Isolation
Twilight opened her eyes, immediately discovering her vision to be completely engulfed by the pitch blackness that surrounded her. She glanced around in a vain attempt to find some light in the otherwise shadowy room, soon finding that not even a single ray of sunlight penetrated the darkness. Her mind was quickly teeming with frantic questions, all of them asking similar things.
Where am I? What happened? Who did this?
But out of all her frenzied questions one stuck out in particular, How do I get out?
Twilight spun around and she was met with the same overwhelming darkness that flanked her. She couldn’t make out anything; not a single object, wall or pony. The worried unicorn had no idea what was up or down, left or right, her sense of direction and place was now completely gone.
She reached out a limb into the darkness, her hoof touching nothing but chilled air. She stretched another forearm, soon coming to the same conclusion as before. The lavender mare’s mind reeled at this new discovery as she hastily glanced around in the dark. There has to be a way out! There just has to!
Twilight moved forward, her earlier fear of what lay around her disappearing after a few steps. She had no idea where she was going, but assumed that anywhere was better than where she currently was. With heavy, fearful breathes she continued onward into the dark.
SLAM!
“Ow!” Twilight cursed as she fell backwards, very quickly realizing she had just walked into what must have been a wall. Her hoof searched around until it reached her face and she began massaging her now bruised cheek. After a few minutes of perverse silence she got to her hooves. Wanting nothing but freedom, she hurried in another direction, reaching a similar wall within just a few steps.
Wh-what? I-I think I’m trapped in here! But there’s got to be a way out! Her thoughts now turning worried and frantic she dashed in another direction, quickly tripping over a clutter of unknown objects. A loud bang and the falling of more items resonated around her, and she now merely lay on the cold floor. She was surrounded on all sides with no way out, simply left to bask in the horrifying dark.
It was dead quiet, not a single sound or noise reaching her ears as she rested on the ground. The silence was nothing like she had ever experienced, as living in Canterlot had got her so accustomed to the constant noise of the city. Even in the much smaller Ponyville there was noise, whether it be the hoofsteps of busy ponies or the singing of merry birds.
There was none of that; no ponies talking, no animals running about, no noise whatsoever. The only thing Twilight heard now was the every growing sound of her heartbeat, beating in a rhythmic pattern that seemed to invade her thoughts.
Thump thump
What do I do?
It seemed like an eternity since she had been here, her usually perfect perception of time now all but gone. There were no hours, minutes or seconds to count, to keep track of… There was only the numbing darkness around here, and the constant, now deafening sound of her own heart.
Thump thump
There’s nothing to do now… Nowhere to go, no way out… I guess I just need to wait here until something happens…
Thump thump
Why me? What kind of cruel pony could do this to someone?
Thump thump
It was still rising, gaining strength and sound with every beat until it assaulted her ears like a fifty piece orchestra. She fruitless clawed at her ears, trying to make the sound, the only sound, stop.
Thump thump
She couldn’t think anymore, the noise was invading her very mind and drowning out all her previous thoughts and concerns.
Thump thump
There was nothing she could do now but writher around the ground like a pathetic worm, desperately pleading with whatever god or goddess there was to make it stop.
Thump thump
It was pure torture, not even being able to think as the rhythmic beating eroded her sanity. All she knew was the sound; the pounding of her cardiac organ as her atrioventricular values closed soon followed by the closing of her semilunar values. The complicated biological process of pumping blood through the heart resulted in the simple sound that was now consuming her world.
Thump thump
Driven insane by the sound, Twilight had now simply reverted to weak cries and the cradling of her body. She was slowly stroking what she believed to be her mane, hastily whispering, incoherent gibberish that even she didn’t understand. Still, as the darkness and silence surrounded her she was relentless tormented by the beating. It refused to stop, showing no mercy or remorse as it continued, somehow still growing in sound.
Thump thump
Only one thought shot through the insane beating, a simple frenzied desire to end it.
Hark! Louder!
Thump thump
Louder! Louder!
Thump thump
LOUDER!
Thump thump
She had forgotten her own name now. There were no memories, no pictures, and no thoughts that raced through her vacant mind. She simply… was. All she knew was the beating.
Thump thump
There was no Twilight Sparkle. She had forgotten about her love for reading, she had forgotten that books even existed. The memories of her friends had all but disappeared, the names of them leaving even before she forgot her own.
Thump thump
She cried, not knowing who she was, where she was or even what she was doing. The sound was maddening; it had taken the strong willed individual known as Twilight Sparkle and had reduced it to nothing but a muttering, weeping maniac. It seemed even one of the Elements of Harmony was no match for the insane effects of isolation. Cut off from the whole world, left only with the sound of her own heart.
Thump thump
Light flooded into the room, instantly blinding Twilight and snapping her out of her crazy trance. Her head shot up hopefully, hardly believing what was currently transpiring.
“Twilight? What in Equestria are you doing in the closet?”
It took the lavender mare a moment to realize that the small, green dragon standing in the doorway was addressing her. It took her even longer to realize the small, green dragon standing in the doorway was in fact Spike.
“Spike?! Oh my Celestia, I can’t thank you enough for saving me!” Memories, thoughts and her personality all came flooding back to her as she collapsed in front of him, weeping uncontrollably.
“Uh…” Spike gave her a mixed look of confusion and concern. “Are you alright?”
Twilight quickly stopped her crying and looked up at her number one student with a smile, “I am now, thanks to you.”
“All I did was open the closet!”
“Wait, what?” Twilight turned around, soon finding that the prison that she had spent an eternity in was in fact the library’s closet. A large pile of books was strewn across the wooden floor, no doubt the hidden objects she had knocked over during her frantic attempts at escape.
Her jaw fell open; hardly believing the torture she had experienced was the cause of a simple closet. “Bu-but…” She was at a loss for words as her mind trailed off, peeling back previous memories in an attempt to find how she ended up in the small storage room. After a minute it came back to her.
She had just sent Spike out on an errand while she worked on her latest essay for the princess. It dealt with the forming of intergalactic cosmic bodies, and upon realizing that none of her books held the required research, she headed for the closet.
With her one book held magically in front of her face trying to find something of value in its pages, she paced towards the closet on the ground floor. Due to her absorbed reading she failed to notice the large puddle of water Spike had spilled earlier, and because of his laziness he simply left it to dry. She slipped on the puddle just as she opened the door, instantly dropping her book and rolling into the dark closet. The blow to the floor must have been enough to knock her out temporarily, and the wind from a nearby open window must have closed the door shut behind her.
Twilight facehoofed as she came to fully realize the situation. She had locked herself in a closet. Smooth move Sparkle…
“I guess I might have well…” Twilight mumbled as she spoke, her beat red cheeks showing off her intense embarrassment to the baby dragon.
“Don’t tell me, you locked yourself in a closet?! Bwhahahahaha!” Spike instantly broke out into a fit of laughter, his small frame collapsing to the floor as he rolled around in mirth. His laughs eventually died down, and after wiping away a few tears he looked up at Twilight with a grin.
“It’s not funny…” She hissed, soon giving him an upset scowl. “And hey, what took you so long? I just sent you to get some more quills! I was in there for what must have been days!”
“Days? I was only gone for ten minutes!”
Twilight once again facehoofed. This was definitely one incident that she wasn’t going to include in her next report…