The trip back to Ponyville's massive hollowed-out tree of a library was short; however, it was enough time for Albus to come to the decision that there was little he could do even if someone was influencing his mind.
At least, not without proof.
The seeds of doubt had planted in his mind, and he felt no need to discard them. Upon landing outside of the door of Twilight's abode, he came to the conclusion that he would not trust any of the ponies any further than he already had; at least until he had figured out what had done this to him.
Normally he wasn't so paranoid, but he felt violated; the sanctity of his mind having been trod upon by the invasion of another. It's not something that one can fathom without experiencing it themselves, to know that your mind isn't safe from intrusion anymore.
Of course, there was a problem. If someone had indeed been inside of his head, they no doubt knew of his suspicion by now. He would need to be wary.
These were his thoughts as he entered the tree-dwelling, and as the foyer came into view, he was intrigued by the sight of Twilight poring over a book.
“What's that you're reading, Twilight?” he asked, brow cocked in curiosity.
She looked up with a noticeable start, putting her hoof over chest as if to stave off a heart attack before saying, “Goodness, Albus! I didn't hear you come in...”
She took a moment to catch her breath before actually answering with, “As for the book, it's a... curiosity, if you will. Nothing important.”
Albus noted that after saying this she levitated the book high onto a bookshelf, well out of reach without a ladder.
Or wings, he added mentally, but then discarded the idea after a moment's thought; trying to fly in a library was a recipe for disaster.
“Right...” he said after another moment, “Say, Twilight, you wouldn't happen to know anything about menta-”
He was cut off by Spike coming into the room, saying, “Hey Twi, I feel a-” at this, Spike was cut off as well by... himself. Namely in the form of a rather loud belch; expelling green flames from his mouth at the same time.
Curiously, those flames materialized into a scroll. Other than the fact that it had just appeared out of thin air, there was only one defining characteristic of the scroll; specifically the red ribbon it was tied with, complete with a gold seal emblazoned with what could have been a capital C or a horseshoe. Albus wasn't sure which.
“-letter coming on,” Spike finished, albeit a bit late.
As Albus was about to ask just what the hell just happened, Twilight grabbed the letter via magic and opened it expediently. Her eyes widened for a moment as she quickly read the contents of the scroll, and she glanced at Albus for the briefest of moments before the letter burst into flames once more, the ashes still in Twilight's grasp.
Albus raised a claw and opened his beak to say something, but couldn't quite find the words for how confused he was right now.
Eventually, he settled for a simple, “What was that?”
Spike answered with, “Oh, that was a letter from the princess! I dunno why it burnt up like that though...”
“Wait wait wait, go back,” Albus said, even more confused, “A letter from the princess?”
After a second he also added, “Which one?”
Twilight beamed at this, and seemed to puff out her chest a bit before saying, “Well, Albus, I happen to be Princess Celestia's protégée. As such, occasionally I receive letters from her; as well as sending her a friendship report every time I learn something new abo-”
Albus cut her off there, “Wait, what? Sorry, but... what? You have a direct line to Princess Celestia?”
If that's true... hmm... This could be useful. If anyone would know about how I got here, it would be one of the Immortal-Goddess-Ruler... people. Regardless, I have more important things to take care of right now.
With that, he filed 'Twilight Sparkle is Princess Celestia's student' under 'Possible Leads' in his mind. Sadly, that category seemed to be rather empty.
He tuned back in to the real world just in time to hear Twilight say, “...and then she asked me if I wanted to be her student!”
Both Spike and Albus winced at the volume of Twilight's ensuing fan-girl squeal.
Clearing his throat, the gryphon of the group said, “Well, that's certainly interesting, Twilight. But, I do want to know something specific, if you don't mind. Maybe you have a book on it somewhere?”
At that, Twilight smiled amiably before saying, “Of course, Albus. What did you have in mind?”
I might be overly suspicious, but your reactions are just too perfect. I doubt you're a good liar, so let's see how you respond to...
Smiling back politely, Albus asked, “Do you have anything on the subject of spells that affect the mind? Specifically where the caster would affect another person?”
Twilight's face went curiously blank at this, though after a moment she gave a strange smile and said, “I'm afraid we don't have anything to do with that in stock at the library, Albus.”
“But Twi, what ab-” Spike's question was quickly cut off by his mouth literally turning into a closed zipper.
Albus looked at Spike – who was now scratching at the zipper, trying to make it go away – and then looked at Twilight.
Putting on his best impersonation of a loan shark's sickly sweet smile, Albus sauntered over to Twilight, quite intentionally invading her personal bubble. Circling her much like the predator he is, he continued in a low, rumbling voice, “Oh, Twilight... But, surely one a learned as yourself would know about these things... hmm? Certainly the princess' personal protégée would be knowledgeable about a trifling matter such as this, no?”
At that, he stopped in front of her and lifted her chin with his claw, staring straight into her eyes. His expression, while now seemingly impassive, held many a concealed threat and morbid promise; he narrowed his eyes slightly as he felt her shudder.
He didn't want to have to resort to intimidation, but it was the best way he could think of to get what he wanted.
Of course, it was a risky gambit.
If she didn't know, or if she stopped to think that if something happened to her, then she had one of the rulers of a country as a lifeline... well, Albus' goose was cooked.
He wouldn't let her think, though. He couldn't. The purpose of his actions was to scare her into confessing what she knew; what she knew, he wasn't certain, but he needed her knowledge.
“I... I- uh... I mean...” she stuttered, a blush playing across her face.
Wait... what?!? You don't blush when you're scared! Why the hell are you-...
Hmm...
Albus took a quick note of the situation; he was right in her face – some three inches of space between his beak and her nose... snout... muzzle thing –, he had just complimented her, and though he had meant it in a threatening manner, she evidently didn't take it that way...
And he had his talon under her chin, pushing her face up as if to...
Oh. Oh...
I can use this...
Clearly his intimidation tactics were lacking, but maybe, just maybe, he could... seduce her, or something.
He stopped to think about that.
Seduce a pony. For information, yes, but... seducing a pony. That's... eww. It's not like they're bad looking or anything, but it's just... weird.
Whatever, she's reacting to it, I need to keep it up.
Changing his approach, he let a small, sultry smile grace his features before pulling away slightly, removing his claw from under her head. Curiously enough, her head remained in the same position.
He was momentarily distracted by Spike making gagging noises behind his zipper-mouth before trudging upstairs, shooting them a disgusted glare on the way up; but Albus payed the event no more heed than a moment's amused thought.
Keeping up the façade, he circled her once more, 'accidentally' brushing her with his wingtip every so often.
He felt a certain level of satisfaction when he saw her shiver once more, her blush intensifying.
Putting his face side to side with hers, he whispered huskily, “I'm your... friend, aren't I, Twi? You wouldn't keep anything from a friend, would you...?”
Once again she stuttered incomprehensibly in reply, “I- you, I'm- I don't-”
“Shh, Twi... Why don't you just... confide in me what's bothering you?” he interrupted her, trying to keep her frazzled.
Her only immediate response was to chew on her bottom lip in a very human-like fashion, letting out a small 'Nnnng...' sound.
Suddenly, however, it all came out. Like a waterfall. Or Pinkie Pie.
“I'm so sorry but Celestia told me to keep an eye on you and I didn't know why because it was strange for her to take interest in some random person who just showed up out of nowhere and so I decided to look at your memories and-”
Albus couldn't really focus on Twilight's ridiculous run-on sentence at that point. The implications of her statement slapped him in the face.
She knew. Celestia knew. Hell, Celestia probably knew from the start. Among other things.
I... what... But.... shit. Well, she knows. They both do. And now if they tell anyone I'll probably hunted down and dissected... no, wait, a leader of the nation knows, if that was going to happen it would have already. But still. Twilight evidently can't keep a secret, if she tells anyone then... I don't know. I'll at least be a pariah, that's for sure. And I can't live without society, I'm damn sure of that. It would be the word of Celestia's protégée against mine, and that wouldn't turn out well for me...
