//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Other Side 
// Story: Personas of Harmony 
// by EricStarstorm 
//------------------------------//

	Officer Looking Glass had begun his work on the crime scene the next day, leaving everyone free for Filthy Rich's funeral. The majority of the town was in attendance, given the stallion's popularity. Though all of the ponies were in low spirits, none were worse than Diamond Tiara. Throughout the entire procession, she couldn't stop sobbing. Twilight had heard nothing good about the filly, but she couldn't help but feel heartbroken at just how miserable she was.

Twilight and Spike checked in with Looking Glass on the way home. They had investigated the body quite thoroughly, but even a professional autopsy didn't reveal a cause of death. It was as if his heart had just decided not to beat anymore. This lead Twilight to wonder if it had been a murder after all. Uncertain and desperate, the two of them made their way back to the library.

"What do you think we should do?" Spike asked, absentmindedly sweeping the first floor. "This whole thing is so...tense. I can't think under pressure like this..."

Twilight was on her bed, holding her head in her hooves as if it would help her think. "I still believe it was a homicide. After all, if it weren't, the body probably wouldn't have ended up in the well...but I just have no idea how the killer could've done it."

"Yeah, I hear you. No cuts, no bruises, no magic burns, no blood clots, no pathogens..."

"You're just quoting Looking Glass."

"That doesn't make what I'm saying any less true."

On any other day, Twilight would have laughed. "If only there was some way to find out more about how this could've happened..."

"We're in a library, Twilight."

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't stock that kind of book here!"

"Hmm...well, what if the old castle has something? There's enough books there to last a lifetime or three."

Twilight was about to wave the idea aside, but she couldn't deny the plausibility of Spike's logic. There was no way they'd completely scoured that library. "You might be onto something there...and Looking Glass wouldn't think to check there. I'd honestly be surprised if he knew much about the place at all."

"So do you think it's worth checking out?"

"If we don't, we might not find what we need to label a cause of death. It's better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it."

"Then let's get going!" Spike leaned his broom on the wall and cracked his knuckles. "I just hope nothing crazy happens this time. Seems like something goes terribly wrong every time we go there."

"That's silly. I go there by myself all the time, and I've found a lot about its history! Did you know that Princess Celestia had considered turning it into a museum once?"

"Focus, Twilight."

"Oh! Right, sorry." Twilight smiled sheepishly, which was accompanied by what sounded like air being pushed out of a dog's chew toy.

Spike rolled his eyes. Twilight stood up and put the dragon on her back, then opened the door. The sun was still high in the air, giving the pair plenty of time to search.





Why Twilight had ever thought Celestia would keep books about methods of death, she didn't know. Celestia was a very peaceful and fair ruler, and there had never been a recorded war in Equestrian history--a few battles now and then, but never a full-scale war. Even then, those kinds of books didn't detail how ponies passed--only that they had died.

Imagine Twilight's surprise, then, when not only did the library in the old castle contain these books, but there were actually several of them.

Given this source of information on different ways ponies could die, Twilight learned a great deal that day. She couldn't honestly say, however, that she had wanted to learn much of it, and despite the myriad of methods, each and every one of them would leave behind something that could be detected via autopsy. On the so-called bright side, Twilight learned a great deal about the horror that is the guillotine.

"It feels like we've been at this all day!" Spike whined, tossing a book about pressure points over his shoulder.

"We HAVE been at this all day," Twilight replied as she skimmed a chapter detailing an unorthodox weapon called the cat-of-nine-tails. "Or all afternoon, at least. The sun's going down."

Spike looked out the window and saw that Twilight was right. The sky was turning from blue to orange as the sun continued shining brightly behind the treetops. "Oh boy...I'm not looking forward to going home after nightfall."

"We'll be fine as long as we stay on the path. You know that."

Spike then had a thought. "Did you ever see a book like this in Celestia's personal library?"

"No, but I had planned on checking that from the start. The public library just has a lot more ground to cover, is all."

"Maybe I should go up there and see if there are any books like that up there. If there are, I can start working through 'em."

"If you want to, then go right ahead. But try to stay focused, okay?"

"Of course!" Spike turned around. "If I'm not back in five minutes, I'm making progress!"

