The Ghastly Library: Pinkie Pie's Terrifying Tales

Chapters

~ 01 ~ The Tale of the Headless Horse ~
~ 02 ~ The Monster in the Library
~ 03 ~ The Nightmare Tunnel

~ 01 ~ The Tale of the Headless Horse ~

Candles lit themselves in a dark room, casting an orange glow on a pink mare and three young ponies huddled in front of her. “Once again, fillies and filly, we are gathered to witness a true tale of terror,” said Pinkie Pie. “I bring you a story that is truth of the highest order, from—” she waved her hooves “—another dimension, ooooo~”

Apple Bloom raised her eyebrow. “Ain’t that, like, every story?”

“Pinkie couldn’t find any true stories ever since Twilight took her demonic cookbook,” Sweetie said with a sigh, “so now she’s just making stuff up.”

Pinkie smiled and waved her hooves. “Nope, none of this is made up! I personally witnessed this happening in another dimension.”

Scootaloo jumped up with a smile. “You mean this is a scary story from that weird human dimension?”

Sweetie sat in attention. “Oh hey, that could be really interesting. How does walking on two legs and having no magic influence horror? It could result in things Equestria’s indie horror scene could never come up with!”

“That sounds awesome, Pinkie!” said Apple Bloom.

Pinkie grinned uneasily. “Actually, no, this story comes from a dimension where everypony is still a pony.”

A chorus of boos erupted from the fillies.

Sensing she was losing them, Pinkie hastily said, “Oh, but it’s a very interesting dimension. For one thing, Twilight’s a ghost in this!”

“Is that a spoiler?” Sweetie asked, pointing angrily. “Did you just spoil us?”

Pinkie raised her hooves. “No, I didn’t! It’s part of the basic premise.” As Sweetie huffed, Pinkie realized something. “Wait a minute, did Rarity tell you guys the haunted mannequin story again?”

“YES!” all three of them said.

Pinkie fluttered her lips. “Oh, well, I’m sure you guys will cheer up once we get into it! Our tale starts in an enchanted library… that turned into a ghastly library!”

We all know the tale of how the Spirit imprisoned the three princesses, hiding them away from all ponies. But they were not his only victims.

The youngest princess, the princess of the library, loved knowledge, and even while hiding in a small village from the Spirit, it went against her nature not to share it. For in that village, she had constructed an underground library with boundless knowledge, now lost to the ages.

When the Spirit tracked down the youngest princess in her library, she was not alone. Though hidden, the ponies of that small village were known to frequent it, and one stallion was inside when tragedy fell. At the exact moment that the Spirit cast a barrier around the library, keeping the princess inside, the stallion was unknowingly walking into the bathroom. The Spirit’s magic bound itself to the walls, sealing off the exits, and cutting off the bathroom from the rest of the library.

Quite literally cutting off.

The stallion’s head fell into the bathroom, while the rest of his body remained inside the library. Rather than dying, however, chaos magic flowed into the exposed neck, enchanting the body and making it something more than a mere pony. Without a head, the body rose, and then reared up in triumph. The Headless Horse was born.

If you seek the princess of the library, then beware of her companion, wandering the Everfree Forest, forever seeking.

Rarity sat in a circle of ponies, lit only by a nearby candelabra that cast flickering shadows around them. Looking around warily, she then added in a hushed tone,

Beware, for the Headless Horse is more dangerous than any timberwolf, and has no qualms about using your own head as its own.

To punctuate the story, the light dimmed, bringing darkness to the room. With her magic, all of Rarity lit in a soft glow—all except for her head. Rarity waved her hooves at the youngest members of the group, making her best attempt at a sinister moan. The Cutie Mark Crusaders lightly yelped in response then giggled. The two mares sitting with her, Applejack and Fluttershy, cheered Rarity’s performance, and she made a delighted headless bow.

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “Rarity telling a good ghost story? Now I know this is an alternate reality!” she squeaked.

“Nice job including us, by the way,” said Apple Bloom.

“I hope my head gets cut off!” said Scootaloo.

Pinkie crossed her front legs. “Hush now, little fillies. We haven’t even gotten to the main attraction yet.”

The candelabra floated up, propelled by its own magic, and flew to the ceiling, where it transformed into a full-fledged chandelier that flooded the room in light. The ponies sat on blankets and pillows surrounding a half-full basket of muffins, with wrappers and crumbs on the ground showing it was full earlier that night. Around them were books: many many books, all organized on numerous and thickly-packed bookshelves. Aisles of books circled around a massive room, with another floor visible below packed with even greater knowledge.

They were in a library, and no ordinary library. It was an underground library, surrounded by ruins of a small town from ages ago. The very library from the story, that once belonged to a princess of Equestria.

And it belonged to her still.

As the light returned, an ethereal figure looked down on them with a slight frown. She floated in the air on purple wings, with the restored light shining right through her: it was the princess of the library herself, Twilight Sparkle. This figure of legend, thought no more than a fairy tale, opened her mouth and said, “I… have issues with this story.” Her eyes shifted to the side, as though narrowing down what to bring up first. “For one thing, I think I would have noticed a headless pony walking around the library.”

Rarity fluttered her eyelashes at the alicorn. “Oh pish-posh Twilight, it’s a ghost story, most likely made well after you disappeared. It’s all in good fun.”

With a glow of her horn, a book labeled A Collection of Regional Frightful Tales appeared next to the princess and she flipped through it. “I suppose tying stories to preexisting stories isn’t too unusual, like the story of the Weeping Mare I told earlier having a variation that connects her to the Windigos, but I’m an actual pony that ponies can talk to.”

“My, darling, I would have expected you to be interested in how ponies expanded your legend,” Rarity said with a smirk.

“Must be weird having ghost stories based on things that really happened to you,” said Apple Bloom.

Twilight nodded. “Inaccurate stories about my disappearance is one thing, but adding peripheral characters like this is something else. Is the Headless Horse popular?”

“You bet,” said Applejack. “Probably the biggest tall tale around these parts other than the princesses themselves.” She paused. “No offense, Princess.”

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “None taken.”

Fluttershy shivered. “There are other stories about the Headless Horse too. Like that one about that poor crane. Oh, it’s just so sad.”

“Uh, Fluttershy, pretty sure that’s about a pony named Crane, not an actual crane,” said Applejack.

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh. I see. Not as scary, then.”

Twilight tapped her chin. “Though actually, this does remind me of a legend that the diamond dogs have, which also involves a head getting cut off. I wonder if this evolved from that… though I don’t think ponies and diamond dogs have interacted much, from what you’ve told me, so it shouldn’t be related.”

Rarity tossed her mane. “In any case, you must admit, this managed to get some things right that other stories about you haven’t. Very few mention the barrier, for instance.”

“That’s true,” Twilight said. “It also got that detail about the bathroom right.”

Scootaloo shot up. “Wait, there was a bathroom here the entire time?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Scootaloo, you can’t use it! It’s outside the barrier, so I’ve never been able to clean it with my magic, and with Old Ponyville gone, it isn’t even connected to anything!”

Sweetie Belle scrunched her face. “Eww, Scootaloo, don’t use a thousand year old toilet!”

“I’m not going to use it!” said Scootaloo. “I just want to see it! Come on, don’t you want to see it, too?”

Apple Bloom gasped. “If we find the Headless Horse’s head there, maybe we can put him to rest!”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “We’ll have exorcist cutie marks!”

Before Twilight could say anything, or even point out where the bathroom was, the Crusaders ran away, cheering.

Rarity shook her head. “Look at them, galloping like they’re the Headless Horse themselves. Such manners.” She looked up to see the princess frowning. “Oh, but don’t worry about them, dearest. They know well enough by now what areas of the library to avoid. Though to be clear, the bathroom is on this floor and not, well, down below, correct?”

“It is, though I blocked it off with a bookshelf as soon as I found out I couldn’t go into it, so I probably should go help them.”

Rarity sighed theatrically. “If you must.” She stretched out and posed dramatically. “I shall wait for you here forever, my beloved. Perhaps I too, in time, shall become a spirit, waiting for my sparkling heart to return.”

Twilight flushed red. “R-Rarity, not in front of the others.”

Rarity winked. “But I thought ghost stories were why we were here.”

“Yes, but…” Twilight huffed, still blushing. “Never mind. I’ll bring them back in a few minutes.”

With a flash of her horn, the princess disappeared.

Fluttershy giggled, and Applejack said with a smile, “You really know how to push her buttons, huh?”

Rarity smiled. “Yes, well, given how coldly she used to act, it’s hard not to indulge in getting a reaction out of her.”

“Though, actually,” Fluttershy said, touching her chin with her hoof, “going back to what you and Twilight were talking about earlier, it is strange that this Headless Horse story got some details right. How do you think that happened?”

“We know some of my family’s been down here,” said Applejack. “Some of them probably told a truthful description of the library to ponies, and then it got all confused and mixed up with the Headless Horse story at some point.”

“But somepony walking into the bathroom and getting their head cut off by the barrier—that seems like something you’d only come up with if you really knew the layout of the library. Plus, Twilight just said she sealed it off as soon as she learned she couldn’t reach it. That should have been right away, right? Definitely before Fritter Cobbler came here.”

Rarity blinked. “Goodness, Fluttershy. Are you afraid the story could be true?”

Fluttershy stammered. “Yes—no—well… maybe.”

Applejack put a hoof on Fluttershy’s back. “Twilight herself said she never saw a headless pony, and she’s the ghost around here.”

“Not a ghost,” Fluttershy replied.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Fine, she’s the ‘not a ghost’ around here.”

“OK, hold on,” said Apple Bloom. “I was kinda expecting an explanation to come up all natural-like, but we’ve been going on for a while, so what in tarnation is going on here?”

“Yeah, you literally started the story with ‘we all know the tale’ when no, we don’t,” added Scootaloo, holding a hoof up. “Though I will say, that bit with us wanting cutie marks was pretty nostalgic.”

“Is Twilight one of the three princesses, or is she something else?” asked Apple Bloom. “Cuz there are five princesses in Equestria right now.”

“No, Celestia and Luna retired, remember?” said Scootaloo.

“Oh yeah. So the princesses are Twilight, Cadance, and Flurry Heart?”

Boiling over, Sweetie Belle slammed her hooves. “Why’s Twilight a ghost?! Or not a ghost?!”

