Stains of the Spirit

Spilling a well of black ink onto the floor as she snatched up the parchment it had been resting on top of the newest princess of Equestria let out a brief sigh.  She lit her horn with a magenta glow which quickly surrounded the ink before lifting it up in a single globule and depositing it back into the glass container.  Eyeing the small black stain that remained on the library’s floor she lit her horn with magic once more.  Targeting the offending darkness the purple mare fired off a single bright beam.  A white glowing spot appeared on the floor where the ink had been.

“Hey Twilight, what spell is that?”  Asked the purple baby dragon who was currently walking down the steps from the second story with a bulging pack that was his equal in size carried on his back.

Still fixing her attention on the glowing spot which was shrinking rapidly Twilight responded.  “A water purifying spell.” The circle shrunk to the size of a pinprick then winked out of existence as the dragon closed the distance.  Where the circle had been was now just a small ink stain.  “Oh well I guess, worth a shot anyway.”  Turning about towards the kitchenette and igniting her horn for a third time a roll of paper towels floats towards the pair.  One sheet rips from the rest and with her hoof to apply pressure the mare begins to wipe at her mess.  “All right Spike, checklist time.”

Dropping his bag to the ground the little dragon begins to dig through its contents for a time before emerging with a rolled up parchment and a quill.  Stretching himself to reach up to the recently replaced ink well and dabbing the quill into its contents he unfurls the parchment and clears his throat.  “Remember to check the list?”

Tossing it into the air only to zap it away with magic a second later she grins at the mostly clean floor before turning to the dragon and giving him a happy.  “Check.”

Spike flicks his quill once then reads down.  “Bags packed?”

With hardly a thought a set of saddlebags only a shade darker than her purple coat float up to land on the princesses’ back.  “Check.”

“Library cleaned?” He continued.

Twilight ran a hoof across the nearest bookshelf.  Holding it up she found it covered in a layer of dust.  She raised an eyebrow showing it to spike who gave her a nervous chuckle as he shrank behind the list slightly.  “Good enough for now.”

Breathing a sigh in relief Spike flicked the quill.  “Friends ready to go?”

The Library’s door banged open and a bouncing pink pony followed by four other walked in single file.  Each was wearing at least a scarf while a white unicorn mare only exposed her face and curled violet tail with her full winter ensemble.  All of the mares had a light dusting of snow on them. An orange mare in the rear pulled closed the door cutting off the chill that was starting to enter the library.  Within a single leap the blue eyed lead mare shouted “Check, Hi Twilight, Hi Spike!”  Before landing behind the Baby dragon that was already marking the appropriate square.  Before Spike could continue with the list the Mare cut him off reading over his shoulder in her bubbly voice.  “Seven train tickets to Altai?”

Giving a quick smile and a wave to her friends before refocusing at the task at hand, twilight floated out a cluster of tickets from the nearby desk and passed one out to each pony in turn.  “Thanks for volunteering to come with girls.  I don’t think I could do this on my own, at least not yet.”

Pulling down her hood and shaking out a mane that was just as well cared for as her tail the white unicorn beamed.  “Oh think nothing of it darling.  I believe I speak for the rest of us when I say a trip to the Griffin capitol sounds rather exciting.”  Alongside her were a few nodding heads.

The final seventh ticket came close to the dragon who reached out a claw to grab it, only to grasp air as it was pulled away and tucked into one of the Princess’ saddle bags.  “Twilight, what gives?”

“Sorry spike but, I want to keep the seven tickets from becoming six tickets before we arrive at the station.” Twilight responded giving him an apologetic grin and then glancing away from his scowl.  “Check.”

Spike shrugged then read the next line on the scroll after checking in another box.  “Pack the Crown?”

For a brief moment a magenta glow lifted a golden crown with an amethyst starburst sitting in its center from one of Twilight’s bags before setting back down. “Check”

Making an “uh-huh” noise in his throat as he flourished the quill once more he raised both eye brows.  “Trick every pony into showing up an hour early in case something goes wrong?”

