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.