Seed of Doubt

by Equimorto

Somewhere Deep Within

Author's Note:

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the ending of "Friendship is Mind Control".

Twilight looked to the side. There was nothing to look at, but it was still better than what was in front of her. But she knew it wouldn't go away, not until she'd talked to it, so she steered her resolve and finally went back to facing the one sitting in front of her. There was a glint in the unicorn's eyes, barely visible underneath her black hood, and she smiled when she noticed Twilight's attention had returned to her.

"What do you want?" Twilight asked as coldly as she could manage, a small stutter at the beginning of her sentence.

The other's smile widened. "Oh, Princess, I think you know what I want. It's the same thing you want, after all." The unicorn giggled.

Twilight felt a shiver down her spine at the sound of her voice. She never got used to it, no matter how many times she heard it it always sounded unnatural. "We both know that's not true. What are you here for? I don't have time to waste."

The unicorn pouted. "Oh, come on, Twilight, there's no need for you to lie. Not here, not to me. It's what you want, Twilight, and I'm here to remind you that."

"It's not!" Twilight stated, a little faster than she would have liked.

"You might fool your friends, you might fool Cadence or Luna or Celestia, and you might even fool yourself, but Twilight-" the unicorn leaned closer over the table "-you can't fool me."

Twilight managed to not look away from the other's eyes. "Is this all you're here for?" she asked, almost spewing the words at the other in disgust.

"No." The unicorn leaned back in her chair and began to drum her fingers on the table. "I have an offer for you, Twilight."

"Whatever it is, I'm not interested, so I think you can go away now." Twilight crossed her arms over her chest, staring in the other's eyes.

"But you're still here," the unicorn replied, smiling.

Twilight's face and wings twitched, and her gaze moved slightly to the side.

"In fact, you came here, Twilight." The unicorn's smile grew even wider. "That means you want to know what I have to say, so let's not waste any more time by pretending you don't."

Twilight opened her mouth to retort, but she was silenced by a finger placed on her lips by the other, the gloved surface of her hand cold against her skin.

"Twilight, please, don't give me the 'I only came here to see what you're up to' speech again. You know I can't get out if you don't let me. Just be honest and say that you wanted to see me." The purple unicorn removed her finger from Twilight's lips. "Come on, say it. It'll make you feel better."

Twilight stared at her legs beneath the table, her hands pressed over her knees, her fingers digging into her palms.

"Don't be shy, dear. I won't tell anyone, I promise." The unicorn giggled. "You know how time works here, right? We won't move on until you've admitted it. And I'm pretty sure you forbade the one who could get you out from entering. It's just you."

Twilight gritted her teeth and swallowed. "I wanted to see you," she whispered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" the unicorn asked, "I couldn't hear you."

"I said I wanted to see you," Twilight spoke through still closed teeth, loud enough to be heard, staring to the side as she did.

"Oh, that's better." The unicorn clapped her hands and the room became a little brighter and a little warmer. Their barren wooden chairs became a pair of red cushioned armchairs and the table's surface became more polished and shiny. "Doesn't it feel good to be honest with yourself, Twilight?"

Twilight didn't answer. She began to sweat a little.

The unicorn sighed. She reclined back in her armchair and crossed her legs, one of her boots coming to tap against the edge of the table. "I guess it's time for me to make my offer."

"If you think I'm going to let you out-"

"One day," the other interrupted her.

Twilight stared in her eyes.

"One day, and then you'll be free to put me back in here. If you'll want to, that is." The unicorn chuckled. "I'll let you take every precaution you'll feel necessary beforehand."

"No," was the only sound to come out of Twilight's mouth, devoid of emotion.

"Wrong answer," the unicorn replied, uncrossing her legs and crossing them in the opposite way. "You see, Twilight, you're still here. And that means there's still something you want from me. Or maybe-" she began to fidget with a small cube on the table "-maybe you're looking forward to how I'll try to convince you."

"No," Twilight repeated, stuttering. She was unable to look in the other's eyes, instead focusing on the cube she was holding. Her breath came a little heavier.

"What a shame." The cube disappeared and the unicorn removed her glove, looking at her nails. "You can go then," she said without looking at Twilight.

Twilight remained there.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" the other said, sounding uninterested and still not looking at Twilight.

Twilight swallowed. She looked to her left. Far in the distance she could see the exit door's outline, a thin white rectangle in the middle of the darkness. She tried to get up but her legs wouldn't move, her body seemingly stuck there. Her breaths began to come faster. "I... Yes," she admitted. "But only for-"

"Only for the memories, yeah," the unicorn interrupted Twilight's rushed comment, "you always say that."

The lights went out and Twilight suddenly felt the other's nail tracing over her tattoo, then her hand moving up and caressing her neck. "That's a good girl," the unicorn purred in her ear.

The lights came back on, brighter than before. They were now sitting on a pair of thrones like Celestia's, and both the table and the floor had gone from wood to marble. The air in the room became even hotter and Twilight began to sweat more profusely. A series of coloured cubes were displayed on the table.

"Well, take your pick, Twilight," the unicorn said, pointing at the cubes in front of her.

Twilight stared. There were about two dozens of them, some big and some small, most of them she recognized. One in particular caught her interest, a grey one with three purple stars on each side. She remained there, indecisively staring at them, bringing her curled hand to her mouth and biting her index finger.

