The Heir of Winter

by WinterLune

Rating: mature
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, Profanity, Adventure
Length: 38288

Dreams are a strange quirk of peoples lives. Many such people can say they're a gateway into another world. Those thoughts are true for me in this world called Equestria. I wonder how much of this life is real. Or is it all just Fantasy?

Dreams are the gateway to a life you never lived, at least, that’s what I like to think of them as; endless possibilities and unknowable futures. Fantastic worlds, filled with life, hope and wonder. A life you never lived, a world you've never come to know as your own. Places like those are what I would actually want to protect with my life.

That place, for me, is Equestria. A world I've only dreamt about for many years of my life; the show having ended so long ago it's nearly a faded memory, having given us many a detail of the Equestrian life and just how important friendship truly is.

Now I've found my self on a world I had only dreamt about for many long years of my life, my form changed along with my gender..... And I plan on using that new life to its fullest extent. For better or worse. I'm stuck here in this new body I've found myself in.

I just wish I knew why everything here felt so familiar to me, let alone why I seemingly got used to this body so quickly. Surely I've never been here before, right?

[Sex tag removed, profanity tag now being used for sexual references and swearing, any and all actual lewd action will happen in a side kept non-cannon story of its own. Gore tag for gruesome depictions much further down the line, IE; broken bones, blood and battle wounds. Tags to likely be updated further as the story progresses, as slow as it may be for me to finish the story, I am still building things in the background despite the long gaps in chapter publishing.]

Published 2017-07-24 06:20:07 UTC
Last updated 2022-10-02 00:21:53 UTC

Chapter 1 - Dreams are Sometimes Real

Heir of Winter

Chapter 1

Dreams are Sometimes Real

Dreams are the gateway to a life you never lived, at least, that’s what I like to think of them as; endless possibilities and unknowable futures. But alas, I’m just your average human male, multiple years out of highschool with no real direction to go, no car, no money, no job, no real life to live. How old am I you’re asking now? That’s not important, to me at least, but for the sake of just being less of a drag, I’m twenty four years old and still living in my parents house with very few friends to show for it; most if not all of my old school friends moved away ages ago and the most contact I have anymore with them is either via the internet or a single friend that I hang out with once a month or so. Dreams can only give you so much from your own life's respite.

This is about something different altogether. You see, I have these dreams sometimes about other worlds. Fantastic worlds, filled with life, hope and wonder. And usually, for the most part about a place called Equestria. Equestria is a place I think about a lot more than my own life, more because I don’t like Earth for all its problems, its strife and drama. You know, all that ilk. Now, Equestria is a place, well, more of a fictional place if I have to say it is, which I don’t want to say is because of my own dilemma. I would rather say it’s just another place humans have not touched and defiled with their bloody conquests for land and fame. Someplace I would actually want to protect with my life; something I almost never say about anything or anywhere. Earth included.

Anyway, Equestria is a land governed by two Alicorn rulers that make the night and day by using magic to move the sun and moon around their planet of Equis (for seemingly unknown reasons since one on earth would think that their planet would naturally rotate around their sun and the moon around their planet).

Their subjects are the earth ponies, the unicorns and the pegasi. The earth ponies mainly govern the land as farmers as they are more closely intertwined with the land then the other races, of course this means that like the land they also have unique abilities, traits and the like. Earth ponies have a vast amount of stamina and strength, it wouldn’t be unusual to see one hauling around a massive amount of stock in a cart for selling in the market. In that notation, because they are so close to the land and what comes off it, they are generally astounding cooks (assuming they practiced; getting a pan of cookies out of an oven with your mouth isn’t exactly an easy task)

Pegasi on the other hand, or hoof in their case, are masters of the sky and are able to craft the very fabric of weather, fly at blisteringly fast speeds and even stand on clouds. Most prefer to live in the sky rather than the ground as they feel it gives them more freedom. I personally think there’s more reasons than just a sake of freedom, such as the ground having a different air quality then their lungs can handle. For lack of better terming, different air quality to them would make a pegasi rather sleepy on the ground a lot of the time unless they got used to the difference.

Now, Unicorns on the other hoof or hand are generally the wild card of the three races or, technically, four races. Alicorns being a combo of all three. For what they lack in strength or flight they gain in the arts of magic. Magic being the very premise of their being a well trained Unicorn in the arts of magic and the arcane could very well trump over all the other races aside for the Alicorns. Their abilities in magic can make them able to fly, or give themselves a large boost to their strength. Generally the only limit to magic is a unicorns own ability or imagination to craft new spells, or rather their own innate magical ability as not all unicorns are made equal in that manor. The same can be said for the other races regardless, it’s all down to their own ability and their specialty.

Specialty being that of something called in their world. A Cutie Mark. This mark that comes onto both sides of their flanks at some unelected time in their lives is a representation of their own talent, generally a symbol tieing into what that talent is, or rather a part of what it is. After all everybody, or everypony in their case, has more than one tallent.

Anyway, these dreams of mine are usually of this world. Most being vague in their meanings or what they want me to see or know, at least that’s how I like to think of dreams, a glimpse into another world away from the problems of your own.

I just plain don’t like Earth in its entirety. Sure some things here and there are nice. But honestly I would rather not wake up in the morning to see it again.

Waking up the the same old morning is rather boring, the same routine, the same people, same old and same old. But like same old, a person in a rut tries their best to get themselves out of it or, at the very least, try to find the thing that’s causing the problem and find a fix for it, even if it’s only temporary. That is of course to say if it can be fixed at all.

I almost never bother to take walks when I wake up in the morning, though the times I do it’s usually to collect my thoughts on a rather large dream that I had woken up to. Why I picked to go take my walk in the backyard woods during the winter on the other hand I’m more than likely never going to figure out; it’s always better to take walks in the summer.

“Cold as usual.” I remark to myself while I rub my gloveless hands together, ”I could have just stayed indoors in a nice and also, frankly, just as cold room of my own; not like the cold bothers me as much as it used to.” My room is normally always cold in the winter, be it just from my heater not working right or otherwise; you get used to being cold after a while. On the bright side the snow wasn’t all that deep this year, it for made walking around with normal shoes a lot easier on me; though it didn’t save my socks from getting wet.

The walk through my home's backyard was uneventful, I had honestly figured I would have ran into a deer or two since I see them from my back yard window every so often, but right now? Not even a sound aside the crunch of snow under my shoes could be heard; frankly it was rather unusual, though I wasn’t one to question things very often. Eventually I came to the pond that I normally passed by whenever I felt like coming back here, though that wasn’t often in the slightest. I always liked to stop here and sit on the rock next to it, right under a massive tree that always felt warmer than usual. Though I never had come back to the pond in the winter, I found it odd that the pond hadn’t frozen over in the slightest, nor did the rock have any snow on it. I figured it best to just call myself lucky that my butt didn’t have to get wet from sitting down.

And that’s exactly what I did, I went over to the rock and sat my rump down to think while looking down at my still reflection in the pond. ”Why do I always have to wake up in a place that doesn’t feel like home?” I asked myself reflection aloud; thinking in my head always seemed harder to me for some reason. ”Every time I wake up I always wish I could just go back to sleep and live in my dreams instead, more so when those dreams feel more like home then my life here on a planet called earth.” That’s how my thinking usually goes, talking to myself, wishing for things to change, wanting a different life other than the one I was living.

I leaned my back against the trunk of the large tree behind me and my rock. It was an old tree, almost too old to think possible. You could take seven fully grown adults and they still wouldn’t be able to get all their arms around the size of its massive trunk, it wasn’t even a redwood tree. ”And you’ve seen just about everything, haven't you?” I remarked to the tree, it almost felt like I could get an answer from it for some reason, no matter how many times I asked it something it always sat there listening with its warm glow; even if I felt a little silly for doing so.

I sat under that tree for a long while, just pondering the what ifs of life, eventually starting to feel like I wanted to take a nap; something I almost never bother doing, let alone sleeping outdoors. It was a long walk back to the house and I didn’t feel like heading back while tired while I had wet and cold socks to deal with; I took my shoes and socks off to dry on the warmth of the tree figuring it better to have them off then to have them on. I chose to sit myself against the tree and sleep for a while, ”I wish I could have lived a better life than this; there’s so much I wanted to do with my life that I can’t do here.” I said aloud to nobody in particular while I put the hood of my hoodie over my head to block out the sunlight and drifted off to sleep. The tree giving me an unheard answer.

Strangely enough, I didn’t dream at all while sleeping under that tree.

