“Twilight! Twilight wake up!”
Spike was standing on Twilight’s bed, shaking her by the shoulders in a futile attempt to wake her up. Then suddenly, in a single move, she raises her body and sits on her bed, throwing Spike far enough to make him hit the wall with a fair amount of strength that he didn't even know she had.
Slowly and groggily Spike gets up from the ground, and rubbing the back of his head, trying to get his vision to focus once again. He didn’t know such a small unicorn had such strength. “Ouch, what the heck was that? Anyway Twilight is about time you got up, it’s almost midday and you’ve got to open the library! I’ve been trying to wake you up for at least 15 minutes and..” His voice trailed off. As he recovered the focus of what was in front of him, he could see the face she was making and remembered it well. Her pupils just two small dots in her large orbits, and, of course, that sociopathic grin, like a Cheshire cat.
He spoke again, this time as calm as possible, like a father explaining something to a very young child. “Twilight, you already sent a friendship report this week remember? No need to freak out on this, let us all calm down and be rational right?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not worried about that! No no no no, not the slightest!” She spoke fast and enthusiastically “I just remembered that I’ve got some research to do! Very important research you see! Veeery important! Got to finish it soon. No time to waste, let’s work!”
“ Well, if that’s the case, let’s have breakfast and get it done then!”
“No! Gotta do it by myself!”
“Then at least come eat something before...” She cut him and spoke as fast as she could, making it all sound like a single word, darting down the stairs right after finishing her phrase, leaving a very confused dragon behind. “Notimeforthatgottagotothebasementdon’tdisturbme”.
After that all he could hear was the sound of the large doors that led to the basement (and eventual laboratory) slamming shut. And for about five minutes all he could do was stand, dumbstruck, mouth partially open, processing what had just happened.
“This is gonna be bad”
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“I think I’m getting too old for this”, Said Celestia to her sister. “What in the world are you talking about? We are immortal for Solaris’s sake! After all it was you that created these servants of yours so you could have something to play with”. “Here we go again” Thinks Celestia. “You know that is not the truth” She says in her regular calm tone “I had to leave a legacy behind, they are not toys, they are living creatures. The ponies and all the other creatures I’ve created have grown to a point where they can handle themselves. We are merely watchers. And after all these years I have finally found successors for the elements, and I can rest assured that they are all in good hands.”
“Are they alicorns by any chance?” Luna added with a slight sign of sarcasm in her voice. “Face it my sister, anyone that you choose will eventually pass away, and then you shall have to start your search all over again. After all in a land of magic such as ours there are always threats and grand beasts that require a great deal of power in order to be vanquished. You will have to be their eternal guide, until this race is extinct.”
“The way you speak of me makes it sound like there is no other alicorn in this realm to help me govern. Now that you are back to reason you should reassume your part of the royal duties and take control of the moon again” Luna frowned at that statement “Well, we still want to retake our role as the commander of the moon but a thousand years of fear are not so easily forgotten. They do not trust us yet. And also, Nightmare Moon still lives inside me. We cannot rule this land again” she finished with a saddened tone.
“My dear sister, time heals all wounds. And also if you show them that you care for them you can earn their trust as I did. But for someone who does not want to relate to the other ponies you have adapted to their vocabulary quite fast” Luna’s cheeks turned bright red. Celestia tried to keep a straight face but just couldn’t hold it back. As she started laughing Luna soon forgot her embarrassment and both of them just laughed together. This was a side of the Princess few had ever seen, just enjoying happy moments with a loved one.
As the laughter stopped, they returned to the former subject, and Luna stated. “It seems you have a lot of faith in the ones you bestowed the elements upon. I hope it is not misplaced”.
“I truly am happy that you are concerned about me but as you may remember, the Elements of Harmony were gifts from our father, not my creation, and I don’t choose the ones who possess them, the elements themselves are the ones who choose, and just by having them choose someone else makes me believe it is time for me to retire.”
