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.