I awoke slowly, my rest being entirely uneventful. The first thing that I noticed is that I was entirely covered head to toe in snow, I didn’t remember the weather forecast saying that it was supposed to snow today, ”Typical.” A smaller and higher pitched voice remarked that didn’t sound like my own said using my mouth, ”And since when do I sound like a girl?” I remarked to my own voice as I pushed my way out of the snow with my face to look at the outside world.

It was still day time as far as I could tell, in fact, it looked like no time had passed at all. I did however notice that everything looked a fair amount larger than it used to, ”Alright, weirdness noted.” I mumbled to myself, pushing the rest of myself out of the snow, not used to the voice coming out of my own mouth. I promptly fell flat onto my face, my center of gravity being entirely off from where it used to be, something was definitely different. ”Okay, so either I’m dreaming or my body is entirely different from what it used to be.” I noted while sitting myself on the snow to get a better look at my surroundings, everything looked pretty much the same aside for the now frozen over pond that was covered in snow, ”No reflections for me I guess.”

That left me with the only option of looking my limbs over. The first thing I noticed was that I didn’t have hands or feet, only hooves covered in fur that was just as white as the snow; I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. My hair, or mane in this case, was also just as white as the snow and liked to get into my eye, my now apparent tail was the same color. ”So, either I got turned into a filly or I’m still dreaming.” I would have done the pain test to find out if I was, but, there’s an odd thing about my dreams that caused me not to. I can still feel pain in my dreams, an oddity that I never figured out. A second check over told me my favorite hoodie was absent from my body, not something to be happy about but at least I had fur as a replacement.

The filly part was true, there’s nothing down there anymore aside a tiny pair of teats. I wasn’t going to dwell on it; on one side of the scale if I was dreaming then I would eventually wake up and even if I wasn’t I had a new life to live for no apparent reason; and I did say I didn’t like my current one, I wasn’t going to complain about the details and I had my reasons not to. Even if that meant leaving my family behind and having a vagina, I was overdue to move out anyway.

Having checked over everything that I could think of I didn’t feel the need to wait around any longer. The snow was deep enough to help me regain my center of balance and gave me a better sense on how to walk around on four legs, aside for a few fumbles here and there, relearning to walk wasn’t all that difficult; though it didn’t keep me from falling into deeper patches of snow. I went back in the general direction of my home, the trip taking a lot longer because of my size and inexperience with my current body. By the time I got around where my house should be It was around the mid morning hour, a time I tried my best to eat lunch at; though that was usually the time I got myself out of bed.

I would have liked to have said I went inside to eat lunch, that simply wasn’t the case, my house wasn’t there. In its place was a park rather empty of anybody aside a single adult sized pony wearing a scarf keeping an eye on others that seemed around my size playing around in the snow, none of them gave me any notice, I figured I blended into the snow too well for them to see me. It was around this time that I felt like saying that I was more than likely not dreaming, the one thing about my dreams is that people or others in the dream with me had always been fuzzy blurs. These figures were as clear as day.

“Come on everypony, back into the schoolhouse for lunch!” The adult in the group exclaimed while dinging a bell on a post. It was around that same time that I noticed the vibrantly painted school building literally right next to the playground; how in the world did I miss that? It was also around that same time that my belly decided to make its hunger apparent to me by growling rather loudly in a defiant exclamation, ”Feed me you silly filly.” It seemed to be saying. I wasn’t going to argue with it, if the schoolhouse had food I wasn’t about to pass it up. I made my way with the others into the school building. Surprisingly none of them noticed me, that is until I was the last one to step into the building.

“Ghost!” one of the fillies exclaimed at me screaming and falling over as if she had fainted. All eyes were on me after that, there was a lot of confusion and screaming. The adult on the other hoof, I guess it would be hoof now, worked on calming everypony else down from my arrival. They didn’t take all that long to calm everypony down, seems they were rather good at their job. On that note they were also looking at me after the commotion, ”Well, you gave us all quite the startle, though, I will admit. I wasn’t expecting any new fillies to teach today.” She eyed me down in study, her eyes looked as if they could look through anything. Though with my coloring, I would almost take that in a more literal term.

“Erm…” I stuttered, ”I got lost on the way here, forgot my lunch at home.”

The pony studied me for a while longer before sighing, ”You should have come sooner then or at least with one of your parents. School has already started” She said with a huff, ”If somepony wants to share some of their lunch with her please do. After that you can have a seat next to Sweetie Belle. Also, I would like to talk to you after school is over.” She glances over to the one that actually, in fact had fainted. ”And somepony please wake Sweetie Belle up.” With that she walked back to her desk to eat.

Lunch was unsurprisingly, again, all eyes on the snow white filly. I had a lot of questions asked to me, like 'When did you move to Ponyville?” or ”Where did you come from?”, ”What’s your name?”, ”Do you have a cutie mark?” and all the like. Unfortunately a lot of the questions I simply couldn’t answer either because I didn’t know or because I didn’t want them to know. Though on the bright side I did get lunch, ironically from the very filly named Sweetie Belle whom had fainted upon my arrival. A whole tulip sandwich, apparently her sister packed her an extra for some reason, it was rather buttery to my pallet but overall not bad.

“But really though, what is your name?” One of the colts in the class asked. I didn’t really have one to give as far as I knew, at least not one for this pony body I had. I had no other choice but to lie about it.

”Wispy Spirits.” I said, though for some reason it didn’t sound like I actually was lying about my name; it fit rather well considering my body color. I hadn’t noticed the teacher giving a letter to a Pegasus outside a window.

The rest of school thankfully went smoothly, math and the like. It also confirmed my location. I was on Equis, in the nation of Equestria, in the town of Ponyville. Truth be told I couldn’t have been any happier to figure that out, it’s a place that I had wished I had been born to so many times over that the very thought was almost surreal to me. How could I have gotten here was another thought, along with why did I become a filly? I was a guy before, so a change in gender is definitely an oddball. Not that I’m complaining about it, it’s a chance to see life on the other end of the scale, though using the bathroom is going to be weird for a while. Regardless, those questions could hopefully be answered later.

School ended a little while later when the clock on the wall struck three past noon. All the other fillies and colts grabbed their bags and went off home with their parents while the older ones went home alone, leaving me alone in the schoolhouse with the teacher. ”So, Wispy Spirits was it?” I nodded at the teacher while she looked at me, ”I sent a letter into town asking for your parents registry and residence since they didn’t come with you to bring you to school today, or to be frank, bother to tell me you were coming.” She said with a sigh, ”My name is Cheerilee by the way, in case they forgot to tell you. On a side note, the response letter I sent to the town mayor should be here shortly.” And, like clockwork, a knock on a window next to Cheerilee signaled the arrival of the towns courier holding out a letter to her with their mouth, the teacher taking it and thanking the courier for their service; evidently a pony named Derpy being the said courier.

“Now let’s see here.” Cheerilee said as she skillfully opened up the letter and took out the paper, reading it over. She then gave me a quizzing look. ”Well. From what I’m reading here you’re either lying about your name, which I’m certain you’re not, or there’s no registry what so ever about your family. Let alone yourself.” I wasn’t surprised, as far as I knew I had only just arrived on Equis this morning. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that let alone tell her where I came from to begin with. I didn’t have any family here so I said the only thing I thought I could tell her and not it be a total lie.

”I don’t have parents.” I stated; it wasn’t entirely a lie. I did have parents where I came from to begin with, but here on Equis I may as well have been an orphan. That thought wasn't something to be happy about.

Cheerilee gave me a dumbfounded look, ”No parents?” She asked as if in disbelief, I nodded. ”Well, surely you have somepony to go home to don’t you? Family or relatives?” I shook my head no. ”At least a home to go to?” She asked, tearing up a little. I didn’t really have anything, I had only just got here. Just yet another thought to add to being unhappy about my current situation.

”Nothing.” I stated, now realizing even more that I had a bit of a large problem. ”I don’t have anypony.” Something inside me must have broke when I said that as I flat out started crying my eyes out into Cheerilees chest, I hadn’t even noticed her walk up to embrace me.

My inner filly self cried out for the better part of an hour, part realization of my situation while another part was simply happy to be on Equis. The place I wanted to call home and the place I was going to be for the rest of an unknowable future as far as I knew. ”Well, seeing as it doesn’t seem like you have anywhere else to go,” Cheerilee spoke up after wiping the wetness from her eyes, ”I should offer you to stay with me for a while though I don’t exactly have much room in my house for somepony to be staying with me for very long.” Cheerilee stated. ”You could at least stay until the weather warms up a bit. After that though, I’m afraid I don’t really have any other options that I could give you since school will be starting up again once winter break is over. I would rather not have to send you to an orphanage.”

