Cahppter Phoøuré
Twilight groaned, shifting uncomfortably on her bed. Her blanket had fallen off, and the air was cold. To top it off, her mattress felt like it had hardened significantly. With an ill-tempered grunt, she forced her eyes open–
And blinked in bewilderment at the almost-familiar sight of shelves of books stretching into the darkness. What am I... she started to think, and then memory crashed home.
This is a recurring dream, Twilight thought, staring at the shelves in surprise. I can’t remember having one of these since... well, years ago.
Unbidden, a passage from a psychology textbook she’d read years back floated up in her mind. Dreams are peculiar methods of communication. They represent the bridge between the realm of the conscious and the subconscious. Often, a vivid dream may bring a sense of premonition, as if your inner mind is trying to tell you something you are simply too awake to see...
Shoving the errant thought aside, she set off down the endless aisles at an easy trot. No time to go psychoanalyzing herself. That sense of needing to find something was still there, although precisely what she needed to find remained maddeningly elusive.
Her ears pricked up at a sudden sound behind her. Heart pounding, Twilight spun, channeling magic through her horn. Harsh lavender light flowed from it, illuminating a wide area around her. Books, shelves and bits of crumbled stone presented themselves, but that was all.
Twilight looked around warily, casting light into the gaps between the shelves, and peering down adjacent aisles. Still nothing. Maybe it had just been a piece of masonry falling off some long-collapsed support–
The sound came again. There was no mistaking it this time. It was definitely the clink of a hoof on stone.
Twilight wheeled toward the source of the sound, pumping even more magic into the light. “Hello?” she called into the shadows, and immediately regretted opening her mouth. Her voice echoed off the rows of shelves, until it distorted into a high-pitched cackle.
Fighting the urge to panic, she moved on. If anything, the light made things worse. Everything outside her circle of illumination was left in stark shadow, and she was left with an uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw something. It was only a flicker of movement, but it was enough to send her heart into her throat and spur her legs into a racing gallop. In her panic, she lost her grip on the magic, and her light around her horn sputtered and fell away, leaving her in pitch-blackness.
Twilight backed up until her rump met a unyielding stone, fighting the urge to panic. The dark pressed in, as if it was a physical being, striving to suffocate her with its crushing black embrace.
She blinked, suddenly realizing the darkness had faded some. Far off, she could see some kind of soft light. Without hesitation, she raced toward it. Light meant safety. If only she could get to it...
Now, silhouetted against the light, she saw him. A stallion, his back to the light. His features were left in shadow, but enough light caught his frame to make it clear that he was beckoning.
Heart soaring, Twilight galloped on. This was what she’d come to find. If she could get to him, everything would somehow be okay. If she could just get to him...
The light behind the stallion became blinding, and he seemed to recede, moving back along an endless corridor. “No!” Twilight cried, forcing a little more speed out of her burning legs. “Don’t go!”
“I’m not going anywhere,” came Spike’s voice, laden with tones of confusion.
Twilight opened her eyes and blinked, looking around wildly. The library was gone, replaced by her bedroom. “There was a library,” she stammered. “I had to get to...” She frowned. Her recollection of the dream was already draining away.
Spike rolled his eyes and stepped back. “If you were dreaming of a library, it’s no wonder I couldn’t wake you up. I was about to grab some water when you started muttering.”
Twilight looked over at the wall clock with bleary eyes. “Six o’ clock?” she moaned. “Spike, why would you wake me up this early?”
“Because you told me to,” Spike replied patiently. “Remember? You need to get up early if you want to catch the train.”
The train? Twilight’s eyes snapped all the way open. Right! The library’s book order was available for pick-up. Normally, it was delivered straight to the library, but she needed an excuse to go to Canterlot.
The last few days had been spent performing an exhausting amount of research on linguistics, psychology, and anything else that could be possibly related to grammar. So far, the results had been discouraging. And so, the previous day, she had decided to head to Canterlot and scour the Depository, a secure storeroom of rare titles and first editions that was kept on the other side of the palace from the Archives. If those who stood on the shoulders of giants couldn't tell her anything, then perhaps the giants themselves could.
