Not much happened within the wooden walls of the library. Almost every single day was the same. Organize the books, clean the shelves, and give the customers the books they wanted. Other than that, the day consisted of reading and studying. Outside the walls, Twilight could partake in the crazy day-to-day antics that her friends cooked up, but inside the walls it was quiet. Twilight didn't mind it too much, she enjoyed the company of the books and the silence. She enjoyed the company of Spike, and her soft bed, and the musty smell of books.

Today was one of those days. Rainbow Dash was busy practicing her tricks in Cloudsdale, Fluttershy had left to go visit a relative, Applejack was away to Appleloosa for business, Rarity was at Canterlot for a fashion showcase, and Pinkie Pie was somewhere. Twilight never really knew what Pinkie did in her spare time, but it didn't really matter to her. She assumed that Pinkie just cooked. None of them would be back before later that afternoon.

Twilight had nothing to do with all her friends away, so she resorted to reading and studying. Spike went through his usual routine: Cleaning the shelves, reorganizing the books, and running errands throughout Ponyville. At the moment, he was out buying some supplies for the library. Some more ink, quills, parchment, and other things. Twilight had made him a list of errands to run, and the list ran on for quite a long time. Needless to say, Spike would be out for a while.

The library was quiet. Business was slow and not a single pony trotted in to borrow a book the whole day. With Spike away, the books already organized, and the shelves dusted, Twilight only had one option left. Read. Most of the books in the library had already been read by her, but there were still a few left. Twilight was gifted in that she could read and comprehend books within seconds. Reading the entire library wouldn't take her too long. Usually she just reread books, looking for information she missed the first time. Lucky for her, books never got boring. Unlike most ponies, Twilight could read books for countless hours and still remain interested.

It was only afternoon, but Twilight was already feeling tired. She had woken up early to say farewell to her friends for the day. Applejack had to leave the earliest at around six o' clock. After reading so many books, Twilight could feel herself becoming drowsy. Each page made her eyes droop a little more, until finally she decided a nap was in order. She trotted over to her bed, sliding under the covers and resting her head on the soft...mattress?

Twilight jerked her head up. Sure enough, the pillow was gone. Scratching her head, Twilight looked under the blanket and around the room. There wasn't a sign of it anywhere. Where did I put it.

Every pony had their quirks, and only being able to sleep with a pillow was one of Twilight's. If she wanted to take a nap, she'd have to find it. Her organizational nature almost forced her to find the pillow. The fact that she was tired only added to the cause, and forced her to begin the search. First, Twilight checked the immediate area. She checked near the bed, above the bed, under the bed, far away from the bed, and all the other places around the bed, but couldn't find anything.

Twilight checked all the bookcases, the fireplace, and even the balcony. The pillow was nowhere to be found. She removed all the books from the shelves, pulling them out and tossing them to the ground. All that she got were empty shelves and no pillow. Inside her kitchen, she removed all the pots and pans from the cabinets, and checked in every drawer, but there was nothing but kitchen utensils. In her basement there were only boxes. She checked every single box, but all she found were old knick-knacks and pictures. She checked inside and underneath ever single vase she owned, and she even looked behind all the paintings and clocks. Nothing was there.

There was only one explanation, the pillow was not inside the library. Twilight left the library and trotted off to Ponyville central. She couldn't think of any reason that it would be outside the library, but she would search for it.

Twilight checked Ponyville Square, looking for anything that resembled a pillow. She knew it had to be somewhere, pillows didn't just disappear. She asked every pony in the square if they had seen a pillow with a stain on it, but only got a shake of the head.

She decided to check Sugar Cube Corner, because she knew that Spike would be there getting lunch at this hour. Sure enough, Spike was sitting at a table waiting for his drink. He had brought his own lunch of some gems.

"Spike, did you take my pillow?" Twilight trotted over and stood next to him.

"What?"

"My pillow. I can't find it, did you take it?"

"No, I didn't touch it. Maybe you left it somewhere in the library?"

"No, I checked everywhere and I couldn't find it."

"Well then, maybe somepony borrowed it. Or stole it."

"You're right! I'm going to go find the theif, thanks Spike." Twilight turned to trot out of the store.

"Wait! Twilight, it's just a pillow. Why don't you buy a new one?"

"Because Spike, that pillow was a gift from the princess. She gave it to me when I first came to Ponyville. It's very special."

"What's so special about a pillow?"

"That pillow was Celestia's favorite pillow, and she gave it to me. I need to find it."

