The Illusion Of Sanctity *DO NOT READ YET*

Spike woke up to the sound of crashing and sobbing. He instantly bolted upright and dashed down the stairs of the library as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. As he reached the bottom, the first thing he saw was a tearful Twilight throwing various objects against various other objects. As she threw the carved horse head that she had carried all the way from Canterlot into a wall, Spike rushed to her and grabbed ahold of her leg.

"Twilight! What are you doing? What happened?"

Twilight grabbed him off with magic and flung him aside, galloping over to her saddlebags and stuffing various important items into them before galloping as fast as she could out the door and off towards the Everfree forest. He stared helplessly after her, confused and scared.

His cheeks bulged and he unexpectedly burped out a letter, sealed with the red ribbon of the Princess. He carefully unrolled it and began to read. Suddenly, he fell back in shock. The contents of the letter were too horrifying for him to comprehend. He grabbed the scroll and ran headlong to where the shadow of Rainbow Dash's cloud house fell to earth, yelling for her as loud as he could. After a minute of prolonged shouting, the sky blue pegasus peered over the edge of the cloud.

"Ugh! What do you WANT, Spike?!"

The baby dragon wordlessly held up the scroll and Rainbow flashed down to earth. As Spike held the letter up, she began to read it, her eyes widening in horror as she spoke the words aloud.

"As of this day, the unicorn Twilight Sparkle is officially adjudged a traitor to the crown for her acts of treason. If any pony in Equestria sees her,  she is to be taken on sight. If alive, she is to be brought before the Princess Celestia and Luna for her final words. If she is killed, then the one who killed her will be rewarded with five million bits for services to the crown.

Princess Celestia"

The pegasus stared at the paper for nearly a minute before suddenly breaking down in sobs and clinging to Spike. A flight of royal guards soared above their heads, and as Pinkie Pie bounced out of Sugarcube Corner, she saw her two friends crying in the street and hopped over to read the scroll near them. Suddenly, her hair became completely straight, and she began to sob too, alongside her two despairing friends.

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The monarch of the sun sat stone-faced in front of the remaining five Elements of Harmony, their desperate pleas to lift Twilight's sentence falling on deaf ears. Once they fell silent, she shook her head slowly, with a solemn finality. Their heads dropped, and they walked slowly out of the Solar Court. On their way out, Celestia heard them speak softly. Applejack said the first sentence.

"Y'all have any idea what Twi was doin' before this insanity started?"

One by one, the ponies shrugged, but Spike piped up softly. "When I woke up, Twilight was going crazy, and then she ran away. I noticed a book, closed, cover down, like it was done, but at the moment, it seemed odd to me that she didn't put it back on the shelf. Maybe we should go see the book?"

The ponies nodded in agreement, then the doors shut. Quickly, Celestia called over Shining Armor, Captain of her guard. She quickly spat out the words "Get to that town as quickly as you can by whatever means necessary, and bring me that book before those ponies get to it." Shining nodded and went to round up a squad of guardsponies, and Celestia allowed herself a sly grin.

Everything was falling into place, just as planned.

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Night found Twilight huddled under a huge tree in the Everfree forest, shaking from the cold and wracked with tears. Her mentor, her teacher, her friend, Princess Celestia was none of those things. Reading the truth off of that page was a cold slap in the face, and now she was hunted, a quarry for those who were in the Lie.

The Lie ate at her now. It was her constant companion. The great Lie, a sinister current running under the land. She could hear it, whispering seductively in her ear. She could feel it, scratching at her fur, trying to burrow under her skin. A great spell woven by Celestia as Equestria came into being, a deception as old as time. She viewed Equestria with horror now, seeing not the beauty, none of the happiness, only the Lie. Looking back at the absurdity of it all, she began to giggle weakly. None of it mattered, did it? Rainbow, Pinkie, AJ, they were all in the Lie. They were all against her. She didn't need them. Soon, her giggling grew louder and higher, reaching a fever pitch reserved for those locked in their own nightmares. She didn't need friends. She didn't need a teacher. She didn't need hope.

All she needed was to escape the Lie.

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Underlying this world is a great magical spell called the Lie, created the same time as the world itself. It gives ponies, griffons, etc., a sort of fog, a mist in front of their eyes, ears, nose and mouth, that blinds them to what Equestria truly is. We are no more than the shadow of a cloud, a fleeting mist on a lake. We are not as perfect as the Princesses would have us believe.