“Back here again, eh?” Twilight says to herself, looking around the familiar black void she’s visited twice before. She sits in the middle of a lit circle of light, two small monitors hovering in the air before her. One is rimmed by a solid white, the usual static image, randomly changing shape and size, present on the screen, while the other seems different than usual. The rim around the screen is chaotic, always moving, much like fire, but its colored black instead of red and orange. The picture shown on screen is also different, it looks far more stable than the other screen, but the snow is thick, barely showing any form of legible image.
She strokes her chin, again trying to make sense of it all. The images are still as blurred as usual, as if something is trying to keep her out. She moves her gaze back and forth over the two distinct monitors, taking note of the shifting rim and the strange images.
“Hmm…why are these two monitors different? They were all the same during Fluttershy’s treatment. The images on it are also buried under static, but much more clear, less distortion. What does this mean…?” She taps herself on the chin, wracking her brain over it. “Moreover, why ARE these images so distorted? Three times I’ve used this spell, and the images just aren’t any clearer! Am I doing something wrong here? The spell has to be designed properly considering it works at all…but why does it give me so little to work with?”
Twilight scrapes her hoof over the ground, it feeling smoother than fresh ice in winter. The void is completely devoid of both hot and cold, Twilight’s own body heat providing whatever comfort or discomfort she may feel from temperature. The lit circle is white, and beyond the circle is nothing but shadow, besides the two monitors.
Footsteps in the distance catch Twilight’s attention, along with a cry or two.
“Silver…! Silver…!” The cries pick up in volume, and the steps pick up pace into a sprint. The sounds become louder. Twilight looks around herself for whatever could be creating the noise, the voice that sounds strangely familiar to her.
“SILVERRR!!! SILVERRR!!!” The voice quickly picks up into a high screech, the steps coming very near. Twilight spins around to focus on the source of the noise, only to see a flash of purple latch onto her neck in a tight hug.
“SILVERRR!!! Oh thank goodness it’s you! I was afraid I’d lo-“ The voice suddenly stops mid-sentence, a claw moving up and down Twilight’s neck. She shivers slightly and looks down at whatever’s latched onto her. “Wait a minute. Wait…wait…this coat doesn’t feel right.”
“Maybe because you have the wrong pony?” Twilight says with a nervous chuckle, seeing only pink scales.
“Wait, wrong pony? Oh- OH NO!” The small purple thing jumps off, letting Twilight get a good look at it. “Oh, I’m sorry Miss Sparkle! I thought you were Silver, I’ve been looking for him for minutes now!!!”
“Wait, Loki? What’re you doing here, why are you looking for Silver? Didn’t he tell you not to go in with him and Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asks, this new page of mystery added to the book only piling on her stress, and she tilts her head in confusion.
“Psshh! Me, listen to HIM? You’ve got me all wrong. Anyway, that doesn’t matter! Where is he?!” Loki looks around in a panic, shaking.
“Well um…he’s actually there.” Twilight moves to the side, and points to the two monitors, as Loki looks up at them.
“Oh…” Loki meekly whispers, and she drops into a sit with a thud, folding her arms into a tight hug. She starts shaking.
“W-what’s wrong?” Twilight fires one last glance to the monitors before moving over to Loki’s side. The shake has turned into a steady shiver, and tears have started rolling from her eyes.
“I-I should be there with him…!” Loki sniffs, shivering.
“He said he’s fine, though! And he told you to have a little faith, right?”
“I can’t trust that! I’ve known him for way too long to ‘have a little faith’! We’ve never been apart since we met; we’ve taken on everything together!” Loki wipes away her tears and holds her knees.
“Hey hey, calm down…I’m sure he’s fine.” Twilight tries to reassure the dragon, lying down next to it, keeping the monitors in her sight. “I’m certain he’s doing just fine. He is with Rainbow Dash after all, and she’s the toughest Pegasus, toughest pony, I know!”