The Pegasus in the group sporting a rainbow mane checked her tickets time and smirked.  “Check, seriously Twilight?”

“Sorry girls, the train only comes once every two-weeks for Altai and I couldn’t take any chances.”  A faint blush came to her cheeks as she met the miffed looks of her friends.  “That’s everything, right Spike?”

“We’ve only got one thing left.” Reading over the final item on the list spike lowers the parchment frowning.  “Hey Twilight, who’d you get to watch the library while we’re gone?”

A strand of hair in Twilight’s usually strait mane shot up and one of her right wing shot open while her left eye twitched.  “Uh… no pony” Pupil’s contracting Twilight started to hyperventilate.  One pony with a cyan coat and a rainbow mane took initiative and immediately slapped the princess across the face.  Somewhat calmed Twilight put a hoof to her chest breathing in then flexed the same hoof out exhaling.  “Thanks for that Rainbow Dash.”

Taking a step back and shrugging Rainbow gave her friend a toothy grin.  “Anytime, why are you so panicky all of the sudden?  I thought you got over that sort of thing when we we’re showing that tourist around the Crystal Empire.”

Rubbing her cheek as the sting finally arrives Twilight explains.  “Sorry it’s just that this month is one of the busiest here at the Library.  It’s one of the only times any pony in time actually has time to read because of the weather.  I don’t know anyone who could look after it full time in such short notice.”  Even calm a groan escapes her.  “What am I going to do?  If only there was some pony in town who knew every pony else in the area.”  Suddenly Twilight perked up and looked to the pink pony that had rolled up her scarf and was on her back playing with it like a cat on one side of the room.  “Pinkie Pie, do you-?”

Rolling forward onto her hooves and simultaneously managing to wrap her scarf around her neck Pinkie tilter her head.  “Sorry Twilight, there was only four ponies in town who were free.  Ones helping out at Sweet Apple Acres, one is watching Flutter Shy’s animals, one is managing the weather, and the last one is taking over for me at Sugar Cube Corner.”

All of Twilight’s friends except for the white unicorn and the pink earth pony did their best not to make eye contact in the following seconds.  Grasping at straws the Twilight asked the unicorn mare.  “What are you doing about the Boutique, Rarity?”

“I’m closing it down for the week and Sweetie Bell’s staying with Apple Bloom this week.”  Turning to the Orange mare she smiled sweetly.  “Thank you again Apple Jack, you’ve really saved me a lot of trouble.”

“Ain’t me you should be thanking, I just hope Big Mac and Granny can handle those fillies.”  Apple Jack says to Rarity and they both share a moment of worry for the two older ponies as sweat started to spot their brows.

Deciding to end their moment prematurely Twilight broke in.  “Does any pony have any ideas-“Pinkie gave an ooh and danced on her hind legs excitedly. “-That can be done in less than an hour?”  Then the Pink pony’s expression sank and her expression became thoughtful.

Eyes widening the only non-pony in the room suddenly brightened.  Hopping on to Pinkie’s back Spike shot a claw in the air.  “I got it, I got it.  I can watch the library!”  he started jumping up and down at the sheer brilliance of it.

Confused his caretaker spoke up.  “Spike, haven’t you been begging to come with since Princess Celestia asked me to go?”  at a loss the mare was rubbing her hoof against her temple feeling as though she was missing a piece to her assistant’s logic.

“No not me ‘me’ I’m talking about a mirror me!”  He leapt off of pink and ran over to an apparently random bookshelf.

Walking behind him Twilight says.  “I don’t follow. What are you talking about?”

A second later she understood as Spike opened a secret compartment and pulled out a dusty tome that she’d only seen once before.  “Oh no, no, no Spike.  The Mirror Pool is dangerous don’t you remember the last time?”