With myself not having much of any other options other then taking her up on her offer I went to Cheerilees home with her. Her house was exactly as she said, it was frankly tiny in compare to the houses surrounding it. A small window with a few potted and surprisingly unwilted flowers adorned the front part of the small building; Cheerilee seemed to take notice of me eyeing them, ”They’re called Winter Lilies, they last all winter long so long as they have cold weather and a bit of snow every now and then. No idea why though.” She shrugged while walking to her door and pulling a key out from under a flower pot with a hoof, seems the ponies here can grab things with their hoofs rather than using their mouths for everything rather than what I had seen via dreamscape; definitely not a complaint from me. Anyone, pony or otherwise, would feel bad for a somebody who had to use their mouth to take things out of an oven.

The interior was something to behold much to my own surprise, In one corner of the building was a well furnished living room with the kitchen sitting right next to it, a bathroom with a secondary connecting door into a toilet room stood farther to the left of the entrance into the humble home. Stairs leading upward left me to assume that was where her bedroom was; a door in the side of the stairway was most likely a storage closet she used to keep odds and ends.

The thought of the bathroom sent a short warning signal from my now much smaller bladder as I made my way to the toilet room inside it, Cheerilee gave me a knowing look as she herself went into a side room that I hadn’t noticed. My first guess is that it was a secondary toilet room, but regardless I had my own needs to attend to.

But, my body being a different gender made things a bit awkward. I wasn’t even sure how to get this body to go; everything was on my back end. I looked down at the toilet with a semi bemused look, it was a floor urinal, I wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Sitting on a toilet would be a bit of a challenge for a pony, let alone a stallion. The thought of stallions made my mind wander as I went over to squat over the toilet, I was going to have to get used to seeing the opposed genitalia a lot more commonly than any unmarried human would since ponies don’t normally wear clothing; let alone wear pants. It’s a nudists dream over here on Equis and I was on the front row seat of seeing ponies with everything hanging out on display. The very thought made me flush.

I was glad to figure out that using the restroom was pretty much the same for both genders, and species, aside the fact that girls need to wipe front to back when doing a number two; not like I hadn’t been doing that already as a male. Picking up toilet paper with hooves on the other… hoof, was a challenge, I was half tempted to ask for a helping hoof from Cheerilee but I wanted to save myself and her from embarrassment. I shook my hoof at the paper in frustration only to realize that it wouldn’t come off instead, ”What?” I mentally asked myself in confusion as I shook my hoof again. It took me a while to notice a familiar feeling coming from the hoof holding the toilet paper, it felt like I was clenching a fist; weird considering I didn’t have hands anymore to do so. I relaxed my ‘Hoof Fist’ as if I was flat palmed with my fingers on a table, the toilet paper fell to the floor in a comedic fashion.

Was it really that simple? Did hooves and hands really work the same way in this world? I took the idea a step further and tried to pick the toilet paper up as if I was using just two fingers, and surprise surprise it worked exactly like I thought it would. The paper picked up like nothing.

Guess hooves work like hands in this particular version of Equis. I wasn’t going to have to miss out on having thumbs after all. Happy mood is best mood.

My business with the toilet finished I washed off my hooves at the sink and went to go find where Cheerilee went off to. Only to not find her anywhere to be seen, on a second look around I found a note on the living room table

Wispy, I’m sorry to run off on you without saying anything but I had some business to do in town since I wasn’t expecting a guest to be staying with me for a while, there’s some leftovers from my dinner I made the other day that you can help yourself to if you get hungry while I’m gone.

The bathroom closet is the laundry room where I keep all the bath towels and cleaning supplies while my room is upstairs on the right should you need anything while I’m working on grading school work, though that doesn’t take me very long to do either way.

On a side note, and a rather sudden notion on my part of simply wanting to help you out in the longer term of things, I’m taking it upon myself to ask the ponyville clinic if they would be willing to see you later in a few days time since I was unsure if you had ever been to one; it would help you in the long run if you had medical records should you ever need to use the hospital later in life. Now, I would rather not feed you anything you're allergic to so please be careful with what you eat; if it tastes funny or makes you feel weird. Don’t eat it. As for the clinic, it would help me better determine your age since I’m not sure if you know it yourself, mainly, I plain forgot to ask you how long you had been out alone since I figured it would be a touchy subject at the time.

Regardless I should be home in hopefully less than an hour.

Please make yourself at home

Cheerilee

P.S: That is of course assuming you can read this letter to know I left, I forgot to ask if you had any schooling

Now I’m just wondering how she managed to write all that down while I was in the toilet room, let alone the fact I could her writing. There’s a lot of details I didn't have about my being here and a whole ton of questions I should be asking myself and even more so that I shouldn’t even be thinking about, assuming this body is as old as I think it could be I would rather not be thinking about intercourse any time soon; probable that I still liked girls anyway.

Thinking back to the bathroom I realized that I finally had a chance to see my own reflection, a short walk back into the room lead me to face a large full body mirror on the wall. I wasn’t too surprised at the size of the mirror, ponies need larger ones to see their body better from all angles.

I wasn’t too far from my first assumption of what I looked like, I was bleach white across my entire body, mane and tail included. I moved a hoof to brush my mane from my eyes then felt my hoof run into something midway, further inspection told me I had a horn just as white as the rest of me. I was a unicorn, that in of itself opened a massive door that I had only dreamed of opening my entire life.

Magic.

Magic was something I had loved since I was just a kid, not just that pulling out a rabbit from a hat junk. I mean real magic like flying without wings, conjuring fire, water or lightning, levitating objects, water breathing by giving yourself gills, making things out of thin air. Those kind of things are something I’ve always dreamed of being able to do some day. Though the unfortunate part of that were the limits of the human mind and body as well as the limits of earth in of itself. Earth didn’t have that kind of magic anymore as far as anyone could tell, sure you could read stories people have made over time about these great feats of magic people supposedly had done in the past but all of those stories are just as they are. Stories with no real magic to show for them.

Now here on Equis I had a chance to do the things I wished I could have learned since the very beginning, ”And here my father said I wouldn’t amount to anything if I just sat around all day.” I said gleefully to myself before realizing that I had been jumping up and down for the past couple minutes, I had to settle myself down for a little while. I felt a bit sheepish for acting out like that, jumping up and down in excitement wasn’t something I had done since I was a little kid. But then again I pretty much was a little kid again. Wasn’t I?

My thoughts coming back to the present I went back to the mirror to look at what I was going to to begin with, my eyes.

Much to my own surprise they were almost exactly the same as they had been before while I was human, a shade of light silver black eyes stared back at me. They were a lot brighter colored than I remember them being, they used to be almost black and silver; it wasn’t like I minded, they fit this body perfectly.

My own curiosity got the better of me as I decided to turn around to take a look at my back end, carefully standing on three hooves and using the other to push my tail out of the way. Of course I looked at myself, why wouldn't I? Even more so when I’m still getting used to my new body.

Short story shorter, I had girl parts. What else did I expect sounding the way I did? Of course I would have them; and the awkwardness of getting used to them would surely come, much, much later. When I was damned well ready for it and mentally prepared to deal with it I would likely take a more 'In Depth' look at them. But for now? I figured it best to leave my back end alone for the better part of the future. One thing I told myself in the past is that I didn’t want kids at all; I was thankful that this body seemed to agree. At least for now at the very least

A lingering thought of the back end made me recall something of an important detail. The ponies of Equestria have something called a cutie mark, mainly a butt tattoo of their special talent. Though the meaning they gave was vague at best sometimes since ponies always have more than just a single talent, it was something that every pony ever eventually obtained in their lives. On a double take, it seems that I don’t have one yet. On a mental note I felt it safe to assume that my age could be some place around twelve to fifteen years of age, since I took note that I was moderately taller then most of the fillies and colts at the school yet still being shorter than Cheerilee.

Come to think I’m surprised that those fillies and colts didn’t start hammering me with questions since I wasn’t a regular at their school, that’s something that the new kid in town always has happen, questions questions and more questions. Perplexing to say the least but I wasn’t going to dwell on it. I had plenty of other questions to be asking myself now that I had some time to myself.

How I got here to begin with was on the top of the list, second being why my gender changed; though I didn’t entirely care to get an answer to that one. Third was simply what to do with myself now that I was here.

I remembered falling asleep under my usual tree then waking up here, though there wasn’t anything in between is the issue. “One moment I’m a human taking a nap under a tree on Earth, the next I’m a unicorn on the planet of Equis. I suppose I could chalk it up to magic causing me to come here, though, that would mean Magic on earth would have to exist in some form or another.” I spoke aloud to nobody but myself while going into Cheerilees kitchen, turned out they have refrigeration units here as well, “On another note, If magic did in fact bring me here it would mean that somepony or some being brought me here on purpose. Or, maybe, some form of aberrant magic caused me to be pulled here; though that’s just grasping at air as far as I know.” I mused while pulling out what looked to be half a flower sandwich; a closer look showed what looked like to be a daisy in it along with pepper and a assortment of other spices I didn’t recognize.

