Twilight glared at the Traveler in contempt. He wasn't reacting to her, maintaining his apathetic posture since his appearance. He had finally calmed down, it seemed.
"If you're going to see the 'secret spells' I mentioned, then you need to come to my ship."
The alicorn pulled her head back in surprise. "ON the ship?"
"A very minute section." The traveler nodded. "But yes. Upon the ship." A tentacle scratched his narrow muzzle. "You will not have free reign," he explained. "Stray too far from the library, and you will die by the security systems in place. This is the only warning I'm giving you." He looked at Twilight straight into her eyes. "Am I understood?"
"Yes," Twilight replied.
It didn't take long for reactions to spark up at the sight of the massive vessel slowly inching towards the work site. It needed only to move a few dozen feet for part of its outer ring to reach the recipients of its teleportation. The alicorn could not blink fully that she was already whisked away to the interior of the vessel and found her balance destroyed, prompting a kiss with the reflective black walls.
"You okay?" the traveler asked Twilight.
The mare fell onto her rear and rubbed her reddened muzzle. "What was that? You didn't warn me that we were going on it right away!"
The traveler shrugged. "I told you we would go aboard my ship if you succeeded." He looked down on Twilight. "I never specified what 'now' meant."
The cephalopony sat on his rear a moment and clapped his hooves together, illuminating a screen the size of Celestia on the wall. Several other lights along the walls, floor, and ceiling started sparking from off to amber to green and flashing green. Twilight looked around, both in awe and confusion. The traveler walked over to the screen and started poking and prodding its surface with his tentacles until the screen displayed 'Tutorial' across its entire display.
"There," he said. "This is the library."
Twilight squinted and looked ajar at the traveler. "This can't be a library. It has no books."
Unfazed by her statement, the traveler insisted. "Technology does wonders." He pointed to the screen with a tentacle. "This screen holds all the knowledge you need, and this entire room is modular." He gestured to the entirety of the room with his forelegs. "If you need to train with a spell, it will change the room to accommodate it."
"It?" Twilight repeated.
The cephalopony was already outside the room and waved a tentacle to Twilight without facing her. The door slid shut with a puffing noise, leaving the mare alone in a room humming with working technology. Now that was alone, Twilight noticed just how...sterile the air was. It had no smell or weight to it, and Twilight had the impression that she was not breathing at all. It was a very uncomfortable sensation. She fiddled with her wings and too a moment before imitating the traveler and poking the screen with a hoof.
"Greetings. Twilight Sparkle," a voice spoke in fractured syllables.
The alicorn jumped around, trying to find where the voice was coming from, but as she could not, she decided on a more direct approach. "Traveler?" she asked aloud.
"No. I am your assistant. In using. This. Database surfer," the voice replied. "Which database. Do you. Twilight Sparkle. Wish to peruse?" Several rectangles of different colors popped up, with multiple shrinking into the background while one grew bigger to almost occupy the whole screen. Each had a title in them mentioning subjects like 'history', 'art', and 'math'. All the rectangles ended up doing this at least once while the voice spoke to Twilight. "You may either press the icons displayed. Or. Give me vocal commands."
"Why are you talking like that?" Twilight asked.
"I am sorry. I am. The oldest ai aboard this ship. I come from...'s home timeline. He keeps me. For. Memory."
Twilight narrowed her eyes ever so slightly but decided to leave the 'censorship' and the claims of nostalgia alone. Instead, her suspicion made way for curiosity, and the alicorn found herself smiling as she rubbed her chin with the back of her foreleg.
"Let's try a voice command," she suggested.
"Awaiting voice input."
"Um...your 'master'-" Twilight cringed at the word. "told me to look for something about soul magic?"
"Is it for. Necromancy? Soul capturing? Corruption Cleansing? Ether--"
"Corruption cleansing!" Twilight blurted.
The ai opened the boxes itself, leading to a large black screen with flashing red text spelling 'Access Denied' covered by a large gray chain reaching from the top left to the bottom-right of the screen.
