August 28th, 9 A.D.
~~Dear Diary,~~
Nah, I’m not actually gonna do that. Tia recommended that I write everything important that happens to me down in this journal. Something about helping my ‘amnesia’ that I told her I had.
Anyways, since this is the first entry, let me give you quick rundown so far: My name is Zack Hutchens. I was teleported to Equestria and woke up yesterday after Celestia and Luna found me near the Everfree. What’s not so great, though, is that I’m way too early in the timeline. I mean, Celestia and Luna aren’t even princesses yet! According to Luna, this is 9 A.D., or ‘After Discovery’ of the new country known as Equestria.
Oh, I’m also a Unicorn.
Yeah.
Blue coat, black mane and tail with a silver streak through them, and cyan eyes.
So after I woke up, I basically told them that I couldn’t remember my past at all, since I technically don’t have one here, and that my name is ‘Sapphire Knight’. I know it’s a mare’s name. Stop laughing. We walked around town for a bit, and then I think something knocked me out.
Well, onto what happened today, I guess.
I woke up in a strange room with a splitting headache. I looked around and saw that it was a decent size room, at least 400 square feet. Do they call it ‘feet’ here? Maybe hooves, or they probably use the metric system. I could tell from the furniture that this was just the bedroom! I threw back the deep purple covers and hopped out of the bed, which looked to be a queen size. There was a large dresser to the left and a bedside table to the right of the bed. There were three doors around the room, one larger than the rest, and a large window above the bed, letting in the sunlight. I think it’s morning. How long was I out?
I approached the nearby small door and looked inside. Hmm. A bathroom. I closed the door and looked through the other one on the opposite side of the room. Inside was a large study, with multiple mostly-empty bookshelves and a large desk. I walked to the desk and saw that it was actually pretty short. I noticed a pillow on the floor in front of it. Oh yeah, ponies don’t use chairs, just pillows and piles of hay.
I left the room to inspect the large door. I pulled the doors open to reveal a very long corridor leading at least 300 feet away. “Where the hay am I?” I asked aloud to myself. I jumped out of my skin when I heard a response to my left.
“Thou art in the castle, silly!”
“AH!” I leaped away from the voice, only to hit my head on the wall to the right. Who put that there? I looked at where the voice came from to see Luna landing on the floor and laughing.
“Is it common for thou to hurt thine self?” Luna asked me.
I rubbed the sore spot on my head. “Apparently. Did you say I’m at the castle? What happened?”
She giggled again. “Well, that wall didn’t like being labeled as ‘stupid’ for one.” She started trotting down the long hallway and motioned for me to follow. “After thou was knocked out, Our sister and I brought you the rest of the way here to the castle, where Celestia acquired you a guest quarters.” She motioned back at the large doors we had just left behind. Luna giggled again. “She even got thou close to that kitchen you wanted.” She pointed at the door we were about to pass. “Thou can request almost any dish you desire from there and they will bring it to thine door.”
“Nice.” I looked at the door and started thinking about food, which made my stomach rumble.
Luna smirked at me. “We were on our way to the main dining hall for breakfast when we heard thou awaken and leave thine room,” she said. “Wouldst thou care to join?”
I looked away, embarrassed. “Yes please.” I looked ahead and saw that we were halfway to the end of the corridor. We passed a turn that only went for about ten feet before it became another large door similar to mine. “What’s in there?” I asked Luna.
“Hmm?” she looked at the door. “Oh, that is Our sister’s room.” Her face suddenly fell and seemed to grow darker as she looked me in the eye. “Stay. Away.” I gulped and nodded mindlessly. “Good!” She perked back up. Whoa. Intense. Still, Tia wasn’t kidding about being close to a kitchen.
We continued walking for about five minutes, making twists and turns that would leave me lost somewhere if I didn’t have a guide by my side. “Here we are,” Luna spoke up, gesturing to the large door in front of us. “The dining hall.”
“What’s with castles and large doors,” I mumbled. Luna ignored me and walked inside. I followed close behind and saw quite a few ponies gathered around the table, almost all unicorns, minus one Pegasus, Earth pony, and Alicorn. Everypony turned to look at me as I walked up. Ugh, attention. I hate it. Tia smiled as we approached the table.
“Glad to see you awake, Knight,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said as I sat down between her and Luna. “Thanks, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For the room,” I clarified. “I don’t know what I’d do without it.” I smiled at her, ignoring some of the glares and curious looks from everypony else.
Tia, however, noticed the looks. “Oh, I’m sorry, everypony. This is my new friend I mentioned earlier, Sapphire Knight.” I smiled at everypony and gave a mock salute. “Knight, these are most of the council members.” She started naming everypony around the table. I didn’t pay too much attention since they all seemed too snobby to befriend.
Although, one name caught my attention. “And finally this is our close friend, and excellent spellcaster, Starswirl,” Tia said. I looked at the Unicorn directly across from me. He was a medium grey color with a white mane and had a faint white goatee thing going on. He smiled at me and nodded in greeting.
I returned it. “Nice to meet you, Starswirl.”
“A pleasure, Knight,” he replied. He seems nice. He must be the third council member Luna was talking about yesterday that wasn’t stuck up or self-centered.
The servants brought out the food on large trays for everypony. I smiled down at the delicious looking eggs and pancakes in front of me, but frowned when I looked at the three forks, two spoons, and two knives spread almost randomly around my plate. I looked over at the Pegasus and Earth pony to see how they held their utensils. How do you grab it with your fetlock like that? I looked at my own hoof. It looks anatomically impossible.
I reached for the closest fork and used my fetlock to pick it up. I beamed to myself. Ah! That’s how! I grabbed a knife with the other and started digging in. I did well, except for one or two fumbles with the knife.
“You know you can use your magic, right?” Starswirl asked.
“I, uh… can’t,” I answered.
Starswirl looked at me confused for a moment before Tia stepped in. “He has amnesia and can’t even remember how to use his magic.” A few of the Unicorns nearby gasped. I raised a brow at them. Geez, is it really that serious? One mare looked like she was about to faint, when she suddenly pulled a cushion out of nowhere and fell back on it. Huh. At least it’s not just Rarity that can do that. Starswirl rolled his eyes at the mare’s display and looked back at me.
“I’m so sorry to hear about that,” he said. “If you ever need anything, just ask.”
“Thanks,” I grinned. “I will.” I continued eating along with everypony else.
After everypony finished, the servants returned to collect our dishes and most ponies left. Starswirl looked across to me and smiled. “So, Knight, what’s your story? I find it a bit odd you lack a cutie mark, even though you’re a fully grown stallion.”
“It’s like Tia said,” Starswirl raised a brow at my name choice for her, “I can’t remember much of anything besides my name. Luna spotted me just outside the Everfree Jungle and both she and Tia got me to a hospital. That’s where I woke up.” Starswirl stroked the patch of fuzz on his chin in thought. “What about you?” I asked. “I think I may have heard your name somewhere before. What do you do?”
He brightened up and got excited like when Twilight’s about to enter Lecture Mode. Oh God… “Well, I am the lead Magician in the council’s court. I research magic and spells to improve the gift every Unicorn has been given. It’s my job to find spells that could benefit the general populace, but I also do a few side projects in my free time. Just recently I may have discovered a spell that could send the caster back in time! I hope I can perfect it. Just imagine the benefits of being able to go back in time and research the past up close-” He continued for a few minutes explaining some of his more famous spells and how they worked. I only half-way paid attention. I didn’t want to seem rude.
After he finished his lecture/rant, Tia offered to give me a tour of the castle. “Sure. If I’m gonna be staying here, I might as well learn the layout so I don’t get lost.” I turned back to Starswirl. “It was really nice to meet you Starswirl.”
“Same to you as well, Knight. I hope to see you again soon.” I waved goodbye as Tia, Luna, and I left the dining hall. Starswirl’s horn lit up silver and he vanished in a flash of light. Sweet. I need to learn that.
We finished the tour right as lunch time arrived. Tia and Luna had showed me every part of the castle except for the grounds, which had a large hedge maze for some reason. They lead me through the halls that had the Council members’ rooms. Tia explained that not all the members preferred to stay at the castle, but in their own mansions right outside the gates. I was shown the direction to my and Tia’s rooms as well as Luna’s tower room. It’s hard to mistake a door covered in stars as anything else.
“Alright, I think I have a general feel for place,” I told them. “I’ve always been pretty decent at directions.”
Tia giggled. “Well, how about we all head back to my room and I can order us some lunch.”
I was about to agree when I remembered Luna’s warning. I looked over at her, and she gave me a watchful glare. “That should be fine, Sister,” Luna said. Her glare, however, told me ‘Only because I’ll be there, watching you.’
I gulped as we made our way back to our corridor.
A few minutes later, we walked into Tia’s room. It was a little more basic than I thought it would be. It looked similar to my room, except slightly bigger, with a fireplace and glass doors at the back that led to a balcony.
She brought us back to the study. It was also identical, except instead of a desk, she had a large circular table, and she had an enormous number of books filling the shelves and table. There were even some scattered along the floor in piles.
“Sorry about the mess,” Tia apologized. “I haven’t cleaned it since Luna found you and told me.” The scattered books along the floor and table were lifted in a golden glow and put in their places with extreme precision. She must have individually moved over 50 books!
“You weren’t kidding about being skilled with your magic,” I commented as the gold aura faded from the books. Tia blushed and Luna glared, but I ignored her.
“Thanks,” Tia said. “I’ve had years of practice.”
“Really?” I asked, interested. Tia nodded. “Exactly how long have you been studying magic like this?”
“Since before you were born,” she smirked.
“What?” I acted surprised. “There’s no way. You can’t be much older than me, and I’m only 23!”
Tia giggled. “Well, Alicorns can live much longer than regular ponies. I’m not revealing my age though.” She smirked at me.
I just waved it off. “I don’t really care that much. But your magical ability is impressive,” I said to get another blush from her.
“How would you know?” Luna asked. “You can’t even remember how to do magic.” Ooh. She’s one for details. Gotta keep that in mind.
“Duh. I may have forgotten how to perform magic,” I pointed out, “but I’m pretty sure it’s common sense that it takes a lot of practice just to do that.” I motioned towards the books. Luna took a step back.
“He’s right, Luna,” Tia backed me up. She lifted a paper and quill from the table and wrote something down. “Well, everypony is always trying to figure out how old we are, and it can get annoying sometimes.” She stopped writing and looked at me. “What do you want to eat?”
That threw me of guard. She must be writing an order. “Oh, uh, surprise me.” I’m not sure what to get until I try out some things. Tia nodded and continued writing. “You don’t have to worry about me,” I continued. “If it’s a sensitive topic, I won’t press.” Tia smiled again, and teleported the paper away, probably to the kitchen down the hall.
“Since we’ve got some free time, why don’t we start your magic practice?” Tia suggested. “You can follow along, too, Luna. Maybe this can help you get past your block.” Luna nodded in excitement. “Alright then.”
We gathered around the table, Luna and I on one side, Tia on the opposite side. “Now I want you two to close your eyes,” she instructed, and we did so. “Now I want you feel inside yourself. Most ponies find their magical center near their chest. You’ll recognize it as a gentle warm glow in your mind.”
I started to search inward. I always figured that it was something like this. Looking up and reading about FanFic Magic Theory has probably helped more than I realize. I looked for a minute, trying my chest area, base of the horn, even my tail, but I couldn’t seem to find anything. I scrunched my face in concentration.
“Have you two found your centers yet?” Tia asked.
“Yes,” Luna said.
I was still concentrating, so all I could do was lightly shake my head. I tried relaxing a bit to see if that would help. After another few moments, Tia spoke up again. “Remember, it’s a small part of your body. Don’t just look for what stands out, but look for a sort of concentration or swelling of energy.” I nodded and continued to search. Oh no. Please don’t tell me I’m magically impaired because I was a human? I started to panic a little and searched more frantically.
“Still cannot find it?” Tia asked. I shook my head again and she walked around the table. “Let me help.” When she got next to me, she gently laid her horn against my head and I could feel her magic flow through me. It felt… warm. It’s warm and very calming. After a little while of feeling her magic, she scrunched up her face in confusion. “I… I can’t seem to find it either.” I grew even more concerned.
Tia could apparently feel my worry, because she put a hoof on my shoulder and cooed. “Don’t fret. Let me try something.” Her magic surged through me, almost causing pain. I grit my teeth, trusting her. The surge suddenly faded and I was left with the same warm felling from before in my chest, albeit a little weaker. “Do you feel it now?” She sounded further away. I then realized she wasn’t against my head anymore. So… so this feeling is my own magic? I grinned as wide as I could and rapidly nodded my head.
“Great.” I could hear Tia walk back to the other side of the table and Luna shifted next to me.
“What did you do?” I asked, eyes still closed.
“I opened the channels in your body that allows magic to flow through you,” she explained. “Normally such a spell is only used on a newborn foal that hasn’t naturally developed their channels. It’s like your body has never had magic flow through it before. Strange.” Uhh, about that…
“What’s next, Sister?” Luna asked. She’s also impatient apparently.
“Oh, yes,” Tia focused back on the task at hand- err, hoof. “I want you to pull at that feeling. Bring it to the forefront of your mind.” I nodded and grabbed my magic and brought it to the front. It felt weird pulling that warm sensation across my body. “Now open your eyes.”
I opened my eyes and looked around. I noticed Luna’s horn glowing a soft midnight blue. I looked up at my own horn and gasped. Sweet! My horn’s glowing! Looks cyan, just like my eyes.
Tia giggled at my reaction. We all turned our heads when we heard a knock on the bedroom door. “That should be the food,” Tia said and walked to the other room. The distraction caused my horn to dim a little, but I quickly got my hold back on the magic.
I looked around the room a little and noticed a quill lying on the table. Let’s see if it really is like telekinesis. With the magic still surging through my horn, I focused on the quill and it started glowing cyan as well. Alright, now move up. Gently. The quill did as it was told and raised a couple inches off the table. Nice! Luna rolled her eyes at me, but I ignored it. I tried to bring it closer to me. The quill launched at me and slapped me in my face, making Luna giggle. Oops. I picked it up off my lap where it fell and floated it in front of me.
There was some clattering at the door and I turned to notice Tia walking in the room with a tray floating next to her. She immediately noticed what I was doing and stopped. I glanced at the floating quill next to me and quickly moved it behind my back, putting on a nervous smile. Did I skip ahead too fast?
Tia just smiled at me. “Well done, Knight. Most ponies would probably take a day or two to get the hang of levitation.” She sat the tray down on the table. I noticed two sandwiches and a plate of hay fries with ketchup. “We were about to move on to that next, but I see you both already know it, so we’ll move on to something else after lunch.” She passed one of the sandwiches to me as Luna grabbed the plate of hay fries.
I focused my magic again and lifted the sandwich carefully. Tia watched as I inspected it. I’m not too well versed in flora, but I’m pretty sure this is just a simple daisy sandwich. I looked at Tia’s, which was identical. I brought it to my mouth and took a bite out of it. Tia smiled as I hummed in delight. The daisies tasted almost sweet, like honey, but the grass and lettuce dulled it enough so it wouldn’t be too overbearing. This is pretty good. Much better than what that café served me yesterday.
“This is my favorite,” Tia said. “The other council members like to go over the top with their orders, so I don’t like to eat lunch with them in the dining hall.” She started eating her sandwich.
Everything was silent for a few minutes, Luna crunching on her fries, and Tia and I enjoying the daisies. I noticed the cup of tea sitting in front of my plate. Without thinking too much I brought it up as well and took a sip. That’s pretty good too. What is it, Chamomile?
Luna looked at me and nearly choked on her fries, causing Tia to look up. Her eyes widened when she looked at me. “How… How are you doing that?” Luna asked.
“Doing what?” I asked, sitting the cup back down.
Tia just giggled as I took another bite of my sandwich. “You just split your focus and magic,” Tia explained to me. I was confused. Huh? She motioned to my cup.
It took a moment to set in...
I suddenly froze. I just lifted both my cup and my sandwich with my magic at the same time. I gulped my mouthful of daisies and focused on the cup again, lifting it back up. The sandwich trembled a bit now that I was aware of what I was doing, but it eventually balanced itself back out. I grinned ear to ear.
“Well, it seems somepony else here has a natural talent in magic,” Tia noted. I smiled at her and looked over at Luna, who was pouting.
“I’ve been trying to learn how to do that, but I can’t get it!” she exclaimed. She demonstrated with two fries. After she picked one up, she tried another, but as it started to glow, the first fry fell. She switched back and forth for a minute before giving up in a huff.
“Don’t worry, Lulu,” Tia said calmly. “You’ll get the hang of it. Maybe the rest of this lesson will help you.” Luna sighed and nodded. We all continued eating, Luna looking glum.
When we finished, Tia teleported the plates away, leaving the cups. She continued the lesson, explaining some of the basics of magic, like power, threads, some history, etc. I don’t really want to get too much into it. It’s rather confusing.
Anyways, Tia gave me and Luna a copy of Magic for Dummies. Oh my gosh, they have those here! I read through the first few pages as Tia had Luna try a few more times to split her focus. Tia didn’t really sound like she was explaining it all that well. The book just explained some of what Tia taught us in more layman’s terms. Oi, pony lingo. Is it supposed to be ‘laypony’? That’s just confusing.
After a few minutes of reading, I looked up to see Luna storm out the door, irritated. “Wow,” I said to Tia, “This is really getting to her, huh?”
Tia sighed. “I’m afraid so. Splitting your focus is required to cast spells with multiple threads, and raising the moon needs a lot of threads in place to keep things safe,” she explained. “Otherwise, the spell becomes terribly unstable.”
I thought about it. “So when she said ‘every spell blows up in her face somehow’…”
“It was almost literal, yes,” Tia nodded glumly. “I only hope she can bypass this block soon.”
I grinned at her. “I’m confident she will! No need to worry.”
Tia smiled at my optimism. “Thank you, Knight. It’s nice to have more ponies supporting her.”
I nodded. It also doesn’t hurt to know the future as well. We sat there for a few more minutes, when I realized something. I’m alone with Tia… In her room… NOPE. STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!
“So, uh…” I started intelligently, “What is there to do around here? Besides studying, of course.”
Tia brought a hoof to her chin. “Well, Luna and I usually go to the gardens. It’s very beautiful and relaxing to walk through,” she suggested.
“Yeah, let’s go with that.”
Ugh. My hooves. Why did I go with that?
These gardens were huge! And we didn’t even go near the large maze. Regardless of the soreness, I trotted along with Tia through the gardens. They were indeed beautiful. Luscious flowers grew all over the place, and perfectly trimmed hedges were scattered down the sides of the walkways. Medium sized oak trees were spotted every which way, with furry critters scampering on and around them. The sky was clear and a beautiful blue that just wasn’t possible to get in cities on Earth. Meh, I prefer slightly cloudy.
My pain probably showed, though. “Do you wish to stop to rest for a moment?” Tia asked me.
I quickly nodded. “If it’s not too much trouble.” After we crossed over a small stream, we stepped off the path onto the grass under a young oak and sat down. “I don’t think I’ve walked as much as I have today my whole life! And it’s not even dinner time yet!”
Tia giggled. “Luna is the same way. She prefers to fly everywhere, so when she’s forced to walk, she can’t get further than this without complaining.” I laughed with her.
I looked over at the stream and saw how clear the water was. In this light, there was barely a reflection. I could see straight through to the small fish swimming about, almost as multicolored as the ponies.
“This is nice,” I thought aloud. “I should get out more often.” I took a deep breath of fresh air. There was a slight nip to it, so I figured it must be late summer or early autumn. Later when Tia gave me this journal, she told me that it was the 28th of August. At least they use the same measurements of time.
“Yes,” Tia said. “A little fresh air will do a pony good.”
I nodded and turned back to the castle in the distance. We were at least a quarter mile away. Mile? I should really ask about measurement sometime soon. I noticed a small dot in the distance. “Hey Tia?”
“Hmm?”
“Is that somepony right there?”
She looked toward the castle too. “I believe so. It’s probably just a guard looking for me.” She turned to me. “Luna and I are actually supposed to be guarded at all times, but I like to sneak away sometimes.” She smiled mischievously, and I laughed.
“I never took you for a rebel,” I noted.
Tia just giggled and shrugged. “It’s annoying to have to be under watch 24/7.”
I nodded. “I can see how that could get under somepony’s skin.” I looked back at the dot to see that it was a grey Pegasus guard. “Is that, uh… Silver? Yeah, Silver Smith.”
“Yes it is.”
Silver Smith fluttered down to us, panting, and gave a half-hearted salute. “Luna… sent me to find… you and your guest,” he breathed between gasps.
“Come on, dude,” I poked. “You really need to get in shape! Is this how poor all the guards are?”
He glared at me as he caught his breath. “I’ll have you know… I had to search the whole castle before I checked… out here.”
I rolled my eyes and walked past him. “Pfft. Whatever, fatty.”
“Hey! At least I didn’t fall into a pile of manure!” he retorted.
I turned to him. “It was the sewer, thank you, and that was only because somepony was dumb enough to leave the cover off the hole in the street!”
“Oh yeah, cause that’s so much better.”
“Colts, please!” Tia yelled. “You’re both pretty. Can we go now?”
“Yes, Tia. As long as you think I’m pretty,” I teased and batted my eyes.
Smith jabbed my shoulder. “Come on, Romeo,” He turned to the castle and flew off.
I looked back at Tia. “He does realize we can teleport, right?” Tia giggled and shook her head. A flash later and we were at the gates to the gardens, waiting on him.
His speck gradually turned into a full pony before he landed, half winded. “Yeah, I realized halfway you could have just teleported us. Hehe…”
I laughed at him as we started walking back to the castle. “Not the sharpest needle in the haystack, are you?” Another jab. “Ow.”
“So hey,” Smith started, “I go off duty in an hour or so. Wanna hang out for a bit? I know this sweet pub near the castle with some of the best cider made by the Apple family.” They really date back, don’t they?
“Sure,” I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’ve been having better luck so far today. What could go wrong?” Tia giggled and Smith jabbed me again. Oi, that stings after a while.
“Shut up,” Smith said. “Don’t go jinxing us!”
I rolled my eyes. “What, are you superstitious?”
“Yes I am, for your information.”
“Interesting… But I bet you didn’t notice that black cat earlier,” I teased.
“Huh?! Where?” he panicked. I laughed and he glared at me. “Oh, I’ll get you for that later.”
“Ha, like you could get the Prank Master!” I announced. Tia quickly shoved a hoof over my mouth.
“Don’t let Luna hear that,” she warned. “She’s big on practical jokes, and always tries to take down anypony that says they’re better.”
I pushed her hoof away. “Like anypony could prank me.” Smith quickly stuck out a hoof in my path, causing my hoof to abruptly stop. Before I could fall, however, I lit up my magic and caught myself. I continued floating forward on the weight of my own magic a few more meters, and turned to stick my tongue out at Smith, who had stopped walking along with Tia.
She looked very impressed, but her expression quickly turned to one of shock. “Knight, look-” she yelled.
*SMACK* “…out.”
Ow…
I laid out on the ground rubbing my head. I looked up and saw a large wooden door. “Alright, whose bright idea was it to put a door in my path!”
Smith laughed at me. “Yeah, I’m sure the castle architect 10 years ago was thinking ‘Hmm, I think I should put a large door here for Knight to hurt himself on.’” Tia giggled.
“Whatever,” I stood up and pulled the door open. I held it for the others. “Ladies first.”
“Well what are you waiting for then?” Smith asked me and chuckled.
Tia rolled her eyes, grinning, and stepped through the doorway, Smith and I right behind.
*Knock knock*
I trotted to the door and opened it to find Smith standing on the other side. He didn’t have his guard armor, so I could clearly see his unkempt mane. His cutie mark was also visible. It was of a blacksmith’s hammer over an anvil. It was as grayscale as the rest of him. The only color coming from him was his dark blue eyes.
“You ready yet?” he asked.
“Yeah, just give me one moment.” I trotted back to the bedside table and took out a saddlebag containing a bag of bits that Tia let me borrow for tonight. I seriously need to pay her back for all this stuff sometime. Although if she’s like any pony in a fanfic, she’ll insist that I don’t owe her a thing. I rolled my eyes at the thought and returned to the front door. “Alright, let’s go,” I said.
“Sweet.” I used my newfound magic to shut my bedroom door and grew giddy at the thought of using magic successfully again.
By the time we got out of the castle, I noticed something. “Hey, Smith.”
“Hmm?”
“How do you carry anything without a saddlebag?” I asked.
Smith just laughed. “The same way any other Pegasus carries stuff.”
“How’s that?” He lifted his wing slightly to show a small pouch tucked underneath between his feathers. “Oh. Convenient.”
