Words Failed Her

Words Failed Her is a 7,163 word short story written by Nonsanity and hosted on FIMFiction. It is a slice-of-life adventure story that tries to stay true to the feel of the show.

Summary
Twilight Sparkle has received a shipment of books from Canterlot to take care of while the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Royal Library is undergoing renovations. While delighted by all the new words to absorb, her reading is soon interrupted by a panicked Mr. Cake who reports that Pinkie Pie has been cursed. Twilight informs him that there are no such things as curses, only malevolently applied magic, but agrees to follow him back to his bakery. There, Twilight finds a zombie-like Pinkie in the midst of a messy and shambling baking frenzy.

Soon, other ponies are affected, and Twilight retreats to her library to try and find some answers. When she finds Spike in a similar state along with the remains of a charred letter from the princess, Twilight realizes that words, and magic, are the cause of the epidemic. Fearing she'll end up the same way just by glancing at a sign or book spine, she casts the one spell that will give her time to find a cure: The Illiteracy Spell. It's a drastic decision and one she rushes into, for she would never have had the nerve if she stopped to think about the long term consequences to herself.

Now immune, she has to find the source of the plague and stop it while moving through a world without words. Her investigations lead her to ancient and powerful spells, in some way connected with Star Swirl the Bearded himself—and self-aware.