Thursday
Twilight's POV
“‘You have a wedding to prepare’ she says. ‘You have a lot to think about’ she says.” Twilight mocked as she trotted somewhat angrily from the reception hall where just hours ago a changeling queen had all of Equestria in her hooves. She was still feeling conflicted over the whole ordeal as she warned them; warned her mentor, her friends and her older brother that something was seriously not right. Sure, maybe she could have gone about it a little better when it came to her need to save her ungrateful brother. And look how that turned out.
So much property damage could have been avoided as well as what injuries innocent ponies sustained from the invasion if some pony listened. Hay, she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Celestia was allowing a wedding to go on when they were on high alert like they were. “Am I being too harsh?”
Stopping to sit, she debated if she was being too harsh over Shining Armor’s reaction. Admittedly, she was excited at first too though she was also hurt that she had to hear about the wedding from Celestia’s letter first. She didn’t even know her brother was dating Cadence in the first place. No, he doesn’t get to pull all that. He doesn’t get to throw me away after everything I’ve done and expect me to fix it for his sorry flank! If it wasn’t for Cadence, I’d tell them all to buck off and see how they like it!
Pushing the anger back, Twilight rose and decided that the sooner she could get this farce of a wedding back on track the sooner she could get out of there. Setting off in search of a quill and some parchment to make a checklist of everything that needed done, Twilight stomped down the hallway toward the stairs to her tower. The farther she moved, the more her anger melted away into a sullen mood.
Despite her depressed state, she still noticed the distinct lack of guards lining the passage. It was kind of odd, actually, especially when she was used to at least a few standing at attention or patrolling. She had to remind herself that all of the guards were called away from all but the most important of post to make sure there were no changeling stragglers. Something else that was making Twilight upset at the sheer absurdity of Princess Celestia telling her she had a wedding to prepare. Really, shouldn’t they be out there assessing the damage the changelings caused instead of putting together another wedding so soon? Especially since it was the wedding that caused all this in the first place?
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only sane pony around here...” Twilight scoffed. She stopped in her tracks, however, as she noticed a certain corridor missing the guards that were usually stationed there. As far as she knew, the dungeons didn’t need guarding at the moment, but this passage was one which Celestia always steered Twilight away from. The Princess had always refused to talk about what was in them or why they were avoided, which piqued Twilight’s curiosity. Even when she tried to investigate on her own, there were always guards stationed at its entrance who wouldn’t let anyone but the Princess or Captain of the Guard pass. If it was so important to Celestia, why leave it unguarded now?
“This is either another bucking test or a gross case of incompetence.” Twilight grumbled, the anger and stress of the day’s events pushing her to act more and more against how she normally would. Of course, she realized that, but she just couldn’t bring herself to abandon her anger at the situation.
No matter what the specific reason was, her curiosity managed to get the better of her as she slowly started to make her way down the passage. She tried to tell herself that she was only making sure that everything was secure, but she knew that a part of her was trying to avoid thinking or working on a wedding she wasn’t even invited to any longer. She still couldn’t get the image of Shining Armor, her BBBFF, dismissing her outright rather than trusting her judgement.
Quickly wiping the moisture forming in her eyes, she approached the first door she came to. Her lavender aura taking hold of the handle, she muttered, “Let’s see what’s behind door number one.”
After jostling the handle a few times, Twilight couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that the door was locked. She quickly decided not to try any spells to release the lock either; even without guards, the doors may have had spells placed on them to detect intruders. Releasing her hold on the door, she turned to try the door immediately across the hall. A lucky feeling swept through her as the door was not only unlocked, but swung open easily to reveal…a storage room full of cleaning supplies.
“Great, just great. A locked room and a janitorial closet.” Twilight groaned, closing the door back as she moved to the next door. “As they say, the third time’s the charm.”
