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Teahouses of Saddle Arabia

by Amber Spark

Chapter 14: The Store

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The Store

The moment Sunset pulled on the door to ‘The Store,’ her magic became… strange.

Is that arcane feedback? Some sort of alarm ward?

With a grunt, she tried to release her magical hold on the door pull, but she couldn’t let go. The sensation intensified, but it wasn’t exactly painful, just unpleasant. It was almost like she had a hoof stuck in mud.

Then, the feeling—and her magic—vanished with a pop.

She staggered, gasping for breath and glaring at the bizarre door. And as she was watching, the door slowly swung outward on shrieking hinges, revealing only darkness within.

The hinges continued to shriek until it bumped against the wall of the alley. Sunset suspected the door probably could be heard back in Cloudsdale. It sounded like a bad Nightmare Night prop.

“Sunset, you okay?” Twilight asked, her voice sounding a little freaked out.

Sunset couldn’t blame her.

“Some sort of magic-based probe,” Sunset muttered, rubbing her horn and glowering at the door.

“These ponies really are paranoid,” Twilight whispered. “I’ve got a b—”

“Narrative Causality, remember?” Sunset snapped, stopping Twilight before she could finish that potentially terrible sentence.

“Oh… right. Sorry.” Twilight sounded abashed. “Yeah, let’s… not play with that anymore tonight.”

“Good call.”

Sunset sucked in another breath and flung a detect magic spell into the threshold of the annoyingly-unnamed store.

She wasn’t surprised when the spell failed to register any magical presence whatsoever. She’d have gotten the same result if she’d cast it on a dull brick wall. Considering the sigil she had just produced, the lack of response only meant it hadn’t even reached the threshold.

“I’ve got to be out of my mind,” Sunset muttered. Then, before she regained her sanity and ran, she strode through the doorway.

Despite herself, Sunset cringed just inside the entrance to the bookstore, waiting for something to fling her back out into the street, or strike her down or do… something. The complete lack of reaction was almost more unnerving. She glanced around into the darkness, yet still nothing happened.

Finally, she let out a breath and chuckled to herself.

“So much for the fearsome Black Bookstore,” Sunset muttered, though something about this place still set her teeth on edge. In fact, it made her horn itch. She hated when her horn itched.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked, still outside. “Can you see anything?”

Sunset peered into the gloom, not quite willing to cast her light spell just yet—though she wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want to deal with whatever might still be lurking inside or if she simply didn’t want to see what they had to deal with this time. The only illumination she had was the combination of Twilight’s horn and the indirect glow of the alley’s dim lights. Neither did much to penetrate the gloom.

Still, it was enough to see some shapes. A long clear display counter ran into the shadows on her right side. The requisite cash register—though one that looked about a hundred years out of date—sat perched on the counter. There were shelves behind the register, but Sunset couldn’t make out anything but vague shapes upon them.

At her hooves was a long threadbare carpet atop worn and cracked wood. The carpet itself had one had some sort of arcane pattern—or maybe it was just a map of the constellations. Time and wear had destroyed any chance of Sunset being able to figure it out.

“It’s… just a store,” Sunset called back. “I don’t—

A whisper sounded somewhere in the darkness. Sunset froze and spun to face it. Another whisper came from another direction, then another. Within moments, it sounded like a host of ponies surrounded her on all sides. They were probably whispering about profane dark rituals. That sort of thing seemed in sync with the general ambiance.

Though the whispers sent chills down her spine from the creep factor, Sunset realized she wasn’t afraid.

Instead, she was sort of pissed. She’d had a long night.

So, she overcharged her signature light spell of a miniature sun and blasted it straight up. It shot about six feet into the air before it came to a sudden halt, sending streams of golden sunlight across the store just as the whispers stopped.

Sunset couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. She managed little more than a simple, “Uhh…”

A lot had been hidden by the shadows. In the light of her spell, things didn’t look nearly as sinister as they had a few moments ago. No, the store didn’t seem sinister at all. It was just… cluttered.

Knickknacks, curios, books, trinkets and doodads seem to line every wall and shelf. Everything from tarnished jewelry to Anguyptian timepieces, the latest Daring Do book to an ancient clay tablet that probably predated Clover the Clever by a few hundred years. Sunset could barely process it all. Which didn’t seem fair, somehow. At least there were a great many ancient-looking books on the shelves, in display cases or even just stacked up in corners here and there.

And hanging over it all were tapestries in every color imaginable. It looked like somepony had turned Desert Winds’s wardrobe into wall tapestries and just tacked them up on any—and every—available wall space.

The final result was a maddening fusion of Desert Winds’s shop, the entire Jeddahoof marketplace, twelve curio shops, six antiquing shops and Basil Blitz’s Books all smashed together in a space barely bigger than Sunset’s living room.

“Well…” Sunset said slowly. “This isn’t nearly as evil as I expected.”

Twilight peered in, still staying behind the threshold. “See anypony?”

“No, but I see a curtain in the back. Might lead to more of the store. I think you’re good, Twilight.”

“Huh,” Twilight muttered. “Yeah, I have to agree. This isn’t at all what I expected a Black Bookstore to look lik—”

Twilight stepped through the threshold and tripped on something Sunset couldn’t see.

Instantly, a deafening siren erupted throughout the bookstore, loud enough to echo through Sunset’s chest and paste her ears flat against her head. A bright green magical field crashed over them like a tidal wave, moving so fast Sunset couldn’t pinpoint the origin. The point was rendered moot when the wave crashed over them, extinguishing Sunset’s tiny sun and the light of Twilight’s horn in an eyeblink. The door slammed shut, plunging them into darkness. A moment later, blood-red runes sizzled into existence around where the door had been.

Twilight had managed to stumble all the way into the shop and land in a shadowed heap, illuminated solely by harsh crimson light. Sunset rushed to her side and helped her get to her hooves, but Twilight seemed paralyzed with terror, shaking from head to hooves.

“Sunset…” she whispered as she looked up into the blackness above them.

“You are not welcome here,” said something from high above them. Sunset could feel the magic in the shop shift and suddenly had a very strong suspicion that she hadn’t seen everything with her light spell. “But you know too much of this place… and I will cleanse you of these thoughts!”

