Seeing Through The Crack

And the sun rose again, like it did every single day, filling every corner of the land with light and each of it's inhabitants with warmth.

A particular library in middle of Ponyville was not an exception. As the sunlight filed the place, the stange air from yesterday seemed to banish like mist.

Twilight opened her eyes, and closed again. She was yet to wake up completely and could have slept more, but remembering one simple fact was enough to spring her body and mind to an upright position.

-She was having a guest under stairs, with the floor with pretty much nothing remotely useful as blanket, or as she could remember that there isn't any and he passed all the night on it when she was sleeping in her bed completely oblivious about it-

Twilight, now panicked about how she treated her guest. ran to the first floor, and after almost tripping in the stairs multiple times she came to the main area of library.

The first floor of the library was dark, as every curtains were closed and didn't let the sunlight enter. And yet she could see the library

And there was Grass Patch, surrounded by opened and closed books, papers with graphs and number; which most of them was crumpled or torn apart, and a strange disk that the sphere of light floated over, dimly illuminating the area.

The stallion was sitting over the floor, looking down a note; one of the few that was not ruined somehow, not moving or making any kind of sound that is to be expected in a living creature.

"Er... Grass Patch?" asked Twilight, worrying like anyone who see someone like in that state.

Grass Patch slowly raised his head, and turned it to the lilac unicorn, moving like a rusted gear that needed greasing, and talked in a low, almost whispering voice.

"Oh, did I woke you up, Miss Twilight?" he sounded drain.

"No, no. Is already morning, Grass Patch. What happened?"

"Wha... Is already morning? No no no no. I didn't even started with the things..." said Grass Patch, approaching the nearby window, in a slightly higher volume.

As the brown unicorn, to be sure to check if his host was telling him the truth, opened the curtains wide.

As a knight charging to the door of the dark lord's castle, or to a evil creatures lair, the brilliant sunlight entered the unicorn's eyes without hesitation. Like a evil creature that has been stabbed in the eye by a spear, Grass Patch covered his eyes and screamed.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhh! My eyes! the glasses made it even worse!" Grass Patch screamed in genuine pain, throwing his glasses off and  rolling in the floor.

The scream was more that enough to startle Twilight and scare her yet to awake assistant, which came running down to the first floor.

"What happe... Grass Patch?" asked Spike, approaching the unicorn on the floor.

"He's okay Spike. His eyes were strained and the sunlight didn't helped at all. Can you please prepare the breakfast? I will go help you as soon as I clean up this." said Twilight, starting to arrange the books in order on the shelves.

As Spike went to the kitchen, Grass Patch silently sat up, now without the big glasses off.

"Got better?" asked Twilight, finished cleaning up the books.

"I think so Miss Twilight. Sorry about the whole mess, I will clean up this" said Grass Patch with a burned out voice.

As the voice slightly worried Twilight, she turned her head to see the stallion's face, which it got worse.

"Uh, Grass Patch?"

"Ma'am"

"Are you okay?" asked Twilight now worried about her guest's current state.

The face of the stallion looked like he didn't slept for few days, had bags under his eyes which was very similar to Twilight's certain friend when she had too many order in her hoof. But that wasn't the worst part.

Was his eyes that worried Twilight the most. Like a heavily scratched metal, the eyes of the stallion was lusterless, it looked more like the eyes of a cheap plastic doll instead of eyes of a living creature.

Feeling the gaze on his eyes, Grass Patch asked:

"It looks that bad?"

"...Yes."

"Heh." The brown stallion smirked weakly.

"Well, everyone would be tired if they didn't slept for about a week..." Grass Patch  whispered to himself.

It didn't go unnoticed by Twilight. As it was a bit loud to be actually a whisper.

"What?!" Twilight asked in high volume.

"Did you heard that...? Did I thought in loud again?" asked Grass Patch, tightly shutting his eyes, like somepony about to get hit.

"A WEEK!?, I have been two or three days but a week?"

"Yes, you did. And yes I did" the stallion whispered again.

Now deeply worried, Twilight went closer to Grass  Patch, this startled a little bit the sleep deprived stallion.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am. You really don't need to worry about it." Grass Patch answered with a somewhat forced smile.

Now Twilight wasn't sure if this stallion was the same one form yesterday. It felt she was facing a completely different pony even she knew him for not even a complete day.

And then:

"Um, sorry to interrupt both of you, but the breakfast is ready" It was Spike.