Being caught in there without permission would bring her a tongue-lashing from the Princess she wouldn’t soon forget, but... the tomes in that section would hold answers she wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else, and Celestia would never let even her in on such short notice. A part of her hated having to sneak around behind her mentor's back, but she could see no other way. She needed answers, and she needed them now.
Twilight nearly threw herself out of bed and began dragging a brush through her mane with magic. “Could you pack some spare parchment and quills in my saddlebags?” She bit her tongue in anticipation. Hopefully, Spike would take it in stride, and not wonder why she needed–
“Already done,” Spike replied. “I figured you’d want to head by the Archives.”
Right at that moment, Twilight could have kissed her draconic assistant. Looked like she wouldn’t need to explain anything after all. “I knew there was a reason I kept you around. Think you can hold down the fort for the day?”
Spike waved a claw. “Piece of cake. I know where most of the books are.”
Twilight scampered downstairs, and flung her waiting saddlebags onto her back. “Twilight?” Spike called, stopping her in her tracks.
She looked back upstairs, where Spike waited with an odd look on his face. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he said gravely.
Twilight’s breath caught. Does he know? How could he? “I won’t,” she replied cautiously, hating the taste of the lie on her tongue. “I’m just going to do some looking around. There might be a book in the Archives that could help me out.”
“Just promise me,” Spike said with uncharacteristic intensity. “You probably won’t, but... I have a really bad feeling about this.”
Guilt flaring in her chest, Twilight forced herself to meet Spike’s eyes. “I promise,” she said levelly. I’m sorry, Spike, she thought. I’ll make it up to you somehow, but I just can’t risk anyone knowing.
Spike gave a small nod, apparently satisfied, and left Twilight to be on her way. She all but fled the library, unable to face Spike for a moment longer.
----------
Frowning, Spike watched Twilight until she passed out of sight, then closed the door. For some reason, he didn’t believe her promise at all, and hated himself for it. Come on! he yelled at himself. Why would she lie to you? Still, that vague sense of foreboding lingered. And, along with that, a good bit of drowsiness. The worst part about Twilight getting up early was that he invariably had to miss out on precious sleep to wake her up.
With a heavy sigh, he turned away from the door and examined the shelves. At least she hadn’t decided to study some random books in the middle of the night again. And an odd bunch of books, at that. A couple volumes on binding spells, one on the nature of consciousness, another on ancient libraries... it didn’t make sense.
His musings were cut off as a hoof rapped against the library’s door. Spike wheeled around and glared at the door. The sign outside said quite clearly that the library wouldn’t be open for another two hours. Two hours that he could have put to good use sleeping. “Someone better be dying,” Spike muttered, pulling open the door–
And dove to the side as Rainbow Dash barged in, panting. “Aw, man!” she said. “Am I glad to see you! Do you know where Twilight is? I thought I saw her getting on a train on the way here, but I wasn’t sure.”
“You were right,” Spike replied. “She’s heading to Canterlot to pick up a book order. Why? Is something wrong?”
Dash shook her head. “I don’t know. I was hoping she’d be able to tell me, but... horsefeathers! I should’ve chased the train.”
“Why?” Spike asked. “What’s so important?”
Rainbow gave Spike a look of such sorrow that he wanted to give her a comforting hug right there. “I can’t read,” she said morosely.
Spike blinked. “What do you mean, you can’t read? What about Daring Do, and all those other series Twilight got you into?”
“I could read!” Dash replied. “But now I can’t! I mean, I know I’m looking at words, and letters and stuff, but they just don’t make any sense. Did I...” She lowered her voice. “Am I having a stroke?”
It was only with a great effort that Spike prevented himself from groaning. “You’re not having a stroke,” he said. “When did you notice you couldn’t read?”
“About an hour ago,” Dash replied. “I stayed up all night reading that Hoofbert Jordan novel, and all of a sudden my head went all foggy, and...”
“You ever think it might just be because you stayed up all night?” Spike said icily.
“No way! I’ve pulled all-nighters before eight hour shifts with no problems. I never stopped being able to read before!”
Spike pulled his claws away from the bridge of his nose. “Well... I don’t know,” he snapped. “I think you should just get some sleep, and try again. I know I could use a couple more hours.”