Twilight never got a chance to do anything but begin to grasp the handle as a pulse of magic from farther down the hallway washed over her gaining her attention. Something about it seemed familiar, and almost chaotic as well. It didn’t really feel malicious, but it did feel powerful. Could there be some super secret hidden laboratory down here, or some all powerful artifacts sealed within the room? She wasn’t sure, but she intended to find out.
She was really hoping for a super secret laboratory with powerful unicorns doing research, especially since, with no guards to divert the flow of traffic, ponies here for the wedding could possibly come this way. If there was some kind of all powerful artifact stored here, it was just an accident waiting to happen. And that’s if somepony didn’t intentionally steal it with attention directed elsewhere.
Slowing down as she reached the door, Twilight quickly debated one last time if she should really be doing this. It could still be a test from Celestia, and she wasn’t sure if she needed to investigate or leave it alone. Feeling another pulse gently flow over her, Twilight made up her mind and gripped the handle in her magic. “Buck it, I’m not leaving something potentially dangerous unsecured.”
Stepping into the room Twilight couldn’t help noticing how Spartan and unassuming it was. There was none of the lavish decoration which covered almost every other inch of the castle. Instead there was just a raised dias at the center of the room with a large mirror sitting right in the middle. Curious, Twilight moved over to the mirror just as she felt another pulse of magic. Since there was nothing else in the room, she concluded that the mirror had to be the source.
Upon closer inspection, Twilight found the mirror to be breathtakingly elegant in design. Its frame was intricately wrought with jewels set in that seemed to glow softly. Moving to look into its smooth surface, Twilight found nothing out of the ordinary as she stared into her reflection. A ripple across the surface made Twilight take a step back even while her reflection began to change into… something else. Looking closely, Twilight saw that the being was very similar in stature to minotaurs and some dragons, but possessed a weaker, more slender frame as well as a color scheme very similar to her own. As she reached towards the surface, its five blunted claws reciprocated the action, mimicking her cautious approach.
Another ripple washed out across the shiny surface, and the figure was replaced by a similar one. Unlike the other one, however, this one radiated so much power that Twilight could feel it through the mirror itself. It could just be the magic of the mirror itself, but the energy floating from the mare’s eyes as well as the long, slender horn shrouded in magic made Twilight believe it had to be something else.
Cocking her head, Twilight inspected the creature and couldn’t help noticing the dark wings on its back. “Are you an alicorn?”
Another ripple across the mirror made Twilight stumble a little and press more on the mirror, causing her hoof to sink into the surface. Surprised, Twilight was able to catch herself and pull her hoof free, only to stare at it and the mirror in shock. She still wasn’t too sure what the mirror was, but she had a theory on how it worked. Deciding to test it, she put her hoof against it again and wasn’t surprised when it sank in with only the mildest of resistance.
“I suppose it could be a gateway spell,” Twilight mused to herself, but she knew it was unlikely. When she was a foal Celestia had shown her one as an example, but the spell was rare knowledge since it required much more magic than any normal unicorn could call on. Just hours ago, she had been subjected to a similar spell at the hooves of Queen Chrysalis, though she had only used a portal, which was basically an advanced form of teleportation.
The gateway spell, however, couldn’t be cast on the spur of the moment. Instead, it was anchored between two points and took less power to maintain. It was rarely used, though, since the spell still took more power than most unicorns could call upon. The other reason gateways weren’t more common, and that they weren’t common knowledge, was that the spell matrix was too easy for somepony to tamper with, and if they didn’t know what they were doing the result could be catastrophic. So much so that it could possibly wipe Canterlot off the face of Equestria. As such, it was illegal to cast one without proper supervision and preparation.
It was no wonder that Celestia normally kept this area closed off to everypony, but Twilight didn’t understand why the princess kept the mirror intact if it was potentially very dangerous. The mirror could be used to kill every innocent pony in Canterlot while the princess, with her superior abilities, would most likely survive. Just what the buck is she thinking?
