> The Strange Cases of Twilight Sparkle
>  by DrakoGlyph
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Case 33
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight awoke early in the morning as the sun shone through her window, lightening up the upstairs of Golden Oaks Library. Today was going to be an interesting day, she thought. She had just received a book the previous night from Princess Celesita, and as of yet she had not opened it. Normally she opened such packages immediately, but after the exhaustion she felt from her duties as the Princess of Friendship, she could barely make it up to her bed before she collapsed in exhaustion. In fact, her covers had only been put on top of her because Owlowiscious was hooting quietly in the corner.
She awoke with a yawn, crawling out of bed and trotting over to her mirror, levitating Spike’s blankets off of him as she walked passed. As with every other morning, he pulled them back over his head, aggravated. She gave a small chuckle as the baby dragon did so.
She unfolded her wings. It had been a month, but she was still getting used to them. She smiled as she unfolded them and levitated her brush. With a quick pass through her hair, it was set in her normal mane style.
As she went down the stairs, she got a strange feeling. It was as though she was being watched. This wasn’t exactly new to her; Princess Celestia would watch her sometimes when she was administrating things from Ponyville, but never this early in the morning, and never without a letter in advance.
No, there was somepony else watching her. She looked through the windows, all of which were closed; she hadn’t yet unlocked the library door, so they couldn’t have got in. She went over to the package at the center of the table and gave it a passing inspection.
It was wrapped in brown paper, and had been left in care of Spike while she was out doing her Princess duties for the day, which reminded her that she needed to visit Mayor Mare today to discuss a correspondence she wished to start with Princess Celesita. She went over to the desk in the corner, levitating the package the entire time, to make sure it was on the checklist she had prepared for today, and sure enough, it was marked down under ‘Open the Package.’
She turned back to the brown paper wrapping and was about to open it when she got that feeling again. She checked all the windows to see if there was anypony looking in any of them, but that search came up empty. She gave a quizzical look toward Owlowiscious, who was sleeping on his perch.
“Maybe it’s just Pinkie Pie,” she said, trying to explain away the creepy feeling that she was being inflicted with. She returned to the package when she heard the Clock tower ring seven times, stopping her in her tracks. She triple-checked her list. “Ow, horseapples! I’m running a bit behind!” She dropped the package on the table again and teleported to Town Hall.
The tall round building stood proud and tall. She entered it at a canter, wings tucked at her side. The receptionist for the Mayor looked up at her, gave her a nod, and pointed a hoof at the door at the far end. When Twilight entered the office, she got the feeling that she was being watched again.
The only window in the room was the one Mayor Mare was looking out, and there was nopony looking through the other way. This was certainly strange.
The rest of her visit with the Mayor consisted of discussing options for her writing the Princess a letter, and finally coming to an agreement that Spike would send it off next week. With a smile on both of their faces, Twilight stepped out of town hall, where the feeling she was being watched only worsened. She snapped around to look behind her, but nopony was there. She looked toward the clouds, considering the possibility that it might be a Pegasus invoking these feelings in her. That was when she found her answer.
There was one cloud moving with no Pegasus nearby. Twilight was immediately suspicious. This could be none other than one certain Pegasus.
“Rainbow, get down here,” she said, her voice bearing the discontent that Rainbow had been following her.
“Beep, beep, I’m a cloud,” Rainbow Dash’s voice said from the cloud, just before it zoomed off, leaving a rainbow trail.
With some focus and a little magic, a purple bubble of magic appeared before Twilight, and when it dissolved, there was the cloud, with a rainbow colored tail sticking out the back and two rosy eyes peering out at the Alicorn.
“Uh…” Rainbow said, “Beep, beep, I’m a cloud?”
Twilight’s frown remained where it was.
“Okay, so I had this irresistible urge to… lurk today. I don’t know why, but I did, okay?”
“An irresistible urge, Rainbow? Really?”
“Yeah, I’m serious.”
“There’s no such thing as irresistible, Rainbow. A trained mind can resist anything.” The glare hadn’t left Twilight’s face as rainbow poked her head out of the cloud. “If you just put your mind to it, you can resist anything, Dash. Seriously.”
“That’s not what you said about those candies last night,” Rainbow countered.
“I really wanted candy,” Twilight rebutted, “it’s not being irresistible, it’s a matter of me indulging once in a while.” She turned her back on the library. “I think you’ve lurked enough today, Rainbow. Now go to weather duty.”
“I already did weather duty, Twilight. Besides me, do you see a cloud in the sky?” She gave a proud expression before her head sunk back into the cloud with a soft poof sound. Twilight searched the sky, but what Rainbow said was accurate: the clouds had all been busted. It was a brilliant summer morning.
“Then go hang out with Scootaloo or something. Just don’t lurk. I’ve had enough of that.”
“Alright, Twilight,” Rainbow said with a heavy sigh before zooming off again. Twilight walked back toward Golden Oaks Library, but before she even reached the corner, she felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She quickly turned her eyes to the sky, but there was no cloud there, and no signature rainbow streak that signified when Rainbow was on the move.
She scanned the scene behind her to find what was odd about it, and that’s when she found it. A hay bale with Pinkie’s goofy glasses on the front. “Pinkie, not you too.”
“I am not Pinkie Pie,” said Pinkie’s voice from the bale. “I am Captain Haystack.” She gave a little chuckle from the confines of her disguise.
“Well, that’s funny, because you sound just like Pinkie.”
“Alright,” Pinkie said, popping her head out of the hay, “you caught me. I knew I couldn’t get anything past you!” She gave a wide smile.
“Just what were you doing behind me anyway, Pinkie?”
“I just had this feeling that I had to lurk, then my Pinkie Sense said that there was somepony who needed to be lurked nearby.”
“Oh? What’s the sign for that?” Twilight said, putting on the most understanding face she could muster with all the frustration she had over all that was going on today.
“Well, it’s a combo,” Pinkie began, “and it’s a big one. First my left eye flutters but my right eye stays put, then my left ear flinches, then my tail kinda…” Twilight stopped listening at ‘combo.’ This was something that she really didn’t care for. Sure, some of Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense was useful, but how was ‘Somepony who needs to be lurked nearby?’
“I’ll stop you right there, Pinkie,” Twilight said, bringing a respite to her ears, “I just want you to stop lurking. It’s creeping me out.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” She sped off toward Sugar Cube Corner.
Twilight let out a large sigh, then continued on her way back to the sanctuary that was her library. She made a detour through the open-air market to pick up an apple for breakfast. Her stomach made an unruly sound, and she needed to sate it.
She walked up to the Apple Stand to find Big Mac covering the stand.
“Hey, Big Mac, doesn’t Applejack usually handle the stand?”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac said. He gave a look at Twilight before shuffling a bushel of apples around.
“So you don’t find anything strange about you running the stand today?”
“Nope.” His usual replies were starting to vex Twilight even more. Normally, she was fine with his short answers and head motions in a conversation, but when it came to getting more information about if him than you already had, it was a chore and a half.
“Do you know where Applejack is?”
“Nope.”
“Do you know why she’s not working the stand today?”
“Nope.”
“Can I just get a red delicious?” Twilight wasn’t getting anywhere with this conversation, so she figured she would at least complete the task she had come to perform.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said, fetching the requested breed of apple, handing it to Twilight and taking her bits in return. “Have a good day.” It nearly surprised Twilight when she heard Big Mac say this, but she figured it was normal—he was taught manners on the farm, and no matter how shy he was, he would still use them.
“You too, Big Mac.” Out of the corner of her eye as she said this, Twilight saw the bushel of apples move beside her. She gave it a look and there was small noise from inside it.
“So, you say you don’t know where Applejack is?” Twilight said, inching almost imperceptibly toward the offending apples.
“Eeyup.”
“So, she wouldn’t happen to be anywhere in town?”
Big Mac just looked at Twilight and gave a small shrug.
“Well, it was nice talking to you, Big Mac,” she said, as she turned. The apples in the bushel moved again. “Actually, on second thought, I’ll take one of these Apples, too.” She said, hoofing over the bits and reaching into the bushel and, not really to any surprise to herself, pulling out Applejack. Twilight’s expression was a mixture of disappointment, confusion, and a hint of anger.
“Now hold on, Twi,” Applejack said, “Ah had no control over mahself.”
“That’s a common defense today,” the Princess of Friendship said, giving a sigh. “Perhaps the Element of Honesty can give me an honest answer as to why everypony seemed so interested in lurking today.”
“Honestly,” Applejack said, and Twilight felt some relief that she was going to get some answers to this madness. As the Element of Honesty, she would tell her the honest truth. Even when she was Discorded, she had a hard time lying. At least, at first. In fact, under a normal basis, Twilight couldn’t think of a single time that Applejack had successfully managed to lie without being so nervous that she almost, if not outright, gave herself away. Whatever answer this pony was going to give her would be the honest truth. “Ah don’t know.”
The smile that had appeared on Twilight’s face faded, almost making an audible deflating noise. She closed her eyes and tried the breathing techniques that Cadence had taught her, but they weren’t working. She needed some time to think rationally about this, with something that will calm her mind. She immediately thought of the book that Princess Celestia had sent her. It was sure to calm her! A new book! Of course that would work!
She started galloping until her wings provided lift enough for her to fly. She was proficient with her wings, as Rainbow had taught her at a fairly extreme level. She flew straight toward the Library when she noticed a tree there that she wasn’t used to seeing. She, in fact, had only seen this tree outside her library once before, when Cloudsdale selected the Ponyville Reservoir as the source for rainwater that year.
It was Fluttershy.
“Come on, Fluttershy, I know it’s you.” Fluttershy gasped from inside the tree. “Let me guess, you had an irresistible urge to lurk too?”
“I did, but I’ll go home now,” she said in her softest voice, almost inaudible to Twilight. “I’m ever so sorry, Twilight, I just don’t know what got into me today.” She broke out of costume, folded it up neatly, and stuffed it in a saddle bag that was behind a bush before putting it on and trotting in the general direction of her cottage.
With a sigh of relief, Twilight turned to enter the library when she ran smack into something she literally didn’t see coming. There was something right in front of her, and she reached out a hoof to touch it, when she did, she nearly shrieked as it appeared a part of her door came alive and walked around her. There was a faint sound of somepony grumbling, and Twilight knew immediately who she had bumped into. Even if she didn’t see her right away.
“Rarity?”
“I know,” she said, putting down the hood of her disguise which made her look exactly like part of the Library’s front door, “this isn’t very lady-like, but I had this urge.”
“To lurk?” Twilight said.
“Well, yes,” her cheeks were red with embarrassment.
“Just go home, Rarity.”
“Yes, I think I will do that.”
Finally alone, Twilight entered the library, walked to the table, and immediately felt eyes drilling into her from all sides. This feeling would not just go away!
“What is with everypony today!?” she exclaimed, teleporting all five of her friends from their various hiding spots: Rainbow from the cloud just outside her window, Pinkie from the bookcase in the corner, Applejack from the bushel of apples that she didn’t remember being there this morning, Fluttershy from the wall of the tree itself, and Rarity from the inside of the door. Each of them reappeared without their disguise, bashful and embarrassed.
“We don’t know, Darling,” Rarity said.
“We’re just in this mood today,” Rainbow continued.
“We just need to lurk,” Pinkie explained with a grin.
“Ah’m so sorry, Twi,” Applejack apologized, “but what I did earlier…”
“It just never seemed to be enough,” Fluttershy concluded.
With a sigh, Twilight pushed them all out of the library. “I want you all to go home and NOT LURK AROUND ME ANYMORE!” She slammed the door, grabbed the package, and ripped it open. It was titled “Strange Events Around Alicorns.” Inside the front cover was a letter from Princess Celestia herself.

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

In the bustle of your Coronation and the following celebrations, I did not get the chance to talk to you about the strange events that happen around an alicorn in the first few months of her reign. Often, they don’t mean much, but my great-grandmother told me about them.
I would like to assign to you the task of researching these phenomena, and reporting to me. Included here is the only known guide to these events.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

“I think this qualifies as a strange event,” Twilight said, pulling out a quill and parchment to take notes on. “And I get the feeling this is only the beginning.”

Case 33

My friends were all obsessed with lurking today. And they never seemed to have enough of it. I suppose this is the beginning of the strange events that will befall me as a new Alicorn.
I would have called them all stalkers, but they’re actually my friends. Though, it was kinda amusing to find Applejack in a bushel of apples. She fits in with them well.

Your most faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle
> Case 27
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight found herself starting to lose speed in her reading. It was late afternoon, and the results of yesterday’s ‘Case 33’ had been logged into the notebook she then put in her saddlebag. “I’m heading out, Spike, you can head over to Rarity’s if you’d like. I’m sure Owlowiscious can take care of the library.” The owl hooted in accord, then perched himself on the statue on the table in the middle of the room.
She was heading on a short little flight to stretch her wings and visit Rainbow. There was just some compelling urge she had to go visit her most loyal friend. As she flew over to the cloud building that Dash called home, she pondered about the mysterious events of yesterday, how all her friend were trying to lurk. She made sure that there were no stray clouds or trees following her.
She finally reached the cloud house of none other than Rainbow Dash, complete with its small, permanent rainbow fountain. As she trotted up the little walkway from the end of the clouds, Rainbow appeared at the front door.
“I’m so sorry about yesterday,” Rainbow said, “I really don’t know what got into me…” she put a hoof to the back of her neck. 
“It’s alright,” Twilight said, “I wanted to see you.”
“Oh? Do you want flying lessons?”
“Ohnonono,” Twilight said hurriedly, there were only so many times she could crash into the ground before her body would fail her altogether. She would prefer to save those times for an emergency.
“Well, I’ll teach you anything you want to know when you want to know it!” Rainbow beckoned her friend inside her house and they went through to the kitchen. The smell of one particular pastry was wafting through the air… muffins.
“Were you making muffins?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, I was going to have some ready for Derpy. I know I’m constantly being hard on her, but it’s because I think she can do better, so I’m making some muffins.” Rainbow checked the cookbook sitting on the kitchen counter, then looked in the oven. “I just don’t think they’re supposed to be black like that…” Both of them usually left the baking to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. It seemed that Earth Ponies, amongst their brute strength and affinity to grow foods, were also excellent cooks. Twilight was secretly jealous. “Yeah, I think we need to start over.”
Twilight looked into the oven next to Rainbow. “So, you really like Derpy?” Twilight asked.
“She’s a good friend. I mean, although she’s older than me, I kinda find her like a little sister, always in need of protection.”
“Are you sure you don’t like her more than that?” Twilight was pushed by some deep desire inside her to ask that.
“What do you mean ‘more than that’?” Rainbow said, giving Twilight a strange look as she moved back from the oven to the cookbook.
“I don’t know, like say…” Twilight wasn’t quite sure how to word it. How might Rainbow Dash understand?
“Like say what, Twilight?” Rainbow asked. She was starting to get confused and worried about her friend.
“I don’t really know how to explain it… didn’t your parents ever talk to you about the bird and the bees?”
“Twilight?” Rainbow asked. “I hope you’re not asking me what I think you’re asking me.”
Twilight was being driven by some unknown compulsion. She wanted to question Rainbow Dash about this, and there was no real clear reason why. “Are you sure you really like Soarin’ the way you think you do, Rainbow?”
“What?” Rainbow asked in utter disbelief. What was Twilight really asking her?
“I mean, are you sure you don’t like mares more?”
Rainbow Dash could only scowl as she finally realized exactly what Twilight was talking about. “Twilight, I’m straight.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Well, I mean I could be bi, but I do like stallions. Applejack once slapped me because I was drooling over Big Mac…”
“Perhaps we could test that theory,” Twilight said, teleporting Fluttershy.
“Ohdearme,” Fluttershy said quietly. “Is this because of me lurking yesterday? I’m so sorry!” She squeaked and buried her head in the cloud.
“Come on, Rainbow, do you like what you see?”
Rainbow merely stared at Twilight. “Twi, you’re drunk off the cider again, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not drunk.”
“And you’re not fretting over a late homework assignment, are you?”
“Nope, all my assignments are on time or better,” Twilight said.
“Then why are you trying to get me to look at Fluttershy’s plot?” Rainbow pushed the ostrich that was Fluttershy out of her way as she stepped up to Twilight. “And if there was any mare that I would want to be with, you know it would be a Wonderbolt, Twi.”
Their eyes met, and Rainbow’s glare was enough to break Twilight out of whatever thought was running through her head. “I’m so sorry!” Twilight said, teleporting off to her library. “What in the hay was I thinking!?” This was certainly cause for another entry in her notebook. She figured she would hide out in the library the rest of the night and send Spike out if she ever needed supplies.

Case 27

I was fit with a sudden urge to question whether Rainbow was straight or not. I just hope she can forgive me for the lengths that this strange desire made me go through before I realized what was going on.
Either that, or I’m out one Element of Harmony. Got any loyal friends?