And Twilight... Oh, god DAMN it! Way to go, dumb ass, you've given her a reason to spite you! You just played off of the insecure librarian's... insecurities! Fuck, FUCK, FUCK!
The current state of the library's lobby was this; a shell-shocked Albus thinking of one worst-case scenario after another, and Twilight sobbing on the floor apologizing to him without even knowing that he couldn't really hear her at the moment.
But other than that, it was pretty much immaculate.
After roughly five minutes of this, however, Twilight stopped her apologies and noticed Albus' condition. Namely, the fact that he wasn't moving. Or outwardly doing anything other than breathing.
Staring at him for a moment to see if he would do anything, Twilight frowned when he did just the opposite.
“Um... Albus?” she asked hesitantly, pausing to sniffle, not quite over her little sobbing spree.
After a moment of him still not responding, she poked him in the chest, asking, “Hey, are you alright?” a little bit more confidently, a look of concern on her face.
A few seconds after this, he turned to look at her. It's safe to say that Twilight was a bit creeped out by him staring at her with absolutely no expression, but he surprised her by starting with, “So, Twilight...” before trailing off.
“Erm... Yes?” was the only reply she could think to give.
After a pause, Albus asked with a perfectly straight face, “Am I really that attractive? I can't tell.”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but all that came out was a squeak as she registered what exactly he had just asked.
Giving a smile that barely lasted a moment, Albus filled in for her with, “You don't have to answer that.”
Continuing his role of the only one participating in conversation, he continued by sighing heavily before asking, “So, Twilight. What happens now? What is your opinion of me now that you know what I am and where I came from?”
Frowning, Twilight finally managed to get a word in edgewise, “I can't say that my opinion of you has changed, Albus. In fact, I think you've done remarkably well with the cards you have been dealt.”
That... wasn't what I was expecting.
“So...” he began, trying to find the right words, “You're not mad at me for trying to...?” he trailed off, knowing she would get the gist of his question.
She surprised him once more by visibly deflating, saying, “I can't really judge you for anything you do to me, you know. Not after what I did...”
Being reminded of the violation of his mind set off a flare of anger in Albus' mind, but it quickly faded. It was much different to be angry at some malevolent puppet master pulling at the strings of your mind than to be angry at...
He looked her over. All he could see was the small purple librarian pony, hanging her head in shame, ears folded back, eyes downcast.
It's an image hard to be mad at, but that didn't mean it excused her for her actions.
Giving a frown of his own, he responded with, “Yes, well. I can't say that I'm particularly happy with what you've done, Twilight. Are you aware of the side-effects that your little foray into my psyche had?”
She quickly looked up at him, a panicked expression on her face, “Side-effects!? Oh no, I didn't erase some of your memories or make you un-learn something or-”
He cut her off by gently placing a claw against her small muzzle, saying, “Enough.”
She flinched back from his touch before looking off to the side, “Sorry...”
Damn it Twilight, you're making this hard...
He was unhappy with her, but he was getting the urge to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.
Confound these ponies. Damn cuteness and overlarge eyes and-... did I just call them cute?
Placing that train of thought off to the side for the moment, he continued with, “Obviously you weren't made aware of that, so I'm not necessarily going to blame you for it. But... I have a question for you.”
The purple unicorn feebly met his gaze, head still lowered. It was probably as much of a go-ahead as he was going to get, so he asked, “Are you truly, genuinely repentant for what you've done in my head?”
She replied with a simple nod of her head.
“Then I accept your apology,” he said, but quickly continued with, “But, that does not mean that I forgive you. Not yet. I will forgive you on one term, and one term only.”
This wasn't strictly true, but she didn't have to know that. Regardless of that fact, she nodded her head emphatically, eyes slightly wider with hope.
He studied her for a moment more, pausing for what he hoped was dramatic effect.
Finally, he let her know what would gain his trust once more:
“I want an audience with Princess Celestia.”