“No, even the princess wouldn’t be foalish enough to do this. Maybe this is how some of the changelings got here through the barrier,” Twilight surmised, which made her want to run to Celestia immediately and find out what was going on. Just as she was turning to do so, however, the memory of earlier made her stop. No pony took her concerns seriously earlier, and this was too important to risk the same result. Twilight looked back at the mirror, deep in thought. After a moment’s hesitation, she turned around and faced the mirror once more. “Just a quick peek on the other side to make sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
With a little hesitation, Twilight pushed against the surface again and slowly followed her hoof through this time. As she crossed the threshold, her world exploded in bright lights as it felt like her body was twisting and contorting, before she suddenly found herself thrown out the other side. Landing hard on the ground, she couldn’t hold in a grunt of pain as she waited for her head to stop spinning.
Once she regained her focus, she looked around and was happy to see that she was outside in the fresh air with a bright full moon hanging overhead. Groggily, she started to shift, almost immediately realizing that there was something wrong with her body. It was slow to respond as her vision swam, but she managed to raise one hoof then another to stare in shock as the blunt claws from the creature in the mirror. With an ear splitting shriek, Twilight’s last grip on consciousness slipped away as slumped back against the cold hard ground under some kind of statue.
Celestia's POV
“Please leave me be for awhile. After all that has happened today, I feel I need to take some time to think.” Celestia sighed, trying her best to keep her regal appearance after the fiasco that occurred only hours ago and had almost caused her to lose everything she held dear. That thought sparked something, a nagging feeling that she was overlooking something important.
“As you should,” one of the two guards flanking her snorted before catching himself. His partner gawked at him in utter terror as the three came to a stop, while all he could do was begin to shake and sweat as he realized that he spoke that thought aloud.
Celestia sighed before putting on a warm smile. “Come now, my little pony. There is no need to fear me. If there is something you wish to get off your chest, please do so.” She said to the guardspony. While normally such behavior was unusual for any guard, she knew that everyone was on edge after the catastrophe of a wedding.
“Well, your highness, many of us believe that this whole wedding was a load of horseapples. I mean, who in their right mind holds an event such as this in the middle of a state of emergency? Do you know how hard WE have had it this past week? We’ve hardly had any rest at all because the entire guard was on high alert all week! And while I normally wouldn’t be one to question your motives, we hardly had any time to prepare for attack before the wedding was announced. I mean, because of that wedding, we weren’t anywhere near our top condition when the changelings attacked!” The guard ranted, gradually letting his true anger towards the situation show.
Of course, he was right. This wedding should have been postponed and would have if she didn’t let Cadence convince her otherwise. The same Cadence that turned out to be an imposter and nearly overtook Canterlot because of her lack of judgment.
“I’m sorry, I know I messed up. I let an enemy infiltrate us and convince me to do something I was hesitant about. And poor Cadence and Twilight had the worse of it.” Celestia said as her ears folded back as she hung her head. Moments later, however, her eyes snapped wide open in realization.
“I never told Twilight how proud I was for everything she has done today! I didn’t even apologize to her!” Celestia cried out as she spun and galloped as fast as she could down the hallway, her two guards hot on her hooves after sharing a look of confusion. Celestia made her way to the nearly restored reception hall, with several guards looking up from their tasks in surprise.
“Twilight, where’s Twilight?” Celestia gasped out, trying to catch her breath. It had been too long since she had run like that and she admitted to herself that it may be best to lay off the cakes for awhile. At least, after the wedding.
“Lady Sparkle went to her chambers awhile ago to fetch a quill and some parchment to organize everything, your majesty.” One of the guards said slowly as he approached the princess.
“It’s been awhile, though. Maybe somepony should go check up on her. She did seem rather upset.” Another guard said, a mare who adjusted her helmet as she tried not to shoot a dirty look at Celestia. A look the princess felt she deserved.
