Silence reigned supreme in the abandoned library. The sole occupant of its dusty rooms fast asleep. Spike had been sleeping for so long now that cobwebs were beginning to gather between his spines. The magical repose had not harmed him, but his absence showed in several subtle ways. All of the plants in the library were dead, no one had watered them. Books leaned in perilous towers next to their shelves, unsorted. Complex equations bled one into the other on every available writing space on the blackboard, no one had bothered to erase the old equations. Everything was covered in about an inch of dust, yet, dilapidated as the library itself was, none of it could begin to compare to the horrors that had come to inhabit the kitchen. Strange gurgling noises crept under the kitchen door as mold and bacteria settled in to what promised to be a long, putrid feast.
One would never guess that this edifice hadn’t been abandoned for years, save for the hoof prints that trailed all through the dust. The freshest set led from the room where the book had once been mended, leading out the front door. There was no point following them. He already knew where they lead. He’d seen this story play out many times before. Or was this the first time? It was so hard to keep track. Discord materialized in the deep darkness inside the neglected library. Was he truly there? A faint translucent glow suffused his body as dust motes sleeted through his form. He was uncharacteristically solemn as he lay his claws against the ruined spine of a tattered book. Twilight had destroyed it before she had left, charring the cover beyond recognition and scattering the scorched pages like so many leaves, perhaps not liking what she had read. A faint smile played across the draconequus lips as his claws dipped into the tome and pulled out a ghostly copy. This version of the story could not be so easily destroyed.
Flipping open the transparent book, the words blazed across the cover and the light of pure magic leapt from the spectral pages. Discord was mildly unimpressed, he’d seen it all before, or he would in due time. “Not your best work, but then you have an eternity to get it right, I suppose. I’ve always approved of a little experimentation after all.” Discord snapped his fingers and the tome disappeared. “Do you think it will make a difference? Knowing, I mean, knowing what is about to happen?”
From the deeper darkness there came only a giggle. Eyes that swirled with madness looked through Discord as if seeing him, but not seeing him at the same time. The figure that had emerged from the shadows was just as intangible as Discord, yet where he seemed fairly solid, she faded in and out of existence. She laughed lightly to herself as her mane streamed behind her like a cloud, her entire body fading in and out of existence. The cutie mark of a screw and a baseball were the only part of her that seemed to have any permanence, and even that was hard to make out. The lord of chaos smiled and took her in his arms, holding her paternally as a father would a newborn babe. She continued to giggle, shivering and shaking in his arms. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he doubted her plan would work.
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Mist drifted in front of a crescent moon, the light of shooting stars leaving streaks of light across the infinite gulf of darkness between the constellations. Though it was the middle of night, distant birdsong offered the promise of a dawn not far in the future. The peace of the night was interrupted by the thunder of hooves running urgently through town. There were already a few ponies awake at this time of day. Farmers coming in early to set up their stalls in the market and security officers on the last leg of their patrols. A few of the towns shop owners were already awake, doing inventory or setting up their shop windows for the day. It wasn't uncommon for someone to be rushing though town at this hour. Yet there was something urgent about the sound of these hooves. A few half expected to hear the words ‘help’ or ‘fire’ as the figure of a unicorn thundered past, yet she remained ominously silent. Most wrote the encounter off as soon as it had occurred. It wasn’t the strangest thing they’d seen in the middle of the night. Even so, there was something disquieting about the way she had looked.She was grinning ear to ear, though her face had been shiny, wet with tears.
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Ponyville mail was something that its residents took for granted. Rain or shine, everyday ponies and pegasi were hard at work making sure that all the letters and packages were delivered in a timely manner. It was a largely thankless job, tedious, with long hours and little compensation. Even so, Derpy loved this job more than the others she sometimes took. It was so peaceful at this time of day. She couldn't help but smile as she landed gently next to one of the many mailboxes on her route and began to rummage through her saddle bags to see if there was anything for this pony today.
