Book Horse

"Well what changed her?" A voice.

"It might be that book she won't let go of. Or magical cosmic radiation. Who knows? Certainly not chaos magic, we know that. I'm afraid this might be permanent." A different voice.

"I'm awake you know. So where exactly am I?" I mutter quietly. Hoping for a understandable answer.

"You're in the Ponyville Library miss?" A blurry purple target waves something around fishing for my name.

"Book Horse. At least that's what I am allowed to call myself now." I hug the book tightly to my stomach. It may be a cursed item that can change me an possibly others but I cannot bear the thought of giving it up to anypony. It almost physically hurts to have such thoughts. "I used to have a different name. I know that much. I just cant say it anymore." I grin at the pony who is slowly coming into focus. Oddly familiar too. Hmmm. I squint at the frowning pony.

"So you have bad eyesight too? Hmmm. You are smaller than me by a large margin. Almost bordering on being filly like in size though your physiology tells me you are an adult. Quite eerie seeing me at a smaller scale. May I take a look at your mana?" She looks at me quietly, examining from almost all sides. "Oh! I have a spare set of glasses if you want to try them on."

"The blurriness is headache inducing miss?" This time I'm the one fishing around for a name for my apparent doppelgänger who laughs and offers a hoof. "The glasses would be very nice right about now. Gosh you have bad eyesight. Kinda like I did."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. And it is nice to meet you Book, But would you mind if I had a look at your mana?" She is relentlessly pursuing my permission for this. Something flashes bright purple and a dusty set of glasses are lowered onto my muzzle. They work perfectly and everything comes into focus. I blink at the quizzical pony frown a foot away.

"Err. Yeah I suppose it's fine. Why would you wait until I was awake to check anyhoof?" I smile nervously at Twilight Sparkle, hoping she drops the frown. It seems like she would have a pleasant smile.

"Oh! Right. It embarrasses some ponies when they have low mana pools. It's a bit like goosing a stallion to see what they have. Well, that's how I always got told of it. Soo, I have your full permission?" She blushes sheepishly at this and rubs the back of her head with a fore hoof. I nod at her and she smiles. "Thank you. It will be interesting what your mana level will be at. Though I suspect it will be lower than average." She gasps and covers her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I did not mean to imply that you had low mana."

"Miss Twilight. It is quite fine. Carry on with any test you see fit to do." I laugh at the frantic pony. She blinks and focuses on something right past my head.

"Is your book floating?" She points a hoof behind me and I whirl around afraid I had lost hold of my book. Sure enough it was floating right in front of my eyes. As I stare bewildered at it it gives an inviting wiggle and I snatch it out of the air and hold it tightly to my chest. Then a tingly feeling comes over me and Twilight gasps. "That much? I only have a bit more than that! Wow..."

I turn around to see Twilight looking at me in a very odd way. "Err miss Sparkle? Is everything all right?" She licks her lips and I hug the book nervously. "Miss?" This is getting scary the way she's staring at me. She blinks and forces herself to focus.

"You have a large mana pool. If you were a natural unicorn this would be high. And from the way you reacted to the spell you have high spell sensitivity as well. I'm almost jealous. But it means that things have gotten a bit more complicated for integration." She frowns momentarily before smiling. "I always did want a little sister to teach magic too. Now I sort of have one. Sort of. You don't have family here." She sighs. she looks at me from under droopy ears. "I'm sorry. This must be terrible. And I probably am making it worse."

I wave a hoof and push up my glasses with telekinesis. "I was actually really alone back there. I wasn't depressed or anything, I was just really alone there. My job was ok though. And my family was not good to be around. All in all I didn't lose much. Soooooo. Yeah. Hopeful to learn new things and start my grand adventure all over again." I grin at the purple pony and wiggle my book at her in an amusing fashion. "I do seem to know how to do this. So maybe integration will be easier?"

She stares at my book and I reel it in quickly. In case she tries to go after the book even then I clutch it in my forelegs. "So you really need that book?" I nod quietly and hug it tightly. It is mine and I do not want let any pony else touch it. That does seem odd doesn't it? Being so possessive over a book that I read once. One that changed my life forever.

"I can not call myself or even say my old name. But I don't think the book would mind if I chose a new name." Saying this gives me a small sense of certainty and I nod at Twilight. "Perhaps I will stop needing it so much eventually. But until then we are a package deal." With that out of the way a pleasant warmth fills me and I relax into the couch I've been placed on. This is the best book I have ever read and I don't regret reading it. Not. One. Bit. I yawn at Twilight. "I do believe I am quite sleepy. Maybe we can talk some more later? You seem like a pleasant individual."

"Ohh. Yes. You may sleep. And keep the glasses. I don't need them anymore. Do you want a blanket?" She quietly asks me before she summons one anyways and tucks me in. "Rest well little book." She blinks suddenly and her horn glows. "Fascinating. the book appears to be emitting a magic field that makes others want to care for you. It appears to want to see you succeed just as much as the rest of us." Her horn glows again and a shimmering field envelopes her. She then frowns at the book and trots out. The lights stay on for a bit and I feel the book pressing into me and its comforting shape grows warm on my fur. I slowly fall asleep under the lights in quiet happiness.