"If I may suggest." The unicorn picked up one of them, one Twilight didn't recognize. It had an image of Cadence's cutie mark on each side. She held it in her hand and presented it to Twilight.

Twilight's heart began to race faster, her breaths speeding up alongside it. She slowly extended her hand towards the cube, her eyes fixated on it, her body shaking. She was about to touch it, but at the last second she shut her eyes and jerkily moved her hand away.

"So that's how it is then," the unicorn said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

The lights went out again.

"I want to show you something, Twilight," the unicorn's voice echoed from all around her.

Twilight found herself standing on top of a stage, in front of her row upon row of seats full of ponies watching her. She could recognize some of them, like Cheerilee or Vinyl, but some of them were hidden by something and she couldn't make out their faces. On each one of Twilight's finger was a string, and attached to it was a puppet. One in the shape of Celestia, one for Luna, one in the shape of each one of her closer friends, one for Trixie, one for Zecora and one for Ember.

"This is what you think you want," the unicorn's voice came from above her, "but it's a lie. There are dangers you don't want to deal with-" the stage in front of Twilight caught on fire and she stumbled back "-things you don't want to lose-" the string holding Ember's puppet snapped and the puppet fell to the ground "-ponies you don't want to face-" a collective murmur could be heard from the crowd, and Twilight looked up to see a series of disappointed or disgusted face staring back at her "-and there's always the chance that you will fail." Twilight tripped while trying to move and began to fall forward.

"Now-" Twilight felt herself stopping mid-fall "-here's what you really want."

Twilight was lifted back to her feet. She looked up to see the unicorn sitting on a metal beam above her. A thick magical string was coming out of her horn, connecting itself to Twilight's back. Twilight felt the magic travel through her arms and fingers and connecting to her puppets, reattaching Ember's. A number of other magical strings came out of the unicorn's horn and attached themselves to the ponies sitting in the room. Twilight began to move herself and her puppets without control over her body, and the audience began to applaud.

"You don't want to play your little show for yourself and be afraid to hurt the actors, or that ponies won't like it," the unicorn calmly stated from above her, "you want to put on the best show ever made. And you don't want to be just the director, Twilight, you want to be the star. And you want everyone to take a part, you want everyone to be happy. Why limit yourself when all that does is make you worry about things? You have the power to make everything right. Why don't you use it?"

Twilight wanted to scream that it was wrong, but all she was permitted to do was dance and smile.

"Doesn't it feel good, Twilight? To let go, not having to worry about what others think, just being yourself? Doesn't it feel good to be a puppet to your own desires?"

Twilight felt herself being freed of the other's control. She could have answered, but she didn't want to. Not when she couldn't lie. The world around her began to slowly dissipate away, and she closed her eyes.

"So what do you say?"

Twilight opened her eyes. She was standing in a dark room filled with columns, the floor made from large blocks of grey stone. The unicorn was standing in front of her. "No."

"Oh, Twilight, Twilight, I thought you'd learnt by now." The unicorn moved forward and pressed Twilight against the stone wall, her wings splayed behind her. She grabbed one of Twilight's hands in her own and brought it to press against her cutie mark, then placed the other behind Twilight's neck, angling the alicorn's head towards her face.

Twilight's heartbeat kept speeding up, her mouth slightly opened but unable to speak as her eyes frantically raced over her captors facial figures. She tried to dig her nails in the other's thigh but the unicorn seemed to pay that no mind.

"I know that look, Twilight," the unicorn softly whispered, pressing her body against Twilight's, "you're trying to escape, you're wondering why you can't control this. It's because down here, Twilight, I'm the one who gets to make the rules. that's why you keep me locked away, because you know I'm stronger than you, because you know you wouldn't be able to stop me if I got out again. because you wouldn't want to stop me."

Twilight tried to move but found it impossible.

The unicorn slowly moved her hand from Twilight's neck to her tattoo, tracing the lines. "Oh, Twilight, the things we could do together. Think about it. No one would be able to stop us, now that you have all this power. We could bring happiness to everypony in Equestria, and beyond. It would be the best thing ever. Just let me out for a bit, and you'll never want me to go back." The unicorn moved her face closer to Twilight's, her breaths flowing just above the alicorn's lips.

Twilight stared deep into her violet eyes, below the barely visible hints of striped blue hair underneath her hood, and what she saw behind them made her want to give in. A vision so beautiful she couldn't think of a better one. One she desperately wanted to see more of. One that promised to become truth if she just decided to let go. A flicker of light and she saw her own reflection in the other's eyes.

Twilight jerked awake with a scream. She held her covers tightly hugged to her chest. She looked at the pony at her side, still lying asleep, then at the black outfit laying on a chair at the foot of her bed, reflecting the moonlight drifting in through the window. It was still dark outside. Twilight laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes.

Comments

[Makuta]

Nice, I like it .

A bit "telly" but good.

[NovemberWolf]

That was nice, I like your portrayal of Twilight's internal struggle. Her old self versus her "reformed" self.
Not to mention I feel like this struggle is meant to echo Nightmare Moon in some ways, that perhaps Twilight has a dark presence worming its way into her conscious by assuming the form of what FiMC Twilight fears the most: herself.

[Duskvow]

Very ambitious . . . I like it! Glad wintermist linked this, interesting concept and good execution. I could hardly ask for more
Brohoof /)