Stennulf relaxed in a hot bath, in a tub that was remarkably similar to one that a human might have in their bathroom. The tub was full of hot water and bubbles, and was a luxury that he hadn't enjoyed for quite a while, ever since he had left civilisation and had gone to live as a hermit. The tub was a little small for him, but he managed.

He couldn't help but notice the dirt ring he was leaving behind.

Some things just couldn't be helped he supposed. He scrubbed his face, working the dirt out of his beard, washed his hair, and then tried to scrape the dirt out from under his fingernails. He was meeting royalty, and he wanted to make sure that he was at least somewhat presentable. He had nothing to shave with, not that he really wanted to shave, but he did want to leave a good impression.

He eyed the toilet, noticing that it was of a similar shape... but there were differences. The bowl was elongated and he tried to think about why. There was probably a very good reason, but he couldn't come up with one. There was a sink, but it was down near his knees, which he supposed was a perfect height for a pony that came up to his waist.

The human in the mirror staring back at him was almost a stranger. He was thin, gaunt looking, his hair was long and his beard was bushy. He was a strange mix of Scandinavian and Creole, which gave him red hair and brown skin. It occurred to him that it didn't matter what race he was anymore, he was human, and he had colour, but that didn't matter because the ponies were every colour you could imagine.

There was a faint knock on the door followed by a gentle reminder to hurry, that time was growing shorter.

Stennulf continued scrubbing and enjoying the feeling of hot water. His feet were rough and scaly. His legs were covered in small sores, which bothered him a bit. His hair was also coming out as he washed, which had been happening for a while now, but at the moment it was very noticeable.

Finally, he stood, released the drain, turned on the water, and rinsed himself free from the bubbles under the low shower head that he had to squat down to stand under. Things were going to be a bit awkward for a while. He also tried to rinse out the tub just a little, but it was of no use. He felt a little bad for being an awful guest.

He stood around in the bathroom and realised he had made a terrible error. All he had to wear were dirty clothes. He heaved a sigh and looked at his filthy clothing he had set on the counter.

“Twilight, uh, anybody out there?” Stennulf inquired as he stood in the bathroom naked.

“Yes?” Twilight answered through the door.

“I have a bit of a problem... I am clean but my clothes are still filthy,” he mentioned.

“So don't wear them, I don't see what the big deal is,” Twilight replied.

“I'd rather not be naked when meeting your Princess Celestia,” Stennulf politely answered.

“But she is going to be naked when she is meeting you,” Twilight argued.

“It is different for you... you come from a culture that is normally naked. I don't,” Stennulf retorted, still trying to be as civil as possible while he struggled to make his point.

Quite without warning the bathroom door flew open and Twilight entered. Stennulf felt an odd tingling sensation all of his body and he was pulled out of the bathroom by an invisible force, being dragged out as Twilight retreated from the room. He was painfully aware that all three of the ponies in the room were staring at him. Twilight eyed him up and down, squinting as she did so, and several rocks suddenly popped into existence, floating over her head. After a several moments of excruciating embarrassment, Stennulf found himself dressed in what appeared to be a nice suit, which somehow, the rocks had turned into.

“Uh, thanks?” Stennulf muttered in confusion.

“Don't mention it. I guess you don't tuck away inside of a sheath. That's interesting,” Twilight observed as she looked the human up and down. “You are remarkably similar to the creatures I met beyond the mirror. Similar body shape, similar hands, similar facial features, but also very different. Your skin is different. So is your hair and your eyes. Your hands are much larger and your fingers seem to be much larger. You are also taller. I am going to have to ask Celestia about it,” Twilight added.

“You've been through another mirror... did you meet humans?” Stennulf asked.

“I am not sure. I met something like you... as stated, similar but also very different,” Twilight admitted as she continued to study Stennulf.

“He looks kinda handsome in a suit,” Pinkie Pie quipped. “I'm not Rarity, but with his chocolate coloured skin I think I might have gone with a grey suit. The blue doesn't look bad though!”

Stennulf bit back a reply about being chocolate coloured, trying to remind himself that racism couldn't possibly exist here. He was, after all, chocolate coloured, and the pony clearly didn't mean her words in a derogatory sense.

“Once the meeting is over, I'll turn your clothing into something a bit more practical for day to day wear if you can help me by telling me what you need. We'll try to get Rarity to make you some clothes as well. She'll appreciate the challenge,” Twilight said as she prodded Stennulf with a hoof.

“This magic stuff is pretty spiffy,” Stennulf remarked as he looked himself over.

“I think fingers are a bit more interesting, but that is just me. I suppose it is a matter of perspectives. I use magic every day and I am used to it, you on the other hoof, er... hand have fingers, and they seem commonplace to you,” Twilight reasoned. “And you are taking this rather well, I mean, dealing with being in our world, encountering magic, everything. I didn't deal with being on the other side of the mirror quite so well. Of course, I also found myself in a body somewhat like yours.”

“I don't know, I think I could handle being a pony,” Stennulf said brashly.

Pinkie Pie tittered. “You know Twilight, you should hold him to that,” Pinkie Pie quipped.

“I think I might,” Twilight said as she flashed a wry smile.

“I could handle being pony, how hard could it be?” Stennulf said as he reached up and tried to smooth back his hair.

“For one, you'd be naked,” Pinkie Pie teased.