Suddenly caught up in the anger, Scootaloo stomped her hooves too. “And where’s Rainbow Dash?!”

Pinkie shook her head and shrugged. “Sorry, girls. I’m just telling the story as I saw it, so I don’t know the answers to those questions.”

“What the hay, Pinkie?!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle.

With a smile, Pinkie spread her hooves. “If anything, this is even more proof that this is something I saw and not something I made up! Would I make this up without figuring out all that?”

The Crusaders conversed amongst themselves briefly, then spoke over each other with variations of, “Probably.”

Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, that does sound like me. But because I didn’t make this up, our story continues with those unanswered questions lingering in the air. Soon, they will be joined by more questions…”

“It’s just that,” Fluttershy said, then paused. “It’s just, ever since that story, something’s been making me feel uneasy. Like there’s someone else in the room with us.”

There was a distant thud, and Fluttershy yelped.

Rarity stood up. “You don’t think it’s the Spirit, do you?”

Applejack chuckled. “You’re both getting too worked up. Twilight has all those precautions against the Spirit in place, and nothing happened last time we came here. Fluttershy’s just worried because of the story.”

Even as Applejack said that, Rarity knew firsthand how dangerous the Spirit could be. With a serious expression, she said, “Nevertheless, we should let Twilight know right away.”

At this, Fluttershy sank back. “Oh, I mean, I didn’t want to cause a stir.”

“Nonsense! We’ll just walk over to where Twilight went and she’ll have this cleared up in no time.”

“But—”

At this, Rarity lightly coated Fluttershy in magic and pulled her as she walked. “Tut tut, no buts!” Fluttershy put up no resistance and walked along with her, despite her worried frown.

“I’ll just stay here until y’all get back, then,” said Applejack.

And so, Applejack was left alone among the blankets and books. She reached into a nearby basket and popped a muffin into her mouth. She chewed it for several moments, savoring the taste, and then swallowed. She looked around.

“Probably should have just gone with them,” she said to herself. “I want to know about the bathroom too.”

She heard some light thuds far behind her. Hoofsteps?

“Finally got back, huh?” she said.

There was no response.

Then there was another thud.

Applejack got up. “Elara? Themis? That you?”

She approached a pair of bookshelves, one against the wall and another a few feet away. Packed thick with books, it was impossible to see through one shelf to the other side. With her eyebrow raised, Applejack poked her head into the aisle between them and—

SLICE

THUD

“Hmm, I could have sworn Twilight went off in this direction,” said Rarity.

“If they found the bathroom, then Twilight should have moved the bookshelf blocking it, right?” Fluttershy replied serenely. “That’ll be hard to miss. As long as we stick to the wall, we’ll get there soon enough.”

Rarity scrunched her brows and hummed. She was partially annoyed that Fluttershy was less nervous about this than her when she was the one who brought this up in the first place, and partially relieved by her calming presence. As she looked around, craning her neck past shelves in hopes of a glimpse of the princess, her hoof knocked away something on the ground. She looked down and said, “Why hello there.”

Four thick tomes were scattered on the ground, some splayed and some still closed. The mares looked at a nearby bookshelf and found a gap where all four books would have fit.

Through that gap, they saw a wooden door, opening in and leading into a dark room.

“The bathroom! We found it!” exclaimed Rarity. “Assuming there aren’t other rooms hidden behind shelves, which I suppose isn’t all that unlikely.”

“Did the Crusaders knock these books down? Are they what caused that thud earlier?” asked Fluttershy.

“They must have. Twilight would never leave her books in this state for long.” Rarity shook her head.

Fluttershy looked around. “Where are they?”

“I can only imagine that in their excitement, they ran right past it and Twilight is looking for them. They’ll probably be back any moment, so let’s just stay here.”

Fluttershy giggled. “It isn’t like you to want to stay right outside a bathroom,” she said teasingly.

Rarity scoffed lightly. “I’ve been in a dungeon, I can handle a moderately mysterious bathroom.” She levitated the books and placed them back on the shelf, making sure they were in the correct order. She idly wondered if she would have taken such care in the past, before another thought occurred to her.

“Fluttershy, dear, before the girls get here, how about we take a quick peek inside?”

Fluttershy blinked. “Didn’t you say they’d be here any moment?”

“Well yes, but it’ll be less than a moment. Plus, I’d be helping Twilight, and it’d be good to make sure there isn’t anything that would scare poor Sweetie Belle, wouldn’t you think?”

“I do have to admit I’m curious what a thousand year old bathroom looks like,” Fluttershy said. “Plus, there might be some moles or snakes living there now!”

Rarity’s face scrunched up. “And I’m suddenly less interested.”

Still, curiosity got the better of her and she pulled on the bookshelf with her magic. It took some effort to start, but after it moved a bit, pulling it out enough for a pony to fit through was simple enough.

Blocked by the bookshelf, the chandelier light cast shadows onto the doorway, making it impossible to see inside.

“I just realized,” said Fluttershy. “It’s kind of strange that the door is already open, isn’t it?”

Rarity lit her horn, casting some light to show white tiles on the ground. “The barrier goes along the walls, so if it goes over the doorway, then Twilight has no way of closing it. No wonder she covered this up; she’d have to watch it get dirty with no way to clean it.”

They stood there for several seconds, staring at the entrance. Rarity’s horn light refused to reveal more of the room, seeming to get sucked in by the darkness. The only way to see more was to step forward.

“Well, I’ve seen enough!” said Fluttershy. “Twilight can give the tour when she gets here.”

Rarity shook her head. “This is ridiculous. I’ve faced dragons and chaos magic, and won! I won’t get stymied by a loo!”

Taking a breath, Rarity intensified the glow of her horn and stepped inside.

Though caked in dust, it was clear that at one point, this room was a queen among bathrooms, even in modern times. Considering it was single-occupant, it was quite large, with a stone tile floor and several decayed structures that she could only assume were state-of-the-art machines all dedicated to clean hooves and bums. There was an area with a floor made of some smoother structure with a grate in the ground—could this have been a shower? Rarity smiled at the thought of Twilight insisting on a shower in her library so she wouldn’t ever have to leave. And to top it off, it seemed like the bathroom extended even further past where her light reached. Now that could wait for the princess.

Rarity turned back to the cowering Fluttershy. “Well, dust aside, there’s nothing to fear here. Alas, there don’t appear to be any animals for you either.”

Fluttershy wasn’t reassured at all and looked right past the unicorn. “Rarity…” She then just barely forced out, “Look…”

Rarity felt a chill down her spine. Feeling her mouth dry up, she forced herself to turn to where Fluttershy was looking. She looked down.

Rarity blinked. “No… it—it couldn’t be…”

And yet, there it was. Right next to the bathroom door, in a corner that Rarity neglected before, was a bleached white skeleton without a skull.

The Crusaders ran through the library, yelling excitedly.

“When we get there,” said Scootaloo, “I dare one of you to dare me to sit on the toilet!”

“Eww, no!” said Sweetie Belle.

“I bet you’d back out if we did,” said Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo frowned. “N-no! And I’d totally lick it too, if you dared me to!”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Scootaloo, what are you even doing?”

“Girls, stop!”

The Crusaders skidded to a halt as Twilight landed in front of them. The princess shook her head. “We passed by the bathroom ages ago. We practically went in a circle back to where we started!”

The fillies smiled nervously. “Sorry, Princess Twilight,” they said together.

Twilight shook her head. “It’s fine. We should probably check in with the others while we’re here.”

The Crusaders nodded and followed Twilight back to the sleepover site. Aside from blankets and a now-empty basket of muffins, there was nothing there.

“Where is everypony?” asked Sweetie.

Twilight sighed in exasperation. “They must have gone looking for you. How about you stay here while I go find them.”

Scootaloo looked around, then pointed. “Found one!”

Poking out from behind a bookshelf was a pair of orange back legs, connected to a flank with three red apples making up a cutie mark, and a yellow tail.

“Hey sis, we’re back!” said Apple Bloom as she waved.

There was no response.

Apple Bloom approached with her eyebrow raised. “Sis? Come on, is whatever you’re looking at that interesting?”

She tugged on her sister’s tail.

Now that got a response.

Applejack jumped away, bumping into the shelf. She turned away from it and bucked it, knocking it off balance. Books spilled onto the ground, and the shelf itself loudly crashed down. The Crusaders screamed and jumped away.

“Applejack! Have you lost your mind?!” Twilight yelled, looking angrily at the fallen books.

She heard the Crusaders gasp, and when she turned to see what they saw, she couldn’t help but do the same.

Applejack hadn’t just lost her mind. She lost her head.

The headless body of Applejack reared up, flailing her legs, and the screams of fillies echoed throughout the library.

Fluttershy looked back in fear. “Rarity! Did you hear that?”

Unheeding, Rarity continued staring at the skeleton. This was proof, wasn’t it? Proof that the Headless Horse story was true.

And yet… wasn’t there something wrong about this? Something that just didn’t add up…

From a distance, a figure leered at the three fillies and the princess as they encountered his latest work.

Now, it wondered, which would be best suited for a beheading?

“And… bathroom break!” Pinkie announced right as she darted away in a puff of smoke.

The listening Crusaders looked at each other and groaned.

Author's Note

I intended for the whole story to be done for Halloween, but that didn't work out. Hopefully there won't be a long wait for the rest; I'm aiming for end of this week.

~ 02 ~ The Monster in the Library

The Cutie Mark Crusaders chatted amongst themselves when, as though in a video playing backwards, Pinkie returned to her previous spot.

“And I’m back!” she said with a wide smile. “Whatcha talking about?”

“Well, we think we figured some things out,” said Apple Bloom.

“Ooh, about the mystery of the skeleton and who turned Applejack into a headless horse?”

“No, about why Twilight’s a ghost.”

“Neat!” said Pinkie.

“You see, we’ve been looking at all this the wrong way. It ain’t weird that Twilight’s a ghost, if everypony else is a ghost too.” Apple Bloom wiggled her eyebrows.

Sweetie Belle jumped in. “They way they’re talking, Twilight is from a long time ago, but it’d be strange if Twilight was super old and nopony else was, right?”

Scootaloo said, “Plus, that’s a classic scary story twist! They don’t realize they’re ghosts, but then there will be a big reveal at the end.” She gasped in realization. “And that’s where Rainbow Dash comes in! You see, she’s cutting off heads to show they’re all ghosts! That’s so like Rainbow Dash.”

