Centipede's Dilemma
Twilight yawned as the sun’s rays flooded in through her bedroom window, waking her from the best sleep she had had in months. She had been out so long, Spike had already woken up and was off doing whatever the dragon tried to do the rare occasion Twilight overslept. Without bothering to move yet, she levitated her hairbrush over to her and tried with limited success to fix her bedhead. Now accepting she would have to get up and move at some point in the day, the unicorn lurched out of her bed. She trotted to the mirror in her room, trying to fix her mangled mane without much success.
“Heya Twilight! You finally awake?” Twilight said something that may have sounded clever in her head, but came out more of a grunt than a sentence.
“What have you been up to, Spike?” Twilight grumbled, finally giving up on her mane.
“Well, I had made you breakfast, but it’s probably too cold to eat now, then I was going to put away the mess of books you left downstairs when a couple of ponies came in looking for books. Nothing much, I guess.”
Twilight grumbled at the thought of cleaning up the dozens of books she had pulled out last night, but conceded it wouldn’t be fair to make Spike put them all away alone.
“Hey Twilight,” Spike said, interrupting her sleepy thoughts. “This has always bugged me…how do ponies walk around on four legs all the time without thinking about it?”
“How do I-?” Twilight was caught unaware by the question. How did she walk on four legs? Walking had always come so natural that she had never questioned it. “Well, what about you, you walk around on two legs? Nopony else does that.”
“Well that’s easy.” He said with a laugh. “I just put one leg in front of the other like this.” Spike did as he said and easily strolled across the room. “I just don’t see how you ponies can keep track of all those legs. I think I’d fall over in two steps.”
“It’s not that hard.” Twilight said, “You just…you just…” Twilight looked at her hooves uncertainly. Something about the conversation had frozen her hooves. “Well, you just…” the unicorn took an uncertain step with her front right leg, then her back right. The unicorn began to panic and picked up her left front leg, only to slide on her uneven legs. The purple pony scrambled to right herself, finding herself back where she started. Spike was holding back laughter.
“No, that’s not right.” She said, disturbed that she couldn’t control her legs. She started again, bringing her two back legs forward, only to fall backwards as she tried to move farther. Spike couldn’t contain himself any longer and rolled on the floor laughing. Twilight pulled herself back up and shook her head. “No! What’s wrong?” she yelled.
Calm down, Twilight, you can do this.
Twilight took a breath and put her front hoof forward. She stopped and thought for a minute, then brought forward her back leg on the same side. She looked around awkwardly, trying to ignore Spike’s laughter. She put pressure on her two hooves and half-jumped, half-walked her other two hooves forward. It wasn’t the most effective way to walk, but any other attempt at walking caused her to slide more, eliciting more laughter from Spike that only distracted her more.
Twilight let out a sigh as she came out of bedroom. Surely that was over. But Twilight looked ahead to find the floor was gone. Looking down, Twilight remembered the stairs and gulped. Slipping in her bedroom wouldn’t have meant much, but falling down the stairs could hurt. She contemplated using her magic to teleport to the floor.
No, Twilight, you have to conquer this thing. You can do this.
Cautiously, Twilight set a hoof on the first step. Her other front hoof came down on the same stair and Twilight knew she was in trouble. She lifted her front right hoof to try to get to the next step and lost her footing. Her left leg buckled and she started falling down the stairs. The pony scrambled, trying to grab any purchase she could, but only managing to speed her descent.
“Gah! Ooh! Ahh!” Twilight cried out as she fell down the stairs. The purple unicorn collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, barely able to catch the image of a laughing dragon at the top of the stairs.
“Come on, Twilight, I thought you said it was easy!” Spike managed to say after catching his breath.
“It was.” Twilight grumbled as she stood back up. She tried her awkward alternating walk again, managing to get to the main part of the library. The purple pony looked around at the books scattered everywhere, some forming piles and other creating veritable towers. Her horn glowed a soft purple and the books on the floor began to levitate around the room and back to where they belonged. Now focused on the books, Twilight walked easily through the library as she shelved the books.
“Uh, there, simple.” Twilight said when she realized she was walking normally again. “I told you there was nothing to this walking business.” As the unicorn turned to leave, there was a deep rumble. The floor collapsed under the pony, and she scrambled to grab onto something, anything. It was too late. She fell, screaming, into the deep pit, nothing surrounding her but the eerie red and black shadows on the walls.
“AAAAAUUUGH!” Twilight bolted out of bed. The midmorning sun invaded her window, reminding her she had overslept. It was a dream. Nothing but a dream. She laughed at herself as she levitated her brush over to her bed. It was so real, so…scary. But, it was a dream. She heard footsteps running up the stairs.
“Twiilight! Are you all right?” the baby dragon yelled as he charged up the stairs.
“Yes, Spike. Just a little nightmare is all.” Twilight said with a smile. “Nothing to worry about. What have you been up to today?”
“Well, I had made you breakfast, but it’s probably too cold to eat now, then I was going to put away the mess of books you left downstairs when a couple of ponies came in looking for books. Nothing much, I guess.”
Twilight froze. That was familiar from somewhere. Too familiar…
“Hey Twilight,” Spike said, interrupting her racing thoughts. “This has always bugged me…how do ponies walk around on four legs all the time without thinking about it?”