“But it is different for a pony,” Stennulf replied. “Where I come from, horses and ponies don't wear clothing.”

“So when Twilight turns you into a pony, you won't mind being naked?” Pinkie asked.

“Why is that? Why is it okay for a pony to be naked but you have a problem being naked? Seeing as how we are both sapient species, why don't you apply the same standards to both?” Twilight questioned.

“I don't know... that is actually a very good question,” Stennulf answered as he took a stunning blow to his sense of what was right.

“It is because he thinks of us as animals,” Fluttershy interjected demurely. “Talking animals perhaps, but animals nonetheless. “This isn't a bad thing... and I don't think he is doing it out of any sense of superiourity... but I know how I am with my own animals, so I think I understand.”

Stennulf could not form the words to make a reply. He stood with one hand stroking his beard, the other on his hip, looking very pensive and thoughtful.

As he stood there trying to figure out his own motivations, there was a sound of a door opening downstairs, which caused Twilight Sparkle to immediately panic, announcing that she wasn't prepared just yet and that the books hadn't been sorted.

“You'll be fine,” Pinkie Pie said encouragingly. “Just be yourself.”

Stennulf wished that he could tell the pony that he hadn't known who he was for quite some time now, but he didn't have the words, nor did he have the time. With timid jerky steps, he followed Twilight Sparkle down the stairs.

There was not one, but two Princesses, and one of them was looking at Stennulf balefully, the blue one. The larger of the two, Princess Celestia, was capable of looking him right in the eye. There was no sign of emotion upon her face, which somehow made Stennulf even more afraid. He knew the blue one didn’t like him.

“I say we deal with this problem right here, and right now,” Princess Luna growled.

“No,” Princess Celestia replied to her sister. “Luna, be calm, we do not know his intent.”

“I do not want to know his intent,” Princess Luna snarled.

“You must forgive my sister,” Princess Celestia said in a cold voice.

“Please don’t hurt him, he’s been nothing but nice,” Pinkie Pie pleaded.

“I have no intention of hurting him Pinkie Pie, and neither does Luna,” Celestia said reassuringly. “But before we continue any further, what were you doing in the castle and how did you bring him here?”

“Well, I was bored, and I had a day off from working in the bakery, and I didn’t have to foalsit, and I really didn’t have to do much of anything at all today, so I went for a walk without really planning on where I was going, I was just going out you see, because it was such a nice day, you know how it is when the day is really nice and you just want to be out, right?” Pinkie Pie paused when she saw Celestia scowling faintly. “Right, sorry, uh, well, I just sort of ended up at the castle somehow and then I wanted to play the big organ that is there, so I did that for a while, it is a lot of fun to play on a big organ and give it a good blow…” Pinkie Pie tittered for a moment, interrupting her own dialogue, but her laughter died when she realised nopony was laughing. Only Stennulf had any reaction, and he was turning purple trying to contain himself. “So after playing on the organ for a long time, I started to explore the rest of the castle, just looking around and stuff, and then I found a secret room, and another secret room, and there was a puzzle, and eventually I found the room with the mirror… so I looked through the mirror and I saw his world on the other side. I touched the mirror and found I could push my hoof through it, so I stepped through the mirror and was in a different world and then I met Stennulf and after we talked for a while he looked into the pool of water that I came out of, and when he was looking I placed both of my hoofsies on his backside and shoved him through and he fell through and landed in the castle on the other side of the mirror now with us, and then the mirror broke for some odd reason and nopony was actually touching it when it broke, I swear,” Pinkie Pie continued.

Princess Celestia took a very deep breath. “Pinkie Pie, I don’t understand how you traveled through that mirror. That mirror was cursed. I am hesitant to explain the nature of the curse given the situation, but that mirror was never meant to be a gate,” Princess Celestia explained patiently.

“The mirror is cursed?” Twilight asked, blinking a few times in curious astonishment. “Please explain… look, you can tell me now or I will figure it out on my own eventually,” Twilight reasoned.

Princess Celestia sighed, realising Twilight Sparkle would do just that. “The mirror was cursed. It was one of Sombra’s many experiments into reflection. That mirror was made to show the viewer their heart’s fondest desire, entrancing them so that they could not look away. Eventually, the mirror would drain and collect the spirit from the viewer, so Sombra could have yet another victim to experiment on,” Princess Celestia explained.

“So the mirror showed me… Stennulf?” Pinkie Pie asked slowly.

“This is why I did not want to bring up the nature of the curse,” Princess Celestia replied in a gentle voice. “We do not even know if the cursed mirror was still working properly.”

“Of course it might be working properly and this could be another case of Pinkie Pie doing her thing,” Twilight interjected.

“There is that,” Princess Celestia admitted.

“What is to be done with the human?” Princess Luna demanded. “I grow weary of this banter!”

“Before we do anything rash, I’d like to learn more about him,” Princess Celestia announced, shooting her sister a harsh glare. “Stennulf, do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

“I will answer anything you ask as honestly as possible,” Stennulf replied, still somewhat distracted by the nature of the mirror and the threatening glances the blue alicorn was giving him.

“Good, because I’d like to avoid all of the mistakes of the past,” Princess Celestia returned, shaking her head sadly. “I must confess, I am just as troubled as my sister is to see one of our most hated enemies back among us once again.”