Your most faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle
	
> Case 43
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight groaned. How could I do that to Rainbow? she thought as she glared at her reflection in the mirror. Something is wrong with me! She started panicking. What if she couldn’t handle the responsibilities of being an Alicorn? What if she collapsed under the pressures of princesshood? Could she really handle spreading her learning of friendship?
She started prancing in place, and the sound of her hooves hitting the floor was enough to alert Owlowiscious, who hooted loudly as he flew up the stairs.
“Owlowiscious,” Twilight said in a panic, “I don’t know what I’m going to do… something’s going wrong with me, and I can’t control myself!” She gave a quick pace around the upstairs to the library before hearing a knock at the door.
“Who could that be?” she said, trotting downstairs, trying to calm down the panic that was welling up inside her. She opened the door and found none other than Fluttershy.
“Hi, Twilight. I was wondering if I could have a moment, I mean, if you’re not busy.” She gave a smile at the princess. There was something so pure and beautiful about her. Twilight felt that she needed to corrupt it.
She didn’t know why, but she figured it would be satisfying. And she had just the perfect plan to do so.
“Sure, I was wondering if you could help me with something…” Twilight put her wings stiffly in the air. “I’ve sorta been getting these… pomf moments.”
“Oh, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, quickly getting in the Library and shutting the door. “That’s perfectly natural, but you shouldn’t show that off to everypony so freely.”
“I can’t control myself,” Twilight lied. She was being controlled by some unknown urge.
“Well, I can help you get this one under control, but you have to listen to everything I say, okay Twilight?”
“Anything,” Twilight said, with fake desperation in her voice, and a bit of something more alluring.
“Well, what I normally do,” she said, looking around at the various places in the library. Twilight hoped she was looking for a place to get down to business. And Twilight already had a pet. Twilight’s mind raced as she thought of all the very inappropriate things she was going to do with her guest. Her mouth began watering, and she could feel her wings stiffen for real. Fluttershy found a quiet corner in the library and planted her plot in it.
“What do you normally do?” Twilight asked, anxious to taint the innocence of her friend. The compulsion was growing stronger.
“This,” she said, just sitting there.
Twilight was dumbfounded. Fluttershy wasn’t doing anything but sit there.
“You sit there,” Twilight said, fairly disappointed. “You sit there and do nothing.”
“Well, actually, I’m only in a first stage of hiding, where I’m just in a house. There’s quite an art to hiding, and I still haven’t figured out how to hide from Rainbow Dash.” She thought about the day before last, then added, “Or you.”
This was getting nowhere. How could she seriously be this innocent? Twilight wanted to take that purity and break it so hard. But why?
“Are you sure you don’t want to take a more direct approach?” Twilight asked, prompting the next course of action.
“Well, I suppose we could play a game of Parcheesi or chess to pass the time, but I generally just sit in my cottage.”
This was not at all what Twilight had expected.
“What about when you’re with Rainbow Dash? What do you do when this happens around her?”
“When it happens around Rainbow Dash? It doesn’t really happen around her.”
She was getting nowhere with this line of questioning. She would need to advance her plan some other way. She trotted up to Fluttershy, and began to caress her friend.
“Twilight? What are you doing?” Twilight’s hoof, under it’s own accord was migrating from Fluttershy’s shoulder, down across her back, to the fluffy posterior that she sat on. “Twilight!” she yelled, well, said in a normal voice compared to other ponies, dashing over to the center of the room. “I don’t understand what’s going on with you! First, you teleport me to Rainbow’s house, then you start doing this!” The look on Fluttershy’s face said it all, and Twilight snapped out of her strange behavior. She shook her head and ran upstairs.
The sound of Fluttershy exiting softly was the only cue for her to descend the stairs again to grab her notebook.

Case 43:

I was visited by Fluttershy today after the fiasco at Rainbow’s house. I was compelled by some strange urge to try and take her innocence from her, but she was simply too innocent, and her innocence snapped me out of my compulsions. I’m not sure what’s going on.
But I think I may have lost another Element of Harmony.
I’m going to make a royal apology, but first I need to draft it a few times.

Sincerely Your Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle
	
> Case 28
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight awoke the next morning hoping she wouldn’t have the urges today that she had yesterday. Things were going so strangely today, and she didn’t know how things were going to go if she scared off any more of her Elements of Harmony. A half-worked draft of her Royal Apology lay on the table in the corner.
She figured she would be safe visiting the first mare she got to know when she arrived in Ponyville so long ago, Applejack. She trotted out to Sweet Apple Acres, finding Applejack out in the fields along the road, bucking apples as always.
“Howdy, Twi,” Applejack said. “Ah was afraid ya weren’t gonna be mah friend anymore, ya know, after I lurked.”
“Don’t be silly, Applejack, I’ll always be your friend,” Twilight reassured her friend.
“Always nice to have some company when Ah’m buckin’. Applebloom usually does, but she’s off with the Cutie Mark Crusaders today… like normal.” Applejack gave a smile, which only fell to a frown after she stopped to think for a minute. “Ah hope they aren’t doing anything dangerous.”
“I think they’ll be fine,” Twilight said, thinking of every other adventure she had heard from one of them, and even a few that she had heard form Spike. “They generally are.”
“Well, Ah’m gonna go check on her after I clear this field,” she said, placing a strong buck on the tree beside her, causing most of the apples to fall into the bushels below, and what didn’t fall of with the buck toppled off the tree when Applejack’s hooves hit the ground roughly afterward.
This impressive display of strength created an urge inside Twilight, which she tried to fight—it was something she knew was coming, and she didn’t want it to. She knew this was going to ruin her friendship with her friend, and she was going to do everything in her power to annul the feelings before she did something stupid.
“Are you sure you’re a mare with strength like that?”
Or, she could do something stupid anyway.
“What do ya mean, Twi?”
Don’t say it! Whatever you do, Twilight, don’t say anything more about it! she thought furiously to herself.
“I mean,” she began to say before she could do anything, “are you sure you’re not a stallion?” Twilight’s hoof made it to her face with a thud.
“Ah’m quite sure, Twi, or else Ah would have quite the difficulties with Rainbow.” There was innuendo in her voice, but then a hint of actual, platonic troubles. “Ah know Ah’m strong, but that’s because I grew up workin’ on the farm. That’s why us Apples are so strong.”
Twilight scrunched up her nose, trying to keep from saying any more. The urges, oh the urges. She wanted to just settle this matter so badly about whether Applejack was really a mare or not. Twilight already knew the answer, but something compelled her to continue asking. “I think you’re a stallion in disguise!” Twilight said, putting her hoof in her mouth.
“Now that’s just silly, Twi. Where would I put it?” Applejack simply gave a blank stare at her friend. “Why do you keep asking me if I’m a stallion?”
“I don’t know!” Twilight squeaked before shoving her hoof back in her mouth to prevent another faux pas.
“Are you alright, sugar cube?”
Twilight shook her head, just realizing that her legs had begun to carry her around behind Applejack, who didn’t turn anything more than her head.
“Twi? What are you doing?”
Applejack, forgive me, Twilight thought as she sat and stuck out her other front hoof toward Applejack’s orange plot. When her hoof met flesh, it was all over. With one moment of pain, the lights all went out.

“Twilight? Are ya okay?” Applejack asked, concern dripped from her voice.
“Ugh… what happened?”
“Ya sorta touched my plot, and I kinda… bucked ya.”
Twilight became aware of a pounding in her head as she lied in the grass around the apple trees. Her mind was in so much agony that she could hardly think, which was perhaps the best thing at this moment.
“I’m so sorry, Applejack…”
“Ah forgive ya, sugar cube.”
“Thanks, could you help me home?”
“Anything.”

Case 28:

After using a spell to recover the memories knocked out of me by Applejack’s buck, I am beginning to wish I hadn’t. I had such an overwhelming desire to question whether she was, in fact, a mare. She’s strong, but she is still that, a ‘she.’
I don’t think the dent in my head will ever go away, though. I think I need to see Nurse Redheart tomorrow.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.
	
> Case 44
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight had resigned herself to the library for the rest of the day to tend to her wounds. From what Applejack had told her, she had been bucked at least five lengths away. All Twilight felt like, though, was that there was a dent in her head the exact size and shape of her friend’s two back hooves. She drafted another copy of her Royal Apology before heading to bed, making sure to include what happened to Applejack.
Her head still pounding, she went up to bed to find Spike reading a book. This was both a surprise and not so much at the same time. Some of his oldest possessions were books, some he left sitting in the middle of the library, like ‘The Foal’s Guide to Magical Studies.’ That was a classic! Something she had read over at least twelve times before she gave it to Spike!
Of course, he was a Dragon, after all, not a foal. Twilight supposed there was some cruel irony in the fact that he couldn’t actually perform any of the spells contained therein, though, he never really gave the book away.
She settled down with a warm cup of tea, ready to go to sleep to put this ridiculous day behind her, when there came a knock at the door. She wondered who it could be. There were only five possible answers to that question: AJ, RD, Rarity, Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie. Applejack had just left, so she ruled out her. Fluttershy was probably in her cottage, embarrassed. Rainbow, she was probably still upset about the whole debacle. Twilight couldn’t figure out who was knocking at her door, so she went down and hoped that it was Rarity. Pinkie would probably only make her head feel worse at this point.
Her wishes were answered as the white unicorn trotted in with a stern expression on her face. “Darling, what is going on with you? Fluttershy didn’t show up for our weekly spa date. When I arrived at her cottage to figure out exactly what was going on, she was huddled in a corner, wings stiff as a starched shirt. Could you tell me what’s going on?”
“I haven’t the foggiest,” Twilight said, holding a hoof to the hoof prints on her head. 
“Oh my, what happened to you now?” Rarity immediately rushed up to her friend, placed her on her perpetual ‘Drama Couch,’ and proceeded to inspect the wound. “I’m not a doctor, but I have seen something like this before. It was when Sweetie Belle surprised a colt at school trying to talk to him,” Rarity said.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight responded vacantly, not really able to access the higher functions of her brain.
“What you need is some bed rest and some strong tea… oh good, I see you already brewed it,” she acknowledged the cup floating in the air beside her. “Now, let’s get you up to bed.”
Up in Twilight’s bedroom, Rarity tucked the violet alicorn into bed before turning to the books sitting on the nightstand. One title in particular stood out to her: ‘Mysterious Creatures Explained 4: Kelpies.’
“Darling, what are you doing reading up about kelpies?”
“They’re fascinating creatures! I wonder what it would be like to meet one in real life!”
“How could you say anything positive about a water demon? They exist to scare foals out of the water! Why would you ever think that they would be good?”
“Kelpies help protect the waters they live in from outside infestation—ow!
There was a twinge in her head that broke her concentration.
“Gah! Positive attitudes about Kelpies will let them take over everything! This is unacceptable!” Rarity scoffed before dragging the book off the nightstand. Twilight tried to pull it back from Rarity, but only succeeded in dropping the teacup on the ground.
“I’m so sorry, Rarity!” Twilight apologized, noticing the tea stains on her friend’s foreleg.
“It’s quite alright, Darling, but we need to cure you of your… weeahoof before you completely fail us, Twilight. Mark my words.”
“Weeahoof?”
“You know, support of the Kelpies,” Rarity explained.
“What’s wrong with supporting Kelpies?” asked Twilight, still affected partially by the buck to the head, was still trying to piece together the meaning of Rarity’s disdain for Kelpies.
“They’re…” Rarity’s eyes darted back and forth, “they’re going to be in charge of Equestria one day, don’t you doubt that. They have the power. You should see some of the things they build for fun. All mechanical and stuff.”
“Ponies do that too, Rarity. Don’t you remember Flim and Flam?”
“The Kelpies, they run it off… electricity. Can you believe that?”
“Yes, actually I can. I have some stuff in the basement running off electricity. And you have some in your boutique. Like your sewing machine.” Twilight was less than impressed with Rarity.
“Well, yes, but you don’t know what they can do with it. They once created a thing called a robot! It looked, walked, and talked just like a pony!”
“You know, Rarity,” Twilight stopped her alabaster friend, “I appreciate the help, but I think I just want to sleep off this headache.”
“Okay, see you later, Twilight, but mark my words. The Kelpies will take over the world with their electronics.”

Case 44:

Rarity was acting fairly strange today after discovering that I was reading up on Kelpies. Can you believe that she thought that Kelpies were going to take over the world because of their use of electricity? I mean, that’s just silly! I have three machines in the basement that all run off electricity, and I don’t think anywhere on there are the words ‘Made by kelpies.’
That, and the headache Applejack gave me isn’t going away. I tried the ointment that Nurse Redheart gave me the other month because of the headaches I was getting from overexerting my magical powers, but nothing happened!

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

P.S. The machines I have, they aren’t actually kelpie are they?


Dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle,

While I sympathize for you and this run in you had with Applejack, I must agree with Rarity that the kelpies harness electricity far better than we do. Which is funny, considering they’re water demons. I never really understood how they did it, but then again, I don’t understand a lot of things. Especially Pinkie Pie.
I would ask you to study the Pinkie Sense, but my scribe tells me you already did. If only I could find that letter.
I do appreciate all the notes on these strange cases. I will be sure to track them in my journal as well. Perhaps when you have completed all 47 cases, then we shall publish a book about them.

Your Teacher,

Princess Celestia

P.S. I’m not sure if those machines are from Kelpie Territory. All I know is that they’re electronic and go beep. I never got any readings off them when I tried to use them on the Royal Guards, so I figured they were broken. I only furnished them to you because I figured you could fix them.

P.P.S. Come to think of it, they monitor brain activity. I don’t know if my guards actually use their brains for fear that I will send them to the moon. IT’S BEEN A THOUSAND YEARS! Wait, don’t write that scribe!


Dear Queen Kagome of the Kelpie

I have intercepted transmission of a correspondence from a place called Ponyville. They seem to be onto our mastery of Electronics. We need to develop the robots faster!

Your Most Faithful Student,

Twilight Spark

	
> Case 36
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight passed the night amidst groans of pain and little sleep. The sleep she did get was haunted by nightmares that some evil would come to Equestria with her in this state, and she couldn’t do anything about it because she was missing several of her Elements of Harmony. As Celestia’s Sun rose again, she was deprived of sleep, and very groggy.
Climbing out of bed, she trudged downstairs to the kitchen, where she made a cup of tea to hopefully help her wake up. The sun only aggravated her headache, and she began to wish that Celestia didn’t raise it so early in the morning. But then again… it wouldn’t really be morning without the sun, now would it?
She managed to collect her thoughts enough to check the book that Celestia had sent her. She had been running around so much that she never actually got a chance to inspect it. It was a thin book, perhaps comprising of everything anypony knew about these events that plagued new Princesses. She wondered if it had happened to Princess Luna. It was a real possibility. She could hardly imagine how Princess Celestia stood being with her sister when she was questioning sexuality and gender.
She chuckled to herself as she stepped toward the door, only to notice a spider on the ground. Actually, there were two spiders. There was a purple one that Twilight was eerily reminded of herself by, and there was a red one that seemed to remind her of Big Mac. She blinked a few times to try and figure out if she was actually looking at something real.
They were still there, and it seemed they had noticed her, because they both scurried off into the books on the lower shelves. “Spiiike!”
“What?” the Dragon said grumpily, nearly falling down the stairs.
“There’s an infestation of spiders. I need you to get rid of them while I’m out.” Twilight shivered. “I hate spiders.”
“Okay.”
Twilight levitated the book and headed out the door. She needed to see Nurse Redheart about this headache. There was no reason it should last this long. She tried reading the book, but the headache prevented her from focusing on the words more intently than a glance. She picked up that the writer had the same surprise over the events on her life. She stopped just short of bumping into Pinkie Pie. Something about her was different.
Her hair was straight, to start, and this immediately drew Twilight’s attention. There had only been one time she remembered Pinkie’s hair this straight when it was perfectly dry. And that was a day she was sure that Pinkie would just as soon forget. There was something different besides that.
When Twilight had encountered this “Pinkimena Diane Pie,” she noticed there was strange about her energy, and when Rainbow related the story of what she had found in the Party of One, she grew even more concerned.
As for now, Pinkie held a tray of cupcakes that had cyan-blue bits in them, and very red frosting. Beside her, Rainbow was standing, wrapped around the torso with a red-stained bandage. She seemed to be in significant pain.
“Cupcakes!” Pinkie called in a voice that made Twilight’s fur stand on end.
“Made from an old family recipe!” Rainbow said, half with forced smile, and half with a bit of the pain.
“Ah made them mahself!” Applebloom said, trotting up behind the other two ponies.
“Hey, Rainbow!” Twilight called, cantering over to her friend. “What’s going on? What happened to you?” Her back seemed a little flat under the bandages, all except to lumps about where her joints that connected her wings to her side would be. That was where the red stains were.
“Well…” she pulled Twilight off to the side, “I think Pinkie’s going homicidal.” Her voice drenched in pain and fear. “All I know is the last time Applebloom made cupcakes with Pinkie, everypony who ate them was sick for a week!” The Pegasus stood between the Princess and Pinkie, who was already set on course to her. “I’ll hold her off! You go run!”
She landed roughly by the barn where she heard Applejack’s voice. There was something about her voice that made Twilight’s fur stand even straighter on end. As she tried to enter the barn, she saw Applejack standing there with a chainsaw. Twilight didn’t stick around to find out what exactly was going on, because the look in Applejack’s eyes was going to haunt her as it was already. 
There was no where left in Ponyville that seemed safe. She flew to the closest place that she deemed safe. Cloudsdale had been above Ponyville for the annual weather report. She landed softer on the clouds. then saw Fluttershy walking off in the distance, toward the Weather Factory. She chased after the Element of Kindness, knowing that she, of all ponies, would be the least likely to turn homicidal.
She tried to talk to her, but she already seemed in a conversation.
“Rainbow will be unable to make her shift. I’m here to replace her.” There was none of Fluttershy’s normal reserve when she said that. She seemed almost… excited to do this.
“I don’t know,” the Security Guard said, eying the yellow Pegasus.
“I already know about the ‘Device,’” she rebutted.
“Are you sure you’re qualified to run the factory?”
“Do you know who I am?” Fluttershy asked, almost seeming irritated. Twilight had seen this version of her before, when she took that class from Iron Will. She also knew what was going to happen next if the Guard gave the wrong answer.
“Not particularly.”
“I am Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. I have saved your plot so many times. I even reformed the great Spirit of Chaos, Discord into a good guy. I bet I can be kind enough to turn you into a mare with one kick.”
The guard looked at Fluttershy sternly, then backed off with a very worried expression. Twilight rushed up toward the door. “Hail, Princess Twilight.” Fluttershy spun around.
“Oh, hello, Twilight. Would you like to see the ‘Pegasus Device’?”
“Sure… I guess.”
The guard let the Princess of Friendship in and she followed her Kind friend. They wound through the catwalks above the main factory floor before arriving at a door marked “Rainbow Factory.” 
“Now, we would appreciate if you would wear this mask,” Fluttershy said, donning her own. “We wouldn’t want to… expose you to the ingredients of the Rainbows.”
“Okay?”
They walked through the door onto another catwalk that looked over a room. In that room were a bunch of fillies and colts, all staring up at the pair of them, with terror and fear in their eyes. There was one foal that caught Twilight’s attention: Scootaloo. How was she in Cloudsdale if she couldn’t get more than four feet off the ground? Perhaps the better question Twilight should have asked was why there was a giant mechanical device on the side of the room.
Fluttershy gave a maniacal laugh that she wished she had never heard. “These ponies will know what it means to invoke the wrath of Fluttershy!” She flipped a switch and conveyor belts on the device whirred to life, leading away from the timid foals beneath them. “They made fun of me. Told me I couldn’t fly! Now I’ll show them who the master of the Pegasi is!”
“Uh, Fluttershy?” Twilight said, in concern.
“Now, who will be the first to be fodder for the Rainbow Factory?” Fluttershy’s voice was also dripping with the insanity that Twilight had seen all day. What did she mean ‘fodder’?
“You,” Fluttershy addressed, pointing at one of the fillies next to Scootaloo, “step onto the conveyor belt and produce Rainbows for all Equestria!”
“Fluttershy, what’s going on?”
“This is the Rainbow Device. It uses fillies and colts to make Rainbows!”
Twilight was half curious, half scared to know how exactly this was done. She watched as the filly climbed on the conveyor belt, and was carried into the machine, where gears grinded, and there was the sound of something breaking, something like bone. Twilight screamed as she immediately flew out the door, dropped her mask, took off, and, in mid-flight, teleported herself to the Library, where she crashed into the bookcases. She didn’t care; she just had to get away from all the homicidal, crazier-than-could-ever-be-accepted-in-society ponies. She hid under her covers, cowering from the rest of the world.