Consumption proved it was surprisingly spicy.

Question three was going to have to wait for now until I had a better direction to sent myself in, aimlessly wandering around town wouldn’t be in my best interest since I would more then likely just find myself getting lost.

I heard the door open just as I sat myself down on the living room couch, “Good to see you’re settling in alright.” Cheerilee said while putting down a pair of saddle bags that looked filled to the brim with assorted food products among other items. “Yeah, I helped myself to your leftover daisy sandwich.” I mentioned.

It was mostly small talk after that, mainly covering what she taught in school. She was rather well rounded in all aside magic, not that that was surprising considering she was an earth pony. I did however eventually ask if there was a library in town; evidently from what Cheerilee told me the last one got blown up in a battle with an Alicorn princess named Twilight Sparkle and a Centaur named Tirek. An honest pity that so many books got destroyed, though on the bright side what did survive the blast got moved into a conveniently new made castle that just happened to appear right after the fight with Tirek was finished. “Magic is all I can chalk that up to, though I honestly have no idea where it came from aside from what's been said around town,“ Mused Cheerilee, “They said It came out of some magic box or something. Right after everypony's magic essence got restored.”

It was still moderately early enough in the day for me to convince Cheerilee to take me to the new castle's library; I had plenty of things I wanted to figure out and I planned to use all the time I had to do so.

I was honestly surprised that I had missed a giant crystalline castle on the way to Cheerilees house. It was huge! Cheerilee knocked firmly on the massive front door, the resounding noise echoing out loudly around us. “Door’s open, come on inside!” a young male voice said from inside the castle, we invited ourselves inside.

The inside of the castle was massive and awe inspiring. Crystal pillars lined the walls with banners running down the sides while luminescent crystals lit up most the area with the occasional candle flickering on the wall; artistry of crystalline trees looked as if grown into the walls of the castle. Truly a sight to behold.

A small dragon greeted us, “Hey Cheerilee, I don’t see you around the castle too often.” He looked at the both of us. “Who’s the filly?” He eventually asked. It seemed like he had been busy with something when we arrived, he was wearing a chefs hat and was slightly covered in flower while we was idly stirring a held bowl of batter.

“Spike, This is Wispy. Wispy, this is Spike.” Cheerilee said looking over to me and then back to him,” At the moment she’s staying with me until she can find housing and a job here in Ponyville.” She left out a lot of details, though I wasn’t going to complain about it. “She wanted to use the library.” She added.

“Ah, up the stairs on the right, first door on the right. Twilight is in there reading something that Princess Celestia sent her this morning. Though I’m sure she wouldn’t mind some reading company.” Spike then left us both as he walked through a room on our left; more than likely the kitchen.

“Wispy, as much as I wish I could stay with you at the library I do have work I need to be doing back home. Will you be alright on the way back?” Cheerilee asked.

“Sure, though don’t blame me if I end up staying the night in the library. I tend to get caught up in reading rather easy.” I stated; It was an understatement, when I start reading everything and anything gets tuned out. Cheerilee eyed me for a moment at the mention of staying the night, though it didn’t seem she was opposed to it.

”I suppose that’s alright, seeing as a lot of ponies do the same. And it’s better then walking back to my house in the dark.” She said, “Just try not to bother to much Twilight while she’s reading whatever the Princess sent her.” I nodded and parted ways with her, making my way up the long stairs on the right.

I followed Spikes wording and made my way to the cracked open door on the right, I decided to be polite and knock on the door before entering. “Come on in Spike, the door’s open.” One assumed to be Princess Twilight Sparkle answered thinking that I was somebody else. I made my way inside to the large library to see one purple Alicorn laying next to a table covered in papers. She looked up at me, “Oh! I wasn’t expecting somepony else aside Spike.” She looked semi wide eyed at me. She looked a bit winded, as if she had just finished a particularly hard riddle. “Is there anything I can help you find? I’m pretty much finished here.”

I nodded. “Quite a few things actually.” I smirk while scanning up and down the long bookcases. “I’m looking for books on the basics of magic, a book on the origins of magic, the history of Equis, aberrant magic….” My list goes on for a long while while Twilight is giving me a rather bemused look, “ And a book on multidimensional theorem.” I state, ending my list.

Twilight gives me a bewildered look at the last couple. “Are you sure about those? Those are rather advanced for somebody of your….” She stops for a moment and gives me a look over before asking, “Sorry to ask but with your coloration and height it’s really hard to tell just how old you are. If you don’t mind my asking that is.” She pauses her question. I may as well be honest with her, she is a Princess after all.

“I’m twenty four.” I state flat out.

She hacks out with a cough of disbelief and surprise. “I’m sorry, how old?” I say my age again in confirmation. “I find that hard to believe that you would be my age without a cutie mark yet….” She stammers, looking me over again. “I know this may sound a bit invasive of privacy but you wouldn’t mind if I cast a simple spell on you to confirm it?” She asked looking at me in the eyes. Not thinking it could harm anything, I nod my head.

I saw Twilight's horn set itself aglow with magic as she began her spell, the sight of magic being used in front of me made my own horn tingle slightly in response. I felt something tingley touch my body all over, it was a strange and alien feeling, like I was being probed with whiskers from a cat. But before I even knew it the feeling ended and I saw a piece of paper on the table set itself alight with Twilight's purple magic glow. Numbers and other symbols appeared onto it, most of them I could read with ease aside one that looked like a glowing horn; easy to assume what it meant regardless.

Twilight and myself looked over the paper reading it top to bottom;

Magical analysis of Wispy Spirits

Mental age: Error

Physical age: 24

Gender: Mare

Height: 3ft 6in

Cutie mark: None

Magical Aptitude: Error

Time until full grown: 7 days

Full height estimate: 4ft 5in

Time until first “in” season: 1 month. Estimated length of time in season: 4 days

Birth date: Solar Year 1992 on Winter Solstice

Spell Matrix Error Noted In Multiple Fields

“Well then.” Twilight gawked while looking at me. “I guess one can’t judge a pony by looks alone.” she states while looking back down at the paper a second time. I can tell exactly what she’s about to ask. “Why is your mental age and magical aptitude an error though?” Bingo.

I wasn’t entirely paying attention to the later parts of her questioning. I saw something on that paper I was honestly hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with; this body was old enough for intercourse after all and I was due for my first heat in only a single month. “Hey! Are you listening to me?” Twilight said loudly, knocking me out of my train of thought.

“Sorry, just thinking on that third to last part.” I lamely stated, blinking at the paper a few more times to take it in. Twilight looked at me for a few moments then looked back at the papers lower half, then did a double take at me and the paper.

“Oh.” She stammered out. “I suppose that would cause some worry wouldn’t it.” She said, “First one to boot.” She added after a moment, biting her lower lip. “Try not to worry about it Wispy, just keep yourself indoors those four days and make sure you have somepony to keep an eye on you, the first one is the worst of them but after that it's not too much to worry about.” She said looking back to me, “If it helps, you can stay here in the castle for those days if you want, there’s so much extra room in here that I’ve been tempted to rent rooms out to ponies a good few times.”

Part of me was glad that she offered me a place to take care of myself, another was glad that she forgot the questions she had been asking me while I was thinking about the upcoming month. Either way I ended up in that library with Twilight for a long while, for some reason she felt like helping me with every single book that I had asked for.

Magic seemed simple enough on its own but proved that I was inexperienced with it without any doubt, Twilight gave me one of her personal copies of ‘Magic - A History’ to look through. It was rather enlightening and perplexing at the same time. Nopony really knew where magic came from to begin with, most figured they always had it while others say it had something to do with the princesses moving the sun and moon around Equis.

Another book labeled ‘Rogue Magic’ caught my attention rather hard. Evidently in certain places around Equis magic flowed differently in and out of the air, sometimes even making a physical fluid that the ponies here called ‘Rogue Mana’ and disappears almost as soon at a pony sees it. Evidently the findings of that said mana are extremely rare, so much so that it’s called one of the nine wonders of Equis. Who knows, maybe if I ever go exploring I’ll see if I can track it down.

The ‘Almanac of Equis’ had a lot more than my dreams had let me in on, the planet of Equis was almost two times the size of Earth and many of its regions have yet to be explored or even mapped out. The book also showed a pony named Daring Do holding what looked to be a fossil of some kind. Other knowledge in the book told me how long Celestia and her sister Luna have also been in power as well as Luna's banishment to the moon for a thousand years; astoundingly it seemed that Celestia had to be over a thousand five hundred years old at least!