"How are you going to do that? There's tons of pillows in Ponyville, how can you tell which one is yours?"

"Because Spike, my pillow has a stain on the bottom. Celestia said it got there when she accidently poured a drink on it."

"Whatever Twilight, I still have some errands to do so I can't help you. Good luck, though." Twilight turned away from Spike and left the shop. Now that she had a plan, she could begin her search for the pillow. The only problem was, she didn't know where to start. Twilight knew that everypony had a pillow, and going through all of them would be way too much work.

She needed a way to get all the pillows in Ponyville into one area so she could search them. There was only one solution. Pillow fight.

Twilight walked into Ponyville central. Ponies were going about there business, buying things from the shops, chatting, and admiring the statue. Some ponies were just sitting on the benches and admiring the weather while other rushed through the square on some unknown errand. Twilight cleared her throat and initiated phase one of her master plan.

"Hey! Everypony, can I please have your attention?" she yelled. Twilight was quite renowned to the ponies, seeing as how she had saved Ponyville multiple times and vanquished an Ursa Minor. Due to her fame, the ponies quieted and faced her.

"Hello everypony, today is a very sunny and bright day, and I think it would be a great day to, " she paused for dramatic effect, "Have a pillow fight."

The silence from the crowd made the wind sound like blaring music. All the ponies looked at Twilight skeptically, trying to figure out whether she was insane or not. Twilight surveyed her viewers, trying to think of a way to incite their interest.

"Um, winner gets seventy bits?"

Suddenly, the ponies nodded their heads and murmured about the idea. The crowd cheered.

"Okay then, tell everypony! Bring all the pillows! It starts at four o' clock." The crowd dispersed to go tell everypony in town about the event. Twilight stood still in the central, remembering that she didn't even have seventy bits. All she could do was hope that she would win.

Within an hour, all the ponies in Ponyville had been notified about the event, and the prize. Seventy bits was quite a large amount, and was enough to bring any pony to the central square. Each pony brought their own pillow, ready to engage in the largest pillow fight known to ponykind.

A free-for-all pillow fight wouldn't work out so well, so the ponies decided that there would be teams. There would need to be a fair amount of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies on each team in order to level the playing field. There were about four hundred ponies gathered in the square, and more were coming. They would need a larger area.

Lifting it with their collective magic, the unicorns brought the massive pile of pillows to a field just outside of Ponyville. The area was littered with trees and rocks, with a small stream nearby. It was the perfect place to hold the event. As the ponies populated the area, Twilight began to take a count.

In all, there were 432 ponies that had come to the event. It had been decided that the prize money would be increased to three thousand bits, a number that seemed obscenely large. However, the teams would consist of 144 members each, and the losing teams would put their money together to come up with the prize money. Then, it would be divided among the winning team. In theory, each team would have an equal amount of each type of pony on each team, but the imperfect ratio of unicorns to pegasi to earth ponies didn't allow it. Some teams would wind up with more of one kind.

The sun was still high up in its perch when the teams were finally chosen. Twilight led one of the teams, Lyra led another, and Cheerilee led the final one. Each team was given a side of the field, where they would begin from. As the teams formed together, one of the participants brought up a problem.

"How are we going to tell the teams apart?" he asked. The ponies thought about it for a short while, but Twilight was able to figure out a solution.

"We can just use the vests from this year's Winter wrap up. There are enough for everypony and they're different colors!"

Within a couple minutes, all the teams had their vests on. Twilight's team wore the blue vest, Lyra's the green, and Cheerilee's the brown vest. With all the teams distinctively separated, the masses of ponies made their way to their respective sides. Each pony could bring one pillow with them for their team to start with. Twilight, however, didn't bring a pillow, so she did not take one.

Remember why you're here Twilight, look for the pillow. Her team had arrived at their side with their stack of pillows. As her team discussed strategy, Twilight searched through the pillows, looking for the stain, but the ponies ushered her to the middle to begin the event. Standing in the middle of the field, being stared at by almost all of Ponyville, Twilight cleared her throat.

[At this point, listening to this song will only enhance your experience: Listen for enhancement ]

"Hello everypony, and welcome. I'd like to thank you all for coming and-"

"Get on with it!" somepony shouted.

"Alright, alright. When I yell 'begin', we will start. The objective is to use the pillows to cause the opposing teams to surrender. Good luck."

Twilight trotted back to her team. The air lay still. Not a pony dared to speak as they awaited Twilight's voice. The sun beat down on the field, causing ponies to sweat. Through the silence, only the murmuring of the nearby stream could be heard. Twilight's team was closest to the stream. The pillows stood in stacks at each corner of the field, waiting to be thrown. Even the birds refused to tweet, afraid to break the stillness.

