There is nopony who would call Evening Star a true friend. That's just the way it is, and the way it always has been—and she won't let herself fret over it. She's fine. She has her books, and really, what more does she need, anyway?

Except that Evening Star isn't sure it has always been this way. Of course, that's how she remembers it—but another part of her, a part buried down nearly too deep to reach, remembers being somepony else. She remembers being Twilight Sparkle.

That would be one thing on its own, but now she's not certain that Twilight Sparkle was just somepony. She feels drawn to the castle on the edge of the town, but it's not vacant—the princess lives there, of all ponies, only she's not so sure that she isn't supposed to be the princess.

But if that's the case, she wonders: what exactly is the thing living in the castle?