Case 36

I am currently cowering in my room. It seems that three of my friends have turned into homicidal maniacs. Rainbow fell victim to one of them, and I can only imagine what happened to Rarity. I don’t think any of her lady-antics will save her from Pinkie or Applejack for long.
We seriously need your help here. Or perhaps a good psychology team. They still study that at school, don’t they? I just hope I’m not eaten by the babies of those spiders I saw earlier.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle


Hey guys,

Did any of you notice something strange with Twilight today? She seemed really jumpy! I mean, she didn’t even ask how I injured my back. I guess she didn’t because Pinkie was trying to pawn off Applebloom’s hideous cupcakes. Who puts ketchup on a cupcake?
I mean, I hid them under my bandages, but I couldn’t hide any more than two under there.

Rainbow Dash


Dear Rainbow Dash,

Just because Applebloom doesn’t know how to bake yet doesn’t mean her cupcakes were hideous. They’re just… misinterpreted.
And yes, I did notice that she seemed a bit strange. I was getting frustrated with my chainsaw when she walked in, and she just ran off before I could say anything.

Applejack


Dear Rainbow Dash,

Aren’t you going to stay for cupcakes?

Applebloom


Dear Rainbow Dash,

What’s wrong with ketchup on cupcakes‽ It’s just as good as hot sauce!

Pinkie Pie

P.S. I love Interrobangs! ‽‽‽

P.P.S. Did anypony like my new hairstyle? Somepony suggested that I looked better that way, but I don’t see how. I love my hair poofy!

P.P.P.S. Do you think that maybe sometime I could borrow Applejack’s Chainsaw?


Dear Rainbow Dash,

Does Twilight know how the Rainbow Device produces rainbows? I mean, she ran off like it destroyed them and extracted the juices to make rainbows. That’s just… I don’t know. That’s bad. All it does is take a bit of their creativity to make the rainbow.

Sincerely,

Fluttershy


Dear Elements of Harmony,

Today is a great example of what happens when ponies don’t understand all of a situation, and only take in what they expect to take in. I hope that you all learned something from this.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia
	
> Case 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight awoke the next morning and trotted downstairs. She could at least think, but her headache was still there. She first checked her tea kettle for water, before boiling for tea and sitting at her kitchen table. Spike still laid in bed, snoring away. She was slightly amazed that he hadn’t flamed his blankets to Celestia yet. When the tea was ready, she poured a cup before setting the kettle back and letting it steep.
She was still a little groggy—last night had been haunted by all the things she had seen yesterday. She hoped she wasn’t going mad herself. Perhaps this was the curse of the Elements of Harmony: to eventually go mad and consume each other and all those who get in the way. She rested her head on the table when Owlowiscious flew in the window, carrying a letter and dropping it on the table.
“I didn’t know you fetched letters too,” she said, half asleep on the table, “don’t let Spike know that. It’s one of his favorite duties.” She levitated the letter, and read the address.

Twilight Sparkle
Golden Oaks Library
Number 4, Main Street
At the Table

She looked  twice at the bottom part of the address. How would the writer know she was sitting at the table… unless. She looked all around… there was a single cloud in the sky, a few of her books seemed misplaced, her door seemed a bit out of place…
She only had one choice, and she knew she had to confront them sooner, so she teleported all her friends to her. Rainbow appeared, as though she were in the middle of busting clouds. That only meant that her back foot was already in a collision course with her head. Fluttershy appeared next, dripping wet and covered in soap, whose immediate reaction was to slap the princess before her. Then Rarity appeared, shouting “SPIDER!” and her fore-hoof smashed directly into Twilight’s face. Applejack then appeared, in mid-buck, and knocked Twilight back a few paces, to appear under Pinkie, who was in mid-air, holding a note from a song, and landing flat on the Princess.
“Oh hey, this is the library. Oh hey girls, where’s Twilight?” Pinkie cheerfully said. There was only a groan from the Princess of Friendship as he pushed Pinkie off of her. “Oh, there you are! Don’t you know it takes more than one pony to catch an earth pony.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Twilight responded. “Now I want to know who wrote me this letter.”
“I was in the shower,” Fluttershy said.
“Go back to it, then,” Twilight relinquished, watching the yellow Pegasus walk out the door. “Now, who wrote this letter?”
“Ah’ve never seen it before in mah life,” Applejack replied, still getting used to the fact that she had moved spontaneously. “Oh mah, did I hit ya?”
“Yes, you all did, but I’m fine.”
“To be honest, Darling, there was a spider when you teleported me. It was purple, and it reminded me of you. But as cute as you are, I still don’t like spiders!”
“What? Cute?”
“Oh, nothing, Darling…”
“All I know is I was cloud busting, then I was here. I guess that’s why I hit you,” Rainbow admitted.
“So… no one has ever seen this letter before now?” Twilight said.
“Nope.”
“Never.”
“Can’t say Ah have.”
“Sorry, I can’t say I have.”
Fluttershy was in the shower, so she couldn’t have known she was at the table…
“Well, I apologize.” She sat back at the table, and opened the letter as all the other ponies filed out of her tree-library.

Dear Resident,

We do humbly invite you to Anonymous. We are here to crusade to make this world better in ways that regular harmony couldn’t.

WE ARE ANONYMOUS!

Sincerely,

Where the name would normally go, there was a severe amount of scratching out so as to obliterate all of the words underneath. Twilight knew there wasn’t a spell that would recover that information, but she could make out an ‘M’ at the edge of the scribbling.

Case 3:

I’m not sure what just happened, but I got a letter today from a group called Anonymous that wish to ‘crusade to make this world better in ways that regular harmony couldn’t.’ Honestly, Princess, I think they’re trying to usurp you. I would have double guard duty while I try and track down this group.
On the other hoof, I have five new hoof prints to add to the collection on my head, including another one from Applejack. And I thought Rarity was the generous one. Would you like to bring your sister and complete the set? On second thought, I don’t think my skull has the structural integrity to withstand any more hits like that.
This Royal Apology needs to be rewritten. I don’t think that it’s going to get done at any rate when my head keeps being a kicking bag.

Your Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

P.S. Do you happen to have anything that kills headaches? I don’t seem to ever have the time to see the doctors anymore. Is this another symptom of being a princess?


Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I am not too concerned with this group called ‘Anonymous.’ I have never heard of them, and I think my scribe would remember a group that sends me mail involving trying to usurp me. Besides, I still think ponies are afraid I’ll send them to the moon. I would rather send them to the Grand Galloping Gala than send them to the moon. I still don’t know why you wanted to come the other year. That does really baffle me. I sent the tickets anyway.
I would love to see this hoof print collection some time. I must disagree with your choice of location… perhaps have some paints and put them on a sheet of paper? I don’t know, perhaps logic has faded through your close proximity to fast-moving hooves in the recent days.
As for cures for headaches, I’m not sure what I have to offer. I guess mine have just gone away for fear that I will… well… you know. And for being busy all the time, yes, that is very typical of princesshood. I do think that you need to schedule some time to just relax. Perhaps I should contact Rarity; I hear that she knows the Spa Twins there in Ponyville well.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia 


Dear Queen Kagome of the Kelpie

I do believe now is the best time to strike. Recent transmissions have determined that one of the princesses has suffered severe brain trauma. I think this may have put her logical processing at a minimum. The target: Ponyville.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Twilight Spark
	
> Case 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight dropped the letter on the table. She had been startled by it. In fact, for the past hour, that is the hour after her second trauma-induced headache of the week subsided, she had been staring at it, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
“I just need to relax, and think about something else.” She walked past the fourteenth draft of her Royal Apology, stopping to add a comma, before heading out the door. She figured that she was even with most of her friends, well, except Fluttershy. She needed to go directly to her and apologize.
Heading out, she left Owlowiscious in charge, heading straight toward Fluttershy’s cottage. When she got there, she noticed that Fluttershy was out in the field on the right, lying in the grass.
“Well now, Ms. Barkle, that is certainly interesting.”
“Hello, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, hi, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, standing up to reveal a frou-frou dog that had Twilight’s coloring and almost her manestyle. Except that dogs don’t have manes. This struck Twilight as very strange. The dog seemed in a conversation with Fluttershy, so Twilight decided to keep it short. 
“I just wanted to apologize for earlier today…” Twilight apologized briskly.
“It’s quite alright. Twilight Barkle here was telling me about this Littlest Pet Shop she came from.”
“Twilight… Barkle?” The Princess of Friendship repeated incredulously.
“That’s what she says everypony calls her.”
“Right.” Twilight was only thinking that her position was being taken over by a tiny purple dog. How ridiculous. Dogs can’t even use magic! How can that dog be the Element of Magic if she can’t use it? She laughed inside.
“Perhaps you two would like to hang out some time?” Fluttershy suggested with a large grin.
“I don’t think I have the time,” she said, pointing to an invisible watch on her foreleg.
“Twilight, you’re not even wearing a watch.”
“Uh,” she panicked and teleported her mantle-top clock to her wrist and levitated it there. “It’s right here, and it’s saying that I’m late… for something else.”
“Okay, don’t be too late. That’s not nice.” Twilight dashed off before catching some air with her wings and landing in Town Square. She trotted some ways before running into Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who were walking to the far side of town.
“Oh, hey there, Twilight!” Pinkie said.
“Ever figure out who sent you that letter?” Rarity asked.
“Not really,” Twilight answered, not sure who was in on this little prank as she supposed it was. “I’ve just been out on a little walk to clear my mind.”
“We’re heading out to see this cool thing called a Transformer,” Pinkie offered, “care to join us?”
“I guess…” Twilight was wondering what Pinkie could have meant by Transformer. She supposed it meant a unicorn with powers over transfiguration. She proceeded with the two toward the edge of town, where there was a metal robot shaped like a pony.
“GAH! Kelpie Technology!” Rarity shouted, only to garner looks from all the others in the crowd. “Well… I suppose that was a bit of a hasty conclusion.”
“My name is Megatrot. I come in peace.” The machine emitted in a metallic, monotone voice.
“I don’t see why they call it a Trans—“ Twilight began before the metal pony started to move, bending unnaturally at joints and even at places where there weren’t joints on a normal pony. Soon, it floated there in mid-air as a gyrocopter.
“That was rather impressive,” Rarity said, “but it is still Kelpie technology.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, I forgot, your weeahoof.”
“Her what?” Pinkie probed.
“Weeahoof. Extreme support of the Kelpie.” She put her nose in the air and trotted off.
“Rarity!” Twilight called as she became aware of a loud beeping. First, it was slow, then it grew louder and faster until it hit a high pitch that Twilight was sure would shatter her eardrums. She determined it was coming from Megatrot. Fire emitted from its joints as it started to fail. Twilight immediately raised a shield around it as it exploded into a thousand pieces, cracking her shield spell to almost the point of failure.
“I told you,” Rarity scolded without turning around, “they will take over the world.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and decided that she needed to visit Applejack. She needed to settle that her forehead was not a great place to make hoofprints. Perhaps she could come up with a more tactful way to say that on her way out to Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack was hauling some hay into the barn when Twilight approached.
“Howdy,” Applejack greeted, “How’s yer head?”
“It’s getting better… very, very slowly.”
“Ah’m mighty sorry fer what I caused,” AJ replied.
“It’s fine. Really. It’s fine.” There were voices coming from inside the barn.
“Who’s that?”
“Oh, Ah got this strange crop of berries this year. Ah think some of Discord’s magic was left in the soil. They grew into these… beings. Ah mean, Ah think that they’re what Lyra’s always talkin’ about. Them… humans.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just follow me into the barn. Ah can’t really explain it.” When they opened the barn, there were two little, furless beings that where sitting up on their haunches, looking at Twilight and Applejack with what she supposed where happy expressions. They had digits on their forelegs, and used them to hold onto the teacups. Their skin was a fleshy combination of pinks and peaches, but perched atop their heads were berry shaped hats.
“Uh…”
“Ah don’t know what to do with ‘em,” Applejack said confused, “Ah don’t know if we can eat their hats, let them free, or what.” There was some concern in the farmer’s voice. Twilight wasn’t sure either.
“I think Lyra will take them for you…” Twilight proffered, retreating from the stares of Strawberry Shortcake and her friend. She flew up to Rainbow’s house, and knocked on the door.
“Twi?” she asked, only opening the door wide enough to let a sliver of her rose eye show through so she could determine the visitor.
“Can I come in? All this crazy stuff has been appearing all around town. I need a break.”
“I’m… busy.” She said, closing the door abruptly.
“Come on, what do you have in there that you don’t want me to see? I thought we were friends!”
“Well…” Rainbow replied. “You have to promise that you will never tell anypony. EVER!” Her rose eye peered out the slightly ajar door again. 
“I promise never to tell anypony,” Twilight promised.
“Okay…” she said, hanging on the word and opening the door to reveal that, strewn all across the room, were little teddy-bear looking things with all sorts of cutie marks on their bellies.
“What are these things?” Twilight asked.
“They’re called ‘Care Bears.’” She seemed a little agitated that anypony knew she had these. “This one’s Sunshine Bear, this one’s Grumpy.” She proceeded to list off all the bears in the room. They seemed to be as diverse in fur color as ponies, and the marks on their bellies seemed to represent something about them the same way that cutie marks represented ponies.
“I guess I’ll let you get back to it, Rainbow,” Twilight finally said, after being introduced to all the cast and crew. “See you later.”
The lavender princess flew back out of Rainbow’s house and back to the Library. With all these new things here in Ponyville, she figured she would write Celestia about it. Perhaps it was a case.  That, and she really needed to draft her Royal Apology again.

Case 10:

All of these strange things have appeared in Ponyville. There was first this little puppy that looked so much like me that I was beginning to get scared. Then there was this robot thing that Rarity swore was from the Kelpies. They called it a Transformer. I went to visit Applejack, and she had these furless, berry-themed characters in her barn. How strange is that? I finally visit Rainbow… well, she made me promise I wouldn’t tell anyone what I saw there, but suffice it to say that it was very, very strange.
She seemed into them, though.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle


Dearest Twilight

What you are describing there is a little bleeding over from other galaxies in our local area called “Cross-overs.” This tends to happen a lot, especially in the off season, when things aren’t as hectic here. Either way, they aren’t much to be concerned about, they’ll all return to their own reaches soon. I am concerned about Rainbow’s Care Bear collection, though. Oh, wait… I’m not supposed to know about that, am I?

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia


Dear Queen Kagome of the Kelpie

Our Scout has spontaneously exploded. I do think we need to put less time into making it transform and more time into researching coolant systems.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Twilight Spark


Dearest Twilight Spark,

It was said by our God, the All-Spark, that we are to build them to transform, or he shall not bestow us more electrical prowess. For now, I must ask that you continue to build them with transformation capabilities.