"Really? shall we go, Miss Twilight?" said Grass Patch, suddenly changing the tone of voice to the same as yesterday's

"Ye, yes..." Twilight said unwittingly

As both of them headed to the kitchen, a nice scent emanated from it. The stallion took a deep breath and:

"Wow, I don't know what is but I'm already loving it." Grass Patch said cheerfully, like he wanted to take out from his mind the happening.

"Just some waffles. By the way Twilight, the fridge is empty."

Spike said plainly.

"Really? I went to the market just a few.. Oh, right. I didn't bought much, didn't expected a guest..."

"Sorry about that, Miss Twilight." Grass Patch apologized playfully

"Don't worry about it, it was almost empty before you came" Answered Twilight, sitting on the chair.

As both of her assistant and her guest sat around table, the brown stallion, after grabbing the fork with his right hoof, said:

"Well, I humbly receive!" Grass Patch said with enthusiasm, as he tried to use the fork to get one of the waffles.

*THUD*

"Huh?"

The fork spectacularly missed the waffles, and landed on the side of the plate and somehow it managed to lodge deeply to the wooden table.

The vibration alone was enough to startle the lilac unicorn and her assistant

Grass Patch, feeling that his fork was not in the waffles, moved his face closer, squinting his eyes which widened after seeing the fork.

"Whoa... Miss Twilight, may I ask you something"? Grass Patch asked, observing the lodged fork.

"Go ahead..." Twilight answered, observing the fork too.

"Is this fork enchanted?"

"No"

"Is it made with some special metal or something?"

"No"

"Then, how it managed to lodge THAT deeply?'

"Was you who lodged that on the table, you know." said Spike

"True, Mister Spike..." as Grass Patch moved his foreleg to remove the fork.

It came out as easy as it entered. The fork was slightly warped.

"I will pay for this... and please excuse me, I need to find my glasses." Grass Patch rapidly got up and went to the main area, like trying to evade the questioning.

Twilight silently looked at the fork. It was a normal, stainless steel fork. Most of the population in Ponyville used that. Twilight used a simple telekinesis spell to examine it in closer distance, and as soon as her magic touched the fork, she could feel something, something familiar, something that she hoped to never feel it again.

It was the same sensation that she felt when she touched Grass Patch.

It was in much lesser degree than the last time, but it was enough to make the unicorn shiver faintly.

"Something wrong?" Spike asked, noticing the change of expression in the lilac unicorn's face.

"N, no. I'm fine." answered Twilight, managing to not scream this time.

Twilight quietly put the fork in to the sink. She would deal with it later, yes. Later. For now she felt the need of forgetting it.

After few minutes, Grass Patch returned to the table, now with glasses on.

"Sorry to make you wait, Miss Twilight." Grass Patch apologized

"Well, now let's continue eating, shall we?"

"Yep" Spike answered

The breakfast was enjoyable, and after chatting about different topics with Grass Patch, Twilight managed to forget about what  happened moments ago. It was not long before the last piece of waffle disappeared from the table.

"Well, that was enough. I congratulate you Mister Spike, for this excellent cooking that brought to us." said Grass Patch.

"Hey, come on. You're saying like it was made from a royal kitchen or something..." said Spike, little bit embarrassed by the complement.

"No, really. I have been few days in the castle and I think you do better than most of chefs in there. Hey...are you blushing? Yes, Yes you are. You don't need to be embarrassed, I'm telling the fact." said Grass Patch, smiling wider and wider each word.

Looking her assistant trying to cover his face, A soft smile appeared in Twilight's face. It was a warm morning.

"Well, let's get up. Shall we?" said Grass Patch

"Sure" said Twilight, getting up.

"Aaaand, I will do the dishes. Yep." Grass Patch said, swiftly taking  the dishes with his hoof without any difficulty. As he had done that many times.

"Huh?"

"No, no. I will do it" Twilight said, trying to take the dishes from Grass Patch,

"Nope, not happening." said Grass Patch, swiftly evading

"Grass Patch..."

"I will do the dishes. Now please return to the living room, or should I say the main library...? Anyways, please return, I will not take long."

"But..."

"Mister Spike, please take Miss Twilight to the main area."

As Grass Patch saw that Spike took the lilac unicorn outside of the kitchen, the stallion clashed his right foreleg to his face.

(Good grief, Grass Patch. you somehow managed to screw up again. 'I will wash the dishes!'. Yeah sure you will. I'm very sure that you will do fine with only one hoof. Wait... I can do that...)