An unseen force suddenly slammed painfully into Derpy Hooves, pinning her against the ground. Undelivered letters rained down around her, spilling from her mailbag in her sudden fall. The grey pegasus had crashed many times before, but never so suddenly and with so much force! She'd usually be flying, for that matter, not on solid ground. She began to worry she might be suffering from some sort of fainting sickness when she made the terrifying discovery she couldn’t rise! Panic leached into her soul as she realized whatever force had caused her to fall was pressing her face into the dirt. Her chest began to ache as the unseen weight crushed the air from her lungs. Tears were streaming from her eyes by the time the force relented and a cold voice spoke, “What did Celestia do to me?”
The words barely had time to register on the delivery ponies ears before she felt herself lifted bodily into the air and slammed against the mailbox behind her with a crack that echoed in the early morning stillness. The beautifully painted box that read ‘Bon-Bon’ tilted and fell from the force of Derpy being driven bodily into it. She coughed, trying desperately to get her breath, her eyes trying and failing to focus on the pony who was attacking her. “I don’t know!” she gasped, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” That was apparently the wrong answer as the force lifted her into the air again, but this time she felt the pull of magic as it stretched out each of her limbs, her muscles crying out in agony as the magic holding her threatened to tear them from her bones.
“Don’t try to play innocent with me! I know you’ve been watching me and my friends. I’ve seen you!” Suspended as she was, Derpy could finally see that the pony holding her in her magical grasp was Twilight Sparkle. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach yawned bottomlessly. “I know the Princess put you up to it and I know she did something to me...to us. What was it!? Did she really take away our memories, our personalities?” Tears were flowing freely down the unicorns face, yet anger blazed in her eyes. “WHY!? Why do that to her subjects!? To children!?”
Derpy tried her best to twist out of Twilight’s grasp, but the magic holding her body was tighter than a vice. All of the unicorns shouting, however, was starting to wake up the town. She could see lights coming on in nearby buildings and already hear distant voices raised in complaint. Help was coming. “Twilight, you’re babbling! Listen to yourself! Why would the Princess want to change you? Even if she did, what could I possibly have to do with it? Why would she want me to spy on you? I’m just a mail pony and not a very clever one at that.” Derpy was still crying herself, but she kept one eye on Twilight and the other on the small crowd of ponies that were slowly gathering.
“Why!? WHY!? That’s what I’m asking you!” A harsh crackle of magic swept over Derpy then, freezing and burning at the same time. The pain was sharp and made all the more terrifying when it left no trace of a wound. Only a sensory echo in Derpy's brain that promised her she did not want to have to endure that feeling ever again. Twilight lowered her voice to a menacing whisper, “I know about your mother Derpy.” The mail pony's eyes widened, but otherwise she betrayed nothing. “I know what happened to her, why you were born the way you are. I know where she is too. That’s why you were spying for Celestia, and unless you want everypony in Ponyville to know, you will tell me what Celestia did to me and why!”
The crowd was still a ways off, they’d need to be closer if they were going to be of any help. Derpy made a decision. “Do you really want to know Twilight? Are you sure?” Her voice had changed. Gone was the somewhat dopey sounding voice, replaced by one high and melodious. Her entire body language seemed to shift in one instant. Even her eyes looked different. She stared at Twilight, both eyes firmly focused on her own. “Do you really want to know why the ruler of all Equestria rearranged your mind? Think about it. Even if you did find out, what could you do about it?” The pony who had always been known as ‘Derpy’ smiled so sickly sweet it made Twilight blink. “Fight an entire nation? Fight a way of life? Are you really ready to do that? To betray your own kind?” Twilight's magic began to fade, and with it her grip on the grey pegasus, as her mind was suddenly filled with doubts. Derpy threw back her head and laughed. “You haven't even begun to consider the ramifications of your knowledge, have you?! Oh Twilight, I always knew one of you was going to be trouble. I always thought it would have been Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. But you? It’s so sad it’s pathetic!”
