Twilight's Book

Chapters

The Itch
The Tick
The Need
Epilogue

The Itch

Twilight's Book
Chapter 1: The Itch

Ponyville was a quiet town. Sure it had it’s occasional—well, rather frequent brushes with destruction, but other than that, Ponyville was quiet. A serene little town with rolling hills, large fields, and a general charming nature that would captivate even the most cold-hearted of ponies. One such pony who found herself charmed by the town was Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight had been living in Ponyville for over a year now, and had made many friends as her mentor had suggested to her. It would be safe to say that just about every pony in Ponyville was either a friend or an acquaintance to the young unicorn. She was well respected, and a kind-hearted pony to boot. An all around nice filly who would help anypony out without so much as a second thought. Twilight loved everything about ponyville, from the Everfree Forest outskirts, to Sweet Apple Acres. Though she had more immediate loves than her admirations for her home.

Anypony who knew Twilight, knew her passion for books. She loved everything about them, and that is why she was made the Ponyville librarian by the princess. Perhaps even more than books, Twilight loved knowledge, and logically, despised ignorance, and all nonsensical things. Her world made sense to her, save for her pink, party-obsessed friend, but that was an exception, and the only exception that she would ever make. What Twilight loved the most in the world though, was that there was always something new to read. There was always something new to learn.

As Twilight sat on the library floor, happily reading her book, part of her mind wandered. Spike was away in Canterlot, doing some work for Princess Celestia for the next two weeks, which left the unicorn with an extraordinary amount of precious free time. During these next two weeks she could read as much as she wanted, without the worry of bothering the young dragon. That thought sent a shiver down Twilight’s spine with how absolutely tantalizing it was.

She turned the last page of the book she was reading, about to finish off her third one for the day. As she read, she clumsily fumbled her hoof around next to her for another book in her stack. After a few misses, the unicorn grew a little irritated at her inability to grab a simple book. She stopped her fruitless efforts until she read the last word on the page. As she set down the book with her magic, she turned to her waiting stack of books. All she saw however was an vacant space where said stack should be.

“Silly me, I must have read all of them,” she said with a small giggle to herself. Slowly she got up on all four hooves. Her whole body gave an involuntary shake, which led into a long, deep stretch, that the librarian embraced whole-heartedly. It hadn’t really occurred to her just how long she had been lying there reading. Her whole body felt stiff, but it wasn’t anything a few quick stretches, and shakes couldn’t solve.

Twilight pranced happily to the book shelves, scanning titles for one she hadn’t read. Scanning the titles, looking at the binding, enjoying the sweet smell of bound paper, Twilight even loved this part. It wasn’t quite as enjoyable as reading, but it was still fun to look through the volumes upon volumes of books the ponyville library held. It was like a scavenger hunt for her; she would try to find tomes she had yet to read among the ones she had.

After a few moments of scanning, something was off. As Twilight looked over the tomes at eye level, she recognized all the titles present. She started using her magic to pull books from the top shelves. realizing there wasn’t a stranger in the bunch, she tossed them into a pile behind her. She made a quick sweep through the lower shelves, and then double checked the ones at eyes level again. A deep heat started to burn in her chest, and Twilight started to get worried.

She ran upstairs to her room, tossing books left and right to find one she hadn’t read yet. Nothing, there was nothing new in her towering stacks of reading material. Her breath began to quiver in fear as the realization sunk in. But she refused to give up; she shook off the creeping fear and ran down stairs again. As a last ditch effort, the librarian rushed to the checkout desk. As her first hoof hit the floor, her horn lit with a magenta glow. Using her magic she threw open a desk drawer, and levitated a book to her. She frantically flipped through the pages as fast as she could while still being able to read the material inside, but it was no use. After a few seconds she found no such salvation inside it’s cover. As the fear she felt upstairs crept back inside her, she tossed the useless book aside.

Twilight had just searched through the list of all the books in the Golden Oaks Library. There wasn’t a single title in that list that she hadn’t read. Twilight had officially read every single book in this godforsaken tree. The crushing weight of the realization slowly sunk in, smashing her heart under its immense size. Her chest burned hotter, and almost itch seemed to tickle at her very brain.

“I need to write Princess Celestia! Spike!” Twilight called into the empty library. Her lingering echoes reminded her that her assistant was away. Twilight’s neck twitched to the side, causing her whole body to shudder. “J-Just calm down Twilight, You can send the letter the old fashioned way, you don’t need a dragon flame,” she chuckled slightly trying to calm herself.

“How does a dragon’s flame even work?” Twilight froze when she heard that asked. Her eyes wondered around the empty library, not seeing a single soul there other than herself. That tingle in her brain intensified, and the burning in her chest felt hotter than she had ever felt it before. Suddenly, in a purple blur, she raced back up stairs. A quill and parchment levitated into place just as she got to the desk, and she hurriedly started scribbling down a letter to the Princess.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing you to request that you please send more reading material to the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville as soon as possible. This may seem a little sudden, and I do apologize for that, but I have run out of material to read. I do wish to stress the urgency of this matter, as I have read every book within the library. Tomorrow I shall venture out into the town and see what books I may come across that I have not already read, but I fear that will not sate my...desire, if you will.

Also, It would seem that the...symptoms of my condition are manifesting at a far faster rate than previously observed. While I do not wish to cause alarm, I do fear that I may have another episode if I do not get something new to read as soon as possible. I need something, anything, please...I do not wish to sound rude, but I am in desperate need. Princess, I am scared.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight’s chest heaved as she scribbled the last word of the letter. Beads of sweat rolled down her cheek as her heart raced. When Twilight looked out her bedroom window, the sun was already setting. Even if she dropped off the letter to the post office, it wouldn’t go anywhere until morning. It would take the princess at least three days to receive the letter, and then gather some books for her. She would be lucky to have those by the end of the fourth day. Twilight knew she didn’t have that kind of time.

“You know I’ve always wondered, what exactly is time? When you think about it, how does time work? What makes time tick?” asked another disembodied voice.

“You stop asking questions, you’re not even real,” Twilight answered back, pushing her hooves to her ears in an attempt to block out the voices.

“That’s funny, if I’m not real, why did you answer me?”

“Because, I’m reassuring myself that you’re not real,” Twilight calmly explained, as she closed her eyes, and turned her back to where she believed the voice to be coming from. Shunning the voice didn’t seem to help any. Her heart was still racing, her mind still itching, her chest still burning, even if she silenced the voices it wouldn’t be long before she had a full blown incident on her hooves.

“Oh, come on, Twilight. I’m just asking what you want to know,” the voice continued coaxing her. It rang as loud as it had before, even through her hooves. When she opened her eyes, another unicorn was looking back at her. A lavender unicorn with a dark mane that had a violet and rose streak running through it. On her flank sat a familiar cutie mark that sent a chill through Twilight when she saw it. The unicorn in front of her was herself.

“Y-You’re not real!” she yelled, running past the clone of herself. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the clone standing by the door, with a smug look on her face. Twilight cautiously walked up to the mirror image of herself, examining it, trying to find any flaw she could, just to prove it wasn’t her. If it wasn’t her, then it had to be some pony’s idea of a trick, and she wasn’t crazy.

“Did you think you could outrun me?” the cocky clone asked.

“Why do you keep asking questions?” Twilight inquired.

“Is it wrong to ask questions?”

“Stop that, it’s not funny!”

A sudden knock at the library door interrupted her self-arguing. Twilight looked to the door, then back to her second self. The double simply shrugged her shoulders. After a second knock, she motioned for Twilight to answer it. “Go on, you don’t want ponies thinking you’re crazy do you?” the smug clone asked.

Twilight wasn’t sure how not answering a door would make ponies think she was crazy, but with how worked up she was, any little comment would get to her. With a small nod she used her magic to open the heavy wooden door. On the other side stood the clumsy mailmare, Ditzy Doo, and Twilight's clone.

“Oh, hello Ditzy, what brings you here?” Twilight asked in a cheerful tone. By the time she greeted the pony, her double had walked up to Ditzy and was inspecting her thoroughly. She inspected the mare from mane to hoof, snout to tail, which caused Twilight’s eyes to keep bouncing between the two ponies in front of her. A bead of nervous sweat rolled down her cheek.

“Hello Twilight! I have some mail to deliver!” the ashen pegasus seemed oblivious to the copy of Twilight scanning her every inch. That put Twilight at ease for a moment. The next moment however, it hit her that she really was going crazy. The auditory hallucinations were nothing new, but visual ones now too?

Twilight shook her head, trying to focus back on the matter at hoof. “Mail? For me?” Twilight asked. It was strange for her to get mail, most letters she received came via Spike.

Ditzy gave a nod, and then stopped herself. She thought for a moment, and then shook her head to mean no. “Not for you, for Rarity! She told me to forward all her mail for the next week,” the bubbly pegasus corrected herself with a small giggle. Twilight had completely forgotten that Rarity was in Manehatten for a fashion show this week.

“Sweet Celestia, what is with this pony’s eyes?” Twilight’s imaginary double finally blurted out, staring deep into Ditzy’s askew gaze. “You want to know too, don’t you?” she turned to ask Twilight in a seductive tone. The librarian responded by giving a stern glare at the figment tormenting her.

“Glare all you like, but I know you’ve got the itch...and you know the only cure...”

Ditzy gave a confused look from her one good eye to Twilight. Clearly the unicorn was giving a mean glare at nothing. Ditzy turned her head to see what Twilight was glaring at, but didn’t see anything that would warrant such a stare. Twilight’s double jumped back, taking a pouncing position like she was about to attack the pegasus, when her walleyed gaze passed where the imaginary pony was standing.

“What’s the matter?” Ditzy asked still looking around for whatever the librarian was glaring at.

“N-Nothing!” Twilight quickly realized how silly she had to of looked. Her cheeks flashed red with embarrassment. “Oh, Ditzy, while you’re here, would you be able to deliver a letter for me? I need it delivered to Princess Celestia as soon as possible,” she said changing the subject quickly.

“I could drop it off to the out-of-town postbox for you, but I don’t deliver mail out of Ponyville.”

“Ask her!” Twilight’s clone demanded, still standing in a pouncing position, glaring at Ditzy. “Ask her why her eyes are like that! We need to know! It‘s the only way to satisfy that incessant itch!”

“Y-You know Ditzy, you and I really don‘t get to talk much. Why don’t you come inside, I can give you that letter, and then we can have some tea?” Twilight offered, knowing full well she shouldn’t have. She shouldn’t be listening to this distorted figment of herself, but distorted or not, she was right. Twilight wanted to know—no—Twilight needed to know. The burning in her chest was so hot, and the itch in her brain was driving her crazy, she had to know to make it stop.

A creepy smile crept across the double’s mouth once Twilight invited the pegasus inside. A barrage of “do it!” came from the imaginary pony, as she danced around the blissfully unaware Ditzy, as the bubbly mare pondered whether to come in or not.

“I guess I can, I mean this is my last stop for the night,” she said after a moment of weighing her options. As she walked past Twilight, both versions of the unicorn breathed a sigh of relief. After she let the mailmare in, she stuck out a hoof stopping her clone from following them inside.

“I’m just going to ask her a few questions, and then we’re done,” she said with a glare at her imaginary double. She didn’t want her twisted reflection thinking she was listening to her. She was just going to scratch her itch, and that was all.

“Oh, Twilight, that need of yours to know everything won’t let that specimen out of your sight,” she said with a devilish smile creeping across the figment’s face. “I mean for the love of Celestia, the possibilities of what it could be are endless. Better yet, what if she doesn’t even know why!” Her hallucination jumped up and down at the thought, her mouth salivated like a dog before a steak. Twilight only responded by slamming the door on the manifestation of her insanity.

“So Ditzy, why don’t you tell me about yourself!” Twilight said, back to her cheerfully tone. When she turned around, she saw her double, happily waving at her from the couch. No saliva, no over-excited attitude, just waiting patiently. Twilight grit her teeth fiercely, trying her best to ignore her disturbing little illusion.

“What do you want to know?”

“About your eyes! Tell me about your eyes!” the imaginary Twilight screamed. “I need to know, was it a birth defect? A disease? Do you do it purposefully? For the love of Celestia, TELL ME!”

“Let’s start with your job, how did you end up as the Ponyville mailmare?” Twilight started innocently.

“What are you doing! Ask her right now! Scratch your itch! Find out what makes her tick!” the Twilight clone demanded.

“What‘s wrong with her, doesn’t she know anything. There needs to be some delicacy when you handle things like this. You can‘t just ask a rude question, you might put off the pony you're asking. That‘s no way to scratch the itch,” Twilight rolled her eyes as she thought to herself.

“Oh, I see now, that makes sense,” the hallucination replied as she inspected Ditzy some more.

“Wait you can hear my thoughts?” Twilight mentally asked herself.

“Well, I am inside your head, so yeah. Isn‘t that obvious? I‘m apart of you, Twilight,” the clone gave a cocky response.

“Well I became the mailmare after I got fired from the weather factory in Cloudsdale. They really didn’t like it when I tripped, and knocked over a month’s supply of snow flakes...” she giggled a bit, though her eyes betrayed her feelings of shame. “onto the foreman...and then bumped into a wind fan blowing it all out the window...” her giggle had faded by the end, leaving a depressed pony in it’s wake.

“In your defense, who keeps a weather fan in the same room as snowflakes,” Twilight said trying to cheer up her up. Her double nodded in agreement.

“That would be me...I accidentally moved it to the wrong room...” Ditzy only seemed to get more depressed. “I moved it to the wrong department, and I couldn’t really read the sign on the door either, so it ended up in snowflake manufacturing...”

Twilight’s hallucination gave the unicorn a wicked smile, urging her to probe further. “Was it...because of your eyes?” Twilight asked timidly, following her delusions instructions. The dejected pegasus only responded with a small nod. The second Twilight relished in the question, falling over in a disgusting display reminiscent of orgasmic bliss.

“You want to know about them don’t you?” Ditzy asked after a moment. Twilight averted her eyes, trying to not seem too interested.

“Only if you want to share.” Twilight said meekly. It put Ditzy at ease to know she wasn‘t just another gawker.

“It’s fine,“ Ditzy assured her, “I don’t really know why, all I know is they’re a pain in the flank...I‘ve had them my whole life.”

“If I had to say, they probably affect your depth perception, and your ability to focus on anything. So reading is pretty difficult...isn’t it?” Twilight analyzed. She received the tiniest nod as a response.

“That’s why the mail always arrives so late, I have to spend a few hours every morning trying to read the addresses, and names.” A small tear came to the usually bubbly pegasus’s eye.

“Don’t worry Ditzy, I know it must be hard for you, but everypony knows you’re trying your best.” Twilight walked over to the couch the mailmare was sitting on. Twilight’s imaginary double leaped into the air, and danced excitedly. “Oh, sweet Celestia, keep her talking! I love it! Find out more!”

“Shut up, this is serious!” Twilight thought at herself.

“They have a funny way of showing it...” she said pushing back her tears. “Gosh, why am I telling you all of this,” she said, laughing a bit.

“Because that’s what friends do, they share things,” Twilight said placing a hoof on the pegasus’s shoulder. With the warmth of another’s touch, Ditzy’s one good eye met Twilight’s. A smile crawled across the mailpony’s face at the mention that Twilight was her friend.

“Thanks Twilight, you’re a really nice pony. Just about everypony else thinks I’m stupid, and calls me names. I try to just ignore it, but it’s hard, you know?”

“Twilight, this is it,” her double whispered into her ear. “You don’t need books. You just need to learn about other ponies...Other ponies can scratch your itch...”

“What kind of mean things do ponies say to you?” Twilight asked.

“Silly things, like...umm...Oh, back when I was in Flight School, they used to call me Derpy Hooves.” Ditzy said with a small laugh.

“That’s terrible...Ditzy, don’t ever listen to anypony who says such mean things, they’re usually not even worth their own weight in dirt,” Twilight said, rubbing Ditzy shoulder reassuringly.

“You really are a nice pony, Twilight. You‘re also a good listener,” Ditzy replied with a heartfelt smile.

“But those eyes, they’re taunting you...I know a way to find out how they...tick...” Twilight froze when she heard those words from her clone’s mouth. The word “tick” echoed through her mind, drudging up memories she had long since buried.

“I-I promised you some tea didn’t I!” Twilight said nervously, as she got off the couch. Her double that had been whispering in Twilight’s ear, jumped back. She immediately started pacing back and forth, watching the two ponies, intently.

“You really don’t have to. I should probably get going anyway.” Ditzy also got off the couch. “Where is that letter you wanted me to drop off?”

“Oh, right up stairs, let me go get it.” Twilight disappeared in a purple blur, leaving the pegasus wondering where she went. One moment she was there, the next she was gone.

“Tick...Twilight, tick...it’s taunting you...I can make it stop...” Twilight was greeted by her double resting on her bed. The demented hallucination lie on her back, staring at the ceiling.

“Just go away,” she muttered in passing to the copy.

Twilight grabbed the letter, and ran it down to Ditzy as fast as she could. The pegasus jumped slightly when Twilight hit the ground with a thud, jumping over the last few steps. Twilight levitated over a ribbon and wrapped started to wrap the letter in her usual fashion, as she had when she had Spike send them.

“Um, Twilight? You need an envelop, and you have to write the name, address, and you’re name, and a return address on the envelop.” Twilight stopped for a minute, suddenly feeling embarrassed for her lack of basic knowledge.

Her double, now relaxing on the couch, cried out in another depraved moan. “Oh, Celestia, tell me more! Teach me something new! Scratch the itch!”

After Twilight made the necessary corrections to her method of mailing, she levitated the letter to Ditzy. The walleyed pony happily took the envelop, giving Twilight a cheerful smile as she did so.

“Ditzy, why don’t you come back tomorrow night? We can have that tea I promised you,” Twilight offered as she walked the mailmare out.

“Sure, I would love to.”

“And maybe we can talk about something...a little less depressing,” Twilight added, to which she received an eager nod.

“Yes, come back my little specimen, and let me use you to scratch my itch...” Twilight’s clone said followed by a maniacal laugh, as Twilight opened the door. To her dismay, on the other side of the door was the hallucination, still jumping up and down.

“Wait...what?” Twilight asked herself mentally. She turned her head to see one copy of herself still laughing hysterically in the library, and when she looked back, one was jumping up and down outside.

“S-See you tomorrow Ditzy,” Twilight said, trying to force a cheerful tone, as the bouncing version of herself bounced back inside the library. Twilight closed the door with her magic, locking it for the night. She looked back at her two copies, now standing side by side, completely still as they stared back at her. She cautiously walked up to her two hallucinations, inspecting them closely.

“Don’t tell me there’s a third one upstairs on my bed...”

“Nope, just us,” one replied.

“Great, I’m more crazy than I thought...”

“Twilight, you’re not crazy,” the other copy replied.

“I’m not crazy? I have two copies of myself, talking to me...”

“I think she’s right, she might be crazy...” one copy said to the other.

“A-And to each other!” she yelled in disbelief. “W-Why can you talk to each other! That makes absolutely no sense! Your personalities aren‘t even consistent with what they were an hour ago! Nothing about the two of you makes any sense!”

“Speaking of making no sense, did you see that pegasus?” One copy asked the other.

“Oh, Celestia, yes! I want to find out what makes her tick so badly!”

“Her eyes were so wrong, what makes them like that?”

“Oh, you missed the part about Derpy Hooves!”

The other copy seemed lost in thought for a moment. “And now I didn‘t!” the copy laughed to herself as a huge smile grew on her face. “I love that we’re the same pony: shared memories!”

“Twilight you have to find out what makes her tick!” Both copies said in unison.

“No! No-no-no we are not having another episode!” Twilight stomped her hoof.

“Just talk to her, Twilight. Take everything she says, and write it down into a book. It will be your little Derpy Hooves diary.”

“No, that idea is stupid. I have a much better one.” The other Twilight offered, with a proud hoof to her chest.

“What part of “no” don’t you get!”

“Shhh, I want to hear this!” Twilight suddenly felt a hoof pressed against her mouth.

“Remember your last little episode, Twilight?” Twilight did remember, unfortunately. She was reminded of it ever time she went too long without reading.

The last time Twilight had a breakdown was when she was a filly, just starting to take lessons from Princess Celestia. When she was young, she was always learning something new, practically on a daily basis, so nopony even know about her condition, that was until one fateful week, when she didn’t receive a single lesson from Princess Celestia.

One day after a short lesson that left Twilight rather unfulfilled, she was told that the Princess would be out of the castle for a week. Her job was calling, and that left the little filly with little supervision, save for a few miscellaneous caregivers around the castle. She didn’t have access to the royal archives back then, and she was far too young to venture off to the library by herself. The various ponies responsible for her were too busy with their jobs to watch after her all the time, and by the time any of them could have taken the poor filly to the library, it was closed.

Aside from that, the first year of her tutelage was to be spent away from her family, which meant she lived in the castle with the princess. No family, no friends, and hardly a pony to talk to. There was nothing for a young filly to do at all, so young Twilight was unbelievably bored. She didn’t like to play with other fillies, or colts much, as they proved to be too simple-minded for her.

