The Pony Prisoner

by BioniclesaurKing4t2

Banished

“Where am I?” Twilight asked.
“In Ponyville,” said the beige mare with the grey mane and white collar.
“What do you want?” demanded Twilight.
“Information,” was all the mare answered with.
“Whose side are you on?” Twilight pressed.
“Why, that would be telling,” the mare said coyly. “We want information. Information…,” her voice began to echo, “…information…”
“You won’t get it!” Twilight shouted.
“By hook or by crook,” the mare said, “… we will.”
“Who are you?” asked Twilight.
“I am Number Two,” responded the mare.
“Who’s Number One?” Twilight added.
“You,” the mare said with a smile, “are Number Six.”
“I’m not a number!” Twilight shouted back. “I’m a free mare!”
The mare only started laughing.

* * * * * *

Twilight stood staring out her window at the town. Not city, town—that fact refused to sit right with her. Being of a logical mind, every fiber of her being was screaming over the impossibility of what she was seeing.

She took a few shaky steps back, legs quivering with every step. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. She backtracked all the way across the room to the blue couch she’d passed out on and collapsed onto it again, forcing her eyes shut. This had to be a hallucination, some sort of illusion.

She waited a few seconds before before opening her eyes again. She stood up and, taking a deep breath, she walked up the set of stairs that led to her room’s second floor to look out the top half of the window this time. She didn’t even have to cross half the floor to know for certain, the view being obvious enough. She knew she wasn’t in Canterlot anymore.

She looked over the town below, noticing that the ground was far closer than usual. She wasn’t only in a new town, she was in a shorter building! Yet still in the same room? Was it the same room?

She looked back around the room. No, everything was in the right place. Then what was… Twilight’s eyes landed on a mirror. She froze. It was her cutie mark.

Twilight turned to the right to look at her cutie mark and make sure it wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t. Where had once been a purple six-pointed star surrounded by five small white ones was now the image of an old-style bicycle with a giant front wheel, having a blue frame, with a yellow awning overtop, and a red number 6 placed over the seat. A moment later she registered that her old cutie mark was still present; however, it had been shrunken and moved into the ring of the bicycle’s front wheel. She quickly turned to look at her left side and found the same cutie mark, only mirrored, as usual, but with the ‘6’ facing the opposite way so as to still be readable. That couldn’t be natural. Cutie marks were always mirrored completely.

She walked back to the stairs and looked down to the saddlebag she’d filled. There was no time for that now. Twilight ran down the stairs to the door and pulled it open. Here, she found her third big surprise.

The door didn’t lead to her outside spiral staircase. This was an indoor wooden staircase. Not only that, but the hallway wasn’t just wood-lined, it was all one piece of wood. She was inside a tree? Twilight ran down the staircase until a sharp left turn, where she found herself overlooking a large round room with bookshelves built into every wall. Then she noticed that the floor had age rings. Definitely inside a tree. At the center of the room was a round table, on which sat a wooden horsehead sculpture with a small white card propped against it.

Twilight activated her horn’s magic and pulled the card over to her as she bounded down the remaining stairs. Stopping at the bottom, she read the card: “welcome to your home from home”. All in lowercase.

She dropped the card and looked around. Door, door, door—door! She ran to the door in the arched alcove at the far end of the room and pushed. It didn’t move. What? She pushed again to no avail. No, no, come on! She shouldered the door with a thud, but induced no movement. O-pen-up! Her heart pounded faster as she pounded the door, which started shaking on its hinges…and her horn started glowing.

It was a calm, peaceful day outside of the Golden Oak Library. And then the door exploded.

Splinters rained down as the smoke cleared, revealing a slightly shocked Twilight standing just inside the now open doorway, the glow from her horn fading. She blinked. Shaking it off, she dashed outside and looked around.

“Don’t worry,” said a voice from off to the side, “I got that.”

Twilight turned to see an approaching old, light brown earth pony stallion with a gray tail and a tall, droopy green hat trot up, pulling a cart full of tools and wooden boards. Twilight saw he had the cutie mark of the same big-wheeled bicycle as hers, only with a red number 57 over the seat and nothing in the front wheel.