‘Multidimensional Theorem and You’ told me just about nothing of what I wanted to know or how I could have gotten here. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised about it considering what it could entail for all of pony and other kind. Other worlds could be good or bad. And much like my own world of Earth, I could easily say that a lot of them are bad.

Unfortunately that last book look a lot more of attention then I had hoped, before I knew it I found myself snoozing away on top of one last book that I saved; something Twilight almost refused me outright much to my own surprise, she explained that it was a book that Celestia and Luna gave her on the day she became an Alicorn. It took a lot of time to talk her into letting me read it but she eventually caved in, not wanting to deny another avid reader a book.

“The Legend Of The First Alicorn”

Author's Note

Hope people will like this one, I've got some definite plans this time around rather then my last flop. :moustache:

Chapter 2 - Magical Explosions are the Bomb!

Heir of Winter

Chapter 2

Magical Explosions are the Bomb!

I often find myself questioning a lot of things that have happened in my life; like falling off the top of an eight foot slide when I was just four years old and landing on my head onto solid cracked ground without very much of a scratch to show for it. Or maybe there’s just the strange case of myself not remembering a single thing behind that age. I had often wanted to call myself a mild amnesiac, being when the first thing I ever remember was a dream.

This dream was, for the better part, strange in every essence of the word. I was sitting on a small platform in the middle of four seemingly endless holes in the ground leading into nothingness. In the middle of this platform was a ladder going up into a great and unending light, around that ladder hovering in one of the holes was another platform with some kind of person playing on it by jumping up and down. I wanted to play as well so I looked around the holes for something to amuse myself with, eventually ending my search at the far back left hole at a box filled with toys.

That was my mistake as I ended up falling over the box and into the abyss of the hole; strange how I don’t recall myself screaming about it, though I do recall seeing a seemingly unending amount of open and closed doors on the side as I fell down deeper leading to many places I could only wonder about. Eventually, the hole ended with nothing other than spikes at the end with me crashing down right into them. That woke me up with a startle, myself now looking outside of my room's door to see this strange faceless red blob looking at me. One blink later and it was gone, myself falling right back into a dreamless sleep.

The few days after had been even stranger for me as I didn’t even remember my own name or anybody in my family. The entire world was new to me, as if it had been my first time seeing it.

My mind stirred as I slowly awoke from the sleep I had on the book I was planning on reading. It took me a few moments to recall where I was.

Equestria, inside Princess Twilight's library. I lifted my head off the book, now noticing that I had been covered in a blanket after I had elected to sleep after reading for most of last morning. I took a moment to look around the room and found Twilight had also fallen asleep on a large pile of books, that gave me a slight chuckle. A look outside a window I had only just noticed showed it was still rather early in the morning, the sun just barely now starting to peek over the great mountains in the distance.

A loud snort followed by a long and drawn out, “But Celi, I wana read it.” made me fall over laughing on the floor. “Gah!” Explained one book pony Twilight whom had been startled awake by my laughter, herself having fallen over onto her back with a book landing squarely on her face. Neither of us had seen the Pegasus that had fallen off her own sleeping cloud in laughter as well.

I couldn’t help but snicker for the next few minutes while Twilight had excused herself to one of the many castle bathrooms. I occupied my time by opening up the last book on my list, ‘The Legend Of The First Alicorn’. The first thing I noticed upon opening was a note that had been left inside it addressed to Twilight.

My dear Twilight,

If you are reading this now then there is many things that I, as an Alicorn, need to explain a many detail as to how such a transformation occurred to you. But first I must let you know something of a worldly secret, something that you should tell nopony else other than the other Elements, is the fact that there’s quite a many more Alicorn than just myself, you, Luna and Cadence. In fact I would be willing to estimate that there’s well over a hundred of our kind scattered across our planet of Equis.

As you already know, I myself am directly connected to the sun while Luna and Cadence are connected to the Moon and the emotion of Love respectively. While I, unfortunately, can only guess that your friends will eventually become Alicorn as well because of their close ties to you and the Elements of Harmony I can say that other Alicorn hold close to other aspects, such as the seasons themselves.

The pegasi may make the weather now days but Equis made the seasons well enough on its own back in my time before I became Alicorn with Luna.

I have not in fact seen these other Alicorns myself aside for my own mother, Faust, for over the one thousand two hundred fifteen years I’ve lived and ruled over Equestria; that is aside Luna, Cadence and yourself. Such a thing worries me greatly as Tirek is not the only being that can steal away an Alicorns magic from them. Though limited in my knowledge of the areas of Equis that have yet to be uncovered and of the world on the other side of the mirror portal, Equis itself is roughly twelve times larger than Equis G as you may know already from your own studies.

Regardless, my dear friend and student, ever since Tirek escaped Tartarus I’ve had this unnerving feeling that his kind of work was far from over.

I would like to speak with you as soon as possible after you’re finished reading this book over as well, there’s many a more thing that I need to fill you in on that paper can not hold value.

Yours truly

Celestia

P.S: Please bring some of Sugar Cube Corners apple cinnamon cookies with you, you know how much I love them.

P.P.S: Also please do burn this note after you’re finished with it.

I closed the book immediately. Twilight was more right about not letting others read that then she realized. It could have been that she simply hadn’t read or opened the book yet for some reason, though I could also assume that she simply thought she wasn’t ready to read something so important yet.

Much to my own luck Twilight came back with two sets of pancakes and drinks soon after, “Figured you wouldn’t say no to breakfast.” she stated, no sooner then that we both helped ourselves to an amazing set of pancakes that had been made courtesy one of Spike the Dragon. Breakfast now finished I told Twilight that I had second thoughts about the book and pushed it back to her, stating that it would be better if she read it first if it was something that important. Funny enough she stated that she had been putting it off for almost a full year now as Celestia had sent a ‘second’ note with it stating to read it in her own time or when she felt she was ready.

I asked her why she hadn’t read it yet.

“I know it’s been a long time since the Princesses gave it to me but with how much I’ve had to go through after becoming a Princess as well as the cleanup from Tireks disaster I suppose it’s simply sat on the bottom of my list of things to do. There’s a lot more to being a Princess of Friendship and Magic then just giving out lessons.” She lamented, her face scrunching slightly as if remembering a bad memory. “Though, on that note, I haven't had quite as much to do as I usually do being the Cutie Mark Map hasn’t sent any of me or my friends on a mission in quite a while for some reason.”

“A Cutie Mark Map?” I asked, it was my first time hearing about it. Though as luck would have it as soon as I mentioned it Twilights Cutie Mark of a five point star began to glow and pulse fiercely. Twilight jumped up and flew out the door before I could even ask what was going on, I promptly followed her as fast as my legs would let me while carrying the book in my mouth.

We both arrived in a large room with six throne like chairs and a table sitting in the middle, said table showing six floating Cutie Marks hovering around what looked to be the capital of Equestria. Canterlot. I made a mental note to read almanacs more often. No sooner than my arrival, five other mares soon came into the room.

One extremely pink earth pony mare with a trio of balloons for a mark. Her mane and tail looked like she had stuck a knife into an electrical socket. The mare gave me a wink on her way into the room. “Possible party goer, more than likely on too much sugar.” I thought. Taking a mental note to talk to her later if I got the chance. She was more then likely a pony that knew her way around better than anyone else, or at least that’s what I figured at a first glance.

The next was an earth pony mare who had an orange body with sandy mane and apples for a mark, she sported a sexton hat and looked like she had been in the middle of a hard day's work. “Possible farmer.” Was put down for her. I couldn’t think of anything else.

A yellow bodied and pink maned Pegasus mare with butterflies for a mark walked in slowly behind the others; I found her to be pleasing to look at though I figured it rude to stare.

A marshmallow colored Unicorn mare with a finely curled purple mane and a trio of diamonds for a mark. “High class maybe?” I figured. She could very well be somepony of importance. More than likely wealthy.

The last was a cyan bodied Pegasus mare who had used a window to let herself inside. Her mane looked akin to a gay pride flag with a rainbow lightning bolt for a mark, she looked like somepony who wanted to stand out or at the very least be noticed by others. “Strange for so many different classes of pony to be walking in.” I thought, wondering what could bring such a mismatched number of ponies together out of seemingly nowhere.

Spike also followed into the room holding a scroll of parchment. “Twilight what’s going on?” He asked in bewilderment.

“I don’t know Spike, but that letter may shed some light on it.” She said while floating the letter out of spikes grasp and over to her, opening it up. She already looked both worried and confused.

“Well Twi? What's it say?” said one apple pony in question.

