The strangest thing happened the other day.

I had gone to Sweet Apple Acres in order to get a few apples from Applejack, when I saw the door slam open, and Big Mac throwing a pony out and started yelling at him! I didn't know Big Mac had such a colourful vocabulary (maybe that's why he doesn't talk often?) but clearly this pony had said something to upset him. As the pony got up and trotted off, I stepped aside to give him some space - still, as he passed me, he gave me a nasty glare...

When I actually reached the house, Applejack was fighting with Big Mac, telling him that even if he didn't agree with the pony's words, that was no reason to literally throw him out. He simply snorted and trotted to his room; not before nodding and offering a 'sorry you had to see that' to me of course. I asked Applejack what had happened, but she only said it wasn't important, and that Big Mac disagreed with something their visitor said. She wouldn't say what, but she only said that it was 'a bit excessive.'

I've been seeing those soap box ponies more and more as of late. Weirder yet, some of them are ponies I know have lived here a long time, and they seem to give almost everypony dirty looks, and occasionally get into fights. At first I was rooting for them, but it seems they're bringing a lot of discomfort. And that flag they're using is bothering me; I know I've seen it before. I should do some research on it later to find out what it means.

From the journal of former princess, Twilight Sparkle
One month, two weeks before Ponyville incident

I think I must have fainted, because when I opened my eyes, I was staring at the ceiling.

And two faces, staring down at me.

"Is she okay?" a little khaki-colored colt said.

"I dunno! We surprised her pretty good!" replied the filly next to him; buttery yellow coat, orange mane, with her hair in a pair of pigtails.

"Poke her belly button! See if that works!"

Before I could be assaulted by naval poking, I jumped up and backed away. My attention quickly turned to the pink pony standing a short distance from the foals; she had curly, bouncy pink hair, was wearing a big blue bow and a saddle with the fluffiest cotton-candy like shapes of blue. Her eyes, equally blue, stared at me in utter shock. In a moment of caution and grace I had never seen in her before, she approached me, gulping.

"Y-you c-can't be real..." I wanted to say something but I couldn't. "You can't be real!" Did she... was she getting angry? "You can't be real!" She shouted. The two foals; who I now understood had to be Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, winced and drew closer to the mare as her expression shifted from anger to sadness. "You can't be real..." she whimpered. "Why are you t-taunting me...? Why...? The d-doctor said... as long as I took my medicine.... that... that this would stop..." And then, she yelled in what had to be utter rage. "Why are you here!? Can't you see I'm trying to get better!?"

"P-Pinkie Pie--"

"No... no... it's just an illusion... a figment of my silly imagination..." Pinkie said to herself and sniffled. "I-I'm sorry kids... auntie Pinkie must be having another breakdown.... she's seeing Twilight again..."

"That's Twilight?" Said Pound, pointing straight at me.

Pinkie blinked. "Wait... y-you can see her too?" Both of them nodded. Pinkie looked at me for a moment, then suddenly she seemed utterly horrified. "Oh no... nonono, don't pretend you can see her for Pinkie's sake, I know I'm unwell kids, a-and I'm not-"

"Pinkie!" shouted Pumpkin. "Right there, in the doorway, is a purple pony. She was wearing a hat until we surprised her and it fell off and revealed the horn, and that's when you sorta conked out." Pinkie was silent, but slowly, she approached me, staring at me cautiously. She reached her hoof forward and placed it to my chest, prodding gently.

"... B-but... the figments felt real too..."

She leaned forawrd and took a giant whiff of my mane; if it were anypony else, It'd feel awkward. "... She smells like Twilight... but they always do..."

Just then, Pound Cake prodded me in the stomach, which I admit elicited a less-than-dignified squeal from me. So I'm a bit ticklish. Pinkie blinked, staring at Pound Cake. I imagine she was trying to determine how he could interact with a figment of her imagination.

"Twilight, say words, Pound, repeat them."

I gulped, thinking the first word I could. "Onamonapia!" Wait, what? Why...? Pound scrunched his face, and bless his heart, he tried.

"Amadopia?"

Pinkie blinked. "You said it wrong..."

Suddenly, her smile grew. "You said it wrong!"

Then, I thought her face would fall off. "Pound heard you and said it wrong cause you always used really big words and he couldn't say it right which means you're REAL!" Instantly, she was on me, picking me up and hugging the wind out of me. I don't think she noticed my tensing up, because she just continued to hug me. "Oh Twilight! All this time, we thought you were dead! They said they left you to die in the forest, and... and..."

It was silent a bit, and then I noticed my shirt getting moist, and Pinkie was shaking.

"We... we looked all over for you... when we went to ask Zecora if she had seen you... all we found... all we found was a note from Zecora saying she left... and.... a short distance from her house was.... was..."

A makeshift tombstone with my name and a poem on it.

Pinkie sniffled.

'The world shan't know
A thing so tragic
As when the earth
Struck down her magic'

It had been years since I had seen the poem. How long had it been for her? I returned the hug, albeit slowly. "I-it's okay Pinkie Pie... it's okay..." It was then I felt her hooves roaming my back, and I tensed more. Then they moved frantically. Then she backed away, staring at me wide-eyed.

"Twilight..."

I squeezed my eyes shut. How often would I have to deal with this? Pinkie's expression shifted to one of sadness and pity. "... Oh my goodness..." She hugged me again, tightly. "Oh Twilight... I'm so super sorry..." This time, I hugged a bit more genuinely. This time, I didn't mind if she hugged me. She already knew, why hide?

Eventually, we broke off the hug fest, Pinkie turned to the foals and smiled brightly. "Pound? Pumpkin? This is Twilight Sparkle! Remember her?"

The twins 'ooo'd'. "Is she the one you write those books about?" said Pumpkin, genuine wonder in her face, unlike Pound who seemed more confused than anything.

I quirked a brow. "You write books now, Pinkie?"

Pinkie smirked. "Oh, well, yeah! It does pretty well too! I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's called 'The Adventures of Keen Eye!' or sometimes just 'Keen Eye!' I didn't come up with the name, Mister Cake did, and he helped edit it and everything too, an-"

"Wait!" I shouted, not believing my ears. "You!? You write Keen Eye? You're famous author 'Candy Fluff!?" I paused for a moment. Okay, so, I guess that made sense.

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, it's mostly an alias name though! After all, I still wanna be able to roam around and throw parties without calling attention to myself!"

I had to ask the next question. Call me arrogant, but I did. "... You... based the story off of me?"

Pinkie blushed and smiled. "Just Keen Eye. Muffintop is sort of a mix of the rest of us." Then she sighed and looked sadly to her hooves. "After we thought you'd died, I was so sad... I... I wanted to write a story. I showed it to Carrot, and he... he loved it... and said I should get it published..." She shook her head. "I didn't, because I would have had to alter the protagonist... she was an alicorn princess... and I wouldn't spoil something I made for you..."

"Oh Pinkie..."

She sniffed. "But.. you loved books... and I knew I could pay you proper tribute by writing stories. Trying to educate the ponies of the world. So I made a detective slash adventurer, somepony who solves mysteries and crimes..." She smiled more, but tears were trailing down her cheeks. "I wanted ponies to appreciate you the way we did. Even if they didn't realize it..." I stared at her silently for a few moments. Suddenly, I leaped forward and grabbed her in a tight hug. I admittedly may have soaked her mane a bit with silent tears as I did. She hugged back, and we both shared a moment of crying together.

Did I mean this much to my friends? Had losing me really hurt them that much?

Eventually, we pried apart from each other, and Pinkie decided to take me on the grand tour of her house. During that time, she explained to me that she technically owns Carrot Cake's Bakery, that the twins and Mister Cake lived with her, and that she was basically among the top five writers in Equestria (made exceedingly easier by the fact works by unicorns and pegasai have been banned, destroyed, or both). But the more she talked, the more I found myself wondering.

"What about Cup Cake?"

She stopped. "Wha...?"

I noticed the twins stop and frown. Did I say something wrong? Pinkie frowned and sighed. "... Can we talk about that later?" I blinked. "But... but Carrot Cake--"

"Twilight."

I had never seen Pinkie look so... firm. Serious. "We'll talk about it later." I simply nodded. I'll be honest... she was scary when she was serious.

And so, we continued down the hall, until finally, pinkie approached a pair of doors. Pound groaned. "Aww, why are we heeere?"

Pumpkin frowned. "What? I like this room!"

"You would!"

"Kids?" Pinkie said. "If you fight, there will be no cookies tonight!" Immediately, both of them stopped, but they did spare dirty glances at each other. "Without further ado..." Pinkie placed her hooves on the doors, and then pushed them open.

I almost fainted.

Books. Books all over. A library. Pinkie's mansion had a library. It wasn't the first time I'd seen one; heck, I'd lived in a library for years, but.... this was bigger. There had to be more books here than there was there! I stepped inside, staring around in wonder. I spun in a small circle, just taking in all the knowledge that surrounded me. I stopped, looked to Pinkie Pie, and shook my head. "You have a LIBRARY!?"

Pinkie smirked. "Well duh. I had to learn a lot about writing... then when I got rich, I decided to pay tribute to you by collecting books!" She looked around, leaned in, and whispered into my ear. "I even got a bunch of magic books! I can't use them, but who knows, maybe Pumpkin can?"

I looked to Pinkie in amazement. "Pinkie... you are utterly..."

"Fantastic? Amazing? Spectacular? Fantazticular?" She gigglesnorted. "Yeah, but that's not the best part! The best part is-"

"Miss Pie?"

We all turned to see the butler pony from earlier standing there with such indifference. "You have gentlemen callers at the door. Shall I suggest the children and our guest hide?"

Pinkie groaned, then trotted towards a bookshelf. Grabbing a book labeled 'The History of Rocks' (which, the librarian in me noticed was erroneously under 'E' ), she yanked on it, and suddenly the bookshelf began to open. "Twilight, you and the twins go in there. There are holes in the walls for peeping, but be careful, and nopony make a sound, alright?" Before I could even respond, she shoved me and the twins into the wall, and shut the bookshelf back.

There wasn't much space, but it wasn't too crowded. The twins lead me to a part of the wall that looked into the main hall, where I saw Pinkie talking to several ponies. I could just barely hear what they were saying.

"We're dreadfully sorry for bothering you, madam, but we've heard reports of strange ponies being spotted near your home?"

Pinkie smirked. "Oh silly, of course strange ponies are spotted near my home! I throw lots of parties!"

"Yes, well, we were wondering if we might search your place of residence?"

"Sure! Come on in!"

Pinkie lead three ponies into her home; each wearing uniforms, with one higher ranking officer among them. The Twins lead me to a narrow stairway that brought us into a sort of attic-space that lead around the house. We wandered around, finding small holes and pipe-systems; the holes for peaking, the pipes for hearing. We watched as the group was given a tour about the place, and they searched everywhere; they opened closets, cupboards, pantries, drawrs... after some time, they gave up their search, but the leader of the three did not seem convinced.

"Where is the pony that came here?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno. I had Teacup send her off; not that I'm a Meany McMeanerpants, I just got a lot of party plans to plan out, and while I enjoy having company, bigger parties take bigger plans, and company can distract me, and then when I get distracted, I start making little mistakes, not that anypony complains, because sometimes they find it funny when a welcome wagon shoots confetti from the oven and cake batter from the cannons, but I'd like to get it right at least once within my life, so--"

"OKAY!" shouted the captain, holding his hoof up. "Okay.... I believe you..."

It was then that I noticed... was Pinkie looking him and the others over?

"You knoooow" she began, "If you and your friends are so inclined, you can come to my party! After all, it'd be nice to have big, strong stallions in uniform reminding all the ponies there that we're nice and safe." That was.... different. She couldn't help but notice the two grunts looking to each other with devious grins - which faded when their boss gave his response.

"No thank you, ma'am. We're just here to do a job. Keep your nose clean." With that, he turned to look at his subordinates, who quickly wiped the scowls off their faces. "Let's go, gentlemen." And with that, the group made their ways back to the front, where the butler (who must have been 'Teacup') let them out. Once the double doors were closed, Teacup stared out of a peep hole for a few minutes, before nodding to Pinkie Pie, who turned about, trotted towards the peephole, and stared me in the eye through it.

"Olly Olly Oxen Free! You can come out now!"

I moved about, lead by the foals, to find the exit. A lever on our end opened the book case back up, and we stepped out, greeted by Pinkie Pie and Teacup; the former bouncing in place, the latter standing there with as much poise as one would expect of a well-trained butler. As I stepped out, I couldn't help but smirk at Pinkie Pie. "Well... that was interesting."

"Yeah, I've had to do that sorta thing a few times!" said Pinkie. "I mean, my parties have lots of unicorns and pegasai over, so sometimes I gotta give them places to hide in case the batter hits the fan!"

I balked. What? "Y-you have lots of illegal ponies here... and you invited the ponies charged with hunting them down!?"

Pinkie simply waved a dismissive hoof. "They hardly ever actually take me up on it, and when they do, I always set them up in another room that's less fun and inspires them to leave quickly!" I still wasn't sure it was a good idea, but I suppose she had been doing this long before I came along; especially if she really was the author of the Keen Eye books. Those have been around for as long as I've known Stock! I would have to question later how she got a book published so quickly.

"Speaking of, if I heard Teacup right, you uttered the superdy duper secret pass phrase! So, Twilight, I wanna say that I'm

sorry in advance!"

"Sorry for-"

I think that was when I was hit in the head with a vase.

Have you ever been knocked out with a blunt object? It's unpleasant. Very unpleasant. The first thing I noticed upon regaining consciousness was that I was moving around. I think I was being carried? I had that feeling of being carried. The second thing I noticed is that when I opened my eyes, I couldn't see. The third thing I noticed was that my back legs were tied together, as were my forelegs. The fourth thing I noticed as I yelled; I had something covering my mouth, muffling my shout.

"Hm? Oh! You're awake, Twilight! Super sorry again for hitting you in the head, but you're not allowed to know where we're going just yet! You were unconscious for a while, so I think we should probably take you to a doctor to make sure I didn't accidentally give you a concussion!"

"It is my humble opinion that Miss Pie does not know her own strength." The butler was helping Pinkie Pie abduct me?

"You said it, Teacup! Anyway, in case you're wondering, we also had to gag you, because we figured when you woke up you might panic. Don't worry, we'll take that off right now! Just don't yell at me, alright?" Pinkie, without another word, or even a response from me, pulled the gag off my mouth. I cleared my throat, took a breath, and tried to calm myself.

"Pinkie Pie... was it really necessary to hit me in the head?"

"Hm? Oh, probably not, but that's usually how I get ponies who come to me down here! I was told to stop but old habits die hard! Not like this one pony I almost killed! He was alright in the end, but now he's afraid of vases!"

Gee, I wonder why.

After several minutes of travel and surprising silence, I felt the motion stop, and looked around... well, as best as I could blindfolded. Then, I heard a hoof knocking against stone. Then, the sound of stone scraping against stone. Then, we were moving again. A little more time passed, before we stopped once more, and I heard a hoof knock against metal.

"Who goes there?"

"Nopony but us chickens!"

"... That's not the password..."

"It's not?"

"... Hi Pinkie Pie..."

I heard the sound of iron screeching open, and then, we moved what I suspect is inwards. The loud clang of metal signaled the door shutting. "So..." I heard the voice of a stallion speak, "Is she a spy or...?"

"Oh, this is Twilight Sparkle!"

Silence.

"... The princess that was murdered in the Ponyville Massacre?"

"Yep!"

I could almost feel the tension.

"P-Pinkie Pie... we've told you before... she's gone... please, take this mare back to wherever you found her and apologize..."

"I'm real" I uttered. "I'm the real Princess Twilight Sparkle. I came here looking for my friends, and Pinkie Pie hit me over the head with a vase."

More silence.

"Miss.... we find it disturbing you would take advantage of Pinkie's kindness by pretending to be her dead friend..."

"I'm really Twilight!" I shouted. "I love to read books, I became a princess when I finished Star Swirl's spell that we still have no idea what it does--"

"And you have that weird thing you do when you eat chocolate!" shouted Pinkie.

"Yeah, I have that-- wait, what?"

"I don't know..." said the as of yet unknown stallion.

"Wait, what weird thing do I do when I eat chocolate?"

"Well... I guess the only way to be sure is to take her to the boss."

It was then that I felt the blindfold leave my eyes. Standing before me was a stallion with a blue coat, green eyes, and a lavender mane. As they untied my hooves, I eased myself off of Teacup's back and onto the floor, clearing my throat. I reached up to steady my hat, when I noticed I wasn't wearing it... or my wig. I gasped and felt around frantically. "Where are my hat and wig!?"

"Oh, we left those at the house! Don't worry, nopony saw you! We used a hidden passage on my property to get here!" She bounced up and down. "There's somepony you gotta meet, Twilight! I think she'll be REALLY happy to see you! C'mon, c'mon!" Pinkie began to bounce along merrily, Teacup tagging along, and, left with little choice, I opted to follow. I looked around at everything surrounding me; there were ponies everywhere! it was a veritable underground city, built in what I suspect must be a neglected dungeon or sewage system or something. I saw stands where ponies were selling goods, I saw ponies training together, and I even passed by a hatch with a make-shift sign that read 'School.'

"What is this place...?"

"We call it Sanctuary!" said Pinkie with a hop and a skip. "Not very original, but the name works! It's a place that serves as a home for ponies who got no place else to go! Ponies like myself who have a lot of bits and connections pull together to fund and buy supplies and serve as an economic bridge between here and the outside world!" She waved her hooves in a fashion as if presenting the place to me. "This is a home for refugees, but most importantly, it is the home of the Resistance!"

"Resistance?"

Pinkie blinked and giggled. "Oh! I forgot to tell you, didn't I? I'm part of the Resistance! A financial backer! I help pay for expensive stuff!" She nodded merrily, and soon we approached a large, vault, guarded by two stallions; one a unicorn, one a pegasus... both clearly former royal guards, even if they wore different attire (combat fatigues and barrettes). Pinkie nodded to the guards, and the unicorn's horn glowed. The large valve began to twist, and slowly, the vault opened, and Pinkie lead me inside.

I heard the large iron door shut behind me as I took in this new room. It was large, with various odds and ends; papers all over the place, desks, various boxes... it was everything you'd expect of a resistance headquarters. In the very middle was a large, round table surrounded by ponies. As I neared them, I noticed familiar faces. One Prince Blue Blood; perhaps the least changed of the group, even if his preferred fashion was replaced with a stylish black turtleneck sweater. Soarin' and Spitfire, both wearing what resembled their more formal Wonderbolts attire. Trixie, whose hair had two or three sections braided, while the rest of her seemed rather normal.

I paused when my eyes fell on the last pony's back as she spoke.

"They may have intercepted our supply line near Baltimare, but we can compensate for the loss. All we need to do is work around the blockade until their suspicions fall. At worst, we tell our contacts to back down and lay low until further notice."

"I concur" said Blue Blood with a nod. "It's only natural for them to be suspicious after one of their own training facilities just so happened to explode."

"Yes, but consider this..." said Trixie, holding up a hoof. "The blockade will not likely be their only action. Chances are they're going to enact Martial Law as well, which means everypony in that town's rights will be null an void until they're either satisfied or lose interest."

"Not to mention the political side..." said Spitfire. "Add all that together, chances are they'll see a rize in local recruitment to respond to 'terrorist attacks.' They might potentially recover every pony they lost in that attack."

"I doubt it..." the mare at the table shook her head; even from behind I could tell she was deep in thought. "They're stretched thin as it is. The Empire likes to pretend they've got their stuff together, but the truth is they're feeling the strain. Their ability to maintain the status quo, the economy, the political structure they built... it's all a house of cards and it's shaking. Their tenuous grasp is beginning to become apparent to ponies, and even those who once sympathized with them are starting to become doubtful. But it's only working because we're putting pressure on them. If we let up too much, they'll start regrouping. We have to find some way to make their lives a bit more uncomfortable."

Blue Blood snorted. "Are you mad? If we do anything more in that region, we risk all of our operations there! We risk losing every contact, every operative in that area, which means a loss of resources, which means our power falters. We might destabilize them temporarily, but if they find everypony we know, they'll not only regroup, but they'll take a small chunk of our organization down to compensate for what they don't."

"That's why we strike somewhere else. Attack an outpost somewhere else to draw their attention. Intercept supplies. Do something to make them realize the threat isn't only in Baltimare."

"Trixie thinks we should just find the Alicorn Amulet and set Trixie loose upon them!"

Spitfire groaned. "Trixie, you suggest that at nearly every meeting. Nopony is letting you near that stupid thing again. Everypony here knows what you did in Ponyville. We won't risk that again." Trixie crossed her hooves and grumbled.

"We're not too stressed to come up with a solution right now." The leader turned around, her face clear to see, confirming my suspicions. A cyan coat, dressed in blue fatigues and a blue barrette... the right side of her face warped slightly, though still adorned in fur, her rainbow mane managing to hide it somewhat, though not enough that I could not see something had happened to her. "It will take them a while to regroup, and they.... they..."

As her eyese fell on me, she seemed to lose track of what she was saying. Everypony in the room turned to face us, and in that instant, their own expressions shifted to disbelief. I found myself suddenly very self conscious.

"R... Rainbow Dash...?"

I guess I should have seen it coming as Rainbow leaped across the room, swung her hoof at me, and for the second time today I found myself knocked unconscious.