“Figure I might as well make the new hinges swing both ways, eh?” he said, stopping and taking a look at where the door had been. Twilight just turned and ran. The old pony gave a chuckle.

After a few blocks and a turn or two, Twilight began slowing to a trot. She took a deep breath and let it out, collecting herself to better think over her predicament.

“Okay,” she said aloud to herself, “this is an easy one. This whole thing has to be some sort of mistake. I’m sure that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this. I just need to speak with whoever’s in charge.”

She saw another pony up ahead, this one also an earth pony, but colored a bright pink. She felt calm enough now to have a civil conversation, so she headed over. As she drew closer, she saw that this mare had yet again the same bicycle cutie mark, this time with blue and yellow balloons in the front wheel and what looked like the number 80 on the seat. Seriously, what was up with these? She was ready for some answers.

“Hey, you!” Twilight called. The pink pony looked over. “Where is this place? Can you tell me who—”

“Gaaaaaaasp,” went the pony as she jumped into the air, cutting Twilight off, a second later zipping away down the street and around a corner.

Or not, thought Twilight, again frozen with shock. Heh, as if she hadn’t been on edge before.

She shook it off as best she could and turned down another street to continue wandering, but saw something up ahead sitting in a courtyard. It was a dark blue wooden booth standing tall and distinct against the yellow and beige town. A black strip along the top edge bore backlit writing that was too far away to read, and a lamplight was situated in the center of the roof. Standing in front of the booth was a brown earth pony stallion with a jagged mane, and what she’d be willing to bet was another cutie mark featuring that same blue bicycle. Okay, now for some answers.

As Twilight strolled over cautiously, the words along the top became clearer. “ponyville public contact booth.” Huh. Wonder what that could mean. Was it connected to a post office? Wait. Ponyville, huh? Probably the name of this place. It sure sounded blandly generic enough. Also in lowercase.

“Whhwww-wwww-hww,” whistled the brown pony, whose cutie mark Twilight could now see was in fact comprised of the bicycle—she just won 5 bits from herself—with a yellow hourglass in the front wheel and a red 67 over the seat. “Hwwww-wwh—oh?” He paused as he glanced over and saw her. Twilight hurried over.

“Hey,” she started, “can you tell me anything about—”

“What’s your Number?” the pony asked nicely despite cutting her off.

Twilight stopped. “Excuse me?” she said in surprise. “I don’t have a number.”

“Sure you do,” he replied casually, “everypony’s got a Number. See,” he pointed to her cutie mark, “it’s right there. Number Six.” He paused. “Funny. You don’t see too many single-digits around here. At least not new arrivals with no idea what their Number is.”

“I have no idea how that got there,” Twilight insisted, “this whole thing has to be a big misunderstanding. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I—”

“Oh—nope, nope, no names,” he said, raising a hoof and cutting her off again, yet still somehow sounding casually polite about it. “Numbers are all we’ve got here, and you,” he pointed, “are Number Six.”

“I am not Number Six!” Twilight said, frustration winning out with how irritatingly…nice this pony was acting. Yeah, she didn’t get how either.

“See for yourself,” he said in a ‘prepare yourself’ voice. He reached over to the front of the blue booth, to a panel on the left half with a page that read in part, “ponyville directory – free for use of public – pull to open”, and flipped the panel open, revealing a book sitting in a square alcove. He nodded at it, and Twilight’s horn lit up to open it. As soon as her magic touched the cover, it sprang open to a page showing her photo over the bicycle cutie mark now on her flank, specifically the version facing towards the right, with her star cutie mark in the wheel and a red six over the seat.

“See?” the pony said with a smile. “Num-bah Six. Now, is there anything I can help you with?”

“I…,” she stammered, “I don’t…can’t…” Okay, way not what she expected, but there had to still be a way to solve this, and she was going to find it. Twilight steeled herself for any more unexpected turns. “Who’s in charge here?” she asked confidently.

“Ah,” he said, “ll’that would be Number Two. See what I mean about single-digits? They’re usually the important ones.”

“Where can I find this Number Two?” she pressed.

“Well,” he said with a pause to think, “she’s usually in Town Hall. It’s the big round building in the center of town, brown dome, you can’t miss it.”

