Behind the Masks

The old library creaked under the pressure of her steps. Encompassed by a faint light the book remained suspended in the air. As she progressed, the shadows closed in further as if Death himself loomed over her. A cloud of dust jumped off the book's cover as she dropped it onto the central table. Empty silence was soon replaced by the sounds of her coughing.

"Who." Spoke out a voice from within the shadows behind Twilight.

The unicorn quickly spun around. It took a moment for her eyes to readjust to see the owl perched on the bookcase.  "Oh, it's just you Owlicious. I thought I asked you not to sneak up on me like that."

"Who." He repeated while turning his head to the side.

"Since you're here, could you please get me my quill and ink from my desk?"  Without another word the owl took flight up the stairs.

Returning to the business at hand, she floated out a few pages of paper from the cabinets beneath the table. The paper landed softly on the table beside the book. Light of her magic reflected off a single gold panel on the cover of the book. She trotted towards her old saddlebag. Sifting through the contents of the bag Twilight pulled out a single scroll wrapped in a blue ribbon. She laid the scroll down onto the table as she returned to the center of the room. She diverted her attention to the flapping of wings resonating from behind her. Owlicious hovered mid-air, an inkwell in one talon and a small white feather in the other.

Grasping the ink and quill, she returned to her former activities. "Thank you Owlicious."

"Who." The bird fluttered over to his perch and simply watched Twilight.

Twilight removed the ribbon from the scroll. While examining the scroll, she found various titles along with a number beside the name. On the very top of the scroll it said "Stock Report".  She began saying each title out loud then proceeding to check the shelves if that book was there then checking the logs to see if a book by the same title was rented or sold. The farther she proceeded down the list the more her frustrations at the lack of progress grew. Reaching the end of the list, she sighed heavily.

"Uhg, every single one of the books in this library is on this list except for one."

While rewrapping the scroll, she only glared at the single solitary book. Its tan brown color held no notable markings or signs beside the gold plate. It held no sign of an author or a publisher. She began to write a description of the book, hoping to see something in her writing she could not see before. Twilight allowed her mind to wander around the subject of the book.

She began to pace back and forth. "Maybe it's a diary... No, it couldn't be, no one would make a diary with that much detail on such an obscure legend. Hmmm... Maybe it's a self-made book by the old owner of the library? Hmmm... No, this is much too professional to be made by a single pony." Twilight began to look over the detail she had written down to see if they made help her.

"Wait, this could be a part of the old owner's secret collection! So he wouldn't put it on the stock list since it's not for rental or sale! Wait... then why would hide it? Maybe it's extremely rare and valuable book!" Her pace increased as her mind raced around the idea of finding such a book.

Stopping in the middle of the pacing, Twilight turned and stared at the book.  "But then why did he leave it here if it might be so valuable? Does it have some sort of dark secret? If so, should I open it? Think, Twilight, think... Ok, I'll take a peek at the other pages to see if it has anything dark secret... ish, and if it does, I'll close it for good."

Her magical grip extended towards the book, bringing it up to her face. She began to flip through the pages giving a brief look at each title. The name of each spell was always placed at the top of the page but each page had its own style of writing as if the author couldn't decide how he wanted to write it. She stopped and turned back a few pages to a spell which had caught her attention. "To See the Truth" was printed in bold at the top of the page in a style which resembled that of medieval handwriting.

"Hmmm... let's see... allows caster the ability to see the truth within ponies and sentient creatures. Magic skill level recommended before casting spell is very high... Huh, a truth spell. I haven't seen a book with one of those since I studied at Cantorlot." She continued to read down the page.

There were no complicated ingredients required for the spell or any symbols or spell circles like she thought there would be. Only a single simple incantation was required for the spell.

"It doesn't seem terribly complex... might as well give it a go. Maybe I'll see if it really is Spike who took the book on 'How to Impress a Mare in Seven Easy Steps'“; she laughed to herself before starting the spell.

The room was illuminated by purple glow emanating from Twilight's horn. "From the souls and minds of my friends and foe. A truth they shall reveal. I shall see the weight they tow. Whether to hurt or heal. I shall see sinner's woes, their fears and desires. Through their will I shall not be blind. And..."

Flowing magic abruptly stopped at the interruption of the spell, sending shivers down Twilight's spine. Twilight shone magical light to closer inspect the book, in hopes of seeing the rest of the spell but, with little success. After a moment, the room became eerily silent once more. Twilight looked around to see if the stoppage of the spell caused anything to happen. Gazing upwards she saw a solitary light floating above her. Floating down, the ball reminded her much of a feather. As it came down to eye level with her, Twilight stared into the orb. All she saw was a familiar glow of her magic encompassing a dark center. As she stared into the ball, shivers tore through her body. She looked towards the table and floated her quill and paper over. When she returned her gaze to the ball she found it had disappeared.

"Strange... that could have been the side effect of not completing the spell properly. I've heard weird stuff usually happens when you mess up a spell. But.. something isn't right about this spell in the first place. Hmmm...I'll need to study a bit more on spell configurations and structure to figure this out." She whispered to herself.

Soon enough, books around the library became encompassed in her magic. Books of all sort detailing the creation and wording of spells. Twilight cleared a small section of her table to prepare for the studying ahead.

"Twilight... what are you doing up so late? I thought you promised no more late night study sessions. Also why were you shouting so loud at Owlicious?" A voice yawned from the darkened stairs.

Jumping from the sudden voice Twilight turned around to confront a small baby dragon. "Oh, sorry Spike, he just frightened me is all... did I wake you?

