Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia, trotted down the western Hall of Canterlot Castle, shaking like a leaf.
Until now, the little filly had thought she’d known fear. It was the creepy music during the monster movie. It was the long climb to the top of the roller coaster, the sleepless night before a big test. It was mild, but she could handle it...kind of, sort of.
Now, she realized just how horribly, horribly wrong she’d been. True fear was anything but mild. It was like wearing a heavy, wet blanket, near impossible to escape from. Her stomach felt weird and fluttery, like she’d just swallowed a flock of butterflies. Though the castle was always kept pleasantly warm, she shivered as if the weather team was practicing for the winter’s blizzard in the hall. Her legs wobbled like Grandma’s homemade gelatin- the red kind with the little cherries on top.
Twilight looked at the double doors at the end of the hall. She gulped. I think they built it this way on purpose.
As she walked to her fate, Twilight fished a crumpled sheet of parchment out of her mane. She held it in front of her face and read it for the fourth time that day.
Twilight Sparkle
Report to my study immediately!
-Princess Celestia.
Twilight reread the memo a few more times, as she did, its words got away by reading it. This was bad. Everypony knew that grownups only used your full name when you were in big trouble. Really big trouble. Spilling-your-carrot-soda-on-the-good-couch trouble.
For once in her life, she didn’t want to meet with the Princess.
“Achoo!”
Twilight sneezed, sending a mist of fine gray powder out her nostrils. A chunk of the Royal Archives that had been turned to powder by her curiosity.
“You really messed up this time, Twilight.”
Twilight frowned. There it was: the voice. Always popping up at the worst possible times. Always grinding away at her. Why did it always pop up at times like this?
“I just looked at a book!” Twilight whispered. That’s all she did- she found a misfiled book and looked at it.
“Yep, you looked at a book, alright. What was it called again? Oh yes, ‘Advanced Spells: A Primer.’ A book meant for advanced students only.”
“It wasn’t much! It was just a little peek!”
“A little peek lasted almost half an hour. Now you practically know the book by heart.”
The voice continued. “And then, of course, you just had to try out one of those spells. Now there’s a hole the size of a minotaur in the Archive’s wall. Has that helped your curiosity?”
“It was an accident!” It was just an advanced transmutation spell- not all that different from the one she already knew. She didn’t know it could misfire so easily.
“Doesn’t matter now. You broke one of the biggest rules of magic. The Princess is going to be really, really mad at you.”
With that, the voice ducked back into Twilight’s subconscious like a psychic gopher. Twilight was alone again.
Desperate for a distraction, Twilight looked around the hall trying to find something to calm her nerves. Of course, her imagination wouldn’t let her. The normally welcoming hall had become a walk through Tartarus: priceless paintings and busts became judges, glaring at her with sightless eyes. The yellow-gold sunlight streaming in through the large, airy windows felt harsh, as if the sun itself was glaring at her. Even the floor, made from the finest granite in all of Equestria, turned the “click-click-click-click” of her hooves into “you’re-in-troub-le, you’re-in-troub-le”
It was times like this that an imagination became a huge liability.
Something hard and unyielding bumped into Twilight’s tiny muzzle, completely derailing her train of thought. Ow! Twilight rubbed her muzzle. “what was...?” Twilight stopped. Her legs nearly gave out below her.
“Twilight Sparkle?” Said the Royal Guardspony she’d bumped into.
The frightened filly nodded, her legs wobbling like rubber stilts.
“Wait one second.”
The guard nodded to his partner. Together, they pushed back the massive doors to the study. The massive slabs of mahogany creaked on their hinges.
“Please enter. Her highness will be with you shortly.”
Twilight just stood at the threshold, trying to work up the courage to move. There were a thousand different places she’d rather go: the Everfree Forest, the Badlands. By Equestria, she would have preferred a trip through Tartarus to this.
Slowly, Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat, gathered what was left of her courage and trotted past the threshold. “Poor kid”. She heard one of the guards whisper
As she slowly entered the study, Twilight remembered a line from an old book she’d once read.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
It seemed fitting.
Ever since she became the Princess’ student some two years ago, Celestia’s study had been a mystery to Twilight. Along with the dungeons and the armory, it was one of the places where little fillies were not supposed to go. It was where the Princess went when she had to do the mysterious paper-shuffling and quill-scribbling ritual that grown-ups called “work”. To interrupt that ritual would be like defiling a shrine.