And that’s all she needed. Twilight turned and ran off to her right, towards the solution to this mess, and any excuse to get away from—

“Except, of course,” he casually called after her, “that the, uh, center of town is that way.” She skidded to a stop and turned back to see the pony pointing in the opposite direction.

Twilight kept a keen half-glare on him as she trotted back past the smugly grinning stallion, kicking into a run again now down the correct path.

“Be seeing you!” he called after her.

Answers. She really meant it this time.

Twilight had found the Town Hall, a beige three-leveled, brown-domed round building in the center of town, just like he’d said. On the far side was a small stream cutting through the town with a few purple bridges over it, and there was a large radius of empty ground between Town Hall and the nearest buildings, occupied only by a fountain with an odd statue—some kind of serpent with short limbs. Like the rest of the town, this open area seemed oddly empty.

She trotted over to the building, onto the ground-level balcony, and through the open doorw—aigxxzz. A sudden shooting pain stopped her in her tracks, kicking her back a step a second later.

What. Was. That? She coughed and tried to steady her breathing, her whole body feeling like her hoof after shuffling on the carpet and touching a metal doorknob. What had that wise guy been up to—

“Oh, don’t make mind of that,” said an elegant-sounding mare’s voice from inside. “The Town Hall can be fussy about who it lets in sometimes. Just try again.”

Twilight took a hesitant step forward, her hoof this time crossing the threshold unimpaired. Nevertheless, she tiptoed slowly the rest of the way inside. Looking up and around, she saw the inside of the main chamber, a bland wooden structure with a collection of balconies along the circular walls, the only colors not shades of brown or tan being the dull purple curtains in the entrances of these balconies and the several banners hanging from the ceiling in bright color collections almost painful to look at.

Looking down along her level, Twilight’s gaze quickly fell upon the only other pony there, presumably the one who had been speaking, a white unicorn with a shining purple mane who seemed to be attaching posters to the walls: “honesty is the best policy”, “be loyal to your ponyville”, “a still tongue makes a happy life”. All again in only lowercase letters.

“Is there a Number Two here anywhere?” Twilight asked, starting over to the unicorn.

“No, not at the moment,” she responded without turning around. She was focusing on aligning a poster reading “questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”. “Funny,” she added after a pause. “I don’t recognize your voice.”

“Well, I did kinda just arrive here,” Twilight said.

“Oh, poor thing,” the unicorn replied, “you must be so confused. But if you could just tell me your Number, I could pass on to Number Two who’s looking for her the next time I see her.”

“Me?” Twilight weighed her options. Using her name hadn’t gone over so well last time, so in that case… “Well, I guess I’m Number Six, but—”

“Number Six?” the unicorn let out as if Disgust had slammed the control panel, dropping the poster and collection of other objects held in her magic’s grip. She spun around to face Twilight. “How did you get a number so close to the top? And only just arrived, too? Well, you must be quite important, then,” she huffed as she turned away again, whispering to herself, “as I’m sure you are.”

Twilight glanced at the unicorn’s cutie mark to see, big surprise, the blue bicycle with a set of three light blue geometric diamonds in the front wheel and a red 91 over the seat. If all the way down with the single digits were “the important ones”, Twilight guessed this mare wanted a different number than what she had.

“I’ll just…,” Twilight hesitantly said as the unicorn picked her dropped supplies back up, which included a pair of scissors, “try back again later. Um…”

“Be seeing you,” the unicorn hissed.

“Be seeing you,” Twilight nervously replied and quickly slipped away.

Twilight had again taken to wandering the streets aimlessly, again glimpsing not a soul, but this time she had no goal in mind. She was now officially relying on luck or fate dropping a solution in front of her. If that was going to happen, might as well try seeing it fall. That was her reasoning for looking up, but the sky only served to raise more questions.

The sky was definitely overcast, yet it still seemed…bright enough, was all she could think to describe it as. The entire sky was covered in a seamless layer of pale gray foggy cloud. A blurry outline of the sun shone through whitish in one spot, but its light diffused throughout the cloud layer and seemed to make the whole sky glow. What the hay were the pegasi here up to? This was the most artfully neglected sky she’d ever seen. The only cloud she saw breaking this pattern was a low floating clump…with a rainbow tail hanging over the side.

