In the Princess's Grip

A Book’s Truth

“Wait, are you telling me that your brother married the current ruler of the Crystal Empire in this world?” Sombra asked, clearly confused, as if the idea was hard to grasp. “So, is he the consort king? Or how does it all work here?”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at his confusion; it was amusing to see him struggle to understand. He had been in this state since she told him about her brother in the morning. She had slept so deeply that she hadn’t even noticed when she fell asleep last night.

She regretted that this moment was perfect for getting more details about Sombra’s world, and just when she was about to reach the best part—her other self—she had to fall asleep. Why did that have to happen? Plus, they had woken up hugging each other that morning. Had she drooled on him? She hoped not!

Twilight tried to compose herself and responded with a playful smile.

“Yes, exactly. My brother married the ruler of the Crystal Empire, and yes, he is the consort king. Although, in reality, that title doesn’t grant him much power in the administration of the empire; he’s simply the husband of the ruler. He supports Cadance as much as he can, but she remains the primary leader.”

Sombra frowned, still trying to process the information.

“That’s… complicated,” he said, shaking his head. “So, in your world, real authority mainly rests with the ruler, while the consort king has a more ceremonial role.”

Sombra wasn’t particularly interested in this; he knew that becuase the situation was similar in his world, though Twilight didn’t have to know that.

What really troubled him was what had happened that morning. How had he ended up hugging her while sleeping, and even sharing a bed with her?! They weren’t even engaged!

He had never been interested in any mare before; he even believed he was incapable of love. He had planned to be a single king until the empire turned to dust. Marriage wasn’t in his plans.

But something had changed yesterday. He felt a small click inside, something he needed to hide as quickly as possible. It was completely unnecessary.

Twilight was reading the book that the king had confiscated the night before so she could rest. The book extensively covered the theory of distortion and space-time displacement, but it was only that: theory.

It contained no spells or practices that could validate what she was reading. Sometimes, she found words she didn’t understand or that seemed not to exist in any known language. Could they be in an ancient language?

She had no idea how her simple experiment had affected the space-time flow. It made no sense! But Sombra was here, and that was a fact.

Therefore, she needed to solve it. However, despite her exhaustive reading, the book offered no concrete evidence.

“Ugh…” Twilight sighed heavily, drawing Sombra’s attention.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you need me to do anything?”

Twilight looked at him, not wanting to confess that she hadn’t found anything. She had already reviewed every book in the library and didn’t want to seem defeated. She simply averted her gaze a little.

“A bit of water would be nice…” she said finally.

Sombra nodded and left the library to get the water.

Twilight gave a small smile. She never thought she’d see the day when such a prominent figure would bring her a glass of water.

“Now, what are we going to do?” she said, as she again held the book closed.

She stood up to return the book to the shelf from which she had taken it. But as she placed the book and turned around, it fell back to the floor and opened.

“But what…” Twilight approached to pick it up. When she glanced at the pages, she noticed that the letters seemed to be shifting.

“A book with magical displacement?” Twilight murmured.

Books with magical displacement were a kind of protection to safeguard high-level spells. The letters would always change and shift, preventing the correct spell from being performed. But how was the book reacting to her? Was it reacting to her magic? Or her emotions?

The letters began to form clear and readable sentences, creating understandable statements. Twilight read quickly, fearing the words would shift again.

“Interdimensional rifts… spatial magic… damage to the space-time flow…” she continued reading rapidly, her mind absorbing each word. Eureka! She found a spell to return a being to their original dimension.

Finally, although it didn’t explain how her experiment had brought King Sombra here, at least there was a way to send him back!

“Send him back…” Twilight murmured, realizing that by doing so, she would probably never see him again.

She searched the book for any pages indicating if it was possible to make frequent dimensional travels. However, the book, as if sensing her emotional imbalance, reactivated its displacement magic.

“No, no!” Twilight exclaimed, frustrated. She could no longer understand what the book was saying. She didn’t know if there was a way to allow him to return someday, even if she sent him back.

“Wait… why would I want him to come back?” Twilight murmured, realizing that her goal was to send him to his world, right? So, why was she so concerned about whether he could come back?

The sound of footsteps pulled her from her thoughts. Sombra was already in the hallway near the library door. In a state of panic, she wondered what she would say: Good news? Bad news? She looked one way and then the other, unsure of what to do. She remembered there was a small hatch behind that shelf, so she quickly hid the book and…

“Sparkle?” King Sombra asked as he entered the library and didn’t find Twilight. “Where are you? I brought your water.”

Twilight emerged from behind one of the shelves.

“S-Sombra! I was just… you know, reading…” she excused herself. Why was she doing this? She should just tell him she had found the solution to all their problems.

“Reading? Again? I told you to take a break,” King Sombra said, pouting because the alicorn never listened to him. He placed the water on the table and sat in one of the chairs.

Twilight sat in the other chair, taking the glass of water, but she really couldn’t drink it after what she had discovered. She wanted to tell him about the finding but felt that the moment had passed.