A Bright Idea

Oh, hello again. Remember me? Of course you do, or you wouldn't be reading this right now, right? Well, I just wanted to tell you a bit about the..."interesting" events I've been going through today. Yes, yes, I know, you want to know what happened to my cutie mark, but that can wait just a moment, alright?

Wow, what sudden change of events. One second I'm walking around on Earth, then I'm talking to this faceless...thing, calling herself the A.V.O.O.N. Saying I'm going to Ponyville. Of course, my heart would normally flutter at this moment, but...that just didn't work out so well. I mean, it was so hard to believe, my voice changed, and I had no body. How was I able to even be excited at this moment? But I am now, writing this. Oh, but the way, I can't tell you where I am right now, or things would be...weird, you would probably understand nothing, and at the same time understand enough to just stop reading right now and rage quit. Alright, I'll give you a small hint: we're hiding. from them. "Who?" You might ask. But I can't tell. No, not yet...

Oh,  I'm sorry for wasting your time. You wanted to know what happened to my cutie mark? Of course, here you go...

* * * * * *

"Well, this was interesting" i muttered. My cutie mark was...how to put it out, glowing? Sparkling? Blinding? Not really blinding, but it was emanating light, although not that much. It looked as if the lightbulb was turned on, glowing. But still, a glowing cutie mark? Wow. Why? I have no idea. Bluenight was just staring, with a look of shock and surprise on her face.

"A-amazing" she stammered. "How did you do that?"

"I have no idea" Just as I finished saying 'idea' it stopped glowing abruptly and went back to it's normal boring self.

Bluenight stared with even more shock and surprise this time, and I found myself snickering, before bursting out into laughter. Her expression was priceless! If I had a camera right now I would take a picture in a heartbeat, that's how funny it was.

I stopped and she shook her head.

"What just happened!?" She shouted.

"I don't know, you tell me" I snickered some more, but she shot me a do-that-again-and-you-will-regret-it glare, which made me stop.

I didn't really care why my cutie mark did that, so I trotted up to a bookcase and brought down a book with a hoof as if nothing had happened. I still had no idea how to use magic, so I decided now was a good time to start, starting with the most basic spell: telekinesis. I always wanted to do telekinesis in real life, so I went to websites and tutorial stuffs on the internet to learn how. Sadly, nothing worked, probably because I was so impatient I would quit after five seconds and do something else.

The book said that in order to use magic, the most important weapon was determination. If a unicorn has enough determination, he/she would be able to do any spell. well, most spells atleast. Every unicorn has some sort of limit on how much magic they can use, measured in D.M.M.A, short for Diagnostically Measured Magical Affinity. Various ponies has different ways of knowing how...

"Hey, I was reading that!" I shouted. Bluenight had snatched the book out of my hands...no, hooves! She snatched the book out of my hooves and was flapping her wings in the air, preventing me from getting it back.

"First you tell me what the hay happened!" She said.

"I already told you, I have no idea!" Great. Barely known each other for ten minutes, and already we have our first argument.

"Yeah, you know what? I don't believe that" she said.

"How comes you say that?" I asked, starting to get mad.

"Well, first off, you didn't  seem very surprised when it happened, so you've got to know why it happened. Secondly, I've been shouting this question multiple times while you were reading this Celestia-forsaken book, and you didn't even notice me!"

What? I didn't notice her? I must have really delved deep into that book. But how will I answer without revealing something? Come on, Rex, think, think, think!

*gasp* that's it!

"Well, it happened alot before, don't you think I'm used to it now? It's MY cutie mark, anyway, none of your business" I said. Hopefully my lie would come through.

"There! Look! There it is again!" She pointed at me, while I turned around to look. Yep, it was glowing again. I used all my willpower not to drop my jaw and look surprised. I turned to her and opened my muzzle to talk, but she was not there! Where was she? I turned around and saw that she was staring intensely at my cutie mark.

"Hey, stop staring at my flank like that!" I bursted out without thinking. She jerked back.

" no! I wasn't staring at your...I mean, I was staring at your...no, I mean..." She looked down and her cheeks started to go red.

"Are you...blushing?" I asked.

"WHAT!!? I'm not blushing!" Her whole face went completely red. That was absolutely adorable.

"If you want me to forgive you, then start by giving me that book" I said, pointing on the object she held in her hooves. She frowned, but handed...no, hoofed? She hoofed me the book (is that how you say it?).

So now I could finally go back to reading. Now where was I...

Ah, that's right.

Various ponies has different ways of knowing how to measure their D.M.M.A. The most common way is that a pony can feel how much they have left, but some lack this ability, although it's very rare. Those without this abilty can use a spell to check it, but it will constantly drain their D.M.M.A, while others can bla bla bla yadda yadda etc.

