The Magic Within

by karavalenge

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Human, Adventure
Length: 4393

MLP figurines come to life and assist bronies in saving the world from a darkened sun.

Brony Edward Miller has always wanted a figurine of a pony, anypony. Fear of ridicule from his friends and relations has always kept him from the straight-forward approach of buying one from Toys-R-Us.

That changes when one day he meets an old, black woman with a penchant for crafting figurines. The figurine she makes for Edward stuns him by how much it looks like the real thing, much better than any toy he could buy in a store. What does this and the mysterious tenants of his apartment complex have to do with a slowly-dimming sun, blamed by most others on Global Cooling?

Premise based on The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey.

(This story uses multiple perspectives. Chapters are released two at a time, human and pony. It is possible to read just the humans or just the ponies, but the whole story fits together when all chapters are read.)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-18 20:20:19 UTC

E: A Perfectly Ordinary Apartment

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.

TS: A Perfectly Ordinary Figurine

Twilight Sparkle: A Perfectly Ordinary Figurine

Darkness.

Everything had been darkness. Twilight didn't know how long it had all been darkness. There was one day long ago when there was light. She tried to look around, but all was darkness.

Am I dead?

It was something Twilight questioned regularly. Time had no meaning in the darkness. She couldn't even remember the last time she had seen light. Did she have friends when she was in the light? Or had she always been alone?

The darkness had no answer. Her thoughts remained her own.

"Awaken, my little pony, and see the new world. A companion is waiting to meet you, and we shall see the story unfurl."

The darkness spoke to her, Twilight's eyes darted around, trying to find the source of the voice. In the distant darkness, there was a figure she almost hadn't seen. Her body floated through the darkness towards it. "Zecora...?" Where did she know that name from? It came out of her mouth without even she realizing it.

The zebra smirked. "Awaken." She said, and smacked Twilight across the face.

"Ow!" Twilight rubbed her face. Well, it seemed like it hurt, but suddenly there was no pain anymore. She looked around. Twilight was sitting on a small table surrounded by candles that looked like they had recently been put out. The rest of the room was filled with tiki masks, urns, and a large cauldron on one side. A door closed, Twilight yelped out as she saw a large creature, dark like chocolate and very large, maybe even bigger than the Ursa Major.

"Don't be afraid, my little pony. My name is Zelna." The creature spoke. It threw Twilight off-guard.

"Um, hello?"

"What, do you not have a name?" The creature named Zelna gave her a worried look.

"Oh, it's Twilight Sparkle, sorry..." Twilight was unsure if she would rather have the darkness than this. "Um, was I dead just now? What was that darkness?"

"I do not know what you experienced, Twilight. Your spirit has been lost for many thousand years, so you may not be accustomed to 'living' again." Zelna paused as she saw Twilight's puzzled look. "The world has changed much. The Equestria you knew is long gone, as are all of the ponies."

"No..." Twilight took this hard. She sat down and tried to comprehend what Zelna was saying. "The- the Princess and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and everypony, gone?" The names came to her memory, but she didn't know the meaning.

"Well, not quite. Your friends are like you, in a stasis, waiting for the right time to reawaken in this new world." Zelna pulled out a chest from underneath the platform where Twilight was standing. She opened the chest for Twilight to see. Inside were Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, all with not moving one bit, not even a whisper of breath. Seeing her friends, she was able to remember everything. The adventures in Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, and all of the fun she had with her friends. What had happened?

"What... what is this? And where is Fluttershy? And how did I get out of that?" So many questions, but were there answers? "And why are we so small?"

"One question at a time, please. Like I said, the Equestria that you know is gone. The age of ponies came to an end long ago, and in their place rose up the humans. Over time, the humans and everything around them have become much physically larger because they stopped using magic long ago. Everything magical remained small it seems, I do not know why. There are many things I still do not know. As for your friends and how I came by you, that is a unique story. About 30 years ago, someone from a toy company found you while on a jog through some uninhabited forests. To her, you looked like toy ponies that someone had left behind on accident. It inspired her to make her own set of ponies. Flash forward to two years ago now. Someone else at this company finds you six in a vault once again, and makes a TV show based off of you six specifically. I believe it was some kind of divine intervention that caused the inspiration behind this program, but it became a detailed account of the very real lives you once lived. The show was a huge success, and now we are here. You and your friends were sold in a variety of auctions and passed through many hands before I finally recollected all of you."

Twilight was speechless. Was this all true? How could it be? "Then, how am I back? And you still haven't told me where Fluttershy is."

"The TV show did more than just entertain people, it returned some magic into their hearts. But because humans are so unused to magic after so many years, they do not know how to harness it. I was given a... gift, shall we say, that let me find humans who have that magic. I can use their magic to restore you to life, but there are some rules."

"Why am I getting the feeling that you're going to tell me something bad?"