Rainbow’s face fell so far, Spike wouldn’t have been surprised if it came off entirely and shattered on the floor. “You’re sure there’s nothing you can do?”
Normally, Spike would have felt bad, but he was too annoyed. “Positive,” he grumbled. “Just go take a nap on a cloud somewhere. You should feel better after that.”
Rainbow slumped dejectedly. “I guess I could try that,” she mumbled. “But I don’t think I can sleep without knowing what happens next.”
“It’s worth a try,” Spike replied, his patience fraying. “Now go on,” he said, herding her toward the door. “I saw a nice, fluffy cumulus when I let you in. Go do your thing on that.”
As soon as he’d pushed her out the door, he shut it. Yes, it was rude, but so was barging into the library before opening hours with a problem that silly, and he was past caring besides.
With a happy sigh, he flopped down in his bed... and growled in anger when he realized that he’d well and truly woken up and the desire to sleep had passed. Throwing his blanket to the side, he stomped over to an end table and rifled through the drawers, coming out with a comic book whose cover depicted a machete-wielding pony slamming a griffon against a wall. Twilight would have had a fit if she’d seen that, but he’d hidden it well. And, since she wasn’t here, he had a perfect opportunity to read it.
He’d just flipped open the first page when he realized something. The letters had turned into meaningless squiggles. At first, he thought he had a misprint, but after a moment’s concentration, he could recognize letters. Shaking his head, he focused on them with every ounce of concentration he possessed. That shape looked like it could be an “e”, and that one could be a “d”...
Gasping, Spike leaned back, unaware that he’d brought the page closer until his nose was touching the paper. What the hay? he wondered. Why can’t I...
His eyes widened. “Uh oh...”
----------
Twilight’s hoofsteps echoed off the marble walls as she made her way down one of the castle’s less-used corridors. Her book order – a collection of volumes on the Third Gryphon War – was safely stowed in her saddlebags. For some reason, there had been some confusion at the bookstore. The mare at the counter had been unable to find the package in question at first, despite it being clearly labeled, and then had taken about three times longer than she'd supposed to while writing it up, all the while becoming steadily more flustered.
Probably just her first week or so on the job, Twilight told herself again. She'll get it all figured out soon enough.
All that remained was to sneak into the Depository. It seemed simple, when she thought of it like that. Just sneak into a restricted storeroom of irreplaceable books and have a nose around.
Ordinarily, the Depository was kept locked and guarded by alarm wards at the entrance. Permission to enter came in the form of a key that Princess Celestia kept in her chambers. A key that, of course, Twilight didn’t have, and rarely received. This would have been a complication had she not found a way around it years before.
The corridor she was walking down just so happened to run parallel to the east wall of the archive. In fact, had she a way to unobtrusively tunnel through the wall to her left, she would have found herself among the tomes deemed too valuable for casual viewing.
Twilight glanced at the tapestries decorating the walls, frowning. If memory served, it should be right...
She stopped, grinning, as she saw the tapestry she was looking for. It had been specially commissioned for the palace from some famous artist – the pony’s name escaped her. Art had never been of much interest to her. But it wasn’t the tapestry that was important, in any case. It was what lay behind it.
Twilight had found it about three years before being sent to Ponyville. She’d been exploring the palace – or, more accurately, wandering aimlessly with her nose in a book, having become so absorbed in it that she’d completely forgotten she was walking. Through an unhealthy amount of luck, she’d managed to avoid slamming face-first into any walls – at least until she walked into the tapestry. Instead of ramming into unyielding stone, her tender nose – and more importantly, the spine of the book – only met the cloth of the tapestry.
Twilight twitched that same tapestry aside, smiling in relief. The rough-cut entranceway was still there. Maybe the builders of the palace had intended for there to be a doorway there, or maybe they simply got lazy and left a gap. Either way, the entranceway led into a dark corner of the Depository, behind a bookshelf and covered at either end by a tapestry, where it had remained almost undiscovered since the palace had been built. She’d been using it to expediently sneak rare books out of there whenever curiosity drove her to.
