I stumbled into the library covered in a mixture of mud, bugs, and tree sap. I swung a hard right and stepped into the bathroom where I started to draw a bath.
"Wes? You back?" I stuck my head out, looking into the kitchen where Spike was in the middle of a huge sandwich.
"Yeah."
"Wow, you look a mess! What happened?"
"Three small, enthusiastic, and entirely too adorable fillies."
"Oh. The CMC. Did you have fun?"
"Actually..." A smile slid onto my face. "Yes! Yes I did. I had a lot of fun today. I talked with Zecora, I met two mares named Pinkie Pie and Rarity, and I did some extremely silly things with some foals. It's the first time in a long time that I just had some fun. But now, I need a bath."
"Cool. Hey, I'm not serving anything for supper, since Twilight is still lost in bookland."
"Ok, thanks."
"Um, Twilight?" I approached the fortress of knowledge, a peace offering of lettuce and radishes on a plate. I gently knocked on an open book, its pages flipping leisurely. It slowly moved aside. Twilight met my eyes uncomfortably for a second, and the gap widened to let me in.
"I brought you some supper." I awkwardly placed the plate near her notes.
"Thanks."
"Um, and thoughts? On the mirrors?"
"Well, um...there was definitely a spell. I haven't been able to tell where it came from, but I'm working hard on it."
We sat there awkwardly for a minute. I sighed and pushed the plate a little closer to her.
"You should eat something. You're going to hurt yourself if you can't remember to eat."
She silently picked up the sandwich and took a bite out of it.
"Um, Twilight...I don't think I ever really said this to you, but I think you need to hear it. Um. I forgive you." She stopped chewing for a second. "I don't care about getting hurt. I'm better now and you thought you were protecting Apple Bloom...I can't be angry over that. I've been talking to Zecora and she said that I should make sure to talk to you, so I'm trying to do that. I'm still not sure how I feel about everything that happened, but...at the very least, I'm not angry at you and I want to be your friend."
The silence returned. Twilight swallowed her sandwich, and stared off into space for a bit. I saw a glitter in her eye but she quickly rubbed it away.
"Sorry to dump this all on you like this. Um. If you want to talk..." I stood slowly and was about to walk away when Twilight cleared her throat. I turned back.
"U-um...Sorry. Let's try this again." She said, in a weak voice. "Hi! It's nice to meet you; I'm Twilight Sparkle, librarian at the Golden Oaks Library!"
Suddenly, I felt like a weight was gone from my heart. A genuine grin flashed across my face.
"Hi Twilight, it's nice to meet you! My name is Wes, and I'm a traveler from another dimension, who-"
"Wait, WHAT?"
"Oh. Did Zecora leave that bit out...?"
"Wait wait wait, you eat MEAT?"
"Yes?"
"Is...is it good?"
"So, geocentric or heliocentric?"
"Well, according to Celestia the sun orbits Equus, but some of the other satellites orbit the sun."
"So....something like the Tychonian system."
"You transmit pictures with radio waves?"
"Yeah. Information transfer is a huge, huge business in my world. It's getting bigger every day. Let me tell you about...the internet."
"That...that is...AWESOME."
"I know, right?"
"So, is it just me, or is buying milk really weird when it comes from sentient creatures?"
"Um. I never actually thought about that much."
"To be honest, I'm STILL not sure solipsism is wrong."
"But if you can't trust your senses, what CAN you trust?"
"Honestly? Nothing. But consider getting pulled from one world to another by seeming chance. Why should I trust my senses?"
"Hmm..."
"Ok, how do you ponies pick things up with hooves?"
"Close range telekinesis. And you think that's weird? Have you even looked at those things on the ends of your arms recently?"
"Wait...is it really this late?"
"Oh, horsefeathers. And I promised Spike I would get more sleep tonight."
"Pff, clocks. Ok, ok, fine. I should get some sleep too."
"Morning, Twilight." I rubbed sleep out of my eyes and stared groggily across the breakfast table.
"Morning, Wes." My purple host replied, looking just as groggy or maybe slightly more so.
"Morning, you two!" Spike chirped from the stove.
"Coffee." Two voices droned in unison.
"Fine, fine. Sheesh, just trying to be friendly." The diminutive dragon poured two cups of the elixir of life and set one before me.
"You know," I said speculatively after my first sip, "I think this might taste better with some sugar."
"Ok?" Twilight looked at me quizzically. "Add some?"
I nodded and stirred in a spoonful, but that wasn't the point. I'd never taken my coffee with sugar. I wanted it with cream and no sweetener. But for some reason it seemed a bit too bitter this morning. Maybe it had to do with...that? The thing about sharing part of my soul? I grimaced at the sweet taste but slurped it down. Maybe.