“Who are you?” she called up to the cloud, trotting her way over.

“A number, just like you,” came a sighed response. “Does it matter which?”

Twilight paused. “Not particularly, I guess.” Finally, another pony not obsessed with this weird numbering system. “Just a…mild question. What the hay’s up with this sky?”

“Whaddaya mean?” came the response. “It’s the same sky it’s always been.”

“Wait, you mean that the sky is always like this?” said Twilight in surprise.

Atop the cloud, something stirred. The rainbow tail twisted over and a sky blue mare’s face looked over the opposite side, adorned with a similar rainbow mane. She rested her chin on her hooves and stared down at Twilight. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“And I won’t be staying for long,” Twilight added with confidence. The blue mare’s blank stare quickly dissipated that confidence.

“Heard that before,” she said. “Heck, said that before. Lotta good it did me.” She gave a defeated sigh and slid back from the cloud’s edge.

“That still doesn’t answer why the sky is so…” Twilight searched for the words.

“Because it’s my job is to keep the sky foggy like that,” the mare said. It took a second to sink in.

“Excuse me?” said a shocked Twilight. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“It already is the other way around, too,” said the mare. “I keep the sky foggy, and the sky keeps us foggy. About where we are, about what’s going on outside. About—”

“Riiiight…,” said Twilight. Philosophy had always been her weakest subject in the Academy. “So, the answer is?”

The mare gave an annoyed sigh. “If you want to fly up there and try changing things, then be my guest, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Ah—well fine then,” Twilight snapped, “be unhelpful, just like the rest of this town! If nopony’s going to give me answers, then I’ll just stop waiting and leave.” She promptly turned and headed in a general direction.

Back on the cloud, the blue pegasus lay back and gave a chuckle. That new pony reminded her of herself from when she first woke up here, back in those days…

Twilight didn’t know her way around the town, but she knew that any area had an edge that could be reached by any straight line eventually. Geometry still worked here, right? Something almost made her worry otherwise.

This worry seemed unwarranted, though, as she saw her current path taking her to the edge of town. Finally, progress. She crossed over one of the pale purple bridges and away from all of the buildings, kicking into a brisk pace to continue.

As she kept walking, the dirt path she was following gained a white wooden fence and became bordered with apple trees. As she reached where a side path branched off leftward, she saw an orange earth pony in a stetson hat pulling a cart full of apples. Was she far enough…no, this mare still had the bicycle cutie mark. And she’d noticed Twilight.

“Hey there, stranger,” the mare said with a wave, “I’m Number Twenty-Six. An’ how ’bout you? Anythin’ I can do for ya?”

“Um,” Twilight said, “I suppose I’m Number…just Six.”

“Well,” said ‘Twenty-Six’, it apparently was, “it’s nice to make your acquaintance, ‘just Six’.”

“Eh-he,” Twilight chuckled nervously, “and, no thanks, I’m just—”

“You sure?” Twenty-Six pressed. “You look like you could use some lunch. My farmhouse is just up this way, I could easily get you some apple pie, apple fritters, apple tarts, apple dumplings, apple crisp, apple…oh, you get the idea. And it would save you a walk back into town. Or maybe you’re just a little parched, in which case—”

“No, really, I’m fine,” insisted Twilight. Then she realized an opportunity. “Actually, maybe you can help me. Do you know the easiest way out of town?” She wasn’t prepared for the response.

“Pfff—ah-ha-hah!” Twenty-Six laughed as she stomped the ground. “Sorry,” she said, still chuckling, “I jus’ dunno which part is funnier, the ‘out of town’ part or the ‘easy’ part.” She coughed to get rid of the giggles. “I suppose if any way out was gonna be called ‘easy’”—she gave a set of air-quotes—“then that’d have to be out through the forest over yonder, but even that wouldn’t be…,” she looked up to see Twilight no longer there. “Uh, Six?”

Twilight was already trotting down the path towards the forest.

