Blur. For a moment that was the only thing she could see, blur preventing her to see anything in front of her, she didn’t even knew if her eyes were open or close. As her eyes slowly adjusted, her vision became clear, and colors started to take place. She notice the abundance of the color blue filling where she was, a further inspection revealed that she was in what it looked like the inside of a cart, like those royal ponies travel in. She noticed that everything from the walls to the seats, even the small table in front of her were blue. On the outside window she could only see a thick fog. Her back started to shiver as she tried to remember who did she got there.
“Where am I?” She asked herself. Looking down to her purple hooves, inspecting if anything was out of place.
“Welcome… To the Velvet Room.” A regal voice suddenly was heard, she jumped on her seat staring at the two figures who were now in front of her sitting on the other side of the table, she could have sworn they weren’t there a moment ago.
“It seems that our new guest is an interesting one.” The tall pony chuckled. Her white coat made her stand out in the blue room, her mane waved and shimmered with many beautiful colors. As she inspected the pony she spotted a couple of things that took her full attention, the white pony had a pair of wings folded on her sides, but also she had a large horn. She was sure she has never seen or heard of a pony with more than one quality.
The second pony, another winged unicorn, nodded her head in agreement. Her dark blue coat almost camouflaged with the colors of the room. She had her eyes closed and carried a book on her hooves.
“My name is Celestia. Is a pleasure to make you, our guest,” The white pony introduced herself
“Your guest?... What is this place?” She asked.
“As I said, this is the Velvet Room. It is a place between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a place that only those with the contract may enter.” Her motherly voice was, in some way, comforting.
“Did you bring me here?” She asked.
“It may be that a fate in which our service is required awaits you. Now then, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Said Celestia. The blue pony levitated the book and opened it.
“My name... “ She hesitated for a moment “Is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Do you believe in fortune telling?” Celestia asked, placing her right hoof on the table in front of her.
“N-not really.” Twilight answered.
“A common answer nowadays,” Celestia said while lifting her hoove from the table. A deck of cards appeared on it, however, Twilight looked closely and noticed that Celestia’s horn never glowed with magic. It is common for magician unicorn to make things “appear” or “disappear”, but there was no sign of magic.
“Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. Life itself follows this principle, don’t you agree?” With a wave of her long and slender leg, the cards moved on their own, once again, Celestia’s horn didn’t focused magic when this happened. The cards finally took place in a stars hape.
“S-sure?” Said Twilight, trying figure out what was happening. Celestia giggled when hearing this.
“Let’s see what the future holds for you.” The white pony waved her head and in the same way the card on the left turned over.
“The tower in the upright position. It seems that a catastrophe is imminent.” The calm voice didn’t change telling this frightening warning.
“A catastrophe?! When? What is it?!” The purple unicorn stood up from her sit.
“This card represents the immediate future, it doesn’t say more,” She answered, reassuring a little of safety to the unicorn
“The card indicating the future beyond that is...” She waved her hoof and the card on the right turned over.
“The moon in the upright position. This card represents a mystery,,, Interesting.” Celestia stated, her voice becoming more deep.
“It seems that you will face misfortune in your journey, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“In the coming days you will make a contract, after that you will be invited here once again.” Celestia continued.
“Are you listen to me?” The unicorn pressed.
“Be very careful, if the mystery goes unsolved, your future, and the one to those around you, may be forever lost. Do you understand?”
Twilight rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, it was obvious that she was ignored. She sighed and answered “Yes.”
“Our duty is to help you in your journey. Now-” Before she could conclude her sentence she was interrupted by the other pony who cleared her throat.
“Oh, it seems that I neglected to introduce to you my sister,” Celestia blushed as she apologized “ This is Luna, as myself, she is a resident of this room.”
“I am Luna, I’m here to assist thee in thy journey.” Luna said, her voice was much more deep compared with her sister’s, and her emotionless face made Twilight a little nervous.
“More will be revealed in due time. Until then farewell.” Celestia continued.
The image became blurry once again as Celestia’s voice faded. Twilight tried to speak, but she felt so sleepy, her eyes felt heavy and in a matter of seconds she went unconscious
Twilight widely opened her eyes, she was no longer in the blue room. She found herself in the seat of a train. She looked out from the window next to her to see the green hills the train was crossing through.
The speaker over her head suddenly made a turn on sound and the voice of a pony came from it “Next stop: Ponyville. Please have your luggage ready when leaving the train.” As the voice of the train conductor faded from the speaker, Twilight Sparkle used her magic to bring her huge bag from the rack above her seat.
she opened the bag to see if her belongings didn’t suffer any damage from the travel. The heavy bag was mostly filled with books, most of them being her most special and rarest book she found. She spotted a particular book titled Speed Reading, a smile appeared on her lips as she remembered when she was a little filly and her mother gifted her that book the first day of school. But it also triggered a memory from not too long ago.
“Good news: we found a job for you as a librarian,” A unicorn stallion told her rubbing his large white mustache “Bad news: in a town called Ponyville.”
“Ponyville? But that’s just too far. And what about my family? And-” Twilight said.
“It’s only for a year,” The stallion reassured “After that Mrs. Bookmark will take her retirement and you can come back here to be in charge of Canterlot library. Don’t worry, Miss Sparkle, a year will pass by faster than you know.”
The wheels of the train shrieked and the speed decreased. Buildings started to appear on the right side of the train. Just as the rest of the ponies told her, the town was small. She could see where did it start and ends just by glancing her eyes. She hopped for that, her experience with ponies was not a pleasant one and she prefered to interact with less ponies as possible. A small town meant a small amount of ponies, not much name memorization, and keeping track of books would be quite easy.
She stepped out from the train, in total there were only three more passengers going to Ponyville, she thanked she didn’t have to struggle to get out like when she traveled in Canterlot train. As she left the train she stretched her legs before taking a peek on Ponyville street’s a little deeper. The town was particularly calm with only few ponies walking around the streets and not much noise, the only sounds were the train turning off it’s engine and birds singing on the trees. She took a deep breath “This is nice.” She said to herself.
There was a pony, a pink coated unicorn mare with purple mane, holding a sign with her magic, the sign said Sparkle poorly written,. Twilight approached her thinking she was looking for her.
“Hello?” Twilight greeted.
“Are you Twilight Sparkle?” The mare asked. Twilight nodded her head saying yes.
“Hello, Welcome to Ponyville. My name is Amethyst Star.” The pony introduced herself. She raised her right hoof offering a shake. It is uncommon for Canterlot ponies to say hello in that way, but Twilight didn’t want to stick out so early.
“Thank you, how did you know of my arrival?”
“Professor Silver Quill sent me a letter of your coming. He asked me to pick you up. show you around, and take care of you if you needed.”
“Oh, that’s great. I don’t know anypony here.”
“Well, now you do. Come on.” Amethyst invited to follow her, while taking Twilight’s bag with her magic.
The streets of Ponyville were almost barren which made it easier to memorize the buildings, or at least use them as a guide. As Amethyst Start guided the pony across the town she pointed at buildings and told her about what could she find there.
“And that’s Quills and Sofas, as the name suggests they only sell two two things.” Amethyst said.
“I’m a little thirsty, is there a place where I can get anything to drink?”
“I know just the place, follow me.”
They walked a couple of streets until Twilight saw a building in the shape of a gingerbread house covered with frosting and many other sweets as decorations. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was a building, Twilight would have thought it was a toy or some kind of dessert.
“This is Sugar Cube Corner,” Amethyst announced “Everypony in town comes here, they have the best treats in all of Equestria, and their milkshakes are to die for. If you want a sweet or just looking for somepony this is the first place you should look in.” She raised her hoof in front of the establishment as if she was doing some kind of advertisement.
They walked into the store that held many ponies, enjoying the treats the place was famous for. There was an earth pony drinking what it seemed to be ice tea, she had light brown coat and a light blue mane, she noticed the new costumers, she stood up from her seat and walked near them.
“Hello, detective, the usual?” She asked.
“No, no. Not this time, Ambrosia,” Amethyst blushed a little and waved her hoofs in negation “I’m showing the town to her, she’s from Canterlot.”
“Oh, cool. Welcome to Ponyville.” Ambrosia greeted.
“I’ll order you a milkshake, you wait here.” The pink unicorn said before leaving to the store counter.
“Canterlot, huh? This is a small town, you’ll get bored very quickly. I suggest you get a good hobby or a job to kill time.” The earth pony said.
“Thanks, but I already got a job. I’m the new librarian.” Said Twilight.
“That doesn’t help with the boredom part.” Ambrosia giggled.
“Oh, but I love books. I can’t read all day and never get tired.” Twilight said proudly.
“That’s okay, I guess. I work at the antique store, we are always looking for help. So, if you ever change your mind, you can come with us.” She raised her hoof just like Amethyst did. They bumped hooves in a cheerful greet.
“Ups! My break is over. Gotta go back to work. See you later… Uhm…”
“Twilight Sparkle.”
“Take care, and welcome.” Ambrosia said before leaving the place running.
Amethyst returned with two milk shakes floating with her magic, she pointed to an empty table on the right side of the store. They sat on the table as the milk shake landed.
“So… You are a detective?” Asked Twilight.
“Mh? Oh, yeah. Yes, I am,” Amethyst Star cleaned the milkshake out of her face when answering “This is a small town, there aren’t many troubles around, but police force is needed every now and then. We aren’t many, if you ever get need any kind of help just come with me or my partner.”
Twilight smiled when hearing the detective pony with still some cool whip on her muzzle. There was something on that place that made her feel secure, maybe it was the fact that she was drinking with a detective or that she was in such small town..
The voices of the other ponies filled the store, every moment a little bit more, Twilight couldn’t help but overhear what the ponies said on the table next to them.
“Are you sure about that?” A stallion asked.
“Of course, that council pony is stalling here in Ponyville.”
“Council pony?” Twilight asked to herself.
“Is that damn gossip,” Amethyst sighed “A pony from Canterlot Council presumably cheated on her coltfriend with a common pony from here. Ponies said he’s here with that stallion right now, but no one knows for sure.”
“I heard about that, but I didn’t really- Agh!” Twilight suddenly felt a sudden pain on her chest. For a second she felt like she couldn’t breath, the pain came directly from her heart. And just as it came, the pain suddenly disappeared.
“Are you okay?” Amethyst asked.
“I… I think so. I might be just tired from the trip. Can you take me to where I’m staying, please?”
“Sure thing. Follow me.” Amethyst said cleaning the milkshake from her muzzle.
They left the place in hurry, although Twilight no longer felt dizzy Amethyst wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to her guest. Thankfully the trip to her new home was short. They approached the largest tree Twilight has ever seen, a huge oak decorated with lanterns, windows, two balconies, and on the very top a telescope. In front of the tree there was a sign reading Golden Oak Library.
“This is nice, but I really think I should go rest.” Twilight suggested.
“This is where you are staying. The library was built so the librarian could stay there, it has two bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen, a basement, and water service. Many ponies wanted to buy this place… Including me.”
The Canterlot pony’s face changed into the biggest smile she has ever done, she was going to live her dream. She has fallen asleep in a library during her many night time researches,, but never has she been blessed with the opportunity of living in a library.
Using her magic, Amethyst gave Twilight the keys of the place. Four silver keys with a star shape key chain. “I have work tomorrow, but I’ll come by during the weekend to check up on you. If that’s okay with.”
“You are welcome, thank you.”
“Take care, and welcome again.” The pink unicorn turned her back, she walked back to town in a slow pace.
Twilight used her new keys to open the front door. The inside of the tree was full of darkness, curtains on the window prevented light to illuminate the place. She used her horn as a lamp only to notice that the interior was not what she expected. She thought the library would be filled with dust and spiderwebs, considering how long has been since the last librarian lived there, instead she found all sorts of junk laying around, potato chips bags, empty soda cans, candy wraps, banana peels, apple cores, and many more things she couldn’t tell what they were.
“Agh! Ponies used this place a giant trash can. Makes me wonder why would anypony want to buy this place.” She said to herself after looking at all the mess.
She lifted some of the junk, but quickly let it go. In another moment she would have cleaned up everything before doing anything else, but today she felt completely tired and not in the mood to do the cleaning process. She walked up the stairs leading to the main bedroom. In a surprising turn of event, the main bedroom had a personal library, a large bookshelf underneath a half snail stairway, on the top the bed tiddly made awaited for her. She marched right to it, paying little attention to the rest of the things adorning the bedroom, and laid on the bed. Before she knew it, she was already on a trip to dreamland.
Twilight opened her eyes, she was no longer on the comfy bed of the library, she was now on what seemed to be a on a path made out of red stone blocks, a thick fog prevented her from seeing anything else besides the red path. Behind her the path ended and she feared of taking a step back.
“How did I get here?” She asked to herself.
“Come…” The voice of someone could be hear from the end of the path “Are you seeking the truth?” She wasn’t sure what it’s gender what or what it said after that, but she knew there was no other choice than following the path.
The unicorn walked slowly trying to make out something out of the fog around her, but no matter how hard she tried the fog was too thick tell something apart Not even with her magic did the fog gave in. Suddenly something blocked her path, she stumbled upon it, almost crashing with it because of her lack of vision: it was a wall with red and black colors painted as a spiral. A further inspection revealed a soft part on the middle of the wall, instinctively Twilight placed her right hoof on it and the wall suddenly disappear in front of her.
She took a few steps forward and stopped when the shape of a pony floating in midair appeared in between the fog, it was a dark shape, judging from the lack of wings and horn it was for sure the shape of an earth pony. Unfortunately she couldn’t see more than that.
“So, you are looking for the truth.” It was the same voice she heard before. She felt unsure, and thusly retracted her hooves in a intend to protect herself.
“Wh-who are you?” She asked.
“It seems that you can see a little here despite the fog.” The creature said.
“I said, who are you?!” Twilight pressed.
“I AM the one holding the truth you desire. If you wish to get it, come.” The voice announce softly.
For some reason, Twilight felt the need to do something she never does: Confront it physically. She ran as quickly as her hooves let her, she jumped and opened her legs trying to catch the figure in front of her, however, as she did she found nothing between her legs. In fact, the distance between them appeared to never have changed despite the rush.
“You seem to have an interesting quality.” The creature said.
Twilight once again sprinted to the figure, this time she wouldn’t do anything until she was positive she’s in front of the thing. Once she approached it, she turned her back and tried to buck it with all her might. Sadly, she found out that her attack didn’t connect and the figure was, again, out of her reach.
“Everypony see what they want to, and the fog only thickens.” The pony said, the fog around them became dense. Twilight was no longer able to see the figure of the pony, she almost wasn’t able to see her hooves in front of her face. The only thing she could do was staying on her ground.
“Don’t worry, we will meet again. In another time, another place.” The voice of the pony became an echo.
Twilight felt her eyes becoming heavier, her legs no longer responded, her own thoughts started to disappear from her mind. She stumbled on the red floor as she lost complete consciousness.