Sincerely,

Queen Kagome of the Kelpie
	
> Case 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight went to the Schoolhouse. Surely she couldn’t get herself in any trouble trying to pass the time giving an address to the school children. She smiled as she thought about how she was going to spend the day. Perhaps she could talk about being a princess. She was sure that the fillies would love that. She smiled wide as she knocked on the door.
“Yes, Princess Twilight, you may enter,” Cheerilee said with her ever-cheerful attitude.
“So, have you decided what you want me to talk about?” Twilight said, inspecting the walls of the classroom for what they could possibly currently be working on. The board had some equations on it that looked like they had been there for a while without being erased. The easel had a few drawings on it about cutie marks, but that was covered a while ago, Twilight knew that much herself. The thing that caught her attention fastest though, was the alphabet across the top of the room. It was plain and simply missing something… particularly the letter ‘b.’  That was to say that it was ‘A… C…’ Twilight immediately turned to Cheerilee and pointed it out. “You realize you’re missing a letter from your alphabet up there, right?”
“We are?”
“Yeah, the letter ‘b.’”
“Which letter, your highness?”
“B!”
“I’ve never heard of such a letter.”
“Then spell Applebloom.” Twilight was sure she was going to catch on to the little prank. That’s what it had to be. Who in their right mind went into the profession of teaching without knowing the second letter of the alphabet?”
“A-p-p-l-e-l-o-o-m.”
“That’s Appleloom, not Applebloom. There’s a letter missing.”
“Whatever are you talking about, Twilight?” Cheerilee gave an honest air of not knowing what Twilight was talking about.
“Okay, recite the ABC’s for me then.”
“You mean the ACD’s?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No, not really.” Twilight’s forehoof found her forehead, and she was sure that it left a clear indentation to complete the ‘Elements of Harmony hoof print set’ on her forehead. Perhaps this meant her pain could be turned into a profit.
“Cheerilee, seriously, what’s the second letter of the alphabet?”
“C. Everypony knows that.”
“That’s the third letter. What’s the second?”
“C. Like I just said. I think I’m qualified to tell you what the second letter of the alphabet is.”
“Okay, I’ll ask somepony else. Applebloom.”
“Yes, Twilight?”
“The proper form of address is Princess Twilight, Applebloom,” Cheerilee gently corrected.
“It doesn’t matter. Spell your name.”
“A-p-p-l-e-l-o-o-m.”
“You’re kinda missing a letter there, don’t you think?”
“No… Ah don’t think so.” She thought for a minute. “Nine letters, that’s how long it’s always been.”
“Then spell Sweetie Belle’s name.”
“S-w-e-e-t-i-e E-l-l-e.”
“So she’s Sweetie Elle?”
“No, she’s Sweetie Belle. Where have you been, Twilight?” Scootaloo injected.
“Then tell me, Scootaloo, how does Rainbow Dash spell her name?”
“That’s easy, it’s just a lightning bolt!” All of the foals in the class laughed as Twilight dropped her face to the ground. “I meant spell it, not symbolize it.”
“Well, then, I suppose it’s R-a-i-n-o-w D-a-s-h.”
“That’s Rainow Dash, Scootaloo.”
“No, Twilight, that’s Rainbow Dash. Geez.”
Twilight resigned and walked out of the classroom for a minute to gather her thoughts. This was getting her nowhere. How could the educational system completely forget a letter in its entirety. And how could everypony think to spell words with the ‘b’ sound without them? This was complete and utter ridiculousness.
She figured she should write Princess Celestia. She pulled out quill and paper, wrote the letter, and teleported it to Spike.

Case 1:

The schoolhouse here is missing an entire letter from their alphabet, and they don’t miss it at all! How is this even possible? How could our education system be so incomplete? What’s even worse, is that none of them even realize something’s missing, not even Ms. Cheerilee! And she’s the teacher!
I suppose I shall get about educating them.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

When the letter arrived at Canterlot Castle, it landed roughly between Celestia, Luna, and Discord. Each of them bore a smile as they saw the official seal from Twilight herself.
“This is going to be good, I just know it,” Celestia said.
“Which ‘Case’ did we send her on this time?”
“Case 1,” Celestia responded.
“This is hilarious stuff, Tia.”
“I never knew you had such a sense of humor, Celestia,” Discord said, and all three let out a hearty laugh. 

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

We do hope that you can teach them the errors of their ways. They need to learn the proper and true alphabet. I look forward to hearing about your progress.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia
	
> Case 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight received the letter fairly promptly, from an exhausted Spike who had ran all the way up to the schoolhouse. She unfurled the letter, reading it and solidifying her plans. She re-entered the schoolhouse, determined to teach them the letter they were missing.
“Are you cooled down, Twilight?” Cheerilee asked.
“Certainly, _ut—“ Twilight stopped in her tracks. Her speech had changed unexpectedly. Instead of pronouncing the letter _, it was simply skipped over.
“Certainly _ut what?” Twilight looked at Cheerilee with a gaping mouth.
“Twilight? Are you okay?” Apple_loom asked.
“I’m… I don’t know, Apple_loom.” Again, the letter _ had vanished from her sentence. She _egan to panic, _earing her fears that something would make her look like a _uffoon. She was making herself look more like one, though.
“You look like you’re panicking, Twilight, do you need a paper ¬_ag to _reathe into?” Sweetie _elle inquired.
“I… what in the hay is happening here?” Twilight whispered to herself. The _lood was rushing to her face as she _lushed. She was em_arassing herself, she could feel it. 
“Perhaps you need to go lie down,” Cheerilee responded. “I’m sure that we can reschedule this speech for a more _eneficial time anyway.”
“_ut, _ut,” Twilight was racking her _rains, trying to figure out what was going on. Every time she tried to pronounce the _, it disappeared. “This makes no sense!”
“What makes no sense, Twilight?” Cheerilee was starting to grow concerned a_out the Alicorn in the room. “I’m sure Apple_loom, Sweetie _elle, and Scootaloo can help you get _ack home and into _ed.”
“I don’t think that’s going to help,” Twilight responded, “we’re missing an entire letter of our alpha_et!”
“I don’t see what you’re getting at, Twilight. The A_C’s have always _een like that.”
“Yet just a_out,” Twilight stifled another panic attack concerned her other attempt to pronounce the letter _, “four minutes ago you were telling me that they were the ACD’s!”
“What are you ram_ling a_out, Twilight? A letter of the alpha_et missing? That’s ridiculous. I studied teaching from a young age, I think I know how to teach a schoolhouse of foals the alpha_et without missing a letter.”
“I think… I think I’ll come _ack…” she dove out the door into a full-fledged panic attack as her _’s were all slipping from her. She flew straight to Fluttershy to take a nice soothing rest in her _utterfly garden.
“Oh, hello, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. 
Finally, some normal conversation, Twilight thought as she landed and walked up to Fluttershy. “I was wondering if I could spend some time in your _utter—“ The letter _ was still missing from her words! This was _ecoming quite the pro_lem.
“Oh, my _utterfly garden? That’s  fine with me. Perhaps you’d like to take a seat on the _ench out there and have a _reak from your Princess duties?”
All the missing _’s were _ugging the _ewildered, pony. She fled from _efore the _enevolent of her friends and flew straight to the Li_rary. Surely the _ooks would _e unharmed!
She looked through the shelves to find ‘Star Swirled the _eareded: The History of Magic.’ Upon finding that the _ was missing form the title, she tore it from the shelf and scanned through the pages, searching out the letter. Instead of every instance of the letter, there was a _lank spot.
Her _reathing reaching a dangerous climax, she was _eginning to get dizzy from the lack of air entering her lungs. She knew exactly what she needed to do: she needed to write Princess Celestia a_out this turn of events. She pulled out her quill and paper, _eginning the letter:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I fear that there is a crisis going on here in Ponyville. We seem to have completely lost the letter ‘_’

She stopped there as she realized the _ that she had just written had vanished _efore her eyes. She tried rewriting it over and over, _ut every time, it disappeared as all those _efore it. Frantically, she scri__led faster and faster, trying to write fast enough to make the _ stay. Soon, she escalated to greater forms of marking the page. She tried using magic to mark it, _ut that, too, disappeared from the page. She tried singing it into the page with a _randing iron, and again, the _ disappeared as the em_ers cooled.
Evermore curious, she placed coals out on the ground in the form of the letter _, _ut the coals disappeared. She tried to kick through them, _ut they were definitely gone. To where, she wasn’t sure. She would have to rewrite the letter without the second letter of her alpha_et.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I fear that there is a crisis going on here in Ponyville. We seemed to have completely lost a letter of our writing system. Furthermore, when we try to say the missing letter, it simply stays mute. Sooner or later, we will not have the capacity to distinguish the letter anymore, and as such, we will potentially sacrifice a large amount of our society to this forgotten letter. If it is happening to the second letter, what is to say that no further letters will find themselves disappearing as well?

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.


Dearest Twilight,

I do not understand what you mean when you say that a letter of the writing system has vanished. As far as I am aware, I have used all 25 today. Wherever do you get that there was ever another letter in the system?
I sincerely think that you need a spa day to relax. Perhaps you can take tomorrow to do just that?

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia 
	
> Case 47
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight sighed as she returned, defeated to her library. She wondered why this was happening to her. What had she done, or perhaps not done, to deserve all of this maltreatment. She was going to take Celestia’s advice and head to the spa. She wanted to do some relaxation in the luxury pool spa, so she headed into town and toward the Aloe and Lotus Spa. She was certain the sisters would be able to help her unwind and relax.
She cantered her way through the town toward the spa, but was surprised to find it locked when she tried the door. One it was a simple sign:
Closed for the day.
“Okay, so I guess I’ll come back tomorrow.” Twilight had been so out of it, she didn’t even realize she pronounced her b normally.

She awoke the next morning and headed straight to the spa, not even bothering to try to wake Spike. Again, the door was locked, and the sign read:
Closed for the day.
Twilight needed her relaxation. The whole town knew how she got when she was stressed—she was never allowed to live that down. She walked over to the house of the spa twins to settle this matter, as she only knew how: direct research.
She knocked on the door to be greeted by a blue pony with a smoothed back pink mane.
“Hello, Lotus,” Twilight said, letting the disappointment coat her words.
“Why hello, Princess Twilight, how unexpected it is for you to show up at our home…”
“Shouldn’t you be running the spa?” Twilight asked directly. She wanted to be at the bottom of this case so that she could return to her relaxation.
“Oh, that pool? Don’t you know, Twilight, the pool is always closed!” She strayed back from the door, and Aloe made an appearance.
“The pool has been closed for some time, Twilight, now let us go back to our day off.”
“But… but… I was in there not two weeks ago, getting a hooficure!”
“I don’t think you were, Twilight, nopony has been in there for quite some time. Why, we haven’t even been in there ourselves for at least a week.” The Pink coated pony responded.
“I just wanted a day to relax in a nice bath and let the whole Strange Cases thing go. Just for one day… why are these things always too much to ask?” Twilight broke down crying, and the twins looked at each other, giving shrugs.
“I don’t really think we should do this, but…” Aloe said, giving a nod to her sister who ran off into the back room, “I think we can offer some services from here.” Her sister returned with a chair and some files.
“Come, have a luxurious spa day with us, Princess Twilight, we would be ever so honored.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

Are these senseless pranks really necessary? I saw Twilight break down crying because of the torment you are putting her through. My sister and I treated her to a spa day, she really needed it. I think you should let up, or else we’ll have another ‘Lesson Zero’ on our hooves.

Sincerely, Your Loyal Subject,

Lotus

Princess Celestia read the letter, surprised that it didn’t come from Twilight. She sighed.
“Perhaps we are taking this a bit too far,” she said.
“Nonsense,” Discord responded, “if she can’t handle a test like this then how can she call herself a true princess?”
“Discord,” Luna said, “Don’t make me contact Fluttershy.”
Discord only glared.
“He has a point, though, Luna,” Celestia responded, “she should be able to take anything that she comes across and solve it. We must continue as planned.”
That was when Twilight’s scroll appeared.

Case 47

After a long, relaxing day at the spa twins’ house since for some reason their spa has been spontaneously ‘closed’ permanently, as though it has always been that way, I figured this would be some case. I remember being in it just the other week. It’s really strange.
Other than the spa being closed, nothing strange has happened today. Thanks to whatever power let that be.

Your most faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle


Dear Princess Celestia,

I was wondering when you would open the spa again; this was supposed to be my time with Fluttershy for the week! You know how I need my spa time!

Sincerely, though very fretfully,

Rarity

	
> 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
	
> Case 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight awoke well rested. She knew deep inside that Spike was right, she needed some time to relax, and one day was certainly not enough for it. She wouldn’t admit it to Spike, lest his ‘I told you so’ montage never end. Now, she would certainly have to get to her Royal Duties; she had been holding off long enough. She freshened up and went downstairs. She looked at her list of things to do to find ‘Meet with the Mayor’ at the top, and not checked.
“That’s strange, I thought I made it a point to cross that off yesterday…” She gave a puzzled look at the paper as if that could solve the problem, then crossed it off again, making sure that it wasn’t a Pinkie Pie Prank of Invisible ink before turning around, hovering the list with her and setting it on the table in the middle of the room. The next item on the list: ‘Check the book that Princess Celestia sent me.’
“I could have sworn I did that,” she turned to the table to gaze at where she had left the book, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t where she had specifically left it. “Spiiike!” she called out, and the grumpy, purple dragon fumbled down the stairs.
“What is it, Twilight?”
“Where’s the book that Celestia sent me?”
“Well, let’s see, there’s so many of them…” he said, pulling a whole stack of books off the shelf and plopping them on the table. “Here’s the one she sent you for your first birthday here in Ponyville, and here’s the one she sent on the history of Nightmare Night—“
“That’s not what I meant. I want the one on the Strange Cases.” Twilight was audibly peeved, and the dragon picked up on it well.
“Geez, Twilight, you know I can’t really think first thing in the morning. Last time I saw it, you were heading out the door into town with it.” He shrugged and went back upstairs, no doubt to his bed.
“Owlowiscious,” Twilight said, summoning her nocturnal assistant, who hooted from the corner in response. “Was there anyone in the library last night after I went up to my room?”
The owl hooted twice, which Twilight took as a no.
“Then where in the hay is that book?” She started levitating book after book from her shelves, scanning the title of each one, in an effort to locate the lost book. Once all the books in the library had passed her eye, she dropped them all on the floor with a loud clamor.
“Can you keep it down?” Spike shouted from upstairs.
Twilight rolled her eyes before a knock came at the door.
“Coming,” Twilight sighed, weaving through the various mounds of literature now on her floor. She opened the door to a worried Rainbow Dash.
“Are you okay? I heard this really loud noise, and I figured something happened.”
“I just lost a book, that’s all.”
The surprise was almost palpable. Rainbow couldn’t comprehend that Twilight would ever lose anything, let alone a book. “You? Misplaced a book?” Then she broke out in the strongest bout of laughter she had ever had since first meeting Twilight. And that time at the Running of the Leaves. And a bunch of other times, all including Twilight for some reason.
“This is serious, Rainbow,” the Princess of Friendship scolded. “It was a special book sent to me by the Princess written by her great grandmother.”
“Okay…” Rainbow said, unsuccessfully stifling another roll of laughter. “Seriously, I got it now.” She breathed deep and got back to her feet. “You know who you should ask? Pinkie. That pony has a serious knack for finding things.” She smiled and lifted herself off the ground with a couple flaps of her wings. “I need to get back to cloud busting, see ya!” She zoomed off, leaving her signature rainbow trial.
“I could have sworn I picked the book up from Pinkie… but after what happened yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was all just a nightmare… yeah, that’s it, what I thought ‘yesterday’ was all just a nightmare!” 
She trotted out into the town, and it couldn’t be a better Friday afternoon. Rainbow finished clearing the clouds to reveal the bright sun and the whole town seemed more beautiful than ever. She smiled as she thought about her friends. Along the way, she saw Applejack, bartering with a customer for a pick of apples, and across the other way was Rarity, in charge of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It all seemed so… familiar.
“This… this is strange…” Twilight pushed on toward Sugar Cube Corner. It appeared around a corner, and Twilight smiled, more out of relief, to see Pinkie out front with 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.
“Well, just taking time to sit back and relax did me a world of good.”
“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 came to see if you had a book of mine,” Twilight asked.
“Was it… this one?” Pinkie inquired, pulling the very book Twilight was looking for out of some strange place that she always kept everything. “Because I saw it lying on the ground the other day.”
“That’s it, Pinkie, thanks so much,” the Princess of Friendship responded, levitating the book out of Pinkie’s grasp. “Oh, do you have the order for my brother’s birthday?”
“When is it? I had no idea! I hope I’m not losing my memory…”
“Next Tuesday. I don’t think I’ve ever told you his birthday before.”
“Well, I’ll go place the order now! Consider it taken care of!” The element of Laughter smiled and walked back inside to place the order. Twilight, satisfied with her observations that life was, indeed, back to normal, trotted merrily back to the library.
She stopped just in time to avoid Rarity, who was charging by toward the Cutie Mark Cursaders, who were mere inches from landing in mud when Rarity’s aura caught them.
This all happened before… Twilight thought, in my dream… but it… I…. Twilight had learned enough from Pinkie not to assume anything. Perhaps dreams where able to predict the future sometimes. She shrugged and made it back to the treehouse.
She cracked the book, intent on reading it, but the events that had occurred today kept springing to her mind. She had seen just about all of it in her ‘dream’: Applejack bartering, Rarity chasing after the Cutie Mark Crusaders about to fall in mud, Pinkie having the book… it was all exactly as she had seen in her dream, the only variable was where she was.
Perhaps this was a new kind of magic? She would need to write the Princesses and let them know before investigating further.

Case 22:

Today seemed very familiar to me from the start. It took me while to realize that it had all happened in a dream I had last night… more or less. Perhaps this is either a strange case, or I’m discovering a new breed of magic? What shall I call it? Somnivinity?

