Chapter 11: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
The Perfect Little Village of Ponyville
Chapter 11: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
The ponies entered the Fluttershy Forest.
Within a few hoofsteps, the dark canopy closed in around them and shut out what little light there was. The three unicorns lit their horns as the group gathered closer together.
“STOP!” cried a voice that echoed all around them. The voice of Fluttershy.
The ponies whirled about. Staring out of the darkness at them from every direction were dozens of pairs of glowing eyes, from the undergrowth to the tree branches above them.
“DO NOT MAKE ANOTHER STEP, OR YOU’LL BE SORRY!”
Vinyl noticed that the voice came from each pair of eyes, and also seemed to emerge from a rustling of the leaves of the trees, a rustling caused by no wind. Vinyl could make out that a pair of eyes near her belonged to a small songbird. The voice of Fluttershy was coming out of its beak as it clacked it open and shut. The same appeared to be the case of those other creatures in the dark that she could make out.
Fluttershy was literally the voice of the forest.
Vinyl stepped up where the bird could clearly see and hear her. “We are here to help,” she addressed the creatures, and by extension, the pony they were all linked to. “You sound frightened, Fluttershy. Are you afraid of us, or are you frightened of what your forest might do to keep us from you?”
“YOU WANT TO HELP US? MANY HAVE TOLD US THAT. THEY WERE ALL LIARS!!!” The pain and hatred poured into that last word were enough to make everypony wince.
“Step aside,” Rainbow Dash ordered her guards, stepping out from the center of the group to stand beside Vinyl Scratch.
“Your Majesty!” cried Soarin’, begging the Empress to return to safety.
“Don’t worry!” replied Dash. “If Fluttershy’s in her right mind, she’ll be sure to know who I am!”
“And if she’s not in her right mind, she’s even more likely to know who you are!” said Soarin’.
Seeing Rainbow Dash, several dozen pairs of glowing eyes blinked simultaneously, and then faded back into two columns. The branches of the trees pulled themselves back, revealing a path leading into the depths of the forest.
Rainbow Dash gulped nervously. “OK, Fluttershy, just show us where you want us to go.”
The group walked ever further into the forest. Vinyl dropped back until she was next to Applejack. She walked beside her but said nothing for several minutes.
“Take a look at the sky,” Applejack finally said.
Vinyl looked up. Above their heads, but below the forest canopy, floated the nighttime sky, shifting and reshaping itself constantly.
“Nightmare Moon!” Vinyl hissed in alarm.
As she watched, a tendril of the dark blue cloud formed itself into a column that descended down towards them. It was then attacked by several varieties of glowing-eyed birds until it retreated.
“Fluttershy’s a victimized pony with the power of an entire forest at her command,” said Applejack in an accusing tone. “And you want to ‘help’ her. Who says she wants to be helped? Isn’t it more likely that she’ll just smash the Empress into a pulp and then leave us all to the mercy of Nightmare Moon?”
Vinyl Scratch looked Applejack in the eye. “Against what I once thought to be my better judgment, I have learned to expect the best in every pony I meet. I learned this from the brightest, most hopeful, most powerful, and yet most ordinary and humble ponies in all of Equestria.”
“I’m not...!” snapped Applejack, before catching herself.
Vinyl nodded. “So you do have me bugged. I wonder: how many ponies, in your entire life, have you ever given your trust?”
“Big Mac,” Applejack replied coldly. “He’s the only one who deserves it.” She shook her head ruefully. “You seem plenty fond of makin’ judgments about me behind my back without knowin’ a thing about me. Like sayin’ I’m not honest.”
“You are honest?” Vinyl replied incredulously.
“My life is all about facts. Facts about the weather, about the soil, about roads for shipping, about local politics, about national politics. Who can be pushed, who needs their ego stroked, and who needs what form of ‘redirection’. In my position I control all of the facts.”
“...and keep them away from everypony else,” added Vinyl. “I’m sorry, in my book that’s the very opposite of honesty. Let me ask you something. Don’t answer me now—I want this one to fester for a while. Is it fun? The manipulation, watching your victims blunder around misled by your lies, the fact you can have anything you want. Is it fun? I bet it used it be. I bet it was the best thing ever. But then you woke up yesterday with a funny taste in your mouth. Like this wasn’t the right way to run a business at all. Like maybe you weren’t the same pony you were the night before. Mull that over for a bit and get back to me.”
From the quiet look in Applejack’s eyes, it appeared that Vinyl had succeeded in getting through to her.
Protected by Fluttershy’s creatures, the party was led through the forest until they came upon a tree house, considerably smaller than the one in Ponyville. A crude hoof-painted sign proclaimed the identity and current occupation of its lone occupant:
TWILIGHT SPARKLE,
Traitor.
Come right inside and pelt me with spoiled fruit.
It’s not like I care or anything.
Next to the sign was a covered wicker basket, with a large hollowed-out rock holding the lid down. Painted around the rim of the rock were the words “Spoiled Fruit, 2 bits each.” A few rusty bits rested in the rock.
The traitor was depending on the honor system.
Pinkamena approached another sign, which she read out loud: “Site of the World-Famous Mystery Spot, a Bottomless Pit Containing the Last Vestiges of Primal Madness in Equestria. Five bits a peek.” She walked back to Vinyl, clearly rattled. “Look, we don’t have to go in there, do we?” she asked.
“I’m with the ex-avenger,” said Applejack. “You want six Elements, all of which had some kind of connection with Skybreak. Well, here we are. Minus Fluttershy, who I’m darn sure isn’t Twilight Sparkle’s roomie. Excuse me if I’d prefer not to be in the same room as a dangerous threat to life and limb.”
“...and Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkamena added.
“...and Twilight Sparkle,” echoed Applejack. “Hey, that was almost a joke! There’s some hope for you yet!”
Pinkamena scowled.
Vinyl gestured at the creatures and forest surrounding them in every direction but that leading to the door of the tree house. “That is the direction Fluttershy needs us to go. Without Fluttershy, this mission fails.” She walked up to the door.
Applejack quickly stepped in front of her. “If we’re gonna do this,” she said, “let’s do it right.” Lifting one forehoof, she rapped the old familiar pattern into the wood: Shave and a haircut...
Two bits! rang the answering pattern from Pinkamena’s right hindhoof. The pink pony directed an infuriated glare at the offending body part. “Traitor!” she screamed at it.
“You called?” said Twilight Sparkle laconically, opening the door.
The purple pony looked like a complete and utter mess. She hadn’t properly groomed herself for what looked like years. Her fetlocks were long enough to trip over, and her tail was impossibly gnarled and clumped. Her mane stuck to her right side like it had been hastily ironed into that position. Her cutie mark of a bloody dagger had been partially obliterated by a branding of “TRAITOR” in Equestrian. She was bruised in numerous places, and marked with fruit juice stains in many others. A mottled neckerchief that once was white was tied around her head, completely obscuring her eyes and...horn? There should have been no way that the neckerchief could have covered the unicorn’s horn, and yet no horn was visible on Twilight’s head.
“So which will it be first?” she asked bitterly. “The personal abuse, or the gawking at the big hole in my floor?” And indeed, the center of the one-room house was dominated by a large hole carved into the ground, surrounded by a set of poles and velvet ropes. A wide viewing platform (ending in a depression for dropping bits into) extended over the hole from the side opposite the door, reaching almost all of the way across, and making the visible part of the hole look like three-quarters of a wheel in shape.
Pinkamena carefully positioned herself as far from that hole as possible. She also looked around carefully to confirm that the sources of light within the room were self-contained magical lanterns.
Meanwhile Rarity’s eyes, which had been glazed over from hours of mental self-abuse, slowly came into focus, and she looked about her in surprise. Long-dead emotions began to rise within her. “You poor dear,” she said hesitantly, addressing Twilight, “do the terms of your punishment require you to look like that? Surely if you have to put up with all of us invading your precious privacy like this, the least we can do is help you to tidy yourself and your place up. I can dust your...”
Rarity was going to say “furniture”, but upon looking around she saw one and only one item of furniture, a rolling-top desk. “...your desk?” she finally concluded.
“No, you cannot touch my desk, random pony I’ve never met before!” exclaimed Twilight. She then swatted a hoof at the magical field that the white unicorn was cautiously extending her way. “And keep your blasted magic away from me!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed Pinkamena, who stepped forward to be between Twilight and Rarity. “Haven’t you ruined enough lives with your meddling?”
“I...I’m sorry,” mewed Rarity. “I was only trying to help.”
“Well stop it,” said Applejack.
Vinyl sighed as she watched Rarity turn away, her eyes becoming unfocused once more.
The first time any of the future Bearers of Harmony had tried to express their chosen personality trait, Vinyl thought to herself bitterly, and it had been trampled to death by the others.
She then walked up to the sightless pony and examined her carefully. “We were sent here by Fluttershy,” she explained.
“Oho!” Twilight cried out in recognition at the voice she had just heard. “So you’ve finally come to visit, Vinyl Scratch? Even after I hid in the most inaccessible spot in Equestria, I knew that you’d show up here eventually. To look confused and sympathetic and ask me The Question. Well go ahead and ask me, student of Celestia. You know you want to.”
Vinyl sighed. “The answer to any one question is never enough to explain one pony’s life,” she said sadly.
“No,” Twilight eagerly agreed, “but you’re not supposed to reach that conclusion until after I’ve answered The Question! Now somepony, anypony, ask it!”
Rainbow Dash stepped forward. It began to dawn on her that she did that a lot: stepping forward. It was sort of her own personal idiom. Too bad that it required her to then retreat back into the crowd afterwards...oh wait, she was supposed to say something! “Well unlike the Philosopher here, I actually want to know: Why did you do it? What made you want to betray all ponykind to the Dragon Emperor?”
“What made me? What made me?” cackled Twilight Sparkle, falling back on her hindlegs as she reached up with her forelegs. “These made me!”
And with that, she dramatically pulled the neckerchief from off of her head.
Instantly, all of the other ponies turned away in horror from what they saw. All except Vinyl, who looked at her fixedly.
Twilight Sparkle was blind, and had always been blind. That much was obvious. She had also once had a horn, but it had been snapped off at the root in the recent past. Which meant that she could never cast a spell again without being overwhelmed by debilitating pain.
“Is that all?” Vinyl asked gently.
“Is that all? Is that all?!” Twilight asked incredulously. “LOOK AT ME! I was born a freak of nature, a unicorn whose specialty was magic, in a world where all magic is transmitted in written form!”
“No,” said Vinyl, “as a matter of fact, magic on this world is transmitted in musical form, which means as long as your ears are functioning, you should be alright.”
Wait, why didn’t I...
“That doesn’t matter!” Twilight shouted. “Princess Celestia made me this way! Nopony that sick should be allowed to rule Equestria.”
Vinyl sighed. How many times had she gone over these same questions herself when she was a young blind filly?
“The Princess doesn’t control everything,” Vinyl explained patiently. “Some things she can’t control, and others she refuses to control, to allow us to have our free will. And that is exactly what you had: free will.”
“Is it safe to look yet?” asked Applejack, her head averted.
“Nnope,” said Big Mac after a moment.
Vinyl ignored them. “You chose to wallow in your disability, instead of moving on with your life.”
“I did move on with my life,” insisted Twilight. “I moved on to the court of the Dragon Emperor, who taught me magic I never could have learned from my pitying teachers. It was he who offered me magical eyes once I had succeeded in discrediting the Princess and getting her overthrown by her subjects.”
“You didn’t do a very good job of it,” commented Applejack impartially.
“She did worse than that,” said Vinyl. “You were told repeatedly during your trial why you were being punished, but it never seemed to penetrate that thick skull of yours.”
Twilight picked up the fallen neckerchief and tied it back around her head. “I was still recovering from having my horn snapped off by the fall from a dragon that had suddenly reverted into an egg!” she protested. “But it’s not like I don’t know the truth. I was punished for making your ruler look less than perfect in her job of protecting Equestria from danger. I was punished for inconveniencing the rich ponies of Canterlot.”
“Wrong!” declared Vinyl, getting into Twilight’s face. “You were punished for the callous murder of six unborn dragons.”
Wait...what?
“I...I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight protested, backing up.
Vinyl advanced on her. “Oh yes you do. Even blind you should have realized it. You turned an unhatched egg into a full-grown dragon. In the hatchery, Twilight. In the hatchery! Surely you didn’t think that Spike’s egg was the only one in there?”
Oh, Sweet Celestia.
Twilight blanched. “No,” she protested. “No, that’s impossible!” As she said this, she continued to back up, until she reached the velvet rope surrounding the Mystery Spot. She stumbled backwards, cartwheeling her forelegs in panic and screaming hysterically. Vinyl, Big Mac and Pinkamena rushed forward and pulled her from the brink.