“There you are, Princess. Have your seen Twily? I couldn’t find her in her room.” Shining Armor asked cautiously as he trotted into the room, making Celestia’s worry grow even more. “I realized I never reinvited her to the wedding and I kind of want to talk about what happened and apologize, you know?”
“All of you spread out and find me Twilight Sparkle, NOW!” Celestia shouted, the Canterlot Voice seeping in and causing all guards present to scatter save for the groom to be.
“You don’t know where she is? Where could she have gone?!” Shining Armor asked, looking more worried with each passing moment.
“I hope she just went for a walk, but I fear that our actions either drove Twilight away, or, Sol help us, a changeling escaped your spell and captured her.” Celestia said, swallowing nervously at the terrified look crossing the stallion’s face. She really hoped Twilight was simply clearing her thoughts, but still she feared the worst.
Friday
Twilight's POV
“Hey noob, get up.” A slightly familiar voice called roughly, rousing Twilight from unconsciousness. Sitting up with a splitting headache, Twilight found that the sun, as always, was a pain in the flank when not wanting to be woken. Shaking the grogginess away, she managed to finally get a good look at the creature calling out to her. It seemed to be a mare if the creature was comparable to a minotaur, though it definitely wasn’t. It did have a short, white mane and piercing eyes that seemed to be glaring into Twilight’s soul.
“Was I out all night?” Twilight managed to ask though her mouth and throat felt so dry.
“Hell if I know, but I thought you might want to wake up before the pig found you. Then again, it’s always funny seeing him bitching at new blood for napping under the statue.” The mare laughed, making Twilight look up to see a very weird looking pony statue that seemed like it was made by the hooves of a horrible artist.
“Leave the newblood alone Gilda,” An extremely familiar and unwanted voice said, startling Twilight. Turning slowly Twilight found what could only be Rainbow Dash standing there with a net holding a couple balls inside. “Yo newblood, bell’s going to ring in five, so you better head in and talk to the principal if you haven’t already gotten your schedule.”
“What are you doing here?” Twilight demanded, glaring at the rainbow maned girl who returned the glare after a moment. Even while Twilight was angrily looking at Rainbow Dash and wondering why the Pegasus even bothered following her, her mind was coming up with numerous possibilities for what happened to her body. The most logical one being that it was some kind of transdimensional doorway with an enchantment that changed a pony’s body to something that could adapt and survive here.
“You know what? Fine, stay out here, no skin off my back. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Rainbow Dash snorted before spinning to follow Gilda, merging into a crowd of other creatures heading towards an important looking building just a little ways down the path Twilight was on. She wasn’t sure why Rainbow Dash followed her and acted the way she did, but there wasn’t any immediate danger as far as she could see. Just strange creatures that she would possibly come back and study later. For now, though, she needed to go home and get something to eat.
Turning around, she tried to step through the side of the statue, but instead walked face first into its base, causing her head to hurt worse as it bounced off the now solid surface. She stumbled back a few feet, holding her head while trying not to scream at the base of the statue for doing this. Could the portal be closed? She really hoped that wasn’t the case, but it had been at least several hours since she had come through and it was possible that it was only open certain times of the day. It wouldn’t be the first spell that she heard of that was triggered by either the sun or moon.
As Twilight stumbled around, trying to get her bearings, she bumped into what felt like a very pudgy wall. “You okay there kid?” A gruff voice asked as Twilight, surprised, snapped her head around to see what she had bumped into. As she did, she came face to face with a slightly more rounded male than the ones she saw heading towards the large building. Looking up, for the creature was taller than she was, she couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated by the look of annoyance in his eyes. The fact that he was wearing something akin to a formal uniform of the Royal Guard didn’t help matters much.
“Y-yeah, I was just trying to get home.” Twilight groaned out, rubbing the sore spot tenderly where she hit the statue’s base where the portal was. It felt weird to do so, especially with the extra digits at her command. She then wondered if some kind of instinct was kicking to make her rub any injured spots so tenderly and without the need for conscious thought. It would explain why standing on her hind legs was so easy even if she wanted to be on all fours.
