It was finally finally all set: the reddish luggages full of clothes were at hand; the rucksack with my MP3 player and its recharger, some books for study Latin and Greek and some books not for studying; my wallet had 200 Euros in it, and I had a very strong desire of leaving home.
Don't get me wrong, I liked my family, but, sometimes, I wished to leave for two months or three for get a bigger view of the world, over to punch out a bit from the routine: this thing was, most of the times, welcomed by my parents and brothers, but that year... they forbid to do so, and for something of seen since the start of it.
I was a 14-years old lad who had barely started to study at the Classical High School: the subjects were interesting, after the total boredom resulted from th past classes; the classmates bearable, considered that I got a lot of morons and bullies beforehand at school... but the teachers, not so much: they were, at best, blobs of meat barely capable of speak, and at worse, cables of nerves with odd habits about how do the Greek and Latin versions.
The last mentioned thing was the start of my fall: my marks got shot down by the absurd requests, and my parents, even if still didn't cared much about that, threatened me to make me study the whole summer, if I wasn't going to reach the teacher's standards.. standards that were impossible to reach.
When the report card arrived, I already knew that I had three debts in three subjects, and I was prepared to study enought for return at full force the next year.
Over it, my parents did an Athenian tragedy, and proclaimed that my trip abroad was canceled, something of unheard, at least in my life.
I did long and unfruitful negotiation about I could still study even out of my house, maybe in the middle of Alexanderplatz in Berlin, or in Livitaca, not too far from Macchu Picchu, in Peru; but in vain.
They were deadly sure that the only way to be sure to study was at home or the beach. Neither options were likable, and when I heard that a friend of mine was going to Poland, I did my choice: going secretely with my friend in Poland, not letting know to my parents.
I had already the taste of the gulash in my mouth, thinking that was going to see the eastern European country: I didn' t knew that in front of me laid my greatest adventure and experience, in the form of a random businessman wearing a brown coat and black trousers walking near the pineyard.
The man, who was going to know as a stallion named “Filthy Rich”, seemed a bit lost: he was limping borders of a pineyard full of stoned people, escorts and scums; he was with a suitcase.
The first thing that Filthy did when saw me was coming running to me fast as he could with his limping leg: I panicked, and pulled off a knife from my boot, in hope to scare him away, but he still ran towards to me, so I prepared for battle.
What he said took me off guard:
“Sir ! Sir ! I am searching for someone for help me !”
The man spoke English.
I assumed that he was harmless, since my home town wasn't famous for begin a drug trade center, so I put my knife back in the boot.
I said the best English that I could pull off at the four of morning:
“Good morning, shir. How may help ? Pleashe, be quick. I have an appointment”
“Please... I know that it might seems odd to ask for it to a stranger, especially at this hour, but I need some help for my daughter”
I nodded, and said with a content voice:
“Yes ?”
“I looked everywhere for someone that could teach to my daughter some subjects, but I didn't found anyone... can you please help me, Mr...”
“Teodorico. I don't know why you help for shuch a thing at this hour, but I might help, after I come back from Poland: what's the hour that comes handy to you ?”
The man blushed, and trembled:
“I need you now... can you please follow me ?”
I was surprised: look for a teacher for the daughter, at that hour, asking to come ? It seemed unlikely that he come there only for that, something of bigger was boiling in the pot... and what was boiling made me curios, since, whatever it was, it was going more thrilling that study in my bedroom.
I casted aside the caution, and said gleeful:
“Alright it then, I will follow you, Mr. Early Bird, just lead the way”
The man pointed to the pineyard and moved towards it, and so I did, hoping to know why he was around at 4:30 a.m., seeking a teacher.
PONY POV
I was quite happy for have found a human tutor for my little jewel Diamond Tiara: if she was going to need somepony assisting her in her homeworks, she was going to do it with something unreachable by οι πόλλοι, and that “something” was a human teacher, a creature lost in the fogs of the time of legends of myths in Equestria.
I had the idea of hiring a human as tutor for Diamond Tiara since I heard of Lyra searching some money for buying some kind of objects for catalyze a trans dimensional spell for pulling in and out ponies and other creature in Equestria.
Since at the time was desperate, and didn't found anypony fitting for teaching to my daughter, I gave funds to Lyra in a madness attack, but it was soon clear that the funds were well invested, since Lyra actually managed to create a spell for pulling me in the human world and come back with a human in Equestria.
I gave the order to Teodorico of following me in the strange pineyard were I came first: when I arrived there, I thought that Lyra failed to send me across dimensions, and instead sent me in the middle of Everyfree Forest in a human body: I cursed the name of Lyra, before realizing that, in Everyfree Forest, there aren't needles scattered in the ground: even if it wasn't a proof of that, it was enough for make feel safe of not encountering a manticore on my way.