"You have a psychic connection with this young man now, you can't tell as of yet because he slumbers, but when he wakes it will be quite obvious. Also, until the magic in his heart truly awakens, he can not comprehend you being anything other than a toy. When he is with you, you will be unable to move or talk, until he finally accepts magic as real. Finally, if he loses that magic in his heart, then you will return to your stasis. Poor Pinkie Pie here as already lost three of her 'Alters' as I call them."

"That's terrible... so does this mean that Fluttershy is..."

"Yes, Fluttershy is awake as well right now. You may not be able to see her for awhile, who knows. Until your Alter accepts magic, you won't have much free reign."

What a strange world to wake in... thought Twilight. "Maybe I can make the best of this. I'm sure there's plenty of new books for me to read, right? Maybe someday all of us will be awake again..."

"That's the spirit. Don't give up your hope. When you've given up hope, then nopony has hope." Zelna replaced the chest of the other mares back under the table, to Twilight's dismay. "It's safe for them here. I spent much of the past two years finding them, and I don't want to lose them now."

"Alright, is there anything I need to do?"

"You must help your Alter discover magic. I've observed the other ponies trying, and learned that a straightforward approach doesn't work. You have to remember that he doesn't know you're alive, and thus doing things too out of the ordinary will make him question his sanity."

"Sounds rough... Are you sure I can handle it?"

"No, but you don't have much choice in the matter." Zelna looked out a window, "It's nearly morning, we'll see how well you do." Despite any further protesting from Twilight, she was lifted into a box. The box became pitch black as the lid closed over her. Nothing to do now but wait...

“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.”  Twilight stirred, that was Zelna's voice coming from beyond the box. “Don’t worry, nobody else knows.”

Some movement later and the box lid was lifted. Twilight tried to shield her eyes from the sudden light, but she couldn't move her hooves! "When he is with you, you will be unable to move or talk, until he finally accepts magic as real." That's what Zelna said, right? She was lifted out of the box, her eyes coming into contact with another human. This one was much taller and thinner than Zelna, and he had a pale complexion compared to Zelna's chocolate skin. The human looked around every inch of Twilight. Hey! That's really rude! she thought, as he started to lift her tail. If Twilight were able to blush, she would have, but the human stopped and shook his head, as if he regretted to even think that.

Wait, Zelna said that I have some kind of psychic connection with him... Did I just stop him from doing that? Regardless, it looked like the young man no longer had any plans to get a good look at Twilight's flank. He set her down on a cushy surface, a bed maybe? Twilight couldn't exactly turn her head and look. For the next few hours, all she could see was the young man unpacking boxes.

Twilight was relocated to a desk after the man finished unpacking most of his stuff. The room Twilight was now in looked gorgeous. The walls were painted like the night sky, as if somepony, er someone, had painted the room specifically for her. In her mind, she sighed. There didn't seem to be any nights of carefree stargazing in sight. Where would she even find a telescope her size now.

The human patted her head a couple of times. Twilight enjoyed this affection much more than whatever was going on in his head earlier. "Mr. Miller!" Oh, that sounded like Zelna again. "We're having lunch on the roof if you want to join us!" The human, Miller was his name then? Miller gave Twilight another pat on the head before finally leaving the room.

Twilight's body unstiffened, she was able to move again. As she finally got to look around the room, she remembered Zelna's words of warning: "You have to remember that he doesn't know you're alive, and thus doing things too out of the ordinary will make him question his sanity." Whatever she was going to do, she had to make sure that she did- books.

There were huge books right next to her, even if they were pony-sized they were still considerably larger than most books from the library. She levitated the book on top open, and hopped onto it to read. It described the nature of actions and energy in the world, something Twilight had never stopped to think about. Curious, she continued reading, having to jump down from the book in order to turn to the next page. She quickly lost track of the time.

Physics, motion, energy, and force! They had always been in the world, but back in Equestria, nopony seemed to really worry about "science" like this. If there was something that somepony didn't understand, it was easy enough to just say that magic caused it. Twilight wondered if these terms really were magic, but humans had made them up as part of their history of forgetting about magic. She continued to read the book, absorbing all of the knowledge inside of it.

Suddenly, the door behind her open, and Twilight froze in place once more. "Hey, cool! Twilight Sparkle!" He... he knows my name? Oh right, that TV show thing Zelna was talking about. "Ms. Zelna gave me a Fluttershy. I like how you put her on this Physics book as if she were reading it." Fluttershy? So this must be her Alter. The man lifted her up, giving her a chance to look at his face. His mane was longer than Miller's, and he wore glasses.

Miller took Twilight out of the new guy's hands quickly. "What do you mean reading- when did I open this book?" he closed the book Twilight had been reading and set her on top of it, not thinking twice about it, thankfully. "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." The other man left. So, Eddy Miller was her Alter's name. He patted her once more on the head before he went back to unpacking. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad life after all.