Chapter 6 - Questions of The Mind
Ponyville Library September 14th 1002
The party yesterday was certainly something that Twilight wouldn't forget as long as she remembered it. She had more than a great time. She had a BLAST! That pink earth pony certainly knew how to throw a party.
Now that she thought about it, how had she been able to prepare a party for not one, but two ponies at the same time in less than a day? There was also the fact that she knew about Blue coming when nopony had ever seen in Ponyville before. She might ask Pinkie about that again later. Rainbow had made it pretty keen on not letting her ask.
The entire night had gone without a single strange alicorn appearing in her dreams. That certainly reassured her about the situation. Rainbow had said that the alicorn was in fact Princess Luna. She also said that she would take her to see the princess later in the future.
She then started thinking about what Rainbow had told her yesterday. She had said that Blue only knew her name, and that the title 'Princess Twilight' was a habit of seeing an alicorn.
However, she couldn't help but feel like what she had said was off. That she lied to her. She felt... well, she felt betrayed in some way. Like what Rainbow said wasn't supposed to be said. But, if it was a secret that Blue wanted to keep, than she wouldn't want to push him into revealing it.
She rose from the bed, feeling the cold autumn air outside start to effect the indoor air. She would probably have stayed in the bed, but Blue had promised to teach her about magic.
She stood on the floor of her recently cleaned room. Blue had used his own magic to clear the room of all the dust and dirt that was left when it hadn't been cleaned in a few months. After that, Twilight was certainly curious about how magic worked. She had also seen other unicorns levitate small objects like teacups and open doors magically.
Its amazing to think about what magic can do, she thought. And to think that I am capable of doing that just as much as any other pony. I certainly can't wait until to see what I'll be learning.
She stepped outside her room, expecting to see Blue or Rainbow standing there waiting for her. She saw nopony, not even Spike. She looked around, but the library was as quiet as ever on this day. What day was it? How was she supposed to know? She couldn't remember what her old life was like.
Where is everypony? Why am I alone in the library? She sat on the hard floor beneath her. It was slightly cold, but she got used to it. She sat there and wondered what she should do. She looked at the books around the library. Since there is nothing else to do, I think I'll read a book.
She got up and trotted over to the nearest bookshelf. Loads of books filled its shelves. Each one was a separate color than the one next to it. They varied from green, to red, to blue, and so on. All the books were also different in size. Some were large, others were small. Some were think and others were thin. But which one should she begin reading?
She then began to wonder if she could remember if she could read. All she ever did since she came here was talk, sleep, and walk around the town for the party. What was reading? Did she like to read? Were there different ways to read? Was there anypony else who liked to read? Could they teach her?
She shook those questions from her thoughts. I'll find out sooner or later. She saw a single book at the top of the shelf. She couldn't tell what it was, but she saw part of the picture on the cover and was ever so slightly curious. She tried to reach it, but found that she was not tall enough to get it. She considered flying, but then realized that she didn't know the first thing about flying. She couldn't use magic because of the obvious.
She turned to her right to see a ladder stacked up against another bookshelf. She quickly assumed that it must have been for Spike, since Rainbow could easily fly up there and pick a book she wanted to read. Walking over to the ladder, she realized that she had no way to pick it up. The reason was obvious. She decided to just push it alone the shelves until she could use it to reach the book she wanted.
She probably should have noticed the books along the top of the ladder that were leaned up against it and the bookshelf.
When Twilight began to push the ladder, the books fell, each one falling onto her with a loud bump. "Ow... That hurt," she said. She looked back at the top of the ladder to make sure there weren't any books that could fall on her. When she confirmed that there were no more books, she continued to push the ladder over to the other bookshelf.
Once it was there, she cautiously climbed the unstable ladder. Her shaking didn't help with her situation. When she got to the top of the ladder, it was wobbling like crazy. She quickly grabbed the book in her muzzle and made her way back down the ladder. She sighed when she reached the bottom, thankful that she didn't fall.
She bright the book into her room and onto her bed. There was nowhere else she thought of reading. She looked at the cover of the book once she set it down. What she saw was the picture of a pegasus swinging on some vines holding a blue statue. The pegasus was swinging away from a giant blue creature. There was a sort of- banner. Yeah, that was it. A banner above the picture with smaller picture- like things. What are those things?
She spent the next few minutes wondering what those pictures might have been. When she couldn't figure it out, she used her hoof to open the book and turn to the first page. What she saw shocked her. The entire book was filled with those pictures she saw on the cover! Oh come on! How am I supposed to read with these pictures all over the book!
Angrily, she set the book down on her bed. Walking back out the door, she found another book closer to her height and picked it up as well. This time, she opened it up before heading into her room, only to find that this book had small pictures too. Growling, she went through about ten other books before giving up and lying on her bed again.