Now there was a lot of stuff that didn't tell me how to use telekinesis, so I just skipped to the part on how to use the spell.

It read, in order to perform the spell, just imagine some kind of invisible power enveloping the desired object and lift it. Pretty much the exact same way back on earth, except there it never worked.

I looked around. There were a lot of things to try this on, like books, chairs, cups, paintings, etc, so I decided to try it on the book I was reading. I spread my legs a little bit to gain position and started, slowly but surely, to do as the instructions said. Truth be told, after countless tries as a human, I didn't expect it to work. Now imagine my expression when the book rocketed up and teared down several planks from the roof. Hehe...lolleries. Lots of lolleries. (I really hate you sometimes, brain.) Suprisingly, Bluenight didn't say anything. She actually looked kinda amused.

After several minutes of training, well, after what felt like several minutes, I perfected it. So I could basically levitate an object around. You have no idea how amazing it feels to be able to lift something with your mind just like that. And my horn. Oh my god the horn. It feels like I'm being scratched at spots I didn't know I had that have been itching for ages. And having a horn certainly feels...weird. I tried touching it with my hoof. It felt just like a hard rock of some kind, until I knocked on it with my hoof.

The following moments went by with me rolling around on the floor, agonized by the pain surging through my body. Bluenight was chuckling.

"You shouldn't have done that" she said. Why did those words feel nostalgic to me?

I didn't say anything. Finally the pain subsided, and I stood up, a slight headache paining me.

"Please remind me not to do that again" i said.

I looked around, until I found what I searched for (I was getting complaints because of this part, so I'll tell you: the object was a clock. Happy now?). There was fifteen minutes left until the store would open, so I decided, why not go out and make some friends? I started to visualize being greeted by Pinkie Pie, and then she would hold a party, and then she would introduce me to everypony, and...wow, I'm just rambling on right now. But it's really hard to contain my excitement.

"Hey Bluenight, do you think you could take care of the store for a few minutes while I go out and explore a bit?" I asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't go out if I were you." She said.

"Huh? Why not?" I asked.

"Because the Pegasky force are about to release bombs over Ponyville any second now." She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Pega-what now?" I asked.

"The Pegasky force. They will drop the bombs right about..." She looked at the clock "...now".

"Bombs? What are you tal..." That's all I said before I heard a huge explosion and the whole building started rumbling. I lost balance and fell to the floor. I could barely make out all the books falling out from their shelves, as I instinctively scanned the area for a place to hold on to. I found a random pole and held on to it for my dear life. Closing my eyes, I waited for the rumbling to stop. After a moment, the rumble finally stopped. I opened my eyes and looked for that darn pegasus. She had been levitating all this time, so the earthquake had no effect on her. I opened my mouth but she stopped me.

"Don't release just yet, there'll be more coming any moment now." Ha! That's what she said! Ugh, what a terrible pun.

I held on even more than before. I was willing to do anything as long as I would survive this nightmare. And soon the earthquake came back. If I thought the last one was bad, it was nothing compared to the next one that came.

I could barely manage to hold on to the pole, while I saw pretty much every single book falling out of their shelves. It was a truly sad sight to see, but I couldn't care more, as wave after wave of earthquakes and explosions came, one more fiercer than the other. Strange thing is, nothing broke from the explosions. The third one took it's toll on me, as I lost grip from the pole. I can't quite remember what happened after, but I think...gah, who am I kidding, I can't remember shit, so don't ask.

* * * * * *

I woke up.

At first, I didn't know where I was, so I opened my eyes. I was greeted by a wooden roof. I looked to the right, and saw a wooden wall. I looked to the left, and I saw some kind of blue blob. I think my vision must have been blurry, so I squinted my eyes. After a while, I could properly see what it was. A pony with blue coat and wings, mane and tail going from light blue to dark blue and a cutie mark of a crescent moon with a few stars around it.

"Feeling better?" She asked. It took me a moment to realize she was asking me.

"I don't...I mean...what...uh...what happened?" I asked.

"Don't you remember? You passed out at the earthquake."

"I did wha..." Then it all came back to me. How the earthquake had started, then how I grabbed the pole, all the books that fell out of their shelves, how I lost grip of the pole and somehow fell unconscious. Then waking up here. I noticed she was holding my hoof, but I didn't make any attempts at removing it. It actually felt kinda nice.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Two days" she said.

"Ah, okay, two days..." I mumbled, "so I was...wait, two DAYS?!" I blurted out.

"Yup, two days."

"Are you absolutely sure it's not two hours or something?"

