A tingling sensation washed over Twilight’s horn, and she felt ice slide down her spine. But when she turned to look, nothing was there.
Unable to focus on reading, Twilight placed her bookmark and closed her book. She gingerly levitated it back to its shelf.
“Spike,” she called to her assistant.
Spike looked up from his comic book.
“I’ll be heading out for a bit. Make sure to look over the library while I’m gone,” Twilight said sternly.
As Twilight trotted down the crystal stairs and out the front door, she found that neither the calming blue crystals of her library nor the warm greens and light browns of the sunny outdoors made her feel any better. For some reason, despite the cheerful smiles and waves, she felt like she was trotting towards the maw of a creature that could swallow her whole. The feeling of ice cold magic still sliding down into her horn certainly didn’t help any.
She scanned the crowd, but nothing seemed out of place. Nopony was even casting any magic that could upset her horn save for a few levitation spells. No, the ponies in the crowd looked as normal and happy-go-lucky as they ever did. There were even a few ponies watching her, pointing at her, looking where she was looking, and trying to get her attention. The fact that they didn’t feel this disturbing chill was almost more disturbing than the feeling of the magic itself… Almost.
As she felt the cold magic constrict around her to a point where she was having a hard time breathing, she thought she saw something in the back of the crowd. From the corner of her vision, it looked like the pony turned its eyes, but not its head, and then its ears, but not its muzzle.
When she turned to look at it, there was nopony there. And now the chilling sensation was gone.
Twilight shook her head and walked back into her home. There, she and Spike would be safer together.
Once she opened the door, she welcomed the colder air and the clean smell that washed over her. She was glad to be back home, safe from whatever imagined fears she was having.
“Hello and welcome to—” Spike stopped when he saw his sister. “—back already?” he smiled bemusedly.
Twilight paused before smiling back. “I guess it was nothing.”
“You guess what was nothing?” Spike raised an eyebrow.
“Nothing.” Twilight smiled back, giggling.
“Soo...” Spike smiled cheekily. “Does this mean you’ll be taking care of the library now?”
Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Sure...”
Spike walked back to his comic book with a smile on his face.
She trotted forward to pick out the book she was just reading, but once she did, she saw Pinkie hiding behind it.
Twilight pursed her lips. “You can’t get me with the same trick twice, Pinkie.”
Pinkie didn’t respond.
“Pinkie?” Twilight repeated.
Pinkie still didn’t respond.
Twilight pulled out a few more books, fully uncovering her friend.
Pinkie took notice of the missing books and shook her head at Twilight. When Twilight took out more books, Pinkie scuttled back so she was hidden once again.
“Pinkie!” Twilight complained before grabbing her friend with her magic and pulling her out. But she wasn’t expecting her friend to struggle so hard. “Gah!”
Pinkie kicked the bookshelf and flung herself out of Twilight’s magic. Now she was in the middle of the room.
“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled. “What’s gotten into you!” She rubbed her horn. “That hurt!”
Pinkie stood up. She was shivering and her eyes were wide open, but she still smiled at her friend. “Sorry.” She grinned sheepishly. “I panicked.”
Twilight glared, still feeling the pain in her horn.
“Do you feel that?” Pinkie asked.
“Feel what?” Twilight responded.
“That terrible”—Pinkie leapt forward and grabbed Twilight’s face—“bone chilling, spine tingling”—she traced a hoof along Twilight spine—“suffocating feeling?” She backed off.
Twilight blinked. Something about that sounded familiar... But no, it was a bit much. Earlier today, the cold of the library had gotten to her, and she even told Spike that she would be out for a bit before she quickly found it was too hot outside. But that was nothing like what Pinkie described.
‘I wanted to show you.’ Twilight remembered a strange, almost sad voice, but she couldn’t match the voice to anypony she knew. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out where that memory came from.