Swallowing past a sudden lump in her throat, Twilight strode into the restricted wing, channeling a small light through her horn. The less time she spent in there, the better. Hopefully, she’d find what she was searching for quickly.
----------
A broad, easy grin plastered itself across Spike’s face, but inside, his thoughts were a turmoil. Whatever you’re doing, Twilight, he thought, I hope it’s important. “Everypony, just calm down,” he said aloud. “Twilight should be back any time now, and she can tell you what’s wrong then.”
The crowd gathered in front of the library milled angrily. “Yeah, and what are we supposed to do until then?” a stallion shouted out. “How am I supposed to sell sofas if I can’t read the prices?”
“And how am I supposed to write my column?” a mare with a press cap called. “I can’t even figure out what letter’s what on my typewriter!”
The crowd of ponies all began shouting out their complaints, and Spike forced himself to listen, despite however much he wanted to cover his ear slits and scream at them to shut up. It was at times like this that he regretted being an assistant to a pony with a reputation for being capable. It meant that whenever there was a problem, every pony in town was suddenly knocking on their door.
“Where is Twilight, anyway?” another mare called while the crowd paused for breath. “Wouldn’t she notice this before anypony else?”
Maybe she did, Spike thought. Aloud, he said, “Last I heard, she was off in Canterlot. I don’t know when she’s getting back, but until then, just try to make do.”
In a perfect world, the ponies in front of the library would accept this sage bit of advice and go about their business, albeit in a slightly different manner. Of course, this was far from a perfect world, and if anything, Spike’s attempts at consolation just made them angrier. Shouts continued to fill the air.
Far above, Rainbow Dash rolled over on her cloud, trying vainly to stop up her ears with it. It was a cruel twist of fate that it almost worked. The noise from below just barely seeped through at a level that was impossible to sleep through. Finally, her patience snapped.
Throwing her head over the side of the cloud, she directed a wild growl at the crowd below, and pushed the cloud downwards. A sharp buck created a peal of thunder that did an excellent job of shutting the complaining ponies up.
“All right,” Dash snarled. “What the hay is so important that you guys have to interrupt my nap?”
The crowd went silent, ponies awkwardly looking at each other. “You tell her,” one said, nudging the stallion beside him.
Rainbow eyed the crowd sourly, trying to think. What would irritate the townsfolk enough to gather at Twilight’s door, but be too embarrassing to say outright without a crowd of angry ponies at your back? After a moment, it suddenly came to her. “You guys forgot how to read, didn’t you?”
Heated blushes and averted eyes gave Dash her answer. She blinked slowly, trying to process this new piece of information. “Oh,” she finally said. “So... it’s not just me?”
Mutters ran through the crowd. That had been the wrong thing to say, evidently. “Tell you what,” Dash said, trying to defuse the situation. “You’re not getting anything done here. How about you all go home, and see what happens? This might not last more than a day or so, anyway.”
Grumbles floated out from the massed ponies, but they started moving. “Thanks,” Spike muttered from the side of his mouth. “For a second, it looked like they were about to start throwing stuff.”
Rainbow glared down at him. “Just lack of sleep, huh?”
“Not you, too!” Spike groaned. “Look, when I sent you off, I didn’t know how bad it was! I didn’t even notice I couldn’t read until later!”
“Hey, relax,” Rainbow said, putting a comforting wing around him. “I won’t hold it against you.”
“So what do we do?” Spike asked. “Wait for Twilight to come up with something? That must be what she went to Canterlot for.”
Dash stood. “You think I’d leave this for Twilight? Heck, no! You and me, we’re going to Canterlot, and anypony else we can get.” Her eyes flicked toward the library. “And... maybe it wouldn’t hurt to bring the Elements along. Just in case.”
“I don’t think this is something the Elements can fix,” Spike replied morosely.
Dash’s features settled into a grim line. “Well, let nopony say we didn’t try.”
----------
With a groan of annoyance, Twilight jammed a cloth-bound tome back onto the shelf. Nothing! None of the books on curses, hexes, malign influences or even the most ridiculous superstitions had turned up anything that would hurt a pony’s grammar. First editions, recalled misprints, original manuscripts, several sheaves of notes by Star Swirl the Bearded himself... none of it turned up anything useful.