“…Are…are you sure?” Loki trembles, leaning her head onto Twilight’s shoulder.
“Of course I’m sure. They’ll help each other, and I’m absolutely certain they both know what to expect. No doubt Rainbow Dash is telling him all about what’s over there.” Twilight furrows her brow slightly with the comment, “Wish she’d tell me what was over there, too.” This causes Loki to noticeably twitch with shock, and she looks up at Twilight.
“W-w-w-wait…you d-don’t know what’s in there?”
“Well…I…” Twilight tries to hunt down the words, but just decides to say it, “No…I don’t know what’s over there. And I wish I did. But my friends have always made it through every disaster thrown at them, including this. Pinkie’s done it twice!” Twilight says with a smile, “Now have a bit of faith in your friend, ok?”
Loki sniffs, clearing away more tears, “…Sehn…oh Sehn…please be alright…” she whimpers.
“Wait…Sehn?” Twilight asks, “I thought his name was Silver Rush?”
“It’s not…and I’m sure he’d only get mad if I told you all this.” Loki’s shivering stops, but she’s still noticeably crying.
“Why would he fake his name?”
“No reason…he just wanted a new one, I guess.” Loki shrugs, closing her eyes, forcing her tears to stop coming down. “I just wish I could be there for him…”
“Part of being a friend is depending on one another, but another part is trusting each other when you’re apart, right?”
“…I guess…”
“So come on, all you have to do is trust him. I’m sure he’ll come out of this just fine.” Twilight says with a big smile, giving Loki a light hug.
“…Alright…” Loki sniffs, “thanks for the pick-me-up, Miss Sparkle.”
“It’s what I do. Now, there’s something that’s bothering me, actually.”
“What’s that?” Loki looks up, her eyes slightly bloodshot from the crying.
“How’d you end up here? Usually it’s just me watching these monitors.” Twilight raises an eyebrow.
“Oh…um…I-I’m not sure…I put my hand on Sehn’s back when you were casting that spell, and next thing I knew I was flying towards this dot of light at a really high speed. When I eventually landed and skidded on my face for about twenty feet, I could see a shadow in the middle of the dot…so I ran for it. My sight wasn’t clear until I grabbed onto you.” Loki relaxes a bit, moving into a kneeling position next to Twilight, still leaning on her.
“So you were just touching his back…? Weird…” Twilight strokes her chin. The Mind Delve spell needs a direct tap from the user to the patient. Why would Loki, who was only in physical contact with Sehn, be pulled in as well?
“So…what are the monitors for?” Loki asks, looking up at the two small screens.
“My current theory is that they represent the ponies going through the treatment. I know that during previous treatments, my friends all had that same white border around the left monitor, but the static and shifting images were always different. Time intervals, actual images, amount of static and snow…it’s all variable.” Twilight sighs.
“Then, considering that the white bordered one was always present with one of your friends…does the other one belong to Sehn?” Loki asks, turning to Twilight.
“That, I can’t be too sure about without more data. It seems plausible though…but the fact that it only showed up now puts it on the fence, offers credibility to both sides of the theory.”
“Do you think the borders and images mean anything?”
“If they do, I haven’t been able to figure it out…and that’s what bugs me so much about this. I know tons of spells and magic principles, and their descriptions have always been accurate to what they do. But this spell spins around and slaps me in the face by being completely random! This is the one spell that I haven’t been able to figure out.”
“Well…I’ve got faith that you will, someday.”
“Hehe, thank you for having such confidence in me.” Twilight smiles, “Well, considering we’re here, and I can multitask pretty well…have any stories to share? Anything you can talk about, like Sehn or you?” She shifts her gaze back to the monitors, putting her head on her hoof, the shifting images and swirling snow on the monitors an almost hypnotizing experience.
“I…guess I do have some. They’re probably really boring though.”
“Try me, I study so much a lot of ponies consider me boring.” Twilight smirks.
“Well…alright. I guess I could start with how me and Sehn met…” Loki begins retelling her past.