The Price of a Smile

Chapters

Prologue
The Society
Luna's Game
Table for One
Records of Nothing
A Nightmare
Farewell
The Price

Prologue

Twilight Sparkle screamed herself awake.

It always took a moment to regain her senses, which was unfortunate for her post-nightmare routine.

Twilight intuitively knew her nightmares were important, yet she could never remember them. It was a terrible feeling, that dire need to recall some essential fact just as it gets washed away by a tsunami of unstoppable forgetfulness. Dreams can be hard to remember in general, but Twilight's dream memories would fade with unnatural haste. Quickly, she grabbed the pen and paper she kept on her end table, and struggled to write just a couple of words down before—

"Twilight, are you okay?" called a distracting, familiar voice.

Oh no, she thought. No, no, no! But the memory had vanished.

Twilight sighed. "I'm fine, Spike. Just a bad dream," she said. "Wait, were you sleeping in my room again?"

Spike shook his head. "No, I was in my room. That scream was so loud you probably woke half of Ponyville," he said, walking up to the side of her bed. "I thought you got rid of your night terrors months ago?"

"I did. Don't worry, Spike. This one was just a common nightmare," she lied. "But don't tell anypony, okay? I don't want them to worry about me for no good reason. I'll see Zecora if it happens again, I promise."

"Well, okay," said Spike. "But if this keeps happening, you need to talk to your friends about it. Being a princess doesn't mean you can do everything by yourself." He frowned and walked out of her bedroom.

That cinches it, thought Twilight. Even though Spike sleeps in his own room now, I still need to cast the silencing spell when I go to sleep.

Twilight wondered if maybe she should tell her friends, but how could she break it to them? How do you tell somepony you love that you're slowly losing your mind? The nightmares were moderately concerning, but the hallucinations...

Twilight Sparkle looked down at the notepad in front of her. She had only managed to write:

Dea

"Dear Princess Celestia, in all likelihood," Twilight said. "Great, another bust."

She ripped off the page and stuffed it into her end table drawer, where lay dozens of similar papers with tiny nonsense words and phrases written on them, like "not gen", "buffa", or "fake me".

Twilight pondered the invitation Applejack had hoofed her yesterday. Maybe it was time to tell somepony besides Zecora.

"It's not like I have much left to lose at this point," she mused aloud, and then began the arduous task of preparing her mind for another day of strangeness.

The Society

A cloaked figure crept onto the schoolhouse grounds. Nopony else was around this late at night. The windows of the building were shuttered, and no light filtered through. A hoof emerged from the cloak and rapped against the door three times. There was no response.

She pressed her muzzle against the doorframe. "It's Twilight. Mac invited me," she whispered into the crack.

Twilight Sparkle stood on the schoolhouse doorstep, anxiously waiting. She started to wonder if she'd arrived on the correct night. But then somepony flipped a latch, and the door finally creaked open. A familiar face quickly ushered her inside. Cheerilee looked carefully this way and that before shutting and locking the door behind them.

The interior of the main schoolroom was dimly lit by a few candles. Chairs had been arranged in a circle. Fewer than a dozen ponies were seated, and Big Macintosh was the only pony Twilight recognized. One of the others was just a filly, and the ponies adjacent to her didn't look like her parents. Another pony wore a strange hat. Nothing else was remarkable about any of them, unless you counted a wandering eye. Cheerilee walked over and sat with the group as Twilight hung her cloak.

Then Cheerilee smiled and patted the empty chair beside her, and Twilight walked over and took her seat. The ponies here seemed worried. Judging by the looks she was getting, they weren't expecting a princess to join them this evening.

"I'd like us all to welcome Princess Twilight Sparkle to our group," said Cheerilee. "Why don't we—"

"It's Twilight. Just, Twilight. Please," said Twilight. She shifted her haunches uncomfortably against the base of the foal-sized chair.

"Of course, Twilight. Now, some introductions." At Cheerilee's direction, each of the other ponies in the circle briefly introduced themselves. They gave names and occupations, but none said anything about why they were here.

"Now that we know each other's names, why don't we start by letting Twilight share some of her experiences?" said Cheerilee.

Twilight looked at the expectant faces surrounding her. "Um... If it's okay, I think I would feel more comfortable listening to other ponies speak first," she said.

Cheerilee pursed her lips for a moment. "I'm afraid that's not how it works. I can assure you, Twilight, everypony here is as nervous as you are. You're a good friend, and I trust you, but most of these ponies haven't interacted with you in an informal setting. Before the group can open up to you, we need to hear your admission. It will help show us that you belong here."

"We're on your side," said a homely-looking earth pony wearing a hat made from crumpled tinfoil. An actual, homemade tinfoil hat: the ultimate cliche in lunatic fashion. Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes, then shut them tightly and lowered her head. This was ridiculous.

One of the other ponies scowled at him. "I told you to leave that stupid thing at home," she said.

"Look, I... I really shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry for wasting your time," said Twilight, carefully avoiding eye contact with everypony. She stood up to leave.

"Twilight, please," begged Big Macintosh, rising to his hooves. After a moment of awkward silence, he sat back down and stared at the floor.

It took Twilight a while to react. Despite his massive stature, Big Macintosh looked vulnerable, even desperate. Tartarus, they all looked pathetic, even Cheerilee, and she was one of the brightest ponies Twilight had ever known. Big Mac kept his gaze hoofward, but many other sad, hopeful eyes looked up to her. Her heart ached for them. Even if she didn't belong here, she felt an obligation to help.

Deep down, Twilight knew it was just an excuse. At least it was a good one.

She sat back down. "Okay. Okay."

"Twilight," said Cheerilee, "I know this is hard. A pony's first night is never easy. But nopony is here to judge you."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm just as concerned about me unfairly judging all of you," said Twilight.

"As long as you treat us with respect, you'll be fine," said Cheerilee. "Being in the Paranormal Society doesn't mean you have to endorse, or even believe, what any other pony here says. Okay?"

"Fine. Look, everypony. I'm a scientist, above all else," said Twilight. "Even when I study magic, I break it down as much as I can. I don't believe in supernatural voodoo, or superstitions, or astrology, or any nonsense like that. I mean, I can barely accept Pinkie Pie's extrasensory abilities, and even then only because they can be reliably replicated. I believe there is a logical explanation for everything in this world, even the things I'm here to talk about. I just don't know what it is yet. Big Mac asked me to come here, so—"

"Do your friends think you're crazy?" interrupted a walleyed pegasus mare. She spoke very softly, but with sharp intensity.

Twilight shook her head. "Not exactly, no. My friends just think I'm under a lot of stress, and that maybe I'm imagining things because of it. I am under a lot of stress, of course. It comes with the job title." She paused for a moment and stared at the floor in the center of the circle, then took a breath deep enough to dive for pearls.

"It all started with the dreams," she began, and all eyes were fixed upon her.

"A little less than a year ago, around the time we defeated King Sombra—this was in the Crystal Empire, but I'm sure everypony here heard the news—I began having these bizarre nightmares," said Twilight. She shut her eyes tightly, and continued speaking. "I guess I can't exactly call them nightmares, because I never remember any details, but I wake up in a cold sweat so what else would you call them? I was troubled by them, and I went to Zecora for a remedy. It didn't work."

Twilight opened her eyes and bit nervously at her lip. "Anyway, at the time I was embarrassed to be dealing with something as juvenile as 'bad dreams'. Back then I was spending most of my time trying to prove how 'mature' I was to Princess Celestia," she said. "I mean, I'm not a little foal anymore. Er, no offense," she added, directed at the filly.

"It's okay," whispered the little filly. Cheerilee cracked a brief smile.

"Thanks. So then, um, I didn't want to admit I had a problem. It really wasn't all that bad, anyway," said Twilight. "Whatever the dreams are about, when I have one, the memories slip away within seconds of waking up. I have to change my bedsheets more frequently—just from the sweat, I mean, I wasn't, like—you know. I guess I got used to the new routine, and just forgot about it. But now that I'm starting to notice all these other details, I think the dreams were some kind of early warning sign."

Twilight looked around the circle to gauge the audience. She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and took a deep, empty swallow.

Cheerilee placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "The dreams you're describing are very common among our members. We're not certain what they are, either," she said, very gently, as though Twilight Sparkle were one of her students. "You're among friends here, Twilight. Do you want to tell us something about these 'other details'?"

Twilight nodded. "Right. Okay, the details. Well, this is where it starts to sound crazy, I'm just warning you all. Eventually I started noticing these, I guess I'd call them, inconsistencies in things? It's hard to put a word on it," she said. "The phenomenon manifests in a wide variety of ways. I can't really say when I started seeing them everywhere, but they started really bugging me right around the time I became a princess." She stared off into space for a moment, composing her thoughts.