The first time Twilight had found herself in the Depository, she had been amazed at the wealth of knowledge those books had contained. These were the true giants that the scholars of today had stood on the shoulders of. Now, though, after a fruitless half hour poring through archaically written tomes, they seemed almost a waste of space. Almost.
With a muttered profanity, Twilight slammed another book shut. Useless! And the title had seemed so promising, too. She suddenly stopped, peering at a nearby shelf. Her movement had blown some dust off one of the books’ spines, revealing faded gold leaf. A Catalogue of Illnesses and Maladies of the Mind Most Foul read the ornate, looping script. Heart leaping into her throat, Twilight snatched the book and opened it to a random page.
Through careful experimentation and observation, it has been observed that the mind can indeed be affected by magic, effecting a more useful method for deception than simple illusion or compulsion...
Twilight frowned, flipping ahead a few pages. Intriguing, but not particularly relevant.
Such magic is extremely difficult, only to be attempted by experts or by those with a particular affinity toward that field, as the slightest mistake can have crippling consequences for the subject...
Too far. Twilight flipped back a page, scanning the last paragraph.
With a slight manipulation of the language centers, the subject was made to be capable of speaking an entirely new language with no training or practice. Cognitus noted that as an unusual side effect, the subject lost the ability to speak, read and write in his original language until the spell was ended...
Twilight frowned. Cognitus? That wasn't a name she was familiar with. She turned the page, scanning through and finding another dozen references to the same pony. Seems like this Cognitus guy made a name for himself, she thought. Why haven't I heard of him before? She had just turned the page when she heard a loud thunk from the front of the darkened room. A moment later, she felt a tingling sensation in her horn as the wards guarding the room’s main door were deactivated.
There was no time to think. Stuffing the book in her saddlebag and extinguishing the light from her horn, Twilight leapt up from the floor and moved as soundlessly as possible toward the hidden hallway. At least, she tried to, until she became disoriented in the sudden darkness and smacked into the wall with an audible “Oof!”
“Is somepony there?” Celestia’s voice called from the front of the room. The sound of golden horseshoes against stone rang out.
Twilight only had time to flatten herself against the tapestry blocking the hallway when golden light flooded the archive. She froze, flattening herself against the wall. If she ducked through the tapestry now, she would definitely be caught. She had a better chance standing still than moving; the eye tended to slide over an unmoving form.
Through the gaps in the bookshelf, she saw Celestia stride into view, peering around suspiciously. “Hello?” the Princess called again. Twilight fought the urge to shrink back further as Celestia’s eyes tracked toward her – and swept past without stopping.
After a moment, the Princess seemed to relax, and began scanning the shelves for something. Except something was odd about the way she did it. She peered at the spine of every book with what seemed to be intense concentration for a good few seconds, then shook her head and moved on to the next. Then she did it again with the same row of books, muttering to herself under her breath. Most of it was lost, but Twilight caught something that sounded like “should be here.”
Twilight fought the urge to gasp. That was the shelf she’d taken the book of mental maladies off. Could Celestia be looking for that very same book?
After a long moment, the Princess got up again and cast an inquisitive eye around the room. This time, though, her eyes stopped on Twilight’s hiding place. A frown crossed her face, and she took a tentative step forward, peering closely.
My eyes, Twilight suddenly realized. The light’s reflecting off them! Despite her every instinct to the contrary, she shut them, praying that Celestia would just leave...
After an agonizingly long time, Twilight finally opened her eyes. She caught a glimpse of Celestia’s multihued tail just as it passed out of sight, the golden light fading behind her.
Fighting the urge to breathe a sigh of relief, Twilight retreated out from behind the tapestry, the stolen book heavy in her bag. If she was right, then it would all be worth it. If not... well, she’d deal with that when the time came.
At that precise moment, she heard the exact thing she was hoping not to.
“Why, hello Twilight,” Princess Celestia said warmly from behind her. “What brings you here?”
End of Part 4
To be continued...
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NEW CHAPTER! OMG! I have literally been waiting ages for another chapter of this! Time to get my read on!