“Kid, the bell just rang, so it’s too late to go home. You better get to class or you’re going to be late.” The male said as his look of agitation began to increase.
“Class? I haven’t been to school in years!” Twilight said as she shook her head in disbelief. She refused to have this male, guard or not, send her to take classes she had already completed. Trying to gather her magic to perform a short range teleportation, Twilight froze in horror she realized she had no way to channel it. She could feel it flowing through her body, even if it felt a little odd, but it refused to heed her command.
“Look kid, I’m not playing games with you. Either come along peacefully or I’ll personally escort you to the principal’s office. Your choice,” The male said as he reached out to grab Twilight, who barely managed to dodge as she clumsily backed away.
“I’m not going in there, I have to find a way home!” Twilight shouted before turning around and running away from the male as fast as she could. She ignored his shouts and kept running, forcing him to chase until he stopped in order to catch his breath. Twilight kept going instead of resting to make sure she had put plenty of distance between him and her. The only problem now was that she had no idea where she was or what she was supposed to do.
No, that wasn’t the only problem either. She had lost her MAGIC! Was this what unicorns who lost their horns felt like? Shaking a little, Twilight struggled to push past the fear and concentrate on calling forth her magic. It wasn’t hard for her to find, but it was impossible for her to control, seeming to slip through her hooves every time she thought she had it.
Get ahold of yourself, Twilight. It’s still there, you can feel it. You just have to figure out how to get back through the portal, and everything else will return to normal.
Of course, that was easier said than done. Her magic was a very important part of her. Hay, it was her cutie mark for Faust’s sake! Despite the fear knawing away inside of her, she focused on keeping a cool head. Nothing could be accomplished by panicking, right? She nodded grimly, forcefully ignoring the part of the brain telling her that panicking was the third best thing she did after magic and studying.
Finally observing her surroundings, she saw more creatures waking up and down the stone paths by the buildings, while large metal carriages seemed filled the center of the streets. As she looked on, amazed by what she saw, she noticed that the creatures were giving her curious glances as they went about their business. Thankfully, however, nopony was trying to stop her or bother her this time.
Allowing herself a moment to breath, Twilight focused on what actions to take next. Think Twilight, you are one of the generation’s smartest ponies. What should I do?
“Research!” Twilight called out in excitement, earning her a few odd looks and making her wilt in embarrassment as her cheeks burned. It didn’t deter her from her goal, though, and she set off to find a library. At least, she would have, but her stomach growled in protest for neglecting it. She had skipped most of her meals helping with the wedding and trying to protect her brother and “friends”. It was almost enough to make her say buck it and wander blindly in search of food. She had no money on her though, and she had no clue how this world worked compared to her own. She was just happy that she could understand the language and read what few signs she already passed.
As she continued in the direction she was headed in earlier, she wondered if there was some way she could maybe do a few hours worth of work in exchange for a small meal somewhere. Or maybe she could even do what most civilized ponies look down on and graze. It wasn’t like anypony would see her, and she was getting hungry.
“Would you like a sample of our new burger?” A male wearing an apron over other clothes asked as he shoved a large platter of some greasy, parchment-wrapped burgers out to Twilight. “Please lady, I can’t go back in until I get rid of them all.”
“I would like a sample, thank you. They’re burgers?” Twilight asked as she tried to resist the urge to grab one and rip the paper off. A good hayburger would be pure bliss.
“Only the best this side of Canterlot.” The male chuckled, though he looked a bit nervous before whispering. “I have to say the best, but if you don’t like it just toss it. Just please take one! Hell, take two!”
“I’d love to, thank you.” Twilight said with relief in her voice. She tried to use her magic to levitate them off the tray, only to remember she couldn’t call on her magic for the moment. Instead, she clumsily managed to grasp two of them after several tries, one in each hand.