“Yes, I know that, and for what happened in the Nightmare Night I met them personally. They seem to have a good character, but I have yet to properly judge them. I believe the purple unicorn Twilight is your student right? She seems to be the only one of them that doesn’t behave in a really childish way.”
“Now Luna let us not be too harsh on them, although they have done incredible things they really are just children, but they have great potential. And yes, she is my student and I have great faith in her. After all, she managed to hatch a dragon egg when she was just a filly” she smiled, recalling the events of that day, but then changed to a more serious expression “even though she almost killed her parents in the process.”
“Well, believe whoever you wish, I will support you, but be aware that even the most wise of ponies can become corrupt with the right influence, and as a kingdom grows, so grows its chain of command, but a chain is as weak as its weakest link, and rust may cut us trough, if we are not careful.”
Celestia put a hoof in her chin in a thoughtful expression “Yes, you might be right at some points, but there will be a time for us to leave, and when that time arrives, we won’t have time to ponder on philosophical questions. But let us not dwell on future matters. The royal duties call. It is almost time to raise the sun, and I think some farmers will be pissed off if I don’t attend to it in a few minutes” she joked, and with a playful smile the two royal sisters were off, not having the slightest clue of the nearing of a moment that seemed so distant, and by whose hooves it might come.
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Toe to toe, Spike slowly entered the basement on the tree house. No sound could be heard inside, and he pondered if he would find anyone in there. The, as he looked around he saw the one he was looking for. Standing up, staring at one of the corners of the large room. He waited a few minutes, but she didn’t move at all.
“Twilight, I’ve brought you some apples, since you skipped breakfast and is been a few hours already.” No reaction. He stared for a few seconds waiting for an answer but received none. “TWILIGHT!” Still nothing. “Oh my god I knew this would happen someday! She studied to death!” He sprinted towards her, and as he got close he stopped, afraid of whatever that might have happened. But just as he poked her face with his finger, she jumped up, startled and with her horn glowing.
“Twilight! You’re alive!” He said as he hugged one of her legs. “Of course I’m alive. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like I’ve been doing anything strange. Or dangerous. That involved risking someone’s life.” He looked at her with a look that was of suspicion and worry at the same time. She was still talking and acting that weird way. And also tought that he just might be spending a bit too much time withk Pinkie Pie to overreact like that.
“Twilight what in the world were you doing?”
“Research of course. What else would I be doing here in the basement alone? Not like I would be planning anything, no, nothing like that.” That earned her another suspecting look.
“You were staring. At the wall. For quite a while now, and it looked like you had fainted in that position. What was that all about?”
“Research!” She answered quickly. “Research on what? The wall?”
“Why yes! Of course! Do you deny the importance of this wall? Do you want to make this place fall apart? Without this wall there would be no house! Do you want me to live on the street Spike? Do you?” He answered stuttering “N…NO! Of course not! Why are you asking me that?”
“Well you were the one to doubt the wall! Right now confusion wasn’t quite the word to describe Spike. He was..perplex, about her state. Almost “perplex” enough to call an asylum. But he cared way too much about her to think of doing something like that. He just answered, trying to carefully choose his words.
“Okay. I have no idea of whatever just happened. But let’s just forget about the wall for a bit..” She cut him off, nearly screaming each word “What do you have against the wall?!” He just nearly slapped his own face, speaking now even slower and as clear as possible “look, I brought you some food. You have to eat, you already skipped breakfast and lunch, and you can’t stay like that” He spoke as a father caring for a sick child. After all they were raised together and he always took care of her.
She looked like she was about to deny it but her expression suddenly changed to a calmer one as she looked at the plate that was sitting a few feet behind Spike down on the ground. It had about five very large and red, almost shining apples, clearly fresh ones from Sweet Apple Acres.
Then, in a quick motion, so fast that Spike barely saw her, she teleported behind him, grabbed the plate, tossed the five apples in her mouth and barely without chewing just swallowed them all.