Though bored, and lacking supervision, Twilight was still a smart, resourceful, well-behaved filly. She knew better than to get into trouble, so she tried to entertain herself by practicing some spells, doing homework, reviewing what she had learned, and even playing some games by herself. She was fine being left alone for the few days, without really needing anypony else, that was until the questions started poking at her. Every little thing she saw raised one, and just poked at her, and poked, and poked, and poked, until it turned into an almost tangible itch in the young filly’s brain.

As the itch wore on her, she found herself staring at the clock in her room, completely bewildered by the timepiece. Her mind raced with questions, why was it there? How did anypony know when it needed to be wound? How did the machine work? What ran the machine inside? How complex was the machinery? It didn’t stop, even when she took her eyes off it, all she heard were the questions. She could still see the clock, tormenting her in her mind as the pendulum slowly swung, sending a tick, and then a tock reverberating through the young filly’s brain. As it taunted her, the itch became so strong, she was actually scratching at her head. A burning need built in her chest, making her breath harder, until finally she couldn’t take it. After three days without a new lesson, or a new book, she took the clock in her room, and dismantled it.

The architecture, and machinery were utterly splendid; the most beautiful thing the young unicorn had ever seen. Each little part of the timepiece had a purpose. The idea of how everything worked in harmony sent shivers down her spine just thinking about it, even now. Springs, sprockets, levers, wheels, drums, weights, forks, pendulums, ever single minor detail had a place. Clockwork was the ultimate order in the world, and Twilight was learning about it, not through text and diagrams, but first hoof through dissection. That picture of serene order would be Twilight’s ideal for life in the years to come.

Before long she had torn apart every clock in the castle she could get her hooves on. She couldn’t let one clock get away from her, for the fear it may operate differently from the others. When she first discovered a weight clock was different than a spring clock, her head almost exploded at the possibilities.

After the clocks, came the furniture. What was it made from? Why was it soft, yet sturdy? How was it held together? Then the door hinges, and guard uniforms. Anything that could be pulled apart fell under Twilight’s inspecting gaze. She needed to know why things were the way they were. She absolutely needed to know; she needed to scratch her itch. She needed to find out how things ticked, just like her clock in her bedroom.

After a week of Twilight wreaking havoc on the castle, Celestia returned. The horror stories from the staff perplexed the monarch. As she searched the castle she saw the destruction wrought, firsthoof. Eventually she found Twilight in the garden, delving into the intricacy of a squirrel’s vascular system that she had captured. The monarch was shocked, and disgusted to say the least, but she allowed Twilight to explain herself. Once she heard Twilight describe her need to know, the tangible itch on her brain, Celestia knew just what the young pony needed. She gave her young pupil access to the royal archives, on the condition that Twilight read at least two books a day. She would give the young filly the tools she needed to scratch her itch.

Though Celestia mandated a minimum, she also limited Twilight’s maximum book access, to prevent her from burning through the whole archive in a matter of years; something even the most avid reader would spend a lifetime doing. But she knew Twilight would spend every waking moment reading until she knew every word in the ancient tomes by heart. She was a smart, devoted, and very talented filly, but deep down she had that burning desire to know everything, and that desire is what the Princess feared the most. Ever since then Twilight had been medicating herself with books upon books to sate her thirst for knowledge.

“You know Twilight, Ditzy has something wrong with her...” The double wrapped a foreleg around her real counterpart. “Do what the other Twilight here says, keep your little book, but fill it with your findings about Ditzy’s body. She could have a wealth of knowledge stored inside that sack of useless skin and lard.”

The first Twilight that had suggested the book let out another depraved shriek in bliss. “Oh, just thinking about her veins, her nervous system, it all reminds me of that beautiful clock! Take that little pegasus and learn what‘s wrong with her, what makes her tick! Her life has sucked anyway, you heard her! Put that little bitch out of her misery, and scratch your itch while you‘re at it!” She collapsed onto the floor, rolling, while rubbing her hooves over her body.

“I-I just need to find out what makes her tick?...” Twilight asked innocently.

“That’s right Twilight, find out, and your itch will go away. Who needs books when you can learn hooves on?”

“Her heart and lungs, her brain—Oh, my sweet Celestia, her brain!” the mid-orgasm version of Twilight was still rolling on the floor, describing the systems in the body, clearly getting some physical gratification from her demented listings.

“B-But she’s a living pony, I can’t just cut her open...”

“Sure you can, you have a laboratory down in the basement, full of every tool and drug you’ll need to make it as painless as possible. Just slip some sleeping medicine into her tea, and that itch will be scratched once and for all.” Her delusion licked Twilight’s ear ever so slightly, causing a shiver to run up her spine. “And then you’ll finally know what makes a pony...tick...” she whispered like a depraved lover in Twilight’s ear. A twisted half smile slowly crept across Twilight’s face, as she laughed in disbelief of what she was thinking. She couldn’t really be letting these two talk her into this could she?

“B-B-But she’s a living pony...Itch or not, I can’t just kill her...”

“Sure you can, she won’t be missed.”

Twilight realized what she was being talked into and slammed her hoof on the ground. “No! I’m not killing anypony, not tomorrow, not ever. Now both of you crawl back into whatever sick,” she pointed at the pony coaxing her. “and depraved,” she pointed at the version of herself who was essentially having an orgasm to her own ramblings. “parts of my brain you crawled out of.”

“We can’t just crawl back into your head, silly Twilight.”

“We are you. We can’t just hop back inside you head because you told us to. We’re here to stay until that itch of yours has been scratched.”

“So I’m stuck with you?”

“Afraid so.”

Twilight let out a defeated sigh. “Well then you’re at least going to need names, it’s too confusing to keep track of who is who.”

“Oh! I want to be called Twilight!”

“And you can just call me Twilight.”

“No, I’m the only Twilight here! The real Twilight!”

“Well then, I’ll be the Twilight-who-likes-to-ask-questions,” the version of her self that was coaxing her said.

“And I’ll be the Twilight-who-likes-to-learn,” said the one lying on the floor.

“Neither of those names help in the slightest...”

“Let’s get back to the topic at hoof here, you’re killing the mood, so to speak,” the Twilight on the floor said.

“Twilight, don’t you remember the thrill of learning everything about that squirrel you found? You knew him more intimately than anything else had ever known him. That was until that bitch Celestia stopped you.”

“N-No she saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life!”

“What made the squirrel so special in the first place?”

“Oh, Celestia, he had this most wonderful blue eye. Just one though...It had to be a genetic mutation...I had to know why...Oh, and then his heart, so beautiful. He had a twin, did you know that! I did, I found part of him inside still.” Tears of joy came to Twilight’s eyes as she reminisced on her dissection. “He was the most special creature I have ever laid eyes on,” she added with a nostalgic tone, that yearned to recapture those days.

“Ol’ Derpy is at least three times as interesting as that squirrel,” the Twilight lying on the floor said with a small scoff. Her depraved show had ended, and now she simply laid on her back, looking at the ceiling.

“You take that back!” Twilight charged at her copy.

“Make me!” she said standing up, taking a pouncing position.

“Oh, dear Celestia, I’m arguing with myself...” Twilight muttered, snapping back to reality.

“Ditzy Doo really is more interesting, Twilight. You’ll realize that once you dig that scalpel into her, and see her body work right before your eyes.”

“Y-Y-You think?”

“No, I know for a fact.”

“I-I-I’ll just cut her a little bit...that will work right?” Twilight’s pupils shrunk in size, as a twisted grin crept across her face.

“All or nothing, Twilight.”

“She’s my friend...I...I can’t...”

“I didn’t want to point this out, Twilight. But did you ever notice how a heartbeat sounds like the ticking of a clock? Why is that? The pumping of blood just might be our tick-tock, don‘t you think?”

“T-That’s poetic in a way...”

“Find out what makes her tick Twilight, once and for all. You can do it.”

Ditzy awoke in a dark room. Her head was pounding slightly, leaving a dull ache with each throb. She glanced around the room, but saw nothing. Finally the ache in her head was too much, she tried to lift her hoof, to massage the throbbing pain from her head, but she couldn’t move. Her legs were held down securely by straps of some kind.

“W-Where am I?” the pegasus asked in a slight slur. Her head was spinning, and everything felt distant, like she was in a dream. As her senses slowly returned, she could feel the panic rising in her chest. This definitely wasn’t right.

“Oh, you’re awake!” She heard the familiar voice of her new friend, Twilight. Ditzy tried to look around to see if she could find the unicorn, but she couldn’t see anything.

“Twilight? What’s going on?” Fear was creeping into Ditzy’s voice. The fog of her dreamlike daze was lifting. With her head clearing, she realized her hind legs, her waist, neck, and wings were all tied down as well. A hoof suddenly brushed up against her face in a loving manner.

“Don’t be scared, Ditzy.” Twilight cooed to the trembling pony.

“W-What do you mean? What’s going on?”

“Well you see, I had to slip a little something into your tea to help you sleep.” Twilight was still stroking Ditzy‘s cheek.

“Sleep? Why?” Even her voice was quivering at this point. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could just barely make out the unicorn looming over her. It looked like she was smiling, but why? Nothing was making sense to the mailmare. The last thing she knew was she was talking to her friend, on a couch, enjoying each other’s company. Now she was tied up on a cold hard table.

“Well how else was I going to get you down here silly! I couldn’t have just asked you to lie there while I tied you up, could I?” Twilight had a small chuckle to her voice. It was odd how normal she sounded. Her hoof removed itself from Ditzy’s cheek, leaving an odd sense of yearning behind in the bound pegasus.

“Okay, we’re just about to start,” Twilight added. Suddenly Ditzy felt a sharp pinch in her foreleg, with a cool feeling spreading into her veins. After a second, she didn’t feel anything in that area at all.

“Is that working?” Twilight asked. “Hold on, it’s too dark.” Suddenly a bright spotlight clicked on that was pointed right at Ditzy. The sudden change in lighting caused her eyes to shut tightly, as a stinging sensation hit the back of her eye sockets.

“That’s better,” Twilight said with a chipper tone. “Oh, could you pass me my tools?” Twilight asked.

“Was there somepony else here other than the two of us?” Ditzy thought. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light, letting her see a little bit more of her surroundings. She was on a metal slab of a table, strapped down. There was a tray next to her with a magnitude of sharp pointy things that she hadn’t seen before, many of which resembled knives. On her other side was another tray, that one had a bunch of needles, like she saw at the Ponyville hospital.

“Twilight? Where am I?” she asked the librarian. Twilight was standing next to Ditzy, but she had her back turned, while she looked over some papers.

“In my basement. Gosh, you know Ditzy, I was looking at your brain scans when you were asleep, and they are positively fascinating. You and I are really going to have a good time tonight.” Twilight turned around to reveal a bright smile, like she had seen on the unicorn many times before. This whole situation didn’t seem to bother Twilight, or even seem abnormal in the slightest.

“Why am I here?” she asked timidly.

“Oh, well you see, I’m going to find out why your eyes are the way they are. It‘s something friends do for each other. I can tell they are a bother to you, so I‘m going to find out what makes them tick,” she responded, giving the pegasus a kind smile.

“You really don’t have to...”

“No I don’t, but I want-” Twilight’s whole head twitched. “I need to,” she corrected herself “Oh, Twilight could you pass me the log for recording? I will also need a quill to get this all down. And bring a cap for the inkwell,” Twilight issued this commands to thin air. “Can’t let any ink spill inside, can we?” Twilight joked with the frightened pegasus.

“Was she playing pretend? Is this all just some kind of prank that’s gone a little too far?” Ditzy mentally asked herself.

“Umm, Twilight there’s no one there.”

“Sure there is! I have my two faithful assistants, Twilight-who-likes-to-ask-questions, and Twilight-who-likes-to-learn, helping me.” As Twilight introduced her “assistants”, she pointed at two very empty spaces. “I know that may seem crazy, but believe me, they are there.” Twilight reassured Ditzy with a small laugh.

Ditzy wasn’t reassured at all. “Twilight, are you feeling okay?” She felt a little worried before, but this had turned into full blown fear now. Her new friend that she had connected with over the past few nights, had her tied down on a slab, injected her with something, and was now saying there were other Twilights in the room that Ditzy couldn’t see.

“Well, to tell you the truth Ditzy, I am not feeling okay. We’ve done a lot of talking about you, and that’s not fair. I said friends share things when we first started talking, so I should share as well. You see when I was younger I didn’t really play with other ponies like a normal filly does. I spent my time reading, and learning, because that’s what I found fun.” Twilight walked in front of the bound pony, recanting her life story.

“I didn’t realize until I was forced to spend some time away from those precious things, that I needed them. If I wasn’t learning something I would develop this itch on my brain, and the only way to scratch said itch was to learn something new.” Twilight paced back and forth slightly. The pupils of her eyes seemed to shrink as she went on.

“Ditzy, I ran out of books in the library a few days ago. I have officially read every single book in the library upstairs.” Twilight stopped pacing, and stared at Ditzy with an almost creepy smile.

“C-Congratulations?” Ditzy said meekly, unsure whether to congratulate or console. She chose congratulate, as most ponies would consider that an achievement.

“No.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s not something congratulatory worthy, it’s something to be mourned. I don’t have anything to scratch my itch anymore, Ditzy.” Twilight came back to the pegasus’s side. Her pupils were about the size of peas by this point.

“I have also discovered that through all my self-medication of reading books I was just burying the symptoms. Now that I’m older, and, not to toot my own horn here, am a rather intelligent pony, I can properly diagnose myself. After some careful consideration, and review from my assistants, we are fairly certain that I have psychosis with underlying schizophrenia. I have auditory, and visual hallucinations that taunt me, and tempt me to do terrible, terrible things. Unfortunately this is where you come in Ditzy.” A unsettling grin rolled across Twilight’s face, replacing her kind smile from before. Her voice still rang as the kind, and collected Twilight that Ditzy had come to know; the gentle pony whom she called her friend.

“You’re going to have to scratch my itch. I need to find out what makes you...tick...” Twilight whispered to the mare. Ditzy’s notions of Twilight crumbled like a house of cards. Twilight was the serious type, and with how crazy she was acting, there was absolutely no way this was a simple prank. She had legitimately lost it.

“I-I thought we were friends.” Tears of fear came to Ditzy’s eye when she realized what Twilight was going to do.

“Don’t be silly, Ditzy, we are friends. After all I’m going to know more about you than anypony else ever will. We’re going to be the best of friends.” Twilight nuzzled the pegasus affectionately, as she levitated another syringe over.

“Now, I do need you to be conscious through this procedure, but I’m not a monster. You won’t feel a thing after I inject you with this.” She gave a light tap to the vial, making sure to knock loose any air bubbles inside. After a small squirt, she quickly stabbed the needle into the pegasus’s jugular. After a few moments her body grew lax, and unresponsive. Once the contents of the needle emptied inside her, Ditzy couldn’t feel anything, her whole body was completely numb.

“Now let’s start the procedure, shall we?” Twilight said, as she covered her twisted grin with a medical mask.

There it was, the word the usually happy-go-lucky mare was dreading. Ditzy could only cry a bit to protest, as her vocal cords didn’t want to respond.

As Twilight brought over the scalpel, and placed it right over Ditzy’s heart, her eyes met the terrified pony’s. Her shrunken pupils grew back to their normal size, and her wide eyes went from deranged to serious in less then a second.

“Ready?” Twilight asked rhetorically, knowing she wouldn’t get a response. To her slight surprise, Ditzy did manage to shake her head ever so slightly. Twilight pressed the sharp edge carefully into the pegasus’s flesh. The unicorn’s eyes widened as the point pushed down on Ditzy’s skin, sinking deeper and deeper, until there was a small pop from the utensil breaking through. The tension of the skin was broken, and a little gush of blood soon followed.

Ditzy couldn‘t see it, but Twilight had a devilish grin resting on her face. She had done it, with that small little incision, she could feel her itch being satisfied. “I’m inside you now, Ditzy. I’m going to find out every little thing about you,” Twilight whispered to her scared pony. “Soon I’ll know you more than anypony else will ever know you,” Twilight had an almost carnal tone.

Suddenly she glanced off to a corner of the room. “You’re rubbing off on me Twilight!” she called over. With a small laugh she turned back to Ditzy. “Twilight-who-likes-to-learn has a bit of a depraved side,” she said jokingly.

“Oh! Best of all, Ditzy. When we’re done here, I may even have a cure for whatever is wrong with your eyes. You might even help a whole generation of ponies,” Twilight said cheerfully.

Ditzy’s eyes widened as Twilight slid the scalpel from the top of her chest, down to just above her pelvis with ease. She added a few cross cuts, and peeled the pony’s skin back, revealing the bare bone and muscle of her patient’s chest. When Twilight pulled her hoof back, Ditzy could see her blood all over it. The grey pegasus moaned weakly, in protest.

“You want me to stop? Look I’ve already got you cut open, there’s no going back.” Twilight laughed slightly at the absurd thought. Her hoof fumbled around on the tray next to her. “Now I just need to get these ribs out of the way so I can see your heart and lungs. Where is my...bone saw!” Twilight found what she needed as she said the last few words.

She passed the saw off to her magic, using it to align the barbaric tool to the ribs. Twilight made sure to be extra careful with this part of the gruesome procedure, she didn’t want to nick any blood vessels, or Ditzy could bleed out—well, bleed out faster. As Twilight drew the saw through Ditzy’s bones, she could see the pegasus making a strained expression. Twilight felt a wicked part of herself reveling in the tortured look in her captive’s eyes.

The grinding as the saw cut through the bones sent a chill down Twilight’s spine, it was almost euphoric to the librarian to finally be dissecting again. Each stroke of the saw sent a ripple of vibrations through her subject, and reverberated into her hoof, reaching its way to her brain, and finally scratching that blasted itch. Twilight let out a soft, almost sensual moan at the relief, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth. She simply allowed herself to enjoy the moment of bliss, unabated for what she thought was a few seconds or so. When she looked back down, she was already through most of the ribs; they didn’t take much to cut through to Twilight’s surprise, almost like a knife going through butter.

“Hmm, it seems pegasi bones are less dense than a unicorn or earth pony,” Twilight stated analytically. “Well, I suppose that makes sense, since you do have to fly,” She said with a small laugh to Ditzy. Her patient only whimpered back, it seemed to be the only thing she could do.

“Oh, did you want to see? It’s really quite fascinating,” Twilight said while she dug around in Ditzy’s chest.

The mortified pony still couldn’t believe this was happening to her. How could she go from quietly sipping tea to tied down on a table with her chest cut open. Her eyes widened as much as they could, when Twilight presented a long blood-covered curved bone to her. Her mouth opened ever so slightly, as a pained moan escaped. “See this is yours. They’re actually hollow on the inside, like a bird! Truly amazing.” The bound pegasus could only whimper as she was forced to look at her own bones.

“You know Ditzy, you’re not making this any fun!” Twilight said, slightly annoyed. “I mean you’re already going to die anyway, might as well enjoy a bit of scientific exploration while you can. I mean it’s not every day you get to witness your own vivisection!” Twilight’s eyes beamed in excitement.

Tears rolled down Ditzy’s cheek as a pained whine escaped her lips; the defenseless pegasus was unable to do anything else. She was being forced to stay awake through her own slow, torturous death, and now Twilight expected her to show interest as she ripped out her body parts, and put them on display for her? This was too cruel, crueler than anything she could have ever imagined. How could Twilight be this mean. But more importantly how could Ditzy die like this!

“I...don’t...want...to...die...” Ditzy managed to whimper weakly. Her eyes filled to the brim with tears up as she stared into Twilight’s, hoping that some shred of pony-ity still remained inside her. Hoping Twilight would end it somehow, where both of them walked away from this whole ordeal.

“Oh, Ditzy, we’ve gone over this. It’s for science!” Twilight paused for a moment, her hooves still buried in Ditzy’s chest. “Did we go over this?” she asked, turning her head to the empty corner. “I thought so,” Twilight gave a nod as she returned to her work.

Pushing past the ribs, Twilight came to Ditzy’s lungs, which blocked what Twilight wanted to see. She couldn’t very well remove those without killing Ditzy, and it was still too soon for that. With a disappointed sigh, she set her sights lower. The liver caught her attention, it had visible scarring, a sign of disease. Disease meant infection, or abnormalities, something Twilight enjoyed learning about.

“Say Ditzy, do you drink?” Twilight probed, as she started to remove the damaged organ from it’s home. With one particular cut, a sprits of blood hit the mask, and sent splatters of it onto her face. A weak moan came from the patient, as a response.

“I can tell. You see, your liver has scarring, a tell-tale sign of an alcoholic. Little too much drinking when your daughter passed? I can‘t blame you, A lesser pony would have killed herself.” Twilight pulled the liver out, and placed it on a tray.

“Good news, you won’t have to worry about dying from that ever again!” Twilight said with a small laugh, but she only received yet another small whimper in protest. She glared at Ditzy once again, and pointed her bloody hoof at her own eyes, and then to Ditzy’s.

“Focus! I give you comedy gold and you just whimper! If you don’t liven up a bit, I might just have to cut those vocal chords,” the unicorn said sternly, before digging her hooves back into the warm bloody mess that was Ditzy’s abdomen. When she looked back down, she turned her sights on the stomach next.

“I wonder what we’ll see in here,” Twilight muttered to herself as she made a small incision on Ditzy’s stomach. She spread open the small organ to see it contained a brown mush. It wasn‘t foul smelling, in fact it still had the distinct odor of food. “What did you eat last?” Twilight asked her patient without looking up from her work of prodding at the lump of half-digested food with her scalpel.

