Eight years proceeding...
"Geez, finally! For two ponykins, that was way harder than it should've been," Sweetie Belle exclaimed, "Seriously,It's about time this stupid spe-" upon turning around, Sweetie saw Toby standing in the doorway, and looking really out of it at that. "Oh, Toby, I didn't hear you come in, um, sorry about the mess, practicing magic and all..." an awkward silence filled the room. "Um, Toby?"
"W-what?" Toby said snapping himself out of his dazed state and pulling himself up.
"Are you okay? I didn't hear you come upstairs, you look like you're wiped."
"Um, uh, yeah..." he said still groggy, "Sweetie, just, I came upstairs to see what all the shouting was about."
"Oh, that," Sweetie Belle chuckled nervously, "N-nothing just practicing some magic, I've been trying to learn some more for a while now. I just did a simple swapping spell with two ponykins. Look," she pointed her hoof to the two identical ponykins standing behind her.
"Sweetie Belle... they look the same."
"Well of course, they're just ponykins."
"Then how can you tell whether or not you actually did the spell?" said Toby finally starting finally get out of his daze.
Awkward silence ensued.
"Ugh..." Toby held his temples, not in frustration, but to a headache the suddenly washed over him.
"Are you sure you okay Toby?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just need to splash some cold water on my face. Really, uh, sweaty from finishing up downstairs," Toby didn't like lying, but he didn't want to worry Sweetie Belle and make her think that his current headache was involuntarily caused by her spell. "I'll be right back."
Eight years prior...
"Yes, it worked!" Sweetie Belle was jumping for joy.
"I must say, impressive work," Red Tails claimed, "What do you think Toby?" no response. "Toby? Are you okay?"
"Hm?" Toby snapped himself back into reality.
"Toby were y'all daydreamin'?" Apple Bloom asked, perplexed as to why Toby would just suddenly daydream like that. Scootaloo would have asked him the same question, but she decided to go guard the apples instead. They knew what happened the last time she tried to use magic. Sweetie Belle secretly vowed revenge on that fluffy pony, but that's a tall for another time.
"Um, uh, did Sweetie Belle do it?" Toby said in a state equivalent to being half asleep.
"Yeah, she di-"
"I did it! I did it! I did it!" she continued to bounce around as if she was clone of Pinkie Pie. The rest of the evening was more or less uneventful for them. Well, excluding Sweetie Belle, as she continued to talk about her accomplishment for the rest of the evening like a broken record locked in hyper drive. Soon after calming Sweetie Belle down, the others stayed at the library for a while. Chatting and eating some extra apples Apple Bloom brought in case something happened to the ones Sweetie used, such as spontaneous combustion because of a mix up in the spell.
"Something wrong?" Red Tails asked.
"Hm?" Toby now noticed that he was rubbing his temples, yet, how come he didn't notice that? Suddenly, Toby felt a small headache coming on. "I-i'll be right back." Toby walked to the bathroom to the confusion of the others. Removing his glasses and going up on the stool, Toby turned on the faucet. He put some cold water on his face and then quickly dried it off with the nearby towel. However, upon putting the towel back where he had originally found it, he noticed something on the bathroom mirror in his peripheral vision, but he couldn't make it out without his glasses on. Turning to face the mirror and putting his glasses back on, he could clearly see the reflection the mirror made.
But instead of him standing there, it was a reflection of a man.
Shocked by this, Toby slowly put his hand up to mirror...
Eight years proceeding...
Toby rubbed his eyes, he could swear he starting to see thing now. Moments ago he walked into the bathroom just to see if some cold water on his face would help his headache a little until he made a cup of coffee later, but he could've just sworn he saw himself in the mirror. Well, by himself, he meant he saw in brief glance what he believed to be a picture perfect reflection of himself when he was a kid. Quickly rubbing his eyes, he only saw his normal reflection afterwards.
"But.. nah, it was probably nothing," Toby said trying to shake off the situation. Rubbing his eyes once again, he could see a crystal clear reflection of his younger self. He remembered being in another situation somewhat similar situation when he was younger, but this was just plain weird. "As long as an ocarina doesn't start playing..." putting his hand up to the mirror, the reflection matched.
Everything went dark for a moment.
"W-what?" Toby opened his eyes, seeing as there was a long hallway in front of him. "Yep, dreaming again, that explains it," he told himself, "No where to go but forward, hopefully Aunt Luna shows up soon..." he proceeded down the hallway.
Eight years prior...
"Um... h-hello?" Toby said weakly as he continued down the hallway. Was this some sort of dream? Or rather a nightmare? He thought he was at the library, how could he have ended up here? "I... I don't want to be here!"
"You and me both chap!" the sudden voice surprised Toby.
"W-who's there? Did you bring me here?"
"Not me mate, but ya gotta keep going forward,"
"What? W-why?"
"As much as I want to explain the current situation to you right now, if you don't go right now, you might be stuck there," Toby's face went pale at that thought.
"O-Okay..." Toby pressed on. The hallway itself was lit with blueish glow, giving an ominous feeling as if something could happen at any moment.
"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine, just um leave the rest to u-"
"Hi!" Toby jumped at the sudden greeting from nowhere by a much different sounding voice.
"Derpy, please, you're scaring the poor boy."
"Oh, sorry doctor," Doctor? Was he at the hospital? Did he pass out? As much as Toby wanted to try and make sense of his current situation, he knew he had to keep going. If what the 'doctor' said was true, then if he didn't, he'd be stuck there.
"How much further is it?" Toby closed his eyes as he continued to move forward.
That's when he heard a... meow? Opening his eyes, he saw his Auntie Rarity's cat, laying on chest as if he was a living pillow. Opal stretched her legs, and hopped off of Toby as soon as she noticed he was awake.
"Opal?" It took a couple of seconds for Toby to realize where he was, the Carousel Boutique.
"Oh, you're awake dear," Rarity said trotting up to Toby,"You were so tired that you fell asleep on the couch. Thank you so much darling for helping me with the boutique today."
"Um, you're welcome Aunti-" Toby cut himself off mid sentence. The voice he heard was one he didn't recognize.
"Here darling, have a glass of water, you must be exhausted," Rarity levitated over a tall glass of water over to Toby. He reached out and took it in his hand, noticing that his hand itself was much, much larger than before. Seeing a mirror behind Rarity, he put the glass carefully on the floor and walked over to it.
"Oh my..."