The Strange Cases of Twilight Sparkle

by DrakoGlyph

Case 21

Twilight awoke well rested for what felt like the first time in forever. That spa day was just the kind of thing she had needed. Now, she had to attend to her many Royal Duties that she had held off long enough to study these Strange Cases. She checked her list and found that at the top was meeting with the Mayor. She had already done that… so long ago…

“Silly Twilight,” she said to herself as she crossed it off. “You need to be more diligent! I know being here in Ponyville has changed you, but you still need to be on the top of your game!” She gave a small chuckle and moved on to the next item on the list.

“Check the book that Princess Celestia sent me…” she turned to the table to find that the book wasn’t there. In fact, the last time she had seen the book was when Pinkie had been pawning off those horrible cupcakes. She shuddered to think of them as she turned back to her list. “Well, I suppose ‘Find the book’ should be on my list next, then,” she muttered before scribbling it in before seeing Pinkie about Shining Armor’s birthday present.

She trotted her way out to the town square which housed Sugar Cube Corner. It couldn’t be a better Friday afternoon, the sun was bright and the whole town seemed more beautiful than ever. She smiled as she thought of all her friends. Over, across the way, Applejack was bartering with a customer for a pick of apples, and across the other way, Rarity was with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, trying to purchase what seemed to be some new fabric.

Twilight was on a mission, though, so she couldn’t stop to talk to them. She needed to get on her way to Sugar Cube Corner to try and recover that book and cross off the items on her checklist. The pastry-themed building appeared around a corner and Twilight smiled as she saw Pinkie out front, holding a tray of normal-looking muffins.

“What’s up, Twilight? You seem so much better today!” The pink party pony smiled at the purple princess.

“It was a relaxing spa day, that’s just all I needed,” Twilight smiled.

“Of course!” Pinkie said, “sometimes I need that too, if you can believe that. Even with all the fun we have here at the Corner, it can be a little necessary to just sit back and unwind.” She beamed wide, offering a muffin to her friend. “What can I get for you, Twilight?”

“Well, I was here for two things,” the alicorn of Friendship responded. “First, I dropped a book the other day around here, I was wondering if you had found it?”

“Was it… this one?” she said, pulling the very book Twilight was looking for out of some strange place she always kept everything. “Because I saw it lying on the ground the other day.”

“That is certainly it, Pinkie, thanks so much,” Twilight said, levitating the book out of Pinkie’s grasp. “And the other thing is next Tuesday is my brother’s birthday, and I was wondering if you could send him a cake from me?”

“Sure thing, Twilight!” The Element of Laughter smiled and walked back inside to place the order. Twilight, now happy that things were back to normal trotted merrily back to her tree, waving at the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they ran past.

“Oh, Twilight, darling, how are you?” Rarity asked. “I’ve heard of all the stress you’ve been through lately, and I was wondering if there was anything I could ever do to help?”

“I’m fine, that day off yesterday, it was just what I needed.” Twilight smiled for what seemed like the first time in forever. “I’m not sure I need anything at the moment, Rarity, but I’ll let you know the moment I do, okay?”

Rarity nodded as her eyes dilated. Twilight followed her gaze to find the CMC trying some type of stunt, what it was supposed to be, Twilight didn’t know, but it was near mud, and that was what Rarity promptly scolded them for as she used her magic to prevent them from falling into it.

Twilight returned to her library without a problem, noting duly that Spike had finished the cleaning. She placed the book on the table and sought to read it before any more distractions could get the better of her. She smiled and cracked the book.

The first few pages told about the writer, Princess Shooting Star. She was the princess long before Discord ever reigned, daughter of Princess Platinum. She told of the strange occurrences that happened not long after she ascended to the throne, when her mother retired. There were counted 47 unique “Strange Cases,” each inexplicable, and each otherwise unheard of. The reading, though, became boring, which was a new sensation to Twilight. Dry reading? How could this be?

She perhaps needed to warm up more before exerting her brain on deciphering such cryptic messages as what was written nearly 2000 years ago. She pulled down the only copy of Daring Do that she had in the library—the rest were no doubt at Rainbow’s.

She opened the first book in the series to try and perk up her brain for reading, but the words on the page held no excitement for her. She was lacking the normal endorphin response that normally accompanied reading for her. She couldn’t understand how this was happening! She loved reading! It was the whole reason she lived in libraries since she moved out of her parents’ house!

Perhaps it was because she had read the book before, yes that had to be it. She turned to another tome, which she had laid out on the table for later reading. Now would be that time. She cracked ‘History of the Quill’ and started trying to read it. It was significantly harder to focus than she had originally thought.

“Come on, Twilight! You love reading! This is your favorite activity!” She turned back to the book and tried to muddle through another page, but to no avail… she was…

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Spike said, coming down the stairs.

“It can’t be! This simply can’t be true!” Twilight panicked. How could she be getting bored of reading? It was the thing that made her who she was… “I… I’m losing interest in reading!?”

“That’s silly Twilight, without reading, you’d be like Applejack without Sweet Apple Acres, or Fluttershy without any animals…”

“I know that Spike! I don’t know what’s going on… everything was seeming to go perfectly normal today until this… what’s going on?”

“Without reading, you’d be like Rainbow without flying, or Pinkie Pie without parties… on second thought, I hope I never see that myself.”

“Enough with the comparisons Spike!”

“Hold on, one more… you’d be Rarity without fashion sense!”

The glare from Twilight was enough to shut the dragon’s mouth. “I think I should write the princess!”

“Then go get some rest. It did you wonders yesterday,” Spike offered.

“I don’t need rest, I need… okay… perhaps it will be okay tomorrow… I’ve just been so stressed that I need to go lie down and forget the world for a few more hours…”

Spike smiled a smile that only could mean ‘I told you so.’

Case 21:

I didn’t think it would ever happen, and quite frankly, I hoped it never would. I think I’m losing interest in reading! Can you imagine that, Princess? I’m losing interest in reading! That would be like you without the sun or Luna without the moon… ohdearme, now I’m the one making comparisons.

More or less, I’m going to wait until tomorrow to see if anything changes.

Your most faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Comments

[miseta22]

are the chapters supposed to be mixed up?

[DrakoGlyph]

2481709
Yes. The Cases refer to the rules of the internet, and the story continuity doesn't place the Rules in the original order, often with good reason. For instance, the five Anonymous rules will be spread out, letting the story expand more between them.
I would be an interesting challenge to write the cases in the same order as the original rules, but it just doesn't work out with the way I have in my head.

Good question, though!

[miseta22]

wonderful story though. very funny. will be checking for more when i have time

[DrakoGlyph]

2481868
I'm glad everyone likes this story so much... it was one of those "I'll just do it for the amusement" and everyone seems to love it. And if they don't, well, they don't seem to take it out on this story, which is good for me!