Twilight was cold, and it had woken her up. Still half asleep, and not wanting to let go of her drowsiness, she reached over and pulled her blanket tighter around her, only to discover that there was no such blanket. She opened her eyes, sacrificing her sleep to satisfy her curiosity, and found herself in the main room of her library, in the dark, tied to a chair. Initial panic settling in, she struggled against her bonds and tried to remember what had happened before she had fallen asleep.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a charming voice from behind her caught her attention, saying, "Ah good, you're awake. I thought tonight was going to be boring."
She did not recognize the voice, and because her ropes were constricting her, she could not turn around and see who was talking. So instead, trying to sound intimidating, she said, "Who are you? Untie me right now!" and continued to vainly struggle against her bonds.
"Relax," the voice said calmly, as if he was just playing around, "I'm not going to hurt you!" Twilight suddenly felt her ropes being tightened from behind, and the voice continued, "But I'm not letting you go."
Twilight strained her neck to see who was behind her, but only managed to catch a glimpse of a black overcoat wearing stallion. However, the pony walked around to the front of her soon after, ignoring Twilight and instead going to the bookshelves on the far side of the room.
Now Twilight strained her eyes to see her captor, managing only to make out a pair of goggles on his face. The pony suddenly made an "Ooo," sound, and plucked a book from the shelf. Then he did something strange, he walked to Twilight's side, showed her the book, and asked her, "What do you think of this book?"
It was too dark to even make out the color of his fur, but Twilight could tell it was a light color, at least. His mane was long and covered most of the back of his head, almost like a mullet, except with low hanging bangs. The book she was being shown was a copy of Advanced Metaphysical Theory of Magic, by Starswirl the Bearded; a personal favorite of hers. "Why do you care?" Twilight asked. She could tell he was not a unicorn-though he might've had a pair of wings under that dark coat of his.
The pony took a step back and looked over the book thoughtfully, nodding slightly and then shrugging, "Yeah, I guess so," he responded, going back to the shelf and replacing the book.
Twilight, very confused at his uncharacteristically calm demeanor, as if he didn't have a care in the world, asked politely, "Why are you here? Why did you tie me up?" in an attempt to reason with her captor.
The pony turned around and faced her, leaning against the shelf, and Twilight thought she saw a smile on his face. Then the pony shrugged, "No reason," he said simply.
Twilight was taken aback, "What do you mean, 'No reason'?"
"I mean, 'No reason'," the pony repeated, pulling a thermos out of his coat, "I had nothing better to do, and you seemed tense." He took a sip from the thermos.
"Tense?" Twilight repeated incredulously.
The pony nodded, smacking his lips from his beverage, "You looked like you could use a break," he then held the thermos out towards Twilight, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to take it, "Milk?" he offered.
Twilight didn't know how to respond; why would somepony go through the trouble of kidnapping her, tying her up in her own home, and then say it was just for no reason? The thought suddenly struck her that she could use her magic to free herself, and she attempted to do so. Nothing happened, and at the same time Twilight noticed a strange metal cone on top of her horn, apparently some sort of magical inhibitor. She was completely powerless. "So you mean to tell me," she explained, "That you broke into my house in the middle of the night, kidnapped me, and tied me up, because you thought I needed a break?"
The pony nodded, taking another sip of his milk. After his drink, he asked calmly, "So, what's up?"
Twilight was silent, not able to grasp the craziness of the situation, "W-well, I-" she started, actually answering his question.
The pony began chuckling, which quickly rose to an all out laugh, "You're quite gullible, you know that? Of course I have a reason!"
Twilight was aggravated at her captor, but she was careful not to let it show, just in case he took advantage of his power over her, "So what do you want?" she asked.
The pony nodded to the shelf behind him, "I'm a biblioklept. I'm stealing your books."
"My books!" Twilight yelled in shock.
The pony nodded, putting his apparently empty thermos on a nearby shelf, then turned back to the shelf, scanning the spines of the books.
"Y-you can't steal my books!" Twilight protested vainly.
The pony didn't even bother to turn around and pointed out innocently, "You're not really in a position to bargain right now."
Twilight knew he was right, but she didn't have to admit it. She shrugged, "So what, I'm supposed to just watch you steal my books?"
The pony turned his head towards her and smiled, "You have to admit I could be doing worse things." she couldn't see under his goggles, but she was pretty sure he had just winked.
Twilight clenched her teeth, thoroughly miffed. She didn't let her anger show, though; he still had power over her, "Can I at least know my captor's name?"
The pony was silent for a moment, picking up a book and looking it over, "I won't tell you my real name," he said, "obviously. But, you can call me...Schadenfreude."
Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion, "What kind of name is that?"
Schadenfreude turned around, "Hey, I worked hard on that thief name!" He suddenly walked over, behind Twilight. Twilight started to try and turn around, but Schadenfreude flipped her chair around so she could see him deposit the book in a rather large sack. Twilight gasped at the sheer number of books in the sack; she could see empty places on the shelves on the far wall. Schadenfreude picked up the sack and turned towards Twilight, "It's an old dragon word, and it means, 'the feeling of pleasure at the misfortune of others.' Fitting, because seeing you mad at me for stealing your books is amusing," he said with a smile.
Twilight scrunched up her snout in anger, eliciting another charming smile from Schadenfreude, "You won't get away with this!" she said, wriggling in her bonds.
Schadenfreude let out a laugh, "I think I already have, Dear." He turned this way and that, doing one final sweep of the library, then said, "Well, I think I've gotten all the books I need," and he nodded towards Twilight and headed for the door.
Twilight wriggled furiously in her ropes, looking like a very angry caterpillar, saying, "I'll find you!"
Schadenfreude stopped in the doorway, gave her a salute, and left the building, letting the door swing shut behind him.
Twilight wriggled a few seconds longer, then gave up with a sigh, hanging her head. When Spike woke up and found her tied up, she would be freed, but that wouldn't be until dawn, and by that time, Schadenfreude would be long gone.
But she wouldn't give up that easily. If it had been anything else, some food, some bits, anything like that, she probably would have just shrugged and gotten over it, but Schadenfreude had stolen her books.
And now it was personal.
