Madness
Twilight was 14 years old.
Well, no she wasn't. She was 24 years old and sat in the piss-stinking toilets of a club she hated. But in said toilets, she was 14 again, listening through the door as some ponies walked in. She had known then they were older than her, their gait, voice and dialect enough to flag them as sixteen at least. She had always been perceptive, there wasn't much arguing against that.
14 year old Twilight hadn't been listening because she was nosey. No, she had been listening because of a hypothesis she had. It was that the other children were laughing at her, saying hurtful things behind her back. She had seen them peering over, they would giggle at unheard jokes they'd refuse to repeat, the teachers looked at her sympathetically.
And, though it provided little consolation to the filly, her hypothesis turned out to be totally correct. The ponies outside her cubicle did laugh about her, and made nasty comments. They mimed her voice as a nasally and high-pitched sound, bereft of its kindness or intelligence. They'd never been interested in getting to know her, she was the personal student of the Princess, that meant she was a stuck-up, arrogant brat. They seemed to hate her.
She'd gently sobbed in the toilet for hours until one of the teachers found her. Unwilling to admit the truth of the matter, Twilight had feigned truancy and received the sole detention of her entire academic career for her troubles.
Twilight bit her lip, straining to pick up conversation from the ponies who had just stumbled into the toilets. From what she got they were discussing the DJ and her choice in music, and why said choice in music was terrible. They were clearly sloshed, pretty much everyone who had entered had been in the same state.
And 24 year old Twilight wasn't listening because she was nosey. No, she was listening because of a hypothesis she was rapidly losing faith in, that she was starting to resent. She was listening because she was desperate for the bitter vindication she had gotten back then. Because if she just got some confirmation that it wasn't all her, she could deal with the terror of living in a never-changing, insular little backwater like she got over the pain back then.
It made sense that no-one was saying anything incriminating, they had all seen her enter these toilets and she had clearly not left. A town with the level of borderline incestuous closeness that would necessitate the organisation she was implying would not be tripped up by something as pathetic as hiding in the toilets. But she was sick of getting nothing, and she could hardly claim ponies acting weird was evidence of some vast conspiracy. She wanted something concrete. She wanted to know what was going on and wanted to know now. She deserved that much.
She bit her lip and felt her eyes tear up in helpless frustration as the interlopers, like all their predecessors, left without saying anything out of the ordinary. When they had gone, she let out a wail that sharply hurt her throat and punched the wall of her cubicle. She leant her head back against cool tile and tried to calm down. Her heart thundered in her ears and her breath quivered with periodic repressed sobs.
She wanted to be 14 again.
The absurdity of all this wasn't lost on her, and, in spite of everything, she eventually started to laugh. In all her desperation and wondering whether this town had some enormous secret, all her terror at the idea that she could just be going insane with isolation and crushing, soul-destroying boredom, there was something that stuck out. Her whole theory basically hinged on the town being mad. Because to hide things from outsiders and stare when they asked questions, to covet your mind-numbing routine and so pathologically fear change as to threaten those who would shake things up even a little you would have to be utterly and completely insane.
But if she was wrong...
Then she'd been seeing venom where there was none. She'd been imagining false plots against her, hidden gatherings and veiled whispers. If she was wrong, then there was only one mad-pony here. Picture that, the one lunatic seeing madness wherever she looked. The irony was delicious, even if it was poison. So she laughed, bleakly freed by the sheer ridiculousness of her situation.
Twilight licked her lips and steadied her breath, attempting to return to some semblance of stability. She looked over at where she'd punched the wall, noting with muted disappointment she hadn't even made a mark. One thing she hadn't noticed until now, however, was the interesting substitute for graffiti the club had. Rather than illegible scrawl, there were multiple photographs pinned up.
There was quite a significant number of them now that she had seen them in earnest. The format seemed to be to pin the picture up, then write the names of those shown with their date of visit to The Salt Lick. She scanned them, consciously grateful for something to distract her from her creeping instability.