The stallion was quick to act, he grabbed the sponge and smudged with liquid soap.

"Let's start"

The washing process was quick, quicker than he thought to be. It wasn't long before all the dishes were cleaned and dried.

"Well, Grass Patch. You managed to get out from the mess, I will give you a cookie after this." the stallion mumbled to himself as he lightly patted his head few times.

As the stallion was praising himself, he found something very strange about the ambient.

Deadly silence. He could hear nothing. Nothing from his host or her assistant. Like if Grass Patch was alone in the place.

This indeed worried Grass Patch, as he could swear that he was hearing at least, mutters from the main area before he started washing the dishes.

Grass Patch carefully lowered his glasses to  his neck, as the rubber band made it not to fall. His face became serious, his movement slow and careful as he approached the kitchen's door. As Grass Patch was getting closer, he asked loudly.

"Ma'am?, Miss Twilight?, Miss Twili- Oh..."

Twilight was there, sitting down in the floor in the half-cleaned area of the library, reading some of the papers that were left before breakfast. It was one of the few notes that was not damaged by him.

The stallion went to the side of Twilight  silently, even if he was making some kind of noise through the way, Twilight wouldn't have noticed.

"So... It is that interesting?" said Grass Patch,

"..." there was no response

"Miss Twilight?"

"..." still, no response from the lilac unicorn

"Miss?"

"..."

"Ma'am, ma'am?" Grass Patch asked for the third time, this time shaking her with his left foreleg.

"Huh?  Oh, Grass Patch." Twilight finally responded, tuning her head towards the stallion.

"Is that interesting, Miss Twilight? Well, I think is interesting enough to you to to be completely lost to it. " Grass Patch said with a smile.

"...Yes. I'm sorry about it, I should asked you first...." answered Twilight, slightly embarrassed.

"Is okay. I needed to share with you anyways."

Grass Patch collected the papers scattered around the floor, only using his left hoof to gather them in one stack.

After gathering the rest of papers, the stallion sat in front of still standing unicorn and asked.

"First of all, you don't need to be ashamed about looking the papers, I was going to show anyways. And please sit down."

"Okay then." Twilight silently sat down in the floor.

"So! Err, by the way, where is  Mister Spike?"

"Upstairs."

"Well then. You need to promise me just one thing and nothing else before I start to explain."

"What do you need?"

The expression from the stallion's face got much serious.

"Any information that you are about to hear. They are... dangerous, to say at least. What I need, is that you have to keep in utmost secrecy and to only reveal it when is absolutely necessary."

Grass Patch said with a seriousness not seen before. The information that about to see seemed very important, and dangerous at the same time.

"Is that dangerous the information?" Twilight said, now discouraged about learning the information, not even sure if she should keep asking questions.

"Yes, if is used by wrong groups."

"Groups? What groups?"

"Before I tell you any information about this, I need your promise, Miss."

"I... Yes. I promise to not reveal any of the information, red or heard from now on until is absolutely to do the contrary."

The visible part of face of the stallion changed to a silly expression of surprise.

"All that vocabulary, I simply needed a 'yes' to confirm. But that will do too."

Then, Grass Patch collected the remaining untouched pages scattered around the floor. Twilight didn't had to wait much before The stallion passed the documents.

Documents were notebook sized, filled with the information:

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=

Designation: Oleander

ID:122C-S

Ref:S670

Location: (Doc.1)

Avem:1420.6 Mem:1735.3

Sz:134-40/52.8-15.7

13/10 Rt 1 (Doc.2)

14/10 Disp: Scissor-Off Key

15/10-1 Rt 2 (Doc.3)/Data.

15/10-2 Q1

16/10 Obv

17/10 Disp: Violet-Old Pot-Clicker

18/10 Eg -!Scissor! *Clicker* 3/1/

19/10 Disp: Tater Sack-Nimbus

20/10 Eg 2/0

21/10 Obv

22/10-1 Eg *Off Key* *Nimbus* 3/0

22/10-2 -EXDN-SG

22/10-3 Ci/01

22/10-4 Ci/03 Eg /1/0/

23/10 Ci/04 Eg /0/1/

24/10 Ci/03

25/10 Ci/07 Eg /0/2/ !Old Pot!

26/10 Disp: S1

27/10 S1

28/10-1 [AS] /Off Key-Nimbus-Clicker-Violet/

28/10-2 Disp:Toy Spear-Blade Blank-Mild Green-Raindance

=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

"Err... What is this supposed be?" Twilight asked. Now confused.