Sunset peered up into the gloom, trying to see the source of the words. There was a vague dark greenish outline that didn’t even look remotely like a pony.

Sunset whirled as something came crashing down from the ceiling to her left, a bloody silhouette in the darkness. The thing unfolded itself into an upright position. Sunset gritted her teeth and tried to cast a spell through the magic dampening field, but it was like trying to talk through a mouthful of cotton.

“Oh, Celestia…” Twilight whimpered as she scrambled to her feet, the panic overwhelming her terror. “Sunset, she has a golem!”

A single pair of blazing green eyes ignited in the darkness. Sunset hated glowing eyes. To call them unnerving was to do them a vast disservice. They were creepy beyond compare. She’d managed to shove down her terror back in leyspace—mostly due to panic—but now, that fear fueled her anger.

Her anger at this idiotic shop.

Her anger at this idiotic thing above them.

Her anger at this idiotic night.

Her anger at that idiotic book she was looking for.

And most of all, her anger at her idiotic self for letting Twilight get caught up in any of this.

“I am Sunset Shimmer!” Sunset bellowed at the hulking shadows. “I am here to purchase a first-edition Teahouses of Saddle Arabia from Loose Spring! And I’m not leaving until I get that Harmony-damned book!”

“You are… mistaken.”

Twilight tackled Sunset out of the way just as what was probably golem took a swing at her from behind. They tumbled in a ball until crashing into what felt like a wall.

“Sunset?” Twilight squeaked beside her. Raspberry magic tried to form around her horn, but it was snuffed in an instant. “I don’t have my magic! What do we do?”

Sunset tried to peer into the darkness, but with only the soulless eyes of the golem and the blood-red runes around the door, there wasn’t much she could…

Wait.

Since this disaster of a night had begun, she’d seen a lot of things. Not least of all was a fair amount of runework. There had been the Linking Chamber’s floor in Lost Pages’s shop, the semi-alien books of leyspace and finally the advanced, though somewhat odd, runes of Out of Circulation’s door.

She hadn’t seen it before, but she definitely saw it now. Runes—at least written like this—were just spells, preconfigured to do something when activated. And there were only so many ways you could use spells with runes.

The Linking Chamber’s floor matrix—for lack of a better phrase—had a rune set near every leyline connected to Canterlot.

Out of Circulation’s door had at least a dozen different runes, but there were three runes that matched the same runes she was staring at right now.

A rune she herself had used a thousand times. For Celestia’s sake, it was inscribed at key points of the Spire’s base!

If she hadn’t been so tired, she would have seen it instantly. She was studying magic under Celestia for a reason, after all.

All of this rushed through her head in a few moments. She suspected either her angry little pony or terror was driving her mind a lot faster than normal. Probably both.

It’s both, muttered a voice inside her head. Even I can’t do this alone and I’d really like to not have some lunatic screw with our memories.

That one, they could agree on.

Good. Now move it, Shimmer!

“Twilight?” Sunset asked quickly as the green eyes lumbered toward them, shaking the floor with every step. “Do those look like the rune for ‘suppression’ or ‘control’ on the door there?”

“Why would you…” Twilight hesitated before nodding. Sunset only knew because she could feel the motion against her. “Yes! They are!”

“Good. You destroy the runes. I’ll distract the golem,” she said in a far calmer voice than she felt like using right now.

“You… against a golem? With no magic?”

“And the moment I get my magic back, I’ll turn it into gravel. Now go!”

Sunset shoved her away and rolled to the side in one motion, as the golem smashed a fist down where they had just been. She could hear Twilight scrambling to her hooves. Sunset spun away again as a fist tore through what sounded like the cloth of a tapestry. Then she jumped to her hooves.

“Sunset?” Twilight cried. Sunset could see her in the hellish light of the runes. “How am I supposed to smash these things without magic?”

“I don’t know, use the torch or something!”

“It’s just a metal ornament! The flames went out the moment we landed in Cloudsdale!”

“Use it anyway!” Sunset bellowed as she felt the air of a fist barely missing her.

Twilight started grunting and Sunset heard the sound of metal against wood.

“Keep it up! I’ll handle this thing!”

Sunset took a few steps back. Now that her eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, she could make out their vague forms between their burning eyes and the runes on the door. Bipedal with long arms that ended in bulky fists. But the way they moved wasn’t right. Every motion was jerky, like a puppet in the magic of a foal.

“Okay, you Harmony-forsaken rock, you want me ticked? I’m ticked!”

Sunset might not have her magic, but Celestia had required her to train with the Royal Guard for years, now. And while the Guard may have taught her a lot about combat magic, it wasn’t the only thing they’d taught her. After all, there were plenty of creatures in Equestria—and beyond—who were far bigger and stronger than a pony. More than a few were resistant to magic.

The Royal Guard trained ponies to be ready to face any threat.

Most days, Sunset usually hated that kind of training.

Today, she whispered a fervent thank you to Celestia for forcing her to go through with it.

Sunset took a deep breath and focused on the figure… only to have it turn around.

It’s hideous green eyes illuminated Twilight from behind, still desperately whacking one of four runes with the ornate torch stolen from the Curator of Saddle Arabia.

Sunset’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Oh no you don’t!”

She sprinted toward Twilight and her incoming golem, already only a few feet away from her friend. Bathed in the crimson light of the runes, could Sunset really see what they faced. The creatures looked vaguely like diamond dogs made of granite. She would never be able to injure it with her hooves.

But that didn’t mean it was invulnerable.

She slid forward and spun to aim a flying kick directly into the back of its right knee. The golem let out a strange alien groaning noise as it turned to face Sunset, only for Sunset to dart around it and slam her forehoof into the back of its other knee. Construct or no, it still had joints. Joints still had to move. And joints could still be forced.

“Sunset!” Twilight shouted. “What do I do?”

“Destroy that rune! I’ll deal with tall, dark and stony!”

Twilight continued her assault on the rune, but still cried, “This is not an appropriate time for banter!”

