Twilight Sparkle and the Enigma of the Ancient Tome

“Oh no! This was the last page of this book? Really-really no more pages?” said Pinkie. Her usually sharp voice sounded muffled, which could be attributed to the fact that she held a green pencil in her mouth. “Why are these color books always so sma-a-al? Well, time for the next one!” said she carelessly, the pencil falling out of her mouth.

She trotted to the cardboard box with coloring books, conveniently positioned in a corner of her room. She then glanced at the book on top of the stack and observed, “U-u! This one is so large! What’s this thing on its cover? Is it some sort of a plant? No! Cupcakes! Wait, these are not cupcakes. Normal cupcakes always have a thinner bottom and a larger top — everyone knows that…”

Her racing thoughts ran for a whole ‘nother five seconds before she quickly bit the large book and carried it to the center of the room, where the pencils lied. “This one is so-o-o large; this is gonna be so much fun!”

The pink pony promptly opened the tome on a random page and gasped at what she saw.

“An alligator! Wait, no it isn’t. A… cat? Mew-mew! I love cats! An owl? Speaking of owls, I wonder why Twilight didn’t want to take a look at these old books. They are very-very-very fun! And she loves books. Maybe my books are not saiensy enough? Maybe she knows how much I love my books and so she did-not-want-to-take-them-awayfromme-becauseshe-ismy-bestestfriendever?”

This was indeed the case. Having known Twilight Sparkle’s passion for books, Pinkie Pie had previously offered the box to her. The answer was utterly predictable.

“Pinkie, I love that you care so much about me. But don’t worry, there are still many books in my library that I have yet to read. Besides, I can always borrow from the Canterlot Library if I ever run out. You can keep the box.”

And so the old box that Pinkie took from the Pie farm stayed with her, continuously supplying her with fantastic coloring material.

“A-a-a-a rock! An extra-very pointy messy rock with magic gems!” Pinkie finally decided which colors she will use for this specific page. Before grabbing a gray pencil, she almost instinctively started to look more closely at the page. Her eyes, nearly closed from squinting, followed the sharp shape of the “rock”. Unlike any rock she had ever seen, this one barely featured any curvy or rounded lines. Instead, the lines were nearly flat and mostly arranged in very regular shapes: squares and triangles. The geometric shapes were connected, again, with lines.

“What a weird rock! Lines, and lines, and squares, and small cracks inside the squares, and triangles and six-sided squares and lines…” Her eyes quickly but carefully traced one of the numerous lines of the image, as if she was trying to chase a small invisible bunny that leaves a trail wherever it runs. At some point, the line split and moved into two different directions, and so did Pinkie’s eyes. Trying to catch both bunnies with one stare, she didn’t notice how crossing her eyes made her lose her balance and collapse to the floor.

“These flat lines are black magic! It put me in trances!” she confidently stated. “I know lines. And those lines? They’re just not right. And what are those squibbly scribbles?” She pointed her hoof to the mysterious writings (that she did not even look at before), positioned next to the thing… that now definitely no longer seemed to be a rock. “Oh! An idea! I will show it to Twilight and she will definitely know what is wrong with this book.”