It wasn't long before Twilight found one of her friends. Two of them in one go, in fact. Rainbow had a foreleg thrown around Fluttershy's shoulders, a characteristically brash grin on her face. Fluttershy was smiling too, but demurely as contrast to Dash's confidence. The light blush and sparkle in her eyes all pointed to her clear enjoyment of the contact. Thinking about it, they reminded Twilight of the stallions from before.
She registered the date as being from six years ago. That was certainly surprising. Aside from knowing that Rarity and Applejack were the only two of them to have lived here all their lives, Twilight didn't know how long the others had been here. She would never have pegged either pegasus as having lived here that long.
She became less and less aware of her sweaty, dishevelled state as she continued to scan the vast array of photos. Twilight was fascinated by the sea of familiar and unfamiliar faces, especially considering the latter dwarfed the former. Pinkie was in several pictures, though never in the foreground. Instead she seemed more focused on ensuring others were having a good time, and basking in the reward of a well-earned smile. Twilight felt a slight lump in her throat when it occurred to her just how like Pinkie that was.
Rarity jumped out instantly, her eyes were totally impossible to miss after the interactions she and Twilight had shared over the last few days. She was smiling contentedly with Applejack. Neither of them could have been more than a couple of months past their eighteenth birthday. She seemed to have nothing of her mystique or guile in this image, just enjoyment of a good time with a good friend. Twilight could understand that, and did so with a very heavy feeling of envy.
She wondered whether Rarity looked so different to how Twilight had seen her recently because she was with someone from the town. An insider, a confidant, a mainlander. Or maybe, it was because the town hadn't had the chance to get its claws in yet. That picture was taken nine years ago, that was a long time. But then 18 years was twice as long, and it had only taken three months for Ponyville to take so much from Twilight. Make her tangibly less.
But Rarity was born here, and Twilight wasn't. No-one would blame the host for rejecting the organ, or for killing off an infection, would they? Three months was longer than even 27 years when the mainland looked on you like a cancer. Twilight had worried from the moment she arrived about the crushing feeling of being forever suspended in one state, cursed to repeat the same days out and meals and market trips and mistakes.
Instead, this could be the forever state. The town's aversion to change would infect her as it had everyone and everything else, to the point where she couldn't even change to fit in anymore. Her despair was sharp and immediate, shocking in how it still knocked the wind out of her. It was beautifully, cruelly fitting, the idea of never even being able to change to adapt to the pain.
All these ponies looked so happy in these pictures, and why wouldn't they? Photographs cared not for their suspension. All of them were with friends or family or a lover. Well, all except one. One mare was conspicuously alone. She had milk bottle glasses, and a smile that was wide but slightly strained. It was as if she was angry at herself for not enjoying herself more than she was. Twilight knew the feeling very well.
She felt like she instinctively knew the mare, and it wasn't hard to understand why. Underneath the date she'd written in beautiful calligraphy, underneath the message of 'Tenth time at The Salt Lick!', the mare's signature was there for all to see.
'Night Owl'
Twilight had returned from the toilets to find Fluttershy, among many others, had left. There was a noticeable decrease in the amount of jostling Twilight had to do to return to her seat. This was generally a relief. Though she would have liked to say goodbye to her friends, she also didn't know just how much longer she could deal with the stares. Less eyes was at least something.
But it didn't stop Applejack and Rarity watching her for the entire return trip.
When Twilight got back to the table, the atmosphere was decidedly less amicable than it had been before. There was precious little in the way of conversation, and now that so many bodies were gone and the thick musk of sweat and pheromones lessened. Twilight could smell the nauseating tang of beer soaking into cheap upholstery.
"So, bet you're gonna have to be up early for training tomorrow Dash?" Applejack blurted out, her faux-cheery facade almost comical in its blatancy.
"Nah, if I passed my flight finals on two hours sleep, I can manage a late one tonight," Rainbow replied breezily.
"Wowee! But this is a mite harder than finals ain't it? You sure that'll work?"
"Yeah I'm pretty sure AJ."
This back and forth continued uninterrupted for the next couple of minutes while Twilight watched with unease and confusion. It seemed, really seemed that Applejack was trying to get Rainbow to go home. And madness could be the only explanation, it just hinged on who's madness it was. For her part, Rarity watched the display with what looked like growing irritation. It was annoying to hear AJ needle Dash so much, after all. Finally, Rarity plastered a smile on her face and interjected.
"Applejack! If Rainbow isn't worried about staying out a little later tonight, then you shouldn't be either. Okay?" Interesting. No 'we'. Whatever little game Applejack was playing, it was one she was playing alone. AJ looked near-stricken, and apologised to them both in a very unnecessary and overdone way. This only served to increase Rarity's ire.
Look at you, sitting here pretending a bit of drunken disagreement gives your insane ideas any credence.
Twilight had spent a lot of time in her own head recently, and, though it was clear it wasn't doing her any good, she couldn't help herself. She analysed it all regardless. And while the truth of her situation still eluded her, it was actively shocking in how it all still hurt. So much so that Twilight felt her eyes mist when she saw Dash's look of wistful resignation.
It was the worst thing she had seen all night. Because in spite of everything she still wanted more than anything to make it work here, and that look confirmed something her worst instincts whispered at her at her most vulnerable. It was the confirmation that the peak was insurmountable, it didn't matter how long, nor how hard she tried.
Rainbow's eyes were those of someone who had accepted, against their best hopes, that this would always be an obstacle. Whether the town was hiding something, or whether interlopers simply could never fit in, it wasn't something that went away after six years. And Celestia, did Rainbow look tired. Twilight's eyes watered against her wishes in mourning for the Rarity who had treated her so tenderly before, who had touched her cheek and called her beautiful. Because none of this was fair. She didn't know what she was doing wrong and no-one would tell her.
But Twilight didn't worry about ending up like Rainbow Dash. How she would have loved to end up like Rainbow Dash, someone who could push past this sufficient to force Ponyville to be her home. No, she was terrified because she knew she wouldn't, because Twilight was the personal student of Celestia, and she couldn't let it lie. It wasn't in her nature. The truth was that she was Twilight Sparkle, and that this was a problem, and she had to solve it. It was who she was. She had to know whether it was her, or everyone else, or nothing at all. Even if part of her was screaming that it would cost her ponies she had come to love.
And in spite of everything she did love Rarity. Especially when Rarity saw Twilight's tears, and her expression gave way to genuine concern. When she abandoned her tactical distance and asked Twilight, voice flushed with affection once again, why she was crying. Twilight was so scared of losing them all, more than she was scared of being insane. Surely someone with a voice like that, maternal in its tenderness, and eyes that conveyed such depth of care couldn't be capable of hating for just misguided attempts to make this town a home? Surely the stakes couldn't be as high as all that? Surely this was a teething issue, not one of an outsider versus insider caste?
Twilight dabbed her eyes and rose above it as best she could. Scholars of her calibre divorced themselves of preconception, and didn't let silly emotions like the bleeding and screaming of her heart get in the way of finding out the truth. Because Twilight knew she couldn't stop herself anymore than she could stop breathing.
"Rarity, what happened to Night Owl?"
As Twilight had sadly come to expect, Rarity's expression of care did indeed vanish. But instead of her signature intimidating calm, Rarity simply looked mildly taken aback. Whatever dancers remained, and had heard, looked at Rarity instead of Twilight. Their glances didn't linger either, these were split second looks of confusion. If Twilight hadn't been expecting them to react she probably wouldn't have noticed at all.
She imagined Rarity had forgotten. Of all their interactions recently it must have seemed totally insignificant. But it always came back to Twilight, one way or another.
"Wow that's really fascinating Rarity! So... I never heard of the pony who had the library before. What happened to Night Owl then?"
"Twilight dear, I feel you're reaching a little for things to talk about."
Maybe it wasn't important at all? Ponies moved jobs and towns everyday. The overwhelming likelihood was that she had just moved on naturally and Twilight had filled that void. But then, why not just say that? Was it really reaching to be interested in one's predecessor? Could it in fact be that the poor mare was so unable to live in a town that could never be hers, and friends that would never open up, that she was as good as chased out? Was she literally chased out? Did she find out some things she shouldn't have?
Was that going to happen to Twilight?
"That's little out of the blue darling, why do you ask?" Rarity asked, seeming genuinely baffled for the first time in essentially ever.
"Well," Twilight chewed over some words, concocting a verbal formality to accompany the look she was giving Rarity. You know why I'm asking. "I've heard ponies talk about her, it seems like ponies liked her a lot. I was just interested in where she ended up going."
"I... I confess I don't know dear. Night Owl was a dear sweet thing, but one day she just left without really telling any of us why. It was quite odd," the seamstress replied, drawing agreeing nods from both Applejack and Rainbow.
Huh, that was a lot easier than expected.
The most unexpected thing though was Rarity's eyes. They flitted between Applejack and Rainbow as the conversation evolved, rather than fixing on Twilight. The seamstress, over the last few days, had shown herself to be someone who liked secrecy, but only overt secrecy. How did the saying go? 'It's not the perfect crime unless you get the infamy as well'.
Rarity seemed to like holding an unknown hand, but she wanted her opponent to know she'd stacked the deck. This, however, didn't fit into the modus operandi. Now she just seemed genuinely lost as to why Night Owl had left, apparently in a hurry. To think there was something that happened in this town that Rarity didn't know about. It might have been the strangest thing that Twilight had seen yet.
"I mean the library obviously isn't my scene but she seemed nice," Rainbow began, pausing to take a swig of her drink, "I didn't find out she'd gone until a week later when Cloudchaser told me. It was weird."
"Some ponies even got the idea the librarian position was 'cursed', dearie, if you could imagine such a thing. If you've noticed ponies..." Rarity said, twirling her hoof idly while searching for the words to continue, "Sort of staring, that might be why. It's pure nonsense of course, but pure nonsense a fair few believe."
No.
"Hahaha what Rarity? Are you telling me you don't believe in 'The Curse of Golden Oaks'?!" Rainbow laughed, adding in a ghostly moan and twiddling of her hooves for good measure.
"Honestly darling you're too much sometimes," Rarity giggled.
No, that could not be it
The glances, the stares, the sting of constantly being made to feel like an outsider. It could not be due to something as stupid as ponies believing the library was cursed. But wouldn't it make sense?
Rarity was holding some townspeople-only party and they didn't want the cursed librarian spoiling the fun. She was annoyed earlier because you trampled her bushes, not because you'd uncovered some grand secret. Why would Cheerilee want to take a class of foals to the haunted library? And the staring... How sickeningly fitting, though, that in this of all places, the grand secret turned out to be nothing.
She really didn't get it. Did they really think they were that stupid? It had to be another game, but Rarity always, always let you know she was playing. Even if it made perfect sense, even if the more sinister elements she had seen could be explained away by the gradual loss of her mind, it couldn't be that. No. It fit too neatly. It was too cut and dry. She wasn't insane. She wasn't that insane.
They're lying to you. They're lying.
"Didn't sit right with me, gotta say," Applejack grumbled, "If you're leaving your home, you should at least let folk know."
"Maybe it wasn't." Twilight mumbled,
"Damn girl I've heard louder field-mice, what you say there?" Applejack laughed.
"Maybe it wasn't her home," Twilight repeated, "Plenty of ponies live here Applejack, doesn't mean Ponyville feels like home to all of them."
Applejack looked genuinely taken aback, and was clearly struggling to respond. But whatever burst of apprehensive determination had given Twilight the strength to ask about Night Owl had clearly been acute, not chronic. She was tired of verbal sparring for one night. She was tired of a lot of things actually. So she finished her drink, waved the empty glass for emphasis and walked off to the bar, leaving a spluttering Applejack behind her.
"Okay there, you're alright sugarcube." Applejack said gently while helping Twilight while they left the club. Twilight grit her teeth, the gesture was unneeded and quite frankly insulting. She had not had that much to drink and was perfectly capable of walking unaided.