"A report. The summary report about one particular operation area to be precise."

"Hmm..." The lilac mare concentrated again.

A moment of silence passed by. If the concentration could be touched and gaze could harm, the place would be flooded by the sheer amount of concentration, and the paper would have been shredded to pieces and burnt to ashes at the same time.

"I think I should start to explain before you make a hole in the report paper, Ma'am."

"Yes please." The stallion managed to capture the attention of Twilight.

"Well, let's start then; First, designation. It is a word used to name the place without actually naming it. Err,  what was the word...?"

"Code-names?"

"Yes! code-names, thank you. The designation words are mundane enough to not raise suspicion or any unnecessary curiosity. Any questions?"

"Why Oleander?"

"Huh? Oh, I didn't wrote them"

"Them?"

"There is other reports like this, but I didn't brought them,but I noticed that other reports have similar designation codes as well, like: nightshade, fool's trumpet, hemlock, firefly's grave."

"All of them are poisonous plants, aren't they?"

"Correct"

"Why?"

"Because the places that investigators visit to make this report, are dangerous, to say at least. Even more dangerous than the plants named after them. Actually, I think the plants are less dangerous than this things. The plants don't move erratically from one place to another, or taints everything that is living that comes nearby," The stallion said in one go, not even pausing to breath.

"Huh? What moves around? and 'tainting'? What are you talking about?"

"Yeah... I need to explain that too. Let's start with the 'moving' part"

The most part of the sentence was for himself.

"The moving things is called 'Fracture' and 'tainting' is the phenomena that the Fracture brings with it.

"What is this 'Fracture'?" Twilight asked.

"Fracture. Is a literal crack in the space. It can appear anywhere you can imagine. Most of them starts as a small distortion that is barely noticeable but it will quickly get worse. A lot worse."

"What do you mean 'is a literal crack'?"

"Hmmm, How can I explain it... Imagine a picture, and put a glass pane in front of it and you break the glass. The cracks and the parts where the glass broke off is pitch black but the picture itself looks completely normal. That wasn't a very good explanation was it?" Grass Patch asked, but the mare did not answered

Twilight silently thought, of how can the reality break off like a piece of glass.

"I know that it sounds crazy, but for now I will continue to explain, and you can interrupt me anytime if you have a question. Shall I? By the way, others researchers may call it differently."

"Okay."

"A Fracture, by itself, is mostly harmless. But the effect that brings to the nearby area that comes from the other side of the crack, IS dangerous."

"What is in the other side? and What kind of danger brings?"

"I can't answer the first question, Every time that we try to insert any kind of sensors or a camera at least, we are attacked by Aberrations"

"You are attacked by what?"

"Aberrations. This brings the answer of the second question you asked: 'what kind of danger' it brings. Let me ask you something before telling the answer. Did you heard about the term 'RSB'?"

"Repercussive Sorcerous Byproduct. 'Leftover traces of magic, refined and used but not converted to a desired spell of the caster, It can be found anywhere that a spell was used. Although it's lifetime tend to be very short, there were instances that RSB could be detected even after many years.' According to Encyclopedia Magi Third edition."

Twilight didn't heard any kind of answer from Grass Patch. As he was silent, with his mouth tightly shut and his eyes wide open.

"Grass Patch?"

"To be expected from the pupil of Princess Celestia. Correct. Yes! that is the answer." said Grass Patch, with awe.

"Is not hard to memorize it..." said Twilight, slightly blushing

"Sure... Anyways, you know why the RSB is found, so I will skip to the actual answer. One of the three dangers that brings an open  Fracture to the nearby area is the heavy accumulation of RSB, and I believe that you know what happen if the RSB get concentrated in a single space."

"It's rare that RSB stay in that form for more than few minutes but it happened before.  Concentrated byproducts destabilize nearby magical forces, making them very hard to refine. But it heavily depends of how is the concentration. By the way, how much is the concentration?

`"Do you remember what is the average concentration in a magic duel?"

"Three to five hundred. Seven hundred if they are casting complex spells and up to nine hundred if they are fighting to death"

"Do you see the Avem and Mem?"

"Yes, what does it mean?"

"Average emission and maximum emission by the Fracture."

"Wait... Over thousands?! and that's the average? No, it's not even the concentration that is written here, it's the emission."