“Never mind, you can’t talk, you’re useless like that,” Twilight added with a sigh. “Nurse Twilight-who-likes-to-ask-questions, forceps please!” Twilight called out as her horn lit. The tongs on the tray next to her levitated to her waiting hoof.

“Thank you, nurse,” She responded to herself. Carefully she reached inside the stomach, pulling out the surprisingly solid mush. She held the mystery substance up to the light, examining it carefully. After a moment she shoved the partially digested food into Ditzy’s face.

“But in all seriousness, tell me what did you eat last?” Twilight waited a whole half second before she interrupted any thought Ditzy was forming. “Never mind, still useless,” she said tossing the lump of digested food into a tray next to her. “I expect answers promptly Ditzy!” the deranged unicorn’s pupils shrunk once more, sending chills down Ditzy’s spine. She was nose to nose with her patient, staring deep into her walleyed gaze, inspecting it closely. Here eyes darted around, looking over every inch of Ditzy’s.

“Intestines! Small and large! They’re next!” Twilight yelled, still focusing on Ditzy. Suddenly she snapped back to her task, digging in deeply and ripping out organs with little care. As she strung out Ditzy’s small intestines, Twilight used her magic to sever the other end with a scalpel.

“Long! Why are they so long! Tell me why your intestines are so long! No, wait! Never mind I’ve read this before in a book, I know this one.” Twilight held the coiling mass of organs in her hooves, pushing it back and forth, before finally tossing it next to the liver.

Ditzy could feel her eyes getting heavy. The amount of blood she was losing was wearing on the poor pegasus. Things started to get blurry, and she found it hard to keep her eyelids open. Twilight’s insane ramblings seemed to drift off, like she was speaking from across a room, or a field, or somewhere. Things didn’t make sense anymore, all Ditzy wanted to do was go to sleep. She didn’t want to think anymore, she didn’t really even care about anything at this point. Sleep was all that she wanted.

Suddenly Twilight jammed a needle into Ditzy’s jugular. Her eyes shot open a second later, as a rush of adrenaline forced her awake. Her misaligned eyes ran over the room, looking for a reason, until it caught her eye. Inside her exposed chest lit up with an eerie magenta glow as cloud like aura of Twilight’s magic settled into the cavity. A sudden burst came from the unicorn’s horn, and the smell of burning flesh came wafting up to her nostrils. Twilight’s head slowly cranked till she was looking at Ditzy. Her pupils were the size of mere dots, leaving her bloodshot eyes almost entirely empty.

“Don’t you ever try to die on me again! Not until I say so, okay! Friends don’t die on other friends, Ditzy!” Twilight sounded absolutely infuriated. She glared madly into her patient’s eyes, like she was daring her to try it again. Suddenly Twilight took a sharp, deep breath, and closed her eyes for a moment to calmed herself. “I’ve stopped the bleeding for now, but I have so much more to look into Ditzy. So don’t scare me like that again. I really thought I lost you.” That caring tone Twilight always used came back for a brief moment.

“I...want to...go...home...” Ditzy managed to say weakly. Hoping that little shred of Twilight was still there. Hoping she would somehow save her.

“Now you can talk.” Twilight rolled her eyes. The kindness Ditzy heard not even a second ago was already gone. Twilight was back to her sadistic, caustic, insane self. “No, wait, stop!” Twilight yelled, taking a step back from the operating table.

“I said it earlier...what did I say...” She paused for a moment, putting her hoof to her mask in contemplation. Twilight stood there, desperately trying to remember what she had said. Finally she looked over at the empty corner of the room. “What did I say?” She asked again.

“Fly...fly? You...have...to fly? WINGS! Ditzy you have wings!” she said jumping up onto the table. Twilight’s was nose to nose with Ditzy again, looking into the pegasus’s yellow eyes, her own beaming with a deranged excitement. Her twisted smile was almost visible through her surgical mask.

“That’s what I was forgetting, I wanted to dissect your magnificent wings before you passed away!” Twilight added, hopping down casually. As she trotted up next to the table, she flicked a large lever with her hoof. The metal slab tilted, so Ditzy was suddenly vertical. The change in orientation, mixed with the medication caused her stomach to spasm. A show that was completely visible to the prying eyes of Twilight. Her stomach twitched, and a splash of acid came spilling out from the incision that was made earlier.

“Trying to throw up?” Twilight asked with a small laugh, still contently watching the quivering organ. With a quick inspecting gaze up at Ditzy, she walked to the other side of the table. There, she placed her hoof on a much smaller lever, and gave it a tug. Suddenly the two sections of the table that Ditzy’s wings were strapped to, swung back, exposing the delicate limbs to the deranged surgeon. Twilight turned on some more lights, to illuminate her new worksite.

“You know Ditzy, I really didn’t want to do this to you. I tried, and I tried to fight them, but they were just so convincing.” Twilight brought over her trusty scalpel with her magic, and sliced into the skin along Ditzy’s wings. From the tip to the base, she sliced through the skin and muscle. With a quick purple flash, Twilight used her magic to peel back the loose skin, revealing the blood covered bones, and severed muscles. “Twilights come here, look at this.” Twilight ran her hoof along the bones, eagerly feeling each segment of the limb.

“These shouldn’t be able to sustain flight,” she stated plainly. “So then why can pegasi fly? Their wings aren’t strong enough or even large enough to even get them off the ground, let alone allow them to fly,” she continued, bringing over her book, and ink with her magic as she talked.

“Observe. Pegasi wings only work because of magic.” Twilight’s horn pushed out a magical aura towards the wings. Once the field got close, it became distorted, and aligned itself along a set of previously unseen lines.

“Similar to if you take metal shavings to a magnet, the shavings will align along the magnetic poles, my magic is aligning along the paths of Ditzy’s magical flow. This magical flow is similar to a unicorns, though a pegasus can not manifest it like we can. However they can use it like so: A flap of the wing...” Twilight forced the wing to move slightly with her magic. The movement sent a wave of disturbance through the aura she was projecting. “Sends a wave of magic, which is what actually sustains lift.”

Twilight sounded like a teacher giving a lecture. After her small symposium on the intricate workings of pegasi wings, she levitated over the bone saw once more. She placed the saw on the joint that connected the wing to Ditzy’s back. With the first stroke of the saw, Twilight started humming a small tune to herself. The upbeat melody sounded devilishly cruel to her patient, who could hear the saw cutting, and feel the vibrations reverberate through her lame body.

“There’s no way this was real,” Ditzy thought. She had to be dreaming. She was at home, asleep in her bed, having a terrible nightmare. This had to be Princess Luna’s terrible idea of a prank. There was no other explanation for why Twilight would do something so horrible. What else could this be, her wing was being cut off, and she couldn’t even feel it. That’s a telltale sign of a dream.

Blood sprayed everywhere as the saw sliced through flesh, and bone. Twilight continued humming to herself, until the final strand of flesh gave way to the saw’s serrated edge. With a small, content sigh, Twilight wiped her hoof on her forehead, leaving a streak of blood in place of the beads of sweat. She then triumphantly took the wing, and inspected it carefully, before levitating it in front of her patient.

“You know, this is actually quite beautiful. You really take care of these, don’t you,” Twilight said as she walked around to the front of the slab, Ditzy was strapped to. Her face was literally painted in in her patient’s blood by this point.

“Wasn’t I telling you a story? I was wasn’t I, I’m so sorry.” Twilight laughed a bit at her airheadedness. “So as I was saying, I didn’t want to do this to you, but these other Twilights are just so convincing.” Ditzy’s eyes started to droop once more, the massive blood loss from her wing was literally killing her. Everything felt cold, and heavy.

“Anyway, After they talked me into it, I spent the next few days getting ready. I did love our little chats though, Ditzy, they were truly wonderful.” Twilight brushed her bloody hoof on the dying pegasus’s face in a loving manner. “I kept a journal of every little word you said. It’s all going to be in my book, along with this dissection!”

Ditzy’s eyes were closed before Twilight finished. “Ditzy?” Twilight asked. She looked into the exposed chest cavity, seeing that her heart was completely still.

“Did Derpy die already?” one of the Twilights asked.

“No, don’t let her, Twilight!” the other yelled.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed, as her horn sparked. An explosive shot of light came shooting forth from the tip, hitting the pegasus’s heart. Ditzy’s limp body flailed as the electricity ran through her. When Twilight cut off her magic, she saw the heart twitch slightly, and then resume it’s rhythmic beat, though at a much slower pace.

Ditzy slowly lifted her heavy eyelids, seeing a bloodstained Twilight glaring at her.

“What did I say, Ditzy? Not until I say you can!”

“Please...let...me...die, Twilight...please...” Ditzy sobbed, weakly squeezing out the words. Twilight glanced at her imaginary selves, and then back to dying pegasus on her operating table.

“Ditzy, we’ve only just begun...” Twilight pulled off her mask, giving her dying subject a terrifying grin.

A blood covered Twilight sat on a chair in the dim basement, staring at the mutilated corpse of Ditzy Doo. Her eyes were emotionless, her face, expressionless, and her body slouched in exhaustion. Ditzy had passed away two hours into her dissection, leaving Twilight alone with her insanity induced hallucinations for the last five hours of her painstaking task. Needless to say it took its toll on the disturbed librarian.

She looked down at her notebook, seeing its pages filled with her notes. Not just on the dissection, but also on who Ditzy was. Her life story, or as much of it as Twilight had gathered from their few nights of chatting. Her hardships, her struggles with adversity, finding love, birthing, and fostering a premature foal that died shortly after her first birthday. A small content smile crept across Twilight’s face as she stared at it’s filled pages.

“You really are an amazing pony, Ditzy. I am proud to have you as a friend,” she remarked. She looked around the room, expecting a hurtful retort from her hallucinations, but there was none. The copies of herself had vanished, leaving Twilight in peace at last. And the more she thought about it, she realized the itch was gone too. She found out what made Ditzy tick, and her itch was finally satisfied.

Twilight begrudgingly looked at the clock, and saw that it was just after seven A.M. She slowly climbed up from her seat, and made the long climb upstairs to take a shower. She needed to go shopping today, but before she could do that, she needed to wash off the toil from last night’s work.

Twilight left the library feeling chipper. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and everything seemed right with the world. That shower was just the little pick-me-up she needed. The little incident from the previous night didn’t bother Twilight as much as she thought it would. She was already smiling and back to her old self in just a few short minutes. Part of her felt that was cruel, but mostly Twilight was just pleased to be sane again.

“Good Morning, Twilight,” a familiar voice called out to the librarian. She turned to see the school teacher, Cheerilee giving her a bright smile.

“Good morning, Cheerilee,” Twilight replied, reciprocating her cheerful tone.

“Twilight, I was wondering if you have perhaps seen Ditzy Doo around?” the teacher asked, a sense of urgency revealing itself on her face.

“Ditzy?” Twilight suppressed a chuckle. “I can’t say that I have.”

“That’s too bad. She’s missing apparently.”

“Missing?” Twilight faked her surprise.

“Yes, She usually arrives at the train station to pick up the mail by six o’clock, but she didn’t come today. The stallion who works for the station was nice enough to check on her at her house, but she wasn’t there.” Cheerilee lowered her head, fearing the worst.

“That’s awful, I wonder where she is?” Twilight lied. She knew full-well where Ditzy was, dead on a slab in her basement, and emptied of her organs. Twilight’s back twitched slightly as she remembered the feeling of dissection the bubbly pegasus.

“Well some ponies are checking the Everfree Forest, but I don’t think they’ll fine her there.”

“And why is that?” Twilight asked, still feigning concern.

“Ditzy might not be the most coordinated pony, but she isn’t stupid. Anypony who talks to her for more than ten seconds knows that.” Cheerilee was visibly upset.

“That’s a very astute observation,” Twilight remarked.

“I wish more ponies would notice. She’s really a smart filly when given the chance. Instead they just dismiss her as an oaf.” The teacher stomped her hoof in anger. As Twilight watched Cheerliee react she realized something. Cheerilee was smart, more intelligent than an average elementary school teacher should be. She was a clever little pony, who was probably one of the smartest ponies in town.

“Why is she so smart?” a voice asked in her head. A familiar sensations tickled at Twilight’s brain as she watched the school teacher.

“It’s really not fair to her,” Cheerilee added. “Twilight are you listening?” she asked after she noticed Twilight had just been watching her for a while.

“Yes, of course I am!” Twilight chuckled. Two familiar looking lavender unicorns caught her attention, as they stood off in the distance behind Cheerliee. Both were exact copies of one another, and exact copies of a unicorn Twilight was fairly acquainted with. Each of the hallucinations had an unsettling smile resting on their faces, as the gave Twilight a solemn nod. Twilight’s eyes narrowed at them, as she returned their grin.

“You know Cheerilee, you’re quite the intelligent pony. Possibly the smartest in town,” Twilight began.

“Oh, Twilight, there’s no need for flattery.”

“It makes me a little curious as to...what makes you...tick...”

Author's Note

I apologize to the community for this, another terrible slasher fic with another insane mane six killing ponies.

The Tick

Twilight's Book
Chapter 2: The Tick

Twilight closed the door behind her, before making her decent down into the dark pit of a dungeon that was the Golden Oaks Library basement. The clops from each step she took echoed in the cavernous depths, reminding her how empty the basement was. That vast emptiness of the underground lab she had crafted, mirrored itself in Twilight. A deadpan look sat on her face, devoid of emotion, her eyes appearing almost dead inside. Dark circles rested under her eyes, as she struggled to keep them open.

Twilight took her last step, down to the main area of the basement. On a metal operating table lay an unconscious purple pony, strapped tightly to the slab. As Twilight watched her newest patient sleep, a small, content smile crept across her face; the sight of her soon-to-be victim warmed Twilight’s chilled demeanor. Whimsically, she brushed a hoof along her subject’s hair, gazing at her lovingly, a sense of unbridled joy loomed in her eyes as she looked over the pony’s body. As her newest toy’s hair playfully bounced back into place, she lowered her head next to the slumbering pony, rubbing the side of her face against her unconscious prey.

“Soon I’ll know so much about you Cheerilee. Soon this blasted itch will be gone, and I’ll know more about you than anypony else ever will,” she muttered with a tear coming to her eye. “You can be my best friend, just like Ditzy.” Twilight levitated over a small cap that she placed on the sleeping teacher’s head. Another light of her horn, and a switch flipped on a machine, which immediately started spewing out paper. A steady stream of beeps followed, as a needle drew lines on the stream of paper.

“Your brain is so beautiful,” commented Twilight, taking the flowing stream of data in her hooves. She glanced over the data, her eyes running over the beautiful information, hungrily.

“She’s just so special,” a copy of Twilight said, peaking over the original’s shoulder.

“This will be fun, won’t it?” another said. Twilight nodded in agreement as she absorbed the information laid before her, taking snapshots with her mental camera. Her face was filled with pride over as she processed her friend’s data, the content smile that sat on her lips only grew larger.

“Twilight-who-likes-to-learn, would you pass me my journal?” Twilight asked without looking up away from the paper in front of her. Her magic grabbed a small, mostly blank book, bringing it towards her. “Thank you,” she muttered as she started copying down her findings into its pages.

“Twilight-who-likes-to-ask-questions, can you check on our subject?” the real Twilight asked still face deep in her scribbling.

“No,” the double answered very matter-of-factly. The unexpected answer pulled Twilight away from her research. She looked at her clone, confused, who followed up with an unsure glance towards the operating table. Twilight chuckled a bit realizing why she answered as such.

“Silly me,” she said, still laughing to herself. She glanced over at Cheerilee to see her rousing ever so slightly. She was about to wake up from her drug-induced sleep, and that meant that Twilight would be scratching her itch again very soon. The unicorn shuddered just thinking about the information she would uncover in just a few short hours. The wealth of knowledge inside her captive’s body was so tantalizing to the unicorn that she had half a mind to start right now, but she knew it was too soon. There was still data to gather before she could dig her scalpel into Cheerilee’s flesh, still so much work before she could find out what makes her tick. Her imagination ran wild with possible defects, abnormalities, and oddities that could lie inside.

Her demented fantasies were interrupted by a sudden knock at the front door. The pounding echoed through the spacious lab that, causing all the Twilights present to look up at basement door. The real Twilight glared up the stairs, as if the heavy wooden door that sat at the top was the interruption. After a moment of glaring uselessly, Twilight’s eyes bounced around her hallucinations, waiting for one of them to say something. Each continued to stare at the source of the pounding without so much as a word.

“I’m guessing none of you are willing to get that?” she asked her hallucinations.

“Nope!” a third Twilight spoke up. The real one glared at her for the abrupt answer.

“You know, Twilight-who-likes-to-know-things, you’re really not pulling your weight in the little dynamic we have going here...” Twilight strolled past her delusion, keeping her eyes fixated on her. “Now, while I go see to the door, you get to sit here and keep an eye on Cheerilee.” Twilight’s eyes flowed from her incompetent double, to her unconscious patient on the table. When she looked back, her delusion had a silly-looking security guard’s hat on, and gave her real self a salute. Twilight stared for a moment, a little in shock at the absurdity her mind was unleashing on her. Finally she shook her head, leaving her silly hallucination behind.

Another knock echoed from the Library’s front door. Each pound caused Twilight to wince slightly as it echoed through the basement. “I’m regretting that sound amplification spell I put on the door...” Twilight muttered to herself as she started the long trek back up stairs. Two of her delusions followed her, chatting happily with one another about the procedure to come.

When Twilight reached the top of the stairs, she sluggishly opened the door. On the other side, she was met with yet another copy of herself, smiling at her happily. She glared at the new clone with tired eyes for a moment, before bringing a hoof to her mouth telling herself to stay quiet. Twilight stealthily approached the door, her eyes still fixated on her newest insane delusion. She didn’t take her eyes off the new copy, who was happily cooperating with her gag-order, until she stood in front of the library entrance. Her neck slowly cranked until she was looking at the wooden door, her eyes fuming.

“I have copies of myself springing up all over the place, I don’t need doors pounding at me now too. So be quiet you!” she muttered in a low tone.

“I think somepony is at the door,” one of her delusions answered.

“I hope they have something new to tell us,” her second copy said with eyes beaming in excitement as she rocked back and forth barely able to contain herself.

Twilight only rolled her eyes at her other self’s musings. Her horn lit, pulling the heavy wooden door opened as it did so. She was met with a pegasus from the royal guard standing in front of her, his hoof raised as he was about to knock once more. The door opening surprised him slightly, since it had taken Twilight so long to answer. He slowly pulled his hoof back, before standing at attention.

“Miss Sparkle, good evening,” he announced in a deep, strictly-business tone. The instant the door had opened, Twilight’s eye’s softened, a slight smile came across her face. Anypony looking at her wouldn’t notice anything strange. She looked how she always did, aside from the dark circles under her eyes, but even that wasn’t too abnormal for Twilight. She would often stay up all night reading.

“Good evening, what business does the royal guard have with me at such a late hour?” Twilight asked. She knew it was late at night, far too late for this to be about Ditzy’s disappearance. A sudden flood of questions came from the copies behind her, but she ignored them.

“As you know, we are searching for evidence concerning a pegasus pony who has gone missing.” Twilight nodded, acting as though she was following the guard pony. “However, a new missing pony has been brought to our attention. At 2130 hours, an earth pony by the name of Cheerilee was reported missing as well. We are alerting all residents in the town to contact us if they have any information regarding this her whereabouts.” As the guard droned on, one of Twilight’s delusions approached his left side, examining the stiff stallion. Her eyes flowed from hoof to head, inspecting the specimen carefully. Twilight’s own eyes couldn’t help but follow the flow as well.

“My goodness, his wings are magnificent! I wonder what he does to take care of them. They look like they’re stronger than Ditzy’s. Twilight, ask him about his wing-care habits!” Twilight shook her head, snapping out of her trance like gaze. The guard looked at her, a bit puzzled.

“Sorry, it’s a bit late,” she responded, closing her eyes for a bit longer than a blink. The guard nodded, agreeing with her. “Cheerilee has gone missing, you said?” the librarian probed, getting back to the conversation. Her tone bore a fake concern, something that the Twilight clones giggled about. The guard however, hadn’t even suspected her of not being sincere. The disconnect she had been feeling since Ditzy’s death had given Twilight an insight into herself. She realized how simple things were once you didn’t feel anything. Her emotions became a tool, something she could flex like a muscle; it became like a mathematical formula to her at this point. Concern was easy to fake, a bit of surprise, a slight amount of hesitation, and a touch of fear. The facial expression accompanying it wasn’t difficult either, sad, but questioning eyes, and a slight frown, but not too much. Nopony would be the wiser. All she had to do was lean in a bit, and she had a very convincing façade.

“Indeed, it appears so. She was to rendezvous with a friend earlier this evening, but she never arrived. The stallion reported her disappearance to us shortly after her non-arrival, fearing the worst.” Twilight nodded slightly as he continued. The stallion he spoke of must have been Big Mac, Twilight had been slightly aware of their relationship through the grapevine.

“Why don’t you have a little bit of fun, Twilight?” Her newest delusion spoke to her. She didn’t look at the copy of herself whispering into her ear, but she was listening. “Throw the attack dog a bone.”