Aw sweet! New chapter! WOOOOO
2524072 Since you're the first to comment on this chapter, I'll deign to reply to you.
Anyway, yeah. Sorry this took so long. Hopefully, now that I know where this is going, I can have the next chapter out in a week or two. Still a pathetic update rate, but it's better than what I usually manage.
Crap. I forgot what happened, it's been so. Well, commence reread.
I just realized that this was published a year and a day ago. Holy crap. That's an average of about 39 words a day. I would say I write slow as dicks, but I think even dicks are faster than me.
Like, someone typing with his dick would churn out words faster. Literally.
Oh hey, good to see that this updated.
And it was worth the wait, too. This still has me chuckling randomly.
About time!
Ah man, everyone just forgetting how to read but Twilight, UH OH! MOAR! 
This Not Being Able To Read Thing Happens To Me All The Time...
Fun chapter.
Something missing here.
“Why, hello Twilight,” Princess Celestia said warmly from behind her. “What brings you here?”
OH CRAP
Oh. Having the ruler of your country suspect you of turning the populace illiterate? That sounds like a fun time.
Some mysterious thing going around and stealing everypony's literacy?
... Is it weird that I thought of that before reading this? Not before it was first published, but I only actually started reading today.
What happened was, I was chatting on Skype with one of my friends, and he was so drunk that he put a typo in pretty much every sentence. We joked about it a little, and since then I have collected all of his typos in order to name this monster responsible for all typos ever (and potentially related to this problem too, though I'd imagine the lors and master of typos might not be happy about nopony even trying to write...).
We call it aking yloosawg destrosawp swahswha drnk halphlpehlphlap mcuhmaekqute nveer genus-seplt lelwat forumsbro ademm doinfohn alist/alsit bowelmisplee blerg're invies's's poosesion embarassing' distseverlymloestia" pand nutnut alchoholofflline ggod knewwsomethinf adamentsayblack dosen;t Shinningthe,m someoneap riipalme featherwirghts fisrtcjapter lookdhoribw fioedfibed FUVKFCVKFCVUCKe verypan plkanlkan QWOPQUITPQIUT cigarretesfro aeworking profproffessor bascithong keyboarsoars os dragondremovedd oj woorythiis oereert shooclvack imternetyu itdenouh nigerdlywold topix wiatstement rong ?_(?fucl?)/0>)?)") vrohoof tureturdtrued skillg drucktruck.
Or just yloosawg for short.
2524902
I am incredibly glad I took the time to read all of that 'nonsense'
Alcohol Offline, bwahaha. Clever.
Great chapter, clever titling.
Happy Tuesday!
2525335 You need a new calendar, friend.
2524230I had to resist the Urge to type out this Comment with my Penis
You will never know If I was Successful at this endeavour or not.
This story has been Great so far. I have typed exactly Forty Words
Y'Know why this story is terrible? There are only four chapters. Increase it to, say, seven chapters would de-terriblize it.
2524230
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
My story will be out soon...
Just a note, but the word you probably meant to use here was "draconic", meaning "of or related to drakes." The adjective used, "draconian", states that Spike is cruel and harsh.
Nice chapter.
It's a shame I didn't get notified about the previous chapter until this one. :|
Anyone else having that problem?
2525969 Actually, "draconic" is just a derivative of "draconian", and they mean basically the same thing. In English folklore, dragons were considered to be cruel and vicious, and so that word became used to describe anyone with those traits. In this case, I'm just using the literal meaning.
At least, that's what the dictionary on my computer is telling me.
2526030
Well, the problem with that is that the original meaning is, in fact, harsh or cruel. The word "Draconic" later evolved a new meaning referring to a dragon, while "Draconian" did not. In modern english, it's like the relationship between the words "cruel" and "mean".
While you might say "she's cruel" and "she's mean" and have two sentences that more or less say the same thing, these words are not interchangeable. For example, the sentences "I mean to say that you're a good friend" and "I cruel to say that you're a good friend" are decidedly not the same, and the latter doesn't even make sense.
My point is that it reads like you didn't want to use the word "Draconic", so grabbed up a thesaurus and picked out a different word without regard for the word's actual meaning.