She shook her head. “Nothing chilling or spine tingling here, just a regular old library.” Twilight paused and gazed at a bookshelf. “Well, there may be a few chilling stories in the horror section.”
When she looked back at Pinkie, she saw her friend staring at the bookshelf she was just looking at. But as her friend turned her head back, first, only her eyes moved. Then, Pinkie’s muzzle turned to face Twilight, followed by Pinkie’s neck, and her nose and ears were last.
Pinkie smiled. “Nah, I came here ‘cause I wanted to show you something, but now I can’t remember...” she trailed off.
Twilight paused to let Pinkie think. When her friend just stood there, gazing off into the distance, she spoke up. “Well, you’re welcome to stay over. I’d like to hear what it is if you remember it.”
Pinkie tackled Twilight in a strangely tight hug. “Aww.” she nuzzled her friend. “I’d always love to stay over.” She dropped Twilight. “We should read a book together!”
Twilight picked herself up and looked at the nearest bookshelf. She noticed several books lying on the floor. “Ugh!” She frowned. “I thought I told Spike to look after the library! Spike!” she called.
Pinkie looked in every direction, then zipped around the room, peeking under the books and beneath the stairs.
Twilight grunted in annoyance and trotted upstairs to Spike’s room. Once she got there, she threw open the door. “Spike!”
The dragon gave no response.
When she looked at him, sleeping in his little basket bed, she couldn’t help but calm down at the sight of his chest falling and falling as he breathed in, then kept his breath in, then breathed in...
Despite her frustration, Twilight couldn’t stay angry. That dragon needed his beauty sleep, and she wasn’t the kind of sister who would wake up her little brother in the middle of the night for some small chores.
She closed the door slowly, careful not to wake up the sleeping drake, and then trotted back downstairs.
When Twilight reached the entry room to her castle, she expected to see Pinkie for some reason, but there was a completely different pony there. He was staring at a bookshelf with a single book taken out and left on the floor.
“Don’t worry,” the messy gray unicorn with yellow eyes said, half of his face concealed as he stared at the bookshelf, and the other half concealed by his large blue hat, “I dealt with the others.” He turned, his blue cape following him, but his face was still concealed.
Twilight glanced around the room, but couldn’t find Pinkie. She felt fiery rage rise out from her chest. What did he mean by ‘dealt with the others’? Where was Pinkie!? Why was Spike still asleep? Why was she alone!?
When she tried to answer her own questions, she found that she really had no reason to be angry: Pinkie was probably back home serving the early-afternoon customers, Spike was sleeping because it was the middle of the night, and she was alone because she wanted to be alone. But how could it be the middle of the night right after early-afternoon? She must’ve been outside for longer than she thought.
“Okay,” Twilight said, confused. Though, she was more confused at her sudden anger than at this pony. “Well, what are you interested in?” She motioned to the bookshelves around her.
Twilight looked down to the book beneath her. It was the one she had been reading this morning, but never finished. She looked back up at the pony, slightly confused.
The pony tore his face from the bookshelf piece by piece. First, his eyes moved, then his ears followed, then his jaw, his nose, and the rest of his face followed. “I wanted to show you,” he said.
Twilight stepped forward, the corners of her vision fading as she looked at him. “Show me... What?”
“Don’t you recognize me?” he asked, righting his hat before he tipped it. The sound of jingling bells stopped resonating throughout the room.
Twilight blinked. She opened her mouth, about to say his name, but then she remembered she already said it.
The mouth smiled. “It seems you do recognize me.”
“But,” Twilight started, but rubbed her eyes. She hated it when she couldn’t see clearly after studying too long. “What did I want to know?”
“Time.”
Twilight opened her book and started reading. She was comfortable in the knowledge that she would have as much time as she needed in the morning, so she buried her muzzle in the book, and didn’t look up until she heard Spike come down to get his after lunch comic reading done right beside her.
For some reason, she felt like she would never run out of time again.
Author's Note
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Gn8jt55LQ
