The Magic Within

Edward: A Perfectly Ordinary Apartment

Edward Miller stood in front of 368 Apple St. The name of the street made him briefly think of ponies, though most other people would think of, you guessed it, apples. Perhaps it was the name of the apartment complex he stood in front of that made him think that: Apple Acre. Not the most appropriate name, not even being a quarter of the block. Maybe some years ago it had been a farm with thousands of apple trees and they just kept the name when the city built around them.

Edward walked up the wooden steps of the bright red complex. There were a number of bells, probably connected to different rooms. There were about ten bells, but only two of them were labeled, “Zelna - Landlady” and “Wright.” Edward rang the former, and after a few seconds, heard shuffling from behind the door as a lock was unlatched. The door swung open revealing a rather short, black woman. She wore a black and white striped coat that would have reminded many people of a prison, but to Edward she looked like a zebra. Even her name was Zebra-esque.

The squat woman stared at Edward expectantly, one of few words apparently. “Hello, Ms. Zelna? I’m Edward Miller, the college student who called about a room a few days ago?”

“Oh, Mr. Miller, there’s a short question process before you can board here. I don’t want any trouble-makers near.”

Odd, that almost sounded like a rhyme... he thought to himself, then dismissed it as pure coincidence. “That’s fair, may I come inside?”

Zelna led Edward inside of the complex. The inside seemed to be split right down the center, a room on both sides for five stories, and a staircase between the two rooms led to the other stories. The first floor looked to be Zelna’s own quarters. There were few decorations, only an occasional tiki mask and vase. Must be one of those “Roots” women he thought in passing.

She led him to the room on the left, which appeared to be her personal apartment. It had all the bearings of a normal home: a small living room/kitchen combination, and some closed doors leading to what were probably a bathroom and bedroom. “Mr. Miller,” she said, motioning him towards the couch while she sat on a nearby chair, “Do you know why there is only one tenant currently in this apartment? And it’s not because there are those who won’t pay rent.” There, she rhymed again. Was Edward imagining things?

There were rumors sure, everyone at the university told him to go nowhere near this place. Rumors of voodoo magic and bright lights in the middle of the night. Edward couldn’t help it though, college proved to be a bit more expensive than he had hoped, and this place was cheaper than living on-campus. “I dunno, bad neighborhood?”

The old woman chuckled, “No Mr. Miller, this is a mild neighborhood, you never hear anything bad happening around this place. Do you believe in magic, Mr. Miller.?” Oh, she dropped the rhyming. It really must have been his imagination.

“Magic? You mean like... voodoo? Not really.” His friends sure seemed to believe it when he told them that he was planning on living here.

“Oh, no, not like voodoo. More like, friendship.” Zelna grinned, showing off how few teeth she had remaining.

Was he imagining things? The name of the complex, how much this old woman reminded him of a zebra, and now this, which he could only explain as a very obvious remark about My Little Pony. “Yes, yes I do.”

“I think you’ll enjoy it here, Mr. Miller. It’s fifty dollars a month, water’s free. There’s a washing mac...” They talked for some time about the rules and what was and wasn’t allowed. Every tenant was allowed to decorate their room however they wanted, and tenants on the same floor could decorate that floor how they wanted. Zelna’s living room was open if he ever wanted to humor the old woman, but the room across the hall, the right room on the first floor, was completely off-limits. A fair trade for such a cheap apartment, and the rooms didn’t even smell bad.

There was one month before classes started again. The sun shone brightly over the city of Janne. Edward silently thanked the city for putting a mall within walking distance of Apple Acre. Zelna made sure that Edward knew that she expected him to decorate his room. When he lived in the dorms on-campus, he always kept it the same bland white walls, so why not get a little creative and color it up?

Nobody he knew would be going by his apartment at any rate, so why not paint it with MLP in mind? With a totally empty room as his canvas, Edward could get really creative when painting. He bought various shades of purple and pink paint cans, already envisioning what his room would look like soon enough. While returning to the parking lot, something caught his eye. Toys-R-Us had a My Little Pony stand set up in front of their store. Edward watched as parents took their girls to the booth to buy a figurine of their favorite pony from the hit TV show. As much as he wanted one, Edward couldn’t bring himself to go near. What if someone I know sees me, or worse, if one of the parents there is a future professor of mine...

Some deliberation later and Edward left the mall, only paint in his hands. The couple minutes it took to walk back to Apple Acre gave him time to berate himself for not getting over his fear and just buying a pony. A pony would brighten his day just by seeing it when waking up every morning.

Edward noticed a truck parked in front of the apartment complex as he neared it. Probably his stuff moved from the dorms, but... someone was already moving it inside.

A voice came from the porch, it was the landlady Ms. Zelna again, “Oh, Mr. Miller, your things came while you were out. We were going to wait for you to come back, but my other tenant wanted to surprise you with everything already moved up the stairs for you. Such a kind man that Mr. Wright.”

Sure enough, Edward watched as a young man with long hair bolted out of the apartment complex and onto the back of the truck, dashing back into the house at a blazing speed carrying a box of Edward’s belongings. Edward stood there wondering just who this man was, it wasn’t often somebody you didn’t know was eager to help you move in. Edward looked in the back of the truck, the young man had just gotten the very last box apparently.

After the mover’s truck left, Miller carried his paints upstairs. There was somebody in his room, probably the same man who had moved everything up for him. “Hello?” he asked as he pushed the door open.

A young man, maybe a year older than Edward, was flipping through a book from one of Edward’s boxes. “Oh? Hey, you’re the new tenant, right?” The young man put the book down and took the paints from Edward, dropping them in the corner of the room.

