March

3/1/1010

DAYTIME

Home.  The word never seemed so wonderful in her entire life.  Just the thought of being home in that little library less than a short walk away from all of her friends made her giddier than when she had been accepted into Magic School.  It had been an entire year since she had been home after being asked to teach at Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns.  It was a bit sudden, but the assurance of her friends that they'd be less than a train ride away allowed her to pack her things and set off to Canterlot.  After a long year with her eager students, along with some not-so eager ones, she was less than half an hour away.

When the chariot finally came to a stop in the middle of Ponyville square, ponies walking in all directions stopped and stared in awe at the two white pegasi donning golden armor.  Hopping out of the vehicle, her bags floating along with her thanks to her magic, Twilight Sparkle stopped and turned her head back to the guards.  “Thank you sirs,” she said as the pegasi snorted proudly in recognition.  Turning around to continue to her destination, she couldn't help but laugh at her own nostalgic joke.

Twilight felt like a stranger walking these streets, yet there was something else out of place.  She pondered what it was and continued on her way.  Upon passing Sugar Cube Corner, it finally hit her.  “Why aren't any of my friends here?” she thought.  Her brain now working in overtime to piece things together.

“I did tell them all the correct date, right?  I sent them the letter and everything.  What if something happened to the letter, or perhaps they were just busy?  I'm sure they all have things to do, I couldn't ask them to drop everything just to say hi.”

More and more thoughts filled her head until she was standing outside her door.  Taking one last glance around, she sighed dishearteningly and opened the door.  Stepping through the dark room, she mumbled, “Looks like they couldn't come after all.”

*click*

“SURPRISE!”

Suddenly the lights were on and all around her were colorful ponies greeting her with smiles and hugs.  Among them she spotted the ones she treasured the most.  Leaning against one another was a group of five ponies, plus baby dragon, all grinning in her direction.  “GIRLS!” She yelled before jumping at them all, ending up in a pile of jumbled hooves and one giant group hug.

3/1/1010

EVENING

The festivities ended and all that remained were the six girls and Spike gathered around in the middle of the library talking happily.

“Whooee, you should have seen 'em Twilight.  The look on their faces when one of them got their cutie mark.  Apple Bloom was hoppin' around so much, I didn't think we'd finish fixing the barn up in time for supper,” said Applejack, a hint of pride in her voice.

“Sweetie Belle was absolutely glowing when she got hers.  She wouldn't stop singing the entire night, but I didn't have the heart to stop the darling,” Rarity chimed in.

“Yeah, but the little squirt's one was the best.  First thing she did was run to me and ask if I could help her come up with more tricks on that scooter of hers.  We've got this awesome one where I fly over her and-” An orange hoof covered the mouth of the now struggling pony in an attempt to finish her story.  Rainbow Dash gave up her efforts, crossing her front hooves in annoyance.

Applejack spoke up, “I know y'all want to talk about what's been going on back here, but maybe it's Twilight's turn ta talk.  Now Sugarcube, what's been happening on yer side?”

At Applejack's question, Twilight shook her head and raised her front hooves in front of her.  “Oh, it's all right Applejack.  I'm just glad to hear that the girls finally earned their cutie marks.  The school wasn't really anything special anyway.  Going over lesson plans, grading papers, teacher stuff.  How is everypony else doing here in Ponyville?”

Pinkie chimed in this time, “Ooh!  Mr. and Mrs. Cake are doing great!  They're still baking, but we have all these new recipes and stuff that are big sellers now.  You've gotta try them sometime!  Your turn Fluttershy.”

Jumping a bit at her name, Fluttershy lowered her head a bit and turned to Twilight.  Barely audible, Fluttershy said, “Oh, I um... have some new animal friends.  I guess.  That's kind of new... I suppose.  I don't really want to bother you with all the animals.  Unless... you don't mind, that is.”

As a yawn escaped the baby dragon's mouth, the girls laughed and stood up taking the hint.  Nodding to the librarian and her assistant, they all said their goodbyes and went home for the night.

3/1/1010

LATE EVENING

Spike had all ready settled into his bed and Twilight was about to crawl onto hers, ready to sleep herself.  Deciding to have one last conversation with the dragon, she poked her head over the bed.

Twilight said, “I can see you've done a great job taking care of the library while I was gone, Spike.  Thank you.”

After a short silence, the dragon poked his head up from his resting spot.  He blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.  “It's nothing,” Spike said.  “I had a lot of help from Owlowiscious, too.”

Twilight smiled and a tear started to form in her eye.  Spike was growing up so quickly.  He was clearly able to take care of himself by now.  The library was taken care of by him for the past year after all.  Quickly trying to wipe the tear away, Twilight said, “I'll make sure to thank him later then.  Have you talked much to Sunny Sky?  She used to come to the library so often to chat.  Perhaps I should pay her a visit tomorrow.”

Spike had already resumed his sleeping position and only let out a mumbled, “Yeah, sure.  Once In a while, you do that.”

After waiting a bit to listen for Spike's snoring, Twilight leaned back onto the bed. She lay on her pillow and drifted to sleep.