"Begin!"

The shout echoed through the field, and it began. There was a moment of stillness, where nopony knew exactly what to do, but it was over quickly. Unicorns rushed out into the middle of the field, bringing pillows with them using magic. The pegasi took to the sky, carrying pillows to provide support from the air. The earth ponies used their powerful back hooves to buck the pillows from their starting point into the center. This was for two purposes, to hit opposing ponies and provide the unicorns with more pillows. The ponies were giggling, and having fun.

At first, the unicorns were just rushing, but then the first pillow was thrown. A blue vested unicorn had thrown a pillow and nailed an enemy directly in the face, sending her toppling to the floor. Then it was chaos. Pillows flew back and forth between unicorns as the pegasi circled around the scene in the air. Each pegasi held a pillow, looking for an enemy to strike from the sky. Earth ponies shot pillows high into the air from the outskirts of the fight. One pegasus took a pillow to the side from an earth pony's attack, and went spiraling down. He stood no chance within the center of the fight. The unicorns had him begging for mercy within moments. The soft, fluffiness of the pillows was too much for him. The laughter of ponies could be heard throughout the field.

But with the prize in mind, some ponies were ruthless. The laughs started to die down, and the screams began to increase. Twilight had found her way into the center, looking for the stain. Pillows zipped past her face as the unicorns exchanged fire. Next to her, one unicorn used her pillow to bludgeon an enemy to death. At least, to submission. Twilight kept her head low, hoping not to be spotted by the enemy. Around her, she could see her teammates falling to the ground, struck by a pillow. It would take more than just one pillow to defeat a pony, however, and they were right back up.

Twilight looked around her, angry ponies of all colors whipping pillows at each other. From above, the pegasi threw the pillows downwards, bombarding the fights, and then went back to base to get another pillow. Twilight could only hope she wasn't targeted.

Pillows laid idly on the ground, having been thrown and not picked up again. Twilight lifted each of these pillows to check for the stain, but she was having no luck.

Whack!

From the side, Twilight felt a pillow slam into her. A massive pain surged through her body, and she fell to the ground. Pillows aren't supposed to hurt that bad! Nearby, she heard a pony yell out, "Team Green is cheating! They're putting rocks in their pillows!"

Rocks? That's dangerous! Twilight stood to her hooves. "Stop putting rock in your-" She was struck down once again, this time from the front. A unicorn had thrown a pillow from a couple yards away, and was able to nail Twilight in the face. Now she was galloping toward Twilight.

Twilight lay on the ground, her eyes close, trying to recover from the pain she felt in her face. She rubbed her nose with a hoof, making sure it wasn't broken. When she opened her eyes, she saw a unicorn standing above her with a pillow raised. Forgetting the pain, Twilight rolled to the side, dodging the pillow as it came crashing down. Twilight picked up a pillow of her own, and using her magic swung it as hard as she could in the direction of the unicorn. It was a direct hit. The unicorn fell to the ground, her body landing with a thump. Her eyes closed, mare down.

Now Twilight realized that she was in the center of the fight, and if she wanted to survive she'd need to fight her way through. Pillows rained from above, coming from all directions. Twilight had to keep a constant eye on the sky if she didn't want to be hit.

She heard an explosion from nearby. Explosions! Are you kidding me? Ponies were flung in all directions from the blast. Luckily, Twilight was out of range, but the affected ponies laid on the ground. Twilight looked up. More pillows were raining down from the sky, but these pillows had magic enchanting them. The unicorns must be using spells to make them explosive. Twilight had no time to lose, she ran back to the base where the earth ponies shot pillows into the sky. The explosions were too dangerous.

"Team Blue retreat!"

A mass of ponies turned and left the skirmish in the middle. Team Green was winning, having taken out a large chunk of Team Brown with explosions. They were on the advance.

"Keep them off us!" Twilight commanded. The earth ponies bucked the pillows in a more linear fashion, aiming to hit the ponies directly. The pegasi stood behind their mass of pillows as Team Green advanced. Team Green was providing their own fire, throwing pillows at the base. Most of the pillows were either caught by the massive pile of pillows that Twilight's team stood behind, or missed to the side. All the while, Twilight desperately looked for the stain.

"Hello Twilight! What's going on?" Rarity had trotted near Twilight, observing the chaotic scene.