Twilight realized she was putting her experiences into words for the first time, and it was difficult. "The first oddities I noticed were visual," she continued. "Like, I'd see somepony's flank—an adult pony, I mean—and their cutie mark would be missing entirely! But the catch is, it would only happen if I was looking at it out of the corner of my eye. Once I turned to look at it directly, the mark would appear. Now, at first I just figured it was my blind spot, which is a common optical illusion caused by the location of the optic nerve. The way it works is, some of what you see in your peripheral vision is missing, so your brain fills in the details with a kind of emptiness. It's actually kind of fascinating. I can illustrate if you have pen and paper—"

"That's okay, Twilight," said Cheerilee, in a soothing voice. "I know the effect you're referring to, and the rest of us will take your word for it."

"Oh. Sorry, I can get a little carried away. But that's what I thought it was. Mystery solved, right? But, not quite. I noticed it happening in areas of my vision that shouldn't be affected by the optic nerve, and I did some experiments to confirm my suspicion. And then I started seeing other things that couldn't possibly be caused by a blind spot, because it wasn't missing details, it was weird details. Like, I'd see somepony's legs overlapping in an impossible way, or a flank with two different cutie marks. I even started seeing exact duplicates of the same pony in a crowd of faces! That one, um, it happened again, just yesterday."

Twilight bit at her lower lip, and looked around at the other ponies. Every face was rapt with wonder. Cheerilee's eyes were smiling, but they shimmered with a different emotion.

She knows, thought Twilight. What I'm saying makes sense to her. It makes sense to all of them! Holy Celestia. I might actually be sane...

"Then it started happening with my semantic memory," said Twilight, her speech flowing more energetically. "For example, a book title would change, and I'd know it, because it would be some book I've read many times, or one I looked at daily in the library, back when the Golden Oak Library was still alive, I mean. All of this was driving me crazy, so I started experimenting more. I practiced looking at things in my peripheral vision until I could analyze the details, and then I began to notice even more inconsistencies. I've been documenting this privately for a few months now—I can bring my logbooks next time if anypony is interested. One time I wrote down the title of every book in the library, and then reviewed the list a day later. Nopony had checked out or returned any books, but one of the book titles had changed, two were missing, and a new book had appeared—one I'd never even seen before!" she exclaimed.

"Sshhh," whispered foil-hat. Twilight realized her voice had risen rather dramatically.

"Sorry," she said, lowering her volume by a few notches. "Anyway, it started affecting my episodic memory, too. My day-to-day memories don't always mesh up properly anymore. Sometimes dates are completely wrong. Sometimes it seems like somepony had to have been in two places at the same time for a sequence of events to make any sense. And the worst one is, sometimes things just feel wrong, which is awful because it's hard to objectively measure that sort of thing. Like, my friends and I might solve somepony's friendship problem, but when I stop to think about what we actually did, it wouldn't make any logical sense. Why did we do what we did? How did it work? That sort of thing. To be safe, I've had several batteries of cognitive testing performed by experts, and also by Spike. So I know I'm not suffering from dementia. The only two possibilities are that I have some rare kind of delusional insanity, or something very strange is happening."

Twilight paused for a moment to regain her breath. "Do, um. Do any of you understand what I'm saying...?" she asked.

"Show of hooves?" said Cheerilee, with a smirk. Everypony raised a hoof.

"It matches up with my experiences almost exactly, Prin—I mean, Twilight," said a dark-pelted pegasus stallion.

"Eeyup," said Big Macintosh.

"Oh yes indeed," said a unicorn mare dressed in a casual sweater. "Especially seeing strange things out of the corner of your eye, and that nagging feeling that nothing makes sense anymore. That happens to me at least once per week!"

"How often does it happen to you?" another mare asked Twilight.

"Now? Several times per day, with rare exception," said Twilight. "A day free of disturbances only happens when I spend most of the day in the castle. To be honest, I can't even recall the last time I had a normal day."

"D'you know how come the weird stuff happens?" squeaked the little unicorn filly, her eyes bright and wide. "'Cause we don't."

Twilight shook her head. "Not yet. But recently, I remembered the dreams that seemed to start the whole thing, so I've been keeping a dream log by my bedside. I can only write a few words on paper before everything goes blank, but my current theory is that the nightmares are actually old memories, like the time Spike ran away from home, or the time we negotiated a treaty with one of the buffalo tribes. I've tried using magic to open up my dreams, to no success. Zecora's potions haven't worked either. Up until today, Zecora was the only pony I'd confided in with all the details. She hasn't noticed anything herself, but it might be because she doesn't spend much time in town and lives in simple surroundings. Even so, she believes my experiences are real."

"Twilight, do you think the hidden dreams might hold any recent memories? Or do they only include memories that predate your paranormal experiences?" asked Cheerilee. "Nopony here has been able to recall anything from the nightmares, but most of us have them. Personally, I have those awful dreams every single night. It feels like they're usually about teaching, which I suppose stands to reason, but that's all I know."

"I'm fairly certain none of the words I've written upon waking refer to recent events," said Twilight. "The conjecture that my dreams are confined to old memories remains a valid hypothesis."

"Very interesting," said Cheerilee. "Well group, I think it's time for Twilight to hear from some of us."

The rest of the group began to describe their experiences in brief. Big Macintosh felt fatigued all the time, yet had no difficulty completing his chores, which he was certain should be impossible; doctors said he was perfectly fine. Several ponies saw impossible things similar to what Twilight described, usually in their peripheral vision. Tinfoil-hat pony heard voices and believed he was being abducted by strange, two-legged beings on a monthly basis. A mare had been trying to conceive for several months with no success, despite the doctors declaring her and her husband fertile and healthy. One of the mares said she could talk to ghosts and believed she was the reincarnation of Star Swirl the Bearded. More than half of the group had unsettling dreams they couldn't remember. The little filly's story was the most heartbreaking of all: she swore she'd had an older brother just a year ago, but her parents didn't remember him. All of his things disappeared right when he did, leaving an empty room in their house that wasn't even being used as storage. Other than the ghost-seeing pony, nopony remembered anything unusual happening to them until about a year ago.

"This is insane! Do any of you have theories about what might be happening?" Twilight asked the group.

"ALIE—" began the hat pony, but somepony next to him shoved a hoof in his mouth.

"Not any theories that make much sense, but I think I speak for the group when I say we're hoping you might be able to come up with something," said Cheerilee. She bit at her lower lip for a moment. "Also, there's something very important nopony has mentioned yet. You need to be warned about the Visitors."

"Visitors?" asked Twilight.

"They're aliens!" whispered the pony in the tinfoil hat, more quickly than a hoof could silence him.

"Nnope," said Big Macintosh.

"Well, to be fair, alien beings from another dimension is as good a theory as any we've got. We really don't know who or what they are," said Cheerilee. "Twilight, I'm curious: how do you think we found out about you?"

"Huh? Well, I must have said something about how I'm still having the nightmares to Applejack, so she told Big Macintosh..."

"Nnope," repeated Big Macintosh.

"Wait. What do you mean? Applejack gave me the letter from Big Mac, asking me to show up tonight," said Twilight.

"Applejack doesn't know what this group is. She thinks it's an invitation-only support group for shyness," said Cheerilee.

Twilight paused for a moment, muzzle scrunched up in thought. "We should tell her. Even as crazy as my story sounds, Applejack will believe me if I tell her the whole truth."

And I can always trust her in return, thought Twilight. Where would I be without a friend as reliable as Applejack?

"I agree we should spread the word eventually, but currently our protocol is to keep silent unless we take a vote to include an outsider," said Cheerilee. "Until now, we didn't have the word of a princess on our side, but we still need to be careful."

"Agreed," said Twilight. "Er, but wait a moment. How did you know I was seeing things? Just by watching me? I thought I was hiding it well."

"You do hide it well, Twilight," said Cheerilee. "I'm afraid I have more unsettling news for you. We knew you were one of us because you're being watched by the Visitors. Nearly all of us are, although a couple of our members seem to have escaped their attention."

"It's because of the hat," said the pony beneath it. Big Macintosh scowled at him.

"Watched?" said Twilight.

"Yes. I've seen ponies spying on you on three separate occasions, over the past two weeks alone," said Cheerilee. "I'm certain they're Visitors."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "What? You've got to be kidding," she said. "I mean, let's be rational about this, I'm a princess, so of course ponies are going to watch—"

"Ponies are going to watch, yes," Cheerilee said, her voice suddenly curt. "But they're not going to follow you around town without ever approaching you. They're not going to carefully keep tabs on everything you say and do in public, for hours at a time, and sometimes take notes. Especially when, as far as we can determine, they aren't even citizens of Ponyville in the first place."

"But, who are these 'Visitors'? What do they look like?" asked Twilight. "The Canterlot Royal Guard needs to be notified of this immediately. Outsiders watching our every move? This sounds like the beginnings of a full-scale invasion!"

"I was going to reach out to you for help even before I knew you were having the same experiences as the rest of us," said Cheerilee. "I started observing your daily routine, because I couldn't think of the best way to approach you with something this, well, 'crazy'. That's when I noticed the Visitors were already keeping tabs on you. They only follow ponies who have experienced the inconsistencies you mentioned, or at least had the dreams."