“Bring the book and your friends Twilight, it’s time we discussed its contents. P.S: Bring the cookies.” Twilight stated aloud. I had a feeling I knew what book it was talking about as I elected to place the book I brought with me on the table in front of her.

“More than likely this book.” I said aloud. Twilight looked at me in wonder.

“Well, I guess that would be around the right choice in books wouldn’t it.” Said Twilight, picking the book up in her magic.

I didn’t get to stick around to listen to them for all that long, Twilight stating that the contents of the book were more than likely not for common pony eyes after all. I simply agreed and left the castle without so much as bothering to say that I had read the note on the inside, figuring it would only get me into trouble if I did. It was easy to tell what Celestia or Luna more than likely wanted to speak to the elements about.

One short trek back to Cheerilees house I invited myself inside to see hear her upstairs, more than likely working on grading homework. For now I focused on what the note said as I sat myself down in her living room. Equis was a massive super planet alright, with much more to show for it then earth did. Magic was in the very air, animals that I never even heard of lived everywhere imaginable, food tasted much better here as well. I wouldn’t be too surprised if magic was in the food as well. Alicorns governed their aspects much as the gods of Olympus did in Earthen Mythology, I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that some had children though one could only guess what race the child would be born into when the parent has three major qualities of the different pony races.

My brain already hurt enough from all the extra info so I went to something different. Attempting to figure out how unicorn magic worked, as something Twilight said to me set a large bit of a warning about it and my own last night, “It’s rather rare for a Unicorn of your age to not be able to use magic yet and a lot of other Unicorns aside myself would be rather judgmental on you for it, though from what you’ve told me I can understand why you don’t have it working. Either way I would work on trying to get your horn working for starters. Though a word of fair warning, a Unicorn's magic is like a muscle and a cork all in one.

“The cork keeping it from spilling out is the horn while the muscle is your experience in using it. Mana is magic essence and that magic essence tends to build up over time when a Unicorn isn’t using it. As such, when you do try to get your horn working I suggest a safe out of the way place for it as you’ve more than likely got an immense amount of magical buildup from not using it for so long. A few miles from civilization should do. On that note there’s a place up north where I fought Tirek at that would work well for you should you try to get it working.” Stated Twilight as I had been reading the book on magic she had given me to read last morning.

Not wanting to wait around much longer I let Cheerilee know I was heading out.

She gave me a strange look on my way out, I tried not to question it.

Twilight wasn’t joking around about it being a few miles away. On the bright side it didn’t seem like my new legs minded the long walk one bit. Upon reaching the area Twilight mentioned the first thing I noticed was how wreaked up the place was. Massive craters littered the ground, half a mountain laid in waste from being torn down the middle and a giant scar laid in the ground looked like it went on for miles. The place was a wreak sure enough but it would do just fine.

“Now then, how do I even go on about doing this?” I asked myself aloud while looking up at my horn, prodding at it with a hoof and sitting myself down on the cool stone underneath. I wasn’t too sure how much pent up magic this body could have had if I only had been in it for a day. The book I read really wasn’t helpful to me as it seemed more like a spell book for already practiced mages; I was going to have to go with my gut. I had some understanding of magical energy from reading books back home, old books and adventure stories mostly, though in actual usage I had no idea what I needed to do. I tried to feel out where the energy in my body laid dormant, not really noticing anything for the most part until I felt a slight twinge of pain at the base of my horn.

Not thinking of anywhere else a possible magical energy could be, I focused on where I felt the twinge at and tried to push it outwards.

That resulting focus hit me like a truck going warp ten through a wormhole as my horn flared up on its own in a massive blue and white light. I felt the energy inside it and panicked, It feeling like a giant water balloon tanker that had been filled with nitroglycerine. All I could do was push on it and try to get the pressure out, though the pressure only became that more immense as whatever backlog of magic I had was now working it’s way to the surface. Causing me to break out into a cold sweat.

Funny thing about nitro is that it likes to explode.

That's exactly what my world did as whatever pressure in my horn and magic could take no more and exploded outwards from every pore of my body. I couldn’t even feel the ground anymore as everything in my vision went white washed, the energy inside feeling almost endless as it poured out from my body in a massive explosion that would be felt for hundreds of miles.

-Canterlot Castle - Celestias' Bedroom-

Celestia had been meaning to talk to Twilight and her friends about that book for a long time now, she had been putting it off until she felt they had been ready but now she couldn’t wait any longer then she already had. She knew the weight of the book more than anypony else aside her sister and niece. She sighed deeply as she rested her head on her balcony, looking far out in the distance at nothing in particular as she had just sent word to her student to bring the book as well as her friends with her to Canterlot.

She was just about to head back indoors to the Hall of Memories when she felt the world around her shake, causing her to fall over onto the ground having lost her balance. “An earthquake?” She thought to herself, not having experienced one in over a hundred years. Only now did she see the bright white light shining in the distance.

She had almost thought that the sun had fallen from the sky just from the light's intensity, though she knew better. Thankfully for her the light died down, as did the shaking. Giving her time to get back up and collect herself, only for a massive snowball to smack directly into her face causing her to backflip back onto the ground from the force.

Celestia was a tough mare but that took her entirely by surprise, not only did said projectile catch her off guard but it also got past her magical wards. She had no idea what to think of such a thing. “Well then, it seems I have more to do today then I had planned.” she blinked, wiping the snow off her face.

My head hurt, a lot. I was sure I was knocked out from the explosion my magic caused, It was still in the earlier of the morning so I didn’t think I was out for very long. I rubbed my aching head and looked around the surrounding area. The entire area was covered in snow, along with the crater I was now lying in. I could have sworn that there had been a mountain nearby but as far as I could tell the only things around now was just me, the snow and the crater I was in. “Did I just level a mountain?” I asked myself aloud, only now noticing that I was entirely covered in snow.

I brushed myself off and looked back up at my horn, glad it was still there and not damaged, I would rather not find out how long it took for a horn to grow back just after having got here. I experimentally pushed energy into my horn a second time, noticing that it felt much easier now. In fact it felt cool, as if a smooth winter breeze was flowing through it with no pressure on it at all. A white aura flowed freely around it. “Magical backlog is no joke!” I laughed out at the ridiculousness of what just had happened while making my way back to Ponyville, not noticing the new Cutie Mark I had just gained.

By the time I got back to Ponyville I noticed a lot of panicking ponies running around. That was pretty much my fault all things considered. “My fault everypony, magical buildup explosion!” I yelled out, every single pony stopped at once and looked at me for a moment or two before going on about their business. I internally shrugged at the fact they got over it so quickly. Maybe that kind of thing was just normal for unicorns? Who knows, but I wasn’t going to worry about any longer, as far as I knew, I had my horn under control now.

Knowing full well that I was going to need money eventually I looked around Ponyville until I ran into the town hall, I was thankful to see a job board sitting just outside the main door to the building. Though I found it odd that not many ponies gave it as much as a glance and those that did seemed to be clad in armor or carrying weaponry.

Walking up to it, I gave the board a once over. The quickest thing I noticed was that it seemed to be a board pertaining to adventuring, exploring the far lands or slaying monsters that had been deemed too dangerous to relocate. “There’s an adventurer's guild here?” I asked aloud to nopony in particular.

“Eeyup.” said one deep and masculine voice that made my tail twitch on instinct. I turned around to see one red bodied, orange maned, largely framed and muscular stallion that had somehow managed to sneak up behind me without so much as making a sound. Some part of me couldn’t help but look underneath their large frame. She was hung like a freight train carrying redwood trees, such a thing would tear a mare in half. I could feel my face turning red just from the sheer girth of the thing. It wasn’t even erect!

The stallion didn’t seem to notice my peeking and continued, “Adventurers guild got made about a month after Tirek came to town, all sorts of creatures got riled up an’ ponies had to step up to keep them in check or get eaten ourselves. Or worse.”

While I did hear what he stated about the guild, I had already left him long behind. Running myself all the way back to Cheerilees house, plunging myself in the couch, thrusting my head into a pillow and repeating the words,” Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.” over and over for the next half hour.

A part of me found humor in the fact I was acting embarrassed about seeing a giant cock when I had had one to begin with, but the other part of me said I was a girl now through and through and getting a massive dick shoved up your snatch was an ok thing.

Back when I was human and male I always liked to call myself a lesbian, though more often than not I found that wasn’t entirely the case when it came to porn, being I always imagined myself in the girl's position. Regardless of that fact, something I told myself ever since I was just a kid is that I would have been better off being born as a girl.

I never bothered telling my parents about those feelings, knowing full well their thoughts on the transgender community. Religion made that problem for me just that more prevalent. It makes it hard to be able to say anything in your family when both your parents, your sister and even your relatives are all Christians. Such a thing would make a person bitter; and it did.