“Now that you mention it, I spoke with her earlier today. She was acting a bit strange. She said something about her coltfriend becoming a little to...clingy...” Twilight added some uncertainty into her tone. “Does that mean anything, you think?”

The guard looked lost in thought for a moment. Her newest copy laughed to herself, reveling in the deceit. “I’m not too sure, but I’ll look into it. Thank you for your time, Miss Sparkle.” He gave a swift salute, before leaving. After he turned around, Twilight’s eyes went from soft to cold, her smile from warm to unsettling. Slowly she closed the door, giving a soft snicker as she did so. She looked over at her latest addition to her growing group of mad fantasies.

“I think you and I will get along just fine,” she said with a smile. “So what shall I call you?”

“I’ll be Twilight-who-likes-to-find-answers.” She gave a twisted smile to her host, before both began laughing. They were quickly joined by the other two insanity-induced illusions. The four Twilights laughed for a good minute before they finally stopped. The real Twilight wiped a tear from her eye, before walking past her trio of imaginary selves. She turned back, motioning for them to follow her back into the basement.

Cheerilee awoke to complete darkness. Her head felt like she had just been hit with a baseball bat. A constant, throbbing pain shot through her skull every second like clockwork. She couldn’t remember anything that happened to her, only that she was talking with Twilight in the library one second, and now she was here. She let out a low groan as she tried to rub the pain away from her head, however she quickly noticed she was unable to move. All four of her legs were bound tightly to the table she was lying on, and her neck was held in place too.

Before she could so much as whimper, she heard a door slam close from what sounded like miles away. The sound echoed for a few moments before finally dying out, leaving a deafening silence in its wake. The silence that followed was nerve-racking. Fear boiled up with each passing second. Somepony was in the dark with her, and she didn’t know who. All she wanted to do was cry out, but somepony put her there for a reason, and she felt that she shouldn’t draw their attention if she could help it. She closed her eyes, hoping to fool them into thinking she was still asleep, praying that help was on the way.

Suddenly somepony spoke from the dark. “Is she awake?” the familiar voice asked. Silence followed, as no response came. “You really are useless. I put you in charge of her for a reason!” a growing frustration rang out. Cheerilee’s eye were adjusting to the dark. She could see trays next to her, with sharp objects like those from an operating room laying on the trays, but that was as far as she could see. From the veil of darkness, the clip-clop of hooves drew closer to her. She fought the urge to scream, but her body still shook in fear. The shaking intensified, when she could feel the warmth of whomever had foalnapped her looming over head.

“Oh, you are awake,” the voice confirmed. Cheerilee recognized the gentle tone that rang from above her as Twilight’s. Her body relaxed slightly.

“T-Twilight?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s me, Cheerilee.” Twilight brushed her hoof along the teacher’s face with a motherly kindness. “I’m so glad you’re awake,” she cooed softly.

“W-What’s going on, why am I tied down?”

“Strapped—you’re strapped down.”

“Why am I strapped down?” she corrected herself.

A suddenly blinding light flashed on overhead. The shift in lighting caused Cheerilee’s eyes to squeeze closed, leaving a dull sting to keep her company with her still throbbing headache. The soft, mystical hum of magic drifted into her ears, a sound she had become familiar with after teaching a few unicorns at school. She heard the shifting of the metal tools next to her, the flap of pages flipping in a book, and a soft hum from Twilight herself.

“You’re strapped down for science of course.”

“Science?”

“Yes, science. You see, Cheerliee, I became interested in you after you made some remarks about Ditzy that were truly insightful. And here I thought I was the only pony who saw how truly special she was.” That last word stung at Cheerilee. Twilight used past tense in reference to Ditzy.

“Do you...know what happened to Ditzy?” she asked, fearing the answer.

“Yes I do. She died two days ago.” Twilight spoke in a matter-of-fact tone that was cold, but strangely chipper.

“Died? How do you know?...D-Did you...kill her?”

“I suppose I did,” Twilight said after a moment of contemplation. Cheerliee’s eyes shot open, no longer caring about the strong burning in her eyes. Her eyes started to tear up as she glared at Twilight. From her tear-soaked eyes, she could see the unicorn was a complete wreck. Twilight’s hair was messy, her eyes were cold, and wore heavy with fatigue, yet she wore an disturbingly chipper smile that sent chills down Cheeriliee‘s spine.

“You killed her? She was my friend, Twilight!” A stream of tears slowly slipped down the teacher’s face. Twilight tiled her head slightly, pondering Cheerilee’s words to her.

“Friend?” Twilight placed a hoof on the table, her pupils shrinking down in size. “Friend?” she asked again, though anger now tainted her question. “You act as though she wasn’t my friend! You don’t know anything about Ditzy compared to me!” Cheerilee shrunk back, after Twilight closed the gap between them; she climbed up onto the slab, pressing her nose into Cheerilee’s.

“Did you know Ditzy was an alcoholic? Or that her left lung was slightly smaller than her right? Or her vestibular labyrinth was malformed, inhibiting her sense of balance? Perhaps about the trauma to her brain when she was young that caused her Strabismus?” The insane inquisition scared Cheerliee, mostly from the utterly unhinged look in Twilight‘s eyes. She never knew Twilight could be so intimidating. The horrifying, sudden outburst of anger caused Cheerliee to freeze solid.

As quickly as Twilight’s fit came, it was gone. As if nothing had happened, she hopped down off the table with a slight bounce in her step. “Now if I were to guess, I would say you are wondering why you are down here? I‘m only guessing that because you asked where you were a moment ago, which I am just now getting around to answering.” her head bobbed with a constant nod as she rambled on.

“W-What are you going to do to me?” Cheerilee asked timidly, trying to force herself as far back into the metal slab as possible.

“Well, you’re here so I can find out what makes you...” Twilight stopped herself mid sentence, finding something oddly distracting in that moment. A sound stabbed at her mind, a sound she didn’t notice until that very moment for some reason. Slowly, she cranked her head till she looked towards the source. She could feel every instance of the sound rattle around in her brain, like a loose screw. It wasn’t hard for her to place the sound, she was all too familiar with the nostalgic rhythmic symphony. Finally her eyes met her distraction. On a shelf behind her sat an old clock that she hadn’t paid much heed to until that very moment.

“That was my next word...that sound over there...” she said softly, as if not to disturb the wonderful regularity of the glorious ticking timepiece. “Why am I so fascinated with you?” she asked taking a step towards the wooden clock, leaving her restrained victim for a moment.

“Shh, this is important. She can wait...” Twilight said offhoofedly, turning her head to a corner of the room, but still not taking her eyes off her new focus. “You’ve been sitting there for so long, and I’ve known you were there, but why am I just not realizing how beautiful you are...” she mused to the clock.

“You’ve been ticking there for years—since before I moved into this library in fact. Yet not once have I wound you...” Slowly she narrowed her eyes. Each tick sent a ripple through her mental landscape, causing Twilight to strain in her breathing. The more she stared at the clock, the more in disbelief she was that this masterpiece had escaped her for so long. Before her was a clock she hadn’t had to wind, a clock she hadn’t taken apart, a clock she did know how it worked. In that instant, this became the most important thing to her in the entire world.

She was almost in a panic over this discovery. She asked herself why hadn’t she taken it apart, why she hadn’t found out what made it tick. For all she knew it could have been a different kind of clock, one she had yet to encounter. Twilight suddenly found herself struggling to swallow the pooling saliva in her mouth. The air simply refused to go down her throat and into her lungs as she gasped for it. “Why—wha—how? How do you tick!?” She finally yelled at the clock, almost falling to the ground with a mixture of frustration and disbelief.

The sight of Twilight struggling over something so tedious both terrified and confused her captive. Cheerilee stared, deeply disturbed by the clearly insane librarian as she yelled at a clock. The image of the straight-laced, socially awkward unicorn she had come to know was slipping away, being stripped from Cheerilee’s mind, leaving her with this twisted mess of a pony that was beyond her scope of understanding. She always thought of Twilight as kind of a kindred spirit, a pony that valued knowledge and reason, but this—she couldn’t even wrap her head around what was going on here, this wasn‘t the Twilight she knew, this was a monster wearing a Twilight suit.

Suddenly Twilight’s horn exploded with magic, pulling the clock away from the shelf. The aged timepiece swiftly moved towards her as she continued gasping for air. Just as it stopped in front of her, the clock exploded into pieces, ripped apart by Twilight’s magic. Each component hovered, stuck in a cloud-like magical aura that the librarian had surrounded herself with. Twilight sat down amongst the floating parts, looking over them with a sense of wonder in her eyes. An actual tear slipped down her cheek as she was lost in the beautiful complexity of the old clock.

“This wonderful design, it was made by Sunny Craft. He’s always been one of my favorites. I had forgotten he made self-winding enchanted clocks. Absolutely fantastic!” Twilight fell to the ground, holding herself in her hooves. “His work was so truly fascinating,” she uttered softly. Twilight simply lay on the floor, her eyes running over the various intricately designed pieces hovering just above, just allowing herself to absorb the knowledge. Twilight finally let out a small sigh as her eyes drifted closed for a moment, basking in the brief reprieve that knowledge brought from her itch.

“Twilight, what happened to you?” Cheerilee asked in a frightened voice, causing Twilight’s eyes to shoot open. Slowly she climbed back onto her legs, before glaring back at the bound teacher. Her back was hunched over, like a menacing predator about to pounce.

“What happened? W-Why did you have to ask that? Why did you—Why—” Twilight took a sharp breath, before glaring at the corner of the room. “Stop, I need you to be quiet for a moment,” she said, trying to stifle her anger.

“Cheerilee...” Twilight stood up straight, acting more like a normal pony. “You had to ask a question...If you hadn’t said something, you would have lived for a few moments longer.” Slowly, she approached the operation table. Behind her the floating debris field of clock pieces collapsed together, reforming into their original shape. Once back in its former glory, Twilight used her magic to throw it back to its shelf.

“Do you know what questions do to me? They don’t stop when they hear one. Sometimes even I have to be careful—shut up!” Twilight suddenly yelled at the veil of darkness the spotlight above created. “They ask questions when they hear one, and you had to give them a question, didn’t you—I said be quiet!”

“What are you talking about, Twilight?” Cheerilee asked, cautiously

Twilight slammed her hoof on the table, cringing like she heard a pony scraping their hoof on a chalkboard. “Word choice, Cheerilee—Quiet!” Twilight turned once again to the darkness, yelling at some figment of her imagination. “You see, about five days ago, I ran out of books to read.” Twilight scratched at the back of her head with her hoof as she spoke. In that instant, her eyes looked so ragged, Cheerilee almost felt sorry for her.

“Books?” the teacher asked.

“You’re learning not to use those Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N words.” Twilight flashed her a small smile. “Thank you for that. They really like those words, so it’s best not to use them.” The librarian’s eyes hung heavy with fatigue as she spoke. “As I was saying, I ran out of books. That should never happen, Cheerilee. Mostly because when that happens, something like this happens.” Twilight tapped her hoof against the metal table.

“I don’t understand...”

“If I don’t learn, I get this...” Twilight quickly scratched at the back of her head once again. “Itch—this terrible itch in my skull. The only way to scratch that itch is to find out how things work—what makes things tick.” Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself before she got too worked up. “Like with that clock—I noticed it—I just noticed it—and I had to know—I had...to know what made it tick—what made that clock tick.” Her calming tactic didn’t work. Twilight’s chest was heaving with fast deep breaths by the time she finished. Her eyes were unnaturally large, exaggerated by the small size of her shrinking pupils. “That brings me to you.” Twilight pushed her face close to Cheerilee’s so the teacher could see her deranged bloodshot eyes up close.

“What makes you tick, Cheerilee?” she asked softly. Her eyes remained wide as they darted all over her bound captive‘s.

“S-Stay away from me!” the frightened teacher screamed. In Twilight’s eyes all she could see was a rabid hunger. It was different than a hunger for food, or anything physical, but there was a distinct need present. She felt a chill run up her spine when she realized what Twilight wanted was knowledge. She had seen a similar look in the occasional student she taught, though never anywhere near this strong. Where theirs was curiosity, Twilight’s was a dire need. What she saw in Twilight was curiosity that was completely out of control, accompanied by a callousness that froze Cheerilee down to her core in fright.

“Oh, don’t be such a foal about it.” Twilight stepped back from the table, scoffing at Cheerilee’s plea. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt. I have my team of nurses her to assist me after all!”

“Nurses?” she asked, almost too afraid to find out the answer.

“Of course, my nurses! Nurse Twilight-who-likes-to-learn, and Nurse Twilight-who-likes-to-ask-questions have experience with this already, so the other two will just be observing.”

“W-What in Celestia’s name are you talking about, Twilight?”

“The other Twilights. When I did this with Ditzy, I only had two, but now there are four of them. They just keep popping up out of nowhere.” Twilight laughed a bit, though her expression showed hints of worry.

“Y-You’re insane...” Cheerilee muttered, truly grasping the depths of how crazy Twilight really was.

“Of course I’m insane. Would a sane pony foalnap other ponies because their head itches? I don’t think so, Cheerilee.” Twilight shook her head in a very condescending way.

“W-Wait, if you know you’re insane, then you’re not insane, Twilight. You should be able to reason yourself out of this.” Cheerilee pleaded again for Twilight to snap out of her deranged state.

“Oh, please, Cheerilee. It’s far too late for that. There are one-two-three-four—”Twilight had pointed a hoof at four distinct spots of thin air as she counted her clones. “Four copies of myself walking around here, talking to me. I’m clearly insane, anypony would be able to tell that with the things I‘m seeing. Besides, they can be very persuasive.”

“You don’t have to do this, please Twilight,” she pleaded once more.

“Of course I do Cheerilee, it’s for science!” Twilight grabbed a surgical mask, slipping it over her face.

“Please tell me you’re joking! This has to be some sick prank, right?” the scared pony tried to force herself back further into the metal table, hoping it would somehow offer her protection but it didn’t work.

“Prank? Do I look like the prank type? Maybe if I was Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, but not me.” Twilight laughed a bit as she picked up a scalpel from the metal tray next to her. Without any kind of warning she quickly, and seamlessly slid the sharp edge along Cheerilee’s foreleg, slicing her skin. As the blade made it’s cut, blood started pouring out immediately. “See? Sharp. Not a prank.” The teacher let out a sharp cry of pain as the scalpel slid across her skin, slicing it in two as it moved.

“You’re bleeding...Why are you bleeding?” Twilight looked up from the small incision. “Stop that. You need that, you know. Ditzy died pretty early on in her procedure because of blood loss, I can‘t have you doing the same.” Twilight’s horn was glowing as she spoke. After a moment a focused beam of magic shot out from the tip, sizzling Cheerilee’s cut.

Her flesh seared with a fiery heat as the magic cauterized her wound. She couldn’t help but scream as loud as she could, the pain was too intense. In that brief instant she knew what it was like to be cooked alive. Her tormentor laughed a bit, muttering something about Ditzy being braver than her, but she didn‘t care about that. The pulsing burn in her foreleg was the only thing on her mind.

As she sobbed to herself from the burning sensation flowing through her body, she felt a sudden prick. Around her burnt skin, a cooling sensation started to flow through her foreleg. Slowly the pain from Twilight’s magic receded, left with a comfortable numbness. She realized Twilight gave her some local anesthetic to ease the pain.

“Is that better?” Twilight asked, giving a kind smile. She had lowered her surgical mask so the teacher could see her expression.

When Cheerilee looked up, she saw a small glimmer of the former Twilight she knew, poking through the madness that had engulfed the librarian. It gave her hope that Twilight was going to let her go, but that was short lived. Twilight slid the mask back over her face, and as if that were a switch, her eyes dulled from the gentle demeanor back to the callous inquisitiveness she saw before.

“You can scream all you want; no pony will hear you, but I do have to say it is rather irritating. So I would prefer if you didn’t scream for your vivisection.” Twilight added as her eyes narrowed.

One word she said stuck out to Cheerilee—vivisection. That’s what Twilight was going to do to her. It took a moment for the word's meaning to come to mind, but once it did, her heart stopped. She was going to be cut open and have her organs put on display. The teacher suddenly found it hard to breathe, as panic started to set in. Every inch of her body went stiff when Twilight said it. The cut to her foreleg really sold it for Cheerilee, she realized Twilight wasn’t joking. She was going to die here.

“Oh, yeah, speaking of Ditzy. I do have to say, I hope you’re a better assistant that she was. She only cried and groaned when I asked her questions.” Twilight chuckled a bit.

“P-P-Please don’t do this, anything but this! I-I hate dissections!” Cheerilee screamed. Memories of science classes when the teacher would dissect a worm for the class came rushing back. Cheerilee hated watching another living thing being sliced open, and now that’s what would happen to her.

“Hate dissections? How could you hate dissections?” Twilight grabbed her scalpel again, giving it a good look over before she glanced back at Cheerilee. “They give you so much information; you can really learn how things...tick.”

“I-I’ve hated them since high school! I-I could never deal with those poor creatures being cut open; it was so sad. P-Please don’t do this, Twilight!” A look of shear dread filled Cheerilee’s eyes as she begged.

“That’s really interesting. You know, I love dissection. Ever since I dissected this perfect little squirrel when I was just a filly, I have absolutely loved them.” She held the blade of the scalpel close to Cheerilee’s eyes so she could see. “Does this look sharp enough to you? I only ask because I fear it may go dull on me in the middle of the procedure.”

“P-Please, Twilight! D-Don’t do this!”

Twilight’s horn lit up with a magical aura as a syringe levitated from the metal tray next to her. “I’ll need to numb you so you don’t—” Before Twilight could finish she snapped her head back towards the darkness, staring into the empty space.

Silence fell, and the only sounds in the dark basement were the soft ticking of the clock, and Cheerilee’s panicked breathing. As her breathing hastened, each tick from the clock felt like the seconds of her life passing by. The sound grew louder as she focused on it. The cold tick-tock only fostered a sense of utter dread inside her. Fight or flight was in full swing, and every fiber of her being was yelling at her to run away. She would have gladly obliged, but her tightly strapped down limbs simply couldn’t move. She was force to lie there, and look at Twilight as she listened to her twisted figments, no doubt convincing her to do something terrible. She suddenly found it hard to breathe, and her throat was trying to close up on her as she barely managed to choke out a sob.

“That does make sense.” Twilight finally said looking rather serious. She glanced back down at Cheerilee, her pupils now shrunken in size. The disturbed look in the librarian’s gaze told Cheerilee that whatever Twilight had discussed with herself wouldn’t end well for her. “Twilight-who-likes-to-find-answers just made me realize something. The anesthetic was probably the reason that Ditzy couldn’t respond to my questions.” The syringe fell back to the tray with a loud clang.

“Cheerilee, I’m not going to lie to you...this will hurt...a lot. But, the good news, I will be right here with you through this whole ordeal.” Twilight placed her hoof on Cheerilee’s, giving the scared pony a gentle smile, though she couldn’t see it through the mask. The terrified teacher only replied with a frightened whimper as Twilight moved her hoof to brush lovingly against her face. She desperately tried to dodge the affectionate touch, but it wasn’t any use.

“You’ll have a friend here with you the whole time. I only hope that you and I can be best of friends like Ditzy and I became.” Twilight murmured to her in a hushed tone as she leaned down. She gently nuzzled Cheerilee’s neck, though as soon as twilight touched her, she let out a sniffle.

“I’m going to know so much about you, Cheerilee. I’m going to know exactly what makes you tick. Like that clock over there, it runs three seconds fast. Twilight swiftly set her scalpel down, and before anypony could even blink, she had grabbed her bone saw. She quickly aligned it on Cheerilee’s foreleg, just below her knee. Her patient barely managed to gasp in the air to scream when Twilight drew the blade through her foreleg, causing blood to splatter. Cheerilee let out a terrible screech as Twilight drew the saw through her flesh.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes as the jagged edge split muscle and flesh. Blood poured from the ghastly wound while Twilight continued to viciously pull the saw. She never knew something could hurt so bad in her entire life. Pain filled every thought, as anger and disbelief took a backseat to the terrible onslaught to her senses. After only a few strokes, Cheerilee felt the saw catch something hard inside her body. Her brain shut off in that instant, vaguely aware of the grinding as the saw cut through her bone. Conscious thought stopped, and her mind went into autopilot when the pain became too much. She no longer felt anything, though she was still screaming. Her eyes simply glazed over in that moment, unable to handle all the signals her nerves sent her.

“How does it feel? Answer me! Tell me how it feels, I have to know!”Twilight slapped her hoof against the patient’s face. She was only given a blank stare, with tears flowing as a response. “This is no fun...” Twilight sighed, with a rather unenthused look. She grabbed the syringe next to her once more, and jammed the needle into Cheerilee‘s neck. Slowly as the drug too affect, her eyes came back to life. She let her eyelids slip closed for a moment as she tried to wake herself up from this terrible nightmare, but it wasn’t working.

“Feeling better?” Twilight asked. Cheerilee only moaned as her body drifted into a state of complete numbness. When she opened her eyes, she saw a severed, bloodied, purple hoof being pointed back at her, that she immediately recognized.

“I told you, I need you to answer me! I expect answers promptly, Cheerilee!” Twilight yelled, shaking Cheerilee’s own hoof in her face. The teacher’s eyes shot open as wide as they could as she tried to cry out, but all that escaped was a pained moan.

Twilight chuckled to herself as she pulled the severed limb back. Her eyes looked over the limb, inspecting every inch of the detached foreleg. “Magnificent. Earth pony bones are more dense than pegasi bones—while I expected that—they are actually denser than I theorized. Would you like to take a look? It’s truly wonderful. Cheerilee, you’re wonderful.” Twilight gently placed Cheerilee’s hoof on an empty tray next to her. Twilight started to hum a dreadfully upbeat tune as she moved around the operating table to Cheerilee’s hind legs. “Next I want to inspect the muscles and tendons. I’m also curious about earth pony magic. It should be gathered in the hooves if my hypothesis is correct.”

“D-Don’t...” Cheerilee whined, but her tormentor paid no mind to her pleas.

She meticulously slid the scalpel through the teacher’s numb leg, splitting the flash and muscle from the bone. She stared at the muscles for a moment, remarking on how lean they were. She prodded the bone with her sharp tool, once again finding herself amazed at the strength. A devilish smile crept across her face, as she looked down at the butchered flesh with pride. “Twilights come,” she finally ordered. “Let us observe earth pony magic.” Much as she had with Ditzy, Twilight projected a magical aura from her horn. As the cloud of magic enveloped Cheerilee’s leg, it began to align itself along a hidden set of lines.

“You will notice these magic lines are not as defined as they were in Ditzy. I believe this may be a difference in patients, and more study of earth ponies will be needed to determine if this is an isolated instance or a staple of the race.” Twilight pointed to the lines with her hoof, and slowly traced them as she spoke. “You will also notice the simplicity in these lines. This, I theorize, is due to the nature of earth pony magic. They do not need the complexity that pegasi have in their wings because this is simple muscle enhancement, rather than assistance with flight. You will also notice...” She forced Cheerilee’s leg to move slightly. “movement from our subject does not cause disturbance in the magical field, again reinforcing my theory that her magic is not assisting in activity, but instead enhancing her body.” Twilight moved back to Cheerilee’s side, having finished her lecture on earth pony anatomy to her delusions.

“You have a wonderful body, Cheerilee. I really can’t wait to dig in further, and see what secrets you’re holding in there.” She placed her scalpel on Cheerilee’s chest.

“S-Stop...” Tears rolled down the school teacher’s cheeks as she begged Twilight once more. Her insane captor pulled down her surgical mask once again, showing just how excited she was.

“Stop? I can’t do that, Cheerilee. Your leg has already been cut off, you would be a cripple from now on. Besides, I have yet to delve into your chest, or head.” Twilight’s pupils shrunk down as she listed her intentions for the doomed pony. She lowered her head, looking deep into Cheerilee’s eyes. “You’re a mystery to me, Cheerilee, like all ponies. I need to know what makes...ponies...tick...” Twilight stopped herself, realizing what she said.

“It’s not that I needed to know what made Ditzy tick, or what makes you tick...I have to know what makes every pony tick...” Twilight reached back, scratching the back of her head with her bloody hoof. She suddenly found it rather hard to breathe, or swallow. “What makes you tick, Cheerilee? Ponies are like clocks, every pony ticks! What makes you tick, Cheerilee?” Twilight’s voice grew louder and louder. Her horn started to glow with magic, taking her previously abandoned scalpel in its cloud-like grip. Twilight stepped back from the operating table, scratching her head with both of her hooves. Suddenly Twilight found herself with nothing to help her balance, so she toppled over backwards.“Nurse, cut open our patient!” Twilight yelled. At her command, the scalpel slid along Cheerilee’s chest, slicing her open for Twilight to view.

“N-No!” the pained pony screamed out, mustering all her willpower to fight the drug numbing her body. “I don’t want to be dissected!” She tried with all her might to make her body fight the bonds, but it was no use; her muscles were too numb to fight back.

“Dissections are beautiful, Cheerilee! I’ll show you just how beautiful they can be!” Twilight hopped back onto all fours, her pupils now little more than specks in her eyes. On her mouth hung a huge grin, full of unbridled joy and insanity. She grabbed her bone saw again as she prepared to cut the ribs. Cheerilee cried out when Twilight aligned the ghastly tool, ready to make the first stoke. Both ponies’ chests heaved as they breathed deeply, one in excitement, the other in sheer dread.

“This is my favorite part.” Twilight looked right into Cheerilee’s eyes, her own so big they almost looked pure white, and that horrifying smile on her mouth could send chills through the toughest pony. Cheerilee had never seen anything so horrifying before in her entire life. Twilight’s huge eyes, only seemed bigger with how tiny her pupils looked, dark circles hung under them, making her freakishly huge eyes look sunken in. Her mouth was so wide with that smile, and her head tilted unnaturally to the side. The sight was so terrifying, Cheerilee almost passed out in fright.

Suddenly Twilight’s foreleg jerked back, dragging the saw teeth through the exposed rib. Twilight tossed her whole head back in ecstasy as the serrated edge made its way through the bone. “Oh, it’s just like with Ditzy—it’s scratching my itch!” she moaned, almost losing her balance as she basked in the relief.

Twilight was oblivious to the pure terror in Cheerilee’s face as her worst fear was being realized. She hated dissections since she was in high school; she hated them with such a passion, because they made her sick. The thought of slicing another creature was so appalling to her, but that wasn’t the whole story. Deep down, she was scared of sharing their fate; having her body sliced open and put on display for the world to see scared her to death. Now that irrational fear of hers was happening, her nightmare had come to life.

“No...” she sobbed, no longer pleading with Twilight, but with the universe itself to somehow save her from this horrendous situation. Her plight was interrupted by a curved bone being pointed in her face. It didn’t take her long to realize it was her own rib.

“These are really, really sturdy.” Twilight said with a small chuckle. “Ditzy’s were like going through butter, but yours are more like cutting threw a tree. So well built,” Twilight remarked as she tossed the rib onto a tray behind her.

Cheerilee closed her eyes as hard as she could, hoping she would just wake up. When she heard the saw cutting through another bone, she could only cry. She was realizing that wasn’t going to happen. “I-I just...want...to...go...home...” she choked out through the mixture of her sobs, and the anesthetic taking control over her adrenaline once more.

“Yeah, Ditzy said that too.” Twilight said plainly as she wiped some sweat from her brow, leaving a bloody streak across her forehead. “I can see why; this is a pretty traumatic experience, so naturally you would want to leave. But, Cheerilee, we have to accept that this is happening and move on with our lives...life—I have to move on with my life, because yours is going to end here...tonight.” Cheerilee whimpered at Twilight’s callous comment, causing the knowledge-obsessed pony to sigh. “And Ditzy kept doing that too!” Twilight glared at down at the bound teacher. “Do you know how annoying that is? Constant whimpering when I say something a little morbid—Seriously Cheerilee, you’re basically dead, you might as well accept that. You should just enjoy a bit of learning in your final hour...or hours, I really don’t know how long you’ll last...Anyway, I thought you could appreciate this at least a little bit.” Twilight sulked by tossing her saw off to the side.

“I...don’t want...to die...” Cheerilee sniffled.

“Well, I don’t want you to die, but that’s how this has to work. I have to cut you open, and I have to find out what makes you tick. If I don’t...I...” Twilight grabbed her stomach suddenly holding back the urge to vomit. “There...is no “don’t”...I must know. Not knowing something is...out of the question!” She held her hoof to her stomach one more, staving off her urge to puke.

Suddenly Twilight was eye to eye with Cheerilee again, staring at her with the most unsettling look. “I have to know...I have to know what makes you tick, or else I don‘t understand you, and then the whole world falls apart.”

“E-Every...pony works...the same...” Cheerilee muttered, her voice becoming hoarse.

Twilight slammed her hoof against the metal slab. She took sharp deep breaths, trying to calm herself. “Everypony is special Cheerilee! I have to know what makes them special!” Her hoof found its way to the back of her head again, scratching furiously at her scalp. “Everypony’s heart pumps blood, but there is always something special inside them, abnormalities, defects, disease, differences, something!” Twilight was panting, as she continued scratching her head. Everything fell silent, except for Twilight breathing, even Cheerilee had stopped crying for a moment.

“If you all weren’t so interesting, I wouldn’t itch so bad...” she muttered, grabbing her saw as she did so. With all the enthusiasm of a pony going back to work on a Monday, she lazily placed the saw back on Cheerilee’s rib. “Just have to find out what makes you tick so it can all be over...” she mumbled to herself as she returned to her wicked task.

Cheerilee’s eyes grew heavy, and she was starting to drift in and out of consciousness as Twilight hacked away at her chest, pulling what seemed like an endless supply of bones from her body. What she thought was the anesthetic sapping her strength, she realized now was blood loss. Her severed foreleg had been steadily bleeding this whole time. The heaviness in her eyes, and body, the inability to concentrate, the chill that was creeping on her, she understood what this was—she was dying.

A faint voice called to her, one she thought sounded familiar. Perhaps it was her grandmother or grandfather calling out to her, beckoning her to the afterlife, but she didn’t know who for sure. All the voice said was her name, but that’s not what it meant. She knew what it was really saying, it was telling her to go to sleep, and let death take her. She didn’t want to listen to the voice, but when faced with her alternative, she would gladly take death over spending another moment with the deranged librarian cutting away at her body.

But before she could enter that eternal rest, her eyes shot opened. The sight of a very upset Twilight glared back at her. Lodged in her neck was an empty syringe, the sight of which cause Cheerilee to cry a bit. “W-What.,.did you...inject me with?” she asked, her voice trembling with both fear and fatigue.

“Adrenaline. I keep some handy for when naughty little ponies try to go to sleep on me.” Twilight continued to glare. “Ditzy lasted longer than you, Cheerilee...” she said bluntly. Her voice, while sounding of disappointment, mostly rang with a frightening emptiness. Even though she had been glaring, Twilight’s tone told volumes of just how dead she was inside. She spoke of Cheerilee nearly dying like it was an inconvenience rather than the end of a life.

“Why...” Cheerilee asked. Tears leaked from her eyes slowly, like the streams themselves were dying too.

“Because, I need you alive to answer my questions. I already told you this...” Twilight said in that same callous tone. That wasn’t the question Cheerilee wanted to ask, but she was too weak to finish her sentence.

Twilight’s horn exploded with magic, as the smell of seared flesh came wafting into Cheerilee’s nostrils. She wanted to gag from the wretched smell, and knowing her own bloodied stump was the source only made it worse. Her stomach started to twitch, which elicited a small laugh from the librarian. She poked the quivering organ with mild amusement.

“Ditzy tried to vomit too...” she said nostalgically. “I miss her...” Twilight grabbed her scalpel, as she looked at Cheerilee’s stomach; her eyes still told that she was reveling in her twisted memories. With a swift slide of her hoof, she cut the organ opened. After a final spasm, a mixture of blood and acid splashed out from the slit. “Blood? That’s strange, it’s not from the incision.” Twilight remarked as she opened Cheerilee’s organ more to see inside.

“You have ulcers, Cheerilee.” Twilight told her plainly. “Why is that?”

“Stress...probably...” She played along with Twilight’s twisted game, seeing no more reason to fight against it. Twilight had her strapped down, numbed, and was going to keep her alive as long as she possibly could, and there was nothing she could do about it. If she didn’t answer Twilight’s questions, it would only anger her, leading her to do more terrible things. Answering kept Twilight content enough that she wouldn’t have to stare into those deranged eyes again, all she had to do was answer her questions.

“Stress? Do the children really bother you that much?” Twilight asked as she harvested the organ.

“No...but, lesson plans...and...my mother and I...were having...some arguments...about my...current coltfriend...”

“So you are stressed. Big work load, a friend gone missing, and also spats over your relationship, sounds like a lot to stress over.” Twilight scratched at the back of her head with her bloody hoof, feeling some relief for once.

“Did you want to see your ulcers? They’re rather interesting.” Twilight held the severed sack of bile up for Cheerilee to see, making her cringe.

“N-No...”

“Suit yourself,” Twilight said, tossing the organ onto the metal tray. “Now, your lungs look a little black, which is a telltale sign that you smoke, or have smoked in the past. Would you tell me about it?”

“When I was...in high school...” Her voice grew softer, and strained as she spoke.

“Childhood experimentation? Rebellion? Acceptance? Or did you honestly think such a bad habit was worth the minor high it brought you? Not that I’m one to talk, what with my little habit and all.” Twilight gave a small laugh as she held up her blood-soaked hooves for Cheerilee to see.

The teacher groaned, starting to find it difficult to speak. “Experimentation...I suppose...” she muttered after a moment.

“I would believe you, but these dark spots are recent. Could your recent stress have caused you to pick up your dirty little habit again?” Twilight had a smile growing on her face again, broadcasting she was enjoying torturing Cheerilee with these personal questions while carving out her organs.

“Maybe...a little bit...” she muttered, her eyes growing heavy.

“Nurse, please pass me a clamp.” Twilight’s horn lit up, levitating a small metal clamp over to her at her request. “Thank you nurse,” she said as she carefully worked the steel clamp into Cheerilee’s chest. She pushed it down in between her lungs, pinching off one of the bronchial tubes heading into her lung. Next she took her bloodied scalpel, carefully maneuvering it along the same path she had moved the clamp. She was careful not to nick her prize as she moved the scalpel into place. Finally she cut the organ free, with a spurt of blood hitting her on her cheek.

“You may feel a little short-winded, Cheerilee. That’s normal,” Twilight said as she finished removing the dying pony’s lung. As she wiped her forehead again of what she thought was sweat, she levitated the severed lung for her subject to see. “Black spots, see? I bet they’re cancerous!” Her pupils shrunk in size once more as she leaning over to Cheerilee.

“Just...let me die...” Cheerilee muttered. Her voice was haggard, and she wheezed with each breath; she knew it wouldn‘t be long now.

“Cheerilee, I can’t let you die. Who would I share my findings with?” Twilight brushed her bloodied hoof against her patient’s cheek in a loving way, leaving a streak of her own blood smeared in its wake.

“Twilight...please...” Her eyes drifted closed as a stream of tears seeped out onto her still soaked fur.

“The answer is no, Cheerilee.” Twilight returned to her dark task by grabbing her scalpel.

“Tell...Big Mac...that I...love him...” she finally whispered, finishing her sentence.

“I don’t think your murderer is the best one to tell your lover your dying words. I’ll tell you what, I’ll put it in my book.” She flashed her patient a small smile, only to see her eyes closed. When she looked back at her chest she saw Cheerilee’s heart was still. Possibilities ran through Twilight’s head on how to revive the teacher, but she knew it was pointless. Her brain pieced the evidence around her together like a puzzle, and the picture in that puzzle told Twilight it was impossible. Twilight’s oversight about Cheerilee’s severed hoof doomed the teacher from the start. She had lost far too much blood, it was a miracle she had lasted as long as she did.

Twilight slammed her hoof against the metal table, leaving a loud metallic clang hanging in the air. “Ponyfeathers...” she muttered after a moment.

“You should have stopped the bleeding earlier!” one of the Twilights said with an enthusiastic cheer that stood in defiance of the serious mood in the room. She placed her forehooves on the head of the operating table, looming over Cheerilee’s lifeless corpse with an inquisitive smile aimed at the recently deceased teacher.

“Now who will you talk to?” another asked, standing across from Twilight. That one too wore an excited smile. Twilight only looked around at her delusions, her eyes weighing heavy with fatigue, and irritation.

“You still have us, Twilight,” a third figment whispered seductively in her ear, causing her to cringe for a moment.

“I do always have you four, don’t I...” she said reluctantly, sliding her surgical mask back over her already bloodied face.

“That’s right. We’ll always be here for you, Twilight.”

Morning came, with Twilight staring at Cheerilee’s thoroughly mutilated corpse resting on the metal slab. Twilight sat on the floor, her whole body shaking slightly, her eyes hung heavy from her third straight night awake, and her notes filled with the details of her devilish task. In the dark basement, she was alone. Her delusions had long since left, leaving her to live with the foul aftertaste of murder.

Everything about this dissection felt so similar to Ditzy’s, yet so foreign at the same time. Twilight felt content after Ditzy’s death because she learned so much about that pony, but with Cheerilee it was different. She learned so much about earth pony anatomy, but Cheerilee was boring. She had smoked a bit, and had ulcers, but no medical mysteries like Ditzy.

She stared down at her filled notebook, still find a small sense of pride in her work. What information Cheerilee did have, Twilight had extracted it. Now all she had to do was refine the wonderful facts, distil it into text, and archive it for the library—her library. Twilight took one thing away from Cheerilee, and that was—

A sudden knock echoed from the library’s front door. Each pound felt like a hammer hitting Twilight in her temple, making her cringe in pain. Twilight groaned as she slowly climbed the basement stairs, still cursing herself for putting that sound amplification spell on the door so she could hear it in the basement. By the time she was halfway up the stairs, whoever was knocking started pounding again, but this time they didn’t stop. The knocks continued without end, sending a throbbing pain through Twilight’s already frazzled brain with each pound on the heavy wood.

She picked up her pace, but only slightly. Her body was so exhausted, she felt completely numb. She fought against the urge to simply collapse on the ground and go to sleep while she could, but she knew whoever was knocking would come in and look for her. Being found in the basement with a dead missing pony strapped down to a metal slab with bloody surgical tools would not bode well for Twilight.

As she stood at the front door to the Golden Oaks Library, she took a brief moment to make herself presentable. She forced her irritation out of her face, letting the exhaustion show mostly. She replaced her frown with a small smile, playing herself off as though she stayed up all night reading, a very believable excuse. She closed her eyes for a moment, readying herself for her charade. When she opened them, she swung open the library door. To her surprise, she was greeted by Pinkie Pie standing on the other side with a huge smile on her face. The party pony was busy pounding her hoof at empty air for a moment before she realized the door wasn’t there to knock on anymore.

“Good morning, Twilight!” Pinkie said, inviting herself in.

“Good morning, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said with a genuine yawn.

“So why’re ya all covered in red?” Pinkie asked, pointing out the fact that Twilight failed to clean herself up after her little late night study session.

Twilight paused for a moment, not taken off guard, but pausing to plan out a believable cover. Pinkie wasn’t quite right in the head, and she would believe a story most others would question rather easily, so it didn’t take Twilight long. “I was making some strawberry jam last night.” Twilight said with a sleepy look in her eyes.

“Strawberry jam, huh? I didn’t know you knew how to make jam.”

“I was doing some reading on it,” Twilight replied with a small smile. She spoke with confidence, leaving no room for doubt.

“Well, sounds delicious! Can I have some?”

“Unfortunately no. You see, I accidentally slipped into it when coming to answer the door, so the whole batch spilled,” Twilight lied without batting an eye.

“Well, at least you can just lick it off!” Pinkie laughed, accenting it with a lick of her lips.

“I wouldn’t do that. I think the strawberries might have been bad.” Twilight chuckled a bit, passing her lie off as a joke.

“That’s too bad,” Pinkie said with a snort. “Anyway, I just wanted to see what you were up to, since no pony’s seen you for a few days.”

“I‘ve been really busy catching up on some reading.” Twilight turned around to see a copy of herself glaring back at her with a twisted grin. She stared at the clone for a second before she felt a tingle in the back of her skull.

“Pinkie Pie is so random isn’t she...She makes no sense...You know that can’t be right; everything makes sense in the world...”

“I wonder what makes her tick...” A second copy whispered to her.

“Actually Pinkie, I wanted to talk to you as well...“ Twilight said, giving a knowing nod to her hallucinations.

“You did?” Pinkie asked, looking around at the books on the shelves.

“Yeah, I wanted to just spend some time talking to you, getting to know you a little better. I’m just a little curious as to what makes you...tick...” Twilight glanced back at her friend, with her a wicked smile spreading across her face.

The one thing Twilight took from Cheerilee was that she didn’t want to dissect a pony to know pony anatomy, nor did she want one of each race to know how each one differed. Twilight wanted to dissect everypony, because everypony has something special about them—something that makes them tick.

Author's Note

Well here is chapter two.

I did say I would expand on this story since everyone wanted more. I have another chapter planned for some time in the future, so look forward to it.

The Need

Twilight's Book
Chapter 3: The Need

Twilight stared at the gruesome, butchered remains of her late friend, Pinkie Pie as she lay bound on the operating table. Her eyes sat weary, and pained as a lone tear came to her eye. The image of Pinkie fading away hung fresh in her mind. She watched as the light left her eyes. Twilight could still clearly see the moment when her heart stopped. This had been different than her last two; this had been a variable she had not accounted. After Ditzy she felt free, after Cheerilee she felt nothing, but after Pinkie—she felt the remains of her soul clawing back into her, crying out in agony at the loss of a friend.

But it was too late. Pinkie was gone, and would never come back. She would never hear her bubbly friend’s lyrical voice, or enjoy one of her parties, or ever feel one of her legendary hugs ever again. Her body was thoroughly dissected, her organs harvested and sliced to bits, her skull cut open, her brain removed, her bones cut, her skin peeled back—there was nothing left that could be recognized as her bubbly pink friend anymore. Her once vibrant pink fur now stained with her own blood, her cutie mark barely visible through the red.

