Into Your Dreams...

Chapter 3: Magic

So we left from Vinyl's house, not sure what I should call her really, and went off to see Twilight. I could tell I was more steady on my hoofs than I was when Pinkie jumped me before, and decided to stop looking at my feet, and start looking around me. I mean a dirt road is only interesting for so long until you start thinking you're seeing the same rock every time you pass one. I saw all of the houses, the flowers, the meadows, hell even the SKY was beautiful due to the pegasi. I noted as much to my companion. What I didn't know is that we had an eavesdropper.

"Glad you think so," said a cocky tom-boyish voice from above me.

I looked up to see the one and only, Rainbow Dash, hovering over me with her casual flapping. I know I had seen her before, but being this close was different. Yes it was quite different to see her up close, seeing the texture of her wings, the wind's affect on her mane, even her cocky expression looked different in person than it does in the show. Her cyan coat too was vividly different, almost seeming like a color I had never seen before.

"Wow…" I said as I stood star-struck for a moment.

"I thought as much, all in a days work," she said, misunderstanding my stare.

Vinyl had to nudge me to get me to snap out of my stupor. I shook my head to clear it and felt a wave of nervousness crash over my head. Luckily, I had trained myself to be polite before nervous, although the effects were still audible in my voice.

"Hello, m-my name's...uh...M-Mirror Shadow," I managed to stutter out, "Are you R-R- (I took a deep breath to calm myself) Rainbow Dash?"

"The one and only!" she proclaimed.

"Glad to meet you," I said to her, then whispered to Vinyl, "should I tell her about-"

"Not quite yet," Vinyl replied.

"Hey! Where's your cutie mark Joe, and what's that on your shoulder?" Rainbow asked, a little off about us whispering and ignoring her.

"Oh well…" I began but Vinyl cut me off.

"He comes from an area where ponies aren't encouraged to search for themselves much, and since he just got here, well, he hasn't had much time to 'look,' if you understand." Vinyl answered for me.

"Okay, then what about that box there?" Rainbow asked again.

I nodded to Vinyl, signaling that I could handle it.

"Once the time comes, you'll find out," I replied with an unusual burst of cockiness.

"Awwwww commmmmeee oooooonnnnn!" she begged.

"Don't worry, your question shall be answered soon enough," I said in a cryptic tone. Vinyl giggled and Rainbow just stared un-comprehensively at me, totally not getting the joke.

"Alright whatever," she said turning around, "Good meeting you."

"You too," I called after her.

"Wouldn't have pegged you to be the nervous type, especially with your image," Vinyl commented as Dash flew away, clearly referring to my being an alicorn and the "outfit" that colored my body.

"Oh, you have no idea." I replied with a smirk.

"We're gonna have to find you a flying teacher too it seems."

That thought had totally passed me by, I had wings! I stopped walking for a moment and felt out to my wings, sending some energy their way as I began to notice their presence. I hadn't had time to explore my pony body for very long before leaving Vinyl's house so it was very strange. Slowly, as if waking from a long sleep, my wings opened, revealing a massive wingspan, and adding to my overall awesome image, Vinyl noticed I was lagging and looked back to tease me, but stopped in her tracks. It was her turn to stand and gaze.

"Woah…" she breathed as she saw my jet black wings extended for the first time.

Now I had some inclination that my height from Earth had transferred here as I had been quite taller than Vinyl in pony form, but I didn't realize that my wingspan was roughly twice my height in pony form. I must've looked amazing because Vinyl stood still so long her glasses fell off her nose and hit the ground.

"Hmm, sweet." I said smiling as I retracted my wings and caught back up to her, picking up her glasses for her and putting them on her face with my teeth and waking her up from HER stupor. She did like me, shaking to clear her head but still giving me a huge smile as she continued leading me to Twilight's Library.

As we approached the tree that held the library my nerves started firing again, but this time, Vinyl noticed and stopped and faced me.

"You okay?" she asked.

"ya-," I squeaked out. She raised her eyebrow. I cleared my throat and more confidently said, "Yes." We proceeded.

The tree itself wasn't entirely impressive, just the fact that there was a huge house carved out of it was what really amazed me. We walked up and knocked on the door. Spike (Twilight's Dragon for those who didn't know for whatever reason) answered.