"As much fun as I had last night," I said, "I need to spend the day working for Zecora. And you need to study mirror magic, not souls."
"Right." Twilight nodded and took a bite of pancake.
"You might be best off talking to Rarity about that. She said she felt some magical resonance and saw a black fog when all the mirrors shattered."
"PFFT-WHAT?"
Bemused, I wiped small chunks of pancake off my face.
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner? This changes everything! If she felt the resonance, maybe I can do a risograph on her, and get the direction...!" Breakfast forgotten, Twilight dashed out of the kitchen. I saw a purple aura appear in the main room as books begin to orbit.
"Sorry." I said to Spike, who was glaring at me. I shrugged and tucked into my pancakes. "I didn't mean to."
I carefully moved a branch aside, working to be as quiet as possible. While a life of danger had prepared me well for dealing with monsters, it had done surprisingly little for teaching me stealth.
I smiled as a thorn bush clawed futilely at my new long-sleeved shirt. I had picked up my finished clothes from Rarity's before heading out to Zecora's, and it was well worth it. They were superbly made from thick double-stitched cotton in dark brown and blue. The cloth was nearly like denim and rougher than I was used to, but still comfortable. I really needed to thank Rarity for them later.
I stepped into the clearing behind Zecora and looked around in awe. Crumbling ruins stood among the trees. They were half buried in the forest, but still shone with majesty. Stone walls soared, dull earth given wings by skilled craftsponies. Here and there a fragment of colored glass winked at me from a window, glories of time long past clinging to the decaying skeletons of memory.
"Wow." I whispered. "Hey, Zecora..." She turned back, waiting for me to approach so she could hear me more clearly. "What is this place?"
"This is the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters."
"You mean...Celestia and Luna?"
"Indeed. However, for many years, Princess Luna was imprisoned on the moon. It wasn't until two years ago, when Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony released her-"
"Wait, what?"
"...Huh. Must have forgotten to mention that bit."
"Zecora, I...what...argh, never mind. Go on with your story."
"Well, Twilight and her friends redeemed Luna from her curse and now the two alicorns rule together again. But for a thousand years, Equestria only had the guidance of one royal. This place was where the two ruled before the interregnum."
"Well, it sure is impressive."
"Indeed. But we're not here merely for sightseeing. I'm going to show you how to harvest flameweed."
"Ooo! Finally, an alchemy lesson!"
"Hah. Well, I guess you're not wrong. This is the beginning of that vaunted science. Let us see what we can find."
"...and then you can simply remove the flower."
I carefully examined the bloom I had harvested before I reverently tucked it into my belt pouch. Cha-ching! Twenty bits. I took a guess at the time from the sun's position. It had probably taken me half an hour to learn the process. Hopefully it would go faster next time.
"Now that you know how, please gather a few more. As we agreed, one third of what you gather today will go to me, but you are welcome to sell the rest. Be careful not to take too many from a single patch. You should harvest no more than half the flowers if you want the plants to continue thriving."
"Yes, Zecora."
"Good. Now, I have something to check."
The zebra left me to my work.
A few hours later I stood again, working a crick out of my back. This was turning out to be a profitable day. I had gathered several more flowers with only a few minor burns to show for my trouble. Looking up, I noticed how long the shadows were getting and frowned. Where was Zecora? I'd been sure she was going to return for me. I glanced off in the direction she had gone.
"Zecora?" I called, trying to pitch my voice so it would carry without being loud. I waited for an answer, but on receiving none I slowly followed the shape of her hoofprints in the soft earth. They lead through the ruins of the castle. I stepped through patches of golden sun and dark shade. The ruins grew ominous around me, but I continued on. Eventually I came to a hall where the windows were still intact. The glass was thick and the small panes were set deeply in sturdy lead fixtures. No two pictures were the same, but most centered around two ponies, one white and one blue.
"Those must be Celestia and Luna." I whispered.
"You are correct."
I jumped, but recognized my guide's voice and calmed myself. I turned and found Zecora emerging from the shadows behind me. "Come." She said, beckoning. "Take a look at what I have found." We set off down the ancient hallway, our steps muffled by the thick layer of dirt on the floor. "When we scried the magic residue yesterday, what did you see in the water?"
"An...eye. I think. It was green, and it glowed."
"That is also what I saw. At the time I was too surprised to make the connection, but as I considered what had happened I came to think I had seen it elsewhere. So although I did indeed want to gather flameweed today, there was a secondary motive to my directing us to this place. Look now, and tell me what you see."
I stepped into the room after her and cast my gaze about. More stained glass greeted me. This was in a somewhat poorer state than the last few panels, but the pictures were still recognizable.