"Okay girls, I'll get this one home." Applejack called the others while Twilight fumed. She did not need someone to patronisingly speak for her when she could do so for herself. She would have told Applejack as much were it not for Rarity's interjection.
"Why that doesn't make any sense dearie, Sweet Apple Acres isn't even in the same direction as Golden Oaks. If you'd like to act the gentlemare, however, I certainly wouldn't pass up an escort. There's something I need to talk to you about anyway." she trilled with a flutter of eyelashes.
"Well... I'd feel mighty more comfortable if Twi' got home-"
"And I'm sure Rainbow and Twilight are more than capable of getting to their respective homes unscathed. This is Ponyville Applejack, what are you expecting to happen?" And for the briefest second, the mask seemed to slip and Twilight saw terrifying, aggressive mania in Rarity's smile. Of course, though, it was so quick as to have never happened at all. Maybe it was the curse of the library getting to the seamstress. Twilight would have spat had she been alone.
Applejack's shoulders slumped. She let go and started to trudge after Rarity, who of course hadn't waited before setting off. Both mares called their farewells as they took off down the street. Twilight watched them go, Rarity exuding confidence even at this distance, even with her back to Twilight. And all the while, the unicorn bit her tongue as she prayed that something, anything would happen.
Burst into sprints, scream at one another, scrawl that awful symbol on a nearby wall, do something other than walk leisurely into the night, validate me.
But this was Ponyville, and so they didn't.
"Uhm... Twilight? Do you wanna, I don't know, go home?" Dash's raspy voice startled her enough to steal her glance away from Rarity and Applejack. When Twilight turned back she'd missed the moment the night swallowed them in earnest, the street was empty. If only she had a genuine excuse for her disappointment, if only she didn't know with crushing certainty she hadn't missed anything of consequence.
"Sure, let's go."
The walk was a lot shorter than it would have been if Twilight had been left to navigate the streets solo. She still couldn't quite reason the spatial madness that was this town's planning. But she was new, and Rainbow had been here for at least six years, if not more.
"Rainbow, how long have you lived in Ponyville exactly?"
"Coming up on six years now," she replied, "I moved here with Fluttershy after we finished school. We weren't big on the idea of doing the whole long-distance thing and she had been dreaming of moving here ever since she got her cutie mark."
"Oh that explains a lot," Twilight preempted Rainbow's question as she continued, "I saw a picture of you two in the bathroom, it looked like you were pretty close. So how long have you two been together?"
"Not for a long time now," Rainbow replied, but Twilight was relieved to hear she was laughing, "We've stayed great friends but we didn't even last a year after moving here. We were eighteen, no one realises just how bad they are for each other at that age. It's all deep love and destiny and then you live together and realise you've not got even a tenth of the romantic compatibility you thought you did."
"So... why are you still here?" Twilight asked, quickly clarifying when Rainbow abruptly looked at her, "Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to go anywhere it's just, if you moved here to be with Fluttershy, and aren't 'with her' anymore, what made you stay?"
"I... uh. Well... it's a nice town, isn't it?"
Really?
"Yeah... I'm really liking it here too! It's just, thrill-seeker like you. I didn't think somewhere so quiet was your scene?"
"That's me," Rainbow muttered, eyes forward, "Full of surprises."
They were very close to the library now, and what remained of the walk was done in silence. When they arrived, Twilight half expected Rainbow to leave as fast as she could. Instead, the pegasus turned and lingered at her door.
"So," she said with an awkward smile, "Back to the cursed library?"
"Haha yeah, at least there's no one out here to stare at me!" Twilight laughed. It wasn't genuine, and she was pretty certain Rainbow knew that.
"Good night Twi'," Dash said, and prepped her wings for a takeoff.
"Except," Twilight called out, making Rainbow pause, "...they stare a lot Rainbow, do you think that's because of this rumour?"
Just be honest with me, please.
