nobody raises the sun, twilight sparkle.

by bistro

Rating: mature
Tags: Main 6, Princess Luna, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Violence, Princess Celestia, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe
Length: 7435

Twilight swears she remembers a Princess of the sun.

Somewhere in Equestria, something shifts, and Twilight notices. Like somepony moving their weight from one end of their body to the other, previously unaware of how much strain they were putting on themselves. A fresh wave of relief, suddenly unable to even remember how they could bear with the discomfort before. The universe has completely reset itself, and yet everything seems mostly the same, and...

What was the difference, anyhow? Everything seems normal. All of her friends are going about their days, her studies of magic and friendship are as strong as ever and it's a beautiful sunny day-
How wonderful is the natural phenomena that is the sun rising?

Published 2023-04-23 15:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-11 02:58:08 UTC

"what's it like, to raise the sun?" AKA: Prologue

"...Oh, my apologies, my little pony. I did not see you there!"

The voice of the regal Princess of Equestria was enough to send stars dancing across the young filly's eyes as she stared up at her idol. Her newly appointed teacher - she still couldn't believe it! Of all the ponies in the world, Celestia had chosen her as her prodigy! What incredible luck.

She knew that maybe she wasn't supposed to be all the way up here, but it was easy enough to trail after the Princess tucked so close to her hooves. She was convinced she had looked important enough to evade the guard's suspicion, she had absolutely no clue that they actually just let her through out of sheer charmed amusement.

"What's it like, you said? Well that is a very good question, isn't it?" Celestia echoed, gazing across the balcony overseeing her beautiful kingdom. She glanced back at the small purple unicorn with a glint of pride in her eye, and gestured with her head for her to come and sit beside her. Twilight did just that, the sound of her hooves scrambling in her excitement threatening to send Celestia into a giggling fit.

"I suppose that depends on the context. Do you mean to ask me how I do it, magically?" She inquired. Twilight tilted her head, before shaking it.

"No, I mean..." She struggled to grasp the exact phrasing she meant. "How does it FEEL?" Twilight hoped the exaggerated emphasis would translate well enough. Celestia chuckled.

"Ah. You mean emotionally speaking, then." She confirmed. Twilight nodded enthusiastically. Celestia sat down, and used her magic to lift a cup of tea from the nearby table up to her lips. There was something almost fallible in seeing such a powerful swath of magic do something as dainty and inconsequential as lifting a fragile teacup. Celestia took a sip. "Well, I have been doing this for a very long time. At this point, it is as natural to me as eating or breathing. I suppose if I really take the time to think about it, however..."

"Do you know the feeling you get when you finish a long, difficult book? Or finish a stack of particularly difficult homework?" Twilight gave her an affirmative hum. These topics were very extremely familiar to her, because she was a wonderful student and a smart filly, like her parents told her. "There's something that glows right in the middle of your chest. It is warm, and it sweeps over your entire body in waves. When you bask in it, you feel like the whole world is giving you a hug. Do you know what that feeling is, Twilight?"

Twilight's little eyes grew wide.

"This is not a test." Celestia soothed, smiling. "Just answer to the best of your ability. What do you think we call that feeling?" The smaller pony became lost in thought.

It was harder to come up with an answer for something like this. It wasn't simple, like an equation. An identifier of feeling wasn't as cut and dry as something you could read in a novel. After what was surely too long of a pause, Twilight finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I don't know." She sounded sheepish, almost ashamed of herself. Twilight looked so tiny whenever she spoke like this. So unassuming and fragile. Sort of like...

Celestia shook the thought from her head.

"That's quite alright, Twilight. I can tell you." She replied. Her horn lit up again, and this time she was softly enveloping the filly within its warmth to pull her closer to her side. Affectionately, she used the magic to ruffle her well-kept mane. Twilight giggled, shaking her head to try and get it back in place. "It's pride."

"Ohhh... yes, I know that one." Twilight insisted, not wanting Celestia to think she'd been lacking in her vocabulary! "Pride... so you're proud of raising the sun?"

"Not exactly." Celestia corrected. When the little filly looked puzzled, she continued. "I am not precisely proud of raising the sun as an action, no. In fact, doing so is quite difficult for me some days. But I always do it. Each and every morning, no matter how difficult it is, or how downtrodden I may be. I still raise to my hooves," Celestia stood up, for emphasis. "And slowly lift the sunshine over Equestria, so that it may bring its glorious light to my citizens. That is what I am proud of, little filly. Never giving up."

"It's difficult for you to raise the sun?" She sounded as if she couldn't believe anything could ever be difficult on the Princess.

"On many days, yes. I carry an immense burden. I am grateful for my position, of course, but it is not an easy one." Celestia watched as the remaining distance her sun had to close between its morning height was gracefully closed. Twilight witnessed it with wonder, as if she'd never seen it before. "Now, come with me. You're not supposed to be up here, now are you?" Celestia scolded, though her tone remained light and playful. Twilight shrunk a bit, not saying anything to that as she obediently trailed after her.

Twilight cast her gaze around the castle as she followed. She took in the sight of the passing guards, adorned with Equestria's crest. Many of them gave her warm smiles, and she wondered if working closely with the Princess made you warmer by default. Because of the sun! It was logically sound, at least. Her eyes then met the gentle gleam of the stained glass windows.

This was one of Twilight's favorite attractions of the castle.

Sprawling colors and patterns locked almost as if in dance, reflecting Celestia's light in brilliant impressions on the tile... Twilight imagined there must be no greater glory in all the world. She took in the messages they told, the stories they conveyed. Ancient heroes, sometimes ancient villains, too.

Her eyes rested on the window that portrayed the mysterious mare in the moon, and her little cogs in her head started churning again. Twilight took pause, and Celestia noted the lack of tiny hoofsteps in their wake. She glanced over her shoulder.

"Twilight?" She prompted. Twilight lifted her head.

"Sorry, Princess." She apologized, running ahead to keep up once more. After another moment's silence, Twilight spoke. Her tiny voice was prominent in the delicate morning bustle. "What about the moon?"

"I'm sorry?"

"How does it feel to raise the moon?"

This time it was Celestia's regal hoofsteps that suddenly silenced. Twilight almost ran into the back of her hind legs if she didn't stop herself. Celestia didn't look at her, or say anything. She didn't even make a noise. If it weren't for her ever-flowing mane and tail, Twilight might have assumed she suddenly turned to a statue. Twilight cautiously took place beside her mentor, casting a nervous glance up in her direction.

"...Princess...?" She squeaked, trying to gather in her head what Celestia's expression was conveying. It was twisted up in something so complicated and deep that Twilight couldn't wrap her brain around it. Something about that expression was so... adult. Something similar to when her parents would speak of troubled finances but... worse. Even with Twilight's nervous prodding, Celestia didn't reply. She opened her mouth again, even more hesitant. "Princess!"

"Oh- uh. I- excuse me, Twilight." Celestia replied all-too-quickly. She was moving again before Twilight could process it, and soon she was scampering to keep up again. "I just remembered something I have to attend to, is all. Hurry along now."

For the rest of the walk back to Twilight's study room, they were quiet together. Every once and a while, Twilight would try to race further ahead to catch glimpses of the Princess' expression, but Celestia always strode ahead further, keeping her face out of the filly's vision.

Twilight looked around at all of the sunny decorations laid out all around the castle. She wondered what it was about the moon that made Celestia so strange.

Oh well. Twilight always preferred the daylight, anyway.

Author's Note

whoof this is my first time writing a horsefic in a REALLY long time so!! grant me your kindness, i beg of you.

"why are you up so early?"

Twilight almost didn't hear Starlight whenever she spoke.

She had her nose deep in a book, eyes scanning over each individual word with careful accuracy. She was a fast reader, but she still retained every last detail. That amount of quickness combined with that level of understanding took up a good amount of brain space for her to maintain. She blinked a few times, Starlight's words reaching her several beats after its initial asking.

"Oh! Starlight!" She exclaimed, prompting Starlight to give her an exasperated expression. "I'm sorry, I was so focused on my reading. Is it early?" She cast a glance around the castle, searching for a window to look through, but the curtains were all drawn. Starlight illuminated one of them with her horn and swung the curtain open to reveal the still-rising sun. "Goodness, I guess I haven't slept!"

"You haven't slept? Since when do you mean?" Starlight questioned, growing increasingly skeptical. Twilight adopted a sheepish expression, ears flopping flat against her head.

"Since... two nights ago?"

"Two nights ago?!" Starlight echoed, her magic dissipating and the curtain falling back into place. "Twilight, you have got to get some sleep! If you don't, you'll be exhausted for the dinner!"

Twilight blinked several times again. She reached out with her mind, casting thoughts like a fishing line, trying to reel back the memory of what Starlight must be talking about. Once she hooked something, it was a big one. She yanked the wire.

"The dinner!!!" She cried out with a start. "I can't believe I forgot about Princess Luna and I's dinner arrangement!! I was supposed to meet with her and Cadance to help arrange things with an advisor from the Crystal Empire! Oh, no, if I'm tired I could end up saying all the wrong things..." Twilight melted against the table, shoving her head in her open book. "I'm going to make a complete fool of myself as a Princess, and the Crystal Empire is going to know that I'm a sham..."

Starlight rolled her eyes and trotted over to the seat next to Twilight. She put a comforting hoof on Twilight's back. "Twilight, I'm sure you'll do great even if you are tired. But you still have time at least for a nap, so there's no need to spiral." She explained, watching as the miserable lump of an alicorn lifted her head to glance at her. "...What's so interesting about this book of yours that you almost made such a grave, irreversible error?" Starlight asked, with a hint of sarcasm. Twilight didn't seem to pick up on it.

Instead, the previously deflated form of Twilight sprung back up instantly. "Oh, yes. I wanted to show somepony this, so this is wonderful timing!"

"Oooo-kay. I guess we're over our little meltdown, then?" Starlight muttered. Twilight either didn't hear her or chose to ignore it. "Sure, show me."

"I was re-reading this novel. It's one of my favorite works of non-fiction. It's one of the only completed works of this particular historian - Soul Scribe, I believe her name is. She had this entire elaborate pen name identity that she only ever used a hoof-full of times! It's a funny story, actually, she'd always meant to write more, but she attached this pen name to ages of juvenile poetry when she was a teenager, and when it came time to write more serious works she found that she couldn't detach herself from-"

"Twi."

"...Right, sorry." Twilight flipped back a few pages in the book, and gestured for Starlight to look over her shoulder. She did so. "In this chapter, Soul Scribe is telling us about an ancient ruins site that she discovered in her travels. They belonged, unknowingly to her, to the then-fallen Crystal Empire. But that's not why this caught my attention. Look at this section." Twilight pointed with her hoof, and Starlight took in the contents of the page.

As I lifted the strange crystalline rock formation with my magic, I found myself cursing the darkness that I was witnessing it in. I knew that if only I was viewing this strange and wondrous sight in the brilliant daylight, the light reflecting on the crystal's surface would make for sprawling, intricate impressions on the ground beneath my hooves. I glanced up at the sky, wondering how long from now ⠀⠀would⠀⠀⠀⠀the sun ⠀⠀⠀⠀rise.

"...Huh. That's strange." Starlight mused, rereading and finding pause again in the strange way that it was formatted. "I wonder why the words are spaced out like that. It almost looks like-"

"- something's been removed?" Twilight finished. Starlight's confirmation allowed her to continue. "I've been reading and re-reading this part, skimming over others... this is the only section of the book that's like this. What's weirder is that I've read this particular novel before, and something off-putting like this would have stuck in my mind. I hate when things are unexplainable, and I definitely would have tried to figure out what happened here." She explained. "But I didn't. And if I didn't, then that means this wasn't always here."

"Hmm. Is this the same copy that you read before? Maybe this is just a misprint!" Starlight suggested. Twilight shook her head, swiveling around to the other side of her and starting to pace back and forth.

"I thought of that too. But that can't be true." She lifted the book and turned it over to the cover, where she brought it closer to Starlight's face. "There's a small stain on the cover, right here in the corner. Spike tipped over my coffee on accident and splashed it over the table - this was the only part I wasn't able to make perfectly clean. I remember because I was so distraught over one of my books being stained, but also because Spike was so sorry that he tried to bake me a cake and made a complete wreck of the kitchen." The end of her anecdote was punctuated with a fondness that Starlight recognized as her motherly instinct towards the baby dragon. "Point is, this has to be that same book. When I read it back then, the words were completely normal."

"That is strange. Why would someone go out of their way to change just this one part of this one book? Did you check any of your other books?" Starlight asked. Twilight's eyes lit up.

"I haven't! That's a wonderful idea, Starlight. I need to call the girls, so we can go through my entire library and see if this has happened any..." Her words were cut off by a very large yawn. "Any.... more... hmmm..." Twilight trailed off, exhaustion hitting her in a sudden wave. Starlight chuckled and took place at her side just before she almost toppled over, catching her against her flank. "I guess I'm more tired than I realized..."

"About that nap?" Starlight urged, as she began leading Twilight away to her room.

Twilight was grateful that Starlight had gotten her to nap before that meeting. It wasn't her favorite part of being a Princess to spend so much time trying to play buzzword ping-pong with political figures. By the time she'd left that room, she was just as tired as she had been before she rested earlier. She sighed a deep, aching sigh as she gathered herself in the hall. Cadance was soon to join her side.

"I know this part isn't exactly your cup of tea. I'm sorry to have bothered you." She apologized, wearing a look of pity. Twilight smiled back at her.

"Of course not, Cadance. You know I would do anything for you and the Crystal Empire. It's no trouble, I just..." She trailed off. "...Dislike dealing with ponies like that."

"You and me both." Cadance agreed with bemusement. She lightly touched Twilight's back with her wing feathers. "I would love to stay, but I have a lot I must attend to back home. Let's visit together under normal circumstances soon."

"I would love to. I hardly get you or Shining Armor out of your palace anymore!" Twilight whined back. For a moment she sounded and looked like the bratty little filly that didn't want to sleep during bedtime back when Cadance was her fillysitter. The thought made the pink alicorn smile fondly, before she was off to her own empire once more.

Next, it was Luna that joined her side.

Twilight cautiously tried to get a feel for how the Princess was feeling. Something about her that evening seemed... off. She was quiet during the dinner, sometimes even dismissive. Princess Luna had always been a little bit blunt in certain matters, but she was also usually at least cordial. She seemed somehow downtrodden, and Twilight had been meaning to try and get a feel for what was going on whenever they weren't busy. She supposed now might be the best time.

Luna didn't say anything to her at first, just lingering nearby. Almost an impression of a friendly action, with the substance lacking. Her expression was far-off, eyes gazing into the middle distance as she bore a hole into the wall with her stare. It was difficult to try and break the silence. Twilight had no clue what would be the right thing to say here, considering she seemed to be kind of a hair trigger at the moment. She knew Princess Luna very well, though, and if she approached her too cautiously the mare would be frustrated by being treated as if she were a fragile object.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight tested. Luna didn't reply, but she did move her head and readjust her stare to be on Twilight. A prompt for her to continue, as she had come to understand it. "I noticed you were a bit quiet today."

"Yes, well," Luna began, faltering only slightly. "We felt that you had much of the conversation covered. You are a capable Princess, Twilight. You did not need us getting in your way or holding your hoof."

"Thank you." She nodded, grateful for the praise even if it was riddled with half-truth. "I was just wondering if you were alright. You seem a little bit... off."

"Are we?" Luna replied casually, feigning unknowing.

"Just a bit." She said honestly.

"We suppose the day has been a little taxing." Luna replied. When Twilight got a good look at her face, she was inclined to agree. The Princess' eyes were accented by heavy eye bags. She looked as if she could barely keep them open. "We just need to make it through the rest of the evening, and then we will be able to continue on."

Twilight felt concern bubbling up in her chest. She didn't understand how Luna managed it all. She spent the whole night wandering through ponies dreams, giving them the proper type of rest they deserve. After that, Luna would finally rest so that her sis Luna would rise from her dreamwalking state to take on the burden of royal morning tasks. Day in and day out, it was no wonder she was so tired. Was Luna always this tired? She must be. How did she ever find any time to rest?

"When are you able to sleep, Princess?" Twilight asked earnestly. Luna paused for a long time.

"We take brief resting spells in between our other duties, where our subjects are able to make up the difference." Luna answered. "Do not worry, Twilight. We have been doing this for millennia... we are quite used to it." Something about the way she spoke didn't seem particularly convincing, but Twilight couldn't argue. Of course she'd been doing this forever by now!

"Oh, well... isn't there anything I can do for you? Maybe to give you some extra rest?" She offered. Luna rose to her hooves and gestured for Twilight to follow if she wanted to keep speaking. Twilight did. "I could handle some meetings on your behalf. Or, maybe I could try dreamwalking, if you teach me the right spell. Oh, I heard that you needed to rearrange the archive, maybe I could-"

"NO." Luna spoke in a commanding, sudden tone. It made Twilight skid to a stop on the tile. Luna glanced at her confused, startled expression and then softened. "...Pardon us, Twilight. Our royal intonation must have slipped out." She turned back to continue walking. "Point is, no. We should be able to handle all of our duties without your help. Thank you."

"...I... if you're sure." Twilight was still reeling, trying to figure out what she did wrong. It wasn't often that Luna yelled at her like that. Was it because the archives were so private? It wasn't as if Twilight didn't frequent them before. Luna gave her express permission. Didn't she? She at least remembered getting permission. Huh.

"We are sure."

And with that, Luna was gone around the corner. Twilight watched the blank space as if the ghost of Luna were still there. She was so confused... something was definitely going on. Her curiosity nagged at her. Whenever she came back from her thoughts, she realized her pesky hooves were moving without her and she had begun trailing after the Princess from afar. Well, surely just observing a little couldn't hurt, right?

That's the first part of the scientific method, after all.

Following Luna without her noticing was shockingly easy. Maybe it was just because she was tired, but as Twilight trailed she didn't turn to look back over her shoulder even once. Eventually, it was as simple as walking behind her as if she were walking with her normally, just maybe an extra pace away.

When Luna finally stopped, it was in front of her bedroom door. This would be a little harder to follow. Twilight wondered if she shouldn't just stop here, give Luna her privacy and be on her way. But something was nagging at her... she couldn't seem to shake it. Almost like an itch, somewhere you couldn't identify. After trying to figure out what to do for a while, Twilight remembered a spell she'd learned a few months ago. A brief but total invisibility.

She let her magic envelop her, and envisioned in her mind that she was no more than a piece of paper. Inconsequential. Light. Useless. She pictured some other pony lifting the paper up, picturing the wind at her sides as she's brought upwards from a table. Twilight imagined the paper being gently dipped in a tray full of water. Slowly sinking, the material shrinking in on itself into the murky depths until it was nothing. When she opened her eyes again, she knew it had worked.

Lucky she opened her eyes when she did, too, because the door to Luna's room was swiftly closing. Twilight sprung into action, slipping in just before it shut behind them.

Once she was inside, Twilight began to regret her decision. This was an immense breach of privacy and trust. What was she thinking?? But now she was here, and she couldn't leave until the door was either opened or some other means of escape was presented. If she fired off a teleportation, the magical burst it left behind would alert Luna that somepony had been spying on her. The bedroom suddenly felt immensely claustrophobic, the walls on every side serving as a very dangerous prison. If Luna didn't open that door in enough time, Twilight's spell would wear off and she would be left completely visible to the extremely powerful alicorn she had just decided to creep on completely on a whim.

No use in worrying now. Not like that stopped her.

Twilight watched as Luna crawled up into her bed and laid down on her forehooves. All that tired energy seemed to come over her in waves, her head lulling as if it'd become heavy. For a second, Twilight thought she might get out of this when Luna fell asleep, but she was not so lucky. Instead, Luna brought her head up and shook her head, trying to wake herself. She sighed, lighting up her horn and picking a scroll out of a stack that was resting in the corner. She unfurled it, and began reading its contents.

Twilight couldn't get an angle that allowed her to read the scroll itself. In mere moments, however, that didn't really matter much to her. What was catching her attention was the glint of agony that had overtaken Luna's features. She was performing some kind of spell on the scroll, but her eyes were watery as she did so. After a moment, the scroll trembled in her magical grasp and she suddenly dropped it to the ground. Luna gasped in a breath of air, and delved her head between her hooves.

Luna's shoulders heaved as she suddenly began sobbing.

Twilight opened her mouth and almost blew her cover, her instinct to leap forward to comfort her being almost too overwhelming to prevent it. Just barely quelling it, Twilight stood still and just watched. She felt awful, witnessing Princess Luna sobbing so desperately and not being able to do anything. It was a brand of despair that Twilight never saw on her regal face. She hoped she never had to again.

The sound of Luna's voice reached her, and she twitched an ear. She couldn't quite make out what Luna was saying, so she got a little closer. That's when she heard it;

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Over and over, without her usual usage of the royal 'we'. Just 'I'm sorry', spoken in the same squeaking desolation that a wounded filly might have. Twilight recoiled a bit, feeling she had accidentally witnessed something immensely private and tragic for her. When she stepped back, she wasn't looking where she was going and ended up tripping over the scroll on the ground. It shifting was enough of a noise to make Luna lift her head up.

"H-hello?"

Twilight went very still.

Luna lifted from her bed, her tears slowing to a messy stop as she examined the room. Twilight played keepaway, trying to avoid her at all costs. She backed away into corners and against the wall, even crawling under the bed and out the other side at one point. Eventually, the Princess spotted the slightly off-kilter scroll she discarded and she lifted it back up. She lit up her horn and completed whatever spell it was she was performing before, and then carefully added it back to the stack.

"I must be-" She shook her head. "We must be hearing things. We have to get it together." Luna scolded herself, puffing out her chest. "Equestria isn't going to rule itself."

Luna turned for the door, and exited. Twilight sighed. A moment later, her spell slowly faded and revealed her purple coat to the air once more. She shuddered to think what might have happened if she had been just a moment later out the door.

No need to dwell on it. Instead, Twilight's attention turned to the scrolls in the corner. She lifted up the one Luna had thrown and unfurled it to read it.

Dear Princess Luna,
I used to think the most important traits to look for in a pet, or any best friend, were all physical competitive abilities. But now I can see how short-sighted and shallow that was. Today I learned what the most important quality really is. A certain kind of spirit. A stick-to-it-ive-ness. A never give up, can-do attitude -- that's the mark of a real winner. And this tortoise has it.

Twilight tilted her head. What was wrong with this letter that made Luna react like that? This was when Rainbow Dash got Tank, back when they were still doing the letters to Princess Luna to tell her what they learned about friendship. She examined the scroll thoroughly, front and back, but could find nothing that would have warranted such a reply. Twilight rolled it up again, placing it back where she found it.

She turned for the door, but had second thoughts.

Instead, Twilight came back to the stack and lifted another scroll. Slowly, she unfurled it and began reading its contents. This time, she was completely blindsided.

Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned a great lesson about friendship. Well, you might think that it would feel good to get lots and lots of stuff, but it doesn't feel nearly as good as giving something special to somepony you really care about. But I learned that it truly is better to give than to receive, and that kindness and generosity are what lead to true friendship. And that's more valuable than anything in the world. Well... almost anything.

"Princess... Celestia?" Twilight echoed what she saw. Her head spun, and she became very dizzy. "What..."

"Twilight Sparkle."

The sound of Luna's royal voice made her drop the scroll and jolt forward. It resulted in her scattering the scrolls all around the room in a large, unceremonious clatter. She swiveled around to see Luna towering over her. Luna's eyes were dark with rage.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" She demanded, body tense with anticipated fury. Twilight cowered underneath her. After a moment's half-murmured stammering, she finally spoke.

"Princess Luna..." She whimpered. "Who... who's Celestia?"

And then the world went black.

"twilight - art thou awake?"

Author's Note

oh my gosh im sorry this took SO long. im hoping to get the next one out a LOT faster.

"twilight - art thou awake?"

Twilight's head felt as if a thousand supernovas had all set off inside her very own brain all at once. She barely even registered Luna's voice, much less was she able to make her out against the blurred and melting together colors of the environment around her. She groaned, trying to part her lips to muscle out a response but finding that her words were still not caught up with the rest of her.

She took a breath, counting carefully as she inhaled and exhaled. It was a trick she usually used for panicked spiraling, but world-bending headaches were probably an okay usage for it, too. After a moment of deliberate breathing, all of the swirling colors came together to make coherent form.

She was in what appeared to be a hospital room, sterile white walls lurching all around her on every side. There wasn't much to look at, besides medical equipment and complimentary water bottles on a small side table.

The only thing that really caught one's eye was the imposing figure of a blue alicorn, standing at the side of the bed and staring ahead with a vaguely concerned expression. Twilight blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, and then realized she'd ignored the question for quite a while now.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight mused, voice quiet and strained. "What - where am I? Or, rather... what happened?"

"We wish we could tell you." Luna replied, casting a glance to the nurse at the doorway, gesturing to dismiss her and let her know Twilight was alright. As the nurse trotted off, Luna spoke again. "We left our quarters to continue our duties for the day only to find that you had fainted in our hallway. The guards were scrambling to wake you, but you were, as they put it, out cold. We rushed you here, but the nurse says she couldn't find anything wrong with you."

"How very strange..." Twilight muttered. It was the next day- well past the dinner and whatever events followed afterwards.

"May we ask... what were you doing before you went unconscious?" The Princess inquired. Twilight searched her memory for the events before this one. She remembered sitting through an extremely boring dinner, speaking with Cadance and then... nothing. She shook her head from the effort.

"I'm sorry, Princess, I... I'm not sure. I can't remember anything after the dinner, really."

"This is troubling." Luna commented. "We wonder if you have not simply been overexerting yourself with your duties. Perhaps it is the stress of your Princesshood that has gotten the best of you."

Twilight was not fond of the way that her tone had shifted. There was something in her words that came off as a challenge. She wondered idly if the Princess was beginning to doubt her abilities.

Twilight would hate it if she decided that she hadn't been fit to rule after all.

"I'm not sure that's it, Princess." She cautioned, trying to keep her tone as even as ever. The throbbing headache had subdued somewhat, but there was still some sort of specific ache lingering at her temple. It was so pervasive. So all-encompassing. "I have had a history of stress but it doesn't usually happen all at once."

"My friends are always keeping a close eye on me. I never stray far without somepony bringing it up to me. If I was only overdoing it I'd have heard an earful from Rainbow Dash or Applejack or- at the very least, Spike!"

"I'm worried this was something else. Something intentional." She concluded. Luna shifted on her hooves, ears twitching as she became silent in thought.

The alicorn stood and walked elegantly over to the window. She drew back the curtain with a starry aura of magic, and stared into the day. It was almost early afternoon.

A tiredness edged its way onto Luna's face.

"We... suggest that you keep your eyes open, in that case." She replied, much too late. "If there is reason to think there may be a danger following you," she looked over at Twilight from the corner of her eye. "We will be swift to eradicate its presence."

"Thank you, Princess." Twilight said. She was always grateful to have Luna's support. She always knew what was best for her.

"We must be going. The sun has some travel to do before long."

She watched as Luna left the room, closing the door behind her. Twilight sighed, wanting to get out of bed and leave but understanding she had to be officially set free by the nurses before she could go.

"TWILIGHT!"

The squeaky voice belonged to Pinkie Pie, who was waiting for Twilight outside the hospital with the rest of their friends. Before she could blink, pink hooves were squeezed around her in a tight hug.

"You had all'a us plum worried, sugarcube," followed Applejack's drawl. The other five mares closed the distance between them, offering her a much lighter embrace than the one Pinkie was giving her. "What in the world happened to ya?"

"It was nothing, girls." Twilight replied. When she was met with the narrowed skepticism in their gazes, she thought she'd better continue. "Rather, it seems they didn't actually find anything."

"But..." Fluttershy muttered before she could be interrupted. "We were told that you fainted. That doesn't sound like nothing..."

"Nopony just faints for no reason, Twi!" Rainbow Dash contributed. "You have to have some idea of what happened!"

"Well, to tell you the truth," Twilight glanced from side to side, as if in conspiracy. "I'm a little bit suspicious. I've had a headache ever since."

"Well, darling, I'd be willing to bet that might be from the grimy floor that you collided with."

"You might be right, Rarity. But there's something about it that feels... different." She turned her head to see if there was anyone behind her, and then urged forward past her friends. "Let's go back to my place. It doesn't feel safe to discuss it here."

Her friends followed behind her, as perplexed as they were. As they passed each other, a few of them made nervous eye contact before keeping their sights on Twilight instead.

Back at Twilight's castle, the six of them were enthralled in a lengthy conversation.

She had explained her whereabouts just before the incident. The boring dinner. The dull ponies involved. At this point she'd thought about it enough that it was putting her to sleep all over again.

After trying to keep the mares focused on the topic of politics long enough, she told them of how there was a significant gap in her memory.

"It's strange. I swear I remember speaking to Princess Luna after I spoke with Cadance. But if I had passed out right then, why would she have told me she 'found' me in the hallway?" Twilight explained. "There's some time in between the Princesses leaving my side and me passed out in the castle hall."

"Now that I think about it," said Starlight, who had joined back up with the group when they got back. "If you were done with the dinner, I can't understand why you'd have been found in the hallway in the first place. If you were parting ways, shouldn't you have been preparing to leave to make it home before dark?"

"That's a good point. Why was I just wandering the hallways? Something is just not adding up here."

"Didn't you say there was something weird about your headache?" Rarity reminded her. Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie Pie seemed to have a thought.

"Oh! Oh! Was it a hangover?" She asked fervently. "I know that when Dashie goes too hard on the cider, she can get headaches for the WHOLE DAY after!"

"What? I do not!" Rainbow protested.

"That can't be it. I sipped some wine with my dinner, but not enough to lose my faculties." And the wine wasn't even that good. Twilight kept that thought to herself, though. "But my headache... it is strange."

"It doesn't feel so much like a normal headache as it does a side effect. Like when you get a vaccine or new medication." Twilight rose from her seat, and began pacing the room. "Light chills, the ghost of a fever, but worst of all a faint and thumping head pain. It's not like the soreness of a bad fall or the grogginess of an ill-timed nap."

"The reason that strikes me as odd is because... I think I know what kind of event can cause that feeling of sickness." Her horn lit up as she spoke, and whenever it did, something strange happened. For a brief moment, her magic sparked and crackled. It was like a fireplace given too much fuel. The smell of sweet smoke filled the air.

The small burst that popped from her horn was little more than a firework popper. Once it stopped, Twilight had no trouble at all levitating a cup to her lips for a sip of coffee.

"It's just as I thought." She mused. Not wanting to make her friends wait, Twilight was swift to go on. "This kind of effect is the result of a unicorn who's been afflicted with a spell of some kind. The tiny explosion you saw happens because of a magical buildup near the base moving outward towards the tip of the horn."

"This only happens if the spell in question was put on the unicorn to affect something to do with either her magic or her mind."

"Someone... put a spell on you without you knowing?" Fluttershy sounded worried, her eyes bugged with concern.

"That's my theory at least. It's actually possible for us to narrow down the kind of spell that was used if we study the other side effects as I go about my day." She turned to everyone. "That's why I'd like for all of you to stay with me and tell me if you notice anything troublesome about my demeanor or behavior."

"...ALL of us?" Rainbow asked, dreading the thought of sticking around just to observe for hours and hours.

"Yes!" Twilight replied with a cheerful grin. "All of you!"

She didn't seem to notice how unsure everyone seemed to be. They cared about her, and the concept that someone had cast a mysterious spell on her was extremely nerve-wracking.

"Well, if it's a way we can check up on ya and make sure you ain't in trouble, I say it's worth it. Right, Dash?" Applejack eyed the pegasus meaningfully.

Rainbow sighed, resigned.

"Right."

"I'm so glad to have all of you. It should be simple! Just stick around and sleep over, and in the morning if I feel all better we don't have to worry anymore." Twilight didn't feel half as confident as she sounded. The thought of somepony following her around still made her all paranoid and jumpy. She just hoped that it was really nothing after all.

Once her and all her friends separated from the table, she went about her business.

A whole day of spending time with her friends later, and Twilight didn't seem out of the ordinary. Occasional dizziness and perhaps a time or two where her vision blurred, but nothing else odd.

The night was winding down, and Twilight was laying in her bed. She was reading a book, particularly the number by Soul Scribe she had spoken to Starlight about.

Her friends were all in various other sleeping arrangements littered around her. Rainbow had already gone to bed, as did Rarity. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and especially Applejack remained on alert.

Twilight glanced at Spike, sleeping in his bed. She hadn't wanted to explain too much of the events to him and have him frightened. He knew that something was up, but he hadn't really questioned or pressed the issue too far.

She turned back to her book.

Obviously, my findings were of utmost importance. I couldn't help but wonder if

... What?

Twilight flipped the page over and saw that the book continued on the other side.

After our conversation, I became more curious than before. I wondered... if these fragments could be harvested, would I be able to discover the secrets of the crystal ponies glimmering forms? I only ached for not being able to see one in the flesh in my lifetime.

Twilight blinked. What was going on? There was an entire half page completely devoid of ink! When it continued, it seemed there was something vital entirely missing from the text.

Just as she parted her lips to try and bring up the issue to her friends who were still awake, she felt a strange heat on the back of her head.

The warmth spread around her head like a headband from either side, and when it touched the base of her horn... it started getting hotter. Quickly, the temperature raised against her forehead. Twilight sat up with a start.

"Girls!" She barked in surprise. The heat was raising to a point of pain. Not just pain... a sizzling, searing agony. "Aaah! Hot, hot, it's hot!" She jumped out of her bed and backed up, clumsily tripping over her own hooves.

"Sugarcube!?" Applejack and the others were quick to her side. "What's goin' on?"

"My- my horn!" Twilight croaked, the burning sensation making her eyes water. She felt the magic inside her horn fighting against it, sparkling and catching against the invisible flame like gunpowder to gasoline. Pops of raw energy splashed against the inside of her skull. "It hurts!"

"She looks fine, but... oh, what do we do?" Fluttershy tried to look around for something. The others were starting to stir now.

"Twilight, you look okay! What's-" Pinkie put a hoof against Twilight's head and immediately pulled it back with a sharp yelp. "Ouch!"

"What's it feel like, Pinkie, quick!" Applejack insisted.

"It's- It's hot like a stovetop!"

"How can we help?!" Rarity's voice prompted the mares to turn and look at her.

"Make it stop!" Twilight cried. "It's boiling!" Her voice had broken as hot tears welled up in her eyes. At this point, smoke had begun to plume off her horn.

"Rainbow... go get a cold cloth." Fluttershy spoke calmly, but firm. This was just the same as a wounded animal. She could help here. "Rarity, please grab a pillow."

The two ponies didn't need to hear it twice. Within a few seconds, they'd lowered Twilight's top half against a pillow on the ground and had Fluttershy pressing the cold cloth against the base of her horn.

For a while, Twilight just whimpered and cried big, rolling tears. Fluttershy hushed her and spoke gently until she started to quiet down.

After a bit, the pain subsided.

All that it left was silence, and a profound fear.