The sky was a haunting yet beautiful red, tainted orange by the setting sun.
Birds chirped as they played their games in the crisp, cold air.
The sounds of a musical instrument from a shop closing for the night echoed in the distance.
It was almost surreal, but Twilight knew this place existed. She'd been dreaming about it for nearly a week, and letters from Canterlot confirmed the princesses had dreams of it, too. Such occurrences often had a meaning, but what could it be? There seemed nothing wrong, no problems to be solved.
Instead, it was as if this place was perfect.
Perfection, of course, was theoretical and up to opinion.
But Twilight and her friends were always signaled by their map to any problems. Oftentimes it was to settle some kind of dispute, or 'friendship problem'. If only the whole world could be friends. Maybe then the tiring work would end.
Twilight longed to escape to this world in her dreams, for just a moment. Somewhere where friendship and care were nothing of concern. Just for a second, even, just a taste of true freedom. She knew it was a desire she should not have. She was the princess of friendship. It was her job to solve everypony else's problems so that they could go on living their pointless lives-
Had she really just thought that?
Twilight spun into a panic, talking out loud at a frantic speed. "Of course, saying it would be worse, but I never have those thoughts. Nopony is pointless, no one! Everybody has a purpose, everyone has a-"
She was standing in the middle of a small town, blissfully unaware. One by one, the ponies around her took notice of her hysteria. Princess Twilight, are you ok? Princess Twilight, what's going on? Princess Twilight, come waste your time on me. Princess Twilight, can you solve all my problems for me so I can just sit on my lazy-
Twilight shot up from her bed screaming, wide awake. "No, no, NO!" She made a mad dash for the nearest window and smashed it to pieces, unable to look at the cruel metaphor her shattered reflection presented. Ponies everywhere, just like in her dream, surrounded her. Was she still sleeping? She'd studied 'dream-in-dream' philosophy before, but Luna had explained the rarity of such a thing. The decimal percentage was excruciatingly small, even to Twilight. Twilight didn't like decimals. All the endless numbers, the ones and twos and threes and fours and fives-
Still screaming, she went to turn back, to her castle- her home! She was a princess, these were her responsibilities! Perhaps she wasn't worthy of being a princess after all. The ground underneath her hooves broke, dust and dirt suffocating her, ash singing her mane.
Yet somehow, she made it to her castle, still screaming. Her yells echoed throughout the chamber- she didn't live in a chamber! Where was she?
Twilight called out to Luna, the only one who could break whatever self-destructive loop she was stuck in, barely aware of the pain.
She seemed to fall forever. Had Luna abandoned her? Finally her surroundings changed, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Now she knew what happened to Luna, and it was far worse than abandonment.
She looked around and was both astonished and terrified by what she saw. She was in a crude cage made of dragon bone, and ponies all around her were trapped in the same. Only they had simple beds made of rocks. Twilight wasn't so lucky.
Her bed, constantly shifting, was made of struggling ponies. Their cries were warped. Some were missing tongues, others spoke in a guttural voice, uttering an incomprehensible language.
Skeletal creatures forced their way from under their bodies and began gnawing at Twilight's skin.
Twilight screamed, tears running down her face. "Let them go! Please! I'll do anything, I swear!"
Similar pleas began sounding all around her. There were shopkeepers, casino owners, blacksmiths, and-
The princesses.
Cadence was nowhere to be seen- she can't be dead- but Twilight could clearly spot Luna as well as Celestia, trapped in the most mocking cage of all.
It was shaped like a castle dungeon, and it was decorated with fountains of a sickly, blue blood- insect's blood.
Twilight forced down her disgust and studied the floor, littered with parasprite corpses. She'd seen horrific things before, she would come across them often while perfecting a spell. A wrong teleport or an attempt at seeing places she wasn't actually at could give her a clear look at what lay beyond the beauty she knew.
Twilight was certain now that this was real. Those were the real princesses. And the small nips at her skin began to cause very real pain. She finally managed to shake them off with a simple spell, turning her attention to the cages. Celestia seemed to be staring at something, but at Twilight's sudden attempt to escape her head turned abruptly.
"Twilight, wait!"
She had spoken too late.
She broke free of her cage easily and landed on the cold, dirty floor. Small cracks dislodged her footing and she tripped, falling upward. Someone was causing this. In all of Twilight's experiences, she had never fallen upward. This was simple levitation.
She was now standing on the ceiling as if it was a floor, and she finally saw what Celestia had been looking at.
Her eyes widened as she saw her captor.
Herself.
Twilight could hear Luna yelling something to her, but her ears would not listen. She would not move. Luna broke free of her cage, pulling Twilight backwards. Celestia was silent. Finally she spoke.
"You were my greatest student, Twilight. I cared deeply for you. I taught you everything you wanted to know, but yet here we are. This is how you choose to repay me?"
Twilight realized Celestia was talking to her double. The other Twilight began to speak.
"You're all here because you deny your responsibilities. You are royalty! How dare you tire of such a position!"
Celestia hung her head. "I will always be there for Equestria. You know that, Twilight. You are a princess too. You know how tiring the work can be."
Twilight turned to herself. "If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm you. One-hundred-percent. From a better future. But unfortunately I have to remind even you of responsibility."
She turned to the others. "I haven't time for you pointless shop-holders. It's time to fix Equestria."
But then Twilight Sparkle remembered.
Nopony's pointless.
There was a blinding flash of light, and she began to fade.
The other, normal Twilight turned to her double, grinning triumphantly. "It appears that in bringing me here, you've caused a dream that's wiped you from existence. Oops. I'll never be like you.
Ever.
And I promise to maintain my responsibility."
She heard the others vow the same and smiled. They were going to make it out after all...
The sky was a haunting yet beautiful red, tainted orange by the setting sun. Birds chirped as they played their games in the crisp, cold air. The sounds of a musical instrument from a shop closing for the night echoed in the distance. It was almost surreal, but Twilight knew this place existed.
And now she knew why.
Something had happened in the future that caused Twilight to become the version of herself she had met. But what? What could possibly make that happen?
She realized now it was nothing at all.
It was someone.
And that someone was Discord.
Twilight spied the draconequus in the distance laughing behind a bush. "And what was that all about?" she snapped angrily. Discord teleported out of his hiding spot.
"Well you see, Twilight, I've been noticing some- unwillingness around lately. I thought I'd leave Cadance alone, what with the baby and all, but the rest of you needed a reminder of responsibility. Oh, and the other guys were an added touch. Did you like them?"
Celestia spoke first. "I should thank you, Discord. While your plans were- dramatic as always, and also rather disturbing, you reminded us all of something we were losing. Although you had me fooled with the evil Twilight."
Discord clapped his hands together happily. "Oh, I knew you'd be impressed. Hey, whaddya' think about this 'paradise' I made? Red skies and all? I teleported you here every night, believe it or not."
"That explains the dreams." Luna muttered.
Discord chuckled. "I thought it would be fitting to entice you with freedom from your royal jobs so you'd realize just how irresponsible you were all about to become. This place took me hours to create. I think I'll save it."
Discord opened a briefcase that collected the small area inside of it. It snapped shut with a bang.
"So, who wants some ice cream? I'll take the greatest responsibility of all: paying for it."
"Remind me never to fall into these ridiculous 'lessons' again." Celestia grumbled.
