A light.

There, shining in the Darkness like a beacon of hope. I could scarcely believe what I was seeing—indeed, I was shocked to find I could see. Wrapped in pitch black Darkness for so long, I was all but certain I had either lost my sight or never had any sight to begin with.

Yet there it was, a single point of light in the distance.

To my further surprise, more dots of light appeared one by one, blinking into existence without a sound until I was completely surrounded by the tiny motes on all sides. What I found strange, was that these lights did nothing to brighten the all consuming Darkness around me.

They merely popped into existence, offering nothing but their radiance, but after having seen nothing for so long, their brilliant shine was enough for me. The lights didn't stop there however.

Soon enough, they began to shift, moving this way and that in a slow, almost hypnotic motion. Even as I watched, they began to move faster and faster until they were nothing but lines of white in my vision.

Quickly becoming disoriented by the display, I closed my eyes and turned away. But no matter where I looked, I couldn't escape it. I had looked upon that first spot of light with wonder and curiosity shining in my eyes.

Now I just wanted it to stop.

I just wanted my peaceful Darkness back, I wanted the dizzying lights to go away, I wanted to go back to sleep.

Sleep?

I had... been asleep?

Why was I sleeping? How long had I been asleep? If I had been asleep, then how did I know I had spent such a long time trapped in the Darkness? All of these questions fought for dominance in my mind as I continued to shut my eyes against the maddening spiral of bright lights, but one question eventually won out in the end.

Why did I wake up?

My thoughts screeched to a halt as an ear piercing wail rang out from seemingly everywhere at once. Somehow I knew that the sound wasn't a natural thing and it shook me to my core. The sound seemed to reverberate through every fiber of my being, and I found it impossible to shut out.

Then it stopped.

Just like that, everything was returned to its quiet peaceful state. Opening my eyes, I was shocked to see that I was no longer enveloped in Darkness, nor was I a victim to the bright disorienting lights I had seen before.

I was... in a grassy open field.

Terribly confused, I looked around and saw that I was beneath the shade of a drooping willow tree. I furrowed my brow and looked down to see a book opened to a specific page, and my attention was immediately ripped away from the book as I spotted two strange appendages before me.

I raised one of the appendages and was bemused to see that there was an odd stump, with the rest of the limb covered in what looked and felt like lavender fur.

No, not a stump... a hoof.

I blinked and looked around, wondering where I was and what had happened to my comforting Darkness. Then my thoughts shifted to myself and what I even was. In that eternal Darkness, I had no real form, no real substance or matter—I wasn't even sure I really existed at all.

It was only when I saw that first speck of light that I began to get a sense of... well... my senses. It was only when I had first seen those lights that I had even known I was asleep, but now I was awake... and I wanted to know why.

There were things, words, memories that came unbidden to my mind as I puzzled at what I was seeing. Grass, field, the willow tree, the book, these hooves. I had no business knowing what any of this was, yet the knowledge of them came easily to me.

In fact, the more I thought, the more knowledge came to me.

Knowledge of where I was.

Knowledge of what I was supposed to be.

Knowledge of who I was supposed to be.

It seemed my name was Twilight Sparkle, which was odd because I was fairly sure I wasn't anypony or anything to begin with.

Wait... anypony?

...Yes.

That felt... right somehow.

As I sat there under the shade of tree, I continued to let the knowledge wash over me, taking in every scrap of information I could like a sponge. After what felt like an hour, I blinked and looked down at the book I had apparently been reading.

The Elements of... Harmony?

Intrigued, I scanned the book and discovered the story of two sisters and the struggle that tore them apart. Emotions ran high and in the end, one sister had to banish the other for her wicked intentions by using these 'Elements of Harmony'.

Emotion.

A simple word with a lot of weight behind it. Emotion could be both a wondrous and ruinous thing, and as I read, I could see the consequences negative emotion in excess wrought in this world.

Interesting.

In this place... in Equestria, emotion—whether it was wondrous or ruinous, whether it was positive or negative—was a very powerful thing indeed. For reasons I could not fathom just then, I felt a strong desire to know more about this world and these 'emotions'.

I needed to know if I too was susceptible to such a thing, and I doubted I would find out by sitting here. I looked around for a moment and spotted a pair of saddlebags lying a small ways away.

With a flick of my horn, I bathed the saddlebags in a magenta aura and floated them onto my back. Opening the latch on one of them, I closed the book and levitated that into the bag.

With that done, I trotted across the field until I came across a stone pathway. With the knowledge I had gained, I knew the way to go, and made for the tower with spiral staircase—my tower—at a leisurely pace.

As I trotted, I thought more about who I was and what I meant to the ponies of this place. I was a smart mare, studious, curious, and rather antisocial. Still I had done well for myself, as I was apparently the personal protege to the Princess of this land.

Interesting.

I also knew that I had an assistant waiting for me back in my tower. A dragon if memory served, and somehow I got the feeling he was an unorthodox assistant all things considered.

It was strange.

There were many things that came to me, and many things that I remembered, but there were some things that escaped me. Whatever I was supposed to be doing before I woke up beneath the willow tree was completely lost to me and I found myself rather annoyed that I couldn't remember.

Ah, so it seems I'm susceptible to some emotion after all.

Good... very good.

I was snapped out of my musings as I heard a voice from up ahead.

"There you are, Twilight!"