"They can take the form of any kind of pony," said the walleyed mare. "Usually they just hide in crowds."

"Horsefeathers. It's changelings," said Twilight. "That settles it. I have to notify Princess Celestia and Princess Luna immediately."

"Excellent, that's exactly what we were hoping for," said Cheerilee. "However, just so you know, we're not entirely certain the Visitors are changelings."

If Cheerilee were any other pony, Twilight would have assumed she simply meant hers wasn't an expert opinion. "What makes you say that?" asked Twilight.

"I read up on changelings after the attack on Canterlot, naturally. I also spoke with several Canterlot residents about what they saw during the battle. We've seen the Visitors change shape when they don't think they're being observed, and there is no light, sound, or magical signature. It's a near-instantaneous change. I know what you're thinking, it sounds impossible. A few of us have even spotted them fixing some of the visual disturbances. They only need to be within a couple dozen hooves of something to alter it. They appear to be concentrating, but again, there's no magical trace."

"My Stars," said Twilight, holding a hoof to her temple. "To leave no magical signature, they would need to tap into an overwhelming amount of power. Illusion magic could do it, I suppose, but it would have to cover the whole city! No, that has to be it. Illusion magic is at play here at a very large scale, it's the only way. How many of them are there?"

"They're all over Ponyville. Definitely more than ten, and probably more than twenty. Twilight, one of the foals I teach is a Visitor—I'm one hundred percent certain," said Cheerilee. "It doesn't do a very good impression of a foal, and my students just think he's shy and weird. But they're very good at impersonating adult ponies. At any rate, given the powers they seem to have, there are more than enough of them here to monitor and control day-to-day life for most of our residents. They're essentially everywhere in the city during the daytime. We never see them after sunset."

Twilight slumped over in her chair, stunned. As the wheels in her head turned, her eyes scanned empty space in front of her rapidly, as though she were reading the pages of an invisible book. "It's almost certainly an invasion. They're probably in Ponyville to keep watch on me and my friends, but I'll bet they're all over Canterlot as well. Privately speaking, my friends and I are a pretty powerful defense force, so the Visitors would definitely want to neutralize us early on," said Twilight. "Wait a moment. Has anypony ever tried talking to them? I mean, there's still a small chance they aren't bad ponies, isn't there?"

Everypony looked very uncomfortable. After several empty seconds, Big Macintosh broke the silence with a single, soft word:

"Once."

Cheerilee nodded. She closed her eyes, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Many of us have tried to talk to them. Sometimes they would seem angry, but usually they just looked surprised. They would always disappear, or run away," she said. "But there was one member of our group, in particular, who wouldn't give up on it. He tried to approach them on numerous occasions, and would confront them as publicly as possible, creating a scene every time."

"Oh no," said Twilight. "What happened?"

It looked like Cheerilee was holding back tears. "He was a pegasus pony, an adult stallion. That's all we know anymore, and then only because one of us wrote it down. We can't remember his cutie mark, or anything about what he looked like. For Celestia's sake, Twilight, we can't even remember his name! He's gone, just like that," she said, tapping her hooftips together. "Completely, totally, gone. It's like he was purged from reality itself. Of course, we hope it's an isolated incident, but I'm sure you already see the implications."

"There could be countless others. I mean, we would have no way of knowing," said Twilight. "If they can alter ponies' memories... Dear Celestia. I always assumed that memory magic like this might exist. If it does, it's probably forbidden, for obvious reasons."

"Please pretend you can't see them, Miss Princess Twilight," urged the filly. "I want you to find my brother and not dis-ta-peer like him."

"Being careful is good advice, but I don't think you need to worry about the Visitors as long as you don't confront them in the open. Just be aware when they might be watching you. As far as we know, they can only take equine shapes," said Cheerilee. "But now you know something about what we're up against. Twilight, whoever these ponies might be, this thing isn't just in our heads. Ponyville, and quite possibly all of Equestria, may be in grave danger."

Twilight's face grew pale, but she stood up from her chair straight and tall. "This is too difficult to put in a letter, so I'll leave for Canterlot tomorrow morning," she said. "Based on what you've told me, it's probably best I not inform my friends about this yet. I'll start with Princess Luna as my first contact. I have questions to ask about my dreams, so she's the natural choice."

"Thank you so much, Twilight," said one of the ponies, and everypony else quickly echoed the sentiment.

"Please be cautious, even with Luna," said Cheerilee. "We haven’t yet observed any of the Visitors impersonating specific ponies the way changelings can, but it’s a possibility we should be prepared for."

"Of course. I'll watch my flank," said Twilight.

"Alright, it's getting very late, everypony," said Cheerilee. "We'll each leave the schoolhouse in five-minute intervals, as usual. Twilight can leave first, because she probably needs to prepare for her ride to Canterlot."

After Twilight put her cloak back on, each of the ponies at the meeting came up and hugged her or shook her hoof to wish her good luck on her journey. Because of all the contact, she wasn't certain which one of them had placed the note in her cloak. She found it after she'd returned to the castle.

The note read: "Stop by the Office of Equestrian Records."

Luna's Game

Twilight Sparkle arrived in Canterlot on Tuesday, the day after the meeting.

No, thought Twilight, that wasn't right at all. The meeting was yesterday, which was a Saturday evening, and she left on Sunday. But the calendar at the train station said Tuesday...

It was happening again.

Twilight shook off the uneasiness within her as she headed toward the castle.

"I'm here for a visit to the Office of Equestrian Records," Twilight said to the royal guards at the castle's main entrance.

"Yes, Princess," said one of the guards. "However, Princess Luna is prepared to receive you in her chambers."

"Oh! Well, I guess I'll stop by there first," said Twilight, faking a smile. As she made her way down the vaulted castle corridors, she wondered how Luna might have known she was coming. She hadn't sent any message in advance of her visit. Everything reeked of deception.

After a few minutes, Twilight Sparkle stood in front of the doors to Luna's chambers. No guards were posted, which seemed odd. Luna was normally asleep this time of day.

It's almost certainly a trap, Twilight realized. Still, she was fairly certain she could hold her own against any pony in Equestria, even Princess Luna. She decided to play it dumb. Is that the same thing as playing it cool, she wondered? She'd have to ask Rainbow Dash later. Twilight was comforted to know that her 'cool' friend would always be on her side, even when she acted like a dork.

At the first knock, both doors swung open, aglow with Luna's hue of magic. "Come in," her voice called. Twilight entered the room, and the doors shut behind her. Princess Luna lay on the floor near an empty fireplace. The curtains were dark, keeping the room dim. Luna was unadorned by clothing or armor, and sat beside a plate of cookies, a notebook, and a chess set already prepped for a game.

"I've been waiting for you, Princess Twilight Sparkle," said Luna. "Come, please. Sit."

Twilight walked forward and sat down, frowning. "Look, before we say anything, I need to ask you something," she began, but Luna put a hoof to her lips, then motioned to the notebook. On the notebook, something was written, but it wasn't legible. Twilight stared at it for a few seconds before realizing the letters had simply been modified by a diagonal reflection. It was the kind of cipher even a small foal could read. More importantly, it was easy to read and write without error.

Only one sentence was written there. "Write like this," it said. Luna hoofed Twilight the pencil.

It could still be a trap, she thought.

"Do you remember when you returned to Equestria, how your mane glistened like the stars in the night sky?" wrote Twilight, and passed the pencil to Luna.

"On the contrary. Without my magical mantle, my mane was short and rather plain. Cornflower blue, to be specific. Satisfied?" Luna skillfully wrote her words upside down, facing her guest. Once finished, she returned the pencil.

"Thank goodness, it's really you. But how did you know I was coming?" wrote Twilight.

"I have been watching your actions recently. Others may be watching you, as well, which I suspect you know. It is unlikely they can see us here, but why take needless risks with privacy?" wrote Luna.

Luna spoke out loud. "Have some cookies, Princess, and please, make the first move," she said, pointing to the chessboard.

"Thank you," said Twilight. She silently grated at the formal title, but decided against saying anything. Luna was a formal sort of pony, even in private. Twilight moved her queen's pawn forward two, then wrote, "Please, tell me what you know."

"I presume you have troubled dreams, or perhaps have noticed unusual things in your daily affairs?" wrote Luna.

"A huge understatement," wrote Twilight. "I'm hallucinating, mysterious ponies are watching me, and many things I experience make no logical sense."

"I see. I am surprised you did not come here sooner," wrote Luna.

"I should have come sooner."

"It was fortunate for you that you waited."

"Why?"

"I believe the expression goes thus: Ignorance is bliss."

"It most certainly is not," wrote Twilight. "Knowledge is always worth the cost of growing up, however painful it may be." She looked at the chess board again, and spoke aloud. "Oh. You moved your knight out after cracking? That's the King's Indian Defense. It's a hypermodern opening."

"Yes," said Luna. "I have been reading up on chess. Much has changed over the past thousand years, as the masters have learned to, how do you say it, 'up their games', I believe? I am still trying to catch up with the times."

