Lyra followed after Celestia as they descended what felt like far too many stairs. The air was cool and humid, but it smelled rather plain. Reaching the jails, Lyra found it rather… empty. "Not much activity here?"
Celestia gave a soft smile. "Should I be upset that there is little call for cells in my kingdom?"
Lyra shook her head quickly. "No no! That's good, of course. So where's our new friend?"
Celestia gestured down a side passage. "At the end. There are guards close by, but not in sight, so as to not bother him. If you need them, you need only give a cry. I look forward to your success."
Lyra bowed towards Celestia before trotting down the hallway, looking to get her eyes on this mysterious spellcasting once-human.
What she came across was not quite what she expected. Inside the cell on the lone bed sat a rough looking cream-colored stallion, who softly was humming a tune. The clothes he wore were ripped and singed and his fur coat was in equally bad condition. From what she could tell, he wore some form of green robe with bracers on his front hooves made of what Lyra suspected was animal hide, though she hoped it wasn't. He did not appear to have a cutie mark, but with his robes draping over his flank it was impossible to tell.
As Lyra leaned in to get a closer look at him through the bars, the convict's ears flicked in her direction and he turned to face her. After a moment of him examining her, he slowly formed a devilish smile on his face and simply stated, "Lyra Heartstrings... human obsessed no matter where I go, eh?" His voice was smooth and held tones of somepony who knew all the secrets you could have been hiding.
Lyra tilted her head a little. "Only by destiny. I'm more focused on being a friend." She sat on her haunches, making herself look smaller. "You look like you could maybe use one? You seem to know my name already…" A fact that creeped her out a little. "May I have yours? Anything you say is between the two of us alone, even the guards aren't going to bother us."
"Doctor patient confidentiality, eh?" The pony behind the bars droned, "Figures the first thing you ponies send to a guy locked up is a shrink and not a lawyer..." Sliding off of the bed, he trotted up to the bars with ease and sat on the floor in front of Lyra.
'So he knows how to walk like a pony?' Lyra thought to herself as she tapped her chin before extending the same hoof towards the once-human. "They sent someone you can talk to, as an equal. You're not under arrest, er, well I guess you kind of are, but not as a criminal, if that makes sense?"
The convict stared at Lyra for a time as he looked right into her eyes. Then suddenly, he tilted back and laughed heartily at some unknown joke. "I raid Celestia’s private stash, and she still doesn't find that objectionable enough? Ha!" After slowly dying down from his sudden outburst, the convict sighed deeply before looking back at Lyra, this time with a much softer expression. "They call me, 'Mage'."
Lyra nodded slowly. "Nice to meet you, Mage." She looked him over as she asked, "So, uh, you seem to already know where you are, who you're talking to, and everything else involved. Forgive my saying so, but that's a little odd. Did you cast a spell to learn all that?" She raised a brow lightly.
"Instantaneous knowledge transmission?" queried the Mage, "Nah, never could figure that one out... but to answer your question..." The Mage got up and began to pace back and forth as he talked, albeit with a bit of a sway and stumbling about. "Tell me Heartstrings, are you familiar with the concept of trans-dimensional teleportation?"
Lyra clopped her forehooves together. "No, but I can guess." She smiled, looking a little more in her element. "I'm more specialized in transmutation magic, but I saw the runes you left upstairs. Is that human magic? I didn't recognize the patterns used at all."
"Human magic?" The mage asked aloud with a puzzled expression. "Possible, though highly improbable. I never did learn who crafted the spell..." He turned to Lyra and smirked. "Though I should be thankful you don't know of it, it's as dangerous as it is powerful. And let me tell you, breaking your way through the void between realities is one heck of a power ride." With a quick raising of his hoof he cut off Lyra's next question and spoke. "And yes that's how I know everything you asked about. I've been to an Equestria very similar to the one we are in now. I've been to many... too many."
Lyra shook her head slowly. "You sound tired. Are you… being chased? Why keep going from world to world like that instead of… relaxing?" She wobbled a hoof before reaching for the cell door. "May I open this?" A trusting soul is she, but also giving him the decision.