She looked over at one of her ever-growing number of figments. She focused on one, finding herself disgusted by how it quizzically looked at her. Its cold, emotionless grin made her utterly sick. She couldn’t bear to stare at it anymore, but wherever she turned away there was another, giving her the same look. Those same inquisitive eyes, that same cold smirk, that same look like it was on the verge of exploding into a flurry of questions.

“Why?” one finally asked. Twilight’s whole body shuddered as that word rang out into the empty abyss of the basement. Before long another asked again, and then another, and another. In moments the room went from dead silent to abuzz with the imaginary chatter of Twilight’s figments. They bombarded her with questions. Her body hunched instinctively as she barely fought the urge to curl up onto a ball. She just wanted to shut them out, but she knew it wasn’t any use. The thunderous questions couldn’t be stopped once they started. Even covering her ears wouldn’t stop the noise because it wasn‘t in the room—it was in her head.

“Stop...” Twilight muttered weakly. She couldn’t even hear her small plight over the roar of her countless hallucinations filling the room. She closed her eyes as tight as she could, hoping they would all go away like they had after her previous dissections, but it didn’t work. A sense of helplessness seeped into her heart.

“Stop.” she said louder, only to be ignored. Her feelings of powerlessness only grew. She couldn’t silence them—she couldn’t control them anymore. There were too many; they were consuming her.

“Stop!” Twilight screamed out to the point her voice strained. As her shriek echoed, a hush finally fell over the room.

When she opened her eyes she saw one of her delusions standing in front of her. It tilted its head curiously as it looked at Twilight. Its inquiring eyes inspecting her, analyzing her. “Why?” it asked plainly with no hint of emotion.

“Because, I can’t even think anymore...” Twilight couldn’t stop herself from breaking down into tears any longer. Her figments all stared at her, tormenting her nonstop. The one investigating her now was too much, she couldn’t stop herself from crying anymore.

“Why?”

“Because, you never stop asking. I haven’t slept in days...I just want it to stop. I just don‘t want to hurt anypony else.”

“It wont stop, Twilight. Not until we know everything.” Another copy approached her.

“But I’m tired...a-and Pinkie...I don’t want to kill ponies anymore...”

“T-Twilight?” a quivering voice asked from the top of the basement stairs. The sleep-deprived unicorn sat in the light coming from the doorway, shaking. Her body fought the urge to collapse from exhaustion. Weakly her head cranked to see who was calling her. It was hard to see through her teary eyes, but she could see the outlines of Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all carefully walking down the narrow stairs into the basement. Twilight could see their eyes locked on her. She looked down and noticed she was still covered in Pinkie’s blood, but that didn‘t matter to her.

“W-What happened to you?” Rarity asked, looking around the dark abyss of a basement. Her eyes caught a gruesome sight on the operating table, making her gasp.

Twilight looked away from her friends once she heard Rarity gasp. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She had already played out these scenarios in her head many times, and if she wanted to, she could talk her way out of this—well, not talk her way out of it so much as ease her friends into a false sense of security, and then knock them out.

She looked over at her operating table, and made eye contact with her extra syringes containing a sedative. The sight of purple fur behind the table drew Twilight’s eyes up. Standing there was one of her figments, smiling at her the same devilish smile that had convinced her to kill three ponies so far. Slowly her eyes drifted back down to the sedatives, but found herself reluctant to use them. She was almost happy she was caught.

“W-What have you done, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked with wide eyes. “W-Who is that on the table?”

“Hi girls...” Twilight muttered as she scratched the back of her head. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this...I...I’ve tried to keep this under control...but...”

“Twilight...what...what have you done?” Rarity asked, holding a quivering hoof to her mouth.

“Shut up!” Twilight yelled out into the darkness, making her friends jump. She looked over at them, seeing how frightened they were of her. “Not you, girls...” she added, turning her eyes to the floor.

“Twilight...dear? What’s happened to you?” Rarity asked, taking a cautious step towards the librarian.

“Questions...” she replied, scratching the back of her head again. “They keep asking questions—shut up...” Twilight pleaded putting her face into her hoof.

“Of course we’re asking questions, dear...W-We’re worried about you...”

“Not you...them!” Twilight pointed out into the emptiness of the basement. Her body tensed for a moment before her hoof snapped to the back of her head. Suddenly she began scratching furiously at the back of her skull.

“It itches so bad!” Twilight screamed. Suddenly she dropped down onto the ground, scratching her head as hard as she could. Her jaw clenched, and she couldn’t stop her teeth from grinding together. A dull sting rippled through her skin with each stroke of her hoof. No matter how much she scratched, there was no relief, only a dull ache pulsing through her head.

“T-Twilight, stop!” Rarity grabbed Twilight’s hoof away from her head with her magic. Immediately she drew a terrifying look from the librarian when she realized she couldn‘t move her foreleg. Twilight’s pupils shrunk in size, and her eyes filled with anger and confusion at she looked at her friend. “You’re bleeding, dear.” Rarity bent down to her friend, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“No...that’s not my blood...” Twilight replied quietly, still staring at Rarity with those unsettling eyes.

“Twilight...it is your blood. Y-You’ve scratched through your skin. Y-You need some help.”

“Help? She needs to go to the guard for what she’s done!” Applejack pushed her way through her other two friends as she stomped towards Twilight. “Y’all see that there’s somepony on that table don’t ya—all...cut up like that?”

“Applejack! I don’t know if you have realized, but Twilight is a little...disturbed at the moment. There is a lot for us to worry about, but right now we need to get Twilight calmed down so we can get her to the guards.” Rarity explained.

“Go to the guards? That would put an end to it, wouldn’t it...But I can’t...not yet...” Twilight slowly climbed back onto her hooves. Her eyes drifted to the floor, staring at it blankly.

“You don’t have a choice, I’ll take you there myself if I have to.” Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, landing in front of Twilight. She stood in front of the librarian, puffing out her chest. She was glaring down at her, trying to be as intimidating as she could. It may have worked on some other pony, but it didn’t phase Twilight. Her eyes briefly met Rainbow’s, but they quickly returned to the floor, dismissing the pegasus‘s harsh stare.

“No, you can’t take me yet. I still have data to process from my latest patient.” Twilight muttered weakly, her eyes drifting to the walls as she spoke. “Maybe in an hour or so.”

“Who’s on the table, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked with a deep growl in her voice.

Twilight stared for a moment at the wall—silent. The silence that filled the room was unsettling. But just as Rainbow Dash was about to ask again, slowly her mouth opened. “Pinkamena Diane Pie...also known as Pinkie Pie...” Her voice sounded distant, and cold. Slowly her eyes met the pegasus‘s in front of her, and in that moment they lit up with excitement. A small smile slowly crept across her face. “Would you like to see my notes? I learned quite a bit about her.”

Suddenly a loud crack echoed through the room. A lone tear waded its way through the pegasus’s light blue fur, trickling down to the floor. Twilight’s head was forced to the side, leaving a red hoof print glowing on her cheek. A small gasp came from both Rarity and Fluttershy at the sudden outburst. The room fell silent as the last remnants of the echo faded into the darkness. A small sob from Rainbow Dash was the only thing to break the silence hanging in the air. “She was your friend, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the librarian, her already scratchy voice cracked with the pain of loss. She grabbed her and pulled her in close, glaring at the silent unicorn who still stared into the distance.

Twilight continued to stare at the empty space she was forced to look at. Her friends only watched as she stared eerily at the wall, unflinching, unmoving. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, did you say something? There’s so many questions I get lost in them sometimes.” Twilight finally said after a few uneasy seconds. Slowly she looked back at her friend as if nothing had happened. Her bloodshot, wide eyes radiated an unnerving feeling as she pierced her friend. It wasn’t how a normal pony looked at another, it felt like Twilight was staring through them.

Rainbow Dash took a step back, her eyes wide with disbelief. “W-What are you...what have you done with Twilight?” she asked in horror.

“Don’t be silly. I am Twilight...” She looked back off into the darkness for a moment. “I am—I am Twilight, right?” she asked the emptiness with a bit of confusion. “I thought so,” she said a moment later with a nod. A small amount of relief spread across her blood-soaked face.

“T-Twilight? Who are you talking to?” Fluttershy asked. She was still standing on the stairs, cowering slightly from her friends sporadic behavior.

Twilight pressed her hooves to her ears. “Shut up! I asked one question that doesn‘t mean you all get to ask more!”

“I-I’m sorry,” Fluttershy hastily replied before shrinking down.

“Not you!” She glared at Fluttershy before looking back at the ground. “All they do is ask...” she muttered as she fought the urge to cry.

“Twilight?” Rarity took a step towards the librarian.

“I’m really sorry you girls have to see me like this...If I didn’t itch so bad none of this would have happened...Ditzy...Cheerilee...Pinkie...none of this would have happened...”

“W-What do you mean itch, Twilight?” Fluttershy attempted a question again.

“With no books, this is what happens...My head starts itching, and the only way to scratch it is to learn. Ever since I was a filly I had to learn, or I just had these...questions...” Twilight slowly cranked her head until she was looking at her friends. “They build and build until I can’t take it anymore. I have to take it apart and find out what makes it tick!” Her chest heaved with each breath she took. A small smile spread across her lips, though her eyes looked utterly terrified.

“W-What did you do to Ditzy and Cheerilee?” Fluttershy asked. Her soft voice shook in fear, dreading, but already knowing the answer.

“They’re dead...like Pinkie...” Twilight responded coldly.

“You killed...Ditzy Doo, and Cheerilee too?” Rainbow Dash asked, taking another step back from Twilight.

“Yes I did...I’ve finished their data...their books are complete—Shut up! Give me...a moment!” She screamed so loud her voice cracked, making her friend’s jump. She stared into the dark corners of the basement laboratory, her eyes shifting back and forth as she glossed over some imaginary figures. “You girls shouldn’t have come down here...once they saw you they started asking—demanding answers.”

“Twilight...we need to get you to the guards so you can tell them what you’ve done.” Rarity took another step towards her friend.

“Guards...yes...you should go...go get the guards...” Twilight looked up at Rarity with heavy eyes, so full of fatigue. Her body felt so weak, almost to the point of numbness. Twilight wobbled there, barely fighting the urge to fall over.

“No, we’ll take you with us. Twilight, you are...”Rarity struggled for a moment. “still our friend. We can’t leave you here alone.”

Twilight gave her a soft, warm smile. Her eyes lazily looked over her friends, seeing them all reluctantly agree.

“Ya’ve done somethin’ terrible, Twilight, but we can’t just leave ya here—Yer sick, ya have ta be—the Twilight I know wouldn’t’ve done this...We’re gonna get ya some help.” Applejack pulled her hat off her head, looking over at the operating table with a pain in her eyes.

“I’m still going to make damn sure you pay for what you did, Twilight...I should hate you...but Rarity and AJ are right...” Rainbow Dash turned her head in disgust.

Twilight only gave her friends a soft nod. She knew what she had done was wrong from the start; she had never fooled herself into thinking it was right, but to her it made sense. There was a puzzle set before her, and she had to solve it, take it apart, dissect it, and find out what made it tick. Slowly, she looked back at the operating table. Gathering around Pinkie’s lifeless corpse was a group of her figments. Each staring back at her with their devilish smiles. Those smiles that made Twilight kill, those smiles that told her exactly what to do, those smiles she had always listened to.

“What makes them tick?” one asked.

“Rainbow Dash...what makes her so fast?” another asked.

“Why is Fluttershy so kind?”

“Why is Rarity so creative?”

“Why is Applejack so strong?”

Another figment stepped in front of her, looking down at Twilight. “What makes them tick, Twilight?” it asked, with an almost lust-filled tone. “You need to know, so why not find out? After all, you’ll know them better than you ever have once you dig your scalpel in.” Twilight narrowed her eyes at her double, focusing them. Her brain tingled at the questions put before her, feeling like she had ants scurrying inside her skull. She looked up at her figment with a reluctant eyes, but it pressed its hoof to her mouth before she could speak. “This isn’t a question of want, Twilight. You need to know...” it said, taking a step back from her. Its eyes told her it knew what she would do next, and they approved.

When Twilight looked back at her friends, the warmth in her face vanished. She looked at them with dead, analytical eyes; no longer seeing them as ponies, but as subjects for study. “You girls really should have gone and gotten the guards when you had the chance,” she remarked coldly.

Suddenly Twilight’s horn lit up, and before they could even blink, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy felt a slight pinch in there necks. When they moved their hooves to investigate, each of them felt an empty syringe embedded in their flesh. Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight weakly with questioning eyes, but before she could even speak, the sedatives started working; the two pegasus ponies hit the ground, out cold.

Twilight glanced back at the metal tray, willing the other two needles into the air. Just as she launched them at her two remaining friends, Twilight found herself on her back—pushed there from Rarity raising a barrier around herself and the farmer. The designer had just barely managing to stop the two syringes from sticking herself and Applejack.

“W-What the—” Applejack jumped back confused as to what just happened.

“That...was close...” Rarity strained to hold her magic while Twilight jumped back onto her hooves.

“Rarity...why did you do that?” She approached the pale blue wall of light shielding her friends. A wicked smile crept across her face as she pressed a hoof against Rarity’s magic. “I can’t find out what makes you tick if you put up a barrier...”

“Twilight, you’re not well.” Rarity readied her barrier for Twilight’s counter attack.

“Not well? Of course I’m not well...I don’t care though...They’re right...I need to find out what makes you girls tick...you’re all so special, so unique! What makes you tick, Rarity!” Twilight slammed her hoof against Rarity’s magic, her head falling limp.

“Calm down and let us help you!” Rarity pleaded.

“Help? You want to help me? If you want to help you’ll lower this barrier so I can take you apart and see how you work!” Twilight’s pupils shrunk down as she spoke. Slowly, she leaned in until her face was pressed against the barrier.

“What happened to you, Twilight? You weren’t like this when I visited a few days ago!” Rarity asked, only to receive a blank stare.

“I was...I’m just very good at hiding it...I’ve been keeping my questions to a minimum my whole life. B-But...it’s too much now! I can‘t keep it inside!”

“Twilight, get a hold’a yerself!” The cowpony approached the wall separating Twilight and herself. “Ya can still—”

“No Applejack! All that matters now is the itch...Pinkie did nothing for me, so maybe if I do back to back dissections then it will calm down!” Twilight pressed herself into Rarity’s barrier, until her horn started poking into the magic. Sparks flew as Twilight’s horn was set aglow with her own magic.” I just have to know...I have to know everything...”

“Yer talkin’ crazy, Twilight! Ya don‘t have at know everything!” Applejack yelled, coming nose to nose with Twilight with only the barrier between them.

Twilight pulled back away from the barrier, pressing her hoof to her stomach as she did. Her body convulsed violently for a moment before she spewed a yellowish bile from her mouth. Twilight stared at it for a moment, breathing heavily. “D-Don’t say that...that’s sick...”

“Twilight, there are some things in this world that you don’t have to know...” Rarity agreed. Twilight grabbed her stomach again, barely managing to hold back the urge to vomit once more.

“Shut up! I have to know! There is no not knowing—there is no...not knowing!” Twilight scratched the back of her head again as she slowly approached the barrier. “It itches so bad!” Twilight slammed her head against Rarity’s magic. The two stared at her for a moment, fear filling them. Rarity was shaking slightly, Applejack pushed herself back from Twilight. The crazed unicorn’s hoof snapped to the back of her head once more. Twilight couldn’t stop herself from digging into the open wound tearing at her own flesh.

“Applejack, I need you to run,” Rarity said in a hushed tone. Her brow was moist with building sweat from the strain of holding her magic.

“What?” she looked back at the designer completely shocked by what she just said.

“I’m going to lower this barrier, and you need to run while I hold her off.”

“Yer kiddin’, right? I can’t just leave y’all here!” Applejack returned the hushed voice, looking back at Twilight with concern.

“Applejack, Twilight is far better at magic than me. If she wanted, she could tear down this barrier of mine with ease. I’m going to try and get the drop on her, and when I do, you need to run out of here and get the guards,” Rarity explained in a calm tone, though her body betrayed how tense she was.

“Ya want me ta just run?” she asked, still in disbelief. “What about you and the others?”

“We’re all as good as dead if you don’t get help. Now, on the count of three.”

“I hope ya know what yer doin’...” Applejack shook her head.

“I do too...Are you ready?” Rarity asked, getting into a pouncing position.

“As I’ll ever be,” Applejack replied.

“One, two—”

“Three?” Twilight asked, with a tilt of her head. The two ponies looked to the deranged unicorn with a bit of worry. It was hard for them to not find her offhoofed question distracting, especially with the unsettling look in her eyes. Her pupils were the size of dots, her eyes as a whole were wide, and red veins filled the white space. “Oh, I’m already through by the way,” she added with a small chuckle.

Rarity suddenly felt a prick in her neck, causing her eyes to go wide for a moment. As soon as they shot open, they began to drift closed. Twilight’s drug was taking effect, and her body was going numb. Rarity tried her best to fight the medication, but she couldn’t. She felt heavy, and her strength was leaving her. She managed to look back at Applejack weakly, already beginning to lose her balance. “R-Run!” she cried out before collapsing.

Applejack looked on in horror as Rarity fell. Her eyes then shot to Twilight, who in turn looked back at Applejack. Twilight flashed her a smile with another small chuckle as Rarity’s barrier faded. As soon as the magical energy vanish, Applejack took her chance. She bolted up the stairs as fast as her legs would move. She knew Twilight couldn’t beat her in an all-out sprint, she was far too fast. There was no way the librarian would be able to catch up to her. Her heart raced, pumping the adrenaline through her, fueling her mad dash for freedom.

She heard Twilight yell something after her, but she didn’t care what it was. All she was concerned with was getting to the top of the stairs. Her hooves slammed down on each step, using them to jump up to the next rather than climb. She only had to get to the top, and out of the library—there Twilight couldn’t touch her. Once she was outside, she and her friends would be safe. When Applejack placed her hoof on the top step, a sense of freedom overtook her.

She faintly noticed that there was a distinct lack of hooves chasing her up the stairs, and that worried her. The cowpony pushed that worry from her mind. She knew she had to get out, she had to get the guards, she had to get help. That was her best bet at stopping the deranged librarian from butchering her friends. Applejack glared at the door to the library—her exit—and ran for it. She could feel that sense of liberation within her grasp—that was until her hooves left the ground all together. The daytime warmth of the library was suddenly a fading dream as she was yanked back down into the cold dark depths of the basement. The shrinking portal of light that was the door slammed closed, leaving her with only the eerie purple glow around her.

The next thing she knew, she was slammed on her back against a cold metal slab. Her entire body was being held down by the deep magenta aura, an aura she instantly recognized as Twilight’s magic. Her hooves, her head, ever inch of her was being pushed back into the metal, almost to the point she felt like her body might break. But it was the magic around her that scared her the most—it was cold, and full of despair, completely unlike the other times she had felt Twilight’s magic. It had always been so warm, and inviting, but the aura enveloping her now felt like the most lonesome thing in all of Equestria.

“Applejack, good of you to come back.” Twilight popped up next to the table.

“T-Twilight, ya need ta let us go. We just wanna help ya!” Applejack tried to reason with the unicorn but she was only met with a blank stare.

“Applejack, I really don’t want to do this,” Twilight admitted, still giving her the same deadpan look.

“So then don’t!” she pleaded.

“I have to Applejack! All their questions—I have to answer them!”

“W-What do ya mean?” Applejack asked with a bit of fear creeping into her voice.

“They want to know...all the Twilights...” Twilight leaned down so that she was nose to nose with Applejack. Her wide eyes pleaded with the cowpony, begging her to understand.

“What the hay’re ya talkin’ about Twilight? Just tell me!”

“So many Twilights...I can’t keep track of them anymore...I see them, Applejack...I see all of these copies of myself...all watching me, asking me questions!” Her head fell limp on the metal table. “I don’t want to kill you girls...you’re my best friends...I don’t...” she muttered.

“Then let us go, Twilight. We can get ya some—”

“No...shut up...” Twilight interrupted. Slowly she lifted her head, looking off into the darkness. She stared for a moment before snapping her head behind her. Then again, her head shot across the operating table, seeing one of her delusions staring back at her.

“Twilight, just look at her,” the figment said softly.

“Stop...I don’t want...to hurt her...” Twilight said holding back her tears.

“Applejack is so wonderful, so special, so perfect. Cheerilee and Pinkie Pie were great specimens, but, Applejack is a perfect example of an earth pony. Cutting her open will give you a true insight on how earth ponies work.” The devilish hallucination slowly worked its way around the table, watching Twilight with hungry eyes. Finally it stopped at the foot of the table. Slowly it glanced down at Applejack’s hoof, inspecting it meticulously. “I bet she has so many secrets inside...”

Suddenly the straps on the table slid around Applejack’s legs and neck, holding her to the table. The aura around her that had held her down vanished. She arched her back, and slammed back down into the table to get leverage, but it didn’t work. Struggle as she might against her bonds, she still couldn’t get any leeway.

“Just look at her legs. So powerful, so muscular, so sturdy—Applejack is a work pony, Twilight. She’s strong, fast, and well-built. If you let her go you’ll be passing up a once in a life time opportunity.” The delusion slowly drew its hoof long Applejack’s leg, tracing out her well defined muscles as it moved.

“I don’t want to kill her...” Twilight pleaded with her hallucination, pressing her hooves into her forehead as hard as she could. “I don’t want to kill any of them!”