“Here. Done eating.” And as she put the plate in Spikes hands, she levitated him to the door, saying “Now just leave me at it, it’s time to work”. As she finished talking she laid him down outside the basement doors and slammed them shut. As the shock faded away, Spike laid the plate on the ground and tried to open the door, but without much success. It was locked. “But the basement door doesn’t even have a lock on it!” He thought loudly. He punched the door repeatedly screaming for her to come out, but after a few minutes he simply gave up.
“Well, gotta take care of the library anyway, but I’ll talk to her later. She definitively needs some help.”
From inside the basement, It could be seen that the doors were blocked from the inside by two enormous purple pillars that seemed to be made of stone, but glowed with a strange wavy light. “Putting that spell I taught you to good use eh? You sure are a quick learner” Said a voice in her head as she was on her way to her position by the wall.
“Be quiet now Sid, I only did that because you told me to, otherwise I would have teleported him away and we would have no distractions. And he alone is already going to be a distraction, if you start to idle chat with me while I’m researching you’re going to slow me down, I don’t intend to stop to eat many more times.”
“Now now my dear I only told you to do it because I don’t want to see you starving to death, that would be ridiculous, and I told you to eat them, not gobble them up like a bloody chicken, you don’t have a gizzard.”
She stared deep into the wall. That was her study room now, she wasn’t sure why but that corner felt like a good place to do it. As she closed her eyes, her body relaxed and the world around started swirling like a hurricane of colors and shapes, and once again she was in the library of her mind, with Sid leaning upon a far away shelf, with an open book levitating a few inches from his face, standing only in his rear legs. Twilight had found that really weird at first, but by then, she just didn’t care.”
Just taking a look around anyone could tell that there was something off in there. There were books dropped all over the place, and a few short trees had sprouted in random places, putting some shelves in strange angles with the ground.
“I like what you’ve done to the place.” Said Sid without even taking his eyes from the book. Although she was a really organized pony she just didn’t fell that the place was wrong at all. She knew she should but she just didn’t. “Look, I know you have been helping me around but could you please stop reading everything in here? Many of these stories are personal; after all, they are my memories.”
“Nah, don’t mind me here, I’ve already read all that is interesting around here, these ones are just to kill time.” She gave up. Sometimes he just wouldn’t listen to reason.
Reason
Funny word. Right now, when she was inside her own mind, Twilight felt pretty reasonable. She could talk normally and think straight, as if her whole conscience was focused in there and staying there, although she was completely focused on the goal she had there, which was overthrowing the current princess, forgetting completely about the exterior.
But out there it was like she was half awake. Or drunk. Or both at the same time. She could barely form full sentences, and felt like her body wasn’t fully under her control, like her conciousness was imprisoned in her own brain until her goal was fulfilled.
“What do you intend to do about the dragon out there?” asked Sid. “What about him? He’s just really gentle and a bit too caring at times. Also, he can’t come in here and find about anything, and more importantly, he can’t see you. Now just let me get back to studying. This book of your is quite fascinating.” She said as she grabbed the book from the ground and positioned it behind her head, just high enough so it wouldn’t be blocked by it. Then she concentrated a bit and a large, tall, standing mirror appeared (it was her mind after all) and placed it in front of her. Once she gave it a bit of thought the riddle Sid gave her was a really easy one.
“A world where all that is left is right, but emulates all that you do. A doorway to this realm, can be found inside your dressing room.”
A mirror of course. It should be quite obvious that the words were mirrored if they didn’t change writing stiles so much.
The book was very uneven, even when it came to disposition of information, but was very interesting indeed. It spoke about the history of Equestria, the princesses and many other creatures that lived. It spoke of power struggles and of wars (a word that was barely even heard in the peaceful land they lived). It also spoke of magic and spells, many of them forbidden, such as the one she used earlier, the materialization spell. It was able to create any kind of object that the user imagined, as long as it was not living matter, and force it into existence through magic, as long as it had energy to keep it up.
And the more she read, the more she doubted, and the more she doubted, the more elaborate were the schemes that formed in her mind, schemes to make her rise to power possible.
And the more she planned, the larger was the smile on Sid’s face.