“This is the perfect time for banter!” Sunset shot back. She’d deal with the fact that her hooves were now throbbing because she’d just hit and bucked a living statue of stone. “I’ll let you know if I come up with anything really good!”

The golem turned and took a swing at her, but Sunset saw the ponderous swipe coming and ducked it while scrambling to the right. With a wordless cry, she spun again and bucked the back of right knee one final time.

The golem let out another alien groan as it lost its balance and toppled to the ground, shaking the entire store. It let out a guttural growl, green eyes focusing on them.

Twilight yelped, her attacks on the rune with the torch becoming even more frantic.

“Come on, Twilight!” Sunset shouted as she bucked one of the things massive fists. “Having magic would make this a lot easier!”

“This is just a hunk of metal!” Twilight cried. “It’s not the mythical Scepter of Scrolls!”

“I don’t care! Find a way to make it work!” Sunset shot back as she danced back from the golem, crawling toward them ponderously.

“I am trying!” Twilight shouted. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to destroy sealed runes?”

The golem slammed its fists down and sent both Twilight sprawling into the door and Sunset thrown to the side.

It turned its attention to Twilight.

“Twilight, behind you!” Sunset screamed as she tried to scramble to her hooves, but the impact had made her twist an ankle. She cried out and she crashed back down.

Twilight yelped as she jumped away from her golem’s first swing. Sunset looked up at the sound of crunching wood. It had missed and hit the doorframe.

More importantly, when the giant stone fist pulled away, the runes that Twilight had been whacking flickered twice, then went out.

The magic around Sunset shifted faintly, but it wasn’t a strong enough shift to give her access to her magic again. But it was a start.

“Twilight!” Sunset called as she forced herself back to her hooves, ignoring the pain. “Get it to punch the suppression rune!”

“What?” Twilight cried as it tried smashing the torch across the thing’s side with her hooves—which did absolutely nothing but send the torch spinning out of her grasp and into the darkness.

Stand in front of the suppression rune and let—gah!” Something blasted down from the ceiling between Twilight and herself, creating a wall of fire that illuminated the golem in perfect detail while completely blocking her from her friend.

Sunset peered through the fire and saw runes igniting on the thing’s immense hand. Someone had etched a stunning rune into the palm, which meant a single direct blow anywhere would drop Twilight instantly. The impact probably wouldn’t even do any serious physical damage. However, she was more worried about the wrists. On each wrist were several series of runes dealing to memory and thoughts. She didn’t recognize the pattern, but she didn’t need to.

“Sunset!”

Sunset looked up to see Twilight trying to get to her by moving past the threshold and around the golem. The golem didn’t seem interested and took another swing at Twilight.

Duck!” Sunset screamed even the golem holding her pulled back its fist to deliver its knock-out blow.

Twilight dove to the ground. The ponderous swing missed… and crashed right into the second set of suppression runes.

Sunset’s magic returned in a flash of teal light. Instantly, she teleported through the flames and to Twilight’s side. She charged the golem but knew she wouldn’t be fast enough to stop the fist coming right for Twilight’s face.

A raspberry shield stopped it instead. With a growl, Twilight forced her shield to explode, knocking the golem back several feet.

Sunset skidded to a stop beside Twilight, breathing hard. “You want it?”

“No, be my guest,” Twilight snapped.

“Thanks.”

Sunset didn’t bother with any further theatrics. She drilled the monster straight through with a narrow beam of sunfire. In moments, the light in the thing’s eyes died and it crumbled to little more than gravel.

She turned to Twilight, let out an enormous breath and smiled. “Okay, I think—”

A veritable choir alien roars sounded shook the store and Sunset whirled to find six more golems had descended from the ceiling.

“Oh come on!” Sunset and Twilight cried in nearly perfect unison.

The golems roared again and began to charge.

“They just don’t know when to quit. Hasn’t this night gone on long enough?” Sunset planted her hooves and charged her horn, despite the fact that she felt she was about to fall over from sheer exhaustion. “Fine.”

“Actually, I do believe this has gone on long enough,” whispered a voice from her right.

The light in the golems’ eyes went out like somepony snuffing a candle. Sunset took a couple steps back as the adrenaline began to wear off, leaving her panting and shaking.

She spun to face the new speaker, ready to cast a shield spell at a moment’s notice. Standing behind the register was a small slip of a mare, dressed in a long gray dress and cowl. The dress had been elegantly embroidered with silver runes, each an enchantment of protection, vitality or perception. Sharp gray eyes peered out from under the hood, shining from beneath the cowl’s shadows in a way that reminded Sunset far too much of the monster from the depths of leyspace.

There was something about the mare’s voice, too. It wasn’t old or young. It was… indeterminate. Almost like Celestia’s… yet also so very different. Sunset couldn’t even guess the pony’s age due to the robe and the shadows lingering around her.

Underneath the cowl, a short horn glowed a soft grey for just a moment. A sound from her left grabbed her attention. Sunset glanced at the golem and to Sunset’s astonishment, it dissolved into little more than dust. Then, the remains spun up to the ceiling and vanished into some sort of vent. A few seconds later, the rest of the monsters did the exact same thing, leaving the store exactly as Sunset had first found it.

Sunset glanced at Twilight. Her glasses were askew and her mane was a mess, but she didn’t look hurt. Sunset breathed a sigh of relief.

“I think it’s okay.” Sunset eyed the mare behind the counter. “Want to finish this?”

“You have no idea,” Twilight said, her ears flat against her head.

“I have some,” Sunset chuckled despite herself. “Nice trick with blowing your shield by the way.”

“After seeing what you did weaving light into your shield… I decided to weave a concussion spell into mine. It… seemed a successful experiment.”

“And then some.”

Twilight smiled wanly and Sunset chuckled again.

Sunset and Twilight both slowly walked back to where Sunset had just been. They glared at the newcomer, who seemed to regard them with a vaguely interested air.

“Loose Spring, I presume?” Sunset demanded.

“That is… a name I allow a select few to know me by.” The mare bowed her head as if offering a sign of respect. “I am impressed. In my long years, only six others have ever managed to best one of my golems. However, while impressed, I am not surprised. It is easy to see that the Royal Apprentice and Her Majesty’s newest personal student would be quite effective together.”

