"I am so glad to hear that Twilight Sparkle is in town," announced Trixie. "Every year, like clockwork, she comes and upsets my kingdom. But this, the sixth year, will be the last year." Trixie had been reviewing footage of Twilight Sparkle visiting a young, white mare and discussing something that was no doubt a highly subversive plot. Unfortunately, the hidden camera had been unable to pick up any sound. None of Trixie's technical experts were quite able to understand why that was, but the only sound the footage played was static. "Yes, this will be the last year."
"My queen," interjected an advisor, "What would you have us do about Sparkle and the mare she visited? We can mobilize the guard to bring the white mare in for questioning if you like."
"No," said Trixie, "Keep an eye on her, but let her be. We'll watch and see what happens."
Trixie's advisors looked uncomfortable at this command, but they didn't question the word of their queen. Trixie saw this and smirked, "The final defeat of our enemy will be spectacular. Trust me; I know a thing or two about pleasing crowds."
This reassured the advisors somewhat. Not that they stayed reassured when two captains of the guard ran into the room. "My queen," announced one of the guards, "I bring news from the border of our nation. A dark army amasses at our gates; we must reinforce the border patrol!"
Let them in, suggested a voice in Trixie's mind. Trixie stood for a minute, her face hard. Then she said, "No. Remove the border patrol entirely." A gasp filled the room. "Whatever this enemy is, we can fend it off." All the ponies in the room stared wide-eyed at her. "Trust me," soothed Trixie, "I know a thing or two about pleasing crowds. Now guards," Trixie gestured to the telescreen which still played the footage of the enemy Sparkle, "An enemy no less dangerous than Twilight Sparkle has come to Canterlot. Tell the city guard to search for her and bring her to me. In fact, redirect the border patrol to finding Sparkle too. I'm putting an end to friendship this year."
Twilight Sparkle moved through Canterlot unnoticed. Could Sweetie Belle really bring the magic of friendship back to Equestria? Almost more importantly to Twilight, if the magic of friendship was restored, would Twilight see her own friends again? Did Twilight's action actually give Sweetie Belle the magic she needed? Thinking back on it, it really was such a strange thing to do. Maybe Twilight had simply gone out of her mind and life would continue on as normal for everypony. Stupid. What a stupid, silly, perverted idea that had been. Twilight couldn't even bring herself to think the words of what she had done to poor Sweetie. Only that it was terrible and almost certainly hadn't done anything good.
If only Twilight's friends could have been there. They would have told her that sometimes ponies make mistakes, but that shouldn't stop them from trying to do the right thing. Such a statement wasn't nearly as comforting to think about as it would have been to hear. Princess Celestia would have known how to fix Equestria; if only she had been the one left behind.
Twilight heard the rough voice of a city guard saying, "She's wearing a dark cloak. If you see this mare, report her immediately."
Twilight didn't have to be a highly intelligent subversive to figure out who the guard was talking about. Sweetie Belle must have made good on her threat to report Twilight to the guard. She quickly crawled under a bench and stayed there until the guard had passed. Seeing no further point in wearing the scratchy cloak, she tossed it aside and galloped toward the place she currently called home. Her home was an abandoned building that had, up until six years ago, been a magnificent, towering library. It was almost as high as Canterlot Castle from which the new Equestrian State was operated like so much machinery. More importantly to Twilight, the library had been her home ten years ago. Back then it had just been her, Spike, a lot of books, and the frequent visit from Princess Celestia. Now there was no Spike, no books, and certainly no Princess Celestia. It was, however, the same building, and Twilight knew of every last nook, cranny, hidden passage, crawlspace, and secret exit that the building contained. It was the perfect place for a dangerous subversive to stay while in Canterlot, and Twilight was fairly certain that neither Trixie nor anyone else pulling the strings knew that the dingy old building had once been her home.
Twilight curled up and lay down on the discolored floor, put her worries aside for the waking world, and went to sleep.
Sweetie Belle had chosen not to make good on her threat to alert the guard. It simply seemed... silly? Pointless? Wrong? Wrong. It seemed wrong. What Sweetie Belle did do was head to the bathroom and start a hot bath. She was positively filthy from trudging through the rainy Canterlot streets. But it was just as she gingerly set a hoof in the hot water that a buzzing could be heard. If Sweetie Belle had been looking out her window, she would have seen the dim moonlight reflecting off the rainclouds be totally concealed by a writhing swarm of black.