***

Opening her eyes, she found herself standing upright.  Through bleary eyes, she could make out the insides of a room.  Though from the dark blue she saw all around, she could tell it wasn't hers.  The next thing she noticed was a deep rumble from beneath her as if the entire room were shaking.  She continued to stare in awe at the blur around her in a vain attempt to figure out where she was.

In a bright flash of white, the room suddenly became as clear as day to her.  There were small circular windows on the sides of the room as well as little blue curtains covering them.  On the sides of the room were seats built into the walls for sitting.  Putting all of this together along with the noise, she finally knew exactly where she was.  The confused purple pony was standing in a moving train.  However, this wasn't what she was focused on at the moment.  In front of her was an elegant desk and behind it, an old gray earth pony with a black suit.  Next to him stood a beautiful white unicorn with a blond mane and a blue dress.

The gray earth pony with beady eyes and a cheshire grin was a bit unnerving, and Twilight fidgeted in place as she attempted to plan her next move.

Before she could do anything, the silence was broken.

“Welcome to the velvet room.” The earth pony said.  “My name is Igor.  It has been long since I've seen such an interesting guest.  This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter.  However, I am getting ahead of myself.  Only those who have made a contract may enter here and those who have, I am bound to serve.  I have brought you here in your dreams, to offer you one such contract.  All you must do, is sign your name here.”  With a wave of his hoof, a piece of parchment appeared on the desk with a quill beside it.  Against Twilight's better judgement, she approached it and nervously looked for any fine print.

The old pony spoke up once more, “Look all you wish, I will not stop you.  However, there is but one thing and one thing only upon the contract.  It simply asks that you take responsibility for your actions.”

Twilight's eyes moved back up and down more than a few times.  Her eyes constantly passing from the beady eyes of Igor back to the parchment.  After what seemed like forever, the quill floated into the air and across the parchment leaving a fancy 'Twilight Sparkle' near the bottom.  As she placed the quill back onto the desk, the parchment was moved by Igor who took one more look before sliding it off the table entirely.

“Splendid,” replied Igor.  “It seems you have all ready taken responsibility for yourself, proven by your signature here.  As promised, I am now at your service.  As is my assistant Margaret, another resident of this world like myself..”  Lifting a hoof, he introduces the mare next to him who bows gracefully.

“Hello, I am here to assist you in your journey as well,” she says in an elegant voice.

“There is much to talk about, but we must save that for another time.  It seems you are about to begin your first steps of this journey.  I believe this is your stop.  We will meet again, I am sure.  Until then, farewell.”

Twilight attempted to to continue listening to the voice of Igor, but it became harder and harder to hear.  Soon even the room itself began to lose shape until she was swallowed by complete darkness.

***

As time passed, more of the darkness would disappear.  However, in it's place it would be replaced by fog until instead of pitch black, Twilight was surrounded by murky white.  Continuing to wander aimlessly, the purple unicorn finally came to what she believed were ruins.  The closer she went, the less fog there was.  Soon Twilight stood in front of what she now recalled as the extensive ancient castle of the royal pony sisters.  In front of her on the ground lay a turquoise pegasus, unconscious.

“Sunny Sky!” Twilight yelled.  The purple pony ran as fast as her hooves would take her, but it was too late.  Twilight stood next to the spot where her old book buddy once was.  Sunny Sky had been swallowed into the ground in front of her very eyes.  Pawing at the ground with her hooves, she dug in vain to get her friend back.

From behind her a distorted voice spoke.  “Thou art I and I am thou,” It said.

Temporarily forgetting her sadness, Twilight spun around to see herself.  Though, it wasn't really herself, but it looked very similar to her.  It seemed to be surrounded by a dark, mysterious aura yet it didn't feel threatening.  “Hello?  C-can you get me out of here?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“To learn is my greatest goal...even friendship pales in comparison to this endeavor. As long as it is in the interest of learning, I'm willing to do anything, right?  They're not my friends, they're my test subjects.  It's only logical, isn't it?  Princess Celestia told me to make friends, but are they really?  If they were my friends, I would have done more than send a letter once or twice.  In the end, the only thing keeping me there was the Princess' words.  Sure enough, like the dog I am, I wagged my tail at the call of my master and left with no more than a simple goodbye.  Friendship?  What a joke.”

The voice seemed to echo everywhere at once.  Twilight wasn't even sure whether it was being spoken aloud or inside of her head.  The disembodied voices repeated the words over and over to the pony.  In fear she wanted to lash out, prove the voice wrong, but instead she could only hang her head.  “You're right.  After all those years with them, nothing has changed has it?  I even abandoned them to study all over again.  No matter how much I said it was necessary, that doesn't change what I did.  I'm finally back with them, and I'm not missing this second chance.  I'll make it up to them this time.  I promise!” Twilight said with a newfound resolve.

The shadowy figure nodded and faded away, the world seemed to swirl around her.  While thinking to herself how she would escape from this nightmare, out of the corner of her eye Twilight saw a card floating down to her.  As she reached out to touch it, her consciousness began to slip away.