"Yah..." The dragon spoke sleepily.

Twilight smiled sheepishly at Spike. "Sorry, I’ll head to bed soon, just give me a second to put everything away."

Yawning several times, Spike turned around. He proceeded to clamber up the stairs.  His tail banged against the steps due him being too tired to keep it from doing so. Twilight began to clean up before remembering one of the reasons why she chose the spell.

"Hey, Spike, can I ask you a quick question?"

Spike stopped on the fourth step and turned to Twilight. "What is it?"

"Did you take a book called 'How to Impress a Mare in Seven Easy Steps' from the bookshelf?" She spoke calmly knowing full well the answer he would give.

Spike could barely keep his eyes open. "No... *yawn* I didn’t, Twilight. Is that all you wanted to ask me?"

Twilight expected some sort of alarm from the truth spell but received nothing. "Yes, thank you. Have a good dream, Spike."

"Ok..." Continuing on his way up the stairs.

Does she know? . Whispered a faint but worried voice.

Twilight turned towards the voice but no one was there, not even Owlicious. "Spike? You still down here?"

She received no reply. She began to return everything to its rightful place. The steps creaked as she ascended the stairs towards her bedroom. The bed nearly beckoned her to it as she made her way across the hallway. Embracing the covers she collapsed from the hard work studying the entire day. As she drifted off into slumber only the thought of the whispering voice remained in her mind.

Does she know? Echoed within her mind.

Covering the entire land in its radiance, the sun signalled the waking of the town of Ponyville. The warm breeze that summer was known for carried bird song to the ears of all residents. Pegasi quickly moved or removed clouds to create a picture perfect morning sky. Rising from their homes the animals of Ponyville also arose.

Light shone through the window located not too far from Twilight's bed. Drifting out of unconsciousness she began to wake up. A gentle yawn escaped her mouth as she levitated her blanket off of herself. Subtle cracking and popping noises came from her joints as she began to get up. As she stood beside her bed she gave a brief look around her. Books lined the shelves just below the stage where her bed was. Twilight began her morning rituals, brushing her hair and teeth along with checking her plans for the day in her itinerary. Wafting through the air the smells of hay bacon, wheat and other foods reached her nose. She became entranced by the lovely smells and proceeded to follow them to the kitchen. As she approached the scents of various foods, she spotted Spike setting up the table.

The baby dragon finished setting up and turned to see Twilight. "Oh, Twilight, I was just about to wake you up for breakfast."

"Wow, Spike, that's quite a spread you made. What's the occasion?"

He held a forced smile. "Occasion? Why would I need an occasion to do something nice for you Twilight?"

"Well, you don't usually do stuff like this unless you got something out of it."

"What? No... I mean why would I do that?" His eyes darted all around.

Twilight decided to pressure the dragon. "I suppose you're right. It's not like you stole a book from the library or anything. Right?"

A small drop of sweat traversed down Spike's face. Keeping her eyes on the baby dragon, Twilight took a seat at the table. Avoiding her gaze, he searched for a way out of this situation. Twilight levitated a few hay bacon strips onto her plate before speaking again.

"Well?" Her gaze bore down on him.

"Well...I didn't...uh..." A sudden knock at the door interrupted him. "I'll get it!"

The little dragon quickly spun around and ran towards the door. A brief sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he reached for the door handle. Pulling the door open revealed a pink pony wearing a smile across her face. The pink pony hopped into the library, full of giddy. Spike looked at Pinkie, his face of worry now replaced with confusion.

"Uh... hey Pinkie. What are you here for?"

Pinkie continued to bounce up and down happily. "Don't you remember, silly? You said you would help bake cupcakes with me today. You promised you would after I gave you those gems!"

"I did promise you that, Pinkie... but, isn't it a little early to bake cupcakes?"

"It's never too early to bake cupcakes! But if you and Twilight were busy with something I could always come back later."

Turning his head Spike spotted Twilight still looking at him expecting an answer. "You know what Pinkie? It's the perfect time to bake some cupcakes!"

"Are you sure Spikey? I wouldn't want to interrupt anything."

The dragon began to push Pinkie out the door. "No, no it's completely fine! You weren't interrupting anything at all! Now, come on let's go bake those cupcakes!"

Pinkie began to hop towards the door. "Okey Dokey Lokey! Cya Twilight!"

Just before Spike crossed the threshold of the house a single voice spoke out. Dear Celestia she knows doesn't she?!?

Twilight turned her attention towards the door. "Did you say something Spike?"

Both Spike and Pinkie were gone before they could hear her question. Ignoring the strange voice Twilight returned to eating her large breakfast that was set out in front of her.  Her mind began to ponder the spell she found yesterday. After an hour or so of eating and pondering Twilight stood up from the table and turned her attention to the book.

She levitated the book over to the table and flipped to the "To see the Truth" spell. "Maybe the spell was a dud... but if it was then why did it feel so strange?"

Twilight reviewed the page over looking for a clue as to either the purpose or even if there was something she missed in the casting ritual. "There aren’t any additional requirements for the spell... so it must be the last part of the spell that makes it take effect. Where are my books on spell structuring, they should help me figure this out..."

She began to scour the library, looking for any book on spell structure and composition. Several books levitated off the shelves onto the table. Twilight checked once more to make sure she had taken all of the books she needed. Giving a quick glance to the clock a sudden realization came to Twilight.

"I have that meet up with Rarity and Fluttershy! Uhrg... I have to put this on hold..." Twilight sighed loudly.

After reorganizing the books in the stack so that they would be in an order of simplest to most complex, Twilight left her library towards the spa.