I finished my literally tasteless breakfast and spent the next two hours or so perusing the books in the library.

The novelty of being able to read actual Equestrian literature had worn off surprisingly quickly. After skimming a few books I began to realize something.

Reading Equestrian books wasn't any different than reading any of the books from back home, really.

I mean sure, there were glaringly obvious differences where... well... everything was concerned, but when you got right down to it, it was more like reading literature from a foreign country.

The fairy—ponytales were strange, but most of them weren't any stranger than the ones we had back on Earth. The history, while fascinating and fantastical in some aspects, was just as dull and mundane as what you'd read in a high school history book for the most part.

Math, physics, the sciences, psychology, and everything else in a similar vein were all just that—no different than what you'd find on Earth more or less.

Even the textbooks Twight had on the subject of thaumatology, honest to god books on actual magic, were nothing more than tomes filled with page after page of formulae, complex terms, and diagrams I couldn't make heads or tails of.

This wasn't to say I didn't search through the books anyway.

While most of the literature here did nothing much for me, I still took some time to search the shelves for anything on Discord, chaos magic, and barriers.

I did all of this knowing full well that Twilight had most likely already tore through these shelves looking for a solution involving these subjects.

I figured it might've been good to maybe give Twilight a different perspective on things, but in the end, I couldn't come up with anything useful—not that I could make sense of at any rate.

Eventually I just decided to wait until I could toss ideas back and forth between myself and Twilight. That said though, I did find a few books to hold my interest.

Interestingly enough, Equestria had what was basically a ponified version of the Harry Potter series—at least, it had enough similarities to be considered as such.

What was even more surprising was that it was actually a fair bit darker than the series J.K. Rowling had written, and I found myself completely enthralled.

I was sitting at one of the reading desks, completely lost in the first book in the series when I heard the distant creak of the basement doors open.

Damn it, not now!

I frowned at the thought before turning to one of the clocks on the wall. It was late in the afternoon, which meant I had spent a good three or four hours waiting for Twilight to do what she needed to do.

With a sigh, I marked the page I was on with a stray piece of parchment I found earlier and rose from my seat just as Twilight entered the reading room.

She looked troubled, and when she saw me, her troubled look turned wary. I furrowed my brow and slowed my pace as I made my way over to where the mare was.

That's... not a good sign.

"How'd the research go?" I asked carefully, "I take it things went well?"

"Maybe," she replied evasively, "I may have a solution to your problem in controlling your... chaos magic. Though to be sure, I'd need to run a few tests on you if that's okay—nothing painful, I promise."

I really didn't like the way she finished that first sentence.

"That's... fine," I answered slowly, "just tell me what I need to do."

Twilight nodded before turning towards the doorway and looking back to me over her shoulder.

"Follow me back to the basement," she called back, "I already have everything set up. I'll explain once we're down there."

Without another word or look back, she quickly trotted out of the room. I stood there for another moment, trying to figure out the mare's intentions.

Her tone and expression raised a few red flags, and I found myself suddenly worried for my safety. I sighed heavily and dragged a hand down my face before following Twilight out.

This isn't going to end well.

---

The basement looked more or less the same as when I saw it last time, save for a few small additions.

One being the large blackboard pushed into one corner of the cavernous room, and another being the massive, complicated looking sigil.

Yeah, I may not have been any kind of mage, but I had seen and read enough fiction focusing magic to recognize a magic sigil when I saw one.

The board had all sorts of the same types of thaumatological formulas I'd seen in some of Twilight's books scrawled across it.

The circular sigil was painted white against the dark, flat stone floor and consisted of countless runes woven between a complex series of lines.

Looking over to where the desk was, I saw many of the books Twilight had brought down with her splayed open to one page or another, though the large machine she used to analyze my blood had been moved off to another corner of the room.

Twilight herself was slowly trotting around the sigil, scrutinizing her work with a thoughtful frown. She perked an ear and looked up when I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh good, you're here," she stepped away from the sigil and trotted over to the desk, "just sit there in the middle of that circle if you would."

I raised an eyebrow and looked back towards the sigil for a few seconds. After a moment I turned back to Twilight with a slight frown.

"Okay, before I do that," I said, staying where I was, "can you tell me what's up? You didn't look too happy to see me when you came in."

Twilight, who had sat down and was skimming through one of the open books, flicked an ear and frowned in annoyance. She remained silent for a time before letting out a quiet sigh and turning to me.

"Salvatore, I did a few more tests and, through a bit more research, came to a few conclusions about your magic," she explained, "those conclusions lead me to believe that you're either oblivious to the nature of your chaos magic—which is certainly possible given what you told me of your world—or you're not telling me everything."