[Once again, listening to this will only enhance your experience: Enhancement

"Rarity!" It was too late, Twilight's warning wasn't enough. Time seemed to slow down as a pillow zipped through the air, aimed directly for Rarity. It was all over. Rarity turned just in time to see the pillow make impact, and then she fell to the ground.

"Rarity NO!"

Twilight rushed over to her friend, checking to make sure everything was alright. She was still breathing, but didn't look too good.

"Rarity, are you okay?"

Rarity barely opened her eyes. The words she spoke hardly escaped her parted lips. "I don't think...I'm going to make it."

Twilight felt tears coming to her eyes. Rarity's eyes closed, and she lay on the ground, motionless.

"Rarity... Rarity... No... NOOOOOOOO!" Twilight cried out to the heavens. She bowed her head and began to sob. They shall pay. Twilight dragged the unconscious Rarity behind her team's pillow stack. With a newly found reason to fight, Twilight took charge.

"Alright, that's it. We're taking them down." Twilight and the other unicorns began to enchant the pillows, giving them explosive properties. She then ordered the pegasi to fly out and bombard the enemy. As they flew over their protective pile of pillows, many of the pegasi were shot down. The unicorns flung pillows into the sky, nailing the pegasi and causing them to spiral out of control. The fallen pegasi landed with a crash, their explosive pillows exploding in their hooves. They didn't stand a chance. After the explosion the fallen pegasi lay motionless on the ground, covered in feather. Some of the pegasi were able to carry out their task, dropping the pillows onto the enemy lines. With a massive explosion, feathers went everywhere. Team Brown had been subdued, their advances halted.

Team Blue saw an opportunity to make their move, so the unicorns rushed out from behind their base, pillows carried next to them. Victory was near. The explosions had caused multiple casualties on enemy lines, but the attack from the unicorns nearly wiped them out. Team Green had to retreat. Twilight called for her team to follow them and finish them off, but Team Brown had other ideas. They had organized an aerial attack. Pegasi flew through the air, all carrying enchanted pillows.

"We need anti-air support!" Earth ponies changed the direction of their fire, aiming for the mass of pegasi that were coming their way. Pillows flew through the air, hitting some of the brown vested pegasi. But it wasn't enough. Team Brown began their carpet bomb, pillows falling from the sky in rapid succession.

"Take cover!" Twilight jumped behind a rock, covering her head. All the other ponies jumped behind trees, and some even ran for the river.

"Hey Twilight, what are you doing behind this rock?" Rainbow Dash had spotted Twilight, and decided to fly over.

"Rainbow get down!" Twilight didn't want to see another one of her friends lost.

"Why, what's going on?" She looked out over the area, pillows being dropped by waves of pegasi, exploding into millions of tiny feathers. The battlefield had been cleared, only the motionless bodies of fallen warriors remained in the center.

"Twilight, what is going on?"

"Long story, now get down!" Rainbow Dash stopped flying and joined Twilight behind the rock. They heard explosions from the battlefield and screams of ponies who hadn't gotten to cover in time. Due to the explosions, the ponies were running out of pillows to throw, but some ponies began to go back to town and take pillows from the stores. There was a constant supply.

After the explosions had subsided, Twilight decided it would be safe to poke her head out from the rock. Sure enough, the battlefield was empty, and each team was regrouping at their respective side.

Twilight galloped to join her own team, bringing Rainbow Dash with her. Upon seeing Rarity's body, Rainbow Dash nodded and realized why she had to help.

"How many ponies do we have left?"

"Around eighty," responded one of the ponies. Twilight tried to think of a plan to defeat the opposing teams. There has to be an easy way.

"Captain Twilight," said one of the ponies.

"Yes?"

"The leader of team brown wishes to speak with you." Sure enough, Cheerilee was standing near the base, surrounded by Twilight's teammates. Twilight called them off, and trotted over to have a diplomatic discussion with her foe.

"Hello Cheerilee."

"Good afternoon, Twilight."

"Lovely weather we're having."

"Yes. Simply divine."

"What did you want to see me about?"

"I have discussed with my team and we have decided that it would be best to outlaw the use of explosives from the rest of this fight. We are looking for your agreement to these terms."

Twilight thought about it for a moment. No more explosives. I guess that sounds reasonable. "Alright, no more explosives allowed. Is Team Green in on this?"

"I was going to talk to them next."

"Well, I'll see you on the battlefield."

