“Tell me, wandering traveler, what do you seek? A roof over your head or a friend to converse with? We have naught but a few houses and a dozen apple trees, but you are welcome to our homes and our food.”
“I seek the Princess of Knowledge. I have heard rumors that she has a library around these parts. I bring information on the one she seeks.”
“The Princess of Knowledge? You are mistaken, wandering traveler. No princess of any kind has set hoof in our town for a very long time.”
“Oh? Perhaps, this crown might change your mind. It was given to me as a way to prove my good will.”
“…Her library is under our great oak tree. May you help the princess, wandering traveler, for all our sakes.”
“Oh, I most certainly will.”
Journal Entry № 413
I do not know how long it has been since I have been here.
Maybe a week or two, but it feels like an eternity. I have not slept since he left, and I have yet to feel any hunger. I wonder if breathing is still a necessity. Am I stuck in a loop between life and death? When I leave, will I go back to normal? Or will I remain in this way? Will I ever find out?
Not without the map.
I have been searching for it everywhere. I looked through every book in the first floor, and every book in the second floor. What if Discord was lying when he said the map was hidden here? If I don’t find that map, I may never see Spike again.
But, if he was lying, then why has Spike not come back? He would never leave me here unless there was a reason he couldn’t come. He would never leave me here alone unless Discord really did…
None of the villagers have come down either, and the earthquake I felt right after he left leads me to believe there indeed may be a forest around my tree—just like he said there would be. Are the villagers all right? Did they escape in time? Do they hear me when I call out? Does anypony hear me?
I still cannot get out. I tried the exit again a few hours—or days—ago, but his translucent black barrier stopped me again. I’m afraid of approaching it to examine it. I’m afraid that it might be gone, and I might cross without the map. I wanted to try and see if I could levitate objects across, so as to ascertain whether the barrier blocks only my body, but I’m worried that my magic is included in his warning. If I leave here without the map and it really disappears, then…
I keep thinking back to the tiara. I was wary when he said it belonged to Princess Luna, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it was really hers. What did he do to her? Was he lying? I find comfort in the knowledge that he will be stopped by Princess Celestia. He cannot defeat her. She will come to find me, won’t she?
He also took my emerald. The one Spike offered me during my annual celebration. That was the only thing I had of Spike, and he took it from me as “punishment for single-hoofedly being responsible for the downfall of Equestria.”
It is not my fault. Even if he says it is, none of this is my fault.
I couldn’t say yes. I couldn’t just give
It does not matter.
I have started assembling my books on ciphers and riddles. The map may be hidden in the words of the books, coded into the lines and paragraphs. I need to find the map. I need to find the map. I need to find the map.
“Obsession can be your own prison.”
That was what he said, and that must be the clue to the riddle. I need to find the map, and then leave and use it to find Spike. I miss him.
Forgive me, Spike.
This is all my fault.
oooh, backstory!
Oh, I was wondering how Discord managed to trap the Alicorns.
Discord used crazy:
It was super effective.
"Obsession can be your own prison."
Sorry but I don't think it's that hard to figure out, Twilight's obsession to find this map so she can find Spike is what's keeping her there, but if I understand it right, she can just leave as long as she gets over the obsession
5673243 Ahhh but that would also assume she is thinking rationally about that. One of the main features of obsession is that they are inherently irrational, or are characterized by irrational thought.
It is also one of the hallmarks of a tragic element in a story. The readers can see it easily, but the character cannot.
I'd call that little tweak from discord to be the a brilliant and perfect thing to keep Twilight where she is.
*Sniffle*
Wow, that's horribly cruel and totally genius. The only way to keep her there is to keep her from wanting to leave.
Oh Twi...
Poor Twilight. You try so hard.
Interesting. I was wondering how much of the backstory in the legends matched up with what actually happened, and it looks like the answer to that is fairly closely, at least in regards to Twilight, but with more details that will be coming in these diary entries.
This chapter is just so sad it makes me want to cry. Poor, poor Twilight
Yes, it can be.
My feels have already been assaulted, and it's only chapter two. Fuuuuuuuuuu—
Oh Twilight...
Oh Twi, oh poor, porr Twi.
It's not your fault...
This story. It's hitting me in the feels already
I clicked the like button...and the tally went down. I just don't know what went wrong!
5673243 Of course it's not that hard to figure out... Discord is terrible at riddles.
See? That's not a riddle at all! It is a warning about his plan and a vague-ish statement about their location. The only uncertainty in that so called riddle is what beginning he is referring to.
Discord. Is. Bad. At. Riddles.
Oh, this is brutal. Poor Twilight...
5675012 Holy shit .... that is amazing
~T.CC
oh damn... Poor twily.
Story = T.T
6091479 more like twilight is awful at riddles. answer was right there, and she missed it. in this story, she is obsessing over a map. yet he said himself 'obsession will be your downfall' she is blind to her obsession
I deeply regret leaving this in my "read it later" list for so long and not giving it the honor it deserves.
okay but i thought of a song when i read this
Cringe. Sorry, just hate when more than one question is asked in a single paragraph, even in journal entries. I just can't imagine anyone actually writing the above questions, consecutively, in a diary. If you were trying to portray Twilight's obsession, it didn't work. Questions like these sound more like someone trying to write a suspenseful piece but falling prey to AWFUL clichés. Sorry.
6091479 well...we can all certainly agree the script writers are bad at riddles. But you have to admit, de Lancie is fantastic at delivering them, even if they're horribly bad riddles. And Link4's got the right idea: Twilight seriously SUCKS at riddles.
0 for 2, bitch!
I'm half tempted to tell her: "Keep looking. You'll eventually find it. Or NOT!"
Very intriguing idea--definitely like where this is going
If I understand this correctly, all Twilight has to do to escape, is to walk out? She's obsessed with finding the map so that she can find Spike. If she leaves the map and just walks out, she'll find him anyway. But Discord convinced her that if she left without the map she'd never find Spike. So the only reason she's still trapped is because she BELIEVED HIM.
It really makes me want to know what he trapped Celestia and Luna with.
I am already immensely invested in this story on an emotional level. Jesus.
7074060 A riddle: Why didn't the fowl cross the road?
A: He was too chicken.
6995730 I'm a science nerd like Twilight. This actually is how we write when thinking about something. I just finished writing notes to myself for a genetics study. One whole section is composed of nothing but questions regarding what aspects to study and why to study them in relation to the gene in question.
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eclairs? * ducks*
Oh snap.
This is a universe where twilight didn't concede to Tirek isn't it?
Edit: i could not have been more wrong.
Wow, this particular incarnation of Discord deserves to die a Disney villain death.
*narrows eyes*
I highly doubt this number is unintentional...
(poor Spike)
Why must I feel things?
Indeed. It is. Your obsessed over finding a map.
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Indeed. Very clever this discord is
7458095
Lifetime supplies of cakes and moonpies?
Poor Twilight...