“It’s been a long night,” Sunset as she warily approached the counter. “We’ve had some practice.”

“Quite so,” Loose Spring replied, sounding faintly amused. “Especially if you came by this.”

The grey mare levitated the strange torch in her magic. Sunset glared at the torch, but Twilight let out a soft whimper of protest.

“You want it?” Sunset muttered, glancing between Loose Spring and Twilight. “We can work out a trade.”

“You would willingly offer this to me?” The mare twirled the torch, cocking her head. “The patterns of the scrolls that make up the surface indicate this came from the personal chambers of the Curator of the Grand Arabian Athenaeum. There is residual chaos magic running through the contours of those patterns, a familiar flavor of magic, one I’ve only felt in the presence of one Desert Winds. And there is an ethereal quality to the metal, which can only ever be caused by this being an instrument permitting transit from one plane to another. Likely leyspace, or a similar plane.”

Twilight stiffened beside her and Sunset realized she may have just made a massive mistake.

“On second thought, I think it best that we hold onto that for the time being,” Sunset said stiffly. She was getting very tired of ponies being able to figure out so much from so little around her.

I wonder why… laughed the thing inside of her.

“Is that so?” Loose Spring cocked her head to the other side. A glitter of amusement shone in her gray eyes. “Even though your… dear friend attempted to use it to smash such well-crafted runework into splinters?”

“I wasn’t exactly successful,” Twilight pointed out with a huff.

“That’s enough,” Sunset snapped, her voice cold. “Give it back. Now.”

Twilight stepped up beside Sunset, glaring daggers at the shopkeeper. Sunset found herself impressed. Twilight looked nearly ready to tackle the mare. Then again, Sunset probably looked like that, too.

“You broke into my establishment and now make demands?” Loose Spring odd eyes narrowed. “And here I understood you had rejected your family’s methodologies, Sunset Shimmer.”

“We hardly broke into this place!” Twilight cried. “We were given your crazy sigil password! The door was unlocked!”

“Indeed.” Loose Spring studied the torch in her grey magic. “I was… interested when I received the sending from Miss Whispersong regarding your imminent arrival.”

Sunset facehoofed with a groan. “I should have seen that coming. She all but said she was a smuggler.”

“It is standard practice for those outside the Association’s purview keep in regular contact. I am sure you already know our views on your ‘beloved’ Acquisitions Department, Twilight Sparkle. I found myself nearly captivated by the concept of a member of the RCA—and an Assistant Lead Archivist no less—would agree to sail aboard a Gray Bookstore with the intent to enter a Black Bookstore without first reporting its location to the RCA.”

“Now, wait just a minute—” Twilight began, but Sunset ran over her.

“So, if you knew we were coming, why’d you let your granite goon attack us?” Sunset demanded. Her gaze flicked between Loose Spring’s grey eyes and the torch. Sunset was pretty sure she could take the strange mare in a fight, but not when the stakes were a hunk of metal stolen from some book hoarder on the other side of the world. Twilight had been right. That was potentially an international incident. “Why not keep your door closed… or, I don’t know, actually talk to us first? You know, have a conversation?”

“And deprive myself the chance to see the legendary Sunset Shimmer in action? With one of her… shall I say, dearest friends?” Loose Spring shook her head. “Unlike my guardians, I am not made of stone. I could not resist such an opportunity.”

“You want another demonstration?” Sunset snarled. She hadn’t missed the mare’s emphasis on a particular word. “Because I probably have another round in me. And you’re burning through the last threads of my patience right now.”

To Sunset’s surprise, Twilight didn’t object.

To her even greater surprise, Loose Spring finally let out a soft laugh and showed a startling lack of concern with Sunset’s threat.

“I do not think that will be necessary.” Loose Spring levitated the torch over toward Twilight and dropped it without another word. Twilight snatched it before it hit the ground and immediately slipped it into one of her saddlebags with a sigh of relief. “My curiosity regarding your capabilities has been satisfied. There may yet be some hope for the future, after all.”

“And just what’s that supposed to mean?” Sunset demanded. She could feel the blood pounding in her ears now. “Listen, I have had it up to here with cryptic bookstore owners. It’s been a long night.”

“Nothing that is presently of any consequence,” Loose Spring replied, still obnoxiously calm. “However, you should encourage your friend in combat magic. Her shields are nearly as impressive as her brother’s, but she requires further offensive capability is she is to be of any use to you in the future.”

“I don’t remember asking your opinion,” Sunset shot back. “And she’s my friend. I don’t use them.”

“That is a matter of some debate,” Loose Spring commented, her low voice amused. “However, as you are in my establishment, I have no need to worry about your opinions or your desires. You are the ones who have—in the course of a single night—gone around the world in your quest, only to have your search end with you in this place. I am the one in control here, not you.”

“What do you want?” Sunset snapped, slamming her hoof on the thin rug. “You know why we’re here. You probably even knew before I stepped through that door.”

“Indeed I did. Miss Whispersong’s message informed me as to the objective of your quest. And you did announce what you sought very dramatically in the middle of my shop. But beware, Sunset Shimmer. You are wielding questions you do not understand, and you wield them with the inexpert grace of a newborn foal. Asking such a thing directly to one such as I can be… hazardous.”

“What question?” Sunset put her hooves on the counter, making sure to look the other mare square in the eye—as much as she could at least. “What are you talking about?”

“There are many dangerous questions, Sunset Shimmer,” Loose Spring replied. To Sunset’s annoyance, her miniature sun seemed to dim as Loose Spring continued to speak. “You just asked one of the most dangerous questions in all the world.”

“‘What do you want?’” Twilight repeated. “What’s so dangerous about that? It’s one of the most basic questions around!”

Sunset swallowed. Her skin beneath her coat prickled, though she couldn’t say why for the life of her. There was something in the air, and this time, she didn’t suspect Narrative Causality.

“It is not one of the most basic questions, my dear Assistant Lead Archivist,” the mare replied. “Is it one of the primal questions. The questions that define the world we live in. More importantly, it defines what we are within the world.”

Her eyes turned to pierce Sunset. A memory of red and yellow flashed through her mind, though she couldn’t recall the significance. What had just happened?

Sunset put her hooves down and took a few steps back.

“Allow me to recall the events of tonight,” Loose Spring said, her voice remaining perfectly calm and reasonable, even as the light dimmed even further. “You began at dear Basil Blitz’s shop. He gave you a name, but he also gave you one thing to pass to the next bookstore. In this case, that thing was a pony: your dear friend, Twilight Sparkle.”

“What?” Twilight demanded. Her glasses slipped down her muzzle as she frowned at Loose Spring. “What are you talking about?”

“Basil Blitz knew Lost Page had been studying the Linking Chamber. He also knew Lost Page had struggled to unlock the secrets of the ancient home of the RCA. Who better to unlock those secrets than the Royal Apprentice and the one who all say will one day command the greatest repository of arcane knowledge in all of Equestria?” Loose Spring studied Twilight as if she were little more than a vaguely-interesting manuscript. “And she took you and passed you to Pathseeker.”

Twilight gaped at her, a dozen emotions flashing over her face.

“How could you possibly know that?” Sunset cried. “That was on the other side of the world!”

“You already know the conduits of knowledge in this world, Sunset Shimmer. You learned many of them this very night. Not all beings are terrified of them as others. Some realize their value and their potential. But that is neither here nor there.” Loose Spring’s eyes seemed to burn with some strange grey fire.

Sunset knew that something was very wrong. She knew she should get out of here with Twilight as fast as possible. She also knew she couldn’t seem to give voice to any of these thoughts.

“Lost Page sent both of you as a comforting memory of Pathseeker’s former days of glory. For him, that was a gift beyond measure. He, on the other hoof, gave you a physical gift. A letter of introduction and a small red orb that would prove to be your means of transportation to the next stop in your journey. You delivered these items—eventually—to the ever-attentive Desert Winds. Desert Winds, of course, provided more gifts than you can count or even begin to comprehend. Even I have trouble tracking all the gifts he granted you in his peculiar form of generosity.”

“Is there a point to any of this?” Sunset demanded, scowling at the mare. “We both know what happened! We were there.”

“You know the events,” Loose Spring replied. “You cannot possibly fathom the meaning. Not yet. Even after the Sun rises, you will not understand in full. But you will. And before that happens, you must see the progression, the movements that lead to one very particular point.”

Loose Spring spoke as if they were particularly slow fillies. It irked Sunset more than she wanted to admit. Inside the back of her head, in that dark pit, her angry little pony had a strange reaction. One was of respect—because Loose Spring obviously had her hoof on the pulse of things if she knew of such things. The second was unbridled fury—because nopony spoke to her like this. Nopony.

Another, deeper part of her, was terrified out of her wits.

“As to your gift to the bookstore that tends to be neither here nor there, you allowed one mare a moment’s confidence in her grand quest that even she, for all her knowledge and experience, does not fully understand.” She almost seemed ready to laugh at that. “And you granted a stallion a willing audience, for he is ever showstallion.”

Something about that struck Sunset as wrong, but she couldn’t quite place what it was.

“Your gift to Whispersong… that took me some time to decipher.” Loose Spring shrugged. “But the duo I spoke of have always been particular, even among a breed such as ours. Yes, there was the band, of course, but there was more. In the end, I realized that the gift was the joy Twilight Sparkle brought to the precious Little Song. What’s more, you gave her acceptance, something never to be discounted. You also did one other thing for somepony aboard Whispersong’s Lullabies, but that’s a story for another day.”

“And let me guess, the sigil’s next?” Sunset said, sitting down and crossing her hooves in front of her.

“No,” Loose Spring replied. “The sigil is but a key to a door. Nothing more, nothing less. Whispersong gave you many things, but none could be passed to this place and time. None given to me. She has nothing I desire.”

“Wait…” Sunset blinked a few times. “Are you saying this is about payment?”

“And comprehension dawns at long last,” Loose Spring whispered with a slow, almost mocking, nod. “Yes, indeed. In your journey this evening, you had reimbursed every individual you have come across in your quest for a singular book. Even Basil Blitz received the gift of seeing Twilight Sparkle, who is like a niece to him.”

Twilight’s ears went back and she blushed, stammering something Sunset couldn’t quite make out.

“But you have come to me with no such offering,” Loose Spring continued. “No such offering whatsoever. That’s because Whispersong knew I would not accept anything she possessed for such a treasure as the book you seek. I would not want anything from her. She knew what I would truly want. The two of you.”

Sunset swallowed and shared a glance with Twilight. Twilight’s eyes were wide with barely-contained fear. Sunset set her jaw, but after everything they’d gone through, her courage tank was running a bit low.

This is the last step. If we have to go through one more trial to get that stupid book, we’ll do it. I know Twilight is with me. And I’ve come this far! I’m not going to be stopped by some creepy bookstore owner’s cryptic mumbo-jumbo!

Even then, she hesitated.

Loose Spring just waited. Sunset thought she caught the faintest hint of a smile beneath her cowl.

“You’re waiting for that question again,” Sunset said, her ears down and her voice flat.

“Indeed I am.”

Sunset chewed on her lip for a moment. Then she took a deep breath and spat out the words.

“What do you want?”

Loose Spring’s eyes lit up like two tiny stars. Sunset shivered but refused to look away. Twilight whimpered beside her.

“What I want…” Loose Spring said, her tongue caressing every syllable. “What I want is nothing more than to find out what you want.”

Sunset took another step back and narrowed her eyes. “You know what I want. I want the book.”

Twilight slipped back a few steps too, making sure to stay even with Sunset.

“No,” Loose Spring whispered. She shifted a little as if she were a cat about to pounce. “No, that’s not what you truly want. That’s not the want that defines you. That drives you this night, nothing more”

“Why?” Twilight asked, her voice little more than a rasp. She coughed and spoke again. “Why do you want to know?”

The star-like eyes swung around to pierce Twilight directly. Twilight shied away from the stare, her ears back and her tail twitching.