Spike ran through the castle as fast as his little legs would carry him. He had only been in the castle a few times, but it wasn't hard to find the Princess's quarters. There were two master bedrooms on the top floor of the castle, and one belonged to each of the two Princesses of the day. Despite all the years that had passed, Spike was easily able to identify Celestia's quarters--her room had large tapestries depicting the same image of the sun that was on her cutie mark, just as Luna's had tapestries of the moon. Celestia's personal library was only another door away. Despite the ease of access that Spike had to the modest room, however, it didn't offer any helpful information. Why the Princess decided to stock books about strange weapons and death in the public library but not her own, he would never know.

"Weird...there are books about war, but not death," Spike said thoughtfully as he looked at some of the titles of the dusty old tomes. "It might make sense, considering we're dealing with the ruler of the country, but..."

Something stopped Spike mid-sentence. He couldn't place the feeling that was in his mind right now. It felt like a little bit of everything--joy, sorrow, fear, determination, calm, and panic...all at once. He looked around the room to see if something in it had somehow sparked this surge of emotion. His eyes stopped on a certain book.

By all appearances, there was absolutely nothing special about the book that was currently the object of Spike's attention. Its cover was pure white--even brighter than Rarity's coat, if that were at all possible. There was no title on its spine, and...it looked much newer than the other books in the library.

Spike knew he should just report back to Twilight on his lack of findings, but there was something about this book that stopped him from tearing his eyes away. He walked towards it hesitantly, as if it would jump out of the shelf and attack him. It wasn't long before he was within arm's reach of the book. He carefully drew his clawed hand closer to it, finding himself too curious to take it back. He grabbed the book and tried to pull it out. It was much heavier than it looked, but if Spike was strong enough to lift a mountain of luggage, he was certainly strong enough for this. He carefully inspected both covers, but still found no title or author name.

"Okay, this is getting a little bit creepy. Just...what is this thing?" Spike asked himself. The little dragon couldn't stand it any longer. He grabbed the front cover with one hand and lifted it from the first page. 

As if in response, the book suddenly took on a mind of its own. It immediately wrenched itself free from Spike's grasp and opened up to a page in the exact center, making it symmetrical. It then alighted on the room's reading podium and started glowing with white light that was nearly blinding.

"Spike?" Twilight's voice called. "Are you okay in here?"

"Twilight!" Spike yelled in reply. "Get in here, quick! I found something!"

"Oh! Did you figure out how the murderer did it?"

As soon as Twilight finished talking, she arrived in the room and shielded her eyes from the glow. Spike's eyes, on the other hand, were beginning to adjust. "Not exactly," he said sheepishly.

"Oh, for pony's sake, Spike! How many times can one baby dragon open portals to other worlds through books?"

"I didn't do this! It just happened on its own, I swear!"

The book glowed even brighter now. It was almost as if it were beckoning Twilight and Spike towards it. As Twilight tried to figure out what this could mean, she had an idea. An absolutely crazy idea.

"Should we go in?"

Spike turned to Twilight with a flabbergasted look on his face. "WHAT?!? You're not serious, are you?!" he demanded.

"Hear me out on this one. We've looked for a method of homicide that doesn't leave a trace for hours, and we've found nothing--even in one of Equestria's greatest sources of information. There just isn't any way that it could work..." Twilight grinned slyly. "...in THIS world."

Spike understood immediately. "Ohh...I get it! But...what if this thing just takes us to an active volcano, or something?"

"We're going to have to try anyway. As of now, it's our only lead. If nothing else, the murderer could've used it as a place to kill Filthy Rich without witnesses."

"But if we go in there...we might not come back out, even if we don't die."

"You were there when we vowed to catch the killer. Rarity said that we would search all of Equestria, or even beyond Equestria." Twilight laughed softly. "I don't think this is what she meant, but the point is that we have to do whatever it takes."

Spike sighed deeply, concern in his eyes. "Well...I guess it IS the only option we have right now."

Twilight abruptly lifted Spike into the air and dropped him onto her back. "Glad you see it my way! Now hold on tight. We might experience turbulence."

"Holding on tight!" Spike laid down on his belly and held onto Twilight's shoulders. He grabbed on a bit too tightly, however, and Twilight winced.

"Not THAT tight."

The pain receded as Spike loosened his grip. "Less tight!"

One flap of Twilight's wings was all she needed to gain enough altitude to dive into the book. The glow of the pages consumed her and Spike, forcing their eyes closed. The light receded after a few seconds, and the companions opened their eyes.

"Geez, I can barely even see my hooves in front of my face!" Twilight exclaimed. "This fog is thick enough to cut with a knife."

"I can actually see a bit," Spike said. "It is foggy, but it's no worse than our own world's fog."

Twilight credited Spike's ability to see to his dragon eyes. "Well, can you help me land safely, then?"

Spike chuckled. "NOTHING can help you land safely."

"MORE safely, then? I can't see the ground...assuming this place has ground."

The little dragon leaned over Twilight's shoulder and looked down. "You should be okay. It looks like a tile floor to me."

Twilight nodded and flew forward a bit before spreading her wings to glide. She circled in the air, gradually losing altitude while relatively staying in one place. This went on for a moment before Twilight could actually see the ground just inches below. She frantically flapped her wings, screeching to a halt just before she landed. After cushioning the impact, she allowed herself to hit the ground, and Spike jumped off of her back.

"Hey, I think I see a building," Spike said. He narrowed his eyes, as if to see better through the fog. "Yeah...yeah, it's definitely a building. Looks...like a gingerbread house."

"Oh, this had better not be some kind of fairy tale world," Twilight replied as she rolled her eyes. She began to walk in the direction Spike was staring. "Thick fog surrounding Paul Bunyan and green, warty witches just seems silly."

To Twilight's surprise, the walk to the building was a short one. It only took about five minutes. Spike was fascinated. "It really is a gingerbread house," he said, awestruck. He grabbed the door and took a piece of it, then put it in his mouth. He quickly swallowed the whole piece. "With real gingerbread!"

"What in...wherever we are...is this doing here?" Twilight wondered aloud. "Is this really the only building around here?"

Twilight and Spike heard a sound that reminded them of bubbling tar. They turned around to see a black blob sliding across the ground towards them. Oddly enough, the blob appeared to have a mask that one might see to advertise a drama club. The face showed no emotion, however. The blob started floating and formed into a sphere. The sphere gained color, turning red with black stripes. It flipped over, revealing a huge mouth and an even bigger tongue.

"Whoooooa," Spike said. "What IS this thing?"

The sphere let out a hiss and launched itself at Spike. Twilight reacted quickly, lifting Spike with her magic and jumping back a few feet.

"Crap, there's nowhere to run!" Twilight yelled as the sphere started floating again.

"Quick, into the gingerbread house!" Spike replied frantically.

Twilight complied, opening the door and sprinting into the house. She was too scared to absorb the details, but she quickly saw that there was no good place to hide from the monster. She looked back towards it as she ran away, only to find that two more identical monsters had joined it. "Oh no...there are three of them now!"

"What do we do?!" Spike asked.

"I have no idea!"

Twilight kept running. She ran towards a window, planning to fly out. However, just as she was about to jump, another monster flew in through the window, blocking her path. Becoming more and more terrified by the second, Twilight turned and ran up a flight of stairs. Another monster floated through the wall opposite the top of the stairwell, and Twilight turned left. Two more monsters cut her off, leaving Twilight nowhere to run. She looked up to see if she could fly away, but three of the monsters had taken positions above her.

She was officially out of options.

"Oh man...Twilight, this is really bad," Spike whispered as the monsters began to draw closer.

Twilight looked around for any sort of egress, but the monsters' perimeter was nearly airtight. What few holes existed were further closed as the monsters advanced. Resigning herself to her fate, she sighed and drew Spike back.

"Wait, what're you doing?!" the dragon asked.

Twilight looked directly into Spike's eyes. "I'm not about to let you die here, Spike."

"Wh-what are you..."

Before Spike could say anything else, Twilight saw an opportunity. There was a tiny gap between two of the monsters. "Sorry about this!" she yelled. She then launched Spike towards the gap. He blasted through it and through the wall of the gingerbread house, screaming and flailing all the while.

"TWIIILIIIIIIIGHT!" Spike's voice was absolutely heartbroken, but it was too late now to take back what had been done. Twilight's horn glowed as she charged up a magical laser, aiming at one of the monsters. The monster she was aiming at wretched horribly before lashing at her with its tongue.

Suddenly, Twilight felt a sharp pain in her head. It felt as if someone had stabbed her right between the eyes. She was forced to her knees, holding one hoof up to the base of her horn in agony. The pain distracted her from what had been going on, but despite being surrounded by monsters, she was never attacked. After struggling with the action, she opened one eye just enough to see through and noticed that all of the monsters had stopped. A few were backing away...as if they were afraid of something.

"I am thou...and thou art I..."

Twilight's sudden migraine struck back at full force, and Twilight shut her eyes again. It took everything she had not to fall over. A sharp ringing filled her ears, and she only barely registered what came next.

"From the sea of thy soul I come...I shall be your strength, and I shall walk this road alongside you."

Twilight suddenly opened her eyes. Directly in front of her face was a floating card. One side of the card depicted a blue checkerboard with a two-toned mask above it, and the other depicted two black hands holding a fireball between them in front of a purple background. The card was surrounded with strange blue flame. In spite of what was happening around her, Twilight could focus on nothing more than this tiny slip of paper. She felt an unbelievable urge--no, a need--to destroy it, as if it was the only thing that mattered in the world. She briefly reached out to it, and a single word entered her mind. It was a word that she had heard a few times before, but not one that ponies would use in conversation. A word that held great meaning, and yet a word that not many truly understood.

"Per...so...na."

The spectral fire that surrounded the card spread, enveloping Twilight herself. Normally, she would have panicked and tried to put herself out, but right now, fear was at the back of her mind. Slowly but surely, she stood up, the card in front of her face rising with her. She took another look at the monsters surrounding her, noticing how afraid they seemed of her now. She couldn't hold back the smirk on her face as her horn lit up with magic. She blasted the card with a laser, burning it to a crisp instantly. The blue flames brightened until they consumed her vision.

The white light persisted for longer than Twilight would have expected. Though only a few seconds passed, they felt like hours. As Twilight was trying to regain her sight, she saw several images in the light and heard a familiar chuckle. However, they passed so quickly that her brain barely even registered them before they were gone. Only two images managed to stick in her mind: a pile of several wooden limbs and a glowing blue butterfly. Even those faded away before long as the light began to ebb.

The light finally faded, and with it gone, Twilight could finally see what blasting the card had gotten her. Before her was a large, humanoid creature. It had grey skin, though only its head and hands were exposed. The rest of its body was covered by large and heavy wizard's robes. The robes were adorned with two matching sashes, which met in the center of its torso, sealed together by a golden clasp. The creature stared at her with vaguely dragonic eyes, and it had two blue horns like those of a goat.

"I am Merlin...the timeless spellweaver."

The creature lifted one of its arms, and a large explosion of electricity immediately vaporized three of the monsters. They recoiled, then lunged forward to attack. One of them successfully landed a hit on the creature's torso with its tongue, and Twilight's knees buckled in pain. This seemed to bring her to her senses a bit, and she looked a bit confused. She was mostly unfazed, however, and reasoned that there were more important matters at hand.

The humanoid nodded once before swinging its arms out. Several fiery blasts consumed all of the monsters that surrounded it, and it flew upwards. The monsters changed their targets, now chasing after the Persona. It aimed each of its hands at a monster as they advanced. Before they got much farther, it launched a fireball with one hand and a thunderbolt with the other, vaporizing two more of the vile creatures. The others were undeterred, but the Persona brushed them aside with a powerful, electrified shock wave. By this point, there were only a few left. Despite the Persona's obvious power, they flew towards it again. It grabbed a monster in each hand and set them on fire, then threw them back into the advancing cluster. The blazing monsters bounced off of others rapidly, both sending them flying and setting them ablaze as well. The Persona aimed both hands at the crowd and fired a humongous blast of lightning, vaporizing every single monster that was left all at once.

Despite having felt much more confident, Twilight was stunned to see this being in action. Never before had she seen such tremendous power from a single living thing. The Persona floated back over to her, and she reached out towards it. It flashed briefly before turning into the purple card that Twilight had seen before. It floated down to her eyes again, but this time, it faded into a few lingering specks of light before disappearing completely. It took a moment for Twilight to recover from her shock. She didn't know what to think of this or how to feel about it, but one thing was clear--whatever this Persona creature was, it had just saved her life.

"Wait a...I can see!" Twilight looked around to notice that there was barely any fog left. She stood up and spread her wings. "No time to think about that right now. I need to go find Spike before more of those monsters show up!"

With the help of her newfound sight, Twilight flew into the air and through the hole in the wall that Spike had made when Twilight had thrown him through it.