Breaking The Fourth Wall

Apple Bloom had been awake way, way too late.
Apple Bloom was the only pony in the whole world that was aware of this fact. Apple Bloom would honestly prefer to be in trouble than to be alone like this. She hadn't moved in the past five minutes, she had situated herself in her room so that she could take everything in just by moving her eyes.
She had watched her sister sleep for a few minutes about an hour ago, but that didn't really help.

She couldn't get over what she had read. Out of a whole book it was just five little words that were causing her so much trouble. When the book is closed and the lights are off you start to really see words. A picture is worth a thousand words, and every word breeds a thousand pictures. Her brain was bigger than her eyes.

Our bodies tick like the clock does. As indifferent to our fears as the long passing of the night. Insomnia only keeps the clock ticking; we tick on whether we want to or not. But she couldn't hear the clock over her heartbeat. The rapid tempo of her heart was only marking milliseconds into the long hours of the night. She felt like the clock would stop if she couldn't keep her eyes open.

But the time for cowardice had passed, she was giving out, and she had but brief time for action. Not only had she read a disturbing story before bed time, but she had also drank a glass of apple cider before she had done so.
And this was no small glass.
She could not wet the bed, not now.
There was far too much at stake. If she were not careful here, she could end up with a yellow cutie mark.

So she braced herself, she summoned the bravest thoughts that she could muster, and she danced to the Apple family outhouse.
Every corridor was checked. Even if she couldn't see in it, she would look at the darkness, just to show it who was boss. It took her a whole night in fear hours to clear the house, but it took days in pee time, she was squirming like a demon.
If she were smart, she could have left a trail to find her way back. But she was prepared to pass the night on the toilet, if it came to that. A brave filly like Apple Bloom was ready for anything.

She checked behind the farmhouse door with her eyes closed, just in case there was a monster behind the door. After checking behind the door she checked in front of the door, and then she checked behind herself.
She knocked on the door, to make sure that there were no monsters within the door. If the cold air hadn't sped her up she might still be there. She thought that she was a very brave filly for walking so quickly in such a dangerous situation.

She thought to herself that Fluttershy would be impressed, and she was right. She was lucky that it was so dark outside, for if there had been any shadows to interrogate she would have died of old age.
She was also lucky that she still needed to pee, if she let go she probably would have just stood in the spot until she had reached a ripe old age. She would change her name to "Yellow Delicious", she would accept her new cutie mark, one day they could plant a tree over her. She knew that Fluttershy would respect her decision.

But now she could see the outhouse. It was in the very special Apple Outhouse Corner, the one that only members of the Apple family know how to see. The secret of hiding the outhouse had been passed on for generations.
The outhouse was the one place in the whole world that a filly of her age could check for monsters without the slightest shame (for only a very rude filly would interrupt a monster on the toilet, and that would make for a most displeasing cutie mark).
She closed her nose and opened the door.
But she was not prepared for the horror that awaited within....

She sat down and started to close the door. After closing the door about halfway, she opened the door again. A smart filly could have peed in the time it took her to decide whether she was more afraid of being seen than she was of not seeing. In the end, she closed the door just enough so that she couldn't see anything, but not so much that a monster couldn't tell that there was a very frightened filly inside of the Apple family outhouse.

She sat with her eyes fixed firmly on the door, only moving to check her flank, even looking up, down, and behind as the situation seemed to require. Apple Bloom wished she had eyes on the back of her head, and more than that, she wished most of all that she could see through walls.
Apple Bloom closed her eyes for just a moment, and as soon as she opened them again they were as wide as Sweet Apple Acres.
She could see the whole town.

She felt a rush of comfort as she saw all those sleeping ponies. Fillies just like herself snug in their beds; safe and surrounded by their families. If she looked just a little closer she could probably see what they were dreaming about. It seemed like such a waste to have all these faces and no pony to look at them. It was like she had some kind of very important task, like she was there to make sure that nothing got wasted. She had every map in the world to guide her.
She wouldn't forget a crumb.

She could see everything.
She could chart the moon better than Luna could.
She could count how many hairs all the Pinkie clones had, all added up together.
She could see all of Ponyville down to the dirt it was built on.
She could see to the very edges of Celestia's light.
But more importantly, she could keep going.

She didn't know where it was. She couldn't see anything else. She was still there in her outhouse, but she felt even more like she was in this place. The only light here is the light that a pony needs to work. In the middle of the cold light was a table. On the outskirts of the light was Twilight.

No matter where Apple Bloom was, Twilight had her back to her. Even now, when Apple Bloom wasn't anywhere, Twilight had her back to her. She could see Griffonstone better than she could see this room, even from the most private room on Sweet Apple Acres.
But she was paralyzed. She didn't need to look around anymore, she didn't need to look through walls, she didn't need eyes on the back of her head, she didn't need any eyes any more. She had found what she had been looking for all through the long night.

Twilight turned around and gave her an assuring smile.