I’m more than sure it’s my family and the world around me that made me as bitter of a person as I was. I had a lot of anger problems growing up and even more problems being bullied in school all the way up to twelfth grade. However, I did grow out of my anger problems in that same twelfth year of school; even though I have no idea why. Every hard feeling I had toward the world suddenly disappeared as I suddenly found I just didn’t care about anything anymore, as if my very soul had flat lined out of pity for my well being.

Though to say I didn’t have feelings anymore would be a stretch. I do have them, it’s just a lot harder for them to come out any more. But when they do it’s nothing but a waterfall right off the bat.

Regardless, It took a while to calm myself down. Frankly I have no idea why I acted the way I did, though staying inside forever and not getting things done wasn’t so much as an option as it was back home. I liked the idea of joining the Adventurers guild, it would let me explore the world and hopefully land me some cash on the side. Though I still had a ways so go before I would have enough experience to protect myself if need be, “As that big guy said; the wildlife got randy. If they wanted they could tear me in half and then some.” I said aloud, reaffirming my situation.

“Aren't you a bit young to be worrying about things like that?.” Cheerilee said, coming down the stairs from the second floor; it seemed she had finished grading her school's work for the day.

“You know, you did write down that you forgot to ask my age.” I stated. Pointing over to the note that still laid on the table.

“And I’ll forget to again apparently.” She sighed, brushing her frizzled mane out of her eyes while moving herself over to the refrigerator. “I suppose I’ll ask now.” She said, taking out a bottle from the fridges bottom shelf then sitting herself on a chair next to the couch I had been laying on. “How old?” She asked, pulling the cork off the bottle with her teeth.

“Twenty four.” I stated, expecting the same response I had gotten from Twilight.

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow at me, looking me over for a few moments. “Can’t say I’m surprised.” She said, downing a fair part of the bottles contents.

“What?” I said aloud. That was certainly the farthest response I was expecting to hear.

“I noticed you had gotten a bit taller when I last saw you. I put it off as me just being sleepy from working all night.” She yawned out, “Not many ponies take notice of it but there comes a time in a pony's life that they grow like a weed. Usually around the same time or after they get their cutie mark.” She raised an eyebrow at me, looking me over again. “Like it seems you had gotten while you were out.”

“I did?” I asked aloud, looking back at my flank to see a mark of a snow pony minus the carrot nose surrounded by blizzard of snowflakes. “So I did.” I stated, not really taking it in. “Must have happened when I got my magic working earlier today.” I added.

“So that explosion was you then?” Cheerilee asked, I nodded to her in affirmation.

“That took a while to clean up you know. May’s well of been an early winter wrap up from all the extra snow we had to clear. Gave the workers at the weather factory a good scare too; thinking Rainbow Dash had broken the Winter Machine again.” She said, giving me a short glare.

“Rainbow Dash?” I asked.

“Yeah, Rainbow Dash. Second in command of the Wonderbolts, Captain of the weather team, Element of Loyalty and self proclaimed Element of Awesome. Or better known as Ponyvilles second best prankster next to Pinkie Pie herself.” She said. Taking a large drink out of the bottle with a sigh.

“Rainbow mane with a cyan body and a rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark?” I ask.

“That’s her alright. Saw her leave with the other elements on the train earlier this morning. Probably for a friendship mission.” See put in, pointing out to the train stop you could see from outside the living room window.

“Last I saw, Twilight got a letter from Celestia while I was at the castle. Stating to bring her friends and cookies.” I stated.

“More than likely left for something important then.” She sighed, “Most likely going to be gone for a while, along with everypony else.” She added, taking another large drink from the bottle. I was starting to wonder if It was alcoholic as she had slurred a few of those last words.

Cheerilee went to bed shortly after finishing more of whatever had been in the bottle. I took a sniff at it after she put it away, it smelled like very strongly spiced apples.

I still had more of the day left and I planned to make the most out of it, regardless of my prier feelings to the large red stallion I had ran into. Though on a second thought, I didn’t have much else to outside the house that I felt comfortable doing.

Channeling magic through my horn again I thought of what I could do with it, the possibilities were as much as I could imagine and more. Not that I actually knew how to use it to begin with but I could at least try something. Couldn’t I?

Then again, using magic indoors maybe wasn’t the best idea until I had finer control over it. Considering what happened before, I took a long walk back to the crater I had made outside of town and went to work on thinking of its applications.

Levitation seemed simple enough in my head, all you had to generally do was reach your magic out to an object and treat it like you would if you were picking something up normally. In this case I found a small stick to try and pick up. I tried to reach my magic out to it. I understood how to get my horn working but aside from that I didn’t know what I was doing in the slightest.

I sat in the snow for what felt like a good half hour, just staring at a sick. The very thought of staring at a stick for that long made me feel silly. It was right around then I noticed a blue strand of light coming out of my horn that had just been floating there. I focused on that instead and found that I could move it around rather easily, though not really understanding how. I moved that strand down to the stick, not really having any better ideas of what to do with it.

When the strand connected to the stick I felt a short electrical ‘plink’ before I felt the weight on the end. I experimentally lifted the line to find the stick stuck on the end, it now floating mid air.

“I have literally no idea how I’m doing this right now.” I thought to myself, floating the stick around in the air. I tried to push the line farther from myself to see how far it could go. Evidently pretty damned far, as the stick was now floating at the far edge of the crater. I reeled the line back into my horn, only to feel the stick bump into my nose.

“Now how do I detach this thing?” I asked myself, no sooner than thinking it the line let go of the stick. “Apparently like that.” I state aloud, dumbfounded. At least I figured out how it works, more or less that is. Right around the same time I took notice of a second line of white coming from my horn. Not thinking it any different than the last one aside the color, I moved it down to the stick and touched it wit hit.

Said stick froze solid no more than a split second later, including the ground immediately underneath it. “Ice magic?” I thought to myself. “Maybe different color strands mean different elements?” I made the mental note not to touch any living beings with the white strand unless it was in self defense. Though that did give me some form of protection for taking jobs from a certain board.

There was one last thing I wanted to try before heading back to town, though it was a rather large stretch that it would work at all. I pulled out the white line and carefully touched it with a hoof, hoping it wouldn't freeze my own body. Surprisingly it felt warm to the touch so I went along with my idea. I put the white line into my mouth and breathed outward.

Out came breath so cold it made a form of frozen fog in front of me, freezing the ground and whatever was around it in an area of around ten feet or so. I then ended my magic channeling, figuring I had done more than enough magic for the day. Frankly I was surprised that my idea had even worked, through at least that opened an extra door for keeping myself safe later down the line after I joined the adventurers guild.

Heading back into town, I felt like I may as well at least stop by the guild to see what kind of ponies I would expect to hang around the area and take the time to register myself to the guild.

Asking a passing mare in town for directions, I made my way to the guild which was evidently right next to the town hall.

I made my way inside the building. Getting ready to register myself to a life of violence and adventure, I walked up to the mare I thought was taking care of registry and said. “My name is Wispy Spirits, I’d like to register to the guild.”

Chapter 3 - Getting Started

Heir of Winter

Chapter 3

Getting Started

“Aren't you a little young for that?” Was the first thing I heard the mare say, followed by a “Go home kid, this kind of stuff isn’t for you.” By another mare that took a seat at a table behind her.

Did I really look that young to them?

“You’re not the first ponies to assume my age today.” I said giving the two of them what I could assume was a solid glare from a displeased unicorn mare. “And to put it mildly I would rather that not be assumed again.” I added, looking around the room at the rest of the guilds ponies.

“Fair enough. Kid.” The mare in from of me said with a smirk while taking a large drink from a mug that had been passed to her by the mare behind her. I had only now noticed the rosey tint of being drunk on her cheeks.

Call me out for it or not, but I had never liked being called a child back home on earth; much less a larger assortment of things while I had been in school; though to be fair not many people would ever like to be called names.

I was just about to que up on what magic I had when another mare walked up behind the drunk, picking her up and tossing her out the door with a shout. “Go home Berry! Quit messing with potential guild members you damnable drunkard!” The mare said shout, then looking over to the mare that had been passing the now named ‘Berry’ drinks. “And you, Golden Lace, should know better than to pass drinks to the local drunk and winery owner. Not to mention deterring ponies from joining the guild when we’re already short staffed on hooves.” The mare in question deflated faster than a balloon that had been over filled and let loose, making that sound that so many kids loved to hear; Pffffftftftftftftftfttt. Heck, I could have sworn I heard that very sound as Golden Lace walked herself out.

“Now that those two are out of the way, did you need somethin’ hun?” The mare now asked, turning her attention to me.

