It's just Twilight and Spike, now. She's had many long years to get used to that dynamic, but right now, her thoughts are on another one. Tonight, six ponies put their trust in her to see them through the darkest time in Equestrian history. It's a grave weight, but somehow, one she finds her haunches surprisingly fit to bear. Other problems, unarguably smaller, fall from invisibly high, and strike upon joints and tendons. But for some strange reason, through some opaque pane, Twilight feels like she's been bracing herself for Princess Luna's return for years.

"I need every book mentioning Alicorns or Elements of Harmony we can find," she says to the dragon. She half-expects that number to be zero, but searching is what happens next nonetheless. No Equestrian notion could distract her; the path will be narrow, but so is straight down. "Or magically locating ponies. Or magical combat. ...Or anything that looks remotely relevant. Beggars and choosers."

"Gotcha, Twilight. I'll take the west wall," he replies.

She trots to the east, where she knows the sun is decidedly not rising, and looks not out the lonely window but at the shelves. Daring Do in Chupacabra Country. Succulent Growing for Absolute Idiots. The Blank-Flank Chronicles. Griffins: Culture and Customs. Twilight closes her eyes, and breathes in deep, and starts counting out the last ten seconds she'll allow herself to think of nothing at all. Eight... Seven... Six... F—

What must be the Ponyville school bell sounds, low but piercing, and Twilight shudders out of her empty reverie. Taking even ten seconds to herself when the pony species' fate hangs in the balance is inexcusable. She buries the private shame for later, and the next second, rakes her open eyes across the titles.

Chocolate Rain, or Whatever Happened to Discord?, by Bubblegum Mint.

Kingdom's Pride, by Looking Glass.

The Elements of Mystery, by Hullabaloo.

The Stones that Saved the World, by Aqua Vitae.

Combat Magic for the Gifted, by Second Wind.

Unicorn Foals: A Bully's Worst Nightmare, by Blackjack.

Professional Vivification, by Liquid Crystal.

The Sun's Mistress, by Blossoms Spring.

The Untold Beauty Secrets of the Princess, Exposed One-on-One!, by Thornless Rose.

Rebellion: Equestria, by Always Sunny.

Eternal Night, by Don'tcha Know.

Into Darkness: The Princess Time Forgot, by Sunglare.

"I admit, this is a better haul than I expected. Nothing about finding ponies through magic, but... it's not like I don't know plenty about that already." At this, Spike takes a worried step towards her, but she's already resumed speaking. "You're taking the books about the Elements. Write down any factual claim made about their history, abilities, whereabouts, or... anything else, really. I don't know what we're looking for. Use your discretion."

"Okay, Twilight. But... um..."

"Yes?"

"Are you hungry, Twi? You didn't eat at the festival, did you?" Spike asks, with a frown.

"...I'm peckish, I suppose. But you're asking because you're hungry too, aren't you?"

"Eheh... yeah," Spike laughs, nervously.

"...Sure, okay, we can eat. I brought a couple pears to snack on, back when I thought I'd be here for two days... That's all we have, though." She stops. "Unless you smuggled any more mystery fritters..."

Spike shrugs. "A pear sounds great!"

"Okay. But you have to read while you eat. And don't dribble on the books."

"Deal."

Unicorn Foals: A Bully's Worst Nightmare

by Blackjack

As the absolute first thing you read in this book, I want to tell you that violence is never the first answer. If you are reading this book to learn how to fight, make sure you've considered every other option beforehoof. In this preliminary chapter, we're going to go over a couple options that are much safer, easier, and more responsible than heading face-first into a fight.

First, have you tried talking to your bully? I'm not so crazy as to think it will always work. But if it even has a chance of working, it's a much better solution than any other, especially beating them up in kind. Let them know that you really don't appreciate whatever they're doing to you, and that you're not going to stand for it much longer. Maybe they don't realize what they're doing is hurting you. More likely, they do. But many bullies have second thoughts when you actually stand up to them and don't just cower and take it.

Next, threaten to take things to someone higher up. Most would-be bullies will turn tail and run at the first mention of involving a teacher or the principal. If a unicorn is bullying you with magic, then things are even easier: Tell them that the next time they cast a spell on you, you're going to head straight to a unicorn faculty member and ask them to analyze the magic residue on you. As soon as the adult detects the bully's magic signature on your body, their fate is sealed! Scientific proof that someone is screwing with you. The bully doesn't need to know that a magic signature diagnostic is well beyond the acumen of the average schoolteacher, do they?

Twilight is intrigued; this isn't something she's heard of before. She makes a note to confer with the vivification textbook later, and skips forward a couple pages, but this book doesn't seem to have much else to offer. Basic combat spells like energy bursts and a sputtering flame. Wind conjurations and darkness illusions to make yourself look "spooky".

The Untold Beauty Secrets of the Princess, Exposed One-on-One!

by Thornless Rose

Thornless Rose : Okay, we've zapped the recording stone. First of all, let me thank you one last time for agreeing to this interview, Your Brilliance.

Princess Celestia : The pleasure is truly mine, my little pony. What can I illuminate for you?

TR : Well, I figured we could start with a couple easy questions. First of all, facial masks: yea or nay?

PC : I suppose I'd have to say yea. Every now and then, it can be very relaxing to take a bit of time for myself.

TR : I see! And who makes facial cream fit for a princess?

PC : I import from Pickled Peach, who lives in a small hamlet west of Appleloosa. He's a very nice young colt; he's learning the family trade, you see...

...

Twilight starts skimming.

...

TR : Fascinating! Speaking of which, just how much beauty sleep do you get on the average night?

PC : On a typical night, maybe two or three hours. Running the country is a full time job, you know!

TR : My gosh! You look this wondrous with that little downtime? You heard it here, folks, the Princess doesn't even need a full night's rest to look this good! Makes you question your own sleeping habits, doesn't it?

PC : [giggle] Now, now, Rose. It's not something I recommend. Alicorn bodies are very resilient by nature, and it's hard to disturb their balance with quotidian concerns like food or sleep. I can't advise your listeners to try to start living on three hours of sleep a night. For the average pony, it's no way to live.

TR : I see, I see. In that case, how much sleep do you recommend for the average pony?

...

PC : I find it helps to refrain from eating right before bed, too. I haven't eaten less than three hours before sleep in, oh, I'd say two-hundred, two-hundred-fifty years.

TR : My word, Princess! Just how old are you, anyway?

PC : My little pony, I'm sure you know it's impolite to ask that of a grown mare!

TR : [gasp] You're right, you're right! I'm sorry, Princess, I didn't think—

PC : [giggle It's quite all right, Rose. I'm just having a bit of fun; I'm not offended.

TR : Okay, Your Brilliance. Then... if you aren't offended...

PC : I'm not. But that doesn't mean I'm going to answer. [giggle]

TR : That's... understandable. In any case, let's move on to coat grooming!

...

TR : And finally, I'm going to ask the question that's surely been on everypony's mind for years.

PC : Oh? And what might that be?

TR : Princess Celestia... who does your hair?

PC : [full-bodied laughter] Oh, Rose... [laughing continues] My dear... [clears throat] No one "does" my hair, my little pony. It, ah... it just does this on its own.

TR : ...No!!

PC : [laughing] Yes!

TR : There's no spell cast on it? No lost cosmetic arcana woven into the strands?

PC : Not as far as I know. As far back as I can remember, it's billowed in a virtual wind. Of course, it grows, and I do go in for a trim every couple decades.

TR : As far back as you can remember?

PC : Well, I have an excellent memory, Rose. But even I was once a foal.

...

TR : That's all the specific questions I prepared, Princess. But I'd like to ask you one last thing before we conclude. Is there anything we didn't cover that you'd like the beautiful ponies at home to know? A final piece of advice, or one last tip?

PC : Hmmm...

TR : Or, dare I ask... Princess Celestia, do you have any scandalous info for our curious readers? A bad habit you can't quit? An adviser you can't stand? A secret crush? Do you have any deep, dark secrets, Princess?

PC : [silence, then a giggle] I suppose I do, Thornless Rose. I suppose I do.

TR : [silence]

PC : [silence]

TR : ...Okay, well, that about wraps up our interview with the radiant and gorgeous Princess Celestia!

...

Twilight doesn't feel especially compelled to read the last page of the thin volume, and tosses it into a growing second pile. I can't believe Celestia would agree to something like this. Did this even happen?

Into Darkness: The Princess Time Forgot

by Sunglare

...

In the aftermath of the Dark Solstice, the question on everypony's lips was why. In this section, we take a look at the prevailing theories as to what, exactly, motivated Princess Luna to usher in what she planned to be eternal night. Jealousy, malice, or mere madness: These are the motivations primarily considered by historians both modern and contemporary. But, in addition to examining these possibilities, we'll scrutinize three more that rarely see the light of day: Stunted socialization, boredom, and loneliness. This tome strives to lay out all information that can be unearthed about the Princess's mental state in the days, weeks, or possibly years preceding the Solstice.

...

It is inarguable that Princess Luna was a fundamentally lonely pony. In addition to the distance inherently separating a royal and her citizens, Princess Luna did not take even the token efforts to intermingle with the populace that her sister did. While Princess Celestia hosted balls, dinners, wine tastings, Princess Luna hosted nothing and played no role in her sister's events. Princess Celestia even had the Summer Sun Celebration in her honor (which, let us be honest, is far more about the Princess than the sun). Princess Luna spent her days asleep and her nights alone. Even nocturnal ponies with graveyard-shift occupations saw none of her, locked inside her tower; even the royal guards and advisers slept at night. It was not infrequent for days or weeks to pass between public sightings of the Princess, which typically entailed just catching a glance of her out her spire-top bedroom window at dusk.

What is it like to live without pony contact for tens, possibly hundreds of years? What about a thousand? You and I, reader, will never know. In addition to lacking an Alicorn's ostensible immortality, we live in a society where socialization and community interaction is fundamental to everypony's wellbeing. We ponies are social creatures at our core. The unfortunate fact is that that includes Princess Luna, too, yet she lived in abject social poverty. The confluence of her elevated status, her nocturnal nature, and her apparent general standoffishness conspired to divorce her from the hearts and minds of the ponies.

It's far from inconceivable that near-total isolation could drive the Princess to unspeakable ends. However, is it really fair to brand that motivation as "madness?" If she had been maneuvered to the brink of catastrophic intent by forces largely outside her control, if she could cerebrate no other way to staunch the wound, if she truly were just insufferably, unbearably lonely, eternal night might start sounding like a reasonable option even to a pony of sound mind. No psychosis is necessary for desperate ponies to make desperate decisions. Imagine: an entire country of ponies dependent on your whim, the conception of your existence and power irrevocably wedged into the mind of every living soul, never to dwell in the shadows again.

In this light, we could even attempt to contextualize that Luna bore the Element of Loyalty. She indeed spent ages of her own life loyal in service to the kingdom, yet her apparent betrayal could scarcely be seen as loyal to any but the most twisted mind. Yet loyal it was: to herself. For the sake of argument, say this poor, lonely pony had reached the absolute limit of even her divine patience. Who knows what she would have done had she not reached her breaking point sooner rather than later? Who knows what she might have done to herself? What mortal mind can touch the depths of a despair hundreds of years in the making? It is not so difficult to see her rebellion as a tormented, desperate cry for help, in the only way she knew how. "Heed me, ponydom: I exist. I live. And I want to keep living."

Perhaps to you and I this prospect sounds deeply repugnant. But perhaps you and I have not spent a thousand years in quarantine. Perhaps you and I recognize the value of sincere friendship and respect. But perhaps we had somepony to teach us.

This brings us to the next factor contributing to the catastrophe: Princess Luna's almost certainly maladaptive expectations for interpony relationships. Yes, the only type of relationship she has ever been known to seek is dictatorial master and cowering subject. However, in all fairness, it's possible that she didn't realize there was any other kind, at least not suitable for someone of her stature. You and I, reader, have most likely been raised by loving parents, have mostly likely grown up alongside young fillies and colts our age, have most likely nestled into comfortable social niches and dynamics. We have been thoroughly socialized as loving, caring creatures, with rare exception.

But how was Princess Luna raised? Was she raised at all? Nothing is known about her childhood; she first appeared silhouetted against Discord's chaotic eclipse as an elegant, fully grown Alicorn. Did she and Princess Celestia even have parents? Were they ever even foals, or does their timeless nature stretch as far back in time as it does forward? Or, if they were born, and if they did age, perhaps they grew up alone. Perhaps they knew nopony but each other their entire lives until they took over the kingdom. Perhaps we witness in the sisters who a pony matured in isolation ends up being; perhaps their divergence as adults stems from minute differences in innate personality, spiraled through time beyond all prediction. Perhaps one sister or the other saw in her sibling a pony that she could never be. Perhaps they were never as similar as they were once perceived.

History may never know where its currents may have coursed had one intrepid pony sought to befriend the lonely Princess. Maybe it could have made a difference. Maybe not. Regardless, the Princess of Loyalty finds her final resting place on the moon that was her closest acquaintance all those long years, and ponydom may never even know whether she lies dead or alive. Either way, this author prays she found solace, and will not rest forever alone.

...

Twilight has never read any account of these events that set Luna in half such a sympathetic light. Who wrote this book, anyway? Even as a speculative account, it has an oddly familiar quality. Even as she turns over the claims and possibilities over in her mind, Twilight feels ashamed at the rotted taste they leave, but she can't deny how dirty the thought of understanding Luna makes her feel. Maybe she had things tough, sure. But it's hard to feel sorry for the pony who is almost certainly the reason you will die. Maybe even the proximate reason, if things go remotely well.

I've had it hard, too. Admittedly, maybe not a tenth as bad. But my socialization was rough. Is rough; it's still happening, even today, even tonight. But... I would never do what Luna's done. I couldn't. No matter how much power I had at the end of my horn, no matter how spurned and mistreated I felt at the world's hooves... I... I could never... intentionally... kill another living pony. And I still refuse to believe she isn't damn well aware that she's murdering us.

Twilight sinks to the floor, wet pages forgotten and crinkling underhoof. I... I'm a good pony, right? I'm still a good pony... right? she asks no one. She looks over to the dragon sitting across the room, who's eyeing the stem of a finished pear instead of the book lying in front of him. You know what he would say. But the thoughtline is a dead-end, she knows; she knows; she's explored it before, over and over; she knows nothing good awaits her at the bottom of its spiral, if it has a bottom at all.

We have to take her down, she thinks. But it doesn't feel right, that thought. It feels incomplete, or hollow, or... unrefined. Like there's a crystallization thereof that would better illuminate the path.

How about... I have to take her down.