“Yep,” Smith said, “but you Unicorns have your magic, so you technically don’t have to carry anything. Just teleport it to you when you need it or let it hover near you.” He chuckled.
“Well, I don’t know how to teleport things yet,” I told him.
He looked at me confused. “Really? I thought every unicorn in Canterlot could do that.”
“I’m not from around here,” I said. “At least I don’t think so,” I quickly added, remembering my cover story.
“What do you mean?”
“I have amnesia,” I informed him. “I can’t remember anything besides my name, including how to perform magic. Tia and Luna found me right outside the Everfree Jungle-” Smith suddenly shivered, but I continued. “-And Tia only just started teaching me magic today.”
“Count yourself lucky,” Smith said. “The Everfree is a horrid place. You could have just as easily been found dead!” He took a few deep breaths to calm a bit. “At any rate, I hope you get your memory back soon. I can’t imagine what I would do if I couldn’t remember how awesome I am!”
I chuckled at him as we stepped outside the gates and into the street. I made sure to watch the area around my hooves this time. I noticed the roads were a little bit busier today so I asked Smith about it.
“Yesterday was Monday,” he told me. “Nopony really likes Mondays, so half the shops are closed.” I smiled. Some ponies I can relate to. We turned a corner and Smith pointed down the road. “That’s it. The Hay Noir.”
I looked where he was pointing and saw a rundown looking building. It easily stood out, since it was in the middle of a bunch of beautiful Upper-Class buildings. It had a swinging sign above the door that had the word ‘The’, a bale of hay below it, then the word ‘Noir’ below that. “Classy.”
“Hehe. Yeah. They’ve had a run of bad luck recently, so they’re not in the greatest shape, but I tell you, the Apple family’s Cider? Incredible!”
We walked inside to see a large bar, a few booths and chairs scattered about, and a pool table in the middle. How the hay do you play pool without fingers? The room was almost empty except for a group of four ponies in a booth in the corner of the room and some stallion passed out at the bar.
I stepped forward. “This place could use a little- WHOA!” I slipped and fell face first into the wet ground.
Smith laughed and carefully stepped closer. “You should lookout for those wet floor signs,” he said, pointing to my other side. “They’re usually important.”
After some scrabbling and a headache, I sat up and looked at the sign. It was identical to a human ‘wet floor’ sign, except it had a pony stick figure instead. I smiled, then started to chuckle, until I eventually broke out into laughter. Smith joined as he helped me the rest of the way up.
“Nice to see somepony with a sense of humor,” he said.
Smith and I trotted over to the bar, which had a long line of stools going down it. Standing on all fours, the stools easily came up to my neck. I began to wonder how anypony sat on these before I saw Smith climb the rungs and use his wings for extra lift. The stool gave me a little difficulty, but I eventually got it. After grabbing the barkeep’s attention, Smith ordered two mugs of hard cider. Hard cider? Smith noticed my confused face. “Something wrong?”
“Oh, no,” I said. “It’s just, I’m not that big on alcohol and I’ve never tried hard cider before.”
He just chuckled. “Don’t worry. It’s delicious, and the amount of alcohol in it is actually pretty small.”
I nodded as two mugs were placed in front of us. It looked just like the ones from the Cider Squeeze episode, same fizz and everything. Was all of Ponyville really excited for an alcoholic drink? This skews my view of the show tremendously... I picked it up and took a whiff. It smelled like any other mug of apple cider, so I quickly gulped down some. It tasted pretty good!
“Not bad,” I said looking over to Smith. “It’s kind of-” I suddenly stopped. My throat instantly started to burn and my stomach churned a bit. It wasn’t unbearable, but it caused my eyes to water and my face to turn red, and I coughed a bit.
Smith laughed at me. “I should have warned ya to go slow at first,” he said. Well, THANKS FOR THAT!
I sat there for a moment to let the feeling die down. The aftertaste was… surprisingly good. I took another sip, making sure to only drink a little. I smiled and sat my mug down.
“There you go!” Smith congratulated me. “Good, isn’t it?” I nodded and drank some more.
Once we finished our first cup, and got a refill, I turned to Smith. “So… A royal guard, huh?”
He lifted his cup. “Yep. Not as much fun as they advertise, I’ll tell you that. Hehe.”
“What made you join the guard?”