Your most faithful student

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia received the scroll in her private study, away from the on-looking eyes of her sister and Discord. Her mind was churning: should she reveal the truth behind these ‘Strange Cases’ or should she let it play out? She knew this was a harrowing of sort—a final test of the worthiness of princesshood… but it felt more like hazing.
Twilight had been through enough, she figure, but as she started the reply, the voice of Discord echoed into her head.
“Tsk, tsk, Celestia, and to think things were going so well. Do you think your family took it wasy on you when they put you through the Strange Cases? Luna has told me quite a bit about that time in your life. Why, she even told me about when you set the Cases on her upon her coronation.” The draconequus stood behind Celestia.
“Twilight also was not born an Alicorn. She ascended.”
“All the more reason to test her abilities, Celestia.” The draconequus wrapped himself around the room, so he could look Celestia in the eyes.
“Very well, Discord, but only because it is Equestrian Tradition.” She sighed as she filed the latest letter with the rest.
	
> Case 23
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight was well rested as she awoke. Her joys of learning of ‘Somnivinity’ had carried her into sweet dreams through the night. She was certain that this would be a good day. She wanted to finally get to her Royal Duties after all this time. She smiled and trotted past the sleeping dragon in his bed. Today she was going to finally get to that list of things to do. The last thing she had remembered before she went to bed last night was sorting everything on the shelves after her mad search for the book she had been trying to find. She checked her list for the next thing on her to do list, and the first thing that wasn’t checked off was still ‘Meet with the Mayor.’
She grumbled. Perhaps she hadn’t checked it off yesterday, though she swore she had. She crossed it off, again. “I thought this was checked off yesterday!” She watched the paper, trying to figure out what was going on. The line stayed where it was. “Spiiike!”
“What?” came the voice from upstairs, “I thought you were going to rest!” The half-drowsed voice came drifting down the stairs.
“That was yesterday, Spike! We need to get back to work, Spike!” 
She spun, trying to find the book, again. “Then where in the hay is that book?” She started levitating book after book from her shelves, scanning the title of each one, in an effort to locate the lost book. Once all the books in the library had passed her eye, she dropped them all on the floor with a loud clamor.
“Can you keep it down?” Spike shouted from upstairs.
Twilight rolled her eyes before a knock came at the door.
“Coming,” Twilight sighed, weaving through the various mounds of literature now on her floor. She opened the door to a worried Rainbow Dash.
“Are you okay? I heard this really loud noise, and I figured something happened.”
“I just lost a book, that’s all.” 
The surprise was almost palpable. Rainbow couldn’t comprehend that Twilight would ever lose anything, let alone a book. “You? Misplaced a book?” Then she broke out in the strongest bout of laughter she had ever had since first meeting Twilight. And that time at the Running of the Leaves. And a bunch of other times, all including Twilight for some reason. This all felt like it had happened before, she just couldn’t figure out why… then it hit her. This had happened yesterday.
“This is serious, Rainbow,” the Princess of Friendship scolded. “It was a special book sent to me by the Princess written by her great grandmother.”
“Okay…” Rainbow said, unsuccessfully stifling another roll of laughter. “Seriously, I got it now.” She breathed deep and got back to her feet. “You know who you should ask? Pinkie. That pony has a serious knack for finding things.” She smiled and lifted herself off the ground with a couple flaps of her wings. “I need to get back to cloud busting, see ya!” She zoomed off, leaving her signature rainbow trial.
“Okay, this is very strange.” She turned to the calendar, to try and figure out if her suspicions were true:  According to the calendar, it was only Friday. “Spike! Have you been crossing off the days like I asked you to?”
“Every night before I go to bed, Twilight.” There was a grumble that Twilight couldn’t understand, and she didn’t worry about it. She shrugged and set off out the door. Perhaps Pinkie had the book, and she was just… reliving the same day? Was that even possible?
She trotted down the main street, heading toward the Corner, trying to retrieve her book at the only place she could ever figure it could be. She was admiring the weather; Rainbow’s team had put out a nice sunny day.  Applejack was bartering with a customer, in fact, the same one who had been bartering with her twice before. Perhaps she had been living the same day over and over again?
That was silly, and there was no possible way that could be. What could possibly make anypony live the same day over and over again? She had gone back a week once, but that was a one-shot spell… there was no way she could do it again. It was impossible to relive the same day over and over again! There was simply no way it was true!
She turned her head the other way, and saw Rarity and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. That could happen every day… but she was also buying the same fabric… perhaps this was just because she had underestimated how much she needed for her order, or perhaps the Crusaders had gotten into them…
She breathed In, trying to calm herself. There was a perfectly logical explanation for all of this. She walked up to Sugar Cube Corner to see Pinkie out front handing out muffins. She did this a lot, Twilight supposed, or perhaps this week was a promotional thing, even though Sugar Cube Corner was the only bakery everypony seemed to use. Nothing made sense about these past weeks made sense… perhaps this was another Strange Case?
She needed that book. And she knew only one pony to ask.
“Howdy!” Pinky shouted. “You look so much better today!”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I think I’m living the same day over and over again…”
“Is it the second of February already?”
“What?”
“Oh, never mind, I was just making a reference.”
“Reference to what?”
“I don’t think you’ve seen the movie, but it’s got Bill Mulerray in it.”
“I just need to know if you have my book…”
“Is it this one?” she said, holding out the book that Twilight had been searching for the whole time.
“Yes, thank you,” she said, levitating the book out of Pinkie’s hooves, running it home, past a Rarity who was dashing past to catch the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were just about to land in the mud. That was another thing she had seen before…
She shook it off, perhaps it was just something else that had happened two days in a row… she walked into the Library, placed the book on the table, and took to reshelving the books again, but was so exhausted from the process that she couldn’t possibly read the book tonight.

Case 23:

I have this strange suspicion that I’ve been through this day before… in fact, I don’t think that Somnimancy even exists. I think that I’ve been reliving the same day over and over again. I need to look into it some more, but I think perhaps this is another of the Strange Cases. Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow it won’t be the same day… again.

Your most faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle


Princess Celestia sat in the Royal Hall, reading the latest Strange Case report, but it was starting to get to her. She couldn’t do this to her most faithful student, her favorite of all unicorns… well she was before she ascended to Princesshood. This was the rite of passage, the harrowing as it were to prove a princess’s ability to take whatever would come to pass, and make it through in one piece.
She had been through it, her sister went through it, her mother had been through it, her grandmother… perhaps Twilight had got to read the book, and Celestia’s little afterword…
“Celestia,” Discord said, holding a bowl full of… paper? “I hope you weren’t thinking about that afterword you wrote in the Strange Cases handbook. I wouldn’t want you to let her cheat!” He took a fork out of thin air and picked up a set of paper out of the bowl and ate it. “So I took the liberty of taking the cheat sheet and… well, digesting it for later reference.”
“I would appreciate if you stop eating paper… you know it gives you indigestion, Discord.”
“Only when I eat non-fiction… it’s too real for me.”
The glare from Celestia was enough to turn any lesser being to stone itself, but Discord knew what it meant.
“Very well, but I’m not returning your afterword to the book. And if you try sending her a letter of warning, then I will have to stop you.”
	
> Case 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight came downstairs, and to her relief, the book she had chased down thrice now sat where it should, upon the counter in the middle of the library. Her to-do list was updated, and she was, for once, making progress since these infernal ‘Strange Cases’ started. 
She started off with a bowl of oats and headed out the door to see what trials of friendship this day was sure to have, but before she could get out the door,  Owlowiscious hooted at her, holding forth a letter in his talon.
“What’s this?” Twilight asked herself as she took the paper telekinetically from the bird. “It’s a letter?”

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I fear that our last letter has not reached you, so we send you this one in the hopes that you will learn of and join the ranks of Anonymous. Our numbers have grown to 6000 ponies from all walks of life across Equestria, and your support would drive our cause even farther.
Please, do respond to this letter by placing a

There was a word there that was scratched out, and all Twilight could make out was M.

cupcake in your mailbox. We will take this as a sign that you have joined our ranks as Anonymous.

Sincerely,

Anonymous

Twilight stared at the letter for a moment, then found a second piece of paper taped to it.

Make sure the cupcake does not contain any nuts. We will not forgive you if there are any nuts in the cupcake..

Twilight felt this ‘Anonymous’ group, whose previous letter sat next to the Strange Cases book she had been trying to read, was trying to make another attempt to usurp Celestia. In haste, she summoned Spike to send her teacher a letter.

Case 4:

I have received another letter from this group calling themselves Anonymous. They say that their numbers have reached 6000 ponies across Equestria. If we don’t prepare now, the whole of Equestria will be in danger.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight paced back and forth as the smoke wound its way toward Canterlot, and it wasn’t long before she got a response from her mentor.

Dearest  Twilight

It seems that this organization has vastly become of importance. You need to infiltrate and take them down from the inside. Do whatever you must, Twilight, for the sake of our order.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Celestia watched as the scroll left the tower and blew its way toward Ponyville. She could only hope that Twilight would make it through this harrowing of trials. Discord was keeping too close an eye on her for her to reveal the secrets, and she just knew that this was probably going to break Twilight even worse than the ‘Lesson Zero’ incident.
She turned her gaze to the red eyes in the stained glass behind her. “I don’t think this is worth it anymore, Discord. Sure, it was some good fun in the beginning, but it has reached a point where I don’t think she will make it.”
“Surely you’re not giving up so soon, Celestia. We have done less than a third of the cases, and we must push forth. Your parents and mentors gave you no heading or advice in your harrowing, and the same will be applied to Twilight.” With a single tap to Celestia’s head, her colors faded and her countenance fell.
“Discording me will not help  you in the slightest, Discord,” she said, her colors returning. “I remember when you tried using that trick on me so long ago.” She glared at the draconequus. “Now, I have my own royal duties to attend to, shall I do them, or shall I slack off like you seem to do so often?”
“Remember, I’m keeping a close eye in you, Celestia. Do not try warning her.”

Twilight stuffed the only cupcake she had into her mailbox, and hoped she could be accepted into this strange group of ponies. With a sigh, she resumed her normal daily tasks.
> Case 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She had just set down the letter from Anonymous when a rapid knock came at her door. It seemed urgent and very anxious to get her to come to the door.
“Twilight! I know you’re in there! There’s an emergency in Town Square!”
It was Rainbow Dash, no doubt about it. She was the one sent because she was the fastest of them all, of course. Twilight opened her door and gave Rainbow the ‘Explain’ look.
“There’s this massive troll in Town Square! He’s threatening that if nopony can defeat him in a game of chess, then he will destroy the town!”
“That’s not at all how trolls behave, Rainbow. Next time you try to prank me, do some research before hand.”
“That’s what Fluttershy said you would say, but it’s true! Do I need to go get Applejack for you to believe me?”
“Fine, I’ll come see this ‘troll’ who’s terrorizing our little town.” Once they pair reached town square, sure enough, there was a giant creature, covered in bumps and pustules. It was a featureless shade of gray, covered only by a loin cloth, sitting on the fountain’s edge with a table and a chess set upon that table. It turned its gaze to Twilight the moment she became visible.
“I see there is a worthy opponent,” it grumbled out in a very deep tone.
“Alright, if it’s a bout of chess you want, I’ll face you.”
The chess board was set up with white on the troll’s side. “Your move, whelp.”
“My name is Twilight, not whelp,” Twilight grumbled herself as she moved one of her pawns forward two spaces. That’s when the troll immediately took one of his pawns and replaced Twilight’s. 
“Checkmate,” he said.
“That’s not at all how chess works! If you can’t follow the rules then I will have to remove you from Ponyville by force!”
The troll immediately took the pawn he just moved and knocked over her king with it. “Checkmate. I win.” He gave a horrendous smile.
“THAT IS NOT HOW CHESS WORKS! THE PAWN CAN’T EVEN MOVE IN THAT DIRECTION!” Twilight yelled.
“It’s how chess works for me, and no one bothered to ask how the game works.”
Twilight was fuming, and her friends were expecting one or two things to happen, one, she would spontaneously combust again, or two, she would go ‘want it, need it’ crazy again.
“Don’t you know anything, Whelp? Arguing never wins anything, especially with a troll.”
“Fine! Then I will have to resort to other means to remove you!” She let  her aura glow brightly and in a magenta bubble, the Troll vanished.
Still, there was something very wrong about this whole situation. Perhaps another Strange Case…
She pulled out a quill and paper later and wrote her notes:

Case 14:

A Troll came into town square and threatened to destroy our town if no pony defeated him at chess. He didn’t follow any of the rules, and when I called him on it, he knocked over my king calling checkmate! It was ridiculous! Even for all the things I have gone through lately. I ended up teleporting him somewhere, I don’t know where, but it’s nowhere near any ponies.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord smiled his toothy smile as Celestia read out her letter. “One of my finer works of art, the troll.”
“This should stop. It has long passed the funny stage and now is beginning to become dangerous. Twilight gets unpredictable when she is placed in stressful situations. She’s only an alicorn because she was able to finish Star Swirl’s Spell, and she’s a princess because that is what all alicorns are. I don’t think she has had enough preparation for this.”
“Always the downer, you are, Celestia.” Discord humphed before he left the room, but the feeling of his presence remained, so Celestia didn’t dare to try to write back Twilight.



Twilight gave more thought to the troll, and she began to consider the color… where has she seen such a featureless gray before?
	
> Case 30
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight sent her letter then turned to head back out the door. She still had Princess Duties to perform, after all. She needed to make sure that her principality here in Ponyville was safe and orderly.
The moment she walked out the door, though, things were very quiet. Too quiet. There was no pony on the streets. No pony at all. She gave pause, perhaps missing that today was a special event, but Summer Sun Celebration was a ways away and Nightmare Night was even farther. There was absolutely nothing special about this particular Saturday, so where had everypony gone?
She cantered through the streets, looking for anypony before going to Sugar Cube Corner. Surely Pinkie would know where every pony was, if they weren’t there for some gig that she had perhaps misplaced the invite for in all her bustling about since these Strange Cases began.
But the only one at Sugar Cube was Mr. Cake.
“Where is everypony?”
“What do you mean, Twilight? Big Mac’s at Sweet Apple Acres, the Sofa clerk went to a convention in Trottingham, the waiters at the café took the day off. It’s Saturday, after all. That’s everypony.”
There was one thing in common with all of the mentioned ponies: they were all stallions. This fact didn’t elude Twilight for once second.
“What about the mares? Where’s Pinkie? Or Mrs. Cake?”
“What do you mean? There’s no such thing as a mare, not here.”
“I’m a mare, Mr. Cake,” Twilight said caustically.
“Well, that makes one then, but mares never come to Ponyville.”
“My five best friends are all mares, they live in Ponyville. They wouldn’t just up and leave without telling me.”
“I’m sorry to hear your friends abandoned you, perhaps you’d like a nice cupcake?”
“I don’t want a cupcake.” Aggravated, she stormed off to Sweet Apple Acres, where she promptly found Big Mac, plowing a field for corn.
“Hello,” the quiet stallion responded when Twilight came toward him.
“Where’re your sisters?”
“Who?”
“How could you forget Applejack and Applebloom?”
“I’m the only one here at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight.”
“Ugh!” Her hoof hit her face, reminding her of the full set of ‘Element of Harmony Hoof Prints’ on her head.
She spent the rest of the day searching high and low for signs that a mare had been in Ponyville, but not even the florists were present. How could it be that she was the only mare in all of Ponyville? She needed to write Princess Celestia.

Case 30:

I have come across a complication in my duties here, all the mares, which is to say most of the population of Ponyville has vanished. Perhaps it is the work of this Anonymous group on their first coup toward usurping you, Princess. I think we need to seriously rethink this group!

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle


Princess Celestia received the letter, and wanted to respond to it by giving advice to her most faithful student, and frankly, greatest friend apart from her own sister, but this case only called for one response, and Discord was procuring it.
The Draconequus had finally found Blueblood in the hall of Stained Glass, admiring the glimmering colors of the accomplishments of her aunts, and the Elements of Harmony. 
“Blueblood, I need you to write a letter for me,” Discord said, “I’ll tell you what to say, but it has to be your penmanship.”
“I do not work for you, Discord, I am a Prince. You work for me!”
“Don’t make me discord you again,” the Spirit of Chaos said, fondly remembering the time that he had released a Blueblood that actually cared for something other than himself.
“Oh anything but that! It would ruin the perm I just had on my tail!” He levitated the quill and letter from Discord.

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

We do not know who this Princess is you are attempting to reach, for I am the only royalty in Canterlot. It has been this way for a thousand years, and it will not change for another thousand. I do believe you have been up for far too long, and need some sleep, lest more delusions prevent you from your princessly duties.

With Care,

Prince Blueblood

“WHAT!?” was the first thing out of Twilight’s mouth when the letter came back. “That pony couldn’t rule the left side of his mane! How is he possibly in charge!?”
“Twilight, calm down, and give this a rest for today. You’ve been out teleporting Trolls, and all kinds of things today, maybe you just need to curl  up with a good book,” Spike advised.
“Sure, Spike, I suppose I do.”
	