I blinked and looked up to see three mares blocking my path. I froze and stared at the three, studying their features and how they differed from me. They had different colored coats, manes, and tails. They were unicorns like me, but I could sense that they weren't nearly as powerful when it came to raw magical ability.

Magic was something else I had gained knowledge of—a lot of knowledge of—and it was rather fascinating, though somehow I doubted being able to passively sense magic was normal for ponies, even unicorns.

Interesting.

As I brought my focus back to the three mares, I was surprised to see two of them looked rather nervous, shifting their hooves uncomfortably and turning away from me. I found it odd, but paid it no mind as I searched my memory for any recognition.

Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and... Minuette.

They were supposed to be old friends, but I found I couldn't really muster up any sort of joy at meeting them here. Still, this would give me a chance to interact with my fellow equines and I wouldn't pass up the opportunity.

"Uh... Twilight?" the light blue mare, Minuette asked nervously, "are you... okay? You've kinda been staring at us for the last minute or so..."

"Yeah, it's... kinda creepy," Twinkleshine added, furrowing her brow, "we were gonna invite you over to the west castle courtyard for Moon Dancer's get-together, but if you're not feeling up to it, we'd understand."

Lemon Hearts merely nodded, looking somewhat unsettled for some reason.

I didn't want to let this chance slip through my hooves, so I decided to reassure them, let them know everything was okay. I opened my mouth to tell them I'd be delighted to go, and...

AndthentherewasscreamingsomuchscreamingIdontknowwhytheyrescreamingIwantthemtostopIneedthemtostopIcantstandthescreamingpleasestopscreamingpleasestopscreamingstopscreamingstopscreamingforcelestiassakepleasestopscreamingithurtsithurtsithurtsITHURTSPLEASESTOPSCREAMINGSTOPSCREAMINGSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPST—

There was a noticeable spring in my step as I trotted towards the tower's spiral staircase. I couldn't help but marvel at how invigorated I felt after talking to my friends and at how good it felt to feel... well... good. I resolved to talk to ponies more often, though, thinking back on it, my friends never did tell me when the party was.

Either way, aside from a bit of... unpleasantness, I was thoroughly enjoying these emotions, and talking to Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette had been a great learning experience.

Now I was confident I could talk to anypony.

I set those thoughts aside for now, trotting up the spiral staircase outside the tower and stopping just outside of the entrance. I took a moment to look out over the horizon and my eyes widened in wonder at what I saw.

Knowing that I was on a mountain that overlooked vast rolling green hills, lush forests, and a quaint looking village in the distance was one thing. The memory was there, but I hadn't experienced it for myself until now, and to see the view for myself was an absolutely awe inspiring experience indeed.

Satisfied, I turned and pulled the door open with my magic before stepping inside.

It was exactly as I expected it to be. The tower was filled with bookshelves that lined every wall, every nook and cranny was crammed with literature and the only space that wasn't stacked to the rafters with books was the large windows that took the place of the walls.

"Twilight?"

I looked down to see a purple dragon hatchling standing in front of me and looking rather surprised at my sudden entrance. He was holding some kind of red package wrapped with yellow ribbon.

A gift.

It seemed I had found Spike, and apparently he hadn't expected me to be back so soon from... whatever it was I was supposed to be doing originally. He took a step back and furrowed his brow.

"I didn't think you'd be back already," he said with a bemused frown, "weren't you supposed to be browsing the Royal Archives for another half hour or so? I was gonna meet you there so we could go to Moon Dancer's party," he held up the gift, with a proud smile, "I even got her a present!"

I was taken aback by this development.

I hadn't known Spike already knew about the party, and had no idea what to say. I never got a chance to find out when the party was, but if Spike knew about it, then maybe he could tell me and we could both go.

It would give me a chance to talk to more ponies.

"Hey, uh... Twilight?" Spike asked, lowering the gift and giving me a concerned frown, "you alright there? You look a bit... out of it."

I really needed to work on responding in a timely manner. There was still so much to learn about communication, but I would get it eventually. It would just take some practice. I shook my head and attempted to give the baby dragon a reassuring smile, opening my mouth to speak once more.

"I'm perfectly fine, Spike, and I'd love to go to the party with you," I replied sweetly, "I'm sure that Moon Dancer would love whatever present you got for her."

Spike froze.

He took a step back and visibly shivered before narrowing his eyes. I frowned in bemusement at his reaction and took a step forward.

"Spike? Is something wrong?"

"Stop," he said suddenly, "Twilight, what's going on here?"

I retreated back a step and furrowed my brow in further confusion.

"What?" I asked with a tilt of my head, "what are you talking about?"

"What am I—" he shook his head vigorously and glared at me "—Twilight, why do you sound like Minuette?"

I stared at the little dragon blankly as I tried to determine why this seemed to be a problem. Even sifting through every memory I possessed of my time before I had woken up, I couldn't find one instance of me ever having a different voice... or any voice for that matter.

Interesting.

If Spike's reaction was anything to go by however, I was supposed to have a completely different voice. Apparently I did have a voice of my own at some point and didn't remember what it sounded like.

It was that same irksome problem that I knew would lead to more situations like this one. Some knowledge and memories came readily while other things remained lost and forgotten—assuming I even had those bits of knowledge and memories to begin with.

Regardless, it seemed I had aroused some kind of suspicion within the tiny drake, and now I had to figure out what to do, or what to say to regain his trust. Or maybe I could just find a way to keep him quiet until I figured out how to properly speak.

What to do...