“We come to the precipice.” Loose Spring murmured, her voice barely audible, yet impossible to ignore. “A day of prophecy and legend approaches, faster than you can comprehend. I—and the others—must know if you are strong enough to see this through to the end, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. Despite your words, your fates are linked. You will rise as a phoenix together or you will crumble to ash together. There can be no other way.”

Loose Spring’s voice shifted, becoming a little deeper as it seemed to reverberate through the room. The whispers Sunset had heard earlier seemed to murmur seconds before Loose Spring’s words came out.

“I said I had enough of the cryptic mumbo-jumbo!” Sunset shot back. “I’ve had this sort of horseapples thrown at me all night! And I’m not about to—”

“You will!” Loose Spring thundered in a voice that shook the very walls of the shop. “You will give me what I seek or there will be no bargain. I will have what I want. I will know the character of the beings who hold this world in their hooves!”

“You’re insane,” Twilight whispered, her eyes wide and her face pale.

“No,” Loose Spring said, her voice once again the same eerie calm she’d used since she’d first appeared. “I am one of the very few sane ones left. Your beloved Goddess of a Princess knows this. And yet… I also know you are incapable of articulating the answer to the question I ask. One of six questions that truly matter. The questions around which reality spins.”

“Then how do you intend to get this precious answer?” Sunset demanded, widening her stance and taking a few deep breaths.

“Attend me!” Loose Spring called, her voice booming through the store in a seemingly endless echo.

The echo stopped the moment Sunset heard the sound of rushing hoofsteps.

“Who’s that?” Twilight demanded, adjusting her glasses again while she practically chomped on what remained of her left bang. “What’s going on?”

“My assistant,” Loose Spring said in a startlingly casual tone as if she were just an average shopkeeper sighing about a vaguely disappointing employee. “I fear he is ill-suited to follow in my work. I suspect in a few years, he shall go forth on his own and start his own shop. It will not have the blessing of the Association upon it… but he won’t need it.” Loose Spring speared Twilight with a glare. “Nor will he need such extreme security measures to protect him from the zealots in your precious Acquisitions Department. They have little interest in curio shops.”

Before Twilight could respond, a gray earth pony stallion trotted into view from somewhere in the depths of the shop, carrying something slung over his back. He wore a strange Eastern-style hat, a pair of narrow spectacles and a long purple braid. He was even dressed in red and tan fabrics, though in a style Sunset had never seen before.

“I haven’t seen a manechurian cap in ages,” Twilight whispered. “He even has the traditional braid…”

“I don’t think this is the time, Twilight,” Sunset said, watching the two ponies’ every step.

“Milady,” the stallion said in a heavy accent, bowing low to Loose Spring. “As you requested.”

He slid the long package off of his back and onto the counter with the utmost care.

“Thank you, Apprentice,” Loose Spring said with a tiny nod of her head. “You may go.”

“Of course, milady,” the apprentice replied. He gave another bow and departed without even glancing at Sunset or Twilight.

“Excellent,” Loose Spring said as she lifted the package in her magic and held it out in front of Sunset. “Now, comes the choice.”

Sunset studied the object warily. It was vaguely oblong with an odd protrusion at the top. Beyond that, she couldn’t make out any details, as it was wrapped in thick red cloth.

“What choice?” Sunset asked, looking between the object and the strange mare.

“Do you want the book?” Loose Spring replied mildly.

“Yes,” Sunset answered.

“Sunset… this isn’t a good idea,” Twilight said. “I really don’t like this.”

“You will have it in your hooves come dawn if you do this for me,” Loose Spring said. “Upon my word, my magic and my soul, I swear this to you.”

That’s… that’s an ancient unicorn oath. A Pre-Unification unicorn oath! Who is this lunatic and what is this thing?

“And what is… this?” Sunset asked, shivering. “I said I’ve had enough with the stupid creepy vibes!”

“And that’s why they are over,” Loose Spring shifted the cloth around, but did not reveal what lay underneath. “Wrapped within this cloth is an early experiment crafted by none other than Starswirl the Bearded.”

Sunset took another step back as Twilight took a step forward.

“All you must do,” Loose Spring continued. “Is look upon yourself within this Mirror and—”

“What?” Sunset shouted, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest like it was trying to escape. She backpedaled until she slammed into the wall behind her. “You have one of Starswirl’s Mirrors in there? Buck that!”

Sunset’s horn ignited and she yanked Twilight backward by her tail. Twilight let out an undignified squeak of protest as Sunset spun her in a levitation field. In less than a second, Twilight floated safely at Sunset’s side. She grunted as she conjured a shield around the two of them.

Then, with a snarl, Sunset pushed her magic harder and wrapped an opaque bubble of teal magic around the object and ripped it from Loose Spring’s grasp, yanking it to the left of her.

When Sunset caught sight of Loose Spring, the mare hadn’t moved an inch. She just watched Sunset with those star-like eyes. She hadn’t even resisted Sunset’s attack on her magic when she’d torn it away from her.

“No,” Sunset spat.

“No?” Loose Spring asked.

“What’s… what’s going on?” Twilight asked, bewildered and now floating in a teal field of levitation beside Sunset.

Sunset panted as the combined strain of the combat with the golem, plus maintaining a shield spell and two levitation spells at once to burned away her reserves. To her left was the shielded bubble containing the Mirror—if it really was a Mirror—and to her right floated a very confused Twilight.

“I don’t know if you actually have one of his Mirrors,” Sunset hissed, her ears back and her horn ablaze. “Or if this is some sort of sick, demented joke. Either way, I have half a mind to burn this place to the ground for this stunt.”

Loose Spring remained silent, watching her with star-like eyes.

“But if this is one of his Mirrors?” Sunset continued, her horn crackling with the effort of keeping the spells going. “And you’re stupid enough to present it to me, you know what happened all those years ago. I don’t know how you know, but you know. And if you know… you should also know my answer.”

Again, no reaction.

“Sunset?” Twilight called, but Sunset was only vaguely aware of her.

“If this is the price, the answer is no,” Sunset growled at the shopkeeper in the tone of a furious manticore. “I don’t plan on ever laying eyes on one of Starswirl’s Mirrors in my lifetime. Never again. Even assuming this thing is one!”