"Well, if you're even a regional master you'll probably beat me," said Twilight. "I'm a rusty Class A at best, maybe an 1850." Then she continued writing, "Tell me what is going on. Some of my friends are scared. At least two ponies have gone missing."

"I am sorry to hear that," wrote Luna, "but friends can be comforted, and perhaps missing ponies don't wish to be found."

"What?" Twilight blurted out, then covered her mouth with a hoof.

Luna continued writing. "Read my words closely. You have a perfect life, Princess. You have friends who love you. You go on grand adventures, and you make ponies' lives better. You want for nothing, and are greatly blessed."

Twilight made her move, then took the pencil back. "Yes, I am," she wrote. "I know I'm very fortunate. I love my friends, and I'm grateful for my opportunities, Princess. Are you trying to tell me I'm placing my life in jeopardy by seeking answers?"

"I am informing you of an unfortunate situation. You may be forced to choose between that which you value most, and the answers you seek," wrote Luna. She then took Twilight's pawn with her knight. "Check," she announced.

"Ugh," said Twilight, seeing the quagmire she'd entered, though she wasn't certain where she'd first gone wrong. She moved her king, conceding a second pawn in the process. "You're going to win now, I'm certain. I should forfeit," she said aloud.

"How interesting. I never took Princess Twilight Sparkle for a quitter," quipped Luna, stone-faced.

Twilight's fur bristled. "Fine, then. It's on. Make your move," she said, then took the pencil back. "I don't understand how merely knowing something can ruin my life," she wrote.

Luna took one of Twilight's rooks. "Check," she said, then retrieved the pencil. "The meta-information is equally dire, so I cannot answer that question without revealing the very knowledge which imperils you. I can only hope you will trust my words and heed them. But please, try to focus on the game for a moment," she wrote.

An angry, frustrated look crossed Twilight's muzzle. She stopped writing questions and studied the board. With each move, Luna gobbled another of her pawns. Maybe if I'm extremely lucky, I can pull out a stalemate, thought Twilight. I'll wait for Luna to make a small mistake, box my own king in, and "win" by scoring a draw. She knew a pyrrhic victory against her superior would still taste sweet, but Princess Luna wasn't into making mistakes. Luna captured yet another pawn, and Twilight moved her king out of check for the third time.

"You're good," said Twilight, with an air of resignation.

"Thank you," said Luna.

Luna ceased her tempo by moving a knight forward to support her white-square bishop. It seemed like a solid and conservative move, but Twilight noticed something very unusual. Most of the remaining pieces on both sides were focused on a single, critical spot, and this made the board remarkably easy to read. She took a moment to do the math, and realized she had the upper hoof! Luna had made a small but fatal error. Twilight could force a series of trades, sacrificing all but five of her remaining pieces, and in the process trap Luna's king. She kept analyzing the board, staring at it for several minutes in silence, but the plan looked foalproof. It was a forced mate in eight, leaving Luna with no choice at any step.

I must be wrong, thought Twilight. Luna must have an out, probably several, even though I can't see them yet. The odds of a step-by-step forced mate of this length are impossibly slim! But my choice is clear, she reasoned. Twilight moved her remaining rook right up next to Luna's king.

"Check," said Twilight. Luna calmly moved her king, taking Twilight's second rook.

"Check," said Twilight. Luna intervened with a bishop, taking Twilight's knight.

"Check," said Twilight, yet again. Luna moved her king, taking the bishop.

Three similar moves followed. Check, check, check. Finally, Twilight placed her queen adjacent to Luna's king, sacrificing her strongest piece to force Luna to move her king right up against the edge of the board, blocked on all sides by her own pawns, her bishop, and Twilight's remaining knight.

King takes queen, pawn advances, and...

"Checkmate," Twilight said in a surprised voice. It was stunning. Twilight had only her king, three pawns, and a knight remaining on the board. Luna had an army, having lost only three pawns and one bishop.

"Congratulations," said Luna, with a soft smile.

"I don't think so. Princess Luna, you threw the game!" said Twilight.

Luna took the pencil. "Are you certain of that?" she wrote, and passed the pencil to Twilight.

"Yes," wrote Twilight, though she wondered why they weren't discussing the game out loud anymore. "You could have made the fatal mistake, I'll give you that. But that ending sequence of moves—I've never seen anything like it. The odds that a board like that would develop naturally are nanoscopic! The evidence is clear: you're a true grandmaster, and you orchestrated this entire game so I would come from behind and win." For a brief moment, Twilight's muzzle bore a smug look to it.

"Congratulations yet again, this time on your correct deduction. However, I invite you to pretend for a moment that I lost our game legitimately. Does a come-from-behind victory feel satisfying?" wrote Luna.

"Yes. Of course it does," wrote Twilight.

"Even when you must sacrifice all of your pieces to achieve it?"

"Actually, that makes it even more satisfying. It's a more dangerous strategy, and therefore more impressive. In chess, all that matters is the king. That's how the game works."

Luna smiled, but her eyes betrayed a deep sadness. "Princess, you seem to believe that all truths are as simple as this game. How did you put it? 'Knowledge is always worth the cost of growing up.' But how can you make such a claim about an unknown quantity before you know its true price? As Princess Celestia's personal protégé, you have lived a life requiring fewer sacrifices than you think. What if these last few sacrifices were..." she wrote, then levitated each of the captured pieces in turn as she noted them on paper.

"Your honest appraisal of yourself."

"Your desire to remain by the side of your friends."

"Your kingdom, and all of its generous fortune."

"Your willing dedication to altruism."

"Your ability to enjoy life."

"Your magical prowess."

Then Luna lifted the last piece Twilight had sacrificed: her queen. "Your friendships themselves," she wrote, and finally passed the pencil to Twilight.

"I don't understand," Twilight wrote, then quickly crossed out her words as the meaning struck her. "Princess Luna, there is no possible truth that could make me give up any of those things! I will always do whatever it takes to protect my friends, without compromising who I am as a pony. How could knowing the truth endanger me and my friends? Please, stop playing these games, and tell me what you know." Twilight's writing darkened as she pressed the pencil down firmly with her telekinetic magic.

"Your friends are not endangered by your present actions. However, were your eyes to open fully, you would no longer be able to see them in the same way," wrote Luna. "I am willing to reveal all, but you must first make a choice. If you choose to heed my warning, you will return to Ponyville, entreat your friends to ignore the oddities they have seen, and resume your idyllic existence of success and friendship. You and your friends will be happy and healthy, and fortune will smile upon you for the rest of your days. I pray you will deign to trust me and follow this course."

"Or?" wrote Twilight.

"Or, you may risk everything and learn the truth."

Twilight read Luna's words, and sighed. "I must assume that you know this truth, and you seem perfectly fine to me. Princess Celestia seems fine as well," wrote Twilight.

"Princess Celestia is completely unaware. I believe she may have detected the disturbances, but if she has, she has kept it to herself."

"Are you serious? Why in Equestria haven't you told her?"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle! Have these words of mine fallen upon blind eyes? Princess Celestia has not had the opportunity to choose, and for this I thank the Stars. I love my sister dearly, and I want her to be happy above all else. Do you understand this concept of love, or do you not?"

Twilight paused and tapped her pencil rapidly against the paper in frustration, before writing, "Are you telling me that you, personally, would rather forget the truth you've learned?"

Luna paused for a moment after taking the pencil back. "I am sorry. I cannot answer that question," wrote Luna.

"Well, why the buck not?" yelled Twilight, standing up and snapping the pencil cleanly in two with her magic. Both pieces clattered onto the chessboard.

"Sit, and I will answer your question," said Luna.

Twilight sat and frowned. "Do you have another pencil?"

"It is no matter. I am certain we are not being observed," said Luna, with a hint of guilt in her voice.

A look of disbelief crossed Twilight's muzzle. "You... You've been trying to scare me, this whole time," she whispered. "And you actually expect me to trust you now?"

Luna paused for a moment. "I am sorry for any apparent deception. However, Princess, you should be scared," she said. "I shall no longer dust my words with sugar. If you continue to trot down this path, and the lids of your eyes lift, you will no longer be able to return to the life you once knew. No harm will come to you or your friends, but you will miss what you have sacrificed, and you will miss it dearly. All of this, I can promise you."

Twilight grimaced, fighting back tears. "Then why can't you tell me what you would do?" she asked.

Luna sighed. "I cannot truthfully tell you what I would do in your place, because your decision is not mine to make," she said. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, you must live with the choice you make this day, and all of its consequences to follow. I have warned you of the pain it will cause you. I cannot allow you any space in which to blame me, or any other pony, for this decision which you alone must make."

Twilight Sparkle began to cry, and Princess Luna quickly hoofed her a silk handkerchief.

"This isn't fair," said Twilight, closing her eyes as she held the silk against them.

"I know this. I am truly, truly sorry," said Luna, lines of worry etched upon the otherwise graceful curves of her face. "Truly, I am."

"You already know what I'm going to choose."

"Of course. I knew this long before you arrived, just as I knew you would be the first to seek my counsel."