Twilight could hear the shouts of the other Ponyvillians approaching now. “I don’t care. I don’t care what it costs. Please...just tell me what you know! One way or another I have to know. Is everything about me, everything about my friends, is it all really just a lie? Is it all lies!?” Derpy’s eyes quickly lost their focus, she quickly went limp and began to sob for help. The gathering crowd, at last, had moved close enough to intervene. The captive pegasus began to writhe as they drew near, and it was all Twilight could do now to hold her. This is what the others saw as her cries for help drew them closer.
Twilight was on her back before she knew it, two ponies holding her down tight while a third broke her magical hold over Derpy. As the grey pegaus fled into the dark blue sky, Twilight heard herself uttering an almost animal cry, half way between the word ‘no’ and an unearthly scream of despair. “Easy now sugarcube. Ya need ta calm down!”
“Yeah Twilight,” chirped up one bright but brittle voice, “I bet they could hear you all the way back at Sugarcube Corner. The cakes just got the twins settled down, too.” Pinkie Pie and Applejack did their best to hold Twilight still. The frenetic unicorn would’ve used her power to fling them to the side, but the third pony was doing her best to disrupt Twilight’s concentration. Not far from where the three struggled in the dirt Rarity screwed up her eyes in concentration, her horn glowing brighter than it ever had before as she tried her hardest to hold Twilight’s magic in check.
“If it’s...not too much trouble dears...could you please...calm her down a little more quickly?” Sweat beaded Rarity’s forehead. She was quite the sight in bathrobe and slippers. The scene would’ve been comical if not for the fact the power she struggled with were not so immense. “NOW PLEASE!? I’m not used to...this much...heavy lifting...” She strained until her face was red and a vein throbbed in the temple of her forehead. Applejack tried talking sense into her, but Twilight thrashed all the more wildly. Pinkie Pie tried rubbing Twilight’s tummy and making soothing sounds, but what worked for foals wasn’t working for the enraged Twilight. “Oh for goodness sakes!” Rarity lost her patience and used an old unicorn trick her mother had taught her for when Sweetie Belle used to throw tantrums. Grunting under the strain, Rarity redirected all of Twilight’s magic back on her. In an instant, Twilight’s eyes went wide as the shock of the magical backlash surged down her horn. What was she doing? These were her friends! There was a flash of blinding white light behind her eyes and then she ceased her struggling.
Lying in the dirt, her ‘friends’ gathered around her, Twilight couldn’t help but sob. She didn’t know what to do.
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Back in the cozy confines of Sugarcube Corner, with the smell of the mornings baking filling the room with warmth and pleasant scents, the four friends tried to sort things out over coffee. “So let me see if Ah’ve got this straight.” Applejack began, a look of puzzlement on her face, ”Ya’ve been shut up in yer Library for the past few weeks doin nothin but research in an old book ya found. Then ya had a dream that the Princess had done somethin horrible to us when we was all small, and yew thought the mail mare knew somethin about it?” The incredulity in the farm pony’s voice was enough to set Twilight’s teeth on edge, but she had to admit that phrased like that it did all sound crazy. It was obvious she had to clear up a few misunderstandings.
“It wasn’t a dream, it was a vision! More than that, it was a vision of the past! Our past! Derpy was there and I swear, she knows what happened!” Twilight slammed her hooves into the kitchen table, shaking everypony’s cup of coffee and spilling her own. Her mane was a complete mess and there was a twitch in her left eye. None of this was doing her credibility any favors.
“And that’s why you attacked her, dear?” Asked Rarity uncertainty.
“Yes!” said Twilight immediately, without thinking. “I mean no, I wasn’t attacking her, I just wanted answers. Before you guys showed up it seemed like she was on the verge of telling me what I wanted to know, too!”