Now she was in it, the holy of holies. And it really wasn’t what she’d expected.
Where’d she expected expensive marble and wood paneling, the study walls were simple, dark wood, decorated with raised squares, as if the wall was paneled with chocolate bars. Instead of satin couches and chairs, the only furniture was a cherry wood writing desk, a high back chair with a simple stool in front of it.
The bookshelves, on the other hoof…
Twilight’s eyes turned to dinner plates. Her jaw went slack. Books were to her what gems were to a dragon, and the bookshelves lining the Princess’ study were a veritable horde of them. Some were thick, dusty tomes that wore their age like a pony might wear a sweater. Others were slimmer, more modern volumes, with beautiful marbleized paper covers. She could see all sorts of titles: The Oats of Wrath, East of Dream Valley, The Old Mare and the Sea.
“Better get a good look while you can.” Said the voice. “Once the Princess is done with you, you’ll never set hoof in the castle again, you bad little filly.”
Twilight frowned. “I’m not a bad filly.” She retorted. “I’m a good filly!” She always turned in her assignments on time, always ate whatever was on her plate...
“‘Oh, I’m a good filly, I’m a good filly.’ I always go to bed on time and wash behind my ears and blah blah blah blah blah.” The voice taunted, its words dripping acid. “If that’s the case, why are you in the Princess’ study hmmm? Why are you in trouble for breaking a huge rule? Explain that Ms. Goody-goody four shoes?”
Twilight’s opened her mouth, then stopped.
“That’s what I thought.” The voice turned sadistic.
“Speaking of bad fillies, I wonder You know, the Princess doesn’t like bad little fillies breaking the rules. I wonder what kind of punishment she’s cooked up for you.”
At the voice’s prompt, Twilight’s imagination turned traitor for the second time that afternoon. Scenarios of all sorts flashed through her head, like a hundred different movies playing at once. In one, she was sent back to magical kindergarten, forced to relearn her ABC’s with the rest of the foals. In another, she was forced to stand in front of a massive chalkboard and write “I will not break the rules” a hundred thousand times using only her mouth.
“But then again, that’s only for the somewhat bad fillies. No, you’re much more than that. You’re the bad filly. The one who tried a spell way beyond her skill level. Oh, the Princess is going to have something special planned for you.”
That was all Twilight’s imagination needed. With one stroke, it seized the unicorns’ common sense and logic and locked them in a cage. Unfettered, it churned out increasingly bizarre and fanciful scenarios. In one scenario, she was paraded through Canterlot in chains, with a sign was hung around her neck saying “I’m a bad filly”. In another, the Princess cut off her horn right in front of her disappointed family, then threw her into the deepest, darkest dungeon in Equestria.
“No, the Princess isn’t like that!”. The remnants of Twilight’s rational mind strained against their bars. They tried to remind the unicorn that the Princess had personally outlawed cruel and usual punishments centuries before Twilight was born. With the last of their strength, they stressed that there was no way Celestia would humiliate somepony like that. Whatever Twilight’s punishment was, it would be harsh, but fair.
They failed.
Something caught Twilight’s ear. What was that? Her ears swiveled. Hoofsteps, coming up the hall. Somewhat heavier than the average pony’s, but with an effortless grace that defied explanation.
There was only one pony with such a distinctive hoofstep.
Twilight’s heart thumped like a rabid manticore in a cage. Her teeth chattered so hard, they threatened to crack. Normally, she’d be excited to hear those footsteps coming towards her. Now, she wished she was on the opposite side of the world from them.
The hoofsteps grew louder. Twilight looked out the study’s crystal-clear picture window. Warm sunlight streamed in through the windows, revealing tiny dust particles dancing in the air. Right now, she wished she could join those dust specks. She’d be a teeny tiny pony, floating through the air without a care in the world, unnoticed by everypony.
The hoofsteps stopped, and the doors slowly creaked open.
Twilight swallowed her gorge as something squeezed at her innards, and made sweat pour down her brow.
Just before the doors fully opened, the voice popped back up for one last remark.
“Been nice knowing you!”
Author's Note
What will happen to young Twilight? Will her worst fears come true? Will Celestia show mercy?
...what am I asking you for?