> Case 29
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight curled up on her bed with a copy of the latest Daring Do book when she hear giggling outside. Those laughs were very, very familiar… the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Shut it, Sweetie or you’ll blow our cover!” Scoots whispered with the same effectiveness as Rainbow ever did.
“I’m sorry, but this leaf was tickling me!”
“Would ya’ll stop? Twilight’s in there!”
“So, girls, what are you up to?” Twilight asked, opening the window with her magic and pulling in the three fillies.
“Freeze!” Applebloom called out, pulling out a badge from her saddlebag.
“In the name of the Equestria Bureau of Investigation!” Scoots followed.
“We have evidence that you are conducting experiments that break several Equestrian laws!” Sweetie called out before pulling out a lasso. She was evidently confused as to how to used it, and Twilight was the same level of confused as Sweetie Belle with the lasso.
Applebloom tore the lasso from Sweetie, dropping the badge to the ground in the process, then took to trying to tie up Twilight, who simply levitated the rope out of the filly’s mouth.
“What do you mean, Equestrian Bureau of Investigation? Is this some silly attempt to get your cutie marks?” Twilight asked, trying to be as calm as she could.
“Silly? This is hardly silly! This is the very laws of Equestria and Harmony that you’re breaking!” Sweetie said.
“What law could I possibly be breaking?”
“Scoots, read her rights,” Applebloom commanded.
“I thought that was Sweetie’s Job!”
“She’s in charge of the law part, you were supposed to read the rights!”
“I don’t even know the first line!” Scoots, “I seriously thought it was Sweetie’s job!”
“Look, girls, this is a great prank, I bet Pinkie and Rainbow are laughing their heads off, but I haven’t broken any laws. My brother is Captain of the Royal Guard, I, as his sister, have to know the laws just as well as he does.”
“This is no prank, Twilight, we’re here to arrest you!” Applebloom asserted.
“Does Ponyville even have a jail?”
“Well, uh, no… Ah don’t think we do…”
“Then you can’t arrest me. Here, I’ll make a deal with you, until Princess Celestia comes and judges this herself, I won’t leave my library. It’s called House arrest.”
“Well, then… Cru—I mean agents, let’s head out.” The three filed out the front door and Twilight returned to her book, though a glimmer caught her eye. It was the badge that Applebloom had dropped. It read ‘Equestria Bureau of Investigation, Special Crimes Division.’
It seemed authentic enough, but how would the Cutie Mark Crusaders get their hooves on this?

Case 29:

I think you’ll be wanting this back, Princess, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had it in their possession. I’m not sure what they were up to, but they tried to arrest me for some crime I know I didn’t commit. How would they get their hooves on such an important badge?
Anyway, I think I’m going to return to reading Daring Do and the Alicorn Amulet. I want to see how the author portrays it in comparison to the real thing.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight

Princess Celestia sat next to a giggly Princess Luna. “Equestria Bureau of Investigation,” she snorted. “How gullible is this student of yours, sister?”
“Twilight only knows the truths set before her. She has never really learned how to think around these things. That was what the original intent for the Strange Cases were, but this… this is going too far.” She looked out across the plains to Ponyville. The mares had all been brought to Canterlot for one of the cases, and she was just sending them home now as Luna went upstairs to raise the moon and stars.
Before she left the room, though, Luna gave a small giggle, “Twilight’s a brilliant mare. I’m sure she will figure out this is a test soon enough.”
Princess Celestia sighed as she looked at the banister, where a pair of yellow and red eyes were staring at her, making sure that she didn’t attempt to send any warning to Twilight. She knew that she would have to tell Twilight somehow.
	
> Case 39
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight was baffled by all the strange things that had befallen her and Ponyville since she had started to research these ‘Strange Cases.’ She wanted to have some answers, but she knew that at the rate she was going, there would neither be answers, nor even logic. The troll proved that.
She had searched her library for mention of a ‘Equestrian Bureau of Investigation,’ and came up with nothing. Surely she could get some answers from her brother, who was in charge of all the security of the Royal Guard—and hence must know something about this.
Twilight resolved to write her brother, but just as she sat with the paper and quill, she heard a particularly loud sound from a particularly familiar voice.
“TWILIGHT!”
“What is it Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said, walking out onto her balcony to see her cyan friend perched.
“FOR SOME REASON I CAN’T STOP YELLING,” Rainbow Dash, well, yelled.
“You haven’t been in the Everfree have you?”
“THIS IS NOT POISON JOKE, TWILIGHT. THERE’S SERIOUSLY SOMETHING WRONG.” The yelling attracted attention from the crowd below them. Twilight would have found this strange since just hours ago there was no mare in all of Ponyville.
“Could you keep it down, Rainbow?” Lyra asked, “I am trying to make a living here!”
“I WOULD IF I COULD!” Rainbow shouted back.
With a ‘humph,’ Lyra took her lyre to a distant street corner.
“IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP?”
“Well, if I wasn’t going half deaf from all the yelling, perhaps…”
“PLEASE, TWILIGHT! I HAVE TRAINING FOR THE WONDERBOLTS TOMORROW! I CAN’T JUST SHOW UP LIKE THIS! SPITFIRE WILL KICK ME OUT FOR SURE!”
“Everything can be solved in time, let me consult my books.”
“YOU AND YOUR BOOKS ALWAYS YOUR BOOKS. I MEAN, WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU FOUND YOUR OWN BOOK? SPIKE AND PINKIE ALWAYS SEEM TO BE FINDING THEM FOR YOU.”
“Yelling is disrespectful enough, Dash, I don’t need you attacking my ability to find things.” There was a caustic truth in Rainbow’s statement. Since she had Spike, she had never actually found a book she needed herself. “SPIKE!”
The purple dragon came up the stairs grudgingly. “What is all this commotion? I was trying to get relaxed for a bubble bath.”
“You just had one… oh never mind. I need that book of Super Natural cures. Do you know where it is?”
“Just give me a moment,” Spike said as he disappeared downstairs again.
“I HOPE THIS WORKS.”
“ME TOO!”  a disgruntled pony shouted from the street below.
“OH, BE QUIET, ROSELUCK!”
“Well I never,” the florist said as she trotted off.
“Here it is,” Spike said, dropping off the book and heading back downstairs. Twilight sped through the book, seeking the one answer that she needed, but it didn’t seem to be in this book… there was no mention of constant yelling.
“SPIIIIKE!”
“Really?” Spike complained as he came back upstairs.
“It’s not in this one… and I don’t remember reading anywhere else about this kind of symptom.” She thought for a minute. “Have you considered trying to talk with Fluttershy? She was the one that got Princess Luna down from the Royal Canterlot Voice.”
“SHE JUST DASHES OFF EVERY TIME,” Rainbow hollered disapprovingly. “THAT PONY…”
“Then I think I should write the princesses…”

Case 39

My friend Rainbow Dash has been stuck shouting all day. This in itself is strange enough to perhaps be a strange case, but the real reason I’m writing is because I think that Princess Luna could possible know a spell concerning this.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

“SPIIIKE!”
“Not until I’m out of my bath!”

It was well into the night when Luna received the letter from Twilight. She almost fell over laughing. “Oh, the old Shout it out spell… I love that one!” She began laughing so hard she snorted, and that caused another bought of laughter.
“Dearest Sister, whatever are you laughing so hard about?” a sleepy Celestia asked as she walked into the room.
“The latest strange case! Your dearest student thinks that I would know about a spell that causes uncontrolled yelling.”
“But you do,” Celestia said, unimpressed with whatever gag Luna seemed to be laughing her immortal self to death with.
“Discord is right, you are no fun at night.”
“Not when I’m awoken from my sleep by a sister who can’t stop laughing.”
“Well, should I write her back?”
“Yes. Give her the cure to the Shout it out spell. That way at least one town can get some sleep from all the ruckus you cause.”



Twilight fixed a tired Rainbow Dash with Luna’s Counterspell, and went to bed, forgetting all about the Equstria Bureau of Investigation…
	
> Case 32
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun shone bright through the windows as Twilight was awoken by a loud knock at the front door to the library. She rolled out of bed and to the door to find her five best friends standing there.
“What’s the occasion?” Twilight asked groggily.
“Don’t tell me you forgot that we were all going to get together today!” Pinkie more of gasped than said.
“Yeah, after all the troubles we’ve gone through lately, ah figured we’d all have a good ol’ get together,” Applejack said with a bright smile.
“I suppose I could use a day with my friends.”
The six found their way up to a scenic hill on the outskirts of Ponyville, where Applejack laid out a blanket for them all to sit on and enjoy the Apple Family style picnic.
“Remember when Discord turned Ponyville into the center of chaos?” Twilight reminisced.
“He did no such thing, Twi, you know that,” Fluttershy said. “He’s a good Draconequus, even if a bit misguided.”
“You were there, Fluttershy… all of you were there.”
“Nope, dun remember it at all,” Applejack contested.
“Have you been reading stories Rainbow’s been writing?” Pinkie asked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow inquired angrily.
“It just sounds like something you’d write.”
“I have one story I’ve been working on, Pinkie. You know that.”
“How could all of you forget when Discord was here?” Twilight was baffled.
“Probably because it never happened,” Fluttershy said, giving Angel a carrot.
“What about when we went to the Crystal Empire and fought King Sombre to restore the hope to the Crystal Ponies?”
“Do you have pictures of these supposed happenings?” Rarity said. “Because I do believe that they never actually happened.”
“Ah know Ah hit you pretty hard in the head the other day, but rememberin’ things that never happened? I think ya need to see a doctor,” Applejack said, placing a hoof across Twilight’s forehead to feel her temperature.
“Ugh,” Twilight groaned, pushing back Applejack’s encroaching hoof. “It really happened. What about when we attended my brother’s wedding. Surely you remember that!”
“Twi, you never told us you have a brother,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, he’s the captain of the Royal Guard… remember? You were the bridesmares.”
“Your brother is Captain of the Royal Guard!?” Rarity asked in surprise. “I must meet him!”
“You already have!”
“When?”
Twilight groaned again. “At his wedding!”
“Do you have pictures of this wedding? I don’t think it actually happened,” Rainbow asserted.
“So he’s married…” Rarity moped.
“What is going on with you guys? Seriously. Do you remember when we went into the Everfree and found the Elements of Harmony?”
“The Elements of Harmony? Now I know there’s something wrong with you. Those are an old mare’s tale,” Pinkie asserted.
Twilight tried to keep calm, she was trying to reuse the breathing techniques that Cadence had taught her, but they weren’t working.
“Seriously, Sugar Cube, Ah don’t think any of those things happened.”
“This isn’t funny girls,” Twilight said, starting to think that maybe this was some prank the five of them were pulling on her, but that wasn’t in Fluttershy’s nature. That’s what made it strange.
“What? What isn’t funny?” Rainbow asked.
“If this is some kind of prank, then please stop…”
“Prank? I suppose that would be a great prank…” Rainbow mumbled to herself.
“So this isn’t a prank. You all have really forgotten everything that we’ve gone through.” Twilight’s horn sparkled to life as she prepared a memory spell. After she cast it on the five of them, they all fell asleep: a magic induced coma that would last a while to let their brains properly register the memories.

Back at the library, Twilight figured she would write the princess about this. It seemed like it would qualify as a Strange Case.

Case 32:

My friends have lost their memories of all the things we’ve done together. I cast a memory spell on them, so perhaps they will remember everything clearly now. I’m concerned about these Strange Cases. They seem to be getting more and more dire as I come across them. Are you sure no other pony has any research on them?

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle



Princess Celestia sat across from the laughing duo of Discord and Luna. Princess Cadence walked in from the next room. “What is all this laughing about…”
“You remember the Strange cases?” Luna said between snorts.
“Yeah, the cruel pranks that Princess pull on new ones? Yeah, I remember them quite clearly.” It was evident that Celestia’s disapproval of Luna and Discord’s actions was echoed in Cadence.
“Well, it’s Twilight’s turn. She seriously thinks her friends forgot everything. I got a letter from her last night telling me that a member of the Equestria Bureau of Investigation had lost their badge! HA!”
“This is cruel and demeaning, Aunt Luna. This isn’t the behavior of true princesses,” Cadence scolded. “I’m going to see Twilight.”
“Tsk, tsk,” Discord responded, “There can be no knowledge given to the new Princess—as per tradition.”
“There are some traditions that should never be kept,” Cadence said, her horn glowing to life.
“Don’t make me,” Discord warned, trying to reach Cadence, but she had teleported before he could catch her.
	
> Case 25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight was worried about her friends. They hadn’t awoken yet from the spell, and she hoped she hadn’t done something wrong with the memory spell to perhaps… oh Celestia… what if she overwrote the part of their memories that made them, them?
She began panicking, and that’s when Cadence appeared in her bedroom.
“Twilight, listen very close, these Strange Cases, they’re a bunch of practical jokes that the elder princesses play on new princesses…”
“What?”
“The Strange Cases aren’t actually anything to do with you…” Cadence seemed a bit off. She was tense and nervous. She hadn’t been like this since… since… Twilight couldn’t remember.
“What do you mean, Cadence? What?”
“The book… the book about the Strange Cases, do you still have it?”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, going downstairs to fetch it and coming back up very promptly to see a perfectly calm Cadence lying on Twilight’s bed, reading the copy of Daring Do and the Dragon’s Pearl  that Twilight had left on her nightstand last night after dealing with Rainbow.
“Haha, Daring Do. I remember teaching you to read with Daring Do books!” Cadence said with a laugh.
“Here’s the book about the Strange Cases, Cadence, are you okay?”
“You know what I haven’t read in a while? Harry Trotter. That was such a great series of books.”
“Cadence?”
“Imagine, just imagine, if the world was like in Harry Trotter—magic kept secret from generations of Pegasi and Earth Ponies, but still threatening their existence.”
“Princess! You came here to tell me about the Strange Cases!”
“How are your friends, Twilight? Doing well, I’d suppose, I mean, I haven’t really heard of anything catastrophic befalling Equestria lately.”
“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! Stop this fooling around! Seriously!”
“Of course, I haven’t heard much about Equestria since I moved to the Crystal Empire… it’s so isolated. All you get it word of mouth from the visitors, and even then they don’t tend to talk about much else besides ‘Oh how splendid this is’ or ‘What a grand castle you have Princess!’.”
“Okay, I’m beginning to see what’s going on here…”
“Oh, you are? Do enlighten me, why do I find myself here in your bedroom?”
“You came to talk to me about the Strange Cases, remember?”
“The what?”
“The Strange Cases that befall new princesses.”
“Never read that… I’ll see if the Crystal Library has a copy. Anyway, I should be getting back, Shining Armor sends his warmest regards to his little sis,” Cadence said, hugging Twilight, then teleporting out of her bedroom.

Case 25

I was just visited by Princess Cadence, she seemed concerned about the Strange Cases, but every time I tried to follow up with her, she seemed more and more… Pinkie Pie: pulling random ideas out of the air that were less and less about what she had come to me to talk about…
Things are becoming dire here, Princess. I fear for the fate of Equestria, whatever threat is befalling us… I’ll work on a ward spell, but you should look after Cadence.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord chuckled as Cadence appeared back in the hall.
“I am not your puppet, Discord,” she said, her horn charging up a magic blast. 
“But you do it so well,” the smug Draconequus smiled. “Thank you for giving us some way to pull off Case 25 without using Pinkie Pie. While I do love her sense of humor, I don’t think even I could have reigned her in afterward.”
With one last glare, Cadence walked out of the hall. The moment the door slammed behind her, Luna bust out into laughter that she had only just contained.
Celestia was not impressed with her sister.
“We are going too far, Discord. Twilight may be a princess, but she has been through so much to get there, and besides, she was not born a princess, like the rest of us were,” Celestia defended.
“Tradition is tradition, Celestia, even you know that. For well over a thousand years you have been raising the sun: tradition.”
“There are some traditions that were made to be broken.”
“Is that a threat, Celestia?”
“A promise. I will find a way to let Twilight know.”
“You wouldn’t want her knowing that you were in on it too, would you?”
“Sometimes doing the right thing means sacrifice.”
“I just hope you know what you’re sacrificing.”
	
> Case 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight could only stand in amazement to what she had just witnessed. The Princess of Love and Hope and just appeared in her loft, began to say something that might have been important, then went… Pinkie Pie on her! Surely this day could not get any worse.
That was when a thump sounded from the window. Twilight turned, perhaps it was just a fly or something that bumped into it… hard.
Then she saw something come flying at the closed window and the thump sounded again.
She opened the window and looked out at a pony in a black cloak standing in the middle of the street, picking up what looked like a scroll, which was promptly thrown and smacked into Twilight’s face, knocking her back into the room with the scroll on her chest.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Anonymous is not pleased with your offering. The cupcake had nuts in it, like we specifically asked not to be present in the final product. We cannot forgive such ignorance of fellow ponies allergies.
As such, we will be considering you an enemy of Anonymous. This letter is to inform you that we will be taking matters into our own hooves.

Sincerely,

Anonymous.

Twilight stared at the letter, then got up and looked out her window again, but the pony in the cloak had vanished.
“What in the hay is this supposed to mean?” Twilight asked herself. She compared the writing to that of the other two letters, which were on the main table of the library. It was a different penmanship, and the second letter of hooves almost looked like an a.
Twilight wasn’t sure what to make of this letter, or what ‘taking matters into our own hooves’ was intending, but she did know that Anonymous was not something she wanted to toy with. With their threats already against the throne, it was certain they were up to no good.
And speaking of up to no good, she was reminded of the badge she had obtained from Applebloom. The Equestrian Bureau of Investigation… she needed to write her letter to Shinning Armor about that. But first, she would update Princess Celestia about Anonymous.

Case 5:

I have received another letter from Anonymous. I believe they take me to be their enemy. I feel that you really must do something to prevent them from creating anarchy. They made me their enemy simply because I had nuts in the cupcake I left out for them—it was the only one I had, and I didn’t even know it had nuts in it at all! If they are going to take such a simple mistake as an act of hate, then I seriously hope you take them just as seriously.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Twilight watched as the scroll disappeared as smoke into the sky. Now she needed to write her brother.

Dearest Brother,

I recently was visited by the Cutie Mark Crusaders bearing a badge from the ‘Equestrian Bureau  of Investigation.’ I was wondering, does it even exist? I have done extensive research but have seen nothing on the topic. Since you’re the captain of the Royal Guard, surely you would know if they actually exist.

