She put her arms over her head, lay on the hard, wooden floor, and cried. She had no idea how long she lay there, weeping to herself. But by the time she opened her eyes, the sun was hanging low in the sky. Must be close to four in the afternoon. As she paced up and down the room like an animal caged, she thought to herself about everything that had happened. Ever since she had begun to study this monster, this…thing, there had been nothing but trouble. Her friends had done so much for her already. They had gone out of their way to help her. Pinkie had introduced her to Talisman Tome. Talisman had offered her his research, the use of his home, purely out of the goodness of his heart, as well as the hope that she could help him. Fluttershy had volunteered to watch their masked prisoner, completely disregarding her own safety or wellbeing. Well of course they would, Twilight reasoned. They’re your friends, it’s what they do. It’s what she and her friends had always done: Go out of their way to help eachother. why wouldn’t they help you now? Well, because of what’s happened because of their help. I made the others get in deep with this whole ordeal. Too deep. If I’d just left well enough alone and left them out of this, they wouldn’t have to go through all this. They wouldn’t have to be able to see It. She then thought of Talisman, that strange little colt, who had willingly broken what may have been years of solitude to help her. A smile almost crept upon her lips as she remembered his shy, awkward demeanour when they first met eachother. Despite his peculiar behaviour and other general eccentricities, she had to admit, that gangly colt was rather growing on her. She sighed...And what had she done in return? Other than deprive him of his solitude and make him recollect terrible memories, nothing. He had never been in danger before he met her. He wasn’t a sacrifice or a potential victim. But he was working with her, the final ingredient those masked ponies needed, and that had made him a threat that needed to be dealt with. Because of her, he was in danger of losing his life, along with what remained of his sanity. And Fluttershy. Twilight cringed as the memory came back to her. Poor, dear Fluttershy. She still felt horrible for what she did to her. The pony, from the pure kindness and goodness in her heart, had volunteered to take care of the masked colt, despite her fear of him, simply because she wanted to help. And what had she done in return? She had yelled at her. The gentlest, kindest pony in the world, and Twilight had verbally assaulted her without a second thought! She felt like hitting herself. She wanted to punch herself, buck herself, kick herself, whatever it took. She was the worst friend ever. “All my friends did was help me, and all I did for them was hurt them more…Oh, I don’t deserve them...” “Well that’s just stupid!” She raised her head as she heard a voice. Looking to the doorway, she saw the door wide open. In the frame was Spike, with a look of incredulity on his little face. Strangely though, he was smiling also. A gentle, if slightly sarcastic smile. “Geez Twilight, no wonder the Princess wanted you to study friendship. You really can be a novice about it sometimes.” He said as he approached his friend. Before Twilight could open her mouth to protest, Spike had grabbed her huddled form in is arms, and gave her the warmest hug his body could muster. His short arms only just wrapped around her waist, but Twilight felt herself breaking into a loving, kind smile. She wrapped her hooves around him in a return of his comforting embrace. “Don’t you get it, Twilight? It doesn’t matter whether you deserve friends or not! The point is, you have them, and they’re willing to go out of their way to help you!” “But Spike…” Twilight began “All it’s doing is getting them too involved…I-I don’t want to see them hurt...” “Hmph, you’re still not getting it, are you? The mark of a true friend is that they are there for you, no matter what happens! Element of Loyalty, remember?” Spike said, pointing with a claw to the framed picture that rested on Twilight’s dresser. It was an old photograph of her and her friends, all huddled together, laughing at some long-gone joke. “Just because Rainbow Dash represents it, doesn’t mean your other friends don’t have it as well!” Twilight gazed at the picture. Memories flooded her mind, of all the good times she had had with her friends. All the adventures, all the parties, all the battles fought with them by her side. She did not want them to end. “Think about it, Twi. You told me that if this…thing, comes to power, it could destroy all of Equestria. That means you, me, everypony we know. If you really care about them, you would let them help you stop It, so you can all keep on living, right?” Twilight looked back down to the tiny dragon that knelt by her side, clutching her in his arms, hugging her like a little brother. Really, for a baby dragon, Spike could be remarkably perceptive. It was in that moment that everything became clear. Wiping the tears from her red eyes, she got up off the floor. Glimpsing herself in the mirror, she saw a dishevelled mare staring back at her, through red-rimmed eyes, peering through matted, messy hair. Her horn aglow with magic, she drew a brush hastily through her mane and scrubbed her face with a washcloth. “I know what I have to do. Thanks Spike…Thanks for getting me thinking straight again.” Twilight said in a strained voice. She gave Spike one final hug on her way out, and she trotted down the stairs and out the door. Spike watched as she left, the fire in her eyes renewed. “That’s my girl.” _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight strode down the road through Ponyville, looking about at everypony she passed. Spike’s point remained at the top of her mind: if she does nothing, if she is determined to not let her friends help her, then all these ponies, all of Equestria, is as good as dead. She had read old stories of beings who claimed to be able to ‘purify’ the world, when all they really did was destroy everything and anything in it. She could not let that happen. As a team, she and her friends were unstoppable. She knew this from experience. Their kinship and teamwork were what defeated Nightmare Moon, and Discord too. With this in mind, she took a left and headed towards the outskirts of town, towards Fluttershy’s cottage. “If we are gonna stop this thing, I’ll need to talk to Fluttershy.” Twilight said aloud to herself “After what I put her through, she deserves an apology…” As she saw he familiar little cottage in the distance, she picked up the pace and broke into a gallop. She sprinted up the walk, across the little bridge over the stream, and skidded to a halt outside the door. Knocking with a forehoof, she called out “Fluttershy? It’s Twilight…I-I need to talk to you…It’s about what happened a few days ago.” She waited for the sound of the door unlatching, going over in her mind what she would say. She’d tell Fluttershy that she was sorry for shouting at her. That it was stupid of her, and she had not been thinking straight. A minute passed. No answer. She knocked again. Another minute, still no answer. Twilight went around the back of the house Maybe Fluttershy was in the garden or something, tending to her animals. She wasn’t. Twilight’s worry only increased as she saw that the back door of the cottage, which led to the garden, was wide open. She felt a twinge of fear as she passed through the doorway into the cottage. The entire room was shrouded in darkness, the only light coming in from the windows. Chairs and tables were overturned. Pottery and glassware lay shattered on the ground, trampled into the carpet along with stray food-pellets and any other knick-knacks that had been unfortunate enough to be caught in the struggle “What on earth…?” Twilight muttered as she oversaw the damage. There had been some sort of struggle here…but why? Her eye was caught by a tiny note that lay on the floor by the couch. Hesitantly, she levitated the scrap of paper to hover before her eyes. “TE ANTE TEMPUS” Beneath the scrawled Old Equestrian words, Twilight saw it. That ever-present symbol, the crossed-out circle Twilight stood stock still with shock. She did not need to understand Old Equestrian to know what this meant. He had recovered. He must have tried to escape. And when Fluttershy tried to stop him, he must have… The unicorn gulped, unable to finish the thought. She did not want to think what he may have done to her friend. As she looked about frantically, her eye fell upon a strange pair of lines scuffed in the carpet. They seemed to lead out the door, where the same lines were scuffed in the dirt. In the dirt, next to these lines, clear as day were two sets of hoof prints. She sprinted out the door, following the tracks as they led away from Fluttershy’s cottage. They wound past the path, and into the dark, tall trees of the Everfree Forest. “I’m coming, Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted aloud, before galloping full pelt into those dark trees. If only she had moved a little slower and quieter as she had passed through the back garden of Fluttershy’s cottage. She may then have heard the strange sound coming from the ground. A muffled, if frantic, scratching sound, as if something was trying to dig its way from underground to the surface. That, and a tiny, weak, timid voice, squeaking up from the ground. “He-lp….mm…mmeeee….”