For just an instant, Pinkamena got a glimpse down into that hole. She saw things floating in there that had no right to exist. Worse, her mind insisted on labeling them for her. She cried out, and now it was the turn of the other three to save her from falling in.
“Th...thank you,” Twilight Sparkle gasped out a few minutes later. “I have a phobia about falling. One more personality flaw to add to the list, yes?” Then her mouth formed into an “O”. “You saved me,” she said, astounded. “I didn’t deserve it, but you saved me.”
“Consider us even,” Vinyl said under her breath, referring to another Twilight on another world.
“You said Fluttershy sent you here?” Twilight suddenly remembered. She smiled then. Kindness without hope for reward seemed like a kind of madness to her, but the fact that these ponies were expecting something from her restored her lack of faith in ponykind. She walked over to a desk and pulled out her own personal musical instrument, a recorder. “I devised a spell for her to reverse her cutie mark.”
“‘Reverse her cutie mark’?” asked an awed Pinkamena. “You can do that?”
“If the pony truly wants it,” said Twilight. “Besides, it’s clear that her Cutification was artificially tampered with by her close proximity to Skybreak. I’m hoping that she will gain her proper cutie mark soon afterwards, an empathy for animal speech, perhaps, instead of this total identification. Of course, that’s assuming that she’s still sane.”
“Of course,” repeated Rainbow Dash, her eyes wide.
Twilight sat down and leaned against a wall, bringing all four hooves up to play the instrument. “This thing is a lot easier to play with a functioning horn,” she muttered to herself. She then started to play a strange tune that made all of the ponies but Pinkamena feel intensely uncomfortable. Even without magic behind it, the song was literally tugging at their reason for existence. “Owwww!” Twilight complained grimly as she finished, a dull red glow fading out from under the neckerchief.
Vinyl Scratch nodded, and then scowled for some inexplicable reason.
She had scowled because she had just caught herself doing exactly the thing that annoyed her so much when she was blind and other ponies did it: using silent gestures to communicate.
“Got it,” she said.
“Vinyl, we should probably get going,” said Applejack.
“Right,” Vinyl said, leading the others to the door. “Thank you for the spell, Twilight,” she said.
“It’s only right that I do something for the only fair pony in all of Equestria,” replied Twilight. “Good luck on your future endeavors, Vinyl. Considering what I’ve heard about your life compared to mine, I feel as if you were the pony fated to realize the potential that I have squandered, that in some way you are my replacement.”
“That is exactly what I am,” Vinyl said quietly. “And that is not right. I will return for you, Twilight Sparkle, when my mission here is complete. Your redemption will be my greatest challenge.”
Twilight laughed hollowly. “My redemption? You take after your mentor in your hopeless optimism. But my door will always remain open to you.”
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Still confused. And I think that's going to be a permanent side affect from reading this story.
Damn, Twilight's situation here is just... heartbreaking.
I think this story gave me Alzheimer's.
And also Alzheimer's.
It's so confuzzling.
...Twi's story made me cry. ;_;
This was written quickly but damn it I don't care. What a strange world you've created.
1329201
"Poor Twilight"? How come nobody's noticing the giant word "TRAITOR" branded across her cutie mark? She's clearly thinking of no pony other than herself. It is possible to be born in a miserable situation and rise above it, you know? Instead, she tries to overthrow a Princess that never did anything against her, in order to put in power a Dragon Emperor that you have heard nothing good about in this entire story!
Sheesh, some people...
Besides, I think all the sarcasm makes her a cooler character. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png
HOLY SHIT!
Dude, you need to update quicker...
1329238 I was mostly thinking of the snapped horn.
Plus she seems to have been hit by the full force of her actual crime there. Though if she was punished for killing the baby dragons, why was she branded with 'traitor'?
And if she's affraid of falling why is she living in a house with a huge hole in it? Heck, how can anypony go up to her hut if Fluttershy turns away anyone who dares enter her forest??
1329323
She's got the word "traitor" on her butt. Everypony throws rotten fruit at her. I think she'd want to move into a house that nopony ever visits.
Either that, or the hole in the floor is in fact the giant plot hole in my logic...
1329338 I'm just curious how those bits got there in the first place.
1329349
A good question, a very good question indeed! Are you sure you've never worked in Quality Assurance?
1329365
never, why do you ask? 
Holy shit on a waffle iron, this is Twilight Zone to the factor of ten, isn't it? Virtually no backstory, little explanation, and weird, weird, weird as far as the eye can see.