Having left the white fence behind, the path again diverted to the left, this time towards some sort of cottage with grass on its roof or—it didn’t matter, she wouldn’t be around any longer to care. She didn’t even take notice of the pink-maned yellow pegasus peaking over the hump of a small bridge in front of the cottage.

As she passed by, the pegasus took half of a hesitant step towards her, murmuring, “Um, I’m not sure you want to go that way…” But her words went unheard.

So, forests. Twilight had never been camping, but she’d skimmed a book or two on the topic, and she remembered a few details. Cantering onward, she saw the wall of trees that were the edge of the forest up ahead.

Still, best to play it safe. Let’s see. Poisonous berries? Don’t eat anything. Poison ivy? Don’t touch anything. Trotting forward, she stared as the looming forest drew closer.

Poisonous mold or fungus spores? Don’t breathe near anything. Okay, that may be getting a bit extreme. Walking on, the height of the forest’s trees began sinking in, as was the fact that they seemed to be leaning out towards her.

But she was going to be through it before she’d need to worry about how long she was going to be in there, anyway, right? It did seem like a rather big forest, though. Maybe she should’ve considered taking one or two of those apple treats. Tiptoeing forward, she realized that her gait had been getting progressively slower as she neared the forest.

Reaching the treeline, she could almost feel the shadows of the forest, despite not actually being under them. They just seemed to reach out and…grab…Twilight realized she’d stopped. She looked down to see an eerily fine line on the ground between the daylight and the shadow cast by the forest, her frontmost hoof resting just in front of line of the shadows. She looked up and stared down the path, deep into the darkness of the forest. It was like looking into the deep ocean: the light only made it so far. Staring still deeper, a silence reached out and enveloped her, all ambient noise fading. She became aware of every breath she took, every beat of her heart, every time her dry mouth swallowed out of nervousness. The deepest reaches of the path almost looked like they were stretching farther away…

“Maaaaybe talking with this Number Two is worth the wait after all,” she said. She stepped back before turning and trotting away, her gait getting progressively faster the farther she got.

Once sufficiently far away from the forest, she slowed down to a reasonable pace and let out a sigh. The cottage from before came up on the right again. The same pony from before was now standing on the bridge, craning her neck to see farther down the path without stepping farther forward.

“Oh,” she said, “I’m so glad you didn’t try going that way.” Twilight looked over at her while passing by the turnoff. “Um…,” she muttered, as if she hadn’t expected to be heard and responded to, raising a hoof as if to take a step back. Twilight just turned away and kept going.

The familiar sight of the white wooden fence once again straddled the path, and up came the branch leading to the…the orange pony was still there. Funny, Twilight thought sarcastically, it was as if she’d known Twilight would be back in just a few minutes. She really had to make a better habit of listening to others all the way through. And now the pony was waving again.

“Guess you changed your mind about the homemade apple treats, eh?” Twenty-Six said with a chuckle.

Twilight gave a sigh and dropped her head. “Fine,” she said in mild annoyance. It’s not like she had many options.

Twenty-Six led her down the path toward an archway attached to the white fence, covered with greenery with five apples hanging on it, beyond which sat a large red farmhouse, several smaller red buildings of some farm usage off to the side, with a stone fountain, chicken coup, and other such things scattered around, and an extensive apple orchard surrounding the whole arrangement. Despite how big and well-tended it looked, Twilight heard a distinct lack of working noises. In fact, she and Twenty-Six seemed to be the only ponies here.

Led inside the farmhouse to a dining table, Twilight was presented with a vast array of foods and deserts with “apple” in the name, wisely declining a narrated list.

“Sorry if it’s a bit of a narrow selection,” Twenty-Six said, “but it’s what we’ve got right now. In a few weeks we’ll be able to add things like corn and carrots to the list, once they’ve fully grown.”

“We?” Twilight mumbled. Apparently she’d been loud enough to hear.

“Here in Ponyville,” Twenty-Six explained, “we tend to use a collective ‘we’ a lot. You probably also noticed there’s nopony else around, but that’s jus’ because I’m the only one who actually lives here. Other ponies pitch in to help when they’re needed, like Thirty-Eight or Seventy-Seven, though I can usually handle most of the workload myself.”