I started to walk towards the zone less covered in trees and plants, hoping to find at the end of the path a civilized zone.
The trees were mostly pines covered in what seemed, under the light of the street lamps and the Moon, green moss, the other trees were dead holm oaks and poplars shaped in odd forms.
The whole thing seemed coming out straight from a classical picture of a nocturnal landscape, with all that trees, young flowers and a eerie Moon overlooking over it.
After few minutes of walking, I arrived at the borders of the forest, signed by a trench full of dirty water: I wasn't going to pass in it, so I tried to jump over it: I took the run-up, then jumped over the trench, and I was lucky of not falling in it after I landed, since a little piece of moat detached from where I landed.
After jumping over the trench, I saw in front of my eyes a strange scene: a young human, wearing a light brown trench, a black and white striped shirt and light brown trousers, was launching over a gate two baggages with a color resembling the red and a black sack.
I didn't knew what he was doing at that hour with all that things, so I thought that he was evicted from his house, and so he just took his possession and was going to wander in the world seeking another home.
Luckily, I was there for saving him from such a destiny for some time: he was going to live for three months in a luxurious room, near my and my wife's bedroom, and, since I heard he was omnivore, so he needed meat, I had bought some meat from a griffin butcher.
All I need to do was contacting him.
After a brief talk with Teodorico, I gave him the order of following me at the same site I arrived: he obeyed without questions, and he seemed quite happy of coming with me.
But his happiness was broken when I arrived at the site: I said to him
“Please, Mr. Teodorico, when I will stop there, in this burned area, come near me, and close your eyes”
He arrived, and said:
“So, what's the plan ?”
I said without too much attention:
“The call back spell is going to activate soon: close your eyes”
Teodorico did a face between the disturbed and the angry:
“Are you kidding me ? What hell are you, a organ dealer, who is going to rip my kidney apart when I am drugged ? No way ! You will need to pass over my mangled corposhe, before getting it !”
And he extracted the knife again from his boot, and tried to assault me, but the call back spell set in before, causing him to drop the knife out of the landing zone.
Teodorico POV
It was too weird to stand.
First, a business man contacts me in the middle of the night for asking help in teaching.
Alright.
Then he says that a some kind of “call back” spell coming through.
And that was even more weird, since I knew that most of the time, this kind of tricks were used by the organ dealer with stupid kids or teenagers.
Since I knew that sooner or later, by going around with adult people in the middle of then night in that pineyard, I was going to meet one of that scums, so I always had a knife in my boot, knife that didn't hesitated to use, when Filthy said to me that the call back spell was coming: I was going to do a master hit on the stomach, but a strong stream of energy hit me, and made me drop the knife in surprise.
Around me, mint green harmless flames danced around me, my things and Filthy Rich, and I feared that if I did even dare to touch the flames, I was going to burn down, and the fact that time to time the flame moved towards us didn't improved my morale by a bit.
After a time that seemed an eternity, I finally noticed that the flames started to be put down, and that my legs were again usable.
I was so glad to be alive and intact, that didn't saw that Filthy Rich turned in a brown pony with a black tie and a sack with dollar sign on the back, and in front of there was a mint green mare with a horn on her front and a lyre on her back.
The room where I was seemed coming out from the Realm of Caserta: it was a big room, the walls covered with portrays of various equines in poses that thought exclusive to humans; some pillows and a very big pole, finely notched.
The mare said excited:
“Hi ! I am Lyra Heartstrings ! What's your name, human ?”
I wasn't prepared for this, and jumped away in scare, screaming:
“WHAT ARE YOU ? PORCO GIUDA !”
The mare frowned and said:
“Oh, sorry, mr. Human, I should know better that your species isn't used to the sights of unicorns, magic and all the things of this world”
My fear toned down a bit, its place was took by curiosity:
“You are an unicorn expert in magic and humans ?”
She blushed:
“Not really about magic, but about humans.. well, quite”
I sighed of relief: at least I had someone that could understand me since the start of my travel.
Still hesitating, I said:
“Ave, Lyra, I am Teodorico Palmieri, but you can call me only Teodorico. What do you deshire from me ?”
“I don't desire anything from you: Filthy does”
I was confused at first, but then I realized that Lyra was talking about the brown stallion that I have seen before, and didn't took me long to remember his request: “Be the tutor of my daughter”.
I was going to be the tutor of a small talking equine. Sounded fun and weird at the same time.
I said: “Alright, what do you want to show to me first, my dear Shir ?”
“My name is Filthy Rich, no need to call me “Sir”. About what I want to do right now with you: I will show you the bedroom where you will live for this three months.”
Three months. The amount of time that I would pass in Poland. Then I was going to came back home. Seemed decent enought.