Jumping back into the conversation Pinkie Pie bounced up and down.  “Ooh I do, I used the Mirror Pool to make another one of me!  Then the two of us made two more and then the other Pinkies made more Pinkies until there was a whole herd!  That’s when they went around destroying everything! That was exhausting!”

Apple Jack looking like she had a bad taste in her mouth groans “Don’t remind me.”

Putting the book down then holding his claws out in a placating manner Spike says.  “Hold on a minute, if we just make a single copy of me and then reseal the hole up we can just blast the clone when we get back and he will already have some idea of how to run the library.  It’s perfect.”

Scratching her mane Twilight looks to her friends.  “I don’t know…”

“You know the first duplicate of me was kind of smart.  I mean Flutter Shy couldn’t even tell the difference.”  On pinkie’s words Flutter Shy slowly hid behind Rarity.

Perking up Twilight gave everyone in the room a winning smile “You know what spike that is a good plan.”  Smiling back the baby dragon acting like he was brushing dirt off his chest.  “I just need to make a small adjustment.  I’ll meet you all at the train station!”  In a flash of light Twilight disappeared from the room.

Spreading his arms Spike asks no pony in particular.  “How can you forget the most important part of the plan?”

Emerging into thin air with a flash of light Twilight landed just outside of Ponyville standing in an inch of snow.  The landscape all about is covered in in a layer of snow and alongside every road are higher piles where a plow had pushed them aside earlier.  Shivering as the cold sank into her coat she started to trot down a path leading into some of the nearby woods.  Trying hard to remember the way the mare kept her eyes out for familiar landmarks from the time Pinkie had shown her to the pool.

Eventually the lone Princess found herself off of any trail that was taken by more than the occasional wild animal or Pinkie pie.  Starting to think she had taken a wrong turn she flinched back as she accidently brushed against some bramble that was buried beneath a coating of snow.  “ouch, guess I’m not as lost as I thought, now let’s see where the brambles grow thickest…” pushing her way through the especially prickly part of the forest where the snow couldn’t even reach through the thick branches and bramble above Twilight pulled herself out into a small clearing with several feathers jutting out of place and a good many scratches across her bags.

Ahead she saw in the center of the clearing, where a large ray of sunlight managed to escape from the canopy above, a familiar large boulder with only snow covering one side of its bulk.  “Wrapping it in magic Twilight lift the rock strait into the air and then set it aside.  In front of her was a hole in the ground which she had sealed away not long before becoming a Princess.  Bringing a glow to her horn she slid down into the darkness with her wings spread to slow her decent.  Climbing up and down the tunnel Twilight eventually enters into an open cavern with a single glowing pool at its center.  A single leak from one wall flowed into the glistening and reflective water.  Strange fern like plants with glowing ends sprouted alongside mushrooms in the mossier parts of the floor and along the walls granting clear visibility.  Every step she makes forward sending a slight echoing clip clop she approaches.

Standing at the pool’s side Twilight looks into the waters and sees her mirror looking right back at her.  “Alright now onto the incantation… why am I talking to myself?”  Taking a deep breath and concentrating she begins.  “And into her own reflection she stared yearning for one whose appearance she shared and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly bared.”  Her horn’s glow intensified while she wasn’t focused on her light spell causing her to glance away from her reflection up to the offending appendage which immediately calmed.  Tilting her head which she immediately shakes slightly while frown she says.  “Wait, that wasn’t it.  It was-“At that very moment however she backed away from the pool as a purple unicorn mare with a darker mane that had twin streaks of another shade of purple and pink running together down the center emerged.

Looking over her mirror image Twilight found two missing features.  For one the mare didn’t have a cutie mark.  The second missing feature was a set of wings which the original had only recently acquired.  Suddenly an unfamiliar voice broke Twilight out of her inspection.  “umm… hi.”  The mare gave a little wave.  Her voice was similar to Twilights but, slightly deeper with a slight rasp.

Twilight shrugged “Well at least ponies can tell us apart.  I’m Twilight Sparkle and I need you to watch over the Ponyville library for one week while I’m off on business.”  Twilight turns and starts for the entrance her near duplicate following close behind.  “You’ll need to keep the place tidy and keep track of which books are borrowed and which are returned.”  As the Princess crested the first hurdle on the journey back to the surface she saw her close mirror failing to find traction and slipping back with a panicked look on her face.  Lifting the being up to float beside her as she continues navigating her way out she continues.  “Make sure you keep the books sorted properly in alphabetical order by book title and not by author.”

With a few awkward flaps of her wings Twilight flies out of the last section of the tunnel and into the clearing.  Floating besides her for only a few moments while wrapped in a magenta aura the clone is released when lowered to the ground.  Distracted by the feeling of weightlessness the clone lands on her belly legs splayed out.  “Ouch.”

Tapping on the stone, which had previously clogged the entrance earlier, with her hoof Twilight called the now slightly worn copy’s attention to her.  “Hey do you think you could levitate this rock?”

Walking up close to the mare and the rock the wingless pony looked between the expectant looking mare and the rock for a few moments before pointing her horn at the massive object.  Concentrating hard while scrunching up her eyebrows glared at the rock.   Then that failing she lowered her eyes and made grunts of efforts as she focused on the stone.  Nothing happened and she physically moves to the rock and tries to lift it face turning red.  Backing away painting with her tongue out she turns to the winged mare.  “It won’t budge.”

Smiling at the unicorn with mirth Twilight lit up her horn and levitates the boulder into place over the tunnel.  “Good, okay, you’ll also need to let Owlishes out every night and remember to let him back in, normally I’d leave the window open but, it’s way too cold for that these days.”  Opening a path through the bramble with a glow of magenta light the mare trots ahead with her other close behind.

As if summoned by her words a chill breeze trails across the new mare’s fur causing her to shiver.  “What’s an Owlishes?”  Tail snagging painfully on a thorn the mare moves closer to Twilight for protection.

“He’s my pet owl and number two assistant.  He doesn’t need much care and can hunt for himself.”  Responds Twilight as she ducks underneath a branch that was too tangled to move out of her path.  “You can stay in my bed in the second story and there should be enough food to last you the week in the kitchen, which is if you even need to eat.”  Paying attention to the thorns at her sides the following mare bumps her head against the interloping branch and rubs her head with a hoof as she hurries to catch up to the oblivious lead mare.  “The late fine for books is one bit for every week extra the pony kept it and I think that’s it, any questions?”

Emerging from the bramble patch Twilight met the other’s eyes to make sure she had been paying attention.  Looking away as soon as their glances met the Mirror pool’s creation asks “What are you leaving for?”

Touching the faux Twilight with one hoof they both vanish in a flash of light and immediately reappear on a snow covered path where the leafless trees are fewer and far apart.  “I’m off to officially greet the Griffins as a princess of Equestria and strengthen diplomatic bonds, but you don’t need to worry about that.” The last part came out sounding acutely like an accusation.

Blinking quickly as she took in her new setting the unicorn suddenly looked up mouth dropping open.  “-Princess?” suddenly a loud whistle could be heard blowing somewhere off in the distance.

Wings shooting open Twilight says “Oh no, that’s the train.” The quickly speaks as her horn flares up with light.  “Just follow this path into town, the Library is in a huge tree, you can’t miss it!”  Then in a flash she was gone leaving the unicorn alone in the light snowfall.

Quietly to the now empty air the mare whispers. “What’s your name princess?”  Another chill breeze blows by carrying with at flakes of white snow.  Shivering the mare starts down the path by herself, looking to both sides of it with wide eyes as she takes in the gently sloping landscape of snow covered shrubs and trees that is occasional disturbed by the tracks of small animals.