“Land-sakes, I’m afraid Ah still don’t understand Twi.” Applejack took a sip of her coffee. She made a face, clearly Pinkie Pie put too much sugar in it for her liking. Smacking a bit to try and get the taste out of her mouth, she continued, “I don’t see why ya think what ya saw was real. The Princess would never do anythin to hurt her subjects, let alone a bunch of fillies!”
Twilight had been dreading this, but it was time to come clean if she was going to convince the ponies she thought of as her friends to help her. “I found it okay!? I found it the night it was lost.” She turned to Pinkie Pie, “I found your book Pinkie, I found the book of the Broken. It’s what showed me what happened...that’s why I know it’s true!”
The pink party pony had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time the others had been talking, busying herself about the kitchen helping with the mornings baking. She froze suddenly and turned to Twilight with a dark look on her face. The others hadn’t noticed before, but she wasn’t wearing her hair in curls anymore. Her mane hung limp over one side of her face as she spoke, “You said it was dangerous Twilight. You said if anypony found that book they weren’t supposed to read it, that it might cast a spell on them that would make them act how I did. Take them over, make them do and think things.” Pinkie Pie brushed her hair from in front of her face, but it fell back immediately. She ignored it as she said, “You’ve had the book this entire time? Twilight... I know from experience, no matter what knowledge that book has to offer you, it’s not worth the price!”
“I know! I know okay!” shouted Twilight, flopping onto the table in exasperation, forelimbs spread, spilling everypony’s coffee. “I wasn’t going to read it either. I was just going to keep it safe until I found out where it came from. But it was so hard! Especially when that mess happened with Rarity going missing in Canterlot.” Rarity’s eyes glazed over. She’d mostly succeeded in forgetting that ordeal, so the memories of that horrible time stung afresh when Twilight reminded her. “It was more than just having to know...the book called to me! When I finally broke down and started reading it, I found that there were gaps...huge swaths of text missing, entire pages ripped out. As I read, I could see how the magic wove itself through the story. The story was magic itself, but that meant I could change it, I could fix it! I could make the story better! But the more I worked on it, the further back I had to go. You wouldn’t believe all the errors and mistakes in our lives. It’s like some sort of childrens story, the structure is there but the basic syntax is laughable!” She didn’t tell them about the voices in her head as she had read that made fun of it all, or of the way words would appear on the page that she hadn’t written. She didn’t tell them that she thought Discord was loose, but inside her head rather than in Equestria.
“When I turned all the way back to when we got our cutie marks that’s when I read it. That’s when I saw it! It wasn’t just Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash...it was all of us! The Princess gathered us up to turn us into pony’s that could wield the Elements of Harmony. She erased our minds and changed our personalities. There’s no telling who else she’s done this too or how long she’s been doing it. All I want to know is why and how. Then maybe I can fix things so it never happened and can never happen again!” The wild look in her eyes scared her friends. None of them said what was on all their minds. Twilight Sparkle was grey, all the color had been drained from her. Just like it had been drained from them when Discord had corrupted them.
“Twilight, listen to yourself!” said Rarity, doing her best to keep her coffee away from the flailing pony. “I understand you’re upset, but even if it were true that Celestia had done something to us for some reason, don’t you think it might have been for the best? I mean we’ve saved Equestria from certain doom twice thanks to the Elements of Harmony. Why, we wouldn't have even become as close as we have in the first place if it wasn't thanks to their existence! Why would you want to undo all that good?”
Twilight looked at Rarity with her mouth wide open. She hadn’t thought of it that way. Why would she want to change things? Everything had turned out alright, hadn’t it? Everything was just how it should be. But a part of her that had been growing in strength in the darkness rebelled. Everything had turned out the way that Celestia had wanted. Who was to say that they wouldn’t have turned out better if Celestia hadn’t meddled with their destiny's? Yes, things might have turned out far worse, but how would she ever know? If everything was planned by Celestia, then didn’t that make her own choices meaningless? Wasn’t freedom worth that uncertainty?