Above my head, a city sprawled in glass. It was filled with spires, impossibly high buildings towering over narrow streets. Here and there ponies stood with hope on their faces. They all looked up to one point high on the window where the royal pony sisters were hovering wreathed in magic. Before them, wracked by the strength of their spells, hovered a black shadow. It seemed they were in the process of banishing it. Its green eyes were wide in horror.
Green eyes.
I stared at them for a moment, before turning to Zecora.
"That's them."
She sighed heavily.
"I feared you would say that. I think so as well. This mural depicts King Sombra. He was a tyrant who enslaved an entire nation. Celestia and Luna defeated him, banishing him to the arctic north, but... he was a magician most fell. Also, from what I've been able to gather, he was extremely well versed in the magic of crystals and mirrors."
"Buck."
"Succinctly put."
I sighed. "We should really add this to Twilight's checklist of things to research. Although I don't know how long she can keep working at that pace before burn out."
"Unfortunately, we have little choice but to continue burdening her. She is an extremely capable pony."
"I've gathered that, but...well, I wish we had more choice." I turned my back on the window. "Anyways, we should return. It's starting to get dark out, and I'm not comfortable enough in the Everfree yet to be OK with being caught in the dark."
"If you are ever that comfortable in the Everfree my friend, consider putting me in your will, because you will soon be dead."
Turning our back on the magnificent desolation of the ruins, we started our hike out of the forest.
"Twilight?"
I walked into the library and blinked in surprise. The floor was clear of books.
"Down here!"
I followed the voice into the lower levels of the tree-house. Knocking once, I opened the door to Twilight's lab.
It looked nothing like the labs I'd seen in college. Instead of white walls, steel fixtures, and bright lights, this was warm wood, intricate brass machinery, and glowing crystal fixtures. I breathed deeply, smelling chemicals and old paper, and stepped inside. Twilight was hunched over a bowl of water set on a piece of slate, chalked with an intricate pattern. I could faintly see the remains of construction lines, traces of pencil and wax used for laying out the spell conductors.
"What are you working on?"
"I'm re-doing the scrying spell." She grunted and carefully re-drew a sigil. "I need to get this exactly right. I think, if I've done this correctly, I can modulate the feedback caused by the spell residue. My risograph of Rarity wasn't enough to pinpoint the location of the caster, but it did give me some hints. This mirror water is amazing! If I had more of it, I could do some really neat things..."
"Not going to happen." I said. "Zecora was clear; that pool is dangerous."
"Fine, fine." She sighed. "Well, at least I have this to work with. Now, how does that look?"
"Um..." I scrutinized the magic circle, eventually pointing to the tip of one sigil. "Shouldn't this hook? Also, this line might need more work."
"Ok, give me a minute..."
I frowned as she worked. This was another time. I didn't know how I knew, but something about those two points on the diagram had seemed off. Maybe I should say something....? I watched Twilight work for a bit, eagerly immersed in her study. This would distract her, and maybe that was bad, but I was getting more and more uncomfortable with the idea that I had some of her memories.
"Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"Um....I don't think there's any good way to say this, but I think there were some complications with the spell you used to save my life."
"Are you ok?"
I flinched as she shoved her face into mine.
"Eeep! Personal space!"
"Oh, sorry." Twilight retreated a bit. "But what do you mean? Are you ok?"
"Um, that's not what-"
"Is it the gem? Take off your shirt, let me see it!"
"No, I-"
"Is it the leftover magic? You haven't been un-healing, have you?"
"Twilight!" I yelled a little, breaking through her intensity. She snapped her mouth shut. "I'm ok. I'm not going to take off my shirt. I don't know if there's leftover magic or not, but I don't think I'm un-healing, thankfully. It's nothing dangerous. At least, I don't think so. But, um...well, I think...I think you have some of my memories. And I'm not sure, but I think I have some of yours."
She tilted her head slightly, bemused.
"That's...odd, Wes. Why would you think that? I don't think I have any new memories."
"Um, ok. They seem to mostly be subconscious. In that case, maybe something I know by heart would be more easily accessible. Let my try something." I thought for a minute, and then recited:
<"Twas brilling, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.">
Twilight twitched a little, opened her mouth and replied:
<"All mimsy were the bogoroves, and the mome-raths, outgrabe.">
<"What the hay did I just say?"> She twitched in surprise, and tried to squint at her own mouth. <"Umm...Wes? What's going on here?">
<"....Oh, that was unexpected. Um. You're speaking English.">
<"Ok. Ok, I believe you. There were some complications. I'm speaking English. Cool. Now, how do I stop?">
<"...I have no idea.">