Citations:
Definition of "Draconian": http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/draconian
Definition of "Draconic": http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/draconic
2526063 Touché. I concede the point.
Couldn't resist...
I expected the effects to be a bit more degenerative, and less sharply delineated between speech and written word. After all, the dialog is perfectly clean.
Not a single 'He and myself went...'
2525335
Genius!
2525392
Go watch the episode "It's About Time" and come back later.
"Autonomous Nipple Syndrome" ?
...WOMAN! CALM YOUR TITS!
2526521 Ohhhh, OK, I see what you did there.
Interesting, more words please? Fortunately none of us are suffering from a inability to read... yet!
2524745
Hm, doubtful at this point. After all, Twilight was panicking and notified Celestia. I'd be very surprised if Celestia jumped to the conclusion that Twilight was the culprit. After all, she was caught in the library AFTER the effect, not before, she has no motive (indeed, for her it would be more of an anti-motive), and she's on Team Good.
2528016
Well, there is the fact that the spell needs someone of great magical power, which describes Twi rather well, and the fact that Twi is sneaking in a library that nobody should have access to. The list of suspects is rather small if you exclude her, and I wouldn't blame Celestia if she jumped to conclusions.
2528036
To convict someone you need opportunity, a motive and evidence. Right now there are only two things that point to Twi: the fact that she has a whole lot of magic power (that's more a "we can't rule her out due to lack of power" thing) and the fact that she is seemingly the only one who can still read. Her being in the library is not evidence, as I say, due to the timing of the incident (particularly because she has an alibi for when the incident started, having been witnessed in Ponyville all this time). On the contrary, her being there is evidence of her trying to find a fix.
2524123 I hope to see Chaptur Φve soon then.
2528084
Then again, you realize she's not quite yet on trial. Ponies will be ponies, and have their flaws. The legal system is made for the specific purpose of unbiased observation, and I promise you, Celestia is not made like the legal system. Twi being in a library that nobody has access to is definitely evidence against her, by the way, as finding somebody carrying a bloody body in a supposedly locked house is evidence against them. It's quite possible that Celestia thinks Twi is just trying to return the book she stole to turn Equestria illiterate. After all, Twi is quite a stickler for rules.
2528516
Fair enough. The author could spin it either way, so I guess we just need to wait a few months to find out what happens. Speculating like this just gets repetitive after a while.
Damn I love your writing. I love seeing the use of dashes <3 Anyways, keep this up, please! I understand how dick-writing goes.
I'm very glad this hit the feature box when you updated, since you don't seem to have updated it on fanfiction.net. It's an immensely entertaining read.
Caos.
Twilight is sexualy estressed and frusted. Spike, you know what you must make.
2531695
What?
and this fiction is too bloody awesome
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD ON THIS EARTH CONTINUE THIS STORY!
ITS SO DAMN GOOD.
THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT!
LITERALLY!
2565382 Ahm fraid so.
The plot continues to thicken. I love it.
2526000
Yeah, the same thing happened to me. I didn't know there was a chapter three until number four showed up. Partly why I'm two weeks late in catching up. It also happened with at least one other story I track that updated around the same time.
I feel for ya, Rainbow Dash. Sometimes I forget how to read too.
This is an excellent story! Please keep it up.
"With a groan of annoyance, Twilight jammed a cloth-bound tome back onto the shelf. Nothing! None of the books on curses, hexes, malign influences or even the most ridiculous superstitions had turned up anything that would hurt a pony’s grammar. First editions, recalled misprints, original manuscripts, several sheafs of notes by Star Swirl the Bearded himself... none of it turned up anything useful."
DUN DUN DUUUUUN.
Mate, you might want to fix that.
Had this story lying around for too long now.
Twilight!
Why isn't she affected by the spell or whatever it is? It'll probably be addressed later, but I can't help being curious.
Come on, Twilight. Celestia's cleverer than that. You should have known she'd be waiting for you to step out from behind the tapestry.
5352114 Hard to believe that Twilight would fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book... especially since Celestia both wrote the book and knows Twilight even better than her own parents do...
Wait...
We're talking about Twilight here
oh come on. If I actually, literally lost my ability to read I would be terrified out of my mind. Spike’s judgment is awful here.