“Probe its magic yourself, Sunset Shimmer. See the truth of my claim.”

Her instincts screamed for her not to do it, but a mix of fear and curiosity demanded that she know. Pushing herself just a little bit further, she cast a spell within her opaque bubble. The detect age spell instantly responded with an impossible answer. She couldn’t believe it. The answer made her stare in wonder at the bubble. And then her fear grew tenfold.

“It’s… it’s real,” Sunset whispered. “Over a thousand years old…”

“This is not like any one you’ve seen before.” Loose Spring said, sounding completely nonplussed at Sunset’s violent response. “This is a prototype of a prototype. An experiment into the nature of Harmony, the very subject you study in your project for the Princess of the Sun.”

“The first time I saw a Mirror created by Starswirl, I got so obsessed, it nearly destroyed my life!” Sunset shouted back at her, shaking the sphere containing the object at her. “The second time brought me comfort, but that was only with Princess Celestia by my side! A pony I trust. A pony I love like a mother! She would keep me safe! You? I don’t know you. I don’t trust you. I don’t know your game. But I do know I don’t want to play.”

“I seek to know what you want, Sunset Shimmer. And you, Twilight Sparkle. I seek to ensure that Equestria endures what is to come.”

“I don’t need to prove that to you! And neither does Twilight!” Sunset shook everything in her magic and Twilight let out a strangled yelp. Sunset looked to the side and saw Twilight’s eyes spinning in her head. Only then did she realize she’d been holding Twilight almost upside down this entire time. She grimaced as her ears went flat.

“Oops. Sorry, Twilight.”

“Can… can you put me down now?” Twilight said in a very small voice. “Please?”

“Oh! Right, sure!” Sunset gently put Twilight back on the floor. “But don’t go near that thing or that pony.”

“You are making a terrible mistake, Sunset Shimmer. If you do this, you will disappoint your Goddess of a Princess. I ask only one thing, to place your eyes upon yourself.” Her voice remained perfectly calm. It drove Sunset almost mad to hear just how calm Loose Spring was, especially in the face of Sunset’s own rage. “Is that not what the Goddess of a Princess would want? Self-knowledge is a critical aspect of the development of any pony.”

“I’d rather discover that myself than use some magic mirror,” Sunset snarled. “I’ve already learned enough about myself and my friend without some crazy magic messing up our lives even more than they already are!”

Sunset saw Twilight wince out of the corner of her eye, but pushed forward. Her rage was an effective buffer against certain other thoughts right now.

“This mirror can help you solve your problem,” Loose Spring offered, her voice a fraction softer. “The problem both of you faced time and again this very evening. It can show you the multitude of possibilities and the path to find the best one for everypony involved. Everypony, Sunset Shimmer. Including you. Including one where you might yet find peace.”

Sunset gritted her teeth. Her angry little pony cowered before Sunset’s fury, but Loose Spring didn’t even blink.

“I don’t want it.”

“And what of your companion, Sunset Shimmer?” Loose Spring’s gaze switched to Twilight, who again cringed as the shopkeeper’s strange star-like eyes glinted off her glasses. “You cannot speak for her in all things. This device can show many possibilities… even ones as far as other realities. I’m sure she would be quite interested to know what would have happened if things had gone differently for her at key moments in her life? A moment of doubt or fear can create a lifetime of pain and regret. What could one learn from seeing the other paths if a single moment of pain had not transpired?”

Sunset watched Twilight, who looked like she was ready to bolt from the store… or maybe step toward the Mirror. Twilight had a somewhat powerful fixation on Starswirl the Bearded. She had seen the Mirror herself through Sunset’s accursed memory. She’d seen Sunset’s first and second encounter with it. She remembered Celestia’s words as well as Sunset did.

Loose Spring’s description of this mirror sounded far too close to the Mirror Sunset had seen with Celestia all those years ago. She didn’t have a clue who this mare really was… but the fact that she knew exactly what Sunset had seen in that Mirror all those years ago scared her in ways she couldn’t even begin to describe.

Twilight had her memories—sometimes—but she didn’t have Sunset’s history to draw the same conclusions. Despite everything, Loose Spring was right. Sunset hated it, but the crazy shopkeeper was right.

Sunset couldn’t decide this for Twilight. Twilight needed to decide this for herself.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked, her eyes finally breaking from Loose Spring’s stare and locking onto Sunset. “What… what do I do?”

“I… don’t, Twilight,” Sunset begged. “Don’t look. If Princess Celestia decides to take you to the Mirror in the castle, then that’s one thing… but if this is anything like what I dealt with…” Sunset glared at Loose Spring. “There are some things you’re better off not acknowledging… I mean… better not seeing.”

Twilight stared at her hooves. A long pause stretched throughout the shop, a thick silence filled with only the faintest hum of magic.

Loose Page seemed nothing more than a statue.

Sunset watched Twilight, her heart hammering as she silently begged Twilight not to take this deal. It didn’t matter if Sunset still had feelings for Twilight, despite the fact that she was with Moon Dancer. It didn’t matter if Twilight still had feelings for Sunset. It didn’t matter that they couldn’t get the Spire to work. Or that Celestia kept looking worried. Or anything else.

Sunset knew, in her heart of hearts, that a look in this Mirror could destroy a pony. It had nearly destroyed her. She couldn’t let that happen to Twilight.

But what kind of friend was she if she took that choice away from her?

Twilight lifted her head.

Sunset closed her eyes.

“No,” Twilight whispered. “I trust Sunset.”

Sunset’s eyes snapped open as they darted between Twilight and Loose Spring. Only after a few seconds did Sunset realize Twilight wasn’t flinching from Loose Spring’s star-like gaze anymore.

“Do you know that this object would tell you if, perhaps, that trust is… misplaced?” Loose Spring replied.

Twilight’s ears went back and her cheeks went red. “That’s not for you to decide.”

“And the book you seek, Sunset Shimmer? What of that?”

Sunset had to swallow a few times before she could speak. “If that’s the price… then it’s too high. No deal.”

Loose Spring cocked her head to the side. She looked more curious than anything, though Sunset still couldn’t see the mare clearly under the cowl. Several long moments passed, with Sunset levitating the Mirror in a solid bubble to make sure Loose Spring couldn’t somehow unwrap it and force them to look.

Loose Spring rubbed her chin with a hoof and squinted at them—only visible because the star-like eyes seemed to dim for a short time—before her horn ignited in gray magic once again.

Before Sunset could react, Loose Spring shattered both Sunset’s bubble and her shield without a twitch. She snatched the Mirror back. Sunset staggered from the sheer overwhelming power of the mare’s magic. It felt like a spike the size of a mountain had been driven into her mind. She gasped, her eyes bulging, and half-collapsed into Twilight, who managed to catch her in time.

“What did you—” Twilight screamed. Sunset’s eyes spun in her head, echoing explosions ricocheting off the inside her skull.

“I told you ‘what do you want?’ is one of the most primal questions in all creation,” Loose Spring said, her voice still steady and calm. “There is another that is as important… if not moreso.”

Sunset fought back the pain and the disorientation. With Twilight’s help, she shoved herself back to her hooves and took a battle stance. Taking a deep breath, she tried to strike back at the crazy mare behind the counter, but the magical feedback she’d taken still bounced through her brain, making it impossible for her to get a grip on her own magic. Loose Spring had done something to her with that counterspell spike.

“Get ready to run,” Sunset hissed.

“You can barely walk!” Twilight shot back.

“Don’t care. Get ready. Don’t loo—”

They both gave Loose Spring one last glance. Except they didn’t see Loose Spring.

They saw one of Starswirl the Bearded's Mirrors.

Sunset tried to close her eyes. She tried to buck the Mirror. She tried to do something, anything other than do the most natural thing in the world when somepony saw a mirror.

She failed.

Sunset looked into the Mirror… and saw herself.

Sunset Shimmer stared back at her. Her amber coat was mussed and stained from the night’s adventure. Her mane was a disaster. Her tail was in tangles. Her jacket and scarf were in fairly decent condition—though there were a couple new rips, probably from when the golem had knocked her off her hooves. Narrow teal eyes glittered in defiance as her magic came back to her. Teal magic wrapped itself around her horn as she prepared another shield spell.

Before she could cast, she saw the other figure in the reflection.

Twilight Sparkle.

Her mane had again become partially unraveled at some point—though Sunset couldn’t remember when. The two bangs framed her face even better than her dark-rimmed glasses. Violet eyes darted between Sunset and herself. Twilight’s lavender coat looked just as messy as Sunset’s, though her jacket at least didn’t look nearly as banged up.

And that was all. Nothing else happened. No wings. No shadows. No colors. No fire. No blackness.

Just them. Standing together, staring at a mirror.

“A question more important than ‘What do you want.’ It is both infinitely simple and infinitely complex.”

“What question?” Sunset said, her voice little more than a hoarse echo.

“‘Who are you?’” Loose Spring whispered into the still silence of her bookstore. Her voice echoed as if they were in a far greater chamber.

“I… I don’t get it,” Twilight said. “Am… I just supposed to be seeing… us?”

“You see who you are, Twilight Sparkle,” Loose Spring replied as a touch of warmth entered her voice. “As does Sunset Shimmer. You are Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. In the years to come, remember this truth. And remember that who you are is not defined by magic or titles or glory or power. No, you are defined by those you allow to define you… and, of course, by yourselves.”

The grey magic around the Mirror vanished. Before either could react, the Mirror toppled forward. Before it could land and shatter, it exploded into a flash of light.

“That is who you are.”

When Sunset’s vision cleared, Loose Spring was gone. On the counter where she had been sat a small scroll, sealed with a much less complicated version of the sigil they had used to get in.

“Sunset? What… just happened?”

Sunset eyes darted around. She glanced at a curtain behind the counter, but something told her that wasn’t the right path to take. She closed her eyes and cast the life-trace spell Twilight had taught her—the very same spell Twilight had used to find The Application of Unified Harmony Magics. Save for lines pointing to Sunset and Twilight, there wasn’t a single sign of life within the bookstore.

And if the spell was right, there hadn’t been for several days.

Sunset ignored the cold tingle running down her spine and took a calming breath. Then, she slowly walked over and lifted the scroll. A casual application of force broke the seal. Unfurling the scroll, Sunset found a short message.

“What’s it say?” Twilight asked as she came up to stand beside her.

“‘The book you seek is currently being held at Barns Books,’” Sunset read. “‘Present this scroll to the manager and they will give you the only copy of Teahouse of Saddle Arabia for sale in all of Canterlot.’”

“That’s it?” Twilight shook her head. She sounded as confused as Sunset felt.

“No,” Sunset said as she spied a postscript at the end of the page. “‘Do not forget what you have learned this night, both here and elsewhere. When the time comes, use caution upon entering the Everfree and do not fear the pull of your heart. Finally, I would have you know that you are the right ponies, in the right place, at the right time.”

It had no signature.

Sunset looked at Twilight.

Twilight looked at Sunset.

“Ready to go?” Sunset asked.

“More than ever,” Twilight replied.

They left the unnamed bookstore without looking back.


Author's Note

Fun Fact: Originally, Sunset and Twilight were forced to fight three of those golems at once! That was an intense fight, one that Sunset nearly lost. She did get some pithy one-liners in there, but Cursori suggested I bring it down a notch. After considering it, I agreed. It seemed a little out of place, especially after the faceoff in Leyspace.

I've read a lot of comments about ponies being cryptic as hell. Well, each character they've encountered have been cryptic about specific things. About their search, about Sunset herself, about Twilight, about their relationship, about things happening soon... and things happening far in the future.

This one... well, she's cryptic about some very specific things. Like Desert Winds, can we be sure who this pony even is (assuming they're a pony at all)? What was really to be gained? Was it a test? Was it more?

As for both the answers and the rest... you need to figure out what it all means on your own. What do you think?

(For those Babylon 5 fans out there [I love you all], you might recognize multiple homages and references in this chapter!)


If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!

Next Chapter: Barns Books Estimated time remaining: 34 Minutes
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