Smith stopped mid-sip and put his mug on the table, staring in the distance. “I’d… rather not talk about it,” he said sadly. “Let’s just say, I did some things I ain’t proud of, and it was either flee the country or join the guard.” He lifted his mug and drank the entire thing in one go. Okay, so neither one of us can talk about our past.
We sat there for a few minutes in silence. I was about to say something when I heard a gruff voice behind me.
“You’re in my seat.”
“Hmm?” I turned around to see a brown Earth pony stallion glaring at me. I couldn’t make out his cutie mark in this light. He looked… I don’t want to say fat… he looked fluffy.
Smith turned to him as well. “What do you mean, ‘Your seat’?” he asked.
“I mean, that’s my seat!” the stallion said, pointing at me.
“I don’t see your name on it!” Smith defended.
Smith and the stranger argued a bit more before I stepped in. “Hold on, Smith,” I cut him off. I hopped down between the stranger and the stool and smiled at him. “I’m so sorry.” I offered my hoof. “My name’s Knight, by the way.”
The stallion got a look that I could only describe as ‘disgusted’. “I don’t give a flying rat’s flank!” he said as he shoved past me. Okay, he needs to be brought down a peg. Smith was about to say something when I shook my head and grabbed my mug with my magic.
“Come on, Smith. He’s not worth it,” I told him. He hopped down as well and we started walking down the bar a few seats. I turned and quickly put a magic barrier between the stranger and his seat as he lowered himself on it. “Watch this,” I whispered to Smith as we climbed onto two new seats. He looked past me to see my barrier on the stool.
I started to slowly scoot the stool from underneath the fluffy stallion. Between his muzzle being stuffed in a mug, and my barrier holding him up, he didn’t notice. Once I got the stool free, I moved it across the bar. The stallion put down his mug to get a refill and gave me a questioning look since I was looking his way. I smiled at him, my mug still in my magical grasp to keep my glowing horn from raising suspicion.
As soon as he lifted his mug back up for another drink, I released my barrier and he fell, his mug landing on his head and cider running everywhere.
Smith and I started chuckling and drank some more. After a moment, I got a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see an angry, damp stallion. “What, is this your seat too?” I asked. He raised a forehoof and bucked me in the face, knocking me out cold.
I woke up a few hours later in my bedroom. My eye hurt a little, but I surprisingly didn’t have a headache. Not enough cider, probably. I looked toward the end of my bed to see Smith telling Tia what happened. Apparently after I was knocked out, Smith tackled the guy and arrested him for assault.
The look on Tia’s face was a weird combination of thinking it was hilarious and being disappointed in me, which left me wondering if I should be proud for standing up to that jerk, or disappointed as well for being mean. After Smith finished his overly energetic explanation, Tia walked over to my side.
“You should be more careful, Knight,” she said. “He could have been a lot more dangerous.”
“Yeah,” Smith agreed. “I could tell by looking at him that he wasn’t dangerous, which is why I stood up to him in the first place, but you had no idea. As far as you knew, he could have killed you on the spot for doing that.”
I gulped. I didn’t realize crime would be that big of a deal here. “Hehe. I’m sorry. I should have thought of that.”
Tia nuzzled me, making my cheeks burn. I think that’s just a sign of care, like a hug. But it still gets to me. “It’s all in the past, and you’re fine now. Just be more careful in the future, alright?” I nodded.
“Well, I’ve got work tomorrow, so I’ll see you ponies around!” Smith said. "We should definitely hang out some more," he told me. We waved as he left the room.
I looked back at Tia as she flashed something into the room. It was some kind of notebook. She explained that the castle’s doctor recommended that I record what happens to me, and that it might even help with my amnesia if I write out my thoughts. She laid it on the table next to me as she made her way to the door. “I’ll see you in the morning, Knight.”
“Goodnight, Tia,” I said as she shut the door, leaving me to my thoughts. Well, today’s gone a bit better than yesterday. Aside from the apparent crime, this place seems nice. I do miss my old technology though, but I’m sure magic studies will more than make up for that. I turned to the journal next to me and decided to start writing.
Author's Note
The first chapter to my prequel! As you might have noticed, these will all be one-shots; therefore they will typically be longer chapters and a bit more spread apart in update dates. Give me some feedback if you enjoyed it, though!