"I'll want to tell Princess Celestia the truth. Surely you know this."

"You must learn the truth first. I believe your want is far from certain."

"Okay." Twilight sniffled, wiping tears from her cheek with an ankle and blowing her nose with the cloth. "But Luna, if the truth is really as bad as you say, is there at least a way to show me a part of it, so I could make a more informed decision?"

Princess Luna smiled gently, and placed a hoof under Twilight's chin, propping it up. "You are wise beyond your years, my little pony. Very well. Tonight, I shall show you a small glimpse of what lies beyond the veil. I shall enter your dreams, and there we shall observe your nightmares together. That is when you will need to make your final decision."

"Do you think it will change my mind?" asked Twilight.

"Neigh," said Luna, her head bowed low.

Table for One

As Twilight exited Luna's chamber, she noticed it was already early evening.

"All that stupid, useless writing," she said to herself, frowning. "Well, I'm sure the Office of Equestrian Records will let me in whenever I please." At that moment, she noticed a guard approaching her, and realized she'd been talking to herself out loud.

"Sorry, too much on my mind," Twilight said to the guard, with a blush.

"Not a problem, Princess," said the guard as he passed, nervously avoiding eye contact with Twilight.

For a brief moment, Twilight worried about the Visitors, but the whole thing seemed so surreal, in retrospect. Maybe they weren't real, or maybe they were an effect of the underlying problem rather than a cause. She'd start seeing imposters everywhere if she let her imagination get the best of her.

Twilight Sparkle had a few hours to kill before bedtime, so she decided to go out to eat by herself before visiting the OER. She knew of an upscale restaurant with a private area where she wouldn't be disturbed or gawked at.

"Whenever you're ready," said the waitstaff, as she seated Twilight just inside the entrance to the private alcove. Twilight ordered a light salad and a glass of wine. Just one glass to take the edge off, she thought. She silently cursed herself as she realized her eyes might be puffy from the crying. She hadn't even bothered to look in a mirror first. If Rarity were here, she'd never have let something like this happen, Twilight knew. Rarity was always going the extra mile to help her be the best she could be, even though Twilight wasn't a typical princess by any standard.

At the thought of her unique and generous friend, Twilight smiled her first genuinely-happy smile of the day. Being here by herself felt awfully lonely. The sooner I can break the lid on this mystery, thought Twilight, the sooner I can share it with my friends. Then we'll save Equestria once again and life will return to normal, without all these secrets and lies.

Twilight's attention was interrupted by an earth mare sitting down at the only outside table Twilight could see from the private room. It was near the entrance, and reasonably close. The waitstaff clearly hadn't directed the mare to that table, knowing the Princess of Friendship was dining alone. Twilight thought about calling her waitress and asking her to move the other mare, but decided that would seem rude.

Then she accidentally made eye contact with the mare, and so Twilight smiled politely. The mare seemed surprised and quickly averted her gaze.

A minute later, Twilight's waitress arrived with her order.

"Princess, we'll move her right now. She says she's waiting on friends to arrive," whispered the waitress.

"Oh! No, don't bother. She's not hurting anypony," said Twilight.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Another smile, this one not-so-genuine.

As she picked at her salad, polished off her wine, and pondered a second glass, Twilight thought about the Office of Equestrian Records. For all she knew, the tinfoil hat pony—whose name she couldn't remember, since it wasn't Screwball Nutjob—was the one who'd slipped her the note. Additionally, the OER contained an overwhelming amount of information. It would have to be something obvious, or the note would have been pointless. Not very promising, thought Twilight. Nonetheless, she resolved to do some research there before bed.

She looked up and saw the mare again, but this time safely within her peripheral vision. Might as well keep the habit up, thought Twilight. Maybe someday I'll actually notice one of these Visitors for myself.

Twilight Sparkle's back suddenly stiffened, and she felt an adrenaline rush. The mare had just changed! Mane color, manestyle, and coat color. There was a very subtle shimmering effect when it happened, not at all like a changeling's transformation. Don't let her see me, thought Twilight. She reached for her glass of water and took a large gulp, swearing off anything harder for the rest of the evening.

The mare was staring at her. It was such an intense stare that Twilight could sense it in her peripheral vision. It took a moment for her to realize that the slithering sensation against her thoughts wasn’t just her imagination. The Office. Something about the Office was bugging her. It felt almost like she was losing her place in a book.

Oh, Dear Celestia no. She's taking my memories!

It was just the office, but it was slipping away. With lightning-quick retroduction, Twilight concluded the manipulation was likely linguistic, and her brain went into autopilot.

Hide it. Hide the letters. Hide OER. Numbers are too slow. Use pictures. Cipher it.

Luna's cipher! Twilight grabbed the letters in her imagination and twisted them, then held them fast...

OER. OER. OER.

Wait...

Why am I imagining a ciphertext OER, thought Twilight?

Twilight could see the mare smiling as she stood up and walked away. That was a Visitor, she realized! It tried to erase OER from my mind, and it almost succeeded. And then she knew the truth.

That's why Princess Luna forced me to practice the cipher!

Twilight exhaled deeply, and wondered how long she'd been holding her breath.

"Check, please?" called Twilight. There was no time to waste.

Provided, she thought, I can figure out what the buck OER means.

Records of Nothing

The Office of Equestrian Records was Twilight's best guess. She remembered she had received a paper with a general location in Canterlot on it, that it was located either on the castle grounds or within the castle, and that she hadn't known why she'd been asked to go there. The Office fit all the puzzle pieces, including the "uncertain what I'll do when I get there" piece.

She arrived at the Office after closing. The door guard allowed her access without so much as a curious look. It was dark inside, so Twilight turned on the wall lights and looked around.

The OER was almost like a small, private library. Twilight had been here many times before, and she knew exactly where to go, because only one place made any sense. If she'd been sent here without direction, it would need to be something obvious, which means recent records. It would involve civilians and aggregate statistics. Money, in all likelihood.

It took Twilight a while to find the taxation figures. They didn't seem to add up at first glance, but that was a separate issue. Maybe she was supposed to find out that someone was misreporting numbers? A simple application of Bitford's Law might detect any gross malfeasance, but with this much data that could require days of work if she didn't already know where to look. And she didn't.

After a boring hour or so of hooftipping through ledgers and statistics, she had only uncovered one irregularity. Hospital visits had dropped.

"Okay, let's see. Hospital supply order summaries, where were you? I was just looking at you," Twilight said, talking to the books as though they could talk back. And to be fair, they almost could. "Ah! Here we are. Let's see... No, not capital equipment."

Twilight put a hoof down on the ledger in surprise. "Last month's diaper order was zero? Weird. They must have had a surplus at some point," she reasoned, looking back further. The previous month was identical: zero diapers ordered, for every hospital in Canterlot. Going back three months, the diaper order was very small. Every previous month had a large order. But for two straight months, no diapers were ordered at any clinic or hospital in the city.

"This is weird," she said, tapping the carpet with a rear hoof. "There must have been a major in-kind contribution, like a tremendously large diaper donation to the entire city, of a quality good enough for finicky hospitals. But nothing of that size is listed for in-kind contributions going back six months."

Twilight took a short breath and held it. What if...

No, she reasoned. It'd be impossible. But, Twilight Sparkle being Twilight Sparkle, she still had to check.

She grabbed the aggregate data ledger holding Equestria's population statistics and genealogical records, flipped a page, and there it was. Halfway down the third page stood a clean column of zeroes, straight down to the bottom like a tower of creepy little featureless eyes. The topmost line printed the overall summary.

Births: 0

According to the statistics, there were zero foalbirths reported last month throughout the entirety of Equestria. Zero ponies, zero donkeys, zero mules. Zero calves, zero lambs. Even zero griffon chicks.

"Okay, this has to be wrong," she whispered, as though to reinforce the idea by hearing herself speak it.

Twilight started pulling together all of the population and genealogy statistics. Nopony anywhere in the kingdom had reported any foalbirths in two months. Three months ago, there were one-fourth as many as usual, just like the diaper order. Every preceding month listed thousands of newborns. Twilight felt a chill run down her spine.

"Calm down. Do the math, Twily. Assuming foalbirths are mostly independent," said Twilight, "I can get the probability with a simple Ponisson distribution. Treating twins and triplets as a single birth, there are roughly seventeen-thousand—"

She stopped, and her mouth dropped open in horror. "My Stars. I don't need to do the math. Even a binomial approximation is obvious. Dear Celestia, this wouldn't happen by chance in more than a trillion, trillion, trillion years," said Twilight. And even that was a ridiculous understatement, she realized. Twilight quickly checked the total population records. There was some instability due to ponies moving from place to place, but the overall population of Equestria was dropping by thousands of ponies each month.

Every sapient race was dying off.

But Fluttershy's animals were reproducing just fine, Twilight recalled. Her kind-hearted friend would have raised the alarm in an instant if anything were amiss. I could use some comforting myself right now, mused Twilight. She felt very fortunate to have a friend like Fluttershy.