Not bad.
1329395
You've got a good eye for telling detail. Primary job qualification for a software tester.
1329407
guess that makes sense. I do like to think I have a good sense of observation.
Testing softwares, or video games, never seemed like that fun of a job to me though :p
1329430
The testing? Not so fun. Telling a high and mighty software developer every single bone-headed mistake he made to see the look on his face? Priceless.
1329440 Sounds like you've done that a few times
YES! I have finally managed to wrap my head around the plot!
How did Rarity resist giving her a haircut?
Because when someone's life sucks that much, what they need to hear is that they deserve it
1329552
... if you know what I mean
I don't get point of the “Mystery Spot". Is there more to it than to give a shoutout to "Sam & Max"? quickman.gameological.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/120618_otl_samandmax_featured.jpg
Interesting, I think Twilight can be redeemed but this is a dream trap so well anything can happen.
Why is it I picture Matrix and for see Vinyl waking up in the "real" Equestria and saving the rest of the main six from the Dragon Emperor's trap 
Plot seems fairly straightforward to me. . . Though spike's exsistence creates a few questions.
1329238 Poor all of them. I'm looking rather more at the endgame of this whole thing. Nothing is as it seems. And I believe I know who is behind it all. The perpetraitor has already been named.
The reason for sympathy directed at Twilight is because it is obvious that she is broken.
Explanation for the brand of "TRAITOR": Twilight's rampage killed diplomatic hostages, something normally considered an act of war. However, at the time she was a subject of the emperor. Thus she was a traitor to both the emperor and Celestia.
I still say that Fluttershy needs a hug
Son of a bitch.... This story took a sick and convoluted mind to engineer...
I think I'm in love.
1329992
Plot convenience. We do not question the Great and Powerful Author!
1330890
Patience, Young Padawan, patience. All questions will be answered in time.
This is gonna get epic really soon...I can feel it...
I think this chapter rises one question above all others: Why can pinky label lovecraftian beings? Being able to look at, sure. BEING ABLE TO LABEL THEM? Probably the same way there are labels on ponies for her? oO ... wtf is pinkie in your story? (and it -is- pinkies ability. Not dream!pinkamena or something, but actual pinky)
1329238
I'd say the notion of "poor twilight" comes from how sucky that world is for her in comparsion to the canon. Also, if she's really been at the Dragon Emperor court, then I personally can't blame her for her going against celestia, considering that we were told that the Dragon Emperor is very adept at manipulation and straight out mind control - and twilight was just a filly at that point.
Also you are aware that a blind twilight can't read books? No friends, no books, blind and probably held Celestia in such high regard as she did in the canon (before she got to the court, that is) - it's easy to see why she has a crisis of faith and gets depressed - which makes her an easy target for the Dragon Emperor, who promised her a miracle - unlike Celestia.
So yeah. Definitly Poor Twilight.
1329992
Aarghh! She's been so quiet lately that I forgot about her! Of course Rarity would have done something in Twilight's cabin.
Alright, I've made a quick edit of the chapter. Search for "Rarity" if you want to find it. It ends when Vinyl addresses Twilight.
1329552 That just means it's gonna change in a chapter or two. You watch.
I know who the narrator is...
1332024
Well, Pinkie Pie in my opinion is the perfect party pony, and that includes knowing enough about the pony you're giving a party to to make them happy. Plus it was kinda freaky how fast she found that Elements of Harmony book.
So add that to her apparent teleportation and mind-reading powers.
Ok, I have to know, that part where AJ knocked the "familiar pattern into the door 'Shave and a haircut...two bits', is that the knock that you always hear? The 'tap tap-tap-tap tap...TAP TAP'? And if it is, WHERE DID THAT ORIGINALLY COME FROM!?
1412086
Yup, that's it. It's just a comical "thing" that people liked putting at the end of their songs. I learned that the thing had words from Who Framed Roger Rabbit...and the fact that toons can't keep themselves from finishing the pattern once it's been started.
Ah, good, you are a subscriber to cosmic horror Pinkie.
I'm really not sure how I missed that they weren't in the forest yet, but now I feel dumb. :|
I like how Vinyl and Twilight have literally been swapped in this world, but I'm starting to feel like the plot is becoming just a list of random ideas. Why is there a giant hole? Why does Twilight music?
Worst chapter I have ever read
Booo!
0/10 would never witness again
*Twilight does not rhyme*