//------------------------------//
// The Hermit 
// Story: The Rings of Dusk 
// by Scribblestick 
//------------------------------//

"So, this is where you live, huh?"

Spike looked around the cluttered room. Papers and books stood in rickety piles on every available surface. If he squinted and leaned just right, he could just make out a small bed tucked into a closet in the back. The whole building smelled like dried ink and paper. In short, it reminded him of Twilight.

Tinker slung his bags over a hook on the wall and began emptying its contents - various herbs and bits of plants from the forest. Now Spike could see his cutie mark - a downward-pointing triangle with a horizontal line running through it. "Sure is," he said. "It's not much, but it's home. Sit wherever, I guess. I don't get a lot of company out here!"

The wild-maned earth pony sorted the herbs into a series of small drawers at one side of the room. Spike picked a short stack of books and sat down. "And all these books and notes, they're about... what did you call it? Inky?"

Tinker laughed. "Not all of them. I think the stuff on Inky is..." He paused to look around. "There." He pointed with a hoof toward one corner. 

Spike hopped off his pile of books. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Go ahead!" Tinker answered. "Maybe you'll see something I missed. It's been a while since I had someone help me go through all this."

Spike walked over to the corner and began sifting through the materials. There were a lot of sketches showing Inky moving through trees, flying around, all stuff Spike had seen far closer than he would have liked. He set the drawings in a pile and turned to the notes. They were much less organized than Twilight's, but Spike wasn't surprised. Not only did Twilight have the advantage of unicorn magic, she also seemed much more orderly than this Tinker character.

"Hey, I'm going to make some wildroot soup," Tinker called from somewhere behind him. "Want any? Or, what to dragons eat?"

Spikes stomach growled. He would have preferred a sapphire, but he didn't think Tinker would have one on hand. "Soup's fine," he answered.

"Great! I'll be in the back if you need anything." Tinker's hoofbeats passed into the next room. Spike turned his attention back to the notes.

The first entries he found contained physical descriptions of the creature - something he already knew well. Next came a list of attributes and abilities. This Spike read with interest. He already knew about the creature's speed and strength, but Tinker had also noted that it avoided direct sunlight or moonlight. His notes also indicated that this creature apparently did not need to eat or drink anything.

Filing that information away, Spike turned his attention to some of the books crammed in the pile. Most of them were bound in unremarkable brown covers, so Spike was forced to read the first few pages of each to get an idea of what they contained. That was easier said than done; they were all written in some ancient form of pony language that. He was able to decipher them, but the process was slow, and the topics were all complicated once he got past the language barrier. They all seemed to have something to do with magic. Trying to discern anything else gave Spike a headache.

Spike decided to set those aside for the time being and rely on Tinker's notes instead. He'd stuffed the papers into the books, seemingly at random. Spike assumed the notes were relevant to the pages between which they lay, and did his best to put them back where he found them. The notes confirmed what he'd suspected. Most of the books were about ancient pony magic, specifically the power of unicorns.

"How's it going, little buddy?" Tinker asked as he carefully sat a crude wooden bowl on the floor next to Spike. It contained a water soup full of lumpy, rough-cut vegetables. Spike held back a grimace and took a slurp. "Find anything interesting?" Tinker asked.

"Do you think Inky has something to do with ancient unicorns?" Spike asked.

Tinker nodded. "Definitely. That thing's the result of powerful magic, no question about it."

"How do you understand all this? I mean, you're an earth pony. It's not like you've ever used magic," Spike said.

"Not unicorn magic," Tinker answered, "but isn't learning it's own kind of magic?"

Spike wanted to say that wasn't the same, but then he remembered the times the power of friendship had gotten his friends out of a jam, and decided it was best to keep his objection to himself. "You said you've been out here studying Inky," he said. "Is there anything you've seen that you haven't written down?"

Tinker stroked his chin with a hoof. "Maybe," he said. "I do my best to write down anything that comes to mind, but my mind isn't exactly the most organized."

Spike didn't doubt it for a moment. "You wrote here that they don't like sunlight or moonlight," he said. "I was wondering, what did you mean by that?"

"Oh, yeah! That was a wild adventure," Tinker said. "I was tracking Inky, see, and I decided to take a break at that pond where I found you. That's when I spotted it, hiding just inside the treeline. Now, you know Inky won't pass on an opportunity to snatch somepony - somedragon?" he added. Spike waved his claw for him to continue. "Anyway, Inky really likes snatching, but it didn't make a move for me. It just stayed right there in the trees. Weird, huh?"