"That you will." With that, Cheerilee turned and trotted back to her base. Twilight trotted back to her own team, where she saw them discussing something. When she arrived, a member turned to her. "Twilight, we've been talking and if we were to combine all our unicorn magic we could make an ultimate pillow bomb. Then we could wipe out the other teams."

"No way. That goes against our foreign policy." Twilight pondered her options. She could take the teams from the side, or a direct attack. An aerial attack seemed most effective to her. Without explosives, it would be difficult to push through large enemy lines.

"Incoming!" Looking up, Twilight saw a pillow high up in the air, at the peak of its arc. It was aimed directly for Twilight's team. Without hesitation, Twilight ran for cover behind her rock. The rest of the ponies did the same. A couple didn't know what was happening, and could only stand and watch as the pillow came crashing down. With a massive explosion, the wall of pillows Twilight's team used for defense was blasted away. The unlucky ponies that had stayed where they were lay on the floor now, unable to move. There goes another five. She looked out from behind her rock but saw nopony in the battlefield. I thought we agreed no explosives.

Twilight called her team back to base, where they gathered up all the pillows they could. Now Twilight would show no mercy. She enchanted pillows one after another, but gave them a little something extra.

"Okay, these pillows will fly through the air without losing velocity as quickly as before, and can keep momentum for great lengths."

"Come again?" asked some of the ponies.

"These pillows will fly farther."

"Ohh." The unicorns lifted the pillows into the air with their magic. Each pillow had explosive properties, and had to be handled with care.

"On my count. One... Two... Three!" The unicorns flung the pillows forward, and sure enough, they tore through the air like rockets. They didn't even begin to arc downwards until they were only a couple yards away from Team Green's base. Before they could react, the pillows had hit their defenses, sending their pillow stack flying. Anypony that had been near the stack was thrown to the ground and injured from the explosion.

Twilight shared hoofbumps with her teammates on a job well done. But there was still a problem. Team Brown, realizing that the other teams had broken their "no explosives" rule, sent out yet another pegasi fleet, all carrying pillow bombs. Twilight saw the impending danger, and this time she was ready.

"Don't fire till' you see the whites of their pillows." They began to fire, it was very easy to see the whites of a pillow. Pillows shot from Twilight's base high into the sky with extreme accuracy, sending the pegasi to the ground. Not a single pegasi was able to drop their pillow, they all fell to the ground where their pillow exploded in their hooves. The explosion sent them flying backwards, and then left them motionless on the floor.

Pillows were bucked by the earth ponies with power that was matched only by Big Mac himself, and the force exerted by the pillows was enough to make any pegasi fall to the ground. Each time a pegasus was hit, the scream could be heard, and then the thud and boom as they hit the ground ended the scream.

Rainbow Dash had taken to the sky with her own pillow, whacking the more adept fliers and sending them crashing down. Once the skies had been cleared, Twilight and her team let out a victorious cheer. They had defeated Team Brown's air force.

Now the battlefield was littered with fallen unicorns and pegasi, and soon the number of them would grow. Team Green had taken to the field, all their pillows in hoof. They were galloping straight for Twilight's base.

"Fire when ready." The battle began. Unicorns from the opposing side flung pillows at the base, but this time conserved ammo. They only fired when they could see the face of the enemy. Twilight's team returned fire, using their supply of pillows to knock out the enemy.

"Hey Twi, what's happenin?" Applejack had just come back from Appleloosa. Twilight only had time to glance at her friend before she took a pillow to the face. Applejack was strong though, she stood tall.

"Twi, what in the hay is going on!" Applejack ran to take cover behind Twilight.

"Long story, help me defend!" Applejack began to buck the pillows, and needless to say her expertise in the field of bucking came in very handy. Without the inaccuracy of an inexperienced bucker plaguing her, Applejack was able to use the force of a bucked pillow and the accuracy of a flung one to cause massive amounts of casualties. Ponies fell at the hooves of Applejack, one by one.

"Twilight, remind me why I'm doing this again," she said, kicking a pillow from behind her and knocking a unicorn onto the ground.

"I'm looking for my pillow, see if you can find one with a stain on it!"

The fight continued, each team equally matched and unable to advance. Team Brown made its move. Charging into the battlefield, the team carried every last pillow they had. They carried explosives and rock pillows, ready to put an end to the fight. Twilight's team was too busy fending off Team Green to notice, and when they did notice it was too late. Explosive pillows came from the sides of the fighting teams, throwing ponies all over the place.

"Hey Twilight! What's going on here?" Pinkie Pie had just arrived, but it was a short visit. She was killed swiftly by a pillow, it was over within a second.