Your LSBFF,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Shining Armor was standing next to Cadence, both before Luna and Discord.
“Well, Shining Armor, tell her about the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation,” Discord said.
“You mean the fake law enforcement agency you created for your little pranks? I’m not going along with this. And there’s nothing you can do to change that, Discord.”
“Your ‘Little Sister Best Friend Forever’ is counting on you.”
“We’re not playing your little game, Discord.”
“Perhaps we do a little convincing, Luna,” Discord said with a chuckle. Shining armor responded by creating a barrier around him and his wife. “Fine then, but if I catch you interfering with our tradition, then I will be forced to take matters into my own claws.”
In a flash, Cadence and Shining Armor disappeared from the Castle, and Discord knew exactly where they were going, and what they were going to do.
	
> Case 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight was still trying to figure all of the oddities out when both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence appeared in her Library. They looked ragged and almost… singed? Cadence was gasping for breath—she had to be exhausted, teleporting twice from Canterlot, and this time with Shining Armor.
“Twilie, we need to tell you something,” Shining said, his tone was very stern and serious.
“These Strange Cases… they’re—“ Cadence started to say in a serious tone before the word “Planks” came out of her mouth. She quickly covered it, and Shining started spinning to check the room. 
“They’re planks? That makes no sense!”
“They’re yolks,” Shining Armor said before covering his mouth.
“Yolks? That makes even less sense. Are you two alright?”
“Twilie, you need to know that The Strange Cases, they’re a… grazing.” Shining Armor couldn’t even believe the words coming out of his own mouth. “It’s like everything I say is being turned into something else!”
“The elder Princesses do this thing to the new princesses, this thing where they pull all sorts of cruel tanks…” Cadence attempted to speak, “oh for the love of Aunt Celestia.” Cadence pulled out a quill, dipped it in ink and placed it to the parchment. She watched as the words she wrote became jumbles and scribbles on the page—nothing at all what she had originally wrote at all.
“Cadence, if you want to color, I have some pencils for that…” Twilight was all confused now.
“Let’s try this,” Shining Armor said, taking a deep breath. “There is no such thing as the Equestrian Bureau of Investment.” The look on Shining Armor’s own face conveyed the surprise and shock that all three of them bore.
“Discord!” Cadence managed to say, triggering a memory in Twilight—that Troll she had met in the Town Square, he was gray—more gray than any troll she had ever seen the picture of.
“So this is all a joke played by Discord?” Twilight asked.
“Wrong,” Shining Armor spat out, thought he meant to say ‘right.’
“If you aren’t going to take this seriously, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Cadence took a few books off the shelves and began aligning them in order, opening them to specific pages then pointing to words.
“The… Strange… Cases… Are… All…” Cadence tried frantically to find a book that would have the word ‘prank’ in it, she would even settle for ‘joke’ or ‘jest,’ but none seemed to be on the shelves. She scoured the shelves, but couldn’t find a single book that might have the word within it. This had to be Discord’s doing. “All what?”
“Oh, Twilight, I wish Discord wasn’t so true.” She had meant to call the Draconequus rude, but that’s what came out.
“Go back home and get some rest… I think you’ve been up a little too long,” Twilight responded, showing them to the door.
“But we need to barn you!” Shining Armor covered his mouth and Cadence glared at him, only to see in his eyes that he had meant to say something else.
“Barn isn’t even a verb, Shining. Go,” Twilight insisted, showing them out the door.
“We’re trying to warm you!” Cadence said, “The Strange Cases, they’re not all they appear to be,” Cadence finally managed to get out, despite the early slip.
“I’m quite warm already, thanks.” She pushed them out the door and closed it, leaving the duo to try and figure out what to do next.

Case 13:

After this second visit from Princess Cadence, I’m starting to wonder if her spending all her time in the Crystal Empire is good for her mental health. Same goes for my brother. Perhaps we can send a temporary regent up there to give them a vacation.
Seriously, if you would have heard some of the things they were just trying to tell me…

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Celestia could only glare at the laughing Draconequus. Luna gave him a questioning look.
“Oh come on, that was pure hilarity! Everything you say being fixed into something else!”
“I thought we were only going to put the Strange Cases on Twilight, not those around her,” Luna sternly asked.
“Sometimes you need to get a few others involved to make the rules work, dearest Luna.”
“You have taken this too far, Discord,” Luna kept her stern tone.
“My, my, Luna, of all the ponies in the world, I figured you would be the last to condemn someone for keeping tradition, you know with the whole insistence on using the Royal Canterlot Voice.”
“I keep myself in check now. It has taken until now to see that my sister is right, there are some things that you just do not do.”
“Well, if that’s how you feel about it,” he said, snapping his fingers, “then you can spend your time back on the moon.” Luna disappeared with a shriek.
“Discord, I have had enough of you.  It’s time you decorated the lawn some more,” she said, her horn glowing, but Discord snapped and she was gone too.
“This is tradition, and so it will stay tradition,” he said to the stained glass image of Celestia scowling back at him. “Not even you and your little sister can change that.”
	
> Case 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cadence and Shining Armor stared at each other, not sure if Discord’s magic was still cast upon them.
“We have to warn Twilight,” Cadence said successfully.
“I know, but Discord’s going to be trying to keep this ‘tradition’ going,” Shining Armor responded.
“It’s a tradition that should have been abandoned long ago. I went through it, I know how much torment it can put on friendships… I just hope that Twilight and her friends have a stronger bond than I did with mine.” Cadence’s countenance fell.
“I’ve known you just as long as anypony, and I know how great you are. Surely these Strange Cases can’t be too hard for friends to handle,” Shining Armor said, putting a hoof to his wife’s chin and raising her eyes to meet his. “We’re going to tell Twilie if it’s all we can do.”
With a knock on the door, Twilight appeared. “I thought I told you two to go get some rest, you were being more nonsensical than Pinkie Pie… and you’ve met her.”
“Twilie, these Strange Cases, they’re a practical joke that the elder princesses of long ago cooked up to have fun with the new princesses as they began to fill their role as Princess,” Cadence said successfully.
“You sure have good deadpan faces,” Twilight replied with a chuckle. “Practical jokes. Princess Celestia wouldn’t have sent me to investigate practical jokes.”
“You have to trust us, Twilie,” Shining Armor almost pleaded.
“Haha, begging? You? Captain of the Royal Guard begging me? Now I know you’re joking.”
“You wrote a letter asking about the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation, well, there’s no such thing. If there was I, of all ponies, would probably know about it.”
“Of course there’s an Equestrian Bureau of Investigation! Applebloom must have taken someone’s badge because I saw her with one the other day.”
The Royal Guard and the Princess of Love looked at each other. “Discord,” they both said in harmony. “You need to listen close, Twilie, Discord has put a spell on you. He’s making you think everything we say is a joke.”
“Those deadpan faces! They’re so good! I think you need to try to loosen up a little!” Twilight fell over laughing. “Haha!”
“This obviously is never going to work. Discord’s always going to be a step ahead of us. We need to stop this at the source,” Shining Armor said.
“I… we need to take the train, I can’t teleport us back—I’m too weak.”
They left a laughing Twilight on her stoop and headed to the station, where they caught the next train to Canterlot.

After hours of laughing, Twilight finally got up. “That was the weirdest thing I ever felt, uncontrollable laughing. Maybe that’s what’s in Pinkie’s head all the time?” She pulled out a fresh paper and dipped her quill.

Case 20:

I can’t remember what they were saying, but Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were saying the most hilarious things… I just couldn’t take them seriously! I was laughing for hours with no reason why…

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord smiled as he knew his plan had worked. How simple these ponies were. Predictable, easy prey for practical jokes. And with Celestia and Luna out of the way, he was free to complete the tradition. He read the letter with a laugh himself, and smirked afterward. This was all too easy.
	
> Case 24
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight had some strange dreams that night, but all was better in the morning, and she would see to it that this was a better day than any other she had ever had. She trotted downstairs to check her list of things to do today, and was shocked at what she saw.
“I crossed these things off three times already! With regular ink! Ugh!” Twilight groaned as she crossed off ‘Meet with the Mayor’ again. She turned to the desk where the Strange Cases book had been placed, only to realize it was missing.
All over again.
Grumpily she headed out, set to Sugar Cube Corner, not caring that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The calendar, which she had checked on the way out, said it was Friday, last Friday. Perhaps what she had heard from Shining Armor and Cadence was true… no, there wasn’t a possibility. Celestia respected her more than that. Twilight was sure of that. With that said, it was strange that she was having to live the same day, again. She knew that’s what it had to be, somehow.  She had seen all the signs before.
Applejack bartering with customer. Check.
Rarity buying fabric with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Check.
Pinkie Pie out selling muffins. Check.
“Howdy!” Pinkie shouted. “You look so much better today!”
“If you say so.”
“What’s wrong? Does the Princess need a song?”
“No, Pinkie. Just give me the book I dropped the other day.”
“Sure. Want a muffin with that?”
“No, just the book.”
Pinkie gave her the book, then went back to selling muffins.
She trotted back home, pausing for Rarity to rush past. Check.
This was the same day all over again. She walked back to her library, and penned a letter to the princess.

Case 24:

Today was another, drab copy of a day I’ve already lived. Perhaps things will be more original in the future.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Discord looked at the pair before him, Cadence and Shining Armor, both charging magic.
“Oh, please, don’t you remember what happened to Celestia and Luna?” he said, pointing the stained glass that was glaring at him. Both his opponents disarmed themselves.
“Come, sweetie, I think we have some other things to attend to.” Shining Armor led his wife down the hall. “I think we should find a way to get at him when he’s vulnerable.”
“Which is never,” Cadence said.
“Then we have to get back to Ponyville.”
	
> Case 40
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight spelt well that night, as all that laughing had tired her out. The next morning, though, she was rudely awoken by a crash at her window, followed by several loud taps.
“Would you get the window?” Twilight said, half-asleep.
Spike only replied with a snore.
“Owlowiscious?” Twilight half-called out as the tapping continued.
With a hoot, Owlowiscious opened the window, and a crashing sound, followed by the clamor of books hitting the floor, instantly awoke the alicorn.
“What is the meaning of this!?” She called out to the pile of books, only to see Rainbow’s head pop out as she started flying around in continuous circles in the atrium. “Rainbow, can you stop for a second and explain?”
“That’s the problem, I can’t stop… it’s like somebody has set my wings to fly at this speed and keep flying…”
“Hold on,” Twilight blinked a few times to try and wake herself up. “So you’re saying that you’re stuck flying around at a constant speed?”
“Pretty much, but at least I can steer.”
“That didn’t help my window much,” Twilight groaned as she saw the crack in the glass.
“Well I figured you would know what was causing this, what kind of hex or jinx somepony placed on me.”
“There’s no such things as hexes or jinxes, Rainbow.”
“Then why am I stuck flying around in circles?”
“Have you been to the Everfree lately?”
“No, it’s not Poison Joke, Twilight, I don’t think even that plant is this cruel.”
Those words sparked something in Twilight’s mind, something that had been brewing for quite a while. Cruel. Discoloration. They all pointed to one thing, but how could Twilight be sure that it was Discord misbehaving? The visit last night… Twilight wished she had remembered more than just uncontrollable bouts of laughter.
“Hold on, let me see if there’s something in the last letter from Princess Luna about this, I think they’re related somehow.”
“How is this related to shouting constantly?”
“It’s just a hunch.”
Twilight dug through her papers and found the last letter from Princess Luna and cast the spell again, causing an exhausted Rainbow to fall from the top of the library to her floor.
“Thanks, Twilight, mind if I take a nap here?” And before Twilight could answer, Rainbow was asleep.

Case 40:

I was just visited by Rainbow Dash, she seemed to be stuck flying at a constant rate. Luckily the same spell that cured her of her constant shouting cured her of this constant flying… but I’m beginning to think that Discord is behind these so called “Strange Cases,” and I’m going to keep an eye out for more evidence.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord read the letter and scoffed. “You are a brilliant pupil,” he said to the stained glass where he had trapped Celestia, “I can see why Celestia favors you so.” He paced back and forth through the hall. “I need to take things to the next level, make things more interesting.” He turned to the stained glass and got a translucent glare from Celestia. “I’ll let you out soon enough, Celestia, but tradition is tradition.” 
	
> Case 45
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight sighed as she prepared herself to start recalling all of the events—trying to find some connection between all of them and Discord, but she was hard-pressed to convince herself at this point. After all, she believed that Fluttershy had reformed him…
So she knew the only pony she could talk to about this was the yellow Pegasus, and mere minutes later, she found herself at Fluttershy’s stoop. With a soft knock, so as to not startle both the pony herself or the animals in her care, Twilight announced her presence.
“Hi there, Twilight,” Flutters said as she opened the door. “What brings you out here?”
“Well, I think all the strange things that have been going on are a result of Discord’s magic, and you know him better than any of us do…”
“That’s true, I suppose,” Fluttershy admitted.
“So what possible reason could he have for playing such mean pranks on me?”
“Twilight…” Fluttershy said with fear in her voice.
“Talking about Discord isn’t that scary, Fluttershy.”
“Behind you…”
Twilight turned to see that there, behind her, was a lion lying on the gravel path.
“That’s strange… I don’t remember you keeping lions.”
“We need to get into the car, Twilight,” Fluttershy commanded in her unassertive tone.
“Car? What’s a car?”
Fluttershy was already half-way to a mechanical contraption with four wheels that resembled a carriage, but didn’t have a hook for a pony to pull it. “Come on, Twilight!”
Twilight looked back at the lion, who was lying there quietly. “I don’t think that’s necessary, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, trust me, Twilight, when one sees a lion, one must get into the car.”
“Fine,” Twilight wasn’t about to argue this out. She trotted over to the car and climbed inside. There was a wheel, like the parade floats, and a large mechanical contraption she could only figure turned the wheels. She looked out the window and saw that the lion was still lying exactly where she had seen it before.
“Lions are very fierce…” Flutters said.
“I’ve seen you wrestle a bear, I know you can take care of a lion.”
“Maybe, but I don’t like to take chances.” Now there was an understatement if there ever was one in the history of statements.
“You went up to a growling manticore, and you’re having a problem with a lion? A passive one at that?”
“Chances, Twilight, I don’t take them on purpose. I like my legs and wings and head all attached and where they’re supposed to be.”
Twilight could only roll her eyes.
“I suppose we could still talk about Discord in here.”
“He’s been a good Draconequus, he comes by for tea every week,” Fluttershy said.
“I still think he’s involved, and you are my best bet at finding out if he is,” Twilight insisted.
“I can ask, Twi, but I can’t make a promise. I wouldn’t want to break it.”
“Thanks, Fluttershy.”
Together they waited in the ‘car’ until the lion got up and walked into the Everfree, at which point Fluttershy crawled out of the car and beckoned for Twilight to follow. The sun was setting low over the horizon, and Twilight still had no answers. She could only write Princess Celestia about this new strange case.

Case 45:

I stopped by Fluttershy’s cottage today to ask her to look into whether Discord is in on these ‘Strange Cases.’ She says he comes by for tea every week.
The strange thing, though, was that a lion appeared and we had to get into this strange contraption she called a car. As much as I attempted to convince her that it was perfectly fine—I’ve seen her take down a bear before—she insisted we stay in the car.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord held the letter in his claw as he snickered by Stained-Glass Celestia. “I suppose you don’t find the humor in this like I do, Celestia,” he said to the glass, “but it’s a real riot!” He smiled. “I suppose you should write her a letter back…”

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

Your work on observing and studying these strange cases seems to be coming along nicely, however I must ask that you not pester Discord. I have him on a special project, so he is too busy to be in on this course of investigation.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Twilight received the letter and looked it over. There was something off about it, she just knew it, but what exactly that was, she would have to look over tomorrow, as the sun was sinking too low for her to focus as drowsiness set in.
	
> Case 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight awoke, ready to examine the letter from Celestia. Something in her told her that it was not from the Princess, but she would need to examine it closer to be for sure. If there was something she had learned so far: jumping to conclusions only led to confusion and chaos. Which was evidence in itself that Discord probably had something to do with these Strange Cases.
She walked down the stairs to find another letter lying, still sealed in its envelope, waiting for her to read it.

Dearest Princess Twilight,

We, Anonymous, have decided to give you one more chance to prove your worth to our organization. Head to Town Square at exactly noon to meet with our representative.

Sincerely,

Anonymous.

Twilight didn’t quite know what to make of this. She was sure that Anonymous was up to some kind of coup, but her instincts had been out of whack these days. She decided that she should meet this ‘representative’ to see what Anonymous was all about.
At exactly noon, Twilight was in the center of the town, just mere steps away from town hall. That was when she saw it. She couldn’t describe it with any set of words she ever knew besides horrible and uncaring… or use her actual name: Gilda the Gryphon.
“So, Twilight, I take it you got the letter from Anonymous this morning.”
“You’re Anonymous?” Twilight asked incredulously.
“No… I wish I was. Our leader could do with a replacing… no, I’m just a representative here to see if you’re what Anonymous is looking for.”
“And am I?”
“I think our leader would say so.”
“So I’m in?”
“I don’t care. Just take this.” Gilda handed Twilight a letter before flying off.

Dearest Twilight,

So you have accepted our terms. Be prepared for a letter to come in the following days, with instructions for your membership to Anonymous.

Sincerely,

Anonymous.

Twilight took the letter home, and looked at the table, which was sparkling clean.
“Spike!”
“What?”
“There was a letter on this table, where did it go?”
“What letter?”
“Of course. Any evidence that would implicate Discord would mysteriously vanish.”
“What are you talking about, Twilight?”
“Never mind. I have a letter to write to the princess.”