"Nope, two days. You were unconscious for two days. Oh, and your horn is broken."

"WHAT!?" I screamed, my hooves instantly went up to my forehead. Oh, how I wish I didn't do that.

"What was that for?" I had tears in my eyes from the pain.

"Well, after your fatal little mishap, with only ten minutes before opening, I was forced to drag you up the stairs (and don't get me started on heavy you are), pick up all the books and place them in their respective places, fix the furniture, all while there were impatient customers waiting outside. So I had to open thirty minutes later than normal. You're lucky I could come up with an excuse, or we would have lost this place to the government."

I only have these words to say.

Mind = Blown.

I just looked at her for multiple moments. Then I looked down in shame.

"I...I'm sorry..." I said, deeply ashamed of what had happened.

"Oh, don't worry, it wasn't your fault." She said with a smile. "If it weren't for that blasted air force..." She frowned. I think she owes me an explanation right now.

"But what about them?" I asked.

"About what?"

"The...what's it called...Pegasky force. Who and what are they?"

"What? You never heard of them?" She said.

"Uh...well...I...I guess I'm kinda new to this..." I think I blushed a bit.

"Oh, alright" she said with a smile. "The Pegasky force, or just the force, as I like to call them, are the current Equestria's curse. Oh, and they're pegasi, by the way."

OH, AND DID YOU KNOW THAT I HAVE TWO EYES, AND CAN SEE WITH THEM?!

"They like to hide in their stupid cloud-fortress they call Cloudsdale, attacking us ground-living ponies whenever they feel like it, just because they can. They  think they are better than the other races, and they have years supplies of food and water, stuffing their little bellies up there while we fight for food down here."

But, you're a pegasus, didn't you live in Cloudsdale or something?" I asked.

"Yes, I did live there, and I have a family living there." then she frowned. "Well, I had, until they completely ditched me when I was sixteen years old. Both my sisters and mother. And I had a little brother, too. He was the only pony I could trust and share my secrets with. He was only seven years old when I left..." She looked down a little bit, and I could see a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Oh...I...I'm  sorry to hear that." I truly was. But she quickly recomposed herself.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I got over it."

Yeah, I'm sure you did (sarcasm).

"So you said you left?" I asked, just to change the subject and get her in a better mood.

"Yes, I did. Three days after they left me, I found out about this whole Pegasky force thing. Don't ask how, please."

"Alright. Please go on" I said.

Without further ado, she went on.

"I thought it was so cruel back then, so I left as fast as I could, without telling anypony. I just wish I could have told my brother before I left..." She didn't seem to be able to contain anymore, because she started to release tears, sniffing loudly. Don't ask me why I did this, But out of instinct, I bent forward, bringing her into a tight hug. She tried to push me away, but I didn't budge.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go!" She kept trying to push.

"Nope." I answered, not releasing.

"Why aren't you releasing me?" Her attempts became weaker.

"Because you're not even trying to push me away." I said, still not releasing.

Her attempts at pushing me away stopped completely.

"You know, Bluenight, you lied to me." I said, sincerity in my voice.

"I...what?" She seemed baffled by my statement.

"You lied to me. You told me you had gotten over it, didn't you?"

"Over what?"

"Your brother."

"Uh...yes?"

"Obviously, that is not the case. You have kept it inside of you, trying to get over it, but you couldn't. You long to see him again, and I think you should visit him, am I not right?"

This time she really pushed herself out of the hug and looked at me with anger in her eyes.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is? If I were up there they would kill me on sight! Even worse if I were to be seen with him, I would doom all of Equestria!"

"Huh? Why is that?" I asked.

"Because..." She sniffed, " ...how do you think I knew there was an attack two days ago?"

"Well, uh..." Then it hit me. "Oh..."

"He's the transceiver! He's the one who monitors all the information! That's how he knows when it happens. He found out about the Force, so he sends the information to all of Equestria's radios, unnoticed!"

"But how? If he sent it, shouldn't the Pegasky force be able to notice it?" I asked.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong" she said, a grin slowly creeping up on her face. "You see, my brother is a genius. He has been tinkering with machines since he was a foal, and he learned all by himself, nopony taught him. He even baffles me sometimes!" She laughed a bit, but quickly turned serious again.

"But that's also the reason he can't come down. If he did, he would leave Equestria at huge risk. You have no idea how big of a responsibility he has on his shoulders."

"But wait, why doesn't the elements of harmony fix all of this?" I asked her.

"Nope, that's out of the question." She said.

"But why? Why can't they just fix everything with their magic of friendship, as they always do?"

She stared into my eyes with a serious look on her face.

"Because they all died 500 years ago."