"The actual concentration is very difficult to measure without the sensor going overdrive. As you can see, it IS impossible that a normal unicorn to cast a spell or most of magical devices to work when it's close to a Fracture."

Twilight was left speechless. This so called "Fracture" seemed more and more dangerous each explanation that Grass Patch gave. And something inside Twilight was telling her over and over that going further will not bring good things, but Twilight decided to ignore it, for now.

"Should I stop here? you don't look so good, miss Twilight..."

"I'm okay, just astonished..."

"Fine then. I will continue to explain. This 'Aberrations' that you heard before, are... No, no no no no. Please forget about it." The stallion's expression gradually got stiff, as if remembering something important he forgot.

"Huh?"

"Just forget about it, will you, miss?"

"Something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. It's just that I can't blabber about this subject like this. Well, not this lightly at least. I just got too excited that somepony actually listened to me and this happens, We can't involve more civilians to this. I apologize for this, I didn't had to start this..." Grass Patch apologized profusely. The stallion now looked heavily troubled, like after the happening of yesterday

"Are you okay?" this time was Twilight who asked, worried about the sudden change of mood of the stallion

"I'm okay, I just blabbered unnecessary information because I was excited. You didn't even had to knew about this! Well, not this early, because the investigation didn't even started, nor I had the order to do so." The voice of Grass Patch became more frantic, he seemed to be angry to himself.

"But, no! I always mess up, How did even I became an investigator? Really, how? How Princess Celestia chose me, huh? Do you know anything about it, miss Twilight?"

Twilight could do nothing but shake her head. Surprised by the sudden change of mood of the stallion.

After few minutes of silence, Grass Patch brought both of his foreleg to his face.

"Good grief... I'm useless..." Grass Patch whispered to himself.

"Grass Patch..." said Twilight, getting closer to the stallion.

"I'm sorry about that, I.. sometimes... I.." Grass Patch mumbled, both of his foreleg still in his face.

Twilight put her hoof to the shoulders of the stallion. The same sensation of horror invaded her again, albeit in lesser degree. But Twilight didn't cared about it this time. and then;

"Spike. I know that you are there." said Twilight.

After some footsteps, Spike peeked his head from the staircase.

"Uhh.. Are you guys okay?" asked the dragon, nervous by the stallion's words.

"Yes, Spike. You can come down. Grass Patch is stressed, nothing more. And he's fine now, aren't you?"

"Yes, miss Twilight. I'm fine, I apologize of all this mess and I will not shout at you again, forgive my rudeness, miss Twilight." said Grass Patch, almost whispering.

"Already done, I know that there is a lot to explain and even more to do. But, for now let's take a break, shall we?" Twilight said, with a calming smile.

As Grass Patch saw the mare smiling, he too smiled. The tension in the air seemed to banish like morning haze.

"By the way, is almost lunchtime, Twilight." said Spike.

"Really? The time passes quickly. And the fridge is empty, you said"

"Yup"

"Well, should I eat in home? But what..." Twilight

"How about you take Grass Patch to Sugarcube Corner? and both of you can take fresh air." said Spike, interrupting Twilight.

"Huh, Yeah. Is not bad idea, How does it sound to you?" asked Twilight to the stallion

"Uh. Wha? I, eh. I wasn't listening"

"How about both of you go out and have lunch and meanwhile, take some fresh air. I said." Spike said flatly

"Oh. Sure."

"Great! Can you please wait me outside, Grass Patch?" Twilight said with a smile.

"Yes ma'am."

After watching Grass Patch going through the door, Twilight started to busily looking the more obscure section of the shelves, The area that most of the visitors don't look at it because it was too complicated or the book was just to heavy to take it out alone.

Few minutes later, she was holding a small sack. Which she threw it without hesitation to her assistant.

"Prize of being the best assistant ever! Do you want something from Pinkie?" Twilight said with a smile

After checking inside of the bag, Spike said:

"Cake ingredients, please. She will know about it if you tell her"

"Okay then. We will not take long, and please take care of Owlowiscious "

"Yeah, yeah." Spike answered lazily, distracted by the contents of the bag

After grabbing one a saddlebag, she went out, again leaving the library in silence. Spike swallowed hard, looking the bag with temptation.

"Just one, the smallest one..." Spike said, opening the bag. Just to be interrupted by a noise.

"Hoo"

"What? Can't I eat just one of it?"

"Hoot-hoo"

"Yeah, I know. How could I forget it..."

"Hoo"

"Okay, okay. I will wait...: