"Ok, you three. What's up with you?"

High above them stretched a carefully inscribed vaulted roof, and to their sides, reaching nearly up to the ceiling far overhead, were hundreds of extended bookcases, each easily holding half a thousand books or more. You could have easily pictured a Gondorian king of Tolkien legend striding down the warmly lit passages, rustling through ancient scrolls and deciphering forgotten scripts to increase his immortal knowledge.

Of course, this was only one of the four main Applied Literature libraries, which were all given proper names by Res but which were usually called by their numbers due to their esoteric and mostly unpronounceable fashion. And instead of a learned hall for elders and kings, these were mostly used as the world's largest public library---unprovable due to limited knowledge of lands outside Equestria, but easily assumed due to their impractically large size.

The room stretched out in all directions. A blazing fire in an ornate Coltic marble fireplace dramatically silhouetted Clear Sight's pacing figure, obscuring his expressions in the contrasting darkness.

Clear Thought, Doc, and Star Swirl sat behind him, warily eyeing his movements.

And Stygian kind of lurked in the corner at the edges of the shadows, unsure why he had been summoned as well.

"I said," repeated Clear Sight, sitting down and putting his head in his hooves, "what is up with you three?"

"What...do you mean, exactly?" replied Doc waveringly.

Clear Sight raised his head and fixed Doc a heavy stare with his now duly obscured eyes. Green ripples of light came from the air above his head, and the Klaspmente materialized. Grabbing hold of it, Clear Sight pumped it like a shotgun, creating an eerily quiet, terrifyingly precise clicking sound.

"I mean what is up with your previous mission," he said softly. "I've never got an answer so far as to what you've found yet."

Clear Thought spoke quickly. "We didn't find anything, there was nothing there--"

"DON'T LIE TO ME." From behind Clear Sight's sunglasses glowed an ethereal green fire. "I KNOW when people lie to me."

He began pacing again. "You did find something...but a sensitive subject. You don't want to tell me, for fear of revealing some dark secret...and somehow..." he turned again, "you've been...affected...by it. Something is not right."

"So..." he continued, "what is it? We don't have all day now..."

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

Finally, Star Swirl spoke up. "You would be wise not to know. Knowledge of some things and not the whole picture can lead to improper judgments." He got to his feet. "However, in this case, I believe telling the truth may be a suitable alternative to the destructive behavior you clearly are well acquainted with."

Looking at the other two of the three, he told Clear Sight what had happened. "And that is when we met an alternate version of you from another timeline. He told us to--"

"Wait," Clear Sight interrupted, "that's it?"

"What...do you mean?" replied Star Swirl, baffled.

"That's it?" Clear Sight lowered the Klaspmente. "Just an alternate timeline version of me? Thank Celestia!" He flopped down onto the floor, chuckling. "And here I thought it was something really bad!"

"Ok, nothing to worry about then." He got up again and dissipated the artificial horn. "Looks like even from other universes, I still look after myself. What'd he do?"

"Oh, well," said Doc, "He gave us all these strange green diamonds and told us to slam them directly into our foreheads--which we weren't going to do until he let slip a glimpse of the alternate reality. Then we knew he wasn't lying."

"Ohhh," breathed Clear Sight, "those diamonds would explain the...affectations. No matter," he waved them off. "Consider our discussion over. You guys," he smirked, "you could just tell me things I don't know, you know?"

"Maybe if you stopped acting like a mafia torturer we would," muttered Clear Thought as they left the room.

Clear Sight turned to Stygian. "Oh, geez, sorry Stygian. I was going to have you help me convince Star Swirl to tell me, but I guess it's too late for that now. You always get the bum end of the deal, huh?"

Stygian shrugged. "Well, you get used to it. Are we still scheduled for lunch?"

Clear Sight managed to convey the meaning of glaring sarcastically at somebody through polarized lenses. "Not if you keep pronouncing it that way."

"Oh...I think I did remember you saying something about that...sorry, sorry..." he began to carefully sound it out, "S-C-H-E-D-U-L-E. Is that better?"

Clear Sight clapped him on the back. "Much better. I always say, quarrel about the things that don't matter rather than argue about those that do. Now what you want, a...stromboli?"

They exited the room.

--<>-------what is happening to our good friends ove[actually nevermind more development here]-------<>--/

"Hey, what's all this?"

Clear Sight had just bumped into Flash Magnus, who had been flying wildly down the corridor, and toppled over Stygian.

Flash Magnus recovered. "Sorry, I was just trying to look for you and it is a maze in here," he panted, then recovered. "We searched the post office. Nothing to be found."

"That's what I expected, but better be safe than sorry," replied Clear Sight. "Any word from the others?"

Just as Magnus was about to open his mouth again, Rockhoof came barreling through the wall, screaming in terror.

"Man, that's an expensive wall, watch where you're barreling," called Clear Sight ineffectually against the wall of manly sound resonating throughout the corridor.

"WHY???" yelled Rockhoof. "WHY CAN SOMETHING LIKE THIS EXIST???"

"What are we talking about?" called Stygian.

"ROCKHOOF, WHAT IS IT?" yelled Magnus.

Rockhoof calmed down a bit and stopped screaming. "That, that, that pony...what abomination created that creature...what twisted hand of fate created her...it...I don't know..." He shuddered.

"No, uh, seriously," said Clear SIght, "what is up?"

"HOW CAN A CREATURE SO STUPID EXIST???" bawled Rockhoof.

"Ohhhhhh," went everyone else.

"You mean Derpy," said Clear Sight. "Yep, she's a freak of nature. Don't know why she exists, some malcontent probably did it, but hey," he shrugged. "she's a pony just like everyone else, she just...thinks in a different way, that's all."

"Now," he continued. "Tell me all about it--once we get somewhere better suited for barrelling and screaming. This is a public library, you know, Rockhoof."

"It is?" Rockhoof drastically lowered his voice. "My bad."

Everyone began walking down the corridor, but Clear Sight lingered for a moment, thinking carefully.

"No, I...No, he wasn't there by then...who was it?..."

Snapping his fingers, he remembered. "Cinder Banks, if i'm not mistaken. I bet...man, I need to catch up with my brother..."

He exited the room for good this time.

--<>-------aww, we're out of time to see anypony else...how tragic-------<>--/

Author's Note

ma me hee boo ga roo
eh eh eh

how's everybody doing? All y'alls 83 people looking at my stuff, you interested?
If so, like, comment, and subscribe to my fimfiction account and find me on other social media by a clever combination of hacking and social engineering!

CheersBetless

i hate myself