Ah, so that's what is...

I could tell her it was the former, and honestly it wouldn't be a complete lie, but then I stopped to really think about it.

Not only did I had a very strong feeling honesty would be the best policy here, but depending on what she knew, and how I worded what I told her, I got the feeling things might actually turn out for the better.

But first...

"So what are these conclusions that you came to?" I asked, "what makes you think I'm either ignorant or holding out on you?"

Twilight tapped a hoof on the page of the book she was reading and stayed quiet for another few seconds before speaking again.

"I did some more research on dormant magic in the body," she explained, "and discovered that all dormant magic, no matter what type of magic it is, never stays dormant for long.

"Innate magic, as a fundamental force, must manifest itself in one way or another."

At this, Twilight turned her chair to fully face me, a serious frown adorning her features as she continued.

"If it doesn't, or if something stops that manifestation from occurring, it causes a buildup that could quickly turn catastrophic for the creature involved, as well as those around them more often than not."

"Oh... well, that's not good," I replied, thinking about the magic Discord had pumped into me, "does that really apply to me though? Like I said, I'm not exactly from around here."

"It does," Twilight replied without hesitation, "in fact, that's part of why I'm suddenly so suspicious. From what you've told me about your world, it shouldn't have any kind of thaumic field."

"Okay," I replied , "and that would mean..."

"That you shouldn't have any magic running through you, chaotic or otherwise," Twilight finished, her frown deepening, "it was something I overlooked in my excitement during our discussion of your world, and I was... too distraught during my own story to give it any thought."

"Ah... I see."

Welp... busted I guess.

But wait...

If my world didn't have any kind of thaumic field, and magic couldn't exist... then how did Discord yank me from Earth?

As I pondered that question, Twilight continued.

"And as for that buildup I mentioned earlier, I ran another test on the chaos magic in your bloodstream—one to determine thaumic activity," Twilight said, floating a few pieces of parchment over to her, "the activity only extends to a little under a week ago and there's absolutely no information before that."

Twilight scanned her notes silently for a minute before looking back up at me, her face still set in a suspicious frown.

"There's clear evidence that shows short, yet drastic, spikes in chaotic power," a pause, "drastic enough as to be... well... 'apocalyptic' wouldn't be anywhere near enough to describe it. I don't know what these insane fluctuations are all about, but there's definitely some rapid, almost instantaneous buildup going on before the sudden release of power."

"Uh-huh," I replied, rubbing one side of my neck awkwardly, "that's... definitely suspicious alright."

"I can't determine much more than that until I've done the next test," she said, narrowing her eyes, "but it's clear that you weren't born with this magic, Salvatore."

Yup, she's definitely got me there... dammit.

"Something happened, or somepony imbued you with it, and it's been utilized in some, most likely deadly fashion," Twilight surmised, her eyes hardening, "on top of that is the fact that it's chaos magic.

"If somepony did give you this magic, I could only think of one creature that could've done so. I think you and I both know who that creature would be."

"Alright, I'll concede that point," I replied, raising my hands placatingly, "I do know more than I'm letting on, and yes, it has something to do with Discord—a lot to do with Discord actually, but I'm not in league with the guy."

I paused.

"Okay, well I kind of am—but not by choice!" I amended, seeing the outraged look on Twilight's face, "seriously, there's a lot more to this than you think, but I wasn't lying when I said I was here to help."

"And how do I know that?" Twilight growled, "how can I trust that you're telling the truth?"

I stopped and thought for a moment.

"Do you have any kind of spells or potions that could reveal my memories?"

Twilight's glare faltered and her expression became wary, then thoughtful.

"I... don't have any potions that could do it, and I don't know any spells right off hoof that I could use either," she said slowly, "but I do have a tome around here that might have that kind of spell. I'll need time to find the book and learn the spell, though."

"Great," I replied, relieved that the problem could be resolved so easily, "having someone read my mind kind of really sucks, but if it helps prove I'm not against you, then... well..."

I shrugged.

Twilight considered me for a long minute before speaking again. Her tone was one of uncertainty and hesitation.

"If you're willing to subject yourself to mind magic to prove your innocence," she finally replied, "then either you're confident you can overcome it in some way, or you really have nothing to hide."

"Oh, I definitely have something to hide," I replied, walking over to the magic circle, "and I was hiding it for a good reason, but what I need now is trust, and hiding it isn't going to do us any more good here."

I stopped just short of the circle and turned to look Twilight in the eye. She merely gave me an expectant look in return.