Another check, and farm statistics confirmed that wildlife were, in fact, reproducing as normal. It was only people who were suddenly sterile. Quadrupeds with language. Citizens.

Twilight thought back to when Cup Cake gave birth to twins, maybe five or six months ago. "It was an unusually long labor," the nurse had said. "Seems like all the labors have been long over the past few months." For a short time, there were researchers looking into the problem, but Twilight figured it was a fluke, because she didn't see anything about it in the news.

Princess Luna already knows, thought Twilight. This is the truth she's been hiding.

The attack on Equestria began months ago, and Luna thinks we've already lost.

A Nightmare

Twilight Sparkle felt very tired. The sun had set less than an hour ago, but she hadn't slept last night, and as far as she could tell from the calendar, 'last night' might also have been 'several days ago'. She had nodded off on the trip to Canterlot, but that gave her at most two or three hours of rest.

Yet even within the soft, relaxing hug of a king-sized canopy bed in the castle's palatial guest suite, she couldn't quiet her mind. After a maddening hour of edgy wakefulness, Twilight gave up and swallowed the sleeping pills that Princess Luna had left for her. She barely made it under the covers before the darkness claimed her.

When Twilight came to, she was lying facedown in the dirt of a barren scrubland. Princess Luna stood beside her, and offered her a hoof up. Twilight stood up, coughed, and took a moment to dust herself off.

"What... what is this?" asked Twilight.

"You must tell me. It is your dream, and your memory," said Princess Luna.

Twilight looked around. The pair of alicorns stood from a high vantage point, looking down upon Appleloosa. The sun was at its zenith, and it was a very hot day.

"I remember this. It's the day when we negotiated the trade deal between one of the buffalo tribes and the Appleloosans. But, something's wrong," said Twilight. She looked down at her coat, her hooves, the dirt. She picked up some dust and rubbed it between her hooves. It was dirty, of course, but somehow it was too dirty.

"What is it?" asked Luna.

"Princess, this is a dream? Somehow this feels far more real than when I'm awake," said Twilight. "The texture, the imagery, the smells, my voice, dear Celestia, even my hooves! The detail is, I mean it's just, completely overwhelming my senses, I can barely think—"

"Yes, my apologies. It has been quite a while since you last had your true senses," said Luna. "It will take some time for you to reacclimate."

"Luna, what is wrong with me? Are my senses being dulled by some kind of magic? Is everypony in Equestria like this?" asked Twilight.

"Correct. Your senses are dulled, and everypony you know is in the same situation. But I think it is more important, at the moment, for us to watch your dream unfold," said Luna. She then pointed to a large dust cloud in the distance, one quickly encroaching upon the village.

Twilight could clearly see the enormous buffalo that constituted the stampede. She could make out Appleloosan citizens, as well, most of them lying on the roofs of buildings with guns cocked and ready. Guns? What were those? She struggled to remember. Then, a familiar voice caught her attention.

A dozen hooves distant stood another Twilight Sparkle and her five dearest pony friends. They didn't seem to be aware of the dreamers' presence. None of them were smiling, not even Pinkie Pie, who currently wore an obnoxiously sexual burlesque outfit that made Twilight feel very uncomfortable in a way she didn't understand. Fluttershy was off to the side by herself, in a fetal position, softly crying.

"We've failed, girls," said the other Twilight. "I'm sorry."

"Bucking Tartarus, Twilight," said an angry-looking Applejack. "I should be down there right now, ready to fight and die alongside my kin! We should all be down there. This is a bunch of horseshit," she said, then snorted inward and spat a thick wad of mucus onto the dusty ground in front of her.

"We're here on official business, AJ," the other Twilight said, her voice very tired. "We represent the diarchy, and we're not permitted to take sides in contested territory. Besides, it's not exactly a fair fight. We all know who's about to win."

"The buffalo don't deserve this," said Rainbow Dash. "They were here first, no matter what the score is now."

"And they don't understand our concept of property rights," said Rarity. "It's not like they're trying to commit a crime by using this area for religious purposes."

"Fine! I know! It's just a steaming pile of bullcrap, alright?" shouted Applejack. "Nopony's in the wrong, and ponies on both sides gonna die anyhow. Fuck this day, just—" Applejack winced as she bit down hard on her tongue.

Twilight couldn't remember what some of those words meant, but they gave her a frightening chill.

Pinkie Pie approached Applejack and tried to comfort her. Applejack shoved her face-down into the ground without looking.

"Twilight, why do we need to be here anymore?" said Pinkie, picking herself up off the ground and backing away from the group. "Nopony wants to see this."

"We have to see it. Somepony on the outside of this battle needs to remember what happened on this day," said the other Twilight. "Do you think I want to watch ponies die? Besides," she said, with a deep sigh, "if something actually does go wrong, I'm not about to stand here and watch everypony in Appleloosa be massacred. If the tide swings the wrong way, we intervene and save as many villagers as we can, law be damned."

"Thank you, Twilight," said Applejack.

"Hay! What about saving the buffalo?" said Rainbow Dash. "Anypony give a shit about their lives? These are not 'bad' ungulates! They were peaceful before any of this territorial crap went down!"

"We all care about the buffalo, Dash. They'll stop aggressin' just as soon as a couple gone down," said Applejack. "I mean, they just got to. They ain't no match for firearms, they'd be crazy not to see it."

Pinkie Pie walked over to Fluttershy and cuddled up against her. "I'm not going to watch with you, Twilight. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said the other Twilight. "This is my burden. None of you girls need to see this."

"It's our burden," said Rainbow Dash. She reached out a hoof to Applejack.

Applejack growled at Dash for a moment, then sighed and bumped hooves. "Our burden," she confirmed.

Rarity stepped back a ways, then walked over to Pinkie and Fluttershy. "I don't think I can bear to watch either, ladies. Oh Celestia, save us all," she whispered.

The thundering dust cloud drew close to the village. The first shot rang out. A loud bellowing noise sounded, the dust cloud parted, and then things became a chaotic blur. Several buildings were butted hard, and two collapsed entirely. Buffalo were dropping to the ground left and right. The sounds were terrible. There were bellows from the buffalo, screams from the stallions and mares, and crying foals who could not be soothed. One pony hung like a trophy from a buffalo tusk; several others were trampled into broken shells. Even though they watched from a great distance, the carnage was clear and obvious. The streets on one side of the city were already stained red.

That's interesting, thought the true Twilight Sparkle. Ponies and buffalo bleed the exact same color. Then her knees buckled and she retched across a wide patch of dirt.

"Stop it, please, STOP IT!" she screamed in a raspy voice, and Luna mercifully complied.

The two alicorns stood in an empty area with a white marble floor and a deep blue, sunless sky. Twilight immediately collapsed onto the floor.

Her body was still too detailed, so she closed her eyes. But she could hear the sound of her blood pumping as it raced through her ears; she could feel the pain of her stomach, even though the vomit was only a dream; she could sense her joints aching as her hooves ground against the smooth, cool surface of the marble. Worst of all, she could still remember every horrid little detail of what she had just witnessed.

"I am deeply sorry for your pain," said Luna, and Twilight felt the other pony nosing gently against her throat. Slowly Twilight stood, and she gasped as she felt Luna's warm embrace. It was surprising, and somehow very strange, but it helped to clear her mind. They held one another for what seemed like minutes. Then, Twilight felt Luna kissing at her neck, and her mind whirled with confusion and strange feelings that had no precedent in her memory. Luna began to pull gently back on Twilight's mane with a hoof, and she licked along her jawline in a long, wet stroke. Overwhelmed and confused, Twilight shoved Luna away.

Princess Luna released her grip and stepped back. She sighed and waited patiently beside Twilight until the poor mare finally had the strength to speak.

"Explain," said Twilight, between gasps of air.

"The earlier memories you have from your time in Ponyville, and most of your memories going back from then, even into foalhood, have been retouched, in a manner of speaking. Your recollections have been made softer, gentler. More beautiful. Happier," said Luna.

Not exactly what I meant by 'explain', thought Twilight, but she wasn't in the right frame of mind to argue.

"I can't believe this. That was real?" said Twilight. She sat back down against the hard marble surface.

"Yes. That was the true memory. How do you remember it?" asked Luna.

"It's ridiculous," said Twilight, as the truth came into focus. "I actually remember a pie fight. I mean, that makes no sense whatsoever, right? I can't believe it. I just never stopped to think about it. Can you even imagine? My heavenly Sun. A bucking pie fight. I thought we solved a violent crisis between two groups at war by having them throw pies at each other. I feel so foalish."

"Good. Now you can see a fraction of the innocence you would be sacrificing," said Luna.

"It's too late. I already know what's going on," said Twilight.

Princess Luna said nothing, but raised a brow.

"There have been no citizen births anywhere in Equestria over the past two months. Our races are dying out, and you do nothing," accused Twilight. "The Visitors are able to rework living memories as well as old memories, so nopony notices."

