Twilight Sparkle was completely and utterly lost. She didn't know how exactly, she had been through the Canterlot library more times than she could count. How in Equestria could she have gotten herself lost? Twilight flew up to look over the tops of the bookshelves attempting to find any way of exiting this labrynth from Tartarus. When she could not find a way, she sighed and landed. As she began to walk some more, she noticed a very dark section of the library that was blocked off by an iron gate.

Twilight walked towards the gate, and looked it over. She had not seen this section of the library before, and was curious as to what was in there. She grabbed the gate with her magic, and pushed it, hoping that it would open. When it did not, she pushed it harder. After a solid ten minutes of this, Twilight let out a quiet screech of defeat and swung her magic back. This pulled the gate, breaking the lock and swinging it open. The gate hit Twilight in the chest, and she was sent flying backwards towards a shelf of books.

She hit the shelf with a thud, landing heavily on the floor in front of the shelf. She rubbed her flank, sore from the fall, and stood again. She stood before the doorway, looking inside to see if there were any lights further down. What she saw, however, was an unending abyss of darkness. Twilight sighed, contemplating turning around, before using her magic to light a small portion of the way.

As she walked inside, she saw that the walls were covered in mold and dirt, most likely meaning that nopony comes down here to clean it. She continued to walk, before giving a small squeak as a mouse scurried past her. Twilight's ears drooped a small bit, before she continued to walk. After walking for what seemed to be an eternity, Twilight turned around to exit, ready to leave.

Twilight was stopped, however, when her face collided with a stone wall. She pressed her hooves on it, fearfully, attempting to push back the wall. She then turned, thinking that she might have subconsciously made a turn, but found that there was still only wall on each side. Twilight began to breath heavily, fear taking over as she found that she might never be able to get out of here. She began to panic, and tried to teleport out of the hallway. When that had failed, she began quickly running down the hallway, hoping to find an exit at the end of the tunnel. 

Twilight came to a halt as she saw a book in the middle of the room, lighted by a small patch of sunlight gleaming down on it. Twilight quickly ran to the book, looking upwards to examine the hole, questioning whether it was big enough for a pony to fit through. She frowned however, as she saw that the hole was only about the size of two books. She fell to the floor in both defeat and exhaustion, waiting for what she knew was the end.

Twilight saw the book, quietly laying on the pedastal, seeming to be wanting her to open it and browse its contents. She stood, and walked over to the book. On the cover was a golden emblem of a beaker, bubbles coming from the top. On the bottom was a small engraving that read, "The Study of Equine Magic. A study by-" the name was scratched out, making it impossible to be read. Twilight was hesitant at first to open it, but then felt that if she was going to die, that at least she would be able to die without curiousity. She opened the book to the first page, and began to read.



ENTRY NUMBER 1:

We recieved the test filly today, age of 12. She was a small unicorn, perhaps too small for most fillies her age. It was enough, however to run the tests we needed to. The parents were very willing to give this child up. Maybe they simply didn't want the child, or maybe they're afraid of what the child could become. After all, we only wanted subjects that had a very high level of magic. None of the simple unicorns would be able to give us clear enough results. We shall see what will happen with this child.



ENTRY NUMBER 2:

We began testing today, the child is powerful indeed. She posseses magic mastery skills that others would not be able to tap into. Even some that the most powerful unicorns in all of the land could not posses. This child is perfect for our testing. We will enter her into the real testing now. We will, however. need a new name for her, so then I can stop simply calling her "Child." She is beginning to think that I am her mother, and that simply will not do. Personal affection between me and the subject could cause... Unwanted effects. I think I will just call her "Subject T598."



Twilight looked up from the book. At least now she knows that the pony writing the story is a mare. It's not much to go off of, but she feels as if she knows that the pony is real now. She returned to reading the book.



ENTRY NUMBER 3:

The real testing began today. The process was slow, but it did bring results. T589 was very reluctant to enter the room, fearing that we would do something evil to her. I wouldn't blame her. Those white walls always reminded me of what I had done in there. And if I could sense the evil in that room. She surely could. I'll spare the details of exactly what we did, but needless to say, the new scientists are going to be hearing her frightened screams for a while now. They'll get used to it though. Hell, I did.



Twilight recoiled, thinking that maybe this pony wasn't quite sane. After all, who would do such a horrible thing to an innocent youth? Twilight looked down, noticing that there were some pages ripped out, and hoped to find them on the floor. She searched, but came up with nothing but dustballs, dirt, and more mice. She sighed and returned back to the book, reading from the next available page.



ENTRY NUMBER 10:

The T589 is starting to fear us now. This could be a problem later on. We choose children because they are more trusting of adults than older ponies are. They would willingly enter a room if an adult told them to because they find comfort in them, view them as their own family, as their guardian angels. As for now, however, we will simply wait it out, see what happens. Maybe we'll keep her off the testing for a day to clear her mind.



ENTRY NUMBER 11:

Today we let T589 have a day or relaxation. We were also allowed a break, and able to leave the lab. Most went to a small pub that was close by. Me and my apprentice instead, went to visit her parents. They had, apparently, been sending letters asking about me, so she figured that the best way to deal with her parents questions was to have me simply introduce myself to them. I was clearly not what they had in mind, seeing as their reactions towards my looks were not the best. They actually didn't seem to like me much at all. Conversation was sparse between us, and I couldn't have been more happy with that.



ENTRY NUMBER 12:

Testing was restarted, and the T589 seemed to be more willing to enter the room now. Maybe it was because she trusted us again. Maybe it was because she didn't care anymore. Maybe... It doesn't matter, all that matters is that she was willing to enter, and it is a good sign. Now we won't have to deal with a screaming filly thrashing about and nearly giving us brain damage. Once the T589 was in the room, the Princess had decided to pay me a visit. By that, I mean that she had just appeared behind me without warning, nearly making me jump out of my skin. When I had asked her why she had "graced" me with a visit, she claimed that it was about T589, and that it was a private matter. We entered and she made sure the door was shut before she began talking. She told me that she wanted to terminate the testing. I had to ask her to repeat the question due to the fact that I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After she had made herself clear, I told her that we could not terminate the testing, seeing as we were reaching completion. She had began to speak once more, before deciding it was the end of the matter, and left my office. I shook as I sat down in my chair, fearful that the Princess would soon find out that I had told a bold-faced lie.



Twilight shivered as she thought of how many more years the poor child could have suffered. More pages were torn out,another seemed to have had a slight bit of water damage, making it impossible to read. Twilight then felt how dry her mouth was, and went on a search to find where the damage may have come from, if it even did come from in here. Her search, this time, was not fruitless, as she found a small puddle towards the edge of the room. She happily gulped up some of the water, before returning back, this time laying on the ground placing the book in front of her.



ENTRY NUMBER 67:

I believe we have finished what we needed to do here. Anything more that we could have gotten out of T589 would have resulted in her death. We did come close with the last one. Would have completely ruined everything we hoped to accomplish if it weren't for somepony noticing the vitals. I'll have to find them and thank them for that. Celestia would have been one angry princess if that had happened. Thinking on it, the princess has become quite attached to T589. Maybe that's why she wanted us to stop a few years ago, back when T589 was 13. It doesn't matter now. The subject will be released with new memories tomorrow. We'll have five of our best scientists pretend they are friends, and give her a small dragon that will also be implanted with false memories.



Twilight looked up from the book, slightly scared now. She didn't like that this filly was seeming to look like it was herself. She soon, however, laughed the thought away. This couldn't have been her. She was in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns at the time. She turned the page, and smiled slightly at the way the writing looked. It was very neat, and seemed much different from the writing of the other mare. She shifted a little, making herself a little more comfortable.

Entry Number 68:

Seeing as Dr. Epistími is sick today, I'll be working with Dusk. I decided that I wanted her to have a real name instead of that awful subject name that Epistími gives her. She's a living organism, not some apparatus that we can just throw away at any time. I decided that we all needed a break today, especially Dusk, so there was no testing. Most of us left to drink our problems away, but I decided to stay with Dusk.

I visited her cell (let me add that it was quite literally a prison cell,) and looked inside for her. She was there, sitting against a wall. I quietly approached her. After I called out her name, she turned to me in shock and fled to the far end of the room. I quickly stated that I wasn't there to hurt her, and she relaxed some. She came a little closer to me, but not too close. From there I began to start a conversation. It was very one-sided at first, but she quickly grew fond of me.

After that, we started talking about science. She's actually a very smart pony. It's a shame that she's going to lose all her memories of me and what she knows by tomorrow, but I guess it's for the best. I wouldn't wish the memories of this place on anypony, not even our nation's worst enemies. I remember questioning Celestia of how everypony in Equestria was going to be given the false memories, to which she surprised me by saying she wasn't. The ponies of Equestria were simply going to put on an act for her. Even making any villians she had encountered and won against fake. I guess you can have the power to do that if you were the ruler of an entire country. We're all forbidden to tell her, and she's forbidden from ever finding this journal.



Twilight flipped the page, and immediately began to feel a little nauseous. With the nausea also came a headache, as if information were pouring into her head at an extremely fast pace. She winced and drank some more water from the puddle, thinking that it might have just been simple dehydration. It didn't seem to help, so, in defeat, Twilight returned to the book and looked down at the page. The writing was once again Dr. Epistími's, but it seemed more scribbled, as if she didn't care about what her writing looked like anymore. She began to read, the headache worsening with each word she read.



ENTRY NUMBER 69: Oh Celestia... What have we done? T589 was given the false memories, but not without a fight, she caved in the entire wing that I'm in. A wave of pure magical energy was released upon giving the memories. With how fast the it took from the time the memories were given to the time of the wave, I'd say that it  This is it, then. This is the end. I'm going to die without ever seeing any of my family again. I guess it's for the best though. I'd never be able to look at my daughter again without seeing... her... T589... No, I guess I should call her by her new name, she at least deserves that from me. After all I did to her, I can at least call her by her new name, her real name. If you happened to have found this journal, which you probably did, I give you my apologies, Twilight Sparkle.



Twilight stumbled backwards, shocked at what she had just read. She was the filly. She was T589. She was Dusk. Suddenly, it was as if there was a fog lifted from her mind, and all memories of her friends, siblings, parents, and victories were destroyed, and in place was a large amount of memories of test tubes and scalpels were replaced. She remembered Dr. Epistími, along with her aprentice Dr. Minuette.

Twilight looked to the ground in realization. That's why Minuette had seemed so happy and excited that Twilight had come to visit her again in Canterlot. Because not only was Twilight still alive, but she remembered her. Twilight then screamed into the empty room, her head feeling as if it were being hit with a hammer. She soon fell to the ground sobbing, wishing that it was all just a horrible nighmare, and that soon, she would wake up.

She then pounded the ground, wishing that she could stop the memories from fading, but there was nothing she could do. She felt every happy memory fade from existence, and fell to the ground, crying. She didn't even have friends and a real family. She soon stopped crying, and stared blankly at the wall in front of her. There was nothing that she could do, nothing that could be said or done. Nothing.