“Guild membership?” I asked, still trying to get the pooting sounds out of my head.

The mare gave me the same look the other two gave me for a moment, “They’re not wrong though, you do look young for wanting to join.” The mare paused for a moment giving me a second look over, “Though, looks can be deceiving.” She smiled out before doing a double take at me. “Wait a second….. Aren’t you that same mare that said something about that explosion from earlier today?”

I nodded my head, “Yeah, I had to head out of town to take care of some magical buildup problems that had been brought to light. And before you or any other pony here takes a crack at my looking young.” I said, looking at all the other ponies in the room. “I’m twenty four years old for fucks sake!” I yelled out.

“Deceiving looks indeed.” The mare stammers out, taking a short moment to quell the looks of the other ponies in the building from my outburst. “Well then. Now that that’s out of the way.” She said, walking over to a desk and taking a seat on a chair hidden behind it, “My name is Dreamy Waters. And I happen to be the pony you had been looking for.” Dreamy said, taking out a box filled with papers from under the desk.

I walked over and took the seat on the opposing side. “So, how does this registration work?” I ask, looking at the box of papers.

“For the most part, you’re going to be signing one of these papers,” Dreamy says, plucking out one of the papers with her mouth and placing it on the table, “And having some information put onto a card that you’ll be keeping on yourself at all times. A second copy of the card is kept here.” She adds, pulling out what looked to be two copper cards from a desk drawer. “The papers cover for better or worse insurances. I can’t stress enough about it to newbies that this kind of work isn’t as easy as it seems, as ponies do in fact die from unforeseen circumstances while out in the field.” She says, pointing over to a wall next to her covered in different cards made from varied metals. “Long story short, the paper is for who and or where your belongings go to and where you wish to be burried should your body be recovered should something happen. While the card is your form of identification, it’s magically connected to our Star Hub to update your information and keep tabs on where you are in the world. Excluding the Far Lands, for obvious reasons.” Dreamy says, pulling out another card made of iron.

“As you can see here, the tier of your card is shown by the metal it’s made of. The tier directly relating to the jobs, or places outside of the country of Equestria you’re currently allowed to go to.” She pulls out a small map what I assume to be the current Equestrian country. “Though that’s how we have it set up currently for the safety of new adventurers, we can’t exactly stop you from going places outside of Equestria should you decide to; for legal reasons.” She finishes.

“The paper may cause some issue.” I mutter out to her. “I hate to admit it but I don’t exactly have any family members or a place to send my belongings to should something happen.”

“Oh.” Dreamy says, giving me an impossible to read yet seemingly knowing look. It almost seemed like she was going to be lost in thought before she reached down to fetch feather pen and a jar of ink. “Well. I suppose I’ll just give you the abridged version.” She states, taking out an extra paper from a hidden place under the desk. “Sign this one and you’ll have building two thirty seven under your care, free of charge.”

“What?” I stammer out, blinking a few times at the paper in question.

“The guild also covers houses should the member joining happen not to have one to live in. As well as the expenses of furnishing and other necessities.” Dreamy states, pushing over the feather pen to me as well as the jar of ink.

I looked down at the paper, blinking a few times in disbelief, “That…..” I start, looking my head back up at Dreamy. “I won’t lie Dreamy. But that just feels too easy to not have some kind of catch to it.”

The mare smiles at me, “Wispy was it?”

I nod at her.

“Hate to break it to you hun. But it really is just that simple.” she chuckles out sadly, then looks back over to the wall of fallen guild members. “The houses of past guild members are, normally, either given to their family or their relatives. Members that don’t have family on the other hoof, their houses just sit there with nopony to take care of them. Along with all their old belongings they kept from their adventures that they hadn’t said to give to a museum or somepony they knew; though it’s not like they’re alive to say their house can’t be given to somepony that needs it more than they did.” She states, looking back down at the paper. “If anything Wispy. The catch is that you have to clean the place out, buy things that need replaced or sell things that the old owner left behind that you feel like you don’t need.”

“That seems fair enough.” I thought to myself, though also wondering a few extra details. “May I ask who owned the house before?” I ask her.

“Oh! Right, I suppose it would be a good idea to know that wouldn't it.” Dreamy laughs out, taking out yet another, although ratherly dusy, card. “House two thirty seven used to belong to an old stallion by the name of Metal Brook. Took to adventuring just after the guild was founded. Though nopony here knows for sure what happened to the old bloke, common rumor has it he got eaten alive while mining for ore near the gates of Tartarus. Though, personally, I think he simply passed away from old age.” The mare shrugs at the last part, looking back over to me. “So you signing those papers or what?” She asks.

“No reason why not.” I state, turning to my magic strand of levitation to pick up the feather pen out of the ink jar. I signed my name on both papers in my normal English text, not thinking there was much a difference between my own worlds writings and theirs. I then passed both papers to Dreamy with a smile.

“Well. As current chairspony for Ponyville's Adventurers Guild. I, Dreamy Waters, welcome you.” Dreamy states with a wide smile on her face. Then passes me a key to what I assume is the key to Metal Brooks house as well as a map of Ponyville with a place on it circled. “The map should get you over to the right place once we’re done getting you set up.” She says, looking over to all the items she was giving me to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything of importance. Dreamy then stands herself off her chair while picking up the my soon to be Guilds-pony card. “Just these last few parts to do, then you can be on your way to whatever else you need to do.” Dreamy says, while walking over to a door that was behind where the desk was. “Now then, if you would follow me to the back room here, we can finish getting your information on this card.”

Following Dreamy into the back room, I’m lead in front of a small orb sitting on a pedestal.

“This little orb here is more or less a magical analisis scanner used for putting your data onto the card, as well as keeping it updated via magical wave bands from the other guild hubs around Equestria. It also covers the metal transmutation of the card when your tier is able to go up,” The mare eyes my somewhat sceptical look at the orb before adding, “Though frankly hun, I haven't a clue on how it works. I’m just an earth pony, I don’t understand all that magic stuff.” Dreamy laments with a look in my direction. “Regardless though. The lead guilds-ponies up in Canterlot brought it down for us from the main hub. Said that all a pony has to do, depended on race, is either; Touch the orb with one of your hooves if you’re an earth pony, one of your wings if you’re a pegasus or touch it with your magic if you're a unicorn. The magic in the orb covers the rest of the work.” Dreamy says, finishing her explanation with a shrug.

“My magic then?” I ask, brushing my mane away from my horn slightly.

Dreamly goes slightly wide eyed at me for a moment before saying, “You may want to invest in some mane dye hun, because I honestly mistook you for an earth pony.”

“I suppose, wouldn’t know where to get it though.” I say, walking myself up next to the orb and sitting down.

“Not from around here, are you?” Dreamy asks.

“No, I more or less just got here last morning.” I state.

“Last morning?” She asks.

I nod.

“Erm……” The mare hums to herself for a few moments, then asks “Pass me that map I gave you for a moment?”

I pass the map to her, seeing her take a pencil from behind the orb and scribbling around a good few places on the map before handing it back to me.

“Figured if you had only just gotten here you wouldn’t know what’s around town very well yet, so I took it upon myself to write down a number of places you should know about. Like the market, or the spa;” She says, then mumbling an added, “ Wouldn’t mind going to the spa myself after work come to think of it.”

I thank her for the added parts on the map before deciding to get started on the orb scanner. “Anything need to be done with the orb before I use my magic on it?” I ask.

“Oh! Right.” Dreamy says, taking the card and putting it in a slot under the orb. “Alright, good to go~.” She says with a smile.

I nod to her before channeling my magic up through my horn, seeing the two different colored strands of light floating out in front of me. The only problem I could think of is that I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to use them both or only one. After a few moments of debate I went with sticking both strands to the orb. The orb then flared to life with its own energy, it making a finely pointed light shine down into where the card was placed. The orb took about a minute or so to finish whatever it was doing to the card before ejecting it with a ding, the card falling onto the table with a hot steam coming from it.

Dreamy blew off the steam from the card, the card itself, now a shining silver color, showed many a detail of information on it. Such as my age, weight, height and birth date as well as a detailed picture of my face; I no idea how it managed that last one, I was just glad it did a good job. The birth date showing ‘Last day of the old year’, I assumed that would mean December thirty first if it was showing it in earthen months.

Dreamy also looked over the card, stopping at the birth date. “You’re a Winter foal? That’s rather uncommon nowadays, most mothers birth their young around the first few days of spring or summer.”

“I was born a month late actually, my mom said I just didn’t want to come out until I was good and ready” I mention to her, also remembering how often my mother would also tell me how much of a butter ball I was.

“A whole month overdue? Good grief hun, you must have given the gall a hernia coