"She's waking up."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I mean it! She's moving."

The voices sounded muffled, but Twilight Sparkle could hear each word perfectly. It was strange because the public wasn't normally allowed up in the private quarters. Maybe Spike had invited some friends up?

"The ponies always move when they're aleep."

"I know that, dummy. It's just that this one's been watching us."

"Watching us?"

"Yeah, her eyes have been following us walk around."

These voices sounded strange, though. They sounded unlike any pony she'd heard before; these ones had a strong rasp in their voice, as if both had something stuck in their throats. She wanted to investigate, but she felt too exhausted to get up yet. It was too dark for Celestia to have raised the sun yet.

So it was strange that she had some nighttime guests, then.

"Do you think we should tell the Queen? All the others have been pretty dormant."

"I don't know…"

Twilight opened her mouth to call out to them, but found her body reluctant to agree with her.

Something felt very wrong.

She tried to peel open her eyes, but she found that they were already open and it was so dark that she had hadn't realized. She focused her gaze on blurry shapes that danced around her vision, trying to discern what was going on.