"If you want, I can still just tell you and you can confirm it for yourself with the spell," I said after a short, contemplative pause, "but just... promise not to fly off the handle when you hear what I have to say."

"I think I would like to hear it from you," Twilight replied with a nod, "and I promise not to fly off the handle."

I raised an unconvinced brow at her. She looked at me blankly for a moment and rolled her eyes before doing a few familiar motions.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"What the hell was that?" I asked, feigning surprise and ignorance, "some kind of oath?"

"...Just something one of my friends used to do to... well... it doesn't matter anymore," she replied quietly as she lowered her hoof from one of her eyes, "just... I won't flip out, alright?"

"Alright, that's good enough for me then, I guess," I said, stepping into the circle and sitting cross legged in the middle, "just... do what you gotta do, then we'll talk more."

Twilight mulled that over a moment before nodding.

"Right, I'll... hold you to that," Twilight finally replied, scooting her chair back and standing up, "oh... and by the way," she lit up her horn and the large sigil began to glow with same soft magenta hue as her magic, "I need you to remain as still and quiet as possible, this is going to take some time."

"How much time?"

"I'm using this sigil to do a complete scan of the magic within you," she explained, "this spell is going to be pulling out a lot of information, so I also need time to process it and write it down."

"Okay," I replied getting comfortable, "so... how long is it going to take?"

"Once I cast the spell, it'll remain semi-passive, the sigil will be feeding the information directly into my mind, and I'll be jotting it down as it comes, so again, I'll need absolute silence so I can focus."

"Twilight," I pressed, now getting annoyed, "the time. How long is this going to take? How long do I have to sit here like this?"

Twilight frowned, her eyes closed as she prepared to fully activate the sigil.

"I... don't have an exact estimate," she replied hesitantly, "but it shouldn't be anymore than... four hours, give or take a few minutes depending on how much information I need to write down."

Four hours?! You've gotta be shitting me!

I sucked in a breath and exhaled explosively.

"Well, alright then," I sighed, "I'll just have to deal I guess."

"If it makes you feel any better," Twilight offered, still keeping her eyes shut in concentration, "with all the information I'm gathering, I should be able to devise a spell that will let you use your magic... assuming you can't use it already."

"I can't," I replied before a sudden thought hit me, "and if you're gonna be getting so much information about my magic, do you really... well, I guess you'd still need the actual story behind the magic."

"Exactly," Twilight replied, "now shut up and don't move, I need to focus."

Her horn flashed, the hue turning from that soft magenta to a blinding white for several seconds. The sigil glowed brighter with Twilight's magic and I began to feel warm, both inside and out.

It was a pleasant sort of warmth thankfully, and I suddenly found that I had no complaints—at least, until I began to feel that familiar itching sensation.

I didn't have any time to wonder what it meant, as the itching sensation soon erupted into a full blown tugging sensation.

Unlike the last time I activated the sense however, this was out of my control. The feeling didn't tug me in any one direction, but rather pulled at me from seemingly every direction at once.

It didn't hurt exactly, but it certainly wasn't pleasant, not like a moment ago. Thankfully I didn't have to wonder long about what was going on, as Twilight chose to speak one last time with the answer.

"Don't freak out, Salvatore," she muttered, her voice slightly strained with some kind of effort, "the chaos magic inside you is reacting to the spell, but that's normal. It's not doing anything, nor can you or I make it do anything, but... wait... what?"

I wanted to turn or say something at Twilight's unsure tone, but I kept my face neutral and didn't move a muscle. My patience was rewarded when Twilight spoke again.

"That... can't be right..." I saw another bright flash light up the room, and heard Twilight's chair shift, "the hard part is done, but now I need to figure out just what in Tartarus..."

Or maybe it wasn't.

She continued to mutter to herself as I sat as still as I could and stared at the far wall. I could hear her shuffling around parchment and flipping through books though the low, almost hypnotic hum of her magic never broke once.

After about ten minutes or so of listening to the quiet shifting of parchment, scribbling of a quill, and Twilight's own barely audible and often nonsensical muttering, I silently resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get an explanation.

It looked as though the unfinished explanation that Twilight gave would have to be enough for now. I'd also have to get used to the odd pulling sensation, but I was fairly sure I wouldn't have any problems with that.

With an inward sigh, I settled in for a long, long wait. I was already beginning to feel the tedium, and prayed that this would all be worth it in the end.

With nothing else to do, I sat there and decided to think about just how I was going to explain my completely insane situation to Twilight.

Next Chapter: Complications Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 45 Minutes