It didn’t take long for the peaceful scenery to no longer be enough to distract the Unicorn’s attention.  “How long will it take to reach the library from here?” she thought not wanting to disturb the serene world around her with her contemplations.  “I really wish the Princess would have dropped me off closer.  I wonder how she picked me up earlier with her horn, that was kind of fun.  It was just like how she caused that heavy rock to move.  She must be really magical, that must be how she brought me out here.”  Then halting in place and glancing up into the sky she spoke out loud.  “Who am I?”

Regretting the lack of movement as a shiver ran through her whole body a second later she continued on now at a trot returning to her thoughts.  “I guess I’m some sort of librarian if I’m going to be watching the library for a week.  What’s a week though?  Oh, its seven days!  How did I know that?”  The spot on her head that had been acquainted well with a branch only a short time ago throbbed as the mare started to make herself anxious.  “Ouch, oh well, I guess I better just do as the princess says for now, I can just ask her when she returns from the Griffins, whatever they are.  Maybe I shouldn’t, is it okay for me to ask the Princess if she doesn’t ask me to ask her?”

Starting to sigh as she looked up from the path in front of her she instead gasped as she found several building surrounding her.  All of them had thatched roofs and little decorations covered each door.  All of them looked to be at least two stories tall with balconies built into many.  A grin grew on her face as she walked forward into the town as she saw the occasional pony walking through the town.  A Pegasus with a hay colored mane, a grey coat, and two yellow eyes looking in different directions gave a wave a she passed along the street.

Stopping and smiling nervously the purple unicorn mirrored the motion and watched the pony pass by before moving on with a slight bounce in her step.  A few more ponies in the street gave her a smile and a wave if she made eye contact with them as she continued.  The only ponies who didn’t were the ones who were shivering and keeping their faces down.  One brown stallion with a darker brown mane and a picture of an hourglass on his flank stopped to wave with a grin at first which turned into a frown as they started to pass each other on the street.

He halts and the mare responds in kind as he asks with a questioning quaver in his voice.  “Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

Looking at him with in confusion for a few moments she brightens up as a look of comprehension comes across her.  “Yes, she sent me look after the library.  Can you point me in the right direction?”

Hearing the mare’s voice and taking in her wingless back he gave her a small grin.  “Sure thing my good mare, just follow me and I’ll get you there in a jiff.”  Turning about on the snow covered cobbles of the street he looks back over his shoulder to make sure the mare is following.  “Say, by chance would you be related to her majesty miss sparkle, because I’d say the resemblance is quite stunning myself.”

Following close behind the mare gave him a puzzled look before turning her attention to the frosted glass of a passing establishment.  She immediately spun about looking for the familiar figure she saw reflected.  Slipping on the snow the mare found out the hard way that the amount of snow which had fallen so far wasn’t nearly enough to make any noticeable difference between crashing onto it or the stone it covered.

The brown stallion was standing over her almost immediately reaching out a front hoof.  “Ouch, just watching that made me hurt a tad.  You alright miss?”

Feeling a sting from the impact still the unicorn checks around for the princess once before taking the earth ponies hoof and pulling herself up.  “Fine-“she hisses as she puts weight on her left hind leg.  “-except for that, my leg hurts, oh wow my leg hurts.”  On only three hooves she looked back at it but, could see nothing wrong with it.

“Can’t have that in this weather now can we, here have yourself a lean and we’ll get you to the old Oak’s Library why don’t we.”  Giving her a companionable grin he moved up close to her side so that they barely touched on the side of her bad leg.

She gave him a smile as she leant against him slightly, feeling his fur as one of the first warm things she’d come in contact with… ever!  Steading herself and leaning more into him her memory kicks in and her attention switches to her opposite side as she looks into the reflected panel of glass once more.  Seeing through it she saw two ponies lying on the floor close together on a rug just before a smoldering fireplace.  More important to herself however she was also seeing the princess’s face again looking right back at her.  Tilting her head the princess followed suit, noticing the brown stallion the purple pony is leaning on she blinks in confusion raising a hoof close to her face as the reflection follows leaning more weight against the stallion.

Apparently chuckling at the mare’s antics the brown stallion’s grab steals back her attention.  “Haven’t you ever seen your reflection before or are you so very taken with that couple in there that your mind’s been scrambled up?”

“Sorry, I just didn’t realize how much I looked like the Princess.” Not quite knowing what to do with her raised hoof she rubs the back of her head as a blush takes to her cheeks.

“If you said you were her twin I’d believe you miss… Silly me, we never did exchange names.  Call me Time Turner or if you would prefer you can just keep it short and call me Turner.”  Smiling at her he tilts his head but, only receives silence in return.  “Well come on then, no need to be shy with me what’s yours?”

“Oh, umm…”   As a strong breeze ruffles both their manes the pair starts to move forward at an easy pace.   “I don’t know what my name is.  So, I figure you can just call me you for now if you want.”

“That’s no good.  You didn’t manage to hit your head on anything did you?  Cause I know a right quick route to the hospital if you did.”  As Time Turner spoke the pair was walking through the town square.  The Mares response was to shake her head slightly.  “Okay well, let’s see... What is the first thing you can remember?”

Not hesitating for a moment she responds “Seeing the princess and climbing out of a pool of water about half an hour ago.”

“Huh, well that’s strange, you sure remember anything before that?”   Becoming accustomed to walking with the mare leaning on him and her doing the same they were approaching a more casual walking pace.

“Positive, how can I remember anything before then if I didn’t exist before that time?”  She asks stumbling slightly as she accidently puts some weight onto her bad leg.

Letting her adjust before they keep walking Time Turner raises both his eye brows to the sky.  “Are you trying to tell me you’re less than an hour old, came out of a pool of water, somehow managed to not be soaking wet, and were ordered by the newest princess of Equestria to watch over her library while she’s out of town?”  During his inquiry they arrived outside a massive tree with a door, several windows, and a balcony in it. As the stallion opens the door and holds it open for her against another gust of chilled wind; the mare gives a curt nod before walking into the darkened interior.

In the interior as if sensing the presence of the ponies several lights dispersed throughout flicker to life revealing a spacious carved out interior that all appears neat and organized.  Full book shelves carved into the walls surround the two as Time Turner closes the libraries door behind himself.  Off to the side is a small section that looks like a small kitchen with a blue teakettle left on a turned off stove.  On the ceiling is etched a massive yellow sun that is almost as large as the central room itself.  A long stair case leads up and away into some unknown section of the tree.  The mare is so fixated on her new surroundings that she flinches when Time Turner speaks.

“That’s just fantastic then isn’t it, well I’m not going to be calling you ‘you’ that just seems improper, so what do you want to be called?”  His wide expectant smile reaches all the way to his eyes as he waits.

“I don’t know, I haven’t really had much time to think of one.”  Looking around her surroundings a brilliant idea strikes her.  “I know, how about Librarian” Librarian grins at Time Turner proud of her knew identity.

Blowing a short raspberry he shakes his head.  “Rubbish, come on we can do better than that.”  Librarian’s smile dies on her face dropping into a blushing frown as Turner taps his gin with a hoof.  “How do you feel about Purple, Purpley, Pumpernickel…”   Noticing the mare’s look he, cuts himself off.  “Besides maybe Princess Twilight Sparkle herself I’d think that you ought to know yourself better than anyone, come on and put that brain to use, you only get one name after all.”

She sits down hard face screwing up in concentration “Alright, in that case I’m…”  A clock in the shape of a birdhouse mounted on the wall tick tocks as its pendulum swings. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.  A slow smile comes to her face as she meets Time Turners bright eyes.  A pleasant tingle travels down her back as she speaks “I think I want to be called- I mean, hello my name is Shiver.”