“Just come here, Twilight. We can at least study Applejack’s magic. That’s noninvasive, right?” Twilight’s copy lowered itself down to Applejack‘s leg, showcasing the cowpony’s hoof for the librarian. Slowly, she moved her hooves out of her face, opening her squeezed-shut eyes. With a small gulp, she cautiously crept along the table. Her eyes never left her figment, making sure her delusion didn’t try anything. Though she wasn’t sure what it could try, she was well aware it wasn’t physically there to do anything to her. As she approached, it politely smiled and stepped aside for her.

“I’ll just look at her magic...alright?” Twilight asked her mad hallucination, skeptically.

“What the hay’re ya doin‘?” Applejack asked with building concern.

Twilight projected her magic aura as she had done with her previous patients. The purple cloud expanded around Applejack’s hoof, engulfing her lower leg entirely. Twilight’s eyes went wide as the aura rearranged itself along Applejack’s magic paths. The thickness of each line was beyond anything Twilight had seen. Each arching channel was so well defined, any pony would be proud of such strong magic. “So beautiful...Applejack, your magic is so beautiful...” Twilight remarked to her captive.

“What’re ya doin’ down there?” Applejack demanded to know.

“Such beautiful simplicity, and raw power.”

“What’d ya mean simple?” she asked taking a bit of offense to Twilight’s remark.

“Simple isn’t a bad thing. In earth ponies simple is better, it means your magic is more effectively distributed.” Twilight slid back up to her friend’s side, giving her a very sympathetic look.

“Look at her breathe Twilight,” the delusion said, calling Twilight’s attention once more.

“Stop...” Twilight’s face went blank again. Her eyes looked past the pony before her, focusing beyond Applejack.

“Watch her body twitch nervously when you talk to us,” it added.

“Stop it!” Twilight turned to her hallucination, her eyes glaring at the figment.

“Her heart beat...” it encouraged.

“Enough!” Twilight slammed her hoof on the metal table again.

“You know what it’s like?...”

“Don’t...” she pleaded.

“It’s just like the wonderful, rhythmic—”

“D-Don’t say that word...” she begged just above a whisper. Twilight’s eyes started to tear up as she pleaded with her demented imagination.

“W-What word?” Applejack’s heart raced as fear continued to build inside her.

“She’s just like...a clock...” It stressed the last two words by opening its eyes wide. “The beautiful, rhythmic, unending, meticulous, ticking of a wonderfully perfect clock...” Twilight looked at her hallucination with shock and disbelief. Slowly her body began to tremble, then shake uncontrollably as the realization came flooding into her. She struggled to swallow the pooling saliva in her mouth, almost choking on her own spit. Twilight coughed the pooling spit out of her mouth, quickly gasping to fill her empty lungs. As she struggled to breathe, she slammed her hooves against the metal table.

“W-What’s goin’ on, Twilight?”

“S-She said it.” Twilight gasped for air once more before collapsing on top of Applejack’s chest.

“S-Said what?” the concerned cowpony asked.

Just as Twilight was about to answer, she heard what her figment had been talking about. Applejack’s heart raced just below her ear. She could hear the wonderful regularity of its hastened pace. Each ventricle closing, the whoosh of blood flowing, the subtle pop from the other side filling—it was utterly intoxicating. Twilight focused on it, letting that beat fill her entire being for a moment. It drowned out the endless questions, and for a brief moment, her buzzing brain was calm. Her drowsy eyes drifted closed as her weary mind found a brief moment of peace.

But suddenly her eyes shot opened. There was something wrong with Applejack’s heartbeat. Each beat held an extra sound that Twilight had just noticed, rousing her from her peaceful rest. The librarian slid up Applejack’s body, until she was nose to nose with her friend once more. Her eyes were cold, analytical. She tilted her head ever so slightly, leaning in a bit more, pressing her snout to Applejacks. Twilight gazed deep into the cowpony’s eyes, looking past her face and into her patient’s very soul.

“You have a heart murmur...” Twilight whispered, her eyes running across Applejack’s.

“W-What? What’sat gotta do wit’ anythin’?” Applejack asked, trying fruitlessly to get some distance between herself and the crazed librarian.

“Why is that Applejack?” Twilight asked as her horn lit up.

“I-I dunno, I never knew I had it.”

“That’s interesting.” Twilight’s foreleg reached out as she spoke. When she brought it back into view, she was holding a scalpel in her hoof.

“T-Twilight?”

“I’m sorry, Applejack, but they’re right. Everything you’re saying makes sense, but they make more sense. There’s just so much I need to know...So many questions to answer...” She inspected the bloody edge, making sure it was still sharp. Her eyes flowed along the keen blade, finding no defects. Slowly a small smile spread across her face. “I itch so bad, I have to find out what makes you tick in order to make it stop!” Her eyes focused on Applejack’s, her smile widened, and she let out a small laugh.

“D-Don’t...” Applejack pleaded.

“I have to. I itch. I have to cut you up, and see what makes you tick.”

“W-What the hay happened ta you, Twilight? Yer not even you anymore!” Tears flowed from the farmers eyes. “This ain’t somethin’ the Twilight I knew would do! Yer just a damn monster!”

“That’s hurtful...I can understand why you would say it though, so I forgive you.” Twilight smiled at Applejack, and nuzzled the bound pony lovingly. Suddenly her eyes shot open. “Oh, that’s right! I have to get the others all set up before they wake up.” Twilight said, backing away from the operating table. “Good thing I installed more operating tables!” she said with a strange enthusiasm. “I had a feeling something like this might happen, so I prepared.”

“Twilight, let us go! Ya didn’t wanna do this a second ago!” Applejack yelled at the librarian as she walked over to the gathered pile of her unconscious friends. Twilight paused for a moment before looking back at the bound pony.

“I didn’t—I still don‘t—but I realized something, Applejack. I realized it when I heard your heart beating just now...There are so many mysteries in this world, and I can’t have that. I have to know everything, because not knowing...not knowing is unacceptable. Everything has a reason, and I’ll find it. Everything fits together in harmony like a clock.” Twilight’s pupils shrunk down once more, sending chills down Applejack’s spine.

Twilight slowly looked back at her pile of friends. “Ditzy was the first—she was so fascinating! So many things wrong, so many unfortunate circumstances that made her who she was—and like a masterful puzzle, it all came together in the most beautiful way...The defects in her head alone would have satisfied me for a few weeks...but it didn’t stop...the questions didn’t stop.” Twilight used her magic to lift all of her friends into the air. Their limp bodies hovered for a moment before they flew off into the darkness. A series of loud clangs came ringing out from the shadows a moment later. Twilight happily chased after the unconscious ponies, only to reappear from the darkness a moment later.

“Where was I? Oh, that’s right, Cheerilee, she was so smart...I had to know why...She caught my attention only a few hours after Ditzy passed; she made me itch again...It was her responsibility, right? She had to scratch my itch!” Twilight approached Applejack. The way she explained, it was like she wanted the farmer to agree with her, but she just stared at the demented librarian, took scared to speak.

Twilight sighed a bit. “I do have to apologize to you, Applejack. About Cheerilee...I accidentally killed your unborn niece. Apparently Cheerilee was pregnant, and I wasn’t aware—I’m not sure she was. Though that could have been the source of her arguments with her mother...” Twilight mused. “I can’t say for certain...Anyway, I really should be apologizing to Big Mac...I have a lot to apologize to him for...Cheerilee...his daughter...you...so many things to apologize for...”

“Y-Yer sick...” Applejack yelled in disbelief at what she was hearing. She tried to swing her hoof at the librarian but it was strapped down.

Twilight only scoffed. “Applejack, before we begin, I just wanted to tell you...I’m happy we get to spend this time together.” Twilight brushed her hoof against the farmer’s face, lovingly. “You and I, we’re going to be such good friends after this. I’ll know so much about you, it’ll be hard for us not to be friends, right?”

“Get the buck away from me!” Applejack yelled, fighting against her bonds once more.

“The best of friends,” Twilight said with a creepy smile. Carefully she reached for her scalpel once more. “Unfortunately, I’ve run out of anesthesia—so forewarning—this will hurt...“ Twilight paused for a moment, her eyes rolling off to the side before shooting back to Applejack, “a lot...” Twilight brought the scalpel down on Applejack’s chest.

“Stop it, Twilight!” the cowpony yelled out.

There was a loud crash followed by a tidal wave of books spilling onto the floor. A purple spaded tail swayed back and forth, poking out from the mountain of aged tomes. After a moment of books sliding, and tumbling away from a rise in the stack, Spike popped his head out from the pile. His hand popped free next, immediately rubbing the back of his head. The little dragon groaned as he clawed his way out from the mess of books, suddenly to find himself floating into the air.

He looked around puzzled as a golden aura lifted him from the heap. Slowly he found himself lowered back on the ground, set there gently by the aura. When he looked up he saw the princess laughing a bit to herself.

“Please be careful, Spike. There’s no need to rush, you can take your time,” she said, levitating the books into a neat stack.

“I’m sorry, Princess.” The little dragon tried to grab the huge stack once more. As soon as he lifted it off the ground, the top began to sway, rippling a wave of instability through the stack. Before long Spike was struggling to keep his balance again. He tried his best not to drop the mountain of books, but it wasn‘t working. Just as he was about to topple, the books he was carrying got lighter. When he looked up, and half the stack was gone, appearing next to him on the floor.

“Is that better?” the princess asked, giving him a knowing look.

He nodded his head, and flashed her a smile. “Thanks, Princess,” the young dragon said as he carried off the books.

The timeless ruler watched Spike carry off the stack of books to be organized. Yet seeing him reminded her of his caretaker, her student, Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes quickly glanced at the clock across the room, finding it was already past four in the afternoon. Celestia wouldn’t admit it, but she was anxious. Her heart was racing in anticipation for a delivery, one she had been expecting for the past few days.

“Princess?” One of the ponies around her asked. She pulled herself from her worry, finding one of the archivists looking at her. She forced a warm smile, trying to put those around her at ease. “You’ve been staring at the clock quite often today, is there some other pressing matter in need of your attention? If so, we can handle the reorganizing of the royal archives by ourselves. There isn‘t a need for you to oversee such a mundane activity.” The young mare lowered her head, being mindful of her position.

“There is nothing at all, I’m just waiting for a letter to arrive today. And also, these are the royal archives. I suppose at least one of us should be present for the yearly reorganization,” Celestia said with a small chuckle.

“Do they really get that disorganized over the course of a year?” Spike asked as he returned for the rest of his load from earlier.

“No, it isn’t the organization, but the material. We rotate the books and documents for the students of the school. Many ponies use these archives, it would be a shame to not bring in new material for them every year.” The princess smiled at Spike, but he only shrug his shoulders.

A stallion entered the library pulling a cart full of letters and packages behind him. Celestia’s face lit up slightly at the sight, but she reminded herself of her position, and forced herself to stay composed. It only took him a few moments to pass out the few letters going to the ponies working throughout the room. After he had finished he turned to walk away, but Celestia called out to him.

“Would you happen to have a letter for me today?” the princess asked. He froze for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden request from the ruler, but after he realized what was asked, he quickly dug through the cart. After a moment of digging, he looked at the princess and shook his head.

“Nothing today, your majesty,” he replied before bowing to leave.

For a brief moment, Celestia failed to hide the worry spreading across her face. Spike happened to see this momentary crack in the princess’s usually flawless emotional armor. He approached her, sharing the same concerned look that she had. “No letter again today?” he asked innocently. Celestia gave him a small nod. “I-I’m sure it’ll be here tomorrow! You asked her to respond in the letter you sent, and Twilight would never not respond to one of your letters, Princess!” Spike tried to make her feel better, but he could tell his words were mostly wasted.

Celestia gave him a small smile as she always did, and agreed with him. Spike had learned over the past week that this was Celestia’s default response to this situation. Inside her practiced gaze was an inner turmoil full of concern for her faithful student, a turmoil that was invisible to the rest of them. Spike couldn’t see it, but he knew it was there. He knew because he felt the same way. He was just as worried about Twilight as Celestia was.

“Colonel.” A guard entering the library addressed another one standing around the parameter of the room. The older stallion motioned for the solder to come closer. Spike watched the two converse, though he was mostly still thinking about Twilight. It was rare for her to not respond, which meant she was either incredibly busy reading, or something came up. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of her having an episode. He heard horror stories from some of the older castle staff about the last episode Twilight had where she tore apart ever clock in the castle.

“Ponyville?” the older guard asked a little skeptically. Celestia’s attention instantly focused over on conversation.

“Colonel, did you say Ponyville?” the princess asked, walking towards the guard.

“Y-Yes, Princess. It would seem that there was a few disappearances in the town.”

“How many are missing?” Celestia asked.

“Two,” he replied quickly. “Hardly seems surprising, the town is on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest after all.” The guard cleared his throat, realizing with whom he was speaking. “There’s a request for more guards to assist in finding these missing ponies.”

“How long have these ponies been missing?” Celestia asked, almost too scared of the answer.

“Five days since the first disappearance, and three since the second,” he responded, a little confused as to why the princess would want to know something so minor.

Celestia glanced over at Spike. “Spike, would you please keep an eye on things here for me?” she asked, walking towards the door. The two guards looked at each other, confused. Before they or Spike could ask any questions, Celestia was already out of the room.

As Celestia left, she noticed her sister walking towards her in the hallway. The other alicorn’s face lit up slightly at the sight of her sister, but that enthusiasm quickly disappeared when she realized how troubled Celestia was. “What is the matter, Sister?” Luna asked.

“Luna, would you please oversee the royal archive rotation? I’m afraid I will need to leave for a moment.” Celestia hastily rushed past her sister,

“Tia, did something happen? It has been many years since I have seen you so flustered.” Luna followed her sister with her head, watching as the other alicorn rushed past her.

“I need to get to Ponyville as soon as possible. I will tell you about it when I return,” Celestia called back to the younger alicorn. Shortly after she broke out into a sprint, and unfurled her wings. Luna watched, unsettled as her sister took off out of an open window. She stared out at the slowly setting sun for a moment, pondering what would cause her usually well-composed sister to act in such a way.

Twilight threw her bloody scalpel onto the floor. Her figments watched the surgical tool bounce with a small clang and ricochet off into the darkness. Once the sound of sliding metal stopped, the mass turned their heads to their host, watching her carefully, waiting for their moment. Twilight’s hooves shakily left the operating table, her eyes staring at them in horror. The blood of her friends soaked deep into her fur, a stain she knew would never come out. This deep red would be with her forever.

She slammed her hoof down against the metal slab, looking at the sliced mass of flesh and bone that was once Rainbow Dash. Her quivering lips opened to yell, to scream, to cry, anything, but nothing came. Her voice failed her. The librarian wanted nothing more than to cry, but her tears fought against her. A dark, digging pain rose from her chest as she looked into the lifeless eyes frozen in front of her. Slowly her tears spilled out, dribbling down her cheeks. The splattered blood from her gruesome task carried away by the salty sorrow.

“Why!” Twilight cried out, finally finding her voice. She fell onto her back, her hooves wrapped around her head, she curled into a tight ball, all to shut out the pain. A deep grinding reverberated in her skull as her teeth ground together.

“Why?” a lone voice rang out in the darkness. As if that one question had broken her mental dam, a flood of “why” came erupting from Twilight’s psyche. The roar only she could hear was deafening, the chatter itself was inaudible, but she knew every single question they asked. The noise filled her mind, drowning out every conscious thought she had in the tide of queries. She couldn’t handle them anymore, they were too much, her mind went numb, but that itch still dug at her. Twilight couldn’t face her own mind anymore.

“Shut up! Just shut up! Shut up-shut up-shut up-shut up-shut up-shut up-just shut up! All of you shut up!” Twilight screamed out into the emptiness. Though her voice echoed throughout the basement, she couldn’t even hear herself over the torrent of questions flooding her mind. It permeated her, hollowing her out, and filling everything inside her with maddening questions.

“T-Twilight Sparkle...what happened?” a familiar voice cut through the noise, calling out to her. Slowly her eyes cranked up to the source, seeing a snow white angel standing at the top of her stairs. Twilight’s blinked to clear her vision, revealing it to be her mentor standing in the doorway. Twilight watched as her mentor descended into the black abyss, her white fur glowing against the darkness.

“P-Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked in disbelief. “No...she wouldn’t be here...it’s just my mind playing tricks on me...” she muttered.

“No, Twilight, I am here. What has happened to you?” The sun princess loomed over her student. A mixture of anger, worry, and disappointment radiated from her eyes. Her student was completely covered in blood, her mane was a mess, her eyes looking weary. She knew Twilight had broken down—she had an episode—but she still prayed that her fears weren’t true. She prayed that blood was from some animals, not from the missing ponies.

Twilight looked off to the side, staring at the darkness silently. Celestia followed her student’s gaze, though a bit confused at first. The ruler’s first reaction was to gasp when she saw the horror before her. The princess pressed her hoof to her mouth trying to hide her shock. Nothing could have prepared her for that sight. Even the emotional monolith that was Celestia couldn’t hide her horror after seeing the five other elements of harmony laying dead before her. Her fears had been correct.

“T-Twilight Sparkle...” she said just barely above a whisper. “W-Why—”

“Stop...please stop asking...” Twilight cried out. Celestia looked back to see her student was pressing her head into a wall. “Stop asking me questions...no more...” Tears fell down the librarian’s already soaked cheeks. Slowly she pulled back, and dropped her head against the wall with a thud. Then again, and again, until she started throwing her head against it, then slamming it repeatedly. A small squish accompanied the thud now. Celestia took a step towards her student, using her magic to stop Twilight from slamming her head again.

“T-Twilight, stop!” Celestia pulled her student away.

“They won’t stop...” she muttered. A drop of blood fell to the floor. When Twilight looked up, her forehead was a beaten bloody mess. A stream of her blood dripped down her face adding her own blood to her friends’. “So many questions...can’t...think...” Twilight squeezed her head once more.

Celestia gently set the disturbed pony down on the ground, where she curled up again. Seeing her beloved student like this broke her heart. She sat down on the floor next to her, placing her foreleg over Twilight. She didn’t realize until she touched her how much Twilight was trembling.

“Please stop...please stop...please stop...please stop...” Twilight repeated that request like a mantra. “I don’t want to hurt anypony anymore...” she sobbed, curling tighter into her ball.

Celestia couldn’t bear it anymore. Her horn lit up with a golden glow, illuminating the dark pit in a warm light. The sun princess lowered her head until her horn touched the tip of Twilight’s. The golden aura from her horn enveloped her student’s, spreading down onto her head. The disturbed pony’s eyes went wide, and suddenly a bright light erupted from them. Twilight looked up at her mentor, seeing the same white light coming from Celestia’s eyes.

Celestia’s face cringed as a flood of voices came spilling into her mind. An endless nonsensical stream of questions interrupted her thoughts. She struggled to maintain her spell against the constant intrusion to her thought process. The loud roar of a crowd filled her mind, though she could make out what every single voice asked.

She raised her head, and looked out at the gruesome operating tables once more. The ruler’s eyes went wide when she saw dozens, possibly a hundred copies of her student filling the room. Each one staring at her, asking her something. Everywhere she looked there was a figment, yelling at her, demanding she answered a question.

The endless stream of words caused Celestia’s mind to numb slightly. She shook her head from the sheer volume flooding her thoughts. Only from a second of listening, she started to feel a strange tingle at the back of her head—an itch. After another second she found it hard to breathe. She was panting from the sheer mental strain of all the questions being asked of her. She couldn’t maintain the spell anymore; the glow in both of their eyes stopped, and her horn died down.

“By the sun...Is that what you have been experiencing, Twilight? If only I had known...” Celestia muttered, trying to catch her breath as she did so.

Twilight looked up at her mentor with wide eyes. “Y-You heard them?” she asked weakly.

Celestia nodded her head. She wrapped her wing around Twilight, pulling her in close for a hug. Twilight’s head rest against her teacher’s chest; the young mare was still sobbing, trembling in fear of herself. Celestia let her lie there, hoping to give her some peace of mind. She could feel twilight shaking under her wing, her sobs still ringing loud. The disturbed librarian buried herself in Celestia’s welcoming embrace, rubbing her face into the alicorn’s chest. Her once pristine white coat was now red with the blood from various ponies, but that was the least of her worries.

“I-I killed them...Princess...I killed my friends...” Twilight said finally.

“Yes, Twilight,” Celestia said plainly. “We cannot ignore that, but you are also...very sick.”

“I have to know...what makes it tick...what makes everything tick...it won’t end...until...I know everything...” Twilight huddled closer to her teacher. She buried her face into the alicorn’s white fur, praying for protection from her own psyche. “I-I’m scared, Princess...” She still sobbed, she still shook, she still itched—everything was still wrong. There was no shelter for her. This wouldn’t stop until Twilight knew everything, or she was dead.

That last thought stuck at her. “I-I know where this ends...” she muttered in a moment of clarity.

“What makes her tick?” a small voice asked. Twilight went still; her whole body stopped shaking, her breathing slowed, her sobbing stopped.

“No...Don’t ask that...” she muttered into her teacher’s chest.

“Twilight?” Celestia asked, looking down at her student.

Twilight pushed away from Celestia. The tormented pony barely managed to crawl out from under her teacher’s wing. Every inch of her body felt so weak; drained from the waking hours she had spent dissecting and plotting. Twilight slowly climbed onto all fours. With shaky legs, she walked back to the wall. “I can’t do this...”