Luna sighed. "Princess, you continue to surprise me in the most pleasant of ways. You are, of course, entirely correct. However, I have reason to believe these 'Visitors' of which you speak are not trying to destroy us. It is my steadfast hope that there will be more births, after a time."

"Your hope?" said Twilight.

Princess Luna simply nodded. "I know this is hard, but surely you can see that I am trying to protect you."

Twilight sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Look. I'm overwhelmed, and yes, that nightmare experience was as terrible as anything I can imagine, but I can handle it. I can take this. I will be able to handle all of this emotionally, at some point, someday. I want to remember, even the bad things, and I want to do it now. I want to know who, or what, is making me forget. And I will do anything to stop these beings from destroying Equestria."

Luna frowned. "I appreciate that you are willing to risk anything to save Equestria, but will you risk throwing your life away just to share the burden of knowing about the supposed threat? There is no guarantee you will be able to do anything to return things to the way they were, and perhaps there is even a moral question about whether one should."

"I need to know, Princess Luna," said Twilight, rubbing her eyes. The tears weren't stopping. "I just need to."

"I understand. However, I must give you one final word of caution, Princess Twilight Sparkle," said Luna. "This memory of your past only scratches the surface. I have shown you nothing of how this memory has been modified, nor how things have changed in your life over the past year. Even if I restored all of your tainted memories to perfect clarity—which alone could be devastating—you would still know nothing of the real truth from which I am yet trying to protect you!"

Princess Luna bowed down before Twilight Sparkle, and looked up to her with pleading eyes, as though begging for her own life. For the briefest moment, Twilight felt sorry for Luna.

"You're saying there's something even worse than having memories like this?" said Twilight, her face aghast. "I can't even imagine."

"Worse? I cannot judge that," said Luna. She stood up again, but her expression remained forlorn. "But there is much more to your situation than a few altered memories and life in a sensory fog, and very little of the truth is pleasant. Do you really want to travel to a world where this makes sense? Are you not happy where you are?" asked Luna. Her face was sad, but almost false, like an actor reading through an emotional script for the fortieth time.

"You already know my answer," whispered Twilight.

Luna sighed. "Of course. Very well. Return to Ponyville and say your goodbyes. You shall not see your friends again for quite some time, and when next you do, I fear it will be your intent to spread this disease among them. Then again, perhaps not. We shall see."

"And after I return?" asked Twilight.

"You should prepare a cover story to keep you from the public eye, like an illness. One week from the evening of your departure to Ponyville, you shall go to sleep as you normally do. During that sleep, your body shall simply disappear. Then we shall meet," said Luna.

"I don't want to wait another week," said Twilight.

"I need the time to prepare our meeting, so that it will be safe and secure," said Luna. "There must be zero chance of error in this matter. I knew this was coming, but I foalishly chose to hold out hope that you might change your mind."

Twilight nodded. "So, seriously, I'll just disappear in my sleep?" she asked.

Princess Luna nodded. "Yes. It is by far the safest way. You already know that I have great command over the realm of dreams. No Visitors must detect our meeting under any circumstance."

"Right, I'm just a little shocked you can bridge the gap to the material world that easily. Although now that I think about it, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you've been holding back on your powers," said Twilight. "Do I need to pack anything, or is that even possible?"

"I fear it is not. Your choice has been made, Twilight Sparkle. All you must do now is wait, and say your goodbyes," said Princess Luna. The dream faded into peaceful darkness, and Twilight's mind gratefully followed.

Upon waking, Twilight Sparkle dried her eyes in the real world, and then stepped into the shower. If only somepony could cheer her up from this. Pinkie Pie could do it. Pinkie and Pinkie alone could bring a smile back to her face, even from this. Thank goodness for Pinkie Pie, thought Twilight. Even that simple thought improved her mood.

As Twilight nervously tried to scrub the invisible dirt out of her cartoonish-looking pelt, she realized that Princess Luna's parting words had finally addressed her as Twilight Sparkle informally, without using her title. Twilight had assumed being treated like a friend by Luna would feel pleasant, but the experience was unsettling. It was something about the way she said Twilight's name. It meant something. She couldn't quite put her hoof on what.

Dark thoughts would occupy her throughout the train ride home.

Farewell

Twilight Sparkle agreed to show up last, even though she was the one who called the emergency meeting. She wanted everypony else to be present before she arrived: the entire Paranormal Society, plus Spike, Zecora, and all of Twilight's closest friends.

She'd been very careful to watch the streets on her way to the schoolhouse this time. Three knocks and the door opened. Twilight entered the schoolroom, and noticed the circle was much larger this time.

Good, she thought.

"Has everypony been debriefed?" Twilight asked Cheerilee. She tossed her cloak casually on the floor and took the last empty seat.

"Yes. Zecora did most of it in advance," said Cheerilee.

"If I see one of those 'Visitors' I'll shove my hoof so far up its butt—" said Rainbow Dash.

"You'll do nothing of the kind!" said Rarity, bonking her friend right on the poll.

"Hay!" said Rainbow.

Applejack shook her head. "Quiet, Dash. Ain't nothin' happenin' until Twilight says so."

"I know, I know. I'm just angry. The idea that we can't even trust our senses, and we're surrounded by these invaders, it's awful."

"It's worse," said Twilight, and the room fell quiet.

Fluttershy shivered in place, and Rarity reached over to hold her hoof. Pinkie Pie watched with a bright smile. Spike just looked confused, but since he was seated next to Twilight, she gave him a hug with the crook of her leg before continuing.

"Here's the thousand-hoof overview of how messed up everything is. The Visitors have rewritten most of our old memories to make them nicer, to remove a lot of the pain and hardship each pony has experienced. A lot of terrible things have happened in the past, including war, injury, death, sadness, and pain. Really bad stuff. Worse than you can imagine, to be honest. Luna recovered a single memory for me, and I'm still traumatized by what I saw," said Twilight.

"Oh no. Maybe they're just being nice to us?" said Fluttershy. "I don't know if I want horrible memories back."

"I'm sure they're doing it so we'll be complacent when push comes to shove, Fluttershy. These things are not our friends," said Rainbow Dash. Several other ponies nodded.

"What was the memory, if I can ask?" asked Applejack.

Twilight took a deep breath. "A lot of ponies in Appleloosa died in a horrible way," she said. "That's all I'm comfortable saying at the moment."

"Sweet Celestia," said Applejack, with a look of deep frustration on her face. "It's my life and those are my memories, and I don't care what it takes or how awful they are. I want 'em back, pronto."

"That's my goal. But I'm sure it will hurt," warned Twilight. "Maybe more than even I know."

"Don't care. I can take it," said Applejack, without hesitation.

"I believe you can, Applejack. But I don't know if many of us here can, at least not yet. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's not just the badness of the memories, though. The Visitors use some kind of illusion magic over all of Equestria to keep our senses dulled. The real world is much, much more vibrant and real than what you see around you. It's impossible to describe until you experience it. There's more detail, richer scents, more texture—"

"Better flavors?!" gasped Pinkie Pie, her eyes wide.

"Well, maybe there's a silver lining. Yes, Pinkie, I'm pretty sure there are. But it means that bad experiences are more detailed, too. It was overwhelming for me to process my reliving of that memory, because we've all been in this mental fog for months. And we don't notice these things because the Visitors are also modifying our current memories. It's clear they can read minds..."

"Knew it," whispered foil-hat, who did not have his hat with him. "See, I should have brought the hat."

"Nnope," said Big Macintosh.

"And, there's a more disturbing problem, so I'll just up and say it. Everypony in Equestria has stopped producing foals. Two months with no births by any citizen in Equestria, animals notwithstanding."

There was a collective gasp. Cheerilee held a hoof to her mouth, unable to stop a tear from trickling down one cheek. Fluttershy's face froze. It looked like she had broken.

"And Princess Luna still doesn't know who the Visitors are?" asked a mare.

"She knows, but she can't tell me any details yet," said Twilight. "Princess Luna knows everything, apparently. She thinks the lack of births is a temporary problem, but she isn't sure."

"What? Why in Equestria won't she tell you? What about Princess Celestia?" asked Cheerilee.

"Princess Celestia doesn't even know what we know," said Twilight. "Princess Luna thinks she's protecting everypony by keeping what she knows about the Visitors a secret. I really don't trust her anymore, but she's promised to reveal everything to me in a few days. She's warned me repeatedly that it will ruin my life, but she knows the truth, and she seems just fine. It doesn't make any sense."

"You're certain she isn't being possessed by Nightmare again?" asked Rarity.

"Yes. She's Princess Luna, there's no doubt. She's just horrified by the truth, and I think she's given up hope entirely," said Twilight.

"If anypony can convince a cowardly princess to stand up for Equestria, it's you, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. Murmurs of agreement followed.

"Thanks. But to tell you the truth, I don't think she's a coward. Quite the opposite, actually," said Twilight. "I just don't know why she's given up hope, or what to expect she'll show me."

"I can't believe Luna wouldn't tell her sister," said Applejack. "It just ain't right. She's aidin' the enemy, Twi. Whether she thinks she's helpin' ain't relevant. She's just not on our side, simple as that. Not yet."