“Are you okay? It almost looks like you never used your hands before.” The male asked, the bored expression starting to change into one of concern.
“My hands? Why would you ask that? I use my hands all the time! I use these all the time!” Twilight said in a rush, giggling nervously as the male started slowly backing away from her.
“Suuure you do. Look, if you need help, I can go get my boss or something.” The male suggested.
“No thanks, I’m late for an important meeting. Yeah, important! Nice meeting you!” Twilight said giving her biggest false smile that was bordering on creepy as she quickly shook her head no. She slowly backed away before spinning around to hurry around the corner. Finding a bench, where she slumped down with a tire sigh.
After several minutes of experimentation, Twilight got used to grasping stuff with her hands, though the appendages were a lot harder to control separately. She found herself instinctually using them properly at times, but couldn’t manage anything too complicated. After all, a solid hoof was completely different from this weird thing.
After a few attempts, Twilight managed to tear the paper off the end of the burger and looked at it curiously. It had a strange smell to it, and didn’t look like any burger she had seen before. The bun was there, as was the cheese and other toppings. The hayburger itself, though, was replaced with a patty made of something she couldn’t identify.
Cautiously, Twilight raised the burger up to smell it, making her mouth water at the unusual but delicious aroma wafting from the hot food. Carefully, she took a small bite and chewed it a few moments, taking in the strange taste. Slowly, her eyes widened as she stared at the food gripped in her hand. Within a few minutes, she had finished off both burgers, almost wishing she had a third. She would have to figure out how to make these strange hayburgers, or whatever they were, back home.
Before she could even stand up, however, one of the metal things suddenly pulled up right in front of her, making her jump in shock. It was different from the others, as it was much longer and had more windows than the ones she had seen. The door in front of her opened up, revealing a male staring down at her from a seat inside the thing.
“Are you getting on or not? Sheesh,” the male asked in a rather annoyed tone. Twilight choked a little before finding her voice.
“I need to get to the library. Does this thing go there?” Twilight asked as she stood up and cautiously approached the thing. She ran her fingers along the frame of the now folded door, finding her earlier guess that it was made of metal to be correct.
“Yes, the bus stops at the library,” The male said, rolling his eyes. “Now are you getting on or not?”
“I guess.” Twilight said, though she was worried about being in such an enclosed space. If she needed to escape like from the guard back by the portal, she would have nowhere to escape to. Still, if it was going to take her to the library, it might be her best bet to get there quickly, as the vehicles seemed to move a lot faster than the creatures were capable of.
Climbing the steps, she looked down a long aisle with benches on either side with creatures filling a few of them. Taking a deep breath, she went to take a step down the aisle, but the male grabbed her hand and glared up at her.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” The male asked angrily as he let Twilight’s hand go and pointed to a clear box with pieces of green parchment inside.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Twilight said softly as she looked back and forth between the male and box.
“Money, girl, you have to pay to ride the bus.” The male said slowly as if talking to somepony with a slow mind. That statement made Twilight want to facehoof. She should have known better; the device did resemble a train without rails and it would stand to reason that one would have to pay for a ticket.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any bits with me.” Twilight said feeling embarrassed for her mix-up.
“Brat, this is Canterlot, we don’t use whatever crap you people use. We use cash, dollars, so either cough up a buck for the ride or get off.” The male snarled, reminding Twilight of a diamond dog and making her cringe a little.
“Can you at least tell me where I can find the library?” Twilight asked hoping not to anger the male even more.
The male rolled his eyes. “Go straight down that way about half a mile until you reach Main Street, then turn right. The library will be a few blocks down,” The male said as he pointed down the street the bus was following.
“Thank you, I’m really sorry for the trouble.” Twilight said before climbing down the steps of the bus, feeling even more humiliated by the whole fiasco as she heard several of the creatures snickering.
“Damn foreigners,” the male grumbled before the door shut and the bus was on its way, leaving Twilight standing there with a destination in mind. Taking a deep breath, Twilight started on her trek to the library in hopes of finding some information on the magic of this world. She was also hoping to find information on the portal, because if the anchor point was the base of a statue she doubted it was temporary.
Sure she had her theory about the portal possibly being powered by the moon, but she was sure she had at least a few hours before the sun set, if the solar cycle was the same as back home. Twelve hours daylight and twelve hours of night; evenly split between the two sisters. She was, of course, worried that she may have been out of it longer than she thought, but she couldn’t head back to the portal if there was still a chance of the guard being there. At least if she waited until dark it would probably be easier to sneak to it. At the very least, I might be able to learn a little more about this world.
By the time she reached Main Street, Twilight was feeling worse for wear; her hooves, unused to this body, felt especially sore. She kept reminding herself that she just had a little farther to go before reaching her destination; then she could take a well deserved break.
Seeing the stores begin to space out more on this road made Twilight feel a little relieved, as it resembled things back home. When she found the library, however, she was instantly put on guard, for a great number of metal carriages were stopped in front of the building. Her library back in Ponyville never had this many visitors, especially at one time. Even the Canterlot Royal Library, which could get busy at times, seemed relatively docile compared to the sheer number of beings she assumed were inside this building. If there were more than one of these creatures inside for each carriage outside, it could make researching more difficult because of the lack of space and privacy.
Steeling her resolve, Twilight walked through the sea of carriages and to the glass door of the library. She had to admit she was shocked when it opened on its own like magic, but the confirmation that there was magic here managed to soothed Twilight’s nerves a little. Taking in the large space, she couldn’t help but feel awed. The number of books in this building put even the Canterlot Royal Library to shame, it was so big. She could almost feel herself drooling at all the knowledge laid out before her. If she wasn’t so worried about finding a way home, she could probably spend weeks here studying without reading even half of the books.
Giddily, Twilight started looking for a card catalog to begin her search. With this many books available, there were sure to be more than a few books on the subject, no matter how rare portal magic was. Filled with renewed vigor, Twilight began sweeping through the aisles. After a few minutes of searching however, she had still seen no signs of a card catalog, but she had seen several signs over strange boxes.
Opting to instead take the slow approach, she quickly discovered that grouping was based on subject matter. After wandering for a bit, she found a section dedicated to magic, with titles such as ‘Card Tricks for Beginners’ and ‘101 Tricks to Entertain.’
The discovery left Twilight downhearted as she left the books and headed out toward the reference desk. She had been trying to avoid it, as the woman didn’t look to be in a good mood when Twilight first noticed her earlier. It had been probably hours since she first came in, checking through so many shelves and finding nothing she could really use. She had to be overlooking something, and with the lack of a card catalog there were no other options.
“Ummm, excuse me. Could you help me find something?” Twilight asked quietly, a part of her wanting to kick herself for acting like Fluttershy for a moment. Not that Twilight blamed the mare for being scared of her surroundings, since it was a fear Twilight had known ever since she woke up in this strange world.
“Did you check the card catalog?” The female asked, barely giving Twilight a passing glance. Her narrow gaze was focused solely on the newspaper in front of her.
“I couldn’t find one,” Twilight nervously admitted, looking down as the female turned toward her, quirking her brow in confusion and annoyance.
“Really? There are over a dozen computers set up solely for book searches, and you couldn’t find one?” The woman asked with a roll of her eyes.
“What’s a computer?” Twilight asked, earning an even harsher glare from the female.
“What do you want?” The female huffed out, poking a rectangular box with a bunch of smaller blocks inside it on her desk. As soon as she had done so, another box in front of her lit up. Twilight smiled as she realized it must be some kind of enchanted card catalog to save space and allow multiple ones to be set up around the library. It was brilliant!