"I guess," Spike said. "And the moonlight?"

"Oh, basically the same thing, except at night," Tinker answered. "Forgot to stock up on water before nightfall. That was a scary trip, let me tell you!"

"Huh." Spike scratched his head. "Then how come it grabbed me in broad daylight?"

Tinker paused to consider. "That is weird. Wait, you weren't carrying any rosemary, were you?"

"No."

"Aha! That must be it," Tinker exclaimed. "Inky hates sage and rosemary. Those are the first things I look for when I go out for herbs. You should try it sometime." Tinker grabbed a sheet of paper with a hoof, then gripped a pencil carefully in his mouth and scribbled: Light not enough. Need herbs for extra scare. "Hah! I knew you'd spot something I missed."

Spike looked around at the books and papers. Protection was well and good, but not enough to help Twilight. "Have you ever had... nightmares about Inky?" Spike asked.

"Sure," Tinker replied. "It gets scary out here by myself sometimes. That's why I keep all these herbs around." Spike followed his pointing hoof and spotted a few tried leaves spaced around the walls. "You having bad dreams too?"

"No. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary," Spike said. "But my friend is having really bad... I don't know if you'd call them nightmares. More like... visions. She can't tell what's real, and she thinks her friends are all Inky."

By now, dusk had fallen outside. Tinker lit a candle to give them light. "Visions, you say," he said, taking notes on his paper. "Is this one of the alicorns you mentioned, or somepony else?"

"Alicorn," Spike answered. "Her name's Twilight Sparkle."

If Tinker recognized the name, he didn't show it. "And these visions, are they persistent or intermittent?"

"Inter... what?"

"I mean, are they all the time or some of the time?"

"Oh. Some of the time," Spike answered. "Do you think Inky might have attacked her? Is that a side effect?"

"Hard to say," Tinker answered. His speech was surprisingly clear, despite the pencil in his mouth. "I've had my share of scrapes, but I've never had anything like you're describing. At least, I don't think I have. Guess I don't have any friends around here to turn into Inkys, huh?" He finished his scribbling and look at Spike. "Of course, it's possible this is Spooky's fault. That one's a little different."

"Spooky?" Spike gulped. "So there's another one?"

"Sure is. Inky and Spooky. Good names, huh?" Tinker smiled, waiting for a response. When none came, he coughed and continued. "Inky's the fast flying one. Spooky's slower and sticks to the ground, but I always felt a little... well, spooked when I saw them. Hence the name."

Inky and Spooky. Having a name to go with these creatures made Spike feel a little better. "Do you have anything on Spooky?"

"Not as much as Inky. It's over there," Tinker answered, gesturing broadly with a hoof. "Lemme finish these notes, and I'll help you find it."

Spike wandered in the direction he'd indicated, sidestepping around stacks of papers, when something caught his eye. He wasn't sure why that particular scrap of paper stood out, but there was something familiar about it. Tinker was still scribbling furiously. Spike carefully pulled it from its stack. His heart stopped.

It was the drawing of the rings. Not just a drawing. The drawing. The very same one he'd seen in the castle. He knew it was the same, because Twilight's neat writing could still be seen in the corner, asking the same question: "What do they do?"

His eyes darted toward Tinker. He had just finished his notes and was looking for a place to put them. Spike grabbed a nearby pencil and scrawled a hasty note. Then, he rolled up the paper and, with a burst of green flame, sent the paper to Princess Celestia.

"Hey, you breathing fire?" Tinker's voice called from some hidden stack. "Careful with that stuff. Don't want to send all my hard work up in flames!"

Spike had to fight the urge to hyperventilate. Why hadn't he just asked Tinker about it? There was no way an earth pony could have made Twilight's notes disappear. And yet, as he looked around, he suddenly thought it uncanny how closely Tinker's research resembled Twilight's. What were the chances of stumbling across somepony in the middle of the forest with so much helpful information? He wasn't the best at math, but he had a feeling the odds of that happening by chance were near zero.

"You all right?" Tinker asked. "You're looking a little worried."

"Y-Yeah. Just... worried about Twilight, is all," Spike answered. "You were going to show me some stuff about Spooky?"

Spike couldn't be sure in the flickering candlelight, but he thought he saw Tinker's eye twitch. Then, the pony yawned. "Eh, let's find it tomorrow. Shouldn't go digging around when you're sleepy."

"Yeah. Okay. Tomorrow." Spike found a cozy place to curl up on the floor as Tinker retired to his bed. Spike had the sinking feeling Tinker might not be as forthcoming in the morning.