"Access denied?" Twilight read. "But he told me--"
"Access credentials. Verified. You may view the documents on the. Sins of Eldromac."
Several windows opened up while the database loaded, flooding Twilight's eyes with images of tablets covered in curved, pointed runes. Barrel-shaped weapons and lances ebbing with green, fluorescent energy appeared multiple times alongside ponies and dragons twisted and deformed. Metal weaved into flesh into bone. Some had their limbs replaced with weaponry while others replaced their torso with a scripture of an unknown language upon it. Several images displaying a statue of a faceless figure, kneeling with seven arms outstretched towards those who would stand before it, was placed in an alcove behind several of these terrifying creatures. The alicorn had never seen such things before, and the longer she looked and took in, the more horrified she was. What would the traveler be doing holding information from such...vile, barbaric creatures?
It was during one of these horrified mullings and fighting against the need to look away that Twilight noticed an oddity in the pictures. Despite their disfigurements and living within bloody environments, these 'Sins of Eldromac' were all happy. Many were smiling with wide teeth or the sharp metallic replacements jammed into their gums and skulls. Although very few, several were shown talking with children, playing around with them, and chasing off wild beasts or relocating them rather than simply killing them. They could have easily done so, and yet...in every picture, the faceless figure was there, behind them. Be it as a transparent ghostly figure or a statue, it caused Twilight to become transfixed upon it, almost as if it was tugging at her soul and mind.
"The documents have been loaded. And. Your. 'Soul Cleanser' spell has been. Found." Twilight bounced in surprise and clenched her chest which heaved up and down with each heavy breath. "Are you okay. Twilight Sparkle?" The ai asked.
"Yes I'm..." She shook her head. "No. I'm not!" She glared at the screen as though it had eyes. "What is all this? What are these...these creatures? These ponies?"
"They are the. Sins of Eldromac. And they have the spell you seek: Cleansing. Corruption from. Souls."
Twilight stared at the screen a while longer then rolled her eyes. She dragged a hoof across her face and groaned loudly. "Fine! Tell me what I need to know about this spell. Like, are there any consequences?"
"For additional information. Please drag your. Hoof. Up the screen." Twilight was temporarily impressed by the convenience of the device and the miles of text that seemed to scroll before her. "There are no consequences perceivable. In your world. Twilight Sparkle."
Skeptical, Twilight asked the ai a question. "Why is that?"
"The elements required for the original spell are. Not present. You will have to find. Alternatives. To allow the spell to function."
Twilight looked around the room, then back to the screen. "Why show all of this, then?"
"It is part of the loading process."
"Alright. I'm going to start reading now," Twilight trailed off.
Twilight was unaware of the time going by, but she had no choice but to learn the spell as fast as she possibly could. If what the traveler said was true, then there was only a day, maybe even two, before Sombra reappeared and corrupted the crystal ponies, her brother, and Cadence. She managed to solve the farm problem, partially, and even though it took the help of one of the metal ponies to do it. The alicorn was on the verge of pulling out her mane.
Twilight became further and further disturbed by what she was reading. "Some of this is...dark?" she commented.
"Yes?" the ai replied.
"What are these 'Sins' of ergoblerg or whatever the name was?" She scrolled through the text again and shook her head. "Lots of this involves separating the soul from the body and either fighting the corruption in person or entering some other reality to kill the corruption and save the souls it's taken...Among other things," she mumbled under her breath.
"I will play a voice clip. For you. Twilight Sparkle."
Another voice came from the screen, creating a reverberating, deep stallion voice. The alicorn could also hear multiple, faint screams in the background whenever this pony spoke. At least, she assumed it was a pony.
The Sins of Eldromac are so named from taking in the souls of the innocent to free them of otherworldly judgement. Our spells are made to help that breach. The war with the demons, the Ardur, and the Rul Mot are dangerous, after all. There's a long pause, and shuffling is heard. Of course, Eldromac gives us strength as we give unto it and our people bring it praises every day.
"That's enough!" Twilight spoke rapidly.
"Is there a problem. Twilight Sparkle?"
"I don't need to know anymore. I just..." She leaned her head forward and passed a hoof through her mane. "I just need to know the consequences of the spell, if there are any."
"The spell in. The Sins of Eldromac. 'S world had consequences like: Soul rupturing. Possession. Corruption. Eldritch Contamination. And many more. By. The inexperienced. Worst cases are splitting a soul between. Corrupted. And. Clean."
"B-but, you said that can't happen here, right?" Twilight gave a sheepish smile to the screen and did her best to stifle her gradual shaking.
"Yes. But they told...They said that. If done outside their world. The effects would be. Unknown. There is no Eldromac to. Focus the spell. You are not a Sin of. Eldromac. You cannot channel its power."
The mare held her breath to stifle her greater shaking, but it wasn't helping much, if at all. She continued reading the instructions and imitating the movements of magic using her magic rather than her soul, considering that's not something she could do. At all. More time passed that she had a general idea of the way the spell worked, but she needed a break.
"Maybe I can..." Twilight sported a suspicious grin and looked to the screen. "Can I access information of the other universes you visited?" she asked the ai.
She knew that there was chance that he would have given her access to anything outside the spell, and yet the massive smile she was sporting that reached ear-to-ear wouldn't relent.
"Your access privileges are...insufficient. Twilight Sparkle. I am sorry."
The mare drooped in disappointment. "Awwww." She pretended to kick something gently with her hoof. "I really wanted to see." She heaved another sigh. "Fine," she grumbled longly. "Can you call the traveler here?"
"You have. A query. Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes."
"Very well." Twilight noticed whirring sounds and the increase of flashing amongst the lights before the voice spoke to her again. "He is here."
The door slid open, revealing the cephalopony once more. "What is it?" he asked.
The mare pointed to the screen and looked at the traveler with a judgmental glare. "You didn't tell me about these...these things," she complained.
"What about them?" he replied aggressively.
"Wh...They're horrifying!" She scrolled the text to the purpose of the spell and the incantations meant to manipulate one's own soul for the process. "All the things that voice told me, and the things I've seen!"
"Why are you so shocked?" the traveler asked. "Have I not done things that disturb you?" He walked around the mare, taunting her. "Have I not performed that are beyond your comprehension?"
"What?!"
The cephalopony stretched out his foreleg. "Be honest with me."
"Y-yes!" Twilight shouted. "You've done HORRIBLE thins, that--"
"And therein lies the problem."
Twilight's face contorted with bafflement. "Huh?"
The traveler walked to the screen and moved several images into view, slowly switching to the next, and the next, and again some more. "I see ponies and dragons happy with their lives. They want for not. They regret not," he spoke with a positive upper tone. "They help others, and are helped in return." The traveler looked at Twilight over his shoulder. "Isn't that what you strive for, as a 'Princess of Friendship'?" he mused.
"W..." The mare's ears were folded back and her mouth dared not emit any sounds.
"Twilight, this is a case where blacks and whites aren't in the focus." He turned to face her with a tilted head and mocking expression. "Your world profited from what you call 'friendship magic'." He tapped the screen with a tentacle. "These ones did not. Thusly, they've grown far different than you are used to."
"And?"
The traveler smiled and spoke softly. "Ye who walk the Path of Bacon shall be with dinner bless, yet ye who follow the Way of Necktie shall be for dinner dressed."
Twilight sat down. "I'm even more confused than before."
Waving off the mare's confusion, the traveler walked back through the door. "What is horrifying to you is natural to others, and what is natural to you can be as horrifying to them. Different lifestyles and ways of growing up lea to different paths, Twilight." He put a hoof to the door's interactive panel. His somewhat teasing demeanor was lost to his apathy and an aggressive tone of voice once more. "Don't dwell on it too hard, princess," he growled.
The door slid shut once more, creating a low-pitched hissing sound once it sealed.