"Well yeah... what else could-"
"And they stare all at once, all together. They stop talking and they stare when I say something out of turn, or ask certain questions. And wouldn't it be great if it was because of some silly myth about Night Owl? Because then I'd know, and I wouldn't have to worry about whether it's just me, or whether it's all of them. And sometimes it feels like I'm going mad because I'm so, so sure it all can't be just some silly story but nothing ever happens here, nothing ever changes... So, do you think it's because of this rumour?" Twilight babbled, breath running low by the end.
Rainbow simply looked at her for a while, and Twilight honestly didn't know what she wanted her to say. Would she rather be right, and know that either her new home was actively hiding something or she was incompatible outside of Canterlot? Or wrong, and the whole thing attributed to outlandish superstition exacerbated by her loss of the mind that had always set her apart? And Twilight hated being wrong, but she hated the stares.
"I still care a lot about Fluttershy. Not romantically, but she's my oldest friend and sometimes she needs someone to look after her. When she's scared, I can be there to help her. And for that, I'd stay somewhere that isn't 'my scene', or somewhere that doesn't feel like it's home... or somewhere that won't let you feel like you're home. Because I can deal with it, and she can't."
"But what-"
"Of course it's just because of the rumour Twilight. Isn't it all so obvious?" Dash sighed, and took off before Twilight could ask her more.
Twilight sat on the grass, not wanting to head inside just yet. She followed Rainbow's shape and, just like Applejack and Rarity, she disappeared without ceremony. The gulf between Golden Oaks and the cottages felt wider than ever tonight, and it was still so hot. She didn't cry, she'd done that far too much recently. But Twilight knew that whatever had happened to Night Owl, the town was right about one thing.
She was cursed.
A noise stirred her, and she turned to see a lone figure, several metres away. A light blue unicorn from what Twilight could see. She didn't look very old, and Twilight faintly recognised her. In fact, she clearly recognised her. The last time Twilight had seen her was when she had stared, petrified, over a pub full of calm, normal looking patrons. A fear Twilight had experienced herself so many times.
And then, Twilight had gotten so caught up in her pathetic little sleuthing adventure she'd forgotten to ever clarify whether this defenceless teenager was okay. Even after what had happened at lunch earlier. Even tonight, she'd asked about a librarian she'd never met, and hadn't spared a thought for the living, breathing pony she saw until right now.
"Snowdrop!" Twilight called out to her, sloppily getting to her hooves. The figure turned and the two locked eyes, then Snowdrop smiled. It was really her, she was unhurt, happy and looked completely normal. Though Twilight didn't feel she deserved to feel relieved when she'd never had the basic decency to spare a thought the teenager's way, Twilight felt relieved all the same.
"Hey Twilight!" Snowdrop chirped, "Guess who had their first big night out?!"
It wasn't hard to guess. The teenager was absolutely caked in makeup, and it wasn't applied very well. She began to launch into a diatribe about the under 18's night she'd been to at The Message In The Bottle, a truly awful little club not far from here. The idea of a bunch of children gathering to drink mocktails and revel in adolescent drama would have made Twilight cringe if she hadn't internally chided herself. She listened as patiently as she could while waiting for the moment to interject.
"Hey Snowdrop," she managed to get in, and Snowdrop didn't seem offended at the interruption, "I'm sorry about the other night, at The Royal Cross. I should have stayed. I shouldn't have left you there."
For a moment the world stood still. Snowdrop looked uncharacteristically thoughtful, and Twilight tried to push down her shameful desire for the girl to say something had happened. That she had been threatened or beaten. She had precious little avenues of vindication left, but even she wouldn't let herself stoop to wish harm on someone so young. The moment didn't last long at all, though, and Snowdrop let out a snorting laugh.
"Geez Twilight, thanks but I'm a big girl, I can handle being left alone!"
"But... but you looked so frightened."
"Yeah, I was nervous! I was looking after the whole pub!" She laughed, and it was Twilight's laugh. The laugh of someone convincing them-self it was funny, "And my dad can be such a hard-case, getting mad at me for not doing things right! But, I'd never looked after the whole pub before, and I was nervous because it's such a big responsibility. Especially if someone comes in who's never been to the pub before! How are you supposed to handle that, how would it be my fault if I did something wrong?!"