“Twilight, stop.” Celestia commanded, but Twilight ignored her.

“I’m sorry, Princess...They want to know what makes you tick...you’re so special...so unique...but I can’t...not anymore...I won’t hurt anypony else!” Twilight’s horn lit. Celestia jumped up to her hooves to try and stop her student but it was too late. Twilight used her magic to lift the same scalpel she had used to end her friends’ lives. With a tug of her head, she yanked the blade to her, driving it into her chest. Her eyes shot open as the keen edge pierced her skin and plunged deep into her heart.

Celestia looked on in horror. Twilight glanced back at her, holding back the pain from showing in her face. With another burst of magic, she forced the scalpel to cut across inside her chest, slicing open every artery is crossed. A sudden gush of blood poured out of the open wound, spilling onto the floor in a puddle. It was almost like a waterfall.

“Or an hourglass,” a small voice said to her. Twilight looked down at her pooling blood, managing a weak laugh as she stared. “Your time is ticking out, Twilight.” Suddenly her legs gave out, and collapsed onto the floor. Blood continued flowing from her wound, growing her puddle of lost time.

“Don’t cry...Don’t you dare cry...You did worse...Don’t cry...You don‘t deserve to cry...” Twilight told herself, not letting any pain show in her face.

“T-Twilight!” Celestia screamed as she ran to her student’s side. She kneeled down in the pool of blood, and scooped her faithful student into her forelegs. Twilight looked up into Celestia’s eyes, seeing her mentor cry for the first time in her life. She slowly raised her hoof and placed it on Celestia’s cheek, smearing blood on it as she did so.

“My books...” she said weakly.

Celestia only shook her head. “Don’t worry about that right now! I need to get you to a doctor!” the princess’s horn sparked as she spoke.

Twilight shook her own head weakly to her teacher. “No...” Twilight’s eyes slowly drifted from Celestia to the tables her friends died on. Their screams still called out to her. She could still clearly see the life leaving each of their eyes, that final moment, each one haunting her. How she resented them for leaving her when she needed them most, how she loathed their peace. They didn’t have questions to answer, but they also didn’t deserve what she did to them. She wanted to forget those dying eyes, but she knew she couldn’t—she didn’t have the right to. She would hold onto those memories for as long as she could, knowing the wrong she did to them.

Suddenly she noticed her figments gathering around her, looking at her with the same eyes they had always looked at her victims with. They watched her, inspected her, studied her. She laughed weakly, seeing now why they were curious about her. Her eyes went dull as the light left them for good. Celestia tightened her grip on her student, knowing this was it. “I wonder...what makes me tick?...” Twilight asked finally. Her body went limp in Celestia’s forelegs.

“T-Twilight?” Celestia asked with fear filling her voice. She shook her student slightly, hoping that would rouse her, but it didn‘t. Twilight laid in Celestia’s forelegs, no longer breathing, her body no longer moving. Celestia’s eyes drifted closed, and the princess let a small tear fall from them. She gently set Twilight down on the floor. She lowered her head and honored her once faithful student’s passing—not the pony she had become, but the pony she was before. She sat silent for a moment before finally opening her eyes.

“I failed you, my faithful student.”

“The royal guard has finished the investigation.” Luna said upon entering her older sister’s room.

Celestia was lying on large rug. Her eyes were firmly glued to the floor, though she wasn’t actually looking at it. Her long-since-cooled breakfast sat on a tray next to her bed, untouched. The bed itself showed no signs of having been slept in. The grey ashes of a long since burned out fire sat undisturbed in the fireplace.

“Sister, please. I understand that this is hard on you, but Twilight Sparkle would not have wanted to see you in such a state.”

“Luna, did you bring the books?” Celestia asked bluntly.

The night princess looked towards the door. A pony entered carrying a tray in his magic. On the tray sat a small stack—five journals, and two bound tomes. The stallion lowered his head, allowing Luna’s magic to take the hold of the books. The younger alicorn levitated the collection over to the elder, setting them down in front of her.

Celestia’s eyes fell to the books place before her. She was about to place a hoof on one when she hesitated. She looked to the stallion in the room. “That will be all,” she said to him. The servant bowed before leaving the two princesses.

“These were her obsession. This is where she recorded those nightmarish—” Celestia struggled for a moment, trying to find the word. After failing to find one appropriate enough, she chose to leave it at that. “In a letter she left on her desk, she willed these to me.”

“Young Spike told me about her...itch—I believe is what she called it.” Luna interrupted. Her head drifted downwards. “That poor young one, left in this world without somepony to look after him.”

“He will have somepony. Twilight’s family will look after him,” Celestia replied.

“It is still a shame,” Luna added. Her voice was soft, and distant, knowing her sister didn’t want to continue talking about it. The room fell silent, with Celestia still staring at the stack of books in front of her.

Finally, she laughed to herself. With a swipe of her hoof, she brushed the books off to the side. “I’m such a coward...I cannot even bring myself to read these.”

“I believe there would be something wrong with you if you were able to read them so easily, Sister.” Luna walked towards the elder alicon. She sat next to her, placing her wing over her sister. “I know this is hard for you, Tia, but do remember that Twilight Sparkle gave these to you for a reason. Perhaps there is a use for them.”

“Luna, these books...they contain a detailed account of the brutal murders of seven ponies. What possible use could be found for these.” Celestia grabbed the first book with her hoof. Her eyes flowed along the cover. It had a dark brown face, and bound together magically by fusing the pages to the spine. The cover read “Dissection Series: Volume One: Ditzy Doo by Twilight Sparkle” Celestia shuddered as she read those horrid words. It felt so callous, so cruel to her. She tossed the book to the side, too disgusted by its title to even hold it.

“If I recall, Twilight Sparkle had an affinity for science. Perhaps these books could be repurposed as such?” Luna proposed to her sister. She lifted up the other completed book in her magic, looking over the dark tome.

“I suppose I won’t know until I read them.” She turned to the younger alicorn. “I would like to be alone, if you don’t mind.” Luna only nodded to her sister’s wishes. She quickly got up, bidding her sister farewell as she did so. After another moment she had left Celestia to her mourning, giving her the solitude she desperately wished for.

Once the door was closed, Celestia lifted the first tome in her magic, bringing it over to her from where she tossed it. With the book in front of her, she braced herself for the worst. Slowly she lowered her hoof down, slipping the tip under the cover’s lip. Celestia took a deep breath, preparing herself further. Finally she pulled the hard cover back. As she opened the book, a folded piece of paper slid free. It fell down, hitting the carpet and laying there. It was folded, had pressed wrinkles, and put off an ominous vibe; it was as if it was begging to be opened.

Celestia lifted the paper in her magic, unfolding it as it rose. She found it blank, save for a few water stains on its surface. She sighed, disappointed, but not entirely sure what she had expected from a folded scrap of paper stashed away in a book. Just as she was about to crumple the paper and toss it aside, ink seeped out from deep in the paper. The black liquid rose from the fibers, spreading out onto the sheet, forming words. Her eyes widened when she saw the first line become clear.

Dear Princess Celestia,

If you are reading this letter then that means that I am most likely no longer among the living. I wish there had been another way, I wish I had been strong enough for you, but I was not. I have failed you.

I have given into my inquisitive side, and done the unthinkable. It was as you had feared all of those years ago when you first found me dissecting that squirrel. These questions I have, have forced me to do unspeakable things—to another pony no less.

I am not tormented by simply voices anymore, but delusions; These sick specters of myself tempt me to do terrible things. They poked and prodded with questions, night and day, endlessly, until I had no choice but to answer them. I had to answer them for some peace of mind.

At least that is what I had originally thought. But I knew when I first dug my scalpel into another pony’s flesh, that I wasn’t doing it to appease them. I was doing it because they were right—I had to know what made her tick. The itching was a manifestation of my desire to know everything. I had to know in order to sate my desire—to scratch my itch.

It took me so long to realize that. I never wanted to admit it. I wish I was just a pony that had a mental breakdown, but I’m not. I’m a monster who needs to feed her desire for knowledge at all cost. I’m too weak to keep myself in line. These delusions of mine aren’t those of a disturbed pony, but are products of a sick mind. A mind that will do whatever it can to meet its needs. I am truly weak. I can’t even control myself.

I failed your expectations because I am weak. I’m not sure how you are feeling. I do not know if you are mourning my death, angry with my choices, or disappointed in me, much like I am with myself. All I can ask is that if by chance you are blaming yourself for this—don’t. This was my shortcoming, not yours, Princess.

I will not ask for forgiveness because I do not deserve it. These books are an abomination, but they are also my greatest achievement. I am ashamed, yet so very proud of them. I wish them to be destroyed, but I pray for their safety. The information in these books are my greatest treasures, but also my darkest moments. I have left them to you, because I feel that you alone know what should be done with them. I could not trust my mother, father, brother, or Spike with this, because you are the one I can trust the most. I know your judgment will be the correct one.

And whatever it may be you decide to do with these books, it is not my place to second guess. I forfeit that right the moment I took a life.

Princess, I am sorry. I can't stress how sorry I am. Not just to you, but to everypony impacted by this. If only I had been stronger. I am sorry, Princess.

Forever your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia placed her face into her hoof for a while. She sat there silent, the words from Twilight’s letter still lingering in her mind. Finally a lone tear rolled down her cheek. “Twilight...”

She carefully folded the letter once more, and levitated it to her desk. A drawer in the desk became enveloped in a golden aura, and slid opened. The letter gently floated down into the safety of the drawer, taking its place among the papers filed within.

Celestia slowly climbed onto all fours, her legs wobbling from not being used for so long. After a few steps, she found her balance. She gradually made her way across the room, over to her desk. She placed a hoof on the wooden top for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. Her eyes drifted downward, into the opened drawer. A small smile spread across her face with another tear building in her eye as she looked down. Each paper sitting inside her desk had the same first line, each read “Dear Princess Celestia”.

The End

Author's Note

I have an epilogue chapter planned as well, but it shouldn't be more than 4000 words...(yeah 4000)

But that's it, that's the end of the story. I hope you all enjoyed it. Twilight got her comeuppance in the end, and it's a little tragic too.

Epilogue

Twilight's Book
Epilogue

He stared at the white ceiling, finding it oddly calming. A small swirl like pattern had been embossed into the surface, giving him an idle task as he laid there. His mind was completely silent; no thoughts interrupted him as his eyes traced the circular lines. When one would dead end into another, he would follow the new line, until it too ended. He cascaded around the ceiling, following lines in a circle until he couldn’t even remember where he started.

All the mindless tracing was giving him a headache. He even started to feel sick from staring at the pure white above him. The light was bright, leaving few shadows, which only made him strain his eyes to see the lines in the first place. Tired from tracing, he closed his eyes. He laid there, letting the darkness relax his headache and nausea, until he felt numb. It was almost like this was a dream.

The ticking of a clock was the only noise filling the room. It was so quiet, each tick and subsequent tock echoed like a drum. The sound filled the room, and consequently his thoughts. It was obnoxious how loud the clock was. It made him wonder why he was wasting his time here. He could literally hear the seconds of his life ticking away.

“So, Mr. Shining Armor. How about we begin?” An older mare’s voice pulled him from his daze. He opened his eyes to find the white ceiling still staring back at him. The nauseating swirls still there, waiting for him to trace them once more.

“How about we start with some simple questions, alright?” she asked. Shining nodded his head softly.

“What is your name?” she asked.

“Shining Armor.” He slid his hooves under his head.

“And your mother’s name?”

“Twilight Velvet.”

“Father’s name?”

“Night Light.”

“And the names of the two rulers of this country?”

“Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna,” he replied.

“Good, at least you’re in touch with reality,”she said with a small chuckle. Shining Armor was dead silent. “If you don’t mind, I would like to give you some more difficult questions now.”

Shining armor nodded his head again, already tracing the lines in the ceiling once more. The clock had drifted to the background, no longer annoying him as much. The white on the ceiling wasn’t making him sick either. “Whenever you’re ready,” he answered.

“How are you feeling after the incident?” the mare asked. She succeeded in pulling his attention from whatever was more interesting than their conversation. She held a clipboard with a quill in her magic, ready to write. She was peering at him over her glasses, patiently waiting for his reply.

“I’m not too sure.” he turned his attention back to the ceiling, though he wasn’t following the lines anymore.

“Not too sure?” she tapped the tip of her quill against the paper on the clipboard.

“I’m not sure how I should feel...” he clarified slightly.

“Well, why don’t we start with what’s going through you’re head right now?”

He sighed a bit. “Confusion, I guess?”

“Well confusion is an emotion at least. It is better to be confused than to not know how to react.” She scribbled something down on her clipboard before turning her eyes back to him.

“I mean...How should I react? I got news that my sister went crazy and killed seven other ponies and herself. I suppose it’s still sinking in.” He turned to look at her. She had her hoof placed under her chin, but not in a bored way. She motioned for him to continue, as if she had read his mind that he still had more to say.

“It’s so...uncharacteristic of her...There was never any kind of...I didn’t know she was even capable of doing something like this. It‘s a lot to take in...”

“Well, let’s get away from the present, and talk about your family then,” she suggested. “You were close with your sister right?”

“Yeah, she was always there to cheer me up when I was feeling down. When she was younger, she was a spastic little ball of energy.” He had a small smile on his face as he reminisced about the past. The mare nodded her head as she listened. “She was always asking me to read a book to her or something. It didn’t bother me too—well, maybe when I got a little older, but it wasn’t usually too much of a bother.”

“And how about your mother?” she asked, scribbling down a few lines onto her clipboard.

“She was supportive. She was always making sure we were taken care of, and had everything we needed for school. But it was my dad...He always was pushing Twilight.”

“How so?”

“My dad worked for the magical R&D division in the government. He wasn’t the best with magic, or physical strength, but he was smart. He was really good at critical thinking, and problem solving, a trait he tried to instill on us kids. I guess he gave up on me when he saw my grades in school, but he always had hopes for Twilight. He was always asking her questions, trying to get her to think harder about stuff.” His eyes drifted back to the ceiling, staring at it, but looking past it. “He was so proud of her when she became Princess Celestia’s student. I never saw that look in his eyes, even when I made captain. He spent so much time with Twilight helping her study when she was younger, but I think he even struggled to keep pace with her.”

“Did you notice anything about her back then?” she asked, looking up from her clipboard.

“She was always a curious kid. We never thought anything about it at home.” He paused for a moment. “Well...then again she did seem different after she finished her first year with the princess.”

“How so?”

“She started doing weird things...” Shining armor sat up on the plush couch he had been lying on. “There were a few times I caught her just staring at the clock in our living room. Not because she was bored, but because she just liked looking at it. She said it calmed her.”

“So she developed an interest in clocks?”

“Yeah, but interest is a bit of an understatement—it was really weird how fascinated she was with them. I think it was about that time she started using the word “tick” in her everyday speech too. I guess we just dismissed it, and before long we kind of stopped noticing it.”

“Well changes in speech are common, perhaps she picked up the word form the castle?” she asked.

“The castle...when she came home after her first year, she always had a ton of homework. My mom worried that the princess was overworking her. But Twilight told me once that she had to do all that work or otherwise she’d get “the itch” again. I didn’t really get what she was saying, and she never really brought it up after that.”

“The itch?” the mare asked after scribbling down some more words onto her clipboard.

“Yeah...wait you don’t think the princess did something to my sister, do you?” he asked the mare’s opinion. She looked a bit taken back by the sudden request.

“It’s not really my place to say. I wouldn’t rule it out, but most of the time these types of...disorders...are hereditary. Which is why you’re here, undergoing psychiatric evaluation.”

“Yeah...because everypony’s worried I’m going to haul a bunch of my troops into a basement somewhere and chop them up or something.” Shining Armor rolled his eyes. He didn’t have to be psychic to see that’s what ponies were thinking. After the incident with Twilight went public, everyone had looked at him differently. It was as if they expected something from him, like he had answers. Some ponies even look at him like he would do the same that his sister did.

“We’re mostly evaluating you to see if you’re at risk to yourself. We’re doing this to help you, not persecute you.”

“Whatever.”

“Now, Mr. Shining Armor, we’ve talked about your family, how about a bit about yourself? What are you interested in?”

“I’m not obsessed with clocks like my sister was...” he said coldly.

“I’m not asking about your sister, I’m asking about you.” she replied, looking up from her clipboard.

“This has to be hard when the pony your asking knows what you’re trying to get out of them.”

“There’s no reason to defensive about it, Mr. Shining Armor. I’m simply interested in what you do for fun.”

“I told you, I’m not obsessed with clocks or anything like my sister was, we can drop it.”

“This is about your mental health. I’m only trying to help you. Having interests is considered normal, and surely you have some outside of your position.”

“...Chess,” he finally relinquished, rolling his eyes.

“Chess is a fine hobby,” she said with a small smile. He could hear the sound of her quill scribbling as she wrote a bit more down on her clipboard. After the sound stopped, he could see her looking back at him out of the corner of his eye. “What do you enjoy about it?”

“This is stupid...” he muttered to himself.

“There’s nothing stupid about it.”

He let out a sigh. “It’s about strategy. It help me stay sharp, and really lets me get into a ponies head, find out what makes them tick...” His body tensed for a moment when he realized what he said. “Sorry about that...It‘s not what you think.”

“It’s just a word. No reason to apologize over it.”

He paused for a moment before continuing. “I usually challenge the other officers, but lately they haven’t been very fulfilling. They all lose no matter how much I handicap myself.”

“And what do you mean by “fulfilling”?” the mare asked, looking up from her clipboard.

Shining Armor paused for a moment again. He looked at the mare to see her waiting patiently for his reply. “They don’t offer up much of a challenge anymore, so I’m growing a little board with it. I was thinking of trying a new hobby. Maybe poker? I hear that has quite a bit of strategy involved.”

“You’re being very selective,” she said with a small smirk.

“How so?”

“You’re leaving out your feelings. You used fulfilling before—a very emotional word, implying you had a deep satisfaction before—and then you changed it to challenge—a more callous, impersonal word. How exactly were they fulfilling in the first place?” she probed.

“Well, when I first started playing chess with the officers, I used to lose a lot. I never really had an interest in it until I got promoted to the officer corps. I guess the former captain took an interest in me. He was the one who taught me to play. He showed me that any military engagement can be fought like a chess match, and those with the stronger strategy would win.” His eyes drifted over to the clock. It was almost time for their little session to be over.

“And chess was enjoyable for you when you first started playing?”

“I suppose. The game was new, each pony I played against was a different opponent —there was always a new strategy to see. But now it’s gotten stale. No pony has really given me a challenge lately...”

“So, you’re not getting that same high as when you played with the former captain?” she asked, trying to bring his attention back.

“Even the former captain couldn’t keep up with me once I learned the rules,” he stated coldly. “A great solder, but his chess strategy was predictable after the first ten moves, and he would always employ the same thirty or so tactics.”

“So by the tenth move you could counter his strategy?” she asked.

“By the tenth move I could tell him how checkmate would play out turn by turn. As a solder you never have much use for critical thinking...that’s what I used to tell my father. But now that I’m an officer, I use it quite often. I think he might have rubbed off on me as much as I hate to admit it.”

“Do you hold some resentment towards him?”

“I guess. After I read the report about my sister’s...incident...I guess I kind of blame him.”

“Because he was always nurturing your sister’s inquisitive nature?”

“Yeah...and now I guess I kind of blame the princess as well...”

“Why is that?”

“She had to have known about it! Twilight didn’t act weird like that until she spent a year with Princess Celestia!” He slammed his hoof again the arm of the couch.

“That’s a rather brash claim,” she scribbled something down on her clipboard again. This time, seeing her write something struck a chord with Shining. He just spoke something that could get him in trouble, and if the princess were to see it, his career might be over.

“What did you just write?” he asked her.

“It’s not important, what is important is how you’re dealing with the death of your sister,” she said without looking up at him.

Shining used his magic to snatched the clipboard from the mare’s magical grip. Her eyes shot to him in disbelief. “What do you think you’re doing?” she said firmly, trying to pull the clipboard back, but it was no use. Shining Armor was a powerful unicorn, comparable in strength to his sister. As hard as she pulled, he didn’t even seem to notice.

He looked down at the slip of paper she had been scribbling on throughout their session. “Father issues, latent superiority complex, denial? Is this what you were going to report back to the princess?” he demanded.

“Those are unfinished notes! Look down further and you will see I have been writing down everything you’ve said. Those are guiding topics for your future visits, Mr. Shining Armor. They’re to help remind me where we were going in previous sessions, and to guide you to talk about those subjects.” she explained.

“Guiding subjects? How is Father issues a guiding subject, or latent superiority complex?” He stood up off the couch, keeping an eye on the psychiatrist.

“Mr. Shining Armor, our time is up. Why don’t we start with this next week,” she said barely above a whisper.

He could see her pushing herself further into her overstuffed chair, her eyes trembled as he loomed over her, her body tensed in anticipation—she was scared of him. He bit his lower lip in self anger. He had scared a mare he didn’t even know over something she wrote on a piece of paper. He dropped the clipboard on the table next to her before walking towards the door.

“Go ahead and add anger management to that list,” he muttered. “I’ll see you next week.”

The End