Case 6:

I have encountered one member of this so called Anonymous group, Gilda the Gryphon. Perhaps you remember her from when she was last in town, you know, Rainbow’s old friend. She gave me a letter that says there’s another letter yet to come to me with instructions for joining Anonymous.
I don’t know what they’re up do, but I will soon.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord smiled as Gilda arrived at the castle. “Very good, Gilda, now here’s what you asked for,” he said, handing her a few golden bits.
“Anytime, Discord,” Gilda said.
“Now, we can get to the real fun…”
	
> Case 37
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, laid on her balcony, reading a nice book about the theory of mechanical magic. She was thoroughly engrossed in her reading, so much so that Rainbow had to wave her hoof between Twilight’s nose and the pages.
“Oh, hey, Rainbow. What can I do for you this time?”
“I have this weird math problem that I was asked by Scoots… and well… I can’t figure it out myself.”
Twilight knew there was more to this than Rainbow was letting on. “What’s the question?”
“The question is: what is four divided by zero.”
“You can’t divide by zero, Rainbow. That’s just a silly notion.” Twilight shook her head and returned to her reading.
“Scoots said she told Cheerilee that, but she didn’t accept it.”
“Was it really Scootaloo that told Cheerilee that?”
“Okay, so maybe it was Sweetie Belle, but the fact remains that Cheerilee didn’t accept the answer of there being no answer.”
“You can’t divide by zero… that’s just silly and ridiculous to even think. I mean, I suppose there are some instances where dividing by zero would make sense, but most of that is advanced stuff like Calculus.”
“Woah, there, Twilight, you lost me.”
Twilight wasn’t surprised. “Well, I guess I’ll go talk to Cheerilee about this.”
“Thanks, Twi.”
Twilight once again made her way out to the schoolhouse, where Cheerilee sat, grading papers. “Hey, Cheerilee,” Twilight said.
“Yes, Twilight said, looking up from her stack of papers.”
“I heard that you were asking your students to divide by zero?”
“You know that’s not possible, right, Twilight?”
“I know that, but Rainbow said that Scootaloo told her that she had to divide by zero.”
“That’s silly, Twilight. I’m surprised you even bring it up.” She chuckled… was that nervously?
“Are you nervous about something, Cheerilee?”
“No, nothing at all, Princess Twilight.” Twilight swore she heard nervousness in Cheerilee’s voice.
“Well, I need to go write some letters, if you need any help here, I’m sure I could provide assistance,” Twilight offered.
“Okay, I’ll remember that.” Cheerilee returned to grading papers as Twilight returned to the Golden Oaks Library.

Case 37:

Today I was asked to divide by zero, but that’s not possible. After further investigation, Cheerilee proved nervous about me confronting her about this. I think Discord has something to do with this.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord smiled. “That one I wasn’t sure if even I could pull off,” Discord said, staring out the window at the moon, where he could swear he saw a glaring Luna standing. The stained glass beside him where he had trapped Celestia also glared at him.
“She’s more than half way there, you two, I think she’ll make it.”
	
> Case 41
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight groaned. These “Strange Cases” were giving her a head-ache, and she could swear she could hear pounding in her ears… or was that the front door to the library?
When she got to the front door, she regretted opening it, because the next thing she knew she was looking down the barrel of Pinkie’s Party Cannon, which showered her and all of the library with confetti, streamers, and a nice large banner that seemed to hang itself from the loft reading “For the Bestest Friend Ever.”
“Oh, did I hit you, I’m so sorry! Desu!” Pinkie called out to the flattened princess, then entered followed by the rest of Twilight’s friends.
“Pinkie?”
“What?”
“What in the hay does ‘desu’ mean?”
“Well, I dunno, I guess it’s just some kind of word you say after things, like this: desu!”
“Could you stop? It’s getting annoying.”
“Oh, sorry, desu.”
“There you are, saying it again.”
“Ah think she’s done with it now, aren’t you, Pinkie, desu.” Applejack covered her own mouth when she said the word.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a little politeness, desu,” Rarity said, holding her nose high.
“There, you said it too,” Twilight said.
“It is only prim and proper, desu,” Rarity returned.
“I think Twilight wants us to stop, desu,” Fluttershy said, quietly.
“Would you all stop saying ‘Desu’? It’s getting annoying.”
“We can try, desu, but I don’t think it’s going to work, desu,” Pinkie said.
“Discord,” Twilight grumbled. “Fluttershy, do you think you could invite Discord down to the cottage tomorrow afternoon?”
“Of course, desu.”
“There it is again… that desu!”
“Sorry, desu.”
Twilight just shooed them all out of the library, causing Pinkie great distress, but ultimately saving Twilight’s sanity.

Case 41:

I don’t know what it is with this word ‘desu’ but everypony seemed to be saying it after everything. I just can’t figure out why. Desu.

You most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Dear Discord,

I was wondering, I mean if it wasn’t too big of a problem, if you could come down to my cottage tomorrow, say around two in the afternoon?

Sincerely,

Fluttershy

Discord received both letters and smiled wide. This would be a great way to throw Twilight off his scent.

Dearest Fluttershy,

Of course I’ll be at your place tomorrow at two, how could I resist an invitation from my best friend?

Sincerely, 

Discord

“And so the plan is in place.”
	
> Case 26
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The day was finally here, time to confront Discord. He was going to answer for these pranks he was pulling. Twilight headed out to Fluttershy’s cottage to make the confrontation.
“Well, hello Twilight, I’m glad you could make it,” Discord said, opening the door. “We have so much to talk about.”
“Yeah, like how you’ve been propagating pranks that have been disguised as ‘Strange Occurrences’ around new princesses?”
“You mean how The Princesses have assigned you the tasked to research?”
“Yeah…” Twilight said, grumbling, “those.”
“Why don’t you come in for some tea?”
“Alright, but I have my eye on you, Discord.”
“Only what I would expect from you, Twilight, always the cautious one.”
Fluttershy was sitting at a little table with her teapot sitting in the center and three neat place settings around the table.
“It’s so nice to have tea with friends,” Fluttershy commented.
“I actually wanted to talk to Discord about his recent endeavors. What have you been up to?” Twilight prodded, hoping that something would reveal itself.
“I don’t know what you mean, the Princesses of Canterlot keep me up to my horns in work, I couldn’t possibly be doing anything malicious to any ponies, especially not you, my dear little pony.”
“I’m on to you. That Troll that came to Ponyville… he was discorded. No troll would ever take an interest in chess!”
“You mean to say that Trolls are all idiots? I must protest!”
“What a mean thing to say, Twilight!” Fluttershy scoffed.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it, Discord.”
“Oh, I know exactly what you meant. You don’t like trolls, so you’re going to be mean about them.”
“That’s not at all what I said!”
“Perhaps, I mean, if it’s alright, we should change the topic,” Fluttershy said softly.
“Okay, then about that time that Rainbow Dash was stuck shouting. That’s certainly not the product of normal magic.”
“Are you telling me you believe in curses, Twilight?” Discord replied.
“You yourself told us that curses didn’t exist, Twi,” Fluttershy protested.
“I mean it sounds like your brand of Chaotic Magic, Discord, the same as when she was stuck flying at a constant speed.”
“Oh, so I’m a villain again, am I? I’m hurt, Twilight.”
“Twi, I must ask you to be nice to Discord. You saw that he changed,” Fluttershy countered.
“Quit messing around with what I say, Discord! That’s not what I meant and you both know it!”
“Me? Mess around with your meaning? That’s a silly thing to do. It sounds like you’re accusing me of hiding something.”
“I’m sure you’re hiding plenty, Discord, and I intend to find out exactly what it is.”
“Twi, I’m his friend, I think if he was hiding something, I would know about it,” Fluttershy said. “Now if you’re going to continue to harass him, I must ask that you leave.”
With a grunt, Twilight left the cottage and headed back home.

Case 26:

I have a very strange suspicion that these Strange Cases have something to do significantly with Discord. I don’t have enough proof yet to confirm, but that’s how Discord operates.
I’m going to continue to look into it, because I seriously think that the rest of the Royal Line would benefit from the answer to this question. He was manipulating all of my words today.

Your Most Faithful Student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord soon returned to Canterlot, fetched the letter from Celestia’s Room, and read it aloud so that the Stained glass window that was Princess Celestia could hear it. Soon after, he let out a hearty laugh and placed the letter in the pile with all the rest.
“Soon enough, Celestia. Soon enough.”
	
> Case 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well,” Spike said, panting, “my quill almost lit on fire labeling all these things in the library.”
“Now’s not the time for jokes,” Twilight responded. “This labeling project has been a great distraction from the strange cases.” 
“Why did we have to label everything in the library?” Spike said, placing a sticky label on the statue on the table.
“Well… I… I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “And that statue there, on the table… I hate it.”
“What do you mean, Twilight? It’s been there the whole two years you’ve lived here, and you’ve never once said that before!” Spike said as he smoothed out the wrinkles in the label.
“And that table… it’s so… so… ugly!” Twilight protested.
“Since when have you been so spiteful of the décor?” Spike asked, rubbing the label onto the table. “And since when do you need labels on everything anyway? Don’t you know what a table is? And a statue?”
“I… can’t really tell you why… it just kinda… came across my mind…”
Spike placed another label on the bookcase.
“I hate that bookcase…” Twilight said.
“Twilight, how can you ever say that? You love bookcases.”
“It’s too… bookcase-y,” Twilight responded.
“That’s not even a word,” Spike rebutted. “What’s going on with you?”
“I don’t know… it’s just that all these labels make everything so… so… hate-able.”
“That’s not a word either. Just settle down and I’ll take all the labels on everything?”
“No, no,” Twilight said.  “Oh, I hate that bed too,” she mentioned, pointing upstairs, “and the door, and—“
“Stop there, Twilight, I think this has to do with these Strange Cases you’ve been studying,” Spike pointed out.
“Right, take them down, and I’ll write the princess.”

Case 18:

Today I had the strange urge to label everything, and once everything was labeled, I started feeling hatred toward them. I’m having Spike remove all the labels. And I think I need to get a more consistent door. I’ve been noticing lately that it doesn’t always open the same way twice…

Your most faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Discord rolled over laughing as he got the letter. “Everything that can be labeled can be hated… then again, I can be labeled, so perhaps I can be hated…” There was a flicker of a frown before he laughed again. “Who can hate a face like mine, so perfectly unbalanced, and so askew.”
	
> Case 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord poured over a book sitting in the Great Hall, trying to decide which “Strange Case” to send Twilight on now while ignoring the glaring stained-glass Celestia. Little did he know two ponies stood just around the corner, waiting to make their move.
“You’re sure the won’t notice?” Shining Armor asked Cadence.
“How do you think Smarty Pants’s notepad kept refilling itself? It’s a simple duplication spell.” She peeked around the corner as Discord looked out over Canterlot. In this moment, an aura of her magic poured over the book and before her an exact replica formed. In seconds, the spell was over—just in time too because Discord spun back around and looked at the book again, muttering to himself.
“That was amazing, sweetheart. I can’t tell the difference,” Shining admitted.
“Now let’s get this to Twilight.”

Out on the castle grounds, they met up with the mail mare, Derpy Hooves. She bowed in respect to the royals before giving as serious look as she could.
“Now, Derpy, we need you to take this book and this letter to Princess Twilight Sparkle as fast as you can. This is very urgent,” Cadence stressed.
“Yes, your highness,” Derpy responded, giving a cross-eyed salute and taking the parcels to the air. “I can still deliver!”
“Let’s just hope that Twily can push past the Strange Cases and conquer this stupid tradition,” Shining Armor wished aloud.
“If anypony can, it’s her.”

A knock came at the door, startling Twilight, who was still finding those wretched labels on things and giving small curses each time she did.
“Spike! Why did you label my hoof?” Twilight asked in sheer confusion.
“Your exact instructions were to label everything.”
“I think I know my own hoof when I see it,” Twilight responded flatly. The knock came again. “Don’t worry, Spike, I’ll get it,” she grumbled.
When she opened the door, she was presented with none other than the mail mare.
“Derpy?” she asked in more confusion. “What’s that?”
“One last delivery from Canterlot… at least under the name Anonynimous…” Twilight cringed as Derpy butchered the word.
“You mean Anonymous?”
“Yeah! That!”
“Why would you ever go by Anonymous?”
“Because there are ponies out there who are offended by the name ‘Derpy.’ Something about being politically correct…”
“But what about that meeting with Gilda?”
“I just deliver the mail. Now Princess Cadence and Shining Armor sent this book and this letter to you, and Anonynimous can still deliver!”
“Anonymous, you mean?”
“Yeah, that.”
Derpy handed over the delivery and took off. Twilight, overcome with curiosity, read the letter:

Dearest Twilight,

As you probably have guessed, Discord has been up to his old tricks, playing pranks on ponies, specifically you.
These “Strange Cases” are really a set of pranks set forth by the early princesses to initiate all those who joined in royalty.
Princess Celestia and Luna tried their best to stop Discord, but he trapped them. Luna’s back on the moon and Celestia is trapped in a stained-glass window.
This book is a copy of the one written by the original princesses, and it lists all forty-seven cases… perhaps you can find a way to stop Discord.

Best of luck,

Princess Cadence and Shining Armor

“So this pain I’ve been going through… all this stress and disharmony all because Discord wants a few laughs?” Twilight was furious. “Let’s see if Discord can take some of his own medicine.” Twilight cracked the book and flipped to the list of cases. “This one will do just perfectly.”
Spike could have sworn that was an evil laugh that came out of Twilight’s mouth.
	
> Twilight's Final Stand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight gave a grin to rival that of any villain she had defeated. “Spike, grab me a quill and parchment, I have a letter to send.” After accepting the requested implements, Twilight scrawled out a quick letter. “Could you get this to Princess Cadence, I’ve got an appointment in Canterlot.”
“Okay,” Spike said, confusion and lack of understanding evident as he flamed the letter off to Cadence.
“You and Owlowiscious are in charge of the library until I return.”
Spike replied with only a grunt as Twilight took to the sky toward Canterlot. She still bore her smile as she landed in the garden and sat before the labyrinth. She looked at the pedestal that once bore Discord as a statue for a thousand years, grinning even wider as she summoned a few objects.

Princess Cadence smiled herself—she knew that Twilight would one-up Discord, and her last letter was proof of that. Cadence cantered into the Great Hall as a pondering Discord looked up from the tome.
“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, have you finally come to respect tradition or do I have to stop you from spoiling the fun as well?” Discord gestured to Celestia’s eternal glare.
“Oh no, Discord, tradition is tradition. And I think Twilight has a report for you out in the garden.”
“But I haven’t sent her a case…”
“I did for you today, couldn’t let you have all the fun.”
“Very well.” Discord’s voice echoed with doubt and distrust.
“Go meet with Twilight, she seemed disturbed by this case and that’s why she came in pony,” Cadence said.
“I’m going.” In a snap he was gone.
“Hope you can stand the taste of your own medicine, Discord.”

Discord frowned slightly as the choice of location, so close to his former prison.
“This had better be good, Twilight,” Discord grumbled.
“I was expecting Celestia or Luna to come along,” Twilight lied convincingly.
“They’re both busy, royal duties and all,” Discord lied in return.
“Of course,” Twilight played along, “So I’m reporting to you today?”
“Yes, Twilight, now get out with it before I lose my patience with you.”
“I call it Case 34,” Twilight said, levitating the objects, which where photos toward the Spirit of Chaos. “And it seems to be the most vulgar of the cases so far.” She knew the plan was working from the look on Discord’s face. He didn’t even look at the pictures Twilight hovered before him. “But that’s not the worst of it,” Twilight said, “I call this one Case 46, and it’s even worse.” She created another set of photos.
“I don’t want to see that, Twilight, send it away.”
“Very well,” Twilight said, vanishing the photos. “The thing is, I couldn’t find any of Fluttershy…”
Discord’s eyes dilated as he saw where this was heading—a path he never expected this journey to take. Thirty-five: If no porn of it can be found, then it must be made. And he didn’t want his first friend dishonored in that way.
“Very good, Twilight,” Discord chuckled with nervousness, “You passed the test… and now it’s over. You can go back home now.”
“Oh, but we wouldn’t want to stray from Tradition,” Princess Cadence said, coming down from the castle.
“Tradition? What tradition?” Discord said, concerned.
“This one,” Princess Cadence said, placing the old tome on the original Strange Cases. “Surely you know what this is, Discord.”
Discord could only give a nervous laugh.
“Now, where are Princess Celestia and Luna really?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, look, there they come now!” Discord giggled with nerves as he released the trapped royals.
“Now, Discord,” Princess Celestia said, “I think you finally know that enough is enough.”
“Traditions can be fun, but some need to be left behind,” Princess Luna contested.
Surrounded, Discord knew this was it.
“Very well, Princesses, I shall abolish this tradition,” Discord muttered. The alternative was somewhere that Discord was unwilling to go. He had gone from prankster to pranked in a matter of a day, and keeping tradition going was something Discord was unwilling to do at such a cost. In a puff of flames, the tome was gone, and the Princesses’ expressions lightened.
“Perhaps it is time for new traditions to be made,” Princess Cadence smiled.
“Time indeed,” Luna agreed.
And so ended the Strange Cases of Twilight Sparkle.
	
> The Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord awoke in another cold sweat. Ever since that meeting with Twilight three weeks ago he couldn’t get any sleep, every time he would close his eyes, he would see images of Fluttershy becoming a little too cozy with her animal friends. His mind was fraying and his focus was gone.

Back in the Great Hall Celestia and Luna snickered. “So I take it the enforcing of Rule 35 is going well, Luna,” Celestia said.
“Very well if you ask me, sister.”
“Then it’s time that we take this book and be rid of it for all eternity,” Celestia said, levitating Cadence’s duplicate in the air and sending it up in flames. “May no princess have to endure that kind of pain again.”