“Hey Looking Glass, how are you feeling?” Twilight asked with a concerned expression as she opened the door to the Library.
“The same way I’ve been feeling every time you’ve asked for the past month… 100% absolutely fine” Looking Glass answered back. He had been going to get checked out every three days for the last month and every time the doctors at Ponyville General have found nothing at all out of the ordinary. “You really need to stop worrying about me, it can’t be healthy.”
“I know, I just can’t stop. You heard what that doctor said first hand. That magic could come out at anytime, and then who knows what will happen. I just don’t want anything to happen to one of my PFFs.”
“Relax, if it was in me to begin with why would it stay dormant for month, it doesn’t make sense.” Looking Glass said to try and ease the magenta mare’s worries.
“I guess your right” Twilight finally conceded. “Anyway I’m really glad you’re here I have a new experiment I want to show you.” Twilight then led the way through the make-shift labyrinth formed by the hundreds of books stacked throughout the library’s main room.
“Study session I presume.” Looking Glass asked as he eyed one of the stacks which was topped with Super Naturals: Natural Remedies That Are Simply Super.
“Oh yeah, sorry about the mess” Twilight apologized while trying in vain to hide her blushing. “I guess you stop noticing a mess after spending a little over a night in the middle of it.”
“Exactly how much over are we talking here?”
“Oh not that much” Twilight said while dismissively waving her hoof.
“Twilight?” Looking Glass asked, clearly not buying her bluff
“Nothing too bad just maybe since 7ish… or maybe 3ish” Twilight admitted while eyeing the floor in embarrassment.”
“Geez Twilight, when was the last time you actually left this tree?” Glass asked in astonishment. He was very much accustomed to the purple mare pulling the occasional all nighters but a day and a half is extreme even by her standards. Twilights silence and continued look of embarrassment answered Glass’s question and then some. “Wait, we’re talking 3 PM, right?” the question was met by more silence as Twilight’s cheeks became an even deeper shade of red. Looking Glass face-hoofed and let out a slight laugh. “And I’m the one Crimson chooses to call a geek all the time.” At this comment Twilight converted her embarrassment into anger. Looking Glass immediately recognized his fatal mistake and backed up nervously. “Whoa, whoa, calm down Twilight. I take it back” Looking Glass said while bringing up his hooves in defense, “you are not, nor have never been a geek.”
Twilight smiled triumphantly at his apology. It was nice to know how easy it was to intimidate Glass, even if they both knew that she was really mad. “That’s what I like to hear.” She then turned back around and continued towards the door to her basement laboratory. “Speaking of Crimson, I still don’t get why you’re friends with him. Every time I see you guys you’re either arguing over something incredibly stupid or just blatantly insulting each other.”
“That’s just how colt friendship works. We butt heads, call each other names and sometimes even throw the occasion hoof at each other’s faces, but at the end of the day we both know that we have each other’s backs. ” Looking Glass explained as they reached the door and began to descend underground.
Twilight stopped and brought her hoof to her chin. “Hmm… Maybe I could write the princess about this kind of friendship. “
Glass chuckled a bit at the idea and said “Good luck with that. I think getting some firsthand experience in that field of friendship is gonna be a little bit tricky.”
“How so?” Twilight asked with genuine curiosity.
“Well you may not know this, but last time I check I’m pretty sure you a mare, not a stallion, so have fun jumping that hurdle.”
“Oh come on, in can’t make that much of a difference, it’s just I tiny bit of anatomy what does that have to do with friendship? Just treat me like you do Crimson.”
“One: the anatomy actually does make a difference. Because of our testosterone and natural instincts, stallions are just naturally more aggressive towards each other. Which translates into us arguing and sometimes fighting. And two: I can’t treat you the way I treat Crimson because I’ve just been raised never to be mean to mares, especially ones I’m particularly fond of.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet. You’re the best friend a mare could ask for.” Twilight said as she rubbed her head against Glasses neck affectionately. Glass grimaced for a brief moment at that last sentence but fortunately Twilight hadn’t noticed. The two finished their short walk in silence and Twilight approached a large table covered in a variety of beakers filled with strangely colored chemicals.