“Books on magic,” Twilight replied as excitement began to fill her. She was so close! With this female’s help, Twilight would soon have all the books she needed.
“Look, if this is some kind of joke, I’m going to throw you out. I saw you looking at the magic books earlier,” The female said with growing anger.
“Those were stage tricks, I need books on real magic. Maybe journals by Starswirl the Bearded or Clover the Clever,” Twilight explained, though she doubted those books would be available here. At the very least there should be journals by other noteworthy mages, or even mages from this world alone.
“If you wanted fantasy, you should have just said so. They’re over there, or you can go through the double doors back there to the young adult’s section. I think they might have a few My Little Pony DVDs that just came in.” The female sighed, a little anger leaving her. “I’m sorry for being so rude, it’s just been a very rough day and I’m tired of people being too lazy to look things up themselves. My kids love Princess Night and her students, too.”
“What’s a DVD?” Twilight asked slowly, trying to figure out who this ‘Princess Night’ pony was.
“Your serious, aren’t you?” The flabbergasted female asked, looking closely at Twilight’s face.
“Look, I’m not looking for fantasy. I need books on real magic, maybe older tomes with portal theory.” Twilight tried explaining once again.
“Look, we don’t carry books on witchcraft if that’s what you are looking for. If we did have anything, it would most likely be under fantasy or religious, but we don’t carry that type of garbage as far as I know.” The female said as her kindness turning back into hostility.
“You there! Stay where you are!” A gruff male voice called suddenly from the front of the library, gaining the attention of the patrons, the female and Twilight herself.
“What’s going on?” The female asked, looking a little frightened.
“Is that the nutjob we’re looking for?” A second one asked the first. Twilight swallowed nervously as she realized the new males had similar uniforms to the guard from earlier. Their presence worried Twilight, not to mention the fact that they thought she was a nutjob.
“Why can’t you just leave me alone? I’m not looking for trouble, I just want to find some books on magic so I can figure out how to reopen the portal and go home.” Twilight said, fighting back tears. All she wanted now was to go home, and with these guards after her those chances seemed slim.
“Yeah, I’d say it’s her.” The first male said, giving Twilight a sympathetic look. “Look kid, we don’t want to hurt you. If you just come with me I promise we’ll get you all the help you need.”
The kind tone in the male’s voice made Twilight want to trust him, even if her instincts were telling her he was lying. She actually took a step towards him before hearing his partner mutter, “Yeah, like being locked up in a padded room somewhere.”
Her hopes of receiving help dashed, Twilight spun around and ran down one of the reference aisles where a female was sitting on a stool next to a stack of books, reshelving them. Twilight easily made her way through the tight space, but when the first guy came he found it a little more difficult. He managing to make it through, he was about to take off after Twilight just as the second tripped on the books and knocked them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs and books. Twilight looked back long enough to see that they were occupied before sprinting out the door. By the time the two males made it out, she was well out of sight.
For the next several hours Twilight made her was back to the statue slowly and carefully, making sure to stick to the alleys as much as possible. It wasn’t until after dark that she finally made it back to the statue, where she found it, thankfully, unguarded. Even with no signs of the guards around it, Twilight kept a close eye on her surroundings as she made her way to the surface. With a deep breath, she once again placed a hand on the surface, only to find it solid. In a panic, she checked the other three sides before letting out a frustrated yell, pounding her appendages against the surface as she screamed and cried.
Sobbing, Twilight leaned against the statue’s base, slowly sliding down and curling into a ball. She was beginning to wonder if this was even a test or trap. She didn’t want to let her imagination go in that direction, but after her treatment at the hooves of the princess, her brother, and her friends, she was wondering if this was more of a punishment. Was she tricked into coming here while the portal sealed after her? She wasn’t sure, but at the moment, all she cared to do was lay there and cry.
“I’m sorry Princess, please let me come home! PLEASE!” Twilight loudly cried until she could cry no more.