“And I’m a ghost too?” asked Pinkie.

“Uh, sure,” said Apple Bloom.

Pinkie giggled in glee. “Wow, I have a totally new perspective on this story! Now then, let’s see how we get there…”

The headless body of Applejack reared up, flailing her legs, and the screams of fillies echoed throughout the library.

“What in the world?!” exclaimed Twilight. Right out of the story Rarity told, there was a headless horse in front of her. But this was clearly Applejack, not some made-up stallion from ages ago. How could this have happened?

Before she could finish processing the sight before her, yet another oddity appeared.

“Woah nelly!” shouted the voice of Applejack as a lasso wrapped around her body’s legs. The body fell over, and princess and filly alike gaped as they followed the rope to its source.

A round object bounced toward them, spit the rope out of its mouth, and said, “Woo, glad I got that figured out. Any y’all hurt?”

Apple Bloom blinked. “Big sis? Y-you’re a head!”

Indeed, Applejack’s head was cleanly separated from her body, and more to the point, was still moving and talking. She rocked back and forth in front of her tied up body. “Yeah, no clue how all that happened, but I think I got a handle on it now.”

Twilight landed, then just looked back and forth between Applejack’s components. “I… what?!”

“Guessing the Spirit’s chaos magic is acting up. Must’ve heard the Headless Horse story and got some ideas.”

Twilight emitted a soft beam of purple light, which washed over Applejack and made her blink. The princess sighed and narrowed her eyes. “Of course. This just being chaos magic would have made things too simple.”

Applejack’s head jumped up as the Crusaders gaped. “Wait, you’re saying this wasn’t caused by chaos magic?”

Twilight lifted the head up with her horn. Applejack’s eyes widened as Twilight rotated her every way, closely examining her. “It’s definitely magic of some kind, but I don’t recognize it. And trust me, I’d recognize chaos magic.”

Applejack grinned nervously. “So, uh, does that mean you can’t put me back together?”

Twilight hummed. “If I had to classify this magic, I’d call it a curse. In that case, our best bet is finding whatever did this to you, and I should be able to figure something out. What do you remember?”

Applejack scrunched up. “Hmm. Last thing I did before all this was that I went over to a bookshelf, ‘cuz I heard something like hoofsteps. I thought y’all returned so I went to check and—uh, Princess, do you mind?”

Twilight was prodding the base of Applejack’s neck with her magic. Blushing, she placed the head back on the ground. “Sorry, I got curious.”

“Anyway, there was a sort of blur low to the ground, and just like that, my head came tumbling right off my body. Took a bit to figure out moving around as a head, but when I looked around, nothing else was there. I decided to go looking for it, but then I felt my tail being tugged and then I started moving my body.”

“You can still move your body?” asked Sweetie.

Applejack’s body swished its tail. “Yup, seems that way. But my head wasn’t seeing what my body was doing, so it went all buck wild. That’s why I had to tie it up.”

“That’s so cool!” said Apple Bloom.

“I want something to cut my head off too!” said Scootaloo.

Applejack frowned. “Hey now, this ain’t no fad!”

“Did anything happen to Rarity and Fluttershy?” asked Twilight.

“Not that I know of,” Applejack replied. “They went off looking for you before I got attacked. Oh right! Fluttershy thought we were being watched, and was afraid it was the Headless Pony!”

Twilight’s heart sank. “Rarity!”

With a flash of magic, the princess disappeared.

Applejack blinked, and the Crusaders sat around awkwardly. “Guess we’ll just wait here, then.”

Fluttershy looked around nervously. “Rarity, we need to—”

The unicorn waved her hoof as she examined the skeleton before them. “Just a moment. There’s something… Ooh!” She pointed. “The story of the Headless Horse! Think, Fluttershy! How was the body positioned at the end of that story?”

“This isn’t the time to—the Headless Horse will—”

Rarity turned and touched her friend’s shoulder. “Fluttershy, calm yourself. Twilight is with the girls, and we haven’t seen a sign of real danger. Now think, in the story, was the horse that would become the Headless Horse going out of the bathroom, or going in?”

Fluttershy knitted her brows, but she seemed to be less nervous. “He was going in.”

“Exactly! He was walking into the bathroom and got his head chopped off. Flooded by the Spirit’s magic, the body came to life again. But that leaves us with a contradiction. The scene before us, doesn’t it imply it was the other way around?”

“You mean the stallion was leaving the bathroom? I suppose so, but what does that change? He’s still a dangerous headless horse.”

Rarity shook her head. “Yes, he was leaving, but you’re missing the significance of that fact.”

“The sig—” Her eyes widened. “Oh, wait, you don’t mean…?”

“If the body’s still here, then the head...”

A figure watched from behind a bookshelf as its previous victim talked with three young ponies. The filly with a bow in her hair grabbed the mare’s head by her hair, and attempted to place it back on her now-upright body, to little success.

“This isn’t so bad,” said the pegasus filly. “Couldn’t you bowl your own head into enemies? That’d really catch them by surprise!”

“I ain’t gonna do that,” the mare said simply.

The figure observed the pegasus. Wings. That’d be useful on a body, wouldn’t it? He licked his lips.

Twilight flew down to Rarity and Fluttershy. “There you are! Quick, we—”

Rarity gasped. “Twilight Sparkle! Did you just leave Sweetie and the others alone when there might be a monster here?”

Twilight’s face turned red as she suddenly found herself feeling more shame than she had in centuries. “Oh, you, uh, knew about the monster?”

As Fluttershy yelped at the question, Rarity narrowed her eyes, unimpressed. “Teleport us, now.”

Part of Twilight wanted to protest that that’s already what she was going to do, and that she was concerned for Rarity and Fluttershy’s safety, but knowing now wasn’t the time for that, she nodded and teleported all three of them.

With a flash of light, the ponies were back in the lobby. The Crusaders, caught in the middle of placing Applejack’s head on her neck, froze awkwardly, unsure how to explain the situation to the newcomers. Fluttershy, unused to teleporting, looked around groggily. Rarity, however, had other things on her mind.

“Sweetie, dear, are you OK?” she asked, dashing over and holding the filly’s cheeks. “There might be a monster here. Have you seen anything?”

Sweetie pushed away Rarity and rubbed her cheeks. “I’m fine, Rarity. But about that monster…”

At that moment, Applejack’s head fell off her neck onto pillows around her. Fluttershy and Rarity stared for a moment.

Applejack cleared her throat. “Well, what happened is—”

Fluttershy and Rarity screamed loudly.

Nearby, a hidden figure pressed its ears against its head and winced.

“Applejack!” Rarity shouted. “You’re a head!”

“Yeah, it was some monster,” she responded. “Cut my head off when I wasn’t looking, and now I’m like this.”

Fluttershy’s eyes spun. “Talking disembodied head…”

“Are you alright? Does it hurt?” asked Rarity.

“Well, I mean, I can’t say I’m alright, but considering, it ain’t as bad as you’d think,” replied Applejack.

“I can’t explain it myself,” said Twilight. “But something is spreading a headlessness curse of some kind.”

“It’s gotta be the Headless Horse!” said Apple Bloom.

Fluttershy perked up at this. “Oh, Rarity, that thing we were talking about.”

Rarity nodded. “Twilight, we were looking in your bathroom earlier and discovered something very strange and definitely relevant. There’s a skeleton in there!”

The Crusaders’ eyes widened with excitement, but Twilight’s showed confusion instead. “A skeleton? What? There can’t be a skeleton in there!”

Rarity sighed. “This would be easier if you could go look, but I’d rather you didn’t leave us here for even a moment. Twilight, I’m going to describe the skeleton, and you’ll have to trust me that it’s accurate. Can you?”

Twilight blinked. “Yes. Of course.”

Rarity nodded. “Splendid. Right in the corner near the entrance, there’s a skeleton on the ground, missing its head. At first blush, this seems similar to the Headless Horse story, but it’s backwards, since the body is still there and the head is gone. But more importantly, as I was just starting to examine, it isn’t a pony body at all.”

Fluttershy jumped in. “It isn’t?”

“This skeleton had strangely sized limbs, and didn’t have any hooves, instead having spread-out toes. You might have been able to tell what creature it was if you looked, Fluttershy, but I didn’t have time to ask you.”

Twilight rubbed her chin. “I know for a fact that I would have seen a skeleton there, so there can’t be any relevance to the moment I was sealed in here. But how did that get there? No, that can wait. Tell me, Rarity, what’s your best guess as to what the skeleton’s species is?”

Rarity blinked. “Well, I can’t really say. If I had to guess, it did remind me of a dog, but much larger.”

Twilight put her front hooves together. “That’s it! It’s impossible and it’s absurd, but if it’s what I think it is…” She spun around, then said, as though quoting a story, “It will hide around the corner.”

Her magic lashed out around every nearby shelf simultaneously, and one stream of magic managed to grab hold of it.

“Urgh!” cried a toadlike voice. “Let go, pony!”

“The Headless Horse can talk?” asked Scootaloo.

Twilight grinned. “This is no Headless Horse.”

She pulled her horn back, as though there were a fishing line attached, and a round gray object flew from behind a shelf. It had canine ears and snout, and it’s open mouth held sharp teeth. And there was absolutely nothing below its chin.

“Girls… meet the Diamond Dogless Head!”

“The Diamond what now?” asked Apple Bloom.

“The Diamond Dogless Head!” Pinkie Pie said with glee.

“So, like, a diamond dog’s head by itself?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Is that really what they’d call it?”

“You know, you girls are asking questions that the story itself brings up. Twilight actually gives some technical term for it, but I don’t remember what it is. We’ll see what she says!”

“Wait, hold on,” said Apple Bloom. “You said you don’t remember what she said, so how can we see what she says?”

Pinkie patted the filly’s head. “Oh Apple Bloom, storytelling is a mysterious and magical process. Sometimes you end up saying things you don’t know!”

“I think this is just Pinkie being Pinkie,” said Sweetie Belle. “Best not to think about it.”

“By the way,” said Scootaloo, “just throwing this out there: spot on characterization for me so far.”

“Thanks!” said Pinkie. “Though you’re really just congratulating you for acting like you. Anyway, Twilight goes on to clarify…”

Twilight closed her eyes as the monstrous head struggled in her magic. “Well, another less awkward name for this is the Pomermine Biter, where Pomermine is a famous abandoned mine from a thousand years ago, which I have to imagine is still abandoned, and—”

“I think we get it,” said Applejack. “So, Mr. Biter, you did this to me, then?”