Twilight nodded but said nothing. Twenty-Six noticed that she hadn’t touched the one snack she’d selected.

“You wanna know more about that forest,” Twenty-Six said, “don’t you?”

“And yet at the same time,” Twilight answered, “I’d almost rather not.”

Twenty-Six gave a sigh. “If you’ve just arrived,” she started, “then Ponyville might seem like a bit of a strange place, but that forest is just unnatural like you couldn’t imagine. Remember how I mentioned it being the ‘easiest’ way out of town? That’s ’cause it’s both the best and worst way to try and leave. It’s the best because it’s the only way of trying that you’re not guaranteed to run into somethin’ to stop you from leavin’, but it’s also the worst because…because of what happens if you do run into somethin’.”

One line of that had caught Twilight’s attention in particular. “The only way you’re not…guaranteed to run into something to stop you from leaving?” she repeated, looking up. “What kind of place is this?” she said in disgust, anger rising. “What kind of place does this Ponyville think it is that it can stop ponies who never chose to come here from leaving?”

“I did say it might seem like a bit of a strange place,” Twenty-Six commented passively.

“Strange? Strange?” Twilight had had it with this place, and everypony in it. Did no one even…aarrrg! “Is that what you’re letting it be called? All the ponies in this town are crazy if they’re all just accepting this! This place is a lot more than strange if…that does it. This time I’m gonna find this Number Two I’ve been hearing so much about, and I’m going to set things straight on a few accounts.” She turned and headed for the door.

“Uh, I wouldn’t think outright challenging Number Two would be much better than takin’ a go at that forest,” Twenty-Six called after her.

“At least ponies can listen,” Twilight called back, mumbling, “or be made to.”

Twilight marched back into town and eventually located Town Hall again, the open area surrounding it as empty as ever. Striding up to the doorway, she paused just before reaching it, extending a tentative hoof across the threshold. Encountering no resistance, she strode forward as if she hadn’t just stopped, entering the bland wooden interior. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a new source of actual color, the only one at eye level: the bright pink pony from earlier, off to the side and talking with a beige mare who was blocking Twilight’s view of a third, white pony. The pink pony looked over and saw her, immediately falling silent. On a nod from the beige mare, who had a light gray mane and was sporting a white collar with a teal fluffy thing in the front, the pink one turned and darted out a side entrance. The beige mare then closed the book she was holding, handing it off to the white pony beside her who quickly slipped away, and turned to Twilight.

“Ah, Number Six!” she cooed, walking over. “I hear I just missed you earlier. I’m sorry I couldn’t welcome you personally, some important things had to be seen to.”

Twilight was in no mood for her happy demeanor. “Number Two, I presume.”

“I see you’ve already found out a few things about your new home even in my absence,” Number Two said, “though I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t.”

“My new home?” Twilight asked with contempt. “What is this place?”

“Why, this is Ponyville,” Number Two replied politely.

“You know what I mean.”

Number Two sighed. “This is a place where ponies find themselves if…if they know things…if they can do things, special things. Things Number One wants to know about. They’re provided ideal accommodations, of course, and once they tell or show what they know or can do, we don’t bother them again.”

“Except that they can’t leave,” Twilight said. “And who’s Number One?”

Number Two shook her head, reaching a hoof to Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight stepped back, and Number Two simply walked over to the front entrance. Twilight followed. Number Two was waiting just past the doorway, but as Twilight took her first step outside, a sudden horn blare hit her ears. She looked up in surprise and saw the open area surrounding Town Hall, devoid of life just a minute ago, now fully bustling with crowds of ponies, in what appeared to be some sort of festival. A brief glimpse confirmed these ponies’ cutie marks all featured that accursed blue bicycle.

“Ponyville is a rather pleasant place to live, once you get used to it,” said Number Two, looking out onto the revelries, “not least owing to the sheer number of frankly invented holidays and festivals that are celebrated almost every few days.”

A pair of ponies, pale green with a paler minty blue mane and beige with a blue and pink mane, walked past the front steps in sync. “Beautiful day,” they said in unison with a nod.

“Be seeing you,” Number Two called to them with a wave.

“You still didn’t answer me,” Twilight said, ignoring the other ponies. “Who is Number One? Where are they?”