The Mage shrugged and sat down again with a sigh, "If only I WAS being chased. That would make it a more interesting tale." He looked to the door and the back to Lyra before continuing, "Go right ahead." He confirmed with a soft nod.
Lyra opened the door to the cell and stepped inside shutting it behind her. "It sounds interesting enough, and I'd be willing to listen if you want to tell it." Lyra sat down across from the mage, she hoped that if he would tell his story that she might be able to help him better. Their conversation so far had been enlightening, but there were still many details that eluded her.
"You want the short story or the long one?"
Lyra lifted a chocolate from her saddlebag in her magic. "I'll trade a candy for the long one, or you can have it either way, unless you're allergic to chocolate, in which case you have my condolences." But did allergies translate across dimensions? Heck if Lyra knew.
“If i was allergic to that, I’d have died many dimensions ago when I had the unfortunate encounter with a Pink party planning pony.” the Mage answered as he took the chocolate in hoof and popped it into his mouth, spitting out the wrapper, free of its candy contents, a few seconds later. “Very delicious, I’m no candy expert, but was that dark chocolate with caramel?”
Lyra tilted her head. "I… forgot to check which one I gave you, but that's definitely one of the ones I had. So, about that story." She smiled. "If it helps, you're not the first once-human to arrive. I've been helping them out when they want a hoof-up. I mean, being a pony is cool and all, but if you're not used to it, I can understand being off-balance by it."
The Mage sat up as if started by her words, he spoke slowly and with trepidation, “I’m… not the only human turned pony here?” Lyra nodded confirming his question and the Mage eased back down before chuckling and shaking his head. “Huh, I don’t suppose the words ‘five score, divided by four’ or ‘Project Harmonics’, mean anything to you?” The Mage seemed to hold his breath, like he was waiting for some bombshell to drop.
Lyra shook her head slowly. "None of those sound… Wait, is that last one a music piece?" With a soft flash, her lyre appeared, floating beside her. "I know a few songs, if you're looking for that? Other than that, nope." She suddenly had an idea, raising a hoof. "Are those other worlds?"
“Yes.” the Mage answered bluntly, “And some are better left not discussed.” He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck before leaning against the bars of the cell. “Though music would be nice, you asked a question, and you deserve an answer. Especially since you’re apparently my psychologist at the moment. So, where should I begin?”
Lyra pointed at the Mage. "I'm your friend, a professional friend. I didn't want to be one of those psychowhosits, trying to peel ponies apart bit by bit when all they need is a helping hoof and a friendly face." She threw her hooves apart in a bit of a shrug. "Semantics, maybe, but I'm not here to call you crazy, so that's a difference, right? What world did you come from originally?"
“One that never had ponies.” the Mage began, “At least not like you guys. Unicorns? Pegasi? Stuff of legend, also much much bigger.” The Mage seemed to drift off as he spoke, his eyes glazing over with his memories of the past. “No, I was a much different man then, young, adventurous, daring… foolish.” The Mage came out of his reverie and looked to Lyra somberly, “The spell you were asking about? The dangerous powerful one? I only saw it as a way to escape the hum drum of daily life, go on a nice safe vacation, to Equestria.” The Mage hesitated, then continued. “It didn’t pan out to well. So when I used it again to go home, I found myself in another land similar to my previous one, another Equestria only in ruins.”
Lyra frowned with thought. "So you used it again, then again, and again…" She rolled a hoof. "But it never got you home, and… I actually think I know why, if I understood half the things told to me about this whole mess." Lyra made a mental note to immediately tell the Princess and the ponies researching into the Mage’s magic what she discovered. The last thing she wanted was somepony accidently using it and ending up trapped like the Mage.
The Mage only chuckled darkly at her words, “Lady, you have no idea. Take your darkest thoughts, the worst of the worst, take all the evil you have ever encountered, and then put it behind the face of the one you care most deeply about.”
Lyra couldn’t even begin to imagine Bon-Bon being that horrible. The worst they ever had were a few fights, but they eventually made up afterward. To think what the Mage was describing, was impossible.