What had started as dismissive reply to Twilight's concern had become something else entirely by the end. Snowdrop was smiling, but it looked like she may cry at any moment. Twilight felt like she could cry with her.
"I think you shouldn't listen to them Snowdrop. I think you did a wonderful job looking after the whole pub." Twilight said as kindly as she could. Snowdrop smiled gratefully. Her lip wobbled for a second, and her next train of thought seemed to have a couple of false starts before she spoke up.
"Hey Twilight, when you were in the city growing up, did you ever meet anyone from towns like here?"
The correct answer would have been that she had never met anyone from town like here before she moved. But Snowdrop was a young girl and something was wrong. And not everything had to be deeper than just trying to make someone feel better.
"Yeah Snowdrop, I met plenty."
"Well, it's getting pretty late! I should head back home," she began, voice tinged with a worry that should have been superfluous under different circumstances.
"Sure, sure. Just, before you go, have you ever heard about Night Owl's curse. You know, the one ponies supposedly think effects the librarians here."
"Cursed library?" Snowdrop chirped.
"No Snowdrop, you have, haven't you? Everyone in Ponyville has." Twilight urged, forcing the teenager to understand without explaining. Of course she'd get it, she had to get it.
Let me help you.
"Oh... Oh maybe it's something my dad hasn't told me about! I don't think he'd want to scare me with anything like that! Better watch out Twilight! Going back to the cursed library!" She replied, and Twilight let out a tiny sigh of relief.
"I will, safe trip back Snowdrop."
Of course everyone in Ponyville had heard of the curse. Rarity had said it for all to hear tonight. Nothing was solved, everything was still as confusing as ever. But after her talk with Snowdrop which in all her time in Ponyville seemed like the most honest she'd had, things felt a little better. Even though neither had said anything, they'd said a lot. Maybe somethings did eventually change here. Even though the cards were stacked against her, maybe she wouldn't end up like Rainbow or Night Owl.
Twilight turned back to Golden Oaks, the cursed librarian heading to bed at last. And as she walked back she faintly remembered how she had been wrong when she was 14. Not about the nasty comments, but about the girls themselves. They hadn't been older than Twilight. They'd been the exact same age.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
735 users online
935,440 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
A few small typos;
Surprising?
Spent?
In her seems superfluous, unless I'm parsing the sentence wrong.
Also - although this is entirely a personal preference thing, so take it as such - using numerals in the age seems a bit out of place. I think it's usually used mainly when text needs to look official, so it tends to stick out in regular narrative.
Still very intrigued by the story, and the acknowledgement that Twilight might just be seeing things that aren't there... or maybe not. There is one thing that might be worth addressing - the common horror trope of protagonists never calling the cops, or in this case the Princess. Even if the idea of failing the friendship assignment Celestia has given her might make her reluctant to straight-up ask about her "friends'" strangeness, asking about the town's behaviour combined with the strange symbol she'd been seeing would seem safe enough.
Is Twilight succumbing to... SPACE MADNESS? How long will it be until she becomes convinced that everyone is trying to steal her ice cream bar?
9860489
Gonna spoiler this. It's something you just need to read the first two chapters for.
assuming something is actually going on here (and that seems very likely) Spike seems in on it. I'm not sure if Twilight has another way to get into contact with Celestia, but given her paranoia and Spike's behavior in the first few chapters, I wouldn't blame her for not entirely trusting Spike or anyone else in the town for that matter. Go back and reread her initial encounter with Spike in the first chapter. Spike acts seemingly out of character, acting smug, and above Twilight, and jumping to anger fairly quickly... Later Twilight gives what I would say are legit reasons to be, at the very least, concerned with the situation, but Spike brushes her off in a smug and confident manner, not unlike the way Rarity has been acting... And guess who spends time helping Rarity out a lot and has already melded into the friend group better than Twilight? That's right. Spike.