"What brings you Vinyl? I told you already that the CD's got, ahem, 'mixed up.'" Spike inquired, apparently not seeing me.

"Oh no Spike, I'm not here for the CD's. My FRIEND and I wanted to see Twilight." She responded, adding even more emphasis on friend by nodding in my direction. Spike looked over, sized me up, and simply shrugged and walked away. Taking that as an invitation, Vinyl stepped across the doorway, me following her inside. I am taken aback as I see how big the room really is, especially after seeing the size of the tree on the outside. Also, the sheer amount of books this room had. I mean there were more books than I knew were possible to hold in a single place. I had been to libraries before, but this outdid them all. As I stood there ogling at all the books, Twilight came down the stairs.

Same as Rainbow, I saw Twilight through completely new eyes than before. Her rich purple mane parted by her horn, and streaked with her pink and light purple highlights, all different than they had seemed before. Her eyes seemingly even more beautiful in person- pony- but her cutie mark is what really had my attention. As she walked the five smaller stars surrounding the large one seemed to blink in and out, like the twinkling of stars at night.

"Hello Vinyl," she shifted her focus to me and blushed slightly, catching my stare, "Who's your friend?"

It took me a second to register this as I was still amazed by her cutie mark, but did twilight just blush upon seeing me? She didn't seem the shy type before, but then again I was just staring at her with wide-eyes set on her cutie mark.

"My name is Mirror Shadow," I said extending a hoof.

"Twilight," she replied, "It's a pleasure to meet someone new to Ponyville, especially an alicorn."

No questions about my trumpet here I guess. She had, however, put extra emphasis on "alicorn." 'Ah, that must be the reason she blushed,' I thought to myself. I guess I was a rare find here. I tried thinking of a response, but ended up only saying, "Likewise."

She turned to Vinyl and repeated Spike's inquiry, but instead replacing 'mixed up' with 'disorganized, pending organization.'

It was then that I spoke up, "Actually Twilight, we came here hoping you could start teaching me a thing or two about magic, since…I have this…yeah…" my nerves returning after the surge of confidence Vinyl had given me prior to entering the house, as the sentence got quieter and quieter. I was not used to this much human- er- PONY interaction in one day, and was starting to slip. 'How am I EVER going to get through this party tonight?'

Twilight perked up at the mention of magic, and asked me how after growing up an ALICORN that I didn't know any magic. The explanation, courtesy of Vinyl once again, was the same as the one to Rainbow, save for her relating it to my magic.

"Well that explains the lack of a cutie mark," Twilight thought aloud, then smiled, "Yes Joseph, I would love to help teach you magic."

Vinyl told me to go back to her pad in about three hours to meet up to go to the party. I nodded and she left. For the next three hours I received a crash-course in magic as Twilight, seeming to not have tutored anyone before me, pumped every bit of knowledge she could fit into my head, which was surprisingly a lot. I seemed to have a talent for spell casting after learning to grab objects, levitation- on items, others, and myself-, teleportation, invisibility, and even walking through walls (that one took the most time.) Eventually, three hours passed and I hugged Twilight goodbye, thanking her for her wisdom, and began walking home. There was a distinct lack of ponies around town as I trotted by. I decided to try a little magic to make my trip faster. I looked about 200 meters ahead of me, focused and envisioned myself being at that spot. I then closed my eyes and poofed to where I had say, but was upside-down, and ended up on my back, with a headache, and birds flying around my head.

"Guess I'll have to work on that," I muttered standing back up rubbing my head, trying to relieve the pain.

It took another ten minutes of walking before reaching the door. I rapped my hoof on the oak door and it slowly opened on its own. I was suspicious, but took a step inside. I heard a cannon fire and the lights flick on as it seemed like a hundred ponies appeared from nowhere yelling "SUPRISE!", as I was hit with a blast of confetti, sending me back through the doorway, and onto the lawn.

All I remember thinking was, "Ow," before blacking out

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Hey thought I would thank all those who have read my story. This story was a few weeks in the process of thought, and evolved into what it is now. In case you're wondering about the guy in the story...don't worry about it. If you are worrying about it, message me and I'll put you and your inquiries (I love that word) to rest. Thank you for the support so far.

-Skiskinator