“Not easy is it?” he asked. Lyra shook her head ‘no’. “Don’t worry, that’s not a bad thing.” he continued, “And to be fair, neither were most of the other worlds. Some were downright amazing, but they weren’t…”
“Home?” Lyra finished for him.
“...Yeah.”
Lyra rolled her hooves together nervously. "If… I don't think you can go home that way. Um, so, let's say, just theoretically speaking, that wasn't an option, what world would be good enough to make a new home in?" She smiled gently. "There aren't any crazy wars or flesh eating diseases or anything like that here, that's pretty cool, right?"
“Its already higher on the list if anything.” the Mage quipped with a smile. “But, I’m not sure to be honest.” The Mage stood up and walked to the other side of his cell as he talked, “I mean, so far I haven’t exactly endeared myself to Sunbutt this time around, and being on her shit list can lead to all sorts of problems. Ones with solutions usually end with rainbow laser beams of friendship and explosions.”
Lyra shook her head quickly. "She's the one that sent for me in the first place, and don't call her that or you will end up there. She thinks, rightly in my opinion, that you're confused and lost. You need a helping hoof, not rainbow laser beams of friendship or otherwise." She perked an ear. "I… I can't even start to imagine the worlds you've been to if that sounded normal."
The Mage nodded looking thoughtful, “Well, if her royal highness thinks I stand a chance, why the heck not. And don’t worry too much, my mental health is just fine and dandy, physical though… what’re the current statutes on eating meat?” he explains with a wide grin on his face.
Lyra had to do a double take at his words, though the very real set of carnivous front teeth he had in his mouth answered a few of her next questions. “We can go over all the rules you might want to know later, and I know another human turned pony who would be interested in meeting you.”
“Sounds great!”
Lyra gestured down the hall she came through. "You seem safe enough to me, why are we talking in a dungeon anyway when we could be sharing ice cream on a train?" She tapped herself on the chest. "My treat. They'll be excited to meet you, I'm sure." She reached for the door to discover with a little rattling that maybe she shouldn't have closed it behind herself.
“Ah, allow me.” interjected the Mage as he raised his hoof to the lock on the cell door. With a quick motion of his hoof, a glowing rune flashed on the lock and with a series of clicks and motions the cell door swung open. “Figures, the door itself and the lock is magic proof, but everyone forgets about the tumblers.”
The magic coming from something that wasn't a horn was a bit new to Lyra, and she tried to get a glimpse of it, but by the time she thought to try, most of the magic was already gone and faded away. "How did you do that? Was that human magic?" She frowned a little, reaching for the door and swinging it a little in and out on its hinges. "It worked, whatever it was."
“Unicorn magic is still difficult to me. Only been in this body for three months straight, and let me tell you learning to use the bathroom in this form was tricky enough. HA!” the Mage divulged as he walked out into the hall. “But we can have a talk about differences in magic some other time, I’m betting the Princess wants a formal apology from me and probably a promise to pay her back? I’d guess as much with her.”
Lyra tilted her head a little. "She didn't mention any of that, but like I said, you're not the first once-human, so she's expecting some confused ponies to be here doing confusing things. You're part of a bigger problem, but one that… so far, hasn't been that bad." She leaned towards the new pony. "You caused the most material damage out of them all, so far."
“Yessssss.” softly cheered the Mage with a pump of his foreleg. “Still number one baby.” This was met with a disapproving glare from Lyra, and the Mage had enough decency to apologise. “Sorry.”
Lyra moved through the open door and began leading Mage out of the castle past the suspicious but still guards. Nopony challenged her, and she was soon on her way home with her newest friend. "Ponyville's a nice place. Have you been to, uh, other ones?"
“Hrm,” the Mage pondered aloud, “One where the entire town is the capital of Equestria, one where everypony is the opposite gender; one where you are technically a human; one where everypony walks on two legs, has hands, gigantic mammary glands and is yet still a pony; and one where some magician named Trixie is a Princess of Magic or something.”
Some of those sounded vaguely feasible, while others put quite the disconcerted expression on Lyra's face. Ever the optimist, she cleared her throat. "Well at least it was always there and full of happy, uh, mostly ponies?"
“...Remind me to never tell you about the Conversion Bureau… ever.”