Just my observations so far...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2LvgjzgmQ Have to say, this is absolutely perfect mood music for reading this entire thing. The tensity in the air is dense as butter.
9860489
Thanks for pointing those out my man, got them sorted now.
To me, as well as Twilight not thinking clearly getting in the way of rational side, she would also be too scared of letting the princess down to contact her about this. Considering this takes place in the first half of S1, we can remember around that time she was still wont to freak out about a missed letter, let alone letting the princess think she's lost her mind and has invented some crazy conspiracy about the town.
9860880
BIG IF TRUE
9863471
Those are some really cool observations and there's a LOT I'd like to reply with, but I don't want to potentially spoil anything so I'll have to do so when the story's done
9867481
Now if we're talking music recommendations, we are definitely talking my language. Please find below a series of artists and albums who either directly or indirectly inspired my writing in this story, or who I just think are relevant to the overall tone.
Women - Public Strain
King Krule - The OOZ
Preoccupations - Preoccupations
Katie Dey - Solipsisters
Burial - Untrue
Giles Corey - Giles Corey
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
Clipping. - Splendor and Misery
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Tim Hecker - Virgins
Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
Foxing - Nearer My God
Rebecca Sugar - Steven Universe Soundtrack (This show is my <3)
The National - Sleep Well Beast
Swans - The Seer (literally the inspiration for my name lol)
Leif - Loom Dream
2814 - Birth of a New Day
9867936
I will most certainly be giving all of these a listen. Have you ever heard of Purity Ring? They're another band I think of when reading this, or Sleep Party People. Most specifically:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFUzvbkEvRk
9867976
Those bunny bois put on one hell of a jam. I really, really liked that.
And I've heard of Purity Ring but never listened to their solo stuff, is it decent? I should really get on that. They did have a pretty great feature on this Danny Brown track though:
Body snatchers
9871315
Purity Ring is a fantastic listen, hardly any bad albums from them at all. I've been listening to them for yeeeeeeeeeeeears now and the vocals of the main singer can make anything sound good... Their music videos are fascinating and morbid watches as well, truly the highlight for me.
How surprising to see Danny Brown mentioned here. Yeah, I started listening to them through that single song.
Incredibly atmospheric band, listening to them releases always put me in a zen state. My favorites from them are probably Fleshine or:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIPMzeNWAtk
I'm really floored by your introduction of Night Owl as a character. I'm not entirely sure what you did to make her feel so real and present, but her character seems so... Sad. And complete. I feel very much like I've been reading about her all along, even though we've never seen or heard from her. Again, I'm not entirely sure how you managed that, but whatever you did was incredibly effective.
This is more of a personal note, but I do have a place near me that has a patron photo wall. It's not a club, pub, or bat-- just a Japanese restaurant that I visit frequently with friends for their cheap sushi. We've spent a lot of time looking at those photos and thinking about the people who probably did the same thing. Our photo is up there, too. It's always given me an odd feeling, to be honest, and I couldn't put my finger on why. You managed to capture that feeling here perfectly. Still have no clue how you did it.
This really hits different in quarantine. I'm at once missing all those grimy little holes in the wall and remembering them with a certain clarity of distance that paints them in a less-than-good light.
Incredible work. I know you've heard it a thousand times, and you'll hear it a thousand more, but this is truly brilliant.
Just want to pop in to say I'm slowly making my way through this, and good stuff so far. You've done a great job building up the paranoia and connecting it with existing issues Twilight had.
This chapter absolutely stole it for me. The opening scene was killer, and I can't imagine a reader not leaving eviscerated by how well you can play emotion and delicious prose. The vast bulk of stories on this site are dedicated to portraying Twilight Sparkle with a Messiah-like perfection and spotless Chosen One streak even though she'd been shown to be an odd (but not unheard of) brand of impeccable and dysfunctional in a way that only the adult version of 'the kid who had to be assigned friends' which gives her a kind of loneliness that I don't see a lot of stories address.
I'm glad this one does. It blends in so well with the behind-your-back small-town gossip atmosphere Ponyville has here and is depicted having in some episodes.