“Uh, excuse me?” Does this guy have to stick his nose in my stuff?

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should introduce myself.” He turned towards Edward and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “The name’s Nick Wright, yes like that one video game, go ahead and get any ‘Objections’ out of your system.” Edward wasn’t really listening to him though. Nick was wearing a My Little Pony shirt, he was a fellow brony. Edward staring at the shirt didn’t go unnoticed, “Like it? I can get you a shirt too, who’s your favorite pony?”

“Ah, no, that’s alright. My name’s Edward Miller.” Even if Edward had a shirt like that, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to wear it in public.

“Can I call you Eddy? Or maybe Big Ed? Nah, that’s too much like Big Mac. Say, you going to Janne University? So am I, what do you study?” Nick seemed to edge closer and closer to Edward with every question.

“Listen, thanks for bringing my things up here, but I really need to get to work on unpacking. Maybe we can talk later?” Say anything to get rid of him, please.

Nick frowned a little, but perked up again immediately, “Hey, no problem man. You’re still getting used to the place, so I’ll leave you be. Come by my place if you need any help.” And Nick was out the door.

Edward didn’t get much unpacking done, he was too eager to start painting. Only his bedroom was set up, while the living room had now become his canvas. First, a dark purple base, and then bright pink stars, just like...

“Twilight...” came a voice from behind him. Edward spun around wielding his paintbrush like a sword. It was the landlady Zelna. “It looks like a twilight sky, was that your inspiration?”

“Oh, uh, yeah I guess.” His pony secret seemed to be safe for now. “You don’t mind that the paint’s made it a little dark in here?”

“Not at all, it seems very soothing. I’ll let you get back to it.” and she left. Edward listened to her footsteps going down the stairs, and then into the room on the right, the room below his. He wondered just what it was that was down there, why was she so adamant that he never enter that room? Edward continued to paint through the rest of the day, finally falling asleep in the middle of the night.

The next morning, Edward awoke to someone knocking on his door. He quickly got dressed and opened the door to find Ms. Zelna holding out a gift-wrapped box. “Good morning, Mr. Miller. I give a gift to all of my tenants, and here is yours, I made it last night after my chores.” She winked. “Don’t worry, nobody else knows.” She then returned downstairs to do whatever housework she needed to, leaving Edward wondering just what was in the box.

Edward sat down on his bed, the only seat in his apartment that wasn’t still covered in packing material, and unwrapped the box carefully. Inside was the best-looking figurine of Twilight Sparkle he had ever seen. Even compared to the most-skilled brony sculptors, this was perfect. She looked as if she had come straight out of the cartoon. “Thanks, Ms. Zelna...” he whispered to himself.

Now he was curious though, just how accurate was the figurine? He turned the pony around and around in his palm, examining every bit. It only made him appreciate the craftsmanship even more. He was about to lift up her tail, but something stopped him. Something in his head yelled "That's really rude!" at him, and he stopped. "What am I doing..." he mumbled to himself, blushing awkwardly. "It's just a toy, right?" Nevertheless, Edward didn't try to look there again.

By noon, Edward had gotten through half of his boxes. His room looked somewhat like someone was staying in it, rather than just storage. His new Twilight Sparkle figurine sat next to his computer and stack of text books. He smiled, a little pony all for his own. Not only that, but a spectacularly crafted one. Was this why so many people didn't like Apple Acre? He patted the head of the figurine. Her hair and coat were soft, like a real pony. Whatever material it was made out of, it was certainly more than just plastic.

"Mr. Miller!" Zelna's voice came from the hall. "We're having lunch on the roof if you want to join us!" Edward's stomach growled. He gave Twilight's mane an extra pat before he climbed the stairs to the roof. The upper floors all seemed so bare without anyone living there. Not even any decorations from past residents.

"This food's really good, Ms. Zelna. Just as always." Nick wolfed down tons of the African-style food while Edward ate a moderate amount.

"Thank you for the figurine, Ms. Zelna."

"It is no trouble at all. And enough with the 'Ms' stuff, just Zelna when you give me a call." She smiled while watching them eat. It made Edward feel a little awkward.

"Zelna, why do you rhyme so much, even if it's not all the time?"

"It's just something I do for fun. So far it hasn't made anyone run."

"Okay, that one wasn't as good. Maybe I'm just ruining the mood." Nick chimed in. The three of them joked and rhymed into the night. Edward knew he had chosen a good place to live.

Nick followed Edward back to his room. "Come on, you gotta let me see it!" Nick was getting on Edward's nerves a little, but the man was genuine. He let nothing stop him from giving out his true feelings on any matter.

"Alright alright, but I have to finish unpacking sometime..." Nick bolted through Edward's door, looking everywhere at once.

Nick immediately spotted the figurine Zelna had given to Edward that morning. "Hey, cool! Twilight Sparkle! Ms. Zelna gave me a Fluttershy. I like how you put her on this Physics book as if she were reading it." Physics book...? Sure enough, there was an open book on his desk, where the figurine supposedly had been.

Edward took the figurine from Nick's hands. "What do you mean reading- when did I open this book?" he closed the book on his desk and set Twilight on top of it, not thinking twice about it. Nick was overstaying his welcome, as usual. "I've got to unpack the rest of this stuff, so I'll talk to you later, Nick."

"Sure Eddy, don't forget you can ask me for help any time." With that, Nick waved goodbye and headed back to his own apartment. Edward patted Twilight's head one more time. What could possibly go wrong from here? he asked himself.