"Once again. Answer truthfully. Who are you really?"
Viator hadn’t been in a prison since the incident with the street signs, and certainly never in a military prison, and he had hoped to keep it that way but here he was in a scene that reminded him of something out of a book. He sighed and looked up at the officer who was interviewing him, the same one that had commanded the soldiers that had found him out in Everfree forest.
"I’ve already told you. I’m Periwinkle Teres Viator, I am a doctor in thaumaturgy at the University of Canterlot where I teach magical theory. I live at number eleven Starswirl Street in Canterlot, my wife is Clarice Skye, we have no foals, thou-"
The officer interrupted him impatiently.
"Yes, yes, yes. I’ve heard all that. It just so happens that the real Teres Viator is standing right behind me and you’re not him."
"Oh, but he is, isn’t he?"
The other Viator stepped forward, head tilted a little to the side. He had taken off his helmet now and regarded his seated duplicate carefully, analyzing him with his magic. The officer was annoyed.
"This isn’t any time for games, we’ve got an impostor and a spy here and-"
"I don’t know about spy, but he’s no impostor. He’s me. Or an identical copy of me."
"Nonsense! The changelings are extinct."
"No no no no no! Not a changeling. It’s a genuine unicorn pony, you can’t fake these things. A changeling wouldn’t emulate my harmonial patterns that well, not at this distance and not this long. I think he’s genuine… at least a genuine unicorn pony."
The two Viators regarded each other with equal parts suspicion and interest. They were very nearly identical, apart for the fact that while the seated Viator was doing his best to keep in shape, there just wasn’t much he could do to match the definitely more military-shaped standing one. Despite being in rather poor shape for a soldier, he was still better toned all around.
Viator (the seated one) found himself feeling a bit chubby and unattractive, and wondering if his wife wouldn’t appreciate him getting into shape. Maybe time to go to the gym more often?
"What points do Starswirl Street go between, then?" the uniformed Viator asked, finally.
"Solstice Square past the university main gate, then to Princess Street."
The officer sneered.
"See? He doesn’t even know his way around Canterlot, and he supposedly lives there. Obvious spy!"
The uniformed Viator put his forehoof to his face.
"Think for a bit! Maps of Canterlot are everywhere, a real spy would know the streets. This is either the worst spy ever, or he’s psychotic, or he’s from…"
He rubbed his chin with the hoof.
"Or he’s from another Canterlot?"
An exasperated snarl from the officer.
"What. Other. Canterlot? He’s a spy from the Crystal Empire, see these… things?"
He gestured with his forehoof over the table where three bronze rods with different sized crystals on the end were laying, along with everything else Viator had had with him when he teleported. The seated Viator sighed.
"Again, they are magic forks. That’s number eight, six, and that’s number ten."
"Forks?"
"We call them that. They are magical foci to tune the resonant properties of magical crystals. As I explained, I was realigning the Moonweaver field coefficent of a crystal pylon when-"
The officer ended the explanation by banging a forehoof on the table, causing everything on it to jump.
"Enough! You’re giving me a headache, both of you! You! You are going to the brig!"
He put the instruments away on a desk by the wall where Viator’s other things were already lined up, and then turned to the Viator in uniform.
"And you! Back to scouting Everfree forest. I want to know where this spy came from and how he got here!"
The uniformed Viator balked.
"Brig? Spy!? You have no proof! He says he’s a doctor at the university, we should investigate! I don’t know where he’s from but-"
"He’s a spy and he’s going in the brig."
"You can’t do this! I’m taking this to Queen Celestia!"
Viator stood up in surprise, causing the guards to lower their spears at him.
"Did you say Queen Celestia? Not Princess?"
"Yes."
"What about Princess Luna?"
"Nightmare Moon? She’s long gone… where are you from, exactly?"
The officer started hammering his hoof on the table.
"OUT! OUT! And don’t think I won’t put you in the brig too. Go on and complain to the queen, see which one of us she believes the most…""
Taking a few steps back, the Viator in the uniform took a bow and swung his cape round in front of him in an elaborate gesture as he disappeared, the now empty cape falling to the floor in an effectful gesture completely lost on the two guards - who didn’t care - and the officer who just rolled his eyes.
It was only Viator who noticed the cape. Instead of staying on the floor it gently drifted on a nonexistant breeze over to drape itself over the desk with his things. An elegant gesture and - he suspected - the whole point of the disappearing act.
The flourish with the cape hadn’t been an illusion to mask the disappearing act, the disappearing act had been an illusion to mask the removal of the cape, and the placement of it over the desk, where it was now keeping his instruments out of sight.
He hadn’t spent his formative years in the company of ponies like the Great Manefredi for nothing, this was a classical trick and set the stage for… well, him? Certainly not for the officer who hadn’t noticed a thing, but just kept barking at Viator.
"You, into the brig!"
The guards ushered Viator into the brig while the officer marched outside in a huff.
The door was slammed behind him, as was the gate in front of Viator, who went to sit down on the bed, watching the guards leave as well. Apparently they trusted the bars to do their job. He smiled to himself. Both the guards and the officer had completely forgotten about his equipment, thanks to the cape keeping them out of sight and mind.
He regardinged the lock and the spells that protected it carefully, plucking out a smaller version of the magical forks on the table. This one had been clipped to the headband on his goggles and somehow eluded the search due to it’s size.
"Put the grandson of the Incredible Hoofini in a cage, will you?"