"I know, AJ. Look guys. This thing could be really bad. The Visitors have rewritten our old memories, so I'm stepping into an open minefield. Anything might have happened in the past, literally anything. There's just no way to guess. I suspect King Sombra could be involved, since things started getting weird shortly after his defeat. Maybe he's immortal and found a way to put himself back together. These Visitors could be anything, too: weird ponies, dimensional invaders, changelings with enhanced powers, magical energy beings, or something stranger still," said Twilight. "Maybe they're even us, somehow doing this to ourselves unconsciously. I've thought up a hundred crazy hypotheses, but none of them fit all of the data."

And, to top it off, thought Twilight, I'm scared. But I can't show it. I won't show it. Not here. Being a princess is about inspiring confidence. I don't want any of these ponies to live in a state of perpetual fear. By holding together, I can give them strength.

"Do you know how Princess Luna found out?" asked a stallion.

"I would guess that Luna's mastery over dreams clued her into the sensory degradation," said Twilight. "It's useless to speculate about her motives, though, just as it's useless to guess what the Visitors really are. All we can do is wait, and hope she knows what she's doing."

"We should meet as soon as possible after your return," said Cheerilee.

"Agreed. But Princess Luna says I'm going to disappear in my sleep in a few days, and I might be gone a while. She suggested I fake an illness so nopony knows I'm away," said Twilight.

"Oh, Twilight, no," said Fluttershy, both hooves over her muzzle.

"Don't do this Twilight. It's a trap," said Pinkie Pie. "I can feel it, deep down in my bones! What if we never see you again?" she yelped, only to be shooshed by several members. Rainbow Dash gave a watery-eyed pink pony a hug.

"I'll have to make sure that doesn't come to pass," said Twilight, trying her best to smile. "What worries me more is Luna's insistence that doing this will ruin my friendships, as well as my kingdom. Kingdom's a distant second, though."

"That's why you came back to Ponyville, ain't it," said Applejack. "You wanted to tell us, because you wanted to know if we'd let you go. If it's our decision, it's no. We all want answers, but you gotta demand them on your terms."

"I'm not in a position to make demands, AJ. I'm sorry," said Twilight. "I've already made the decision, and it can't be taken back. Whether I like it or not, in a few days, I'll be gone."

Spike spoke up for the first time. "Twilight, don't do this. You have to find a way to take the decision back. Your friendships are worth more than anything, you know that."

"Spike, do you really think that will happen?" Twilight asked, then looked at the crowd. "Seriously. Do any of you think learning about some kind of invasion will change who I am? That it could possibly impact my friendships with any of you?" She sniffled, holding back tears.

"No," said Spike. "I'm just scared, because, well, you're leaving, and we love you, and we don't even know where you're going."

"Eh, I'm sure she'll be fine," said Rainbow Dash, making her best show of bravado. "Twilight, I bet you could even take Princess Luna in a fight if you had to, not to mention a whole army of Visitors. You could have cleaned Tirek's clock if you'd kept blasting him! You're Princess Twilight Bucking Sparkle, and nopony messes with you."

"Thanks, Rainbow," said Twilight.

Twilight was too modest to admit it, but Rainbow Dash was right. Twilight knew she was a princess, a dutiful student of magic, and a practiced fighter. I have powerful alicorn magic, and with it I can take on anything. Her magic was nearly as much reassurance to her as the strength she drew from her closest friends.

"Are you sure you're going to be safe?" asked Fluttershy.

"Will you get enough to eat?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Or something to wear, darling? I mean, can you take anything with you?" asked Rarity.

"No. Just my body," said Twilight. "Nothing else goes with, apparently."

"Sweet Celestia, Twilight. It sounds like you're dyin' on us," said Applejack, as she removed her hat and set it on the floor. "This ain't right. We really need to hear this from Luna ourselves."

"Twilight, I don't want to add to the drama, but I have a bad feeling about this too," said Cheerilee. "Are you sure this is the right choice?"

"It's the only choice," said Twilight. "Let me be perfectly clear, none of you can change my mind. I can't give you the opportunity to choose this for me, because then I might blame you for what happens. Even worse, you might blame yourselves. Luna was very clear about me accepting full responsibility for what will happen before she would even agree to show me a single memory. Besides, I have to know the truth. Not just for me, but for everypony here."

"How long will you be gone?" asked Spike.

"Princess Luna implied I could be gone a while, maybe months. If you don't hear from me for a long time, then I guess you should contact her and ask about me," said Twilight.

Zecora stood up from her seat with a deep frown. "We'll give the Princess just one moon, and then demand we see you soon," she said.

"Twilight's decision may not be ours to make, but what we do is still our decision," said Cheerilee. "We'll discuss the matter, and take a vote."

Twilight remained silent, and the discussion took only a few minutes. The unanimous decision was to contact Princess Luna exactly one lunar cycle after Twilight's disappearance, as Zecora had proposed.

"That sounds fair," agreed Twilight. "Since I'll be seeing her shortly, I can pass that expectation along. It didn't sound like she planned on leaving Canterlot or anything, so you can probably mail her or even go visit her. But I really have no idea what to expect. I wish I could tell you more."

Twilight Sparkle felt something hugging her leg and looked down to see the little filly looking up to her with big eyes. "Be real careful Miss Princess Twilight," she whispered.

Twilight smiled and scooped the filly up into her legs and gave her a big hug. "Just for you, okay?" she promised.

Everypony put on their bravest face as they wished Twilight Sparkle good luck on her journey. Their masks were poor. They were all petrified, and Twilight could see it. She could even tell that Rainbow Dash was worried.

I have to prove Luna wrong, she thought. I'll do it for my friends. I'll do it for friendship.

On Twilight Sparkle's last night in Ponyville, her five closest pony friends and her faithful assistant Spike stayed up with her, reminiscing about the past until she finally fell asleep under influence of one of Zecora's sleep remedies.

Then her body simply vanished, suddenly and silently, without so much as a teleport flash.

And that was that.

The Price

Twilight Sparkle sat on the dirty, rocky cavern floor. It was cold, damp, and drafty in the caves beneath Canterlot Castle, just as she remembered them, but now in much more vivid greys and browns. Strangely enough, the colors didn't make the caves seem any more beautiful. Instead they became dark, ugly, and hollow.

Twilight's memories had been restored to perfect clarity. Even though many moons had passed, it seemed like only yesterday when she'd freed Princess Cadance from her imprisonment here. Cadance had looked so awful back then, all bloody and bruised and filthy, almost as filthy as the caverns themselves seemed now. These vaulted, dreary hollows were the perfect location to hide, for who would visit such a dark and dreadful place of their own free will?

It was cold, and Twilight shivered. Reflexively, she tried to fluff her wings about her, only to be reminded once again she wasn't an alicorn princess after all. So, she pulled the dirty blanket more tightly around her scrawny legs, and took tiny sips of the warm but revolting mushroom broth Princess Luna had provided her. Luna was asleep, exhausted by the difficult long-distance teleportation spells she'd recently cast to keep them both safe. Twilight was tempted to curl up under her wing, but being that close to Luna made her feel awkward deep in her stomach. She suspected that a small part of Luna had actually wanted her to come here to abate her own loneliness, and she didn't know how to feel about that. Even though she didn't understand them, the sensations in Twilight's groin made her feel uncomfortable and ashamed.

So instead, Twilight Sparkle envied Princess Luna's slumbering form from a safe distance. Unlike her benefactor, she didn't have the ability to enter the dream world where her friends resided, and she didn't even know if it were possible for a mere unicorn like herself. The only way to see her friends again might require bringing them into this Tartarus with her, and Luna had been right about one thing. Twilight wasn't sure she could do it. She sat there uncomfortably upon the hard, damp rock, wide awake, as her mind stubbornly refused to rest. It kept replaying the same scene in all its ghastly detail, over and over and over again.

It was a blur, that first bit of waking memory, in the moments just before Luna had teleported her to the safety of the caverns, before she would have the chance to expel cups of sludge from her lungs and begin regaining her senses. She had been confused and weak when her body unceremoniously splatted onto the greasy floor of the throne room. She'd tried and failed to stand on shaky legs, unable to speak or even breathe. She had wiped the slime from her eyes quickly enough to witness Princess Luna sealing a crude wax version of Twilight Sparkle into its new home on the ceiling.

Yet even in those dawning moments, before she would take her first breath in more than ten months, Twilight had already witnessed a vision she knew would inevitably follow her to the end of her days. Oddly enough, the horrifying image was not the pods dangling above her; the pods containing her emaciated friends, her brother, her foal-sitter, and her mentor; the pods where each pony floated in a shared telepathic fantasy world carefully controlled by dreaming changelings, where the magic of friendship and adventure would keep their slowly-beating hearts brimming with a steady supply of love upon which the monsters would feed.

No, the image that had burned itself indelibly into Twilight's memory was far more terrible, despite its haunting beauty.

It was their smiles.