Number Two didn’t look over, nor lose her smile, but merely said, “You’ll soon find it better to not ask such questions.” She glanced over her shoulder at Twilight. “They are a burden to others, and you wouldn’t want to burden your fellow ponies, would you?”

“Then how about these questions?” pressed Twilight. “Why am I here? What do you want from me?”

Number Two shook her head again, as if Twilight should’ve known these answers all along. “Oh, what happened to you, Number Six?” she mused in insincere concern. “Back when you were called Twilight Sparkle, you had so much—”

“Back when I was called?” Twilight cut her off. “I still am!”

“Really?” answered Number Two. “When was the last time somepony called you by that?” Twilight paused, thinking back and turning aside. “Not since arriving here, I’m sure. You’re in Ponyville now. A new chapter of your life has begun. Your old self is no longer you. And what a shame it is.” Twilight turned back to Number Two with frustration building. “As I was saying, you had so much potential. Access to vast amounts of information, skyrocketing skills, personal student to the Princess herself…but what happened? Why did you suddenly decide to throw all that away?”

“They wouldn’t give me enough vacation days in a row,” Twilight stated flatly.

“Others have tried resisting before,” Number Two said calmly, lifting her hoof and pretending to examine it. “Most, in fact. But, eventually, they all come around to see the light. Know that there’s nothing new or special about your performance. You’re not even the first to abandon that very same position.”

She’d been thinking of her next retort, but that last comment had caught Twilight off guard. “What?”

With the hint of a sly smile, Number Two continued as if Twilight hadn’t reacted. “You just think things over for as long as you need to during your stay. When you feel like telling me your real reasons, I’ll be waiting.”

But Twilight just stood there. This was worse than she first thought. They did this to everypony here? That was just… But she could worry about others later. They wanted to know why she’d left, did they? Why she’d suddenly dropped it all? This couldn’t have something to—

“Hmm?” Number Two said, noticing Twilight’s lack of leaving. “Something more to say now?”

And she’d actually thought she could just politely ask her way out of this? No. Hang diplomacy, this had gone too far. Only results mattered this time, and she was getting out of here right now. She knew this Number Two character wasn’t going to just cooperate. She’d have to make her. Twilight leaned forward into a steady stance as her horn started glowing.

But Number Two just stood there looking unfazed, staring back. “As I said before,” she said gravely. “Nothing special.” She turned and pointed towards the fountain sitting near Town Hall and the statue that stood above it.

Everypony in sight froze in place and silence fell.

Twilight looked over to the fountain to see the serpentine statue release a black cloud before something shot off to the left at blinding speeds. She tried following it before a streak of shadow shot left across her view just feet in front of her. She quickly turned back right and found herself staring into a pair of glowing red eyes. Too shocked to gasp, she flinched back a step, the eyes pressing in closer.
The eyes were, uh…round, and…face was…long…color of, uh…dark…
Her thoughts were splintering. She couldn’t focus on anything, just…those eyes…those…
Her breath was shaking. Her muscles were twitching. Her nerves were breaking. The magic in her horn shorted out, sparking before the glow dissipated.

The eyes faded from red to yellow. The head slowly drifted past her to the left, its body snaking after it. She guessed it returned to the statue. She didn’t bother checking. She was all but frozen in place as one herself.

The crowd of ponies slowly reanimated, the festivities picking back up as if nothing had interrupted them. Number Two stood smiling at her. “Be seeing you. Number Six.”

Twilight walked back to the tree building she’d woken up in. No special way of walking, just walking. She somehow knew the way.

She walked in silence. No words, no thoughts. Walking up to the tree, she found the door replaced and no sign of the repair pony. She pushed the door open and entered, letting it close behind her. She stopped a few feet in and stood there. A white card on the floor drew her gaze.

“welcome to your home from home”

Comments

[Uncle Mike]

I have the series on DVD, but I haven't watched the show in years... Liked and tracking.

Be seeing you!

[BeardedRider]

“I’m not a number!” Twilight shouted back. “I’m a free mare!”

Not anymore, you're not!

Also, personal theory, subject to change but...Number one is DISCORD!