"Pinkie NO!" Twilight didn't have time to go help her.

Another pony trotted up behind Twilight.

"Um, Twilight, I was hearing a lot of noise so I came to-" Fluttershy never saw it coming. An explosive pillow hit her in the side, sending her directly into a tree where she lay unconscious.

"Fluttershy NO!" Twilight wasn't sure if she was dead or not.

Twilight saw a pillow coming directly toward her, and that was the last thing she saw. She heard the explosion, she felt the force, but her eyes were squeezed shut. She flew backwards, slamming into a rock. As she fell off the rock, she couldn't help but hold her side and pray that her hearing come back. All she could hear now was a small buzzing noise. There was a moment where she felt it was all lost, that she couldn't go on. That she had been defeated, and that this was it. But she remembered her pillow. She needed to find it. This conviction built strength inside her, and she lifted herself from the ground. Although she was struggling to trot, she refused to give up. The explosion had injured quite a few of the ponies, including Applejack and Rainbow Dash who were lying near Rarity. Applejack tried to lift a hoof, but was too weak. All three of them lay motionless, covered in feathers.

Twilight knew she had to end this. Her team members were trying their best to keep both the other teams away. Pillows flew through the air, feathers littered the sky, and explosions ringed in the ears of the ponies. There were barely any ponies left standing. The final survivors threw pillows back and forth weakly, losing the strength to continue on. Their friends littered the ground, still motionless. The pillow fight had to be ended.

Twilight was only able to stagger a couple feet before collapsing. Near her, she saw a lone pillow. Time to end this.

Using whatever energy she had left within her, she enchanted the pillow. Unlike the normal explosive pillows, this one was overpowered with magic, and the explosion would be devastating. Twilight decided it was for the best, to end the fight and give her some peace to check all the pillows. Hopefully hers hadn't exploded already. Once all the ponies stopped fighting she could search for her pillow. She needed to do this.

Using the last reserves of her energy, she lifted the pillow and flung it into the air. Afterwards she laid her head down, unable to watch what happened next.

The fight between the three teams was raging on. Pillows took out the final members of each team, and as the numbers slowly diminished and victory came closer, each team fought harder. Pillows were being bucked and thrown harder, and the remaining pegasi were throwing the pillows from the air as hard as they could.

Before anypony could stop it, the pillow Twilight had thrown was upon them. There was a moment where all the ponies stopped fighting and watched their soft, fluffy doom fall down upon them. The fighting came to a halt, it was all over. The light from the blast consumed the field and flung all the remaining ponies to the ground. Screams were cut short by the explosion. It could be heard from Canterlot. Echoes of the boom could be heard in the field as the sound moved farther and farther away. The light caused was blinding to anypony watching from a distance, but was gone within an instant.

Luckily, all the animals had left the area before the fight, or else they would've been devastated. The sheer power of the explosion was enough to shatter all the windows in Ponyville. Any loose paper or light object was sent flying through the air. Feathers littered the air, and formed a mushroom cloud above the explosion. Any pony that had been standing was now lying on the ground, groaning or completely silent.

As the feathers and dust settled and the sound died out, Twilight finally opened her eyes. Instinctively, she had protected herself with a small force field. The only thing keeping her from the same fate as the ponies that lay on the field was that shield, and she was glad she used it. She picked herself up from the ground and trotted over to the dismal scene.

Ponies that had once been her friends, ponies off all colors, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, they all littered the ground. Their motionless bodies cold in the heat of the sun. They were everywhere, the ponies that had once been alive and jovial were now in front of Twilight as fallen warriors. She let a tear drop from her cheek for those lost. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack especially. But now was no time to mourn, she had to finish what she came for. She searched all the pillows that were still intact, looking for the stain. It had to be there. She spent the rest of the day, walking among the bodies and looking for the pillow.

It was to no use. All her efforts had been futile, her pillow was not there. As the sun came down, she had finished checking the final scraps. Every piece of pillow that littered the ground had been checked, but Twilight couldn't find the stain. All her efforts, all the loss, all the fallen ponies, and she had nothing to show for it. She left the field solemnly, bowing her head. It was quiet in Ponyville, most of the ponies had been in the battle earlier. Twilight entered her library, where it had all started. Her bed remained pillowless. It was over. She had lost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's okay, I'll never let you go again. It was silly of me to give you away in the first place. And now you're here to stay."

Princess Celestia laid her head down on the pillow, cherishing its softness. It's okay, she'll just think she lost it and buy a new one, thought the Princess.