She was about to say all those things when every door and window in Sugarcube Corner exploded inward. Night Guards, bat winged and sable armored, flooded through every entrance and seized every pony inside, including the Cakes and their customers. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” thundered a familiar voice, “GIVE THYSELF UP WILLINGLY OR IT SHALL GO VERY HARD FOR THEE AND THINE FRIENDS INDEED!” Princess Luna was here. Why was Princess Luna here?!
“Get your hooves of me you ruffians, I am a lady!” Shouted Rarity as the Night Guards took hold of her on either side and slipped a metal ring over her horn. The anti-magic runes flared as soon as it was secured to show it was working properly.
“Now hold yer horses fellas,” tried Applejack as the bat winged guards closed in on her. “I’m sure this heres all just one big misunderstandin."
“You leave the Cakes alone, do you hear me!” Screamed Pinkie Pie, whirling back and forth in front of the Mr. and Mrs. Cake. “You better not harm a hair on Pound or Pumpkin’s head either! Not a hair! Or I’ll make you cry every time you even see an egg beater!” She brandished the cooking utensil menacingly, turning the handle aggressively. The Night Guard gave her a wide berth, not liking the look in her eyes, but still kept her from moving from where she stood.
All was bedlam. Then all was still. A soft violet aura spread over everypony. No pony could move at all as Twilight Sparkle’s horn glowed brightly. “You...Captain. What is all this about?” Twilight gestured, freeing the captain of Luna’s private guard from the magical stasis she'd put every pony else in. He shook, disoriented only for a moment. To his credit, he didn’t show an ounce of fear in front of Celestia’s favorite student.
“We received reports that you assaulted an employee of the royal mail in her duties. As ever, Princess Luna is responsible for guarding the night.” Twilight had a bad feeling she knew where this was going. “You are hereby under arrest Twilight Sparkle. Please come quietly, as our Lady’s wrath is a terrible thing to behold!” In a lower voice the captain tried. “Please miss, we’re only doing what we’re told. If you want to know more you’ll have to take it up with her majesty at Canterlot Castle.”
“You’re right Captain. I was going about this all wrong. If I want answers, I suppose I should get them straight from the horse's mouth.” She released the guards from her magical hold. They moved to take her into custody, but she held up one hoof. “I will go to Canterlot Castle. But I’ll be going there on my terms!” For the second time in as many minutes there was an explosion at Sugarcube Corner as every last Night Guard was magically expelled from the premises. Twilight stood up and strode out the front door before her friends could stop her.
Luna, Princess of Night, sister of Celestia hovered in the air over Ponyville. She did not look pleased at the treatment her guards had received. “THOU ART PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME TWILIGHT SPARKLE! THOUGH YOU BE BELOVED OF MY SISTER, I SHALL NOT GO EASY ON YOU SHOULD YOU CONTINUE TO RESIST. TRANSGRESS FURTHER AT YOUR OWN PERIL!” Lightning flashed down from the clear night sky. It was only an hour until dawn, but Twilight doubted that Luna would give up when the sun rose.
“You want a rematch Luna? Is that what this is about?!" Shouted Twilight, "I’m not sure I can take you without the Elements of Harmony, but I’m willing to try!“ Her eyes blazed with barely controlled power. “I’m going to Canterlot, and if I have to, I’m going to beat some answers out of that sister of yours. You can either stand in my way, or get out of it! Which is it going to be!?” Power built at the tip of her horn and for a moment, just a moment, fear showed in the eyes of the Warden of the Night.
“Neither, Twilight Sparkle,” There was a genuine sadness in her eyes as she lowered her head. "I am so sorry." The bolt of lightning struck down from the clear heavens. Well, almost clear, save for one very angry storm cloud and the tiny grey pegasus that was jumping up and down excitedly upon it. The bolt made a deafeningly loud crack as it struck Twilight’s horn, sending the unicorn sprawling in the dirt. High above, Derpy smiled triumphantly.