The diamond dog head turned its eyes away. “... Maybe.”

“Maybe nothing! Turn me back!”

The Biter grunted. “Doesn’t work that way, pony. Doesn’t work.”

“From what I recall of the tales,” said Twilight, “they offer no solution to having your head cut off other than to keep it tied onto your neck. They have several knot recommendations, but nothing to undo the curse. It represents stubbornness in the face of massive inconvenience.”

Applejack’s face fell. “You’re telling me I’m stuck like this?!”

The diamond dog head cackled. “Yes, yes, pony stuck!” After receiving a glare from the princess, he quickly added, “Not that I know who did this.”

Rarity pointed her hoof. “Don’t lie, you brute! Change her back, now!”

“Don’t worry,” said Twilight. “Even if our friend doesn’t cooperate, we have a couple of leads. First of all, diamond dogs in the region these stories come from aren’t known for their magic, so it’s quite likely there’s a magical solution they weren’t aware of. Second of all, this shouldn’t exist—” she shook the monster, then turned him to face her “—you shouldn’t exist. How do you exist?”

The Biter again turned his eyes away. “Well, if pony going to ask personal questions…”

“Twilight,” said Fluttershy. “You said before that there definitely wasn’t a skeleton in your bathroom before, right? Couldn’t that mean something?”

Twilight’s eyes brightened. “Of course, the bathroom!”

Her horn glowed, but then Fluttershy called out, “No, wait! Can’t we just walk there, please?”

Twilight looked at the wriggling monster in her magic. “Sure, I guess. The threat has been neutralized, after all. So, let’s walk to the bathroom.”

The Crusaders didn’t need to be told twice. They ran off, yelling about getting to see a skeleton, while the mares followed behind them. Applejack’s body walked too, with her head having somehow formed a harness out of her rope, tying it to her body.

“I could lift you too if you want, Applejack,” Twilight offered.

“Thank you kindly, but if this actually is permanent, I better get used to being like this,” she replied.

“Sounds like what Twilight mentioned about the stories,” said Rarity. “Stubbornness in the face of massive inconvenience. Perhaps you were a diamond dog all along.”

Applejack laughed. “If anything, that sounds like you. I bet you’d make a fashionable collar to keep your head on and turn it into the talk of the town.”

Twilight joined in, lightly grinning. “Knowing you, you’d still find a way to run your shop and find all the books even under the curse.”

Rarity hummed. “Touché, but I’d rather not be compared to, ugh, that thing.”

Twilight tilted her head. “I’ve actually met several diamond dogs that would be considered quite affable by ponies, though I can’t imagine diplomatic relations survived enough for ponies to be able to see their large cities.”

“Another thing for us to see once you get out of here, then,” Rarity said with a wink.

Twilight scratched her cheek, blushing lightly. “Yeah.”

The diamond dog head gagged, and Twilight shook him in response.

They soon arrived at the bathroom. The Crusaders gaped into the entrance, though thankfully kept their distance. The princess peeked inside and winced.

“The skeleton was quite a shock to me too,” said Rarity.

Twilight blinked. “Oh, no. I mean, the skeleton isn’t good, but I know about that already. I’m just not a fan of how my bathroom looks now. I kept it very clean when I was corporeal! Anyway, I can definitely confirm that that skeleton wasn’t there before.” She lifted the diamond dog head up. “Is this your body?”

The Biter twisted his lips. “Could be anydoggy’s body.”

“He really does like to tell pointless lies, doesn’t he?” commented Rarity.

Twilight reached into the door, only to press up against an invisible barrier. “There’s no way for me to investigate further, unless somepony goes in there, and I can’t ask that of you.”

As she said this, the skeleton lifted up and floated into the library proper, surrounded by blue magic. “Or we could do this,” said Rarity with a smirk.

Twilight blinked. “Yes, that would work.”

They set it on the floor and Twilight immediately got to scanning it with her magic while the Crusaders gawked. Deciding she was better off not watching, Fluttershy looked elsewhere. Her eyes fell on the bookshelf they moved, and she decided she may as well look at the titles.

“Myths and Legends Endemic to Caninia”.

“An Examination of Southern Equestria Folk Tales”.

And one even just called “Frightening Tales”.

Fluttershy sighed and looked down. Of course there’d just be more scary stories here.

Something on the ground caught her eye. Snagged on the corner of the bookshelf was a bit of tattered off-white cloth. This struck her as odd for several reasons. Firstly, Twilight would have kept the floor clean, so there shouldn’t have been anything there. Secondly, even if Twilight hadn’t, none of them would have brought something like that, least of all Rarity. Lastly, she was pretty sure it wasn’t there before.

A thought occurred to her and she froze up. If there was already one unexpected monster here, then…

“Aha!” declared Twilight. “This skeleton was magically-constructed, which makes it simple to date. It came into existence a mere twenty minutes ago! And the Biter here matches its magical signature, so the same applies to him.”

“Well that’s good,” said Applejack. “That means this fella’s head wasn’t cut off a thousand years ago, he was just born now!”

Twilight winced. “Well, no, I wouldn’t say that’s good. Heads and skeletons don’t just form out of nowhere, so someone or something made them.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “What? Someone else is responsible for this? Who, and to what end?” The dogless head started whistling innocently, and Rarity then grabbed him with her front hooves squeezing his cheeks. “What’s your game?”

Sweating, the Biter responded, “No game, pony! Just twenty minutes old, just a baby, can’t be responsible for anything!”

Fluttershy softly raised her hoof. “Err, if Mr. Biter was just created recently, isn’t it possible that some other monsters got created?” The other ponies looked at her silently, and she traced her hoof on the ground. “Because I just saw this cloth, and it reminded me of that story Twilight told earlier, about…” She drifted off, as though saying the name would summon it.

Sobs could be heard in the distance.

Immediately, all the ponies huddled together, looking outwards in all directions with shrunken pupils. Twilight was in the center of the group, her incorporeal limbs passing through many of them.

“I didn’t say her name and she still appeared!” said Fluttershy, simultaneously whispering and yelling.

The crying grew closer and closer, echoing throughout the room.

“The Weeping Mare’s going to get us!” said Sweetie Bell.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” said Rarity. She and the others looked around, and then she saw her. Far down the aisle was a white-furred mare with a long black mane that shrouded most of her body. She sat on the ground, with her face in her forelegs. “There she is!”

The Weeping Mare shook, her upper body heaving from her sobs. She took in a deep breath, and then shrieked. Despite her posture not changing at all, she launched toward them.

Everyone screamed. “Twilight, blast her!” yelled Rarity.

Twilight, in a panic, fired off a huge blast of purple energy toward the monster, taking up the entirety of the aisle. There was no opportunity for her to dodge. The attack scorched the ground and scattered books into the air, creating a deep boom that reverberated around them.

As the dust cleared, the Weeping Mare laid amongst the books. While Twilight’s collection was protected by a powerful spell cast by Celestia herself, the Mare wasn’t. She was on her back, her limbs spread and her eyes spinning.

Wasting no time, Twilight took her in her magic. Applejack pulled out her rope and, with uncanny skill, wrapped it all around the Mare, then tied her in a strong knot.

They dropped her on the ground, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Fluttershy shot up. “Wait, we can’t relax! There could be other monsters around!”

The ponies all jumped into a tight group again, all except the princess, who looked over the trapped Weeping Mare. The monster had recovered and wore a rather perturbed expression. “Excuse me,” asked Twilight, “could you answer a few—”

The monster wailed loudly, making everyone wince. Twilight placed a barrier around the Mare’s head, muting the sound.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll get answers out of her. But from my analysis, she’s similar to the Biter: completely made of magic, and only created a few minutes ago.”

“It’s gotta be the Spirit,” said Applejack. “Even if it ain’t chaos magic, it can’t be anyone else.”

“No, it’s the bathroom,” said Apple Bloom. “The skeleton was in there, so the bathroom must be haunted—like, really haunted—and now it’s haunting us.”

“Both of those are preposterous,” said Rarity. “Twilight knows chaos magic better than anyone here, and the bathroom’s a, well, bathroom. Why would it suddenly become haunted now?”

“Maybe something tunneled in,” said Fluttershy. “The back of the bathroom did look awfully dark.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and she looked into the bathroom. She lit up her horn, and while her magic couldn’t pierce the barrier, the light she generated shined in like a flashlight. There, in the back of the room, was rubble that had fallen toward them, and a large hole in the wall leading into shadows.

“Everyone,” said Twilight. “I’m going to block off the entrance. There’s nothing else I can do while I’m stuck in the library, so we’ll have to keep the monsters in there.”

Fluttershy shook. “But the first monster was a head, and the second monster was a mare. Won’t they keep getting bigger and more complicated? There’s no way just some bookshelves could hold them forever.”

“It doesn’t have to be forever,” said Twilight. “Just until I’m free, then I can go down the tunnel and deal with whatever’s there.”

“But Twilight, that could take years!” Rarity said. “And even if you seal them out of the library, what’s stopping them from tunneling to the surface and haunting the entire Everfree Forest?”

Twilight thought. “That’s true. Maybe, just until you get all the books, it’s better if none of you come back to the Library, and—”

Rarity’s hoof swished through Twilight’s head, making her freeze mid-speech. The unicorn frowned and narrowed her eyes. “Are you honestly asking us to stay away from you for that long, Twilight? You know we can’t possibly do that! Our best bet is to stop the threat now, before the monsters get stronger.”

Twilight blinked, rubbing her cheek as though she was really slapped. “But Rarity, only someone who can leave the barrier can go down the tunnel. Applejack is in no condition to fight, I can’t ask Fluttershy to do this, and the fillies are fillies. That just leaves you.”

Rarity nodded. “Exactly. I admit, I’d quite prefer this didn’t fall to me, but if I must, then so be it.”

“But there will be monsters.”

Rarity laughed. “Like that ever stopped me! And besides, let’s consider the results of your own analyses. The Weeping Mare was only created a few minutes ago, and the Biter and his skeleton were created at the same time. The skeleton was right at the bathroom entrance, so we can assume the monsters are created at the entrance, rather than further down the tunnel.”

Twilight looked away. “I… do agree, that’s what the results show.”

Rarity’s horn glowed and encased a crystal tied around her neck. “And besides, with our necklaces, I won’t truly be alone, right?” She winked.

The princess stared at her for endless moments, before she finally sighed. “Alright, you win. You would have run in even if I said no.”

Rarity smiled. “You really do know me well.”

“Besides,” said Applejack, “we don’t know that there ain’t already a tunnel leading outside. If we left, there could be monsters out there.”

Twilight hummed. “Alright, here’s what we’ll do. Rarity, I’m going to be in constant contact with the necklace. You aren’t going to be alone for even a second. If my theory is correct, you shouldn’t encounter any resistance in the tunnel itself until you get to the source, but I’ll protect you the entire time regardless.”

Rarity played with her necklace, blushing lightly. “That… will be interesting. Quite gallant of you, dear.”

“Wait,” said Sweetie Belle, “if you’re going to be connecting to Rarity’s mind, then what if any monsters come in here?”

“I’ll deal with that,” said Applejack. “My head may be off, but I can still buck just fine.”

“It’s far from the perfect solution,” said Twilight, “but I’ll believe in all of you.”

Rarity looked through the bathroom door and gulped. She looked down at her necklace. “There’s no time to lose.” She turned back to the others with an uneasy smile. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Rarity stepped through the barrier and immediately felt a change in the air. Her horn cast a blue glow over her surroundings, with it all absorbed by the darkness in front of her.

Her necklace glowed, and she looked back to her dearest. Though concerned, the princess smiled and waved. Rarity smiled back, then walked forward.

“And… bathroom break!” said Pinkie as she dashed off.

“Again?” said Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “What did that mare eat today?”

Scootaloo tilted her head. “Wait, did Pinkie even mention the necklaces before now?”

Author's Note

This ended up being much longer than I expected. Next chapter will be the last.

~ 03 ~ The Nightmare Tunnel

Pinkie zipped back into place. “Alright, I’m back!”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, Pinkie, what’s with the bathroom trips?”

Pinkie laughed. “Come on, you guys, you’re acting like I was off consorting with an interdimensional demon to get information about the story I’m telling!”

The Crusaders looked at each other, and Scootaloo said, “Uh, we were?”

“Anyway, tell me, what theories do you guys have now?”

Sweetie started, “Well, about that necklace—”

Pinkie closed her eyes and raised her hoof. “I bet you fillies are wondering why they’re using the necklace communication spell, when at this point in the timeline, it should be damaged with Rarity unsure if that’ll still work.”

Scootaloo twisted her face. “Not really, no.”

Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, I guess you already figured this was out of continuity, since there’s no time for this to happen between the first sleepover and Rarity getting cursed, especially with me not there, so things like that don’t really matter.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Seriously, what are you even talking about?”

Ignoring the question, Pinkie looked at Sweetie with wide eyes. “Anyway, what were you saying?”

Sweetie paused. “You know what, never mind.”

Pinkie spread her arms. “Then let’s finish things off!”

Rarity walked through the darkness, accompanied by pale blue hornlight. The tunnel walls were mere feet away from her on either side, creating shadows every which way. Under normal circumstances, Rarity would have been breathing quickly and panicking. However, there was another light accompanying her: the pink light of her necklace.

She closed her eyes and felt a warm presence in her mind. Keeping focus on that, she lifted a hoof and lovingly ran it through her mane. She could feel the presence fidget and, in a way, could even tell it was blushing. “Rarity!” it said. “It’s hard enough keeping up this spell while holding those monsters in place.”

Through an enchantment on the necklace, the princess’s mind was cohabiting with Rarity’s. It was an odd sensation, and keeping the connection stable was troublesome at times, but given Rarity and Twilight could normally never make contact, it was a rare opportunity to comfort the poor touch-starved princess.

“You don’t have to put it like that,” said Twilight.

Rarity giggled. Knowing what thoughts she was keeping to herself was tricky.

“So, how long have I been walking?” Rarity asked.

“Just about three minutes,” Twilight replied.

Rarity frowned. Three minutes wasn’t a ton of time, but it was also quite long for a mysterious tunnel that monsters were coming out of.

“I’m still pretty surprised you were so willing to go in here,” said Twilight.

“If I didn’t, then who would?” Rarity replied haughtily. “And you’re with me, aren’t you? Things will work out just fine.”

“Where does your confidence come from?” Twilight asked with some amusement.

“Confidence comes from me being Rarity, of course! Can you imagine if I wasn’t?”

“I guess not.” Twilight’s thoughts moved in such a way that Rarity was sure she was tapping her chin. “Actually, do you mind if I cast a spell through you?”

The unicorn blinked. “A spell? You can do that?”

“In theory, it’s possible. I have to imagine our magics flow in different ways, but I could construct an abstract framework for the spell and your own magic can implement it.”

Rarity shook her head. “Sorry dear, I don’t quite follow.”

Except she did. Through their connection, Rarity could clearly visualize what Twilight meant, and it all seemed quite simple. She was sure that once Twilight left her mind, her understanding would go with her, but for now, her magic flowed easily into the shape required.

“Alright, now this is going to be the tricky part,” said Twilight. “Keep the spell I’m thinking of in your mind, and I’ll focus elsewhere to get the magical signature of the monsters with me. I’ll send that data to you, and you have to put it into the spell. This will allow us to pinpoint the source. Do you understand?”

Rarity smiled. “Somehow I do.”

Their minds interlocking and flowing into each other seamlessly, they cast the spell, launching a pulse of light from Rarity’s horn. Moments later, the spell got its results.

“The source of this magic is ten minutes away at your current pace.” Twilight announced. “It looks like it’s a straight shot down the tunnel, with no change in elevation.”

“Well that’s good, I suppose,” Rarity responded. “Though, what do we do once we get there?”

Twilight faltered. “I… still don’t have a good grasp on what we’re dealing with. There are just so many oddities here.”

Rarity hummed. “Hopefully a horn blast will be enough. Tell me, using the same method we just used, would I be able to fire a big energy blast?”

“Well, that’s just a simple release of energy. I suppose I could help bring down the mental blocks unicorns usually place on their magic, but there’s no quick way to increase your magic reserves, so you’ll be pretty drained after.”

“As a last ditch effort, then.”

Rarity froze.

There was something in front of her.

Two glints of orange bobbed up and down, giving Rarity the distinct impression of predatory eyes approaching.

Fear filled Rarity. There was no way to escape whatever this was, with the tunnel as small as it was. She couldn’t run, could she? That’d put them right back where they started. Was fighting the right move? Could she fight it?

“Rarity,” Twilight said gently, and instantly a wave of calm flowed through her. “Think of what we determined earlier. Monsters aren’t created until they reach the entrance.”

The monster was close enough that she could make out more of its shape. It was bipedal and just taller than a pony, with what appeared to be purple skin, and what was definitely rows of sharp teeth in a lizard-like mouth.

“Then what is that?”

Twilight analyzed the figure through Rarity’s eyes, half-seconds ticking away as the unicorn desperately hoped for an answer. “Rarity, it’s transparent. Look, you should be able to see it too, now that you know to look for it.”

Rarity felt Twilight’s certainty, and that was enough to make her really take in the creature. Its gait was lazy, but was also walking quicker than Rarity was before. Its eyes were vacant, showing no acknowledgment of anything in front of it, and indeed, Rarity’s hornlight went right through it.

“So that’s how it is,” Twilight commented. “The monsters don’t take corporeal form until they reach the entrance, but magic shapes them as they travel down.”

“It isn’t dangerous, then?” asked Rarity.

“No. Well, not to you. Applejack and I will have to deal with it here.”

Rarity huffed. “Well, if it’s alright with you, I’m not a fan of when you walk through me, so I’m definitely not going to let that thing do it. I think if I scootch to the side, we shouldn’t touch.”

She pressed against the wall, and moments later, she watched the monster walk right past her.

“Oh huh, an atog,” Twilight said in recognition.

“Is that what that thing is?”

“Yes, it’s a creature that supposedly comes from Old Canterlot… well, old even by my standards, when there were active mines in the area. Despite how it looks, it’s actually pretty docile toward ponies, but it eats gems and machines like nothing else. Most inanimate objects, really.”

“So it shouldn’t be a problem, then?”

“Thankfully, no. It’ll try to eat the books for sure, but it can’t get past the protection spells.”

Rarity resumed walking. “Well that’s a relief.”

Twilight hummed. “And that definitely makes a pattern.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Diamond Dogless Head, the Weeping Mare, and now an atog. All of those are stories I know, and were included in the books I brought for the sleepover.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “So it was the stories we were telling, like Applejack suggested.”

“That can’t be it. I only told you one of those stories. Maybe it’s taking them from my mind, but I’m sure I’d be able to detect if something was linked to me. You would too, while we’re like this.”

Rarity hummed.

“Actually, hold on a second. It’s here.”

Bringing her mind back to herself, Twilight explained the situation. “So, since I’m keeping up my connection with Rarity, I won’t be able to help much. The atog should just leave you alone though, as long as you don’t bother it.”

Applejack’s head wobbled on her back. “Just let the critter be, got it.”

The fillies hid behind an overturned table with Fluttershy, poking their heads over while Applejack stood in front.

Footsteps came from the bathroom.

“I can hear it coming,” said Fluttershy.

The Crusaders all showed a mix of excitement and unease, covering their eyes with their hooves, yet still peeking around them.

The footsteps came into the library, hidden behind the bookshelf in front of the bathroom. Seconds passed, and then at last, a purple clawed hand reached around the bookshelf. Once the atog’s grinning purple face popped around it, the Crusaders all screamed.

“Woah! That’s a nasty-looking fella,” said Applejack.

“I don’t know,” said Fluttershy. “It seems much nicer than the other two.”

The ponies all watched the creature closely as it stepped into the light. With its large eyes, it looked around with a claw to its mouth, as though out of curiosity, before it eventually turned to the bookshelf behind it. It grabbed a handful of books and shoved them right into its mouth.

Fluttershy put her hooves to her mouth. “Oh no! All those fairy tales. Twilight, should I stop it?”

Though Twilight was cringing, she said, “There’s really no need. Look, the protection spell on them is still working fine.”

True to word, as the atog chewed, a golden aura on the books made them slide right out of its mouth. It picked them up again, repeatedly trying to no effect.

“You see? Shouldn’t be a—” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wait, Fluttershy, why did you mention fairy tales?”

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh, well, I suppose those books are more like collections of myths, not really fairy tales.”

Twilight looked at the bookshelf. “This section is—of course! That’s the connection! I need to go back to Rarity. Don’t do anything to the atog for now. Be safe, everypony.” With that, the princess’s eyes drifted off.

The remaining ponies continued watching the creature for a few more moments, and once it seemed like the atog wasn’t going to try anything else, Applejack said, “Well, I think it’s safe to come out now, if you girls want.”

Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle all stepped out from behind the table, continuing to watch the monster.

Applejack’s head wobbled. “Wait a minute. Where’s Scootaloo?”

She heard a war cry behind her as the pegasus filly galloped toward the monster. With deft skill, she reached to her neck with one hoof, pulled off her head, and launched it forward.

“Head Cannon Attack!” the head shouted as it spun through the air.

The atog caught Scootaloo’s head with one hand.

“Uh,” Scootaloo’s head said.

Applejack gaped. “What in tarnation?!”

The Diamond Dogless Head’s eyes darted away. “No filly asked me to cut her head off, if that’s what pony is wondering.”

“I really thought this would work!” Scootaloo said as the atog stared at her for a moment, then slowly opened its mouth.

Fluttershy flew up and shouted, “Hey!” The atog, seemingly taken aback, turned to look at her. “No! Put her down!”

The atog looked at her for a second, before returning its attention to Scootaloo.

“No no no,” Fluttershy said sternly. “Down!”

The atog seemed to wince, and then when Fluttershy widened her eyes and glared at it, it finally dropped the head.

Fluttershy smiled. “Good atog.”

Scootaloo raised her hoof to interrupt the story. “Look, if I really did that, I’m pretty sure it would have worked better than that.”

Pinkie smiled and tilted her head with her eyes closed. “Of course, Scootaloo,” she said with complete sincerity. “Anyway, we cut back to Rarity, with Twilight bringing important news.”

“Rarity!” Twilight mentally shouted.

Rarity jumped. “Gah! I don’t know how you startled me with our minds linked, but you did!”

The princess mentally blushed. “Ah, sorry. How aware were you of my conversation a second ago?”

“I got the gist of it. I know you realized something about the books, but what precisely?”

“I have a pretty solid guess of what’s causing all this. It was only ever theoretical, but the components necessary are all in place here. What threw me off was not knowing where the monster ideas were coming from, but now we know they’re coming from the bookshelf that was blocking the bathroom. It was indexed in the 390s, for folklore!”

Rarity hummed. “A monster that makes things found in books, then?”

“Sounds like what happens when a common Equestrian bookworm is empowered by magic. They eat books and then the characters from them appear in the real world.”

“Yes, but nothing’s been eaten, correct? I think you of all ponies would have noticed that happening.”

“Ah, but that’s where the theoretical part comes in. Dark magic powered by negative emotions can have unique effects on creatures, and while it’s never been seen in the wild, I have read and written examinations of what a bookworm charged with a large amount of it could do. There were a couple suggestions, and this matches up with one of them.”

Rarity could feel charts appearing in her mind as Twilight continued.

“Bookworms are drawn to active libraries, so of course there would have been some bookworm eggs in the soil nearby when this place was active. Then a large source of negative emotions—the destruction of Old Ponyville—washed over the eggs until one turned into a, let’s call it, nightmare worm egg. It continued incubating over the years until it finally hatched, triggered both by an increase in activity and an increase in negative emotions. A nightmare worm under this theory is less physical and more phantasmal. We haven’t seen it, but it’s been tunneling through the ground and essentially gripping its mouth onto the bookshelf.”

Rarity took a moment to parse this. “Wait, it created the tunnel and was attached to the bookshelf, and whatever we’re looking for is further down the tunnel. Twilight, are you saying that I’m walking inside a nightmare worm right this very instant?”

“Well, I mean, it isn’t all that different from you walking through me, but…”

Rarity felt herself gagging.

“Rarity! It’s fine, there’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“But I’m inside a worm! How can I not be concerned?”

“It’s feeding off two things: the contents of the books, and negative emotions. None of those are physical things. And we’re far from the point where its monsters become real, so it can’t hurt you that way either. It’s creepy, but it’s harmless.” Twilight thought for a moment. “Ah, like Granny Smith’s Haunted Corn Maze.”

Rarity shook her head. “If I weren’t linked to you, I’d wonder what exactly you think that corn maze is. Anyway, it seems like we have another monster coming up.”

Rarity pointed ahead, and a cloudy wisp approached.

Twilight hummed. “I can’t even tell what this is. It must be too early in its development for a concrete appearance. We’re getting close.”

“Now that we know we’re—hurk—inside a giant magical worm, what exactly are we approaching?”

“My guess is the physical component of the worm.”

Through Twilight’s imagination, Rarity was able to visualize the nightmare worm: its mouth was hooked onto the bookshelf, and far at its backside, there was the physical worm, floating in the air and curled up.

“The worm… is asleep?” asked Rarity.

Twilight nodded. “Nightmare worm isn’t just a fanciful name. Dark magic is forcing it into a nightmare, which is fed by the books it’s absorbing. If I’m right, the key to ending this will be to just wake it up.”

“Well that’s good.” Rarity could sense the princess flowing into another thought, but she interrupted. “Twilight, dear, before we get there, I want you to try something.”

Twilight shifted focus back to her body. “How are things here? I could feel there was a commotion of some kind earlier.”

“Things are fine,” said Fluttershy, who sat with the atog while it continued ineffectually chewing on a book. Her face turned serious. “Though Scootaloo does have something to tell you.”

Twilight turned to the pegasus filly, who was sitting with the others. “What is—” she noticed that Scootaloo’s head was on the ground, held by her front legs “—… oh.”

Scootaloo grimaced. “Yeah, this didn’t turn out to be as cool as I thought.”

Applejack ahemed.

“And I shouldn’t have done it in the first place. I’m sorry, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight looked around the room. “I… we’ll talk about this later.”

The princess found what she was looking for. With her magic, she pulled all the books off of a bookcase, and then all the books off of the folklore shelves, then swapped them. She sighed. Even if it was temporary, and she’d easily be able to swap them back, she didn’t like this violation of the Star Swirl Decimal Classification.

“Why’d you do that?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Long story short, the monsters are being made from the books, so Rarity figured if we replaced them with books without monsters, we would have much less trouble.”

Applejack laughed. “Well that’s great! No more monsters, then?”

“Unfortunately, there’s still one more monster coming. They’re less formed the further you go down the tunnel, so I don’t know what it’ll be. Hopefully we’ll have it all sorted out before it arrives.” Twilight thought for a moment. “Actually, at this point, it might be better if you all just hid, to give you time to understand the monster.”

Fluttershy stood to attention. “Yes, of course. Girls, come with me.”

The fillies, clearly shaken by the past minutes, got up without fuss. When Scootaloo struggled with how to move her head, Fluttershy picked it up by the hair, like a mother cat carrying a kitten.

“I’ll keep my distance, but I still want a good view of the bathroom,” said Applejack. “To make sure we know what’s coming. And don’t worry, I’ll protect everypony with my life.”

Twilight nodded. “Well, back to Rarity. Good luck.”

“Wow, way to make it obvious Applejack is going to die,” said Sweetie Belle.

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “What? No, Applejack isn’t going to die! That’d be so sad!”

The fillies blinked at her, and she covered her mouth with both hooves.

“Oops, didn’t mean to say that. Anyway, let’s check back in with Rarity.”

Twilight’s attention shifted back to Rarity’s mind. “I’m back, any upd—” She could tell immediately that there was something amiss with her mood. “Rarity, what is it?”

Rarity resolved to not dance around what was bothering her. “Twilight, you said this nightmare worm was awakened by a surge in activity and also a surge in negative emotions. Care to explain that last part?”

Twilight felt like she was caught in a lie. “D-did I say that? I mean, yes, it couldn’t have just been because of ponies visiting, but the negative emotions, they don’t have to be much.”

“Darling, remember our minds are linked. I can tell you’re misleading me. From what you’ve said, this worm has been here for about as long as you. Why did it only awaken now?”

“Well, it waking up today in particular is definitely because of the sleepover, but it’s more a buildup of everything that happened these past months making it slowly awaken, with today pushing it past the edge.”

“But surely your thousand years of negative emotions at being trapped—”

“Rarity!” Twilight snapped. “There weren’t a thousand years of negative emotions! For the vast majority of that time, I felt nothing. I didn’t feel pain or sorrow, just emptiness. I only started hurting again because of you! And now there are ponies getting their heads cut off, and you go missing for days with me having no clue what’s going on, and I’m scared, and that’s why the nightmare worm woke up! Are you happy now?”

Twilight could feel Rarity’s shame, and immediately regretted saying that.

“Twilight,” Rarity said. “I’m so sorry. I realized I was prodding a bit, but I’ve been so exasperated by tonight that I didn’t think to stop. I knew this was a touchy subject for you, and I was being foolish.”

“No! I mean, yes, it’s true that I didn’t like you asking that, but I shouldn’t have yelled. Our minds being linked makes it hard to have a filter.”

Rarity didn’t speak for a moment, then warmly chuckled. “Well, our minds being linked also means we both know for a fact that the other is sorry.”

Twilight giggled back. “Yeah, it is convenient like that.”

Rarity sighed in relief. “In any case, I see the tunnel opening up ahead. We must have arrived.”

Twilight nodded. “The worm’s core.”

The chamber ahead of them glowed softly, to the point that Rarity no longer needed to light her horn to look around. In terms of area, it was nearly the size of the library itself, but it wasn’t nearly as tall. The glows came from pony-sized objects similar in shape to lava lamps, but stuck to the walls and ceilings by some sticky substance. A quick look suggested to Rarity that there were perhaps a dozen of these lamps, but then the object in the center of the room drew her attention. A large worm—more of a caterpillar really, given its legs—was floating, curled up and glowing white.

“There it is,” Rarity said. “We just have to wake it up, correct?”

“Yes, that’s all we need to do.”

Rarity stood there for a moment. “Twilight, dear, this worm has been sleeping here for a thousand years. Is it really as simple as going up and shaking it?”

Doubt flooded Twilight’s mind. “Uh, maybe? Hopefully?”

The unicorn lit her horn and nudged the worm with her magic. No response. She coated the worm in her magic and shook it. Still nothing.

“Alright, it’s fine,” Twilight said. “We just have to… well, I didn’t want it to come to this, but maybe we should just blast it with magic?”

Rarity mentally glared at the princess.

Twilight mentally swung a hoof back and forth. “Our goal is just to wake it up, and this is more effective than any other options we have. The dark magic should prevent it from actually getting hurt, but it should at least surprise it.”

The unicorn kept glaring, but after a moment, she fluttered her lips. “Well, if this doesn’t work, I swear I’ll haunt you.”

She took a deep breath, lit her horn, then fired an energy blast at the worm.

This got a response.

The worm groaned, and the room shook. Rarity immediately ceased her attack, but the room didn’t stop shaking. She looked around warily as the lamps started ripping open, with mist seeping out. It was then that Rarity realized they weren’t lamps at all, but cocoons. The mist started gathering, forming into distinct figures.

They were forming into monsters.

Applejack waited behind a bookshelf, keeping her distance from the bathroom door but leaving her head out past the edge to keep an eye on it.

She could feel the cold before the monster even appeared.

All Applejack could say was, “Woah nelly!” as a shrieking spirit launched out of the passage and flew to the ceiling. She recognized the transparent blue coloring, horse front half, and wispy back half immediately: it was a windigo. With each whinny from the creature, the room grew a bit colder, and bits of snow fell to the ground.

The mare picked up her head. “Well, not much I can do on my own.”

After confirming that the windigo didn’t seem interested in looking down below, and tying her head up again, Applejack galloped to where the others were hiding. Tipped-over tables formed a sort of fort, blocking off the aisles leading toward the bathroom, and leaving open both a passage to the library’s exit and the spiral staircase leading down. Fluttershy sat with her back against a table, a worried expression on her face, while the Crusaders had wide and curious eyes.

“Sis, what’d the monster turn out to be?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Just look up,” Applejack replied.

The ponies turned their heads and watched the spirit circle around the ceiling. The chandelier itself seemed uncomfortable with its new neighbor, twisting away from it with every approach.

“A windigo?” Scootaloo waved her hoof. “Pff, that’s easy.”

“Yeah,” Sweetie replied. “We just gotta make a Fire of Friendship!”

“Already got an earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus right here.” Apple Bloom raised a hoof. “Almost doubled, matter of fact!”

Sweetie jumped up. “Let’s sing Hearth’s Warming carols!”

Fluttershy shivered from the chill. “If we start singing, won’t it notice us?”

Unheeding, Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. “THE FIRE OF FRIENDSHIP LIVES IN OUR HEARTS—”

The windigo swooped down with a loud and echoing neigh, making all the ponies scream and duck. It then flew back up, circling around the ceiling again.

“Maybe we can just be warm and friendly quietly,” suggested Fluttershy.

Applejack groaned. “Hope the princess and Rarity fix this soon.”

“Well, we’ve learned two things,” Twilight said nervously. “First, those glowing cocoons are where the fictional characters come from. Second, the nightmare worm can speed up the process of generating them when stressed.”

Rarity backed away as figures formed in front of her. “Knowing all that before you told me to attack it would have been helpful.”

“I’m really sorry,” Twilight replied. “This wasn’t covered in any theories.”

The mists from the cocoons formed into pony-sized bodies. Then they formed pony-sized heads. Then a great many of them formed long beards.

Rarity had held a breath in order to scream, but she instead released it in a confused hum. The creatures ahead of her were ponies, and all old fogeys at that. “Twilight, dear, is there some horror story about a bunch of—ahem—older gentlecolts, or…?”

The unicorn could feel Twilight’s elation. “Rarity, your idea worked! I swapped out all the horror stories on the shelves, and now all of the nightmare worm’s creations are based on philosophical works!”

The philosophers all looked at each other quizzically.

“Look! There’s Aristrotle!” the princess said excitedly. “And there’s Fetlocrates!”

Names filled Rarity’s head, and she felt a warm joy at Twilight’s excitement.

“Ooh!” Twilight said, focusing on a philosopher in foreign garb that Rarity didn’t recognize. “And there’s the founder of Yangism, Yang Zoology. We only know of his philosophy through what others have written about him.”

Yang’s eyes glowed red and he hissed, revealing sharp fangs.

Twilight’s elation evaporated. “Granted, all the writings about him are from his critics.”

The other philosophers soon joined suit, with their veins bulging and each becoming more monstrous in their own ways. Among them, Equinas grew ram horns, Coltvin grew a turtle shell, and Confloofius grew a second head.

Rarity backed away. “Twilight, explain!”

“In the end, this is still a nightmare worm we’re dealing with,” Twilight said. “I suppose it’s going to see the negatives in everything it reads.”

“So, what now?”

The monster philosophers started settling their transformations.

Twilight sighed. “Rarity, I’ve messed up a lot today. Even so, do you still trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Remember when I cast that spell through you earlier?”

“Yes, I—oh. I see, so that’s what we’re going to do. Then go right ahead, darling. I’m ready.”

Rarity closed her eyes as her magic formed into the shape she remembered from before. Their thoughts intertwined and synched up. They certainly each had concerns about the other, but if each pony was entirely reliable, there wouldn’t be a need for trust. They trusted each other because even when they were fallible, they had the other’s best interests in heart. That trust is what made the mind link spell possible in the first place, and it also allowed it to take this new form. Twilight’s knowledge of spells combined with Rarity’s magic, until they were a seamless whole.

Rarity’s eyes opened.

“Now, if you’ll indulge me,” Pinkie said as she pulled out a record labeled Anime Fight Music.

She rolled out a record player from behind her, placed the record on, and started the music.

The first to charge toward Rarity was a bewinged Aristrotle, baring his fangs as he took a flying leap. Magic gathered in Rarity’s horn, and with the greatest of ease, she teleported right behind him and he crashed into a wall. Without a moment’s hesitation, she gripped the philosopher with her magic and flung him toward a group of three others. They prepared for this by stabilizing their footings, but Rarity’s ground-softening spell arrived before Aristrotle. With the loose ground, they all toppled over on impact. A delayed second spell activated, making the ground rise up around them and form a hard cage.

Two monsters attacked next, galloping from either side of her. Rarity teleported again, but they quickly made sharp turns and followed her to her new location. The unicorn teleported into the air right above them, leading to a momentary desync as Rarity thought perhaps Twilight forgot about her lack of wings, but she quickly got the gist of the plan. Blue energy formed below the assailants, which then lifted them into the air and formed into a spherical barrier with them inside. Rarity landed on top and, with balance that the princess knew she wouldn’t have achieved after being out of practice for so long, she rolled the ball around the room with her legs. Philosophers leapt out of the way, but eventually most were run over and nailed into the ground. Satisfied, Rarity jumped off and released the barrier, sending the two stuck inside tumbling into a wall.

Last was Fetlocrates, who, in an ancient tongue that Rarity nevertheless understood, asked her to explain eudaimonia. A certain princessy part of her felt the inclination to do so, but the annoyed fashionista side instead magically pulled him toward her, yelling, “Eat the floor, mother[Pinkie chose to censor the rest]!” She then turned and struck him hard with a back-legged kick, taking him out.

“Anypony else want to dance?!” Rarity yelled.

The room shook again. Looking around, they spotted one last cocoon, which was much larger than the others. It tore open, mist pouring out and forming into a large hoof. To Rarity’s horror, the leg it was attached to formed into several ponies, connected to and overlapping with each other, all facing away from her. More of its body formed out of the same substance, pony bodies stacking up until they formed a gigantic pony that pressed against the ceiling. Finally, the head formed. It wasn’t made of smaller ponies, but rather it was a large stallion head with a moustache, a goatee, and a crown.

Rarity stared aghast, but for Twilight, annoyance took precedence. “That’s just a metaphor, and it doesn’t even appear in the text!” the princess shouted through Rarity’s mouth. “It’s literally just the cover! Did you even read Hockes’s book?”

“Twilight,” Rarity said. “I think it’s time we did the thing I suggested earlier.”

She instantly understood. “Are you sure? You’ll be completely drained of magic if we do that.”

“I’m not seeing any other options,” Rarity replied, backing away from the monster as it took a step forward, leaning down and glaring at her.

Twilight nodded then concentrated. “Alright. Lifting the mental blocks on your magic.”

Rarity felt magic rush through her, heating up her body. The new heat then flowed to her horn, starting from her back hooves. It felt like her horn was on fire, and it was only getting hotter. Finally, when it felt like her entire forehead would explode, she released it all.

The leviathan screamed as a humongous beam of blue energy consumed and overtook it. The room filled with light as it shook violently.

Rarity closed her eyes.

A thin layer of snow blanketed the library.

“OK, I got it,” Sweetie said, between her teeth chattering. “We’ll hide under a table, block it on all sides, and then we’ll sing Hearth’s Warming carols.”

“Well, I ain’t ever heard of windigos knocking over tables, so I guess it could work,” replied Apple Bloom.

“It’s coming toward us again!” Scootaloo yelled.

The ponies ducked as the spirit dived, but even as seconds passed, nothing came.

“Huh?” Applejack asked. She looked up. No windigo in sight. She looked around. In fact, there was no more snow on the ground. Then a realization struck her: she was moving her head with her neck. She reached her hoof up and confirmed that indeed, she was back together again. “Well I’ll be! They did it!”

Scootaloo rubbed her neck, confirming the same. “Aw, I didn’t even get to do anything cool with my head.”

Fluttershy looked around warily. “All the monsters are gone, right?”

“C’mon, let’s take a look.” Applejack leapt over their barricade and galloped ahead, reveling in being able to move normally again. The others followed suit.

They approached the bathroom entrance and indeed, all the monsters there were gone. Twilight floated silently alone. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad that’s over,” said Fluttershy. “Twilight, is Rarity alright?”

Twilight showed no reaction. Fluttershy tilted her head, and to everyone’s surprise, the alicorn fell to the ground.

They all shouted and gathered around her. Sweetie tried to touch her, only for her leg to pass through.

Applejack looked resolutely at the tunnel. “Something ain’t right. I’m going in!”

Before anyone could say anything to object, she leapt into the bathroom. It was like a different world: while the library was completely still, the tunnel was quaking.

“Applejack, stop!” Fluttershy shouted as, with a burst of speed, she tackled her.

She acted not a moment too soon, as the tunnel collapsed right in front of them.

“Rarity,” Applejack said, drifting off.

“They’ll make it out,” Fluttershy replied. “They have to.”

Rarity…

The unicorn drifted through space. Was she dreaming? How much of everything was a dream?

Rarity!

Twilight appeared before her, shining like a star. Rarity smiled warmly. Twilight really was so lovely. She could tell this would be a nice dream already.

The princess blushed. “Rarity, I can hear you, you know.”

Rarity froze. This wasn’t a dream. “Twilight! What are you—actually wait, where am I?” She spun around, flailing her legs, finding the ground to be nowhere in sight.

“This is new for me too, but best as I can figure, this is your unconscious.” The alicorn looked around. “Actually, this does remind me of Princess Luna’s description of the dream world.”

Rarity stopped spinning. “Well why are we—wait, the nightmare worm! What happened?”

“After we fired that last magical attack, you drained all your energy and you fainted. From there, I discovered that our link will remain as long as one of us has the necessary magic, but it’s taking a lot of focus on my end. I don’t know what’s happening either, and I can’t know unless you open your eyes.”

Rarity blinked. “My eyes? Oh, yes, my eyes.” She looked around, then ashamedly smiled at Twilight. “Sorry, but where do I find my eyes?”

Twilight squinted. “Hmm, you’re conversing with me just fine, but you can’t regain consciousness? Could this be due to having low magic?”

Rarity rubbed her chin. “Twilight, is it possible that you could control my body in my place? Like you were able to in the dragon caves.”

The alicorn reeled back. “I… I mean, sure, I think I could. I can’t imagine it’d be good for your body for me to move it when you can’t, but I suppose we don’t have any other options.”

Twilight closed her eyes, and seconds later, Rarity’s eyes opened.

She was laying on the ground could feel the intense rumbling. The walls sank in around them, and the only source of light left was the curled up worm ahead of them.

“The worm,” Rarity’s consciousness said. “It’s still there. Can we do anything to stop it?”

Twilight stared at it. She really looked at it for the first time, and saw its face. The worm was shaking and shivering, its face twisted in concern and fear.

The princess thought back when she had Rarity attack it. No wonder that didn’t work.

“Rarity,” Twilight said. “I’m going to move your body closer.”

Feeling Twilight’s confidence that she knew the answer, Rarity nodded with a smile.

Twilight got Rarity to stand up after some struggling, then slowly walked to the worm. “Hello,” she said through Rarity. “I’m sorry for what happened earlier. I thought it would be a quick way to wake you up, but I only now realized: you don’t want to wake up, do you?”

Rarity’s hoof touched the worm’s cheek. “Ever since you were an egg, you’ve been feeling nothing but terrible things outside, haven’t you? Even after Old Ponyville was destroyed, there was still a dangerous and chaotic forest above you. And just when you were getting used to that, I had to start getting stressed and worried again. All that can make even the things you should find the most joy in, books, just another source of negativity. It’s hard to find a reason to bother getting up. I can sympathize. I was asleep in a way too, for such a long time.

“But there’s so much more to the world than that. Sure, I was feeling negative thoughts, but there’s so much positivity to go with it. You must have felt our emotions during the sleepover, and the one before that, and all the other times ponies visited. All that friendship, all that—” Twilight hesitated for the briefest moment “—love. I know it’ll be hard, but you can go out there and experience all of it. Unlike me, you don’t have a barrier keeping you here. Anything keeping you here is just in your head, and I think you can overcome it.”

Rarity embraced the nightmare worm. “We’ve been suffering together all this time and I didn’t even realize. I have ponies who are trying to ease my pain, and I think they’d be willing to help you too. So how about it? Do you want to try?”

The worm squirmed for a moment, then let out a cry and shined bright.

Rarity covered her eyes as light filled the room.

Applejack dug into the collapsed tunnel with her hooves. “Ugh. Come on, we gotta make it.”

Fluttershy’s ear lifted. “Applejack, wait. Do you hear that?”

“The rumbling? It’s the same as it ever was.” Her ear lifted. “Wait, no, it sounds like something’s coming closer!”

The mares looked at each other, then jumped out of the bathroom. Soon after, the tunnel blasted open and a large object flew out.

“What is it?” yelled Scootaloo.

“Another monster?” asked Apple Bloom.

The object twirled in the air and spread out its sparkling blue wings. Between them was a green caterpillar-like creature with decorative swirls and shining eyes, and held in four of its legs was Rarity’s unconscious body. It floated to the ground, and gently set Rarity down.

The ponies immediately gathered around her, with Fluttershy examining her face. “She’s breathing. Thank hoof.”

The ponies turned their attention to the creature, looking it up and down. Seeing that it wasn't threatening, Sweetie asked, “Woah, what are you?”

“He’s a bookworm,” Twilight said. Her body lifted up and regained life, though she seemed more wobbly than usual. “This is what a mature bookworm, fully expunged of dark magic, looks like.”

“Twilight, you’re OK!” said Scootaloo.

“I thought you were, like, ghost-dead!” said Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Wait, how is he a worm? He’s got wings and legs.”

Twilight waved her hoof. “Yes, well, there’s a lot to the etymology. It’s actually quite fascinating, but we can probably save that for later.”

“What happened to Rarity?” asked Applejack. “Will she be alright?”

Twilight nodded. “She’ll be fine. She’s completely out of magic, and she’ll probably be low on magic all this week, but she’ll be able to walk like normal after a good night’s rest.”

“Well that’s good,” Applejack said. She turned to the bookworm. “So, uh, what’s this fella’s deal?”

“He was under the influence of dark magic, which made him make all the monsters. He’s better now.”

The bookworm slowly opened his mouth, speaking out loud for the first time since birth. “I’m… sorry…” he said in an awkward tone.

Applejack smiled. “Well, can’t help it if dark magic was involved. And nopony really got hurt, so no harm, no foul.”

“You can stay here if you’d like,” Twilight said. “You’ve never been able to enjoy the library in p—err, in worm before, after all.”

The worm shook his head. “No. Go… outside…”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Ah, of course. You’ve never even seen the sky, have you?”

He looked at the library entrance. “Go… now…”

“Well, if you ever need to rest at a library, you can always come back here.” Twilight tilted her head and smiled. “And if you need to talk to somepony.”

The bookworm nodded. His itch for exploration taking over, he took flight as the ponies waved. He circled around then launched out the library, through the entrance tunnel, and out into the night sky.

“That was definitely something,” said Applejack.

“I hope he stays safe,” said Fluttershy.

“Now Princess, it’s definitely too late for any of us to go back home, so, uh—” Applejack raised an eyebrow “—just to make sure, there ain’t any other secret rooms that might have a monster that’ll bother us tonight, right?”

Twilight shook her head. “Definitely not.”

Apple Bloom yawned, and this was soon joined by a chorus of yawns. “Well, that’s good enough for me. I’m plum tuckered out.”

“We can tidy up in the morning,” Fluttershy said. “Let’s head back to the beds.”

With barely open eyes, the Crusaders nodded in agreement and followed behind the adults. Twilight flew after them, lifting Rarity with her magic.

Soon, the ponies all got into their beds, and it didn’t take much for them to fall asleep.

Twilight placed Rarity under covers and carefully placed pillows under her head. The alicorn gently smiled as she watched her.

Rarity fidgeted and, with her eyes closed, said, “Darling, is it alright if I rested my head on your side?”

Twilight giggled. “Rarity, you know you’d just go through me.”

“You can go through the pillows, and it’d be almost the same.”

Twilight theatrically rolled her eyes, not that Rarity could see. “Alright.” She did as instructed, and Rarity gave a content sigh as she buried her head in the pillows.

The princess watched the unicorn drift to sleep. This was oddly pleasant. Maybe one day, she thought to herself, they could do it for real.

“And thus, they never see the bookworm again,” Pinkie said. “Because he was just a filler character! The end!”

Pinkie looked at the Crusaders expectantly, only to receive blank stares.

“Look, I really wanted to like it,” said Apple Bloom, “but I didn’t get it at all. Like what is the entire deal with all this?”

“They keep referencing stuff that you never told us about,” Sweetie Belle said. “Is it worldbuilding? What are we supposed to make of all of this?”

“And you know what the weirdest part was?” Scootaloo’s face twisted in disgust. “All that romance between Rarity and Twilight. What’s that about?”

Apple Bloom jumped up. “Oh yeah! I wanted to mention that! That was super weird.”

Pinkie furrowed her eyebrows. “Why’s that weird? Aren’t they dating?”

Sweetie laughed. “What? No they aren’t!”

Pinkie’s jaw dropped. “Did they break up? No, that’s terrible!”

Scootaloo squinted. “They never dated in the first place! That’d be so weird.”

Pinkie scratched her chin. “Wait, did I go to the wrong reality?” There was a knock at the door, and Pinkie zoomed over to open it.

Rarity stood at the door, her eyes beaming. “Good evening, Pinkie dear! I’m here to pick up Sweetie Belle, since it’s getting rather late.”

Pinkie sighed in relief. “Oh Rarity, perfect timing! Can you clear this up: who exactly are you dating?”

Rarity flipped her hair. “Well, Mudbriar of course.”

“Oh good, exactly what I—” Pinkie’s eyes bugged out. “Wait, what?!”

The stallion in question approached the door, wearing his usual blank expression.

“Oh Briar, my love,” Rarity said, twirling, then leaning in for a quick kiss on the lips. “I was just telling Pinkie ‘good evening’.”

“Technically,” Mudbriar said, raising his hoof. “Since it is after midnight, it’s proper to say ‘good morning’.”

Rarity laughed. “Oh, so true!”

Pinkie got on her knees and screamed to the sky, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“M’yes.”

Author's Note

This story ended up far longer than I intended. The original concept was for the only monster to be the Diamond Dogless Head, and there not being another monster that created it, but as I was writing, things just evolved out of there. I enjoyed it, but my plans for NaNoWriMo definitely got sidetracked.

Full disclosure, I hadn't settled on the nightmare worm concept until partway through chapter 2. I don't think I made any inconsistencies, but I have to imagine I didn't set it up as much as I could have.

Now for philosopher identities:
Aristrotle - Aristotle
Fetlocrates - Socrates
Yang Zoology - Yang Zhu
Equinas - Aquinas
Coltvin - Calvin
Confloofius - Confucius

That last monster is a reference to the cover of Hobbes's Leviathan.

As for the song that played during the fight scene, I had several options, but I think the one that fits best is “Fly High” from Gunbusters episode 5.