Madness

by ManeWriter

Chapter 6

Time seemed to slow down to every single waking moment as the 2 walked together in coordinated harmony. They stared into each-other’s eyes with an aura of dignity and happiness that could never be separated from the 2. Each moment passed as another hoof stepped in front of another, moment after moment. The dark smog breezed off of their shoulder from fluttershy’s light patting of her wings.

“Fluttershy…” Said twilight glancing over.

“Yes Twilight?”

“How did you find me in that fog? How do you still know who I am? How di-“ Twilight said before her rambling windpipe was silenced by a gentle nudge from fluttershy’s shoulder.

“No more questions twilight, it’s over.” Fluttershy said as she tapped Twilight’s shoulder with a light pat.

“Right…” Is all she could say before she silenced herself slightly moping. They exited the gated smog which enclosed around the edges of the striped land behind her, like it had a mind of its own.

“The smog seems so… alive…” Twilight said with a slight pause afterwards.

“It’s the power of discord silly; you know he controls everything now.” Twilight became somewhat suspicious seeing how Fluttershy took this whole thing in so perfectly. It’s almost like she didn’t care either that discord was under rule… yet, she was being so generous.

“Why is Fluttershy being so… generous… none of the other ponies acted this way to me or anyone else.” thought Twilight as she threw a suspicious glance at the overly friendly Fluttershy. She turned her head back towards her front view, noticing fluttershy’s home being in perfect condition. The walls were absolutely spotless top to bottom. The floors were spot cleaned as well as pinkie did with her empty hall, following up to the sinisterly sweet golden glow around the entire exterior. All these details were obvious even before stepping hooves on the property as they approached, it was perfect!

“Wow Fluttershy, your home is absolute perfection!”

“Thanks Twilight… I worked extra hard to welcome you back in the best way possible, so I spent the rest of the hours that you were ‘asleep’ spring cleaning.”

“Funny, she quoted me as asleep, how did she know this anyhow? Also how did she manage to figure out it was spring, the sky is still painted smoggy black.” Thought twilight. Twilight then braced herself slightly physically, but completely mentally, to ask Fluttershy about the home. She didn’t know the consequences she would face for this question, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

“Say Fluttershy, do you mind if I take a tour of the house?”

“NOT AT ALL! You take all the time you need, I’ll be taking care of the chickens.” Fluttershy then gracefully bonded to the winds as her wings set atop the forecast. She flew over to the back of the home where the chicken pen was located, out of sight from the face view of the home. Her flight pattern was mystically elegant, but had a slight trace of mislead order located amongst its pattern.

“*sigh* thank goodness” Twilight said as she wiped her head clean of her nervous perspiration. She glanced both ways and immediately after walked onto the porch. The floor was made of a hard pressed oak, almost the looks of a machine’s work. It was emulated to look like the old wood; somehow it wasn’t the same as before. The wooden patio was covered by a plushy door mat labeled “Welcome Home Twilight”.

“She even named the floor mat after me…” Twilight wasn’t sure whether to be happy, surprised, confused, or scared; but her emotions were already scrambled enough today that she pushed the thought away temporarily. The door shined a beam of light passing through the cracks as she tossed it open. The bright light pierced through twilight’s sensitive recitals having been adjusted from the dark abyss that overlapped the friendly sky she once knew. Her eyes refocused and readjusted from the burst of light to find what she had always wanted! The walls were covered in books among books of endless knowledge, the floors were polished and paved exactly how twilight liked it, even spike’s old bed laid front center to the back wall’s bookshelf. It was everything that twilight imagined and more within the wake of her hooves.

“It’s Beautiful!!!” Twilight said as she admired the little details made into every single piece of literature that surrounded her. The cushion of knowledge twilight had fallen into could only get better the more she studied it. Everything fell in a harmonious mental state for twilight, but she almost forgot the small details she noticed before. The floors were made from a mechanically pressed oak only a factory could possibly produce, made to emulate the look and feel of real oak wood. It wasn’t the same floor she knew, it wasn’t the same home.

“How did Fluttershy manage to do all of this?!” Twilight thought to herself as she passed a glance to every single book she saw. It went in complete perfect alphabetical order that only twilight could possibly achieve without mistake. This place was far too perfect for any single mare to do all by herself, she got help from someone…. Or something.

“Something about this place just doesn’t feel right… I can’t quite understand why…” she said to herself as she tapped her head several times. This perfect heaven of knowledge didn’t feel real to twilight, she should know better than this being the victim of discord’s vandalism.

“This library may not seem right, but it is a source of information regardless. Discord could have possibly left a hint in this place… but why is this all in fluttershy’s home?!” She said with a muted tone. Twilight checked every book, every drawer, and every single last one going in alphabetical order just as she originally intended it to be.

“A… B… C… D… There’s no D… WHERE IS D?!” She threw around all the books in the section looking for anything related to a D. Twilight knew this wasn’t right. D lead to discord, disharmony, and all related to the one man she tried to stop, so where did this historical pieces go, especially if this library is the endless supply of knowledge it should have been.

“How can something this possibly be true?! The information was in my old library… but why not here?!” She said at a whiny pitch, complaining about the loss of desperate info she knew she needed. Suddenly, another door opened from the side of the left bookshelf located closely to spike’s bed. Her slight whining pitch was muted instantly from the sight of this door creaking open on its own. She gazed at it with a slightly confused look.

“This door doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the library… what is it doing here?!” She peaked inside the door, with nothing inside of it. Just then a book fell inside the darkly shaded room where the door was located. Nothing could be seen except a slight glow from a book that sat inside the dark abyss shrouding it. The book was labeled “Discord, Chaos and its Control”. It had a golden border with rubies, emeralds, and sapphires on all corners of the book.

“YES! Just what I needed! Oh thank Celestia its here.” She galloped into the room as fast as her hooves could take her chasing towards the fallen book. She picked it up and opened it to the index page, but nothing was there.

“This book… is BLANK?!” She lifted the book off of its rested place amongst the ground and shook it, scanning all of the pages in a panic.

“Everything… it’s gone…” She said with dread and shock smeared along her face. The door slammed behind her blocking all rays of light from entering the room, only showing the slight glow of the blank book.

“What’s going on here? Where am I? FLUTTERSHY HELP!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs pounding her hooves on the iron plated doors till she became sore and winded. The pain of her hooves seared through her legs up to her shoulders from the constant smashing on the door. When the pain slowly relieved, she noticed something she wish she would never have to see again.

“The iron doors… the iron doors oh dear Celestia NO!” She remembered them fondly from her last encounter, pinkie was to blame.

“Well well well…” Said a faint, echoed sound coming from afar. Twilight then snapped her head with adrenaline rushing through her blood in a state of panic.

“That voice… why does it sounds so familiar…” Twilight whispered to herself slightly shivering.

“I think you know very well who I am Sparkle” The Mysterious mare in the shadows approached from the deathly black halls in her normal stature. The shadow had a long, perfectly brushed mane heading across its head with a smoothly sinister sway. Her tail slightly swayed to the right with the tip closer to her thigh as it gently moved. On her back was what appeared to be owlicious seen attacking twilight earlier. Twilight was still uncontrollably twitching from the rush of adrenaline she felt backed by fear.

“It’s you again… you ran away from me you coward!”

“Who’s to say I ran away?” Said the Mare with a cocky attitude slightly boasting its head higher. The figure then stepped out of the shadows into the remaining aura of light that surrounded the book laying closely to twilight. The light showed her true form with not a single hair out of place.

“I was here the whole time…”