“I take it that this is why you were studying for over a day.”
“ Yup” Twilight responded with a twinkle in her eye as she prepared to explain her latest experiment . “You see, after the whole incident with my brother’s wedding I realized that it is scarily easy for someone to be manipulated with magic, so I figured why not find a way to dispel the magic? Obviously I first considered simply using a spell, but that isn’t really an option to everypony like the Pegasus and earth ponies. With that in mind I started looking into some other means of magic suppression. Luckily the poison joke incident taught me that many plants have magical properties especially if their mixed the right way. So I read a few books I had here in the Library and found some plants that could potentially have the desired effect when they’re combined. ”
Looking Glass looked stunned at the many different chemicals lining the table. “Wow Twilight, that’s really impressive, which of these is it?”
“That’s the roadblock I ran into earlier; I have almost no idea what half of these things will do. Ideally they should simply get rid of any enchantments currently on a pony but there is also a good chance that they might be dangerous. Luckily you’re here for that. I just need you to cast your spell on the chemicals to try and discern which ones might work and which ones might be dangerous.”
“It would be my pleasure but my spell is more for how things work than what they do.”
“Don’t worry about that, all that’s really important is that I know if any are dangerous. Anything that is particularly toxic or volatile should show up in any scans you do” Looking Glass simply shrugged to show his concession and then approached the table and randomly picked a beaker of a bright yellow substance as his first test subject. He leaned over and pointed his horn at the glass and they both began to glow with a light brown aura “Alright… this one seems to be safe… I don’t think it will do anything though… It seems pretty much inert” Looking Glass said through his concentration.
“Formula #14: tested: no effect” Twilight thought out loud as she jotted this down on a notepad she had lying around down there.
Looking Glass then moved on to one that had a more purplish glow to it. “Whoa, stay away from this one” He said worriedly, “Whatever is in this thing it’s lethal enough to take down bear.”
“Interesting, Formula 7: tested: highly toxic. Thank you so much for doing this, who knows what, could have happened if I had to test this thing out the normal way.”
“It’s no problem, what’s the point of a special talent if you can’t actually use it for anything” Looking Glass stated absent mindedly as he began to channel into a dark red liquid. “Besides it’s not like I’m in any danger doing this.” As he said this, the red solution began to bubble slightly for a moment before stopping, an event that was left unseen by both observers as one concentrated on a spell and the other was busy wiring down notes. “Wait I think I’m getting something…”
“What? Is it dangerous?” Twilight asked in concern.
“I’m…not…sure…. Hold on let me just…” Looking Glass then began to channel more magic into the beaker causing his aura to intensify. For a few moments nothing happened to either the unicorn or the beaker until… Looking Glass stopped channeling with a successful smile on his face, “It’s not dangerous, and as far as I can tell I think it should do exactly what you want it to.”
“Really?!” Twilight asked with excitement as she prepared her quill to write down the success.
“I think so. When I was casting just now the chemical was almost resisting the spell, trying to keep it from working, it took almost all my focus for me to overcome the resistance and learn how it worked. If you could up the concentration a bit then you’d have yourself some quality magic-be-gone.”
“Ohhh, this is so exciting! This breakthrough could mean HUGE things; it may even make us famous!”
“Make ME famous. You and your friends are already celebrities for the whole ‘Saved the entire world twice thing” Looking Glass joked. Twilight just smiled as she copied everything that she had on formula 21 down. “Hey, do you want me to keep testing these things or should we just not bother?”
“Ummm…” Twilight thought for a moment, “Keep testing, maybe I accidentally made something else useful or maybe even something that works better than formula 21.” With that Looking Glass continued and chose a soft pink one to test next.
“Okay… I’m defiantly getting some volatility on this one… I think it’s also highly sensitive to magic so I’d refrain for casting…any…spells.” Unfortunately his realization hit just a moment too late as the breaker exploded powerfully in Looking Glasses face, causing a familiar Blackness to overcome him.