This stinks. I'm alone in a library and I don't even know how to read. Can this day get any worse?
...
Ponyville September 14th 1002
Rainbow walked with Blue through the early morning streets of Ponyville. (As if that wasn't obvious enough to the bold letters above...) The streets were quiet, as they would be early on in the morning.
Rainbow didn't like being up this early, out of the warm comforts of her bed, but this was an exception. Blue knew a lot about this... Twilight... and she needed to know more about this situation. Also, she might wake her up if they were in the library.
"So... What do you know about Twilight?" she asked.
"A lot," he replied. "Twilight is the most powerful unicorn that has ever existed, besides Star Swirl the Bearded. And I know more about him than the history books."
"But I'm not asking about Star Swirl. What do you mean by, 'most powerful unicorn that has ever existed'? Isn't she an alicorn?"
"Right. Well... yes she is. But she wasn't always one."
"How's that possible?"
"She proved herself to be right for being a princess. See, she used to be a regular unicorn that lived in Canterlot with her family. Do you know Shining Armor?"
Rainbow nodded. "He's the Captain of the Royal Guard. Everypony who has lived in Canterlot knows him."
"Well Twilight Sparkle is his sister."
Rainbow's jaw flew toward the ground. It was stopped since it couldn't go that far, but it still stayed open. "How come I've never heard of her? I've lived as Celestia's student for nearly all of my life, and I've never heard of Shining ever mentioning having a sister!"
"Well, I wouldn't blame you. The Twilight in the library is from another dimension. This is an entirely new place for me and her, and she might not have even existed here."
Rainbow thought about that for a moment, and then spoke up after remembering something her teacher told her. "Wait, Celestia said that she had heard her name before. If she never existed here, how is that possible?"
"It could mean anything," Blue said. "Her name could have appeared in a prophecy, an old book, or anything. Unless we hear real evidence that she existed, we won't get anywhere with helping her adjust to this reality."
"But why are we having her adjust to living here? Aren't you just going to be taking her back when possible?"
"Yes, but how do you think she will react? She ends up in a place that is familiar to her, but then there are these ponies that say they're her friends. What does she think? She would think that they're trying to control her.She would recognize you as a friend, but what about her other friends back at her home? She doesn't know them. That would turn out bad for her, for she would think they would bring harm to her. If we have her introduced to her friends in this reality, she will have a better time when she heads home."
"But wouldn't she just think that you were bringing harm to her? I mean, you'd be taking her to another place when she thinks this place is her home. What would she think then?"
Blue had now stopped and stood still in the quiet street. "I didn't think of that," he said. "But I can't take her back for an entire month. We wouldn't want her to just stay locked up in the library all day wouldn't we?"
"No, I guess not. But you still haven't told me all about her."
"Right. Well... I said she became an alicorn, right?" Rainbow nodded. "Well that was because of her friends."
"Are you referring to me and the other Elements of Harmony?"
"Yes. But in her reality, she is an element too."
"You said that yesterday. The 'Element of Magic'?"
"That's correct. Without it, the other elements wouldn't work. Have you fought Discord?"
Rainbow shook her head. "No, who's he?"
"You'll know soon enough. Anyway, Twilight and her friends fought him. He used one of his powers and made the elements useless as well."
Rainbow's ears perked up. "Really? What was it?"
"He changed all of the bearers of Elements of Harmony's personalities. Honesty became Dishonesty, Kindness became Rudeness, Laughter became Anger, Generosity became Greed, and Loyalty..."
Rainbow gulped.
"...became Betrayal."
A single drop of sweat formed on the cyan pegasus' forehead. "H- How did they defeat him?"
"Well after Twilight lost her harmony between her friends, Princess Celestia kept sending back the friendship reports that Twilight had written and sent after learning a new lesson in friendship. After reading through all of them, she remembered all of her good memories she had with all of you. That gave her reason to try again, and she succeeded. She reminded her friends about who they really were and defeated Discord."
Rainbow sighed with relief upon hearing a good ending. "That's good to hear, that they defeated him. Do you know when he'll come, or anything we should note about him for when we have to fight him?"
"Well, I do, but I don't think I should tell you much more."
"Why not?"
"If you knew all that information about him, you would try and prevent it, wouldn't you?"
Rainbow opened her mouth to protest, but decided against it when realizing he was right.
"If it was prevented, then all events that happen because of that won't happen," Blue continued. "That is important in any timeline. Don't mess with events that must happen."
"Well, how did Twilight become an alicorn?"
"I thought I already told you. Her friends helped her."
"Did we all become alicorns?"
"Rainbow, you saw the original world Twilight was from. The other you."
"Oh." She chuckled. "Right."
"Well, lets head back to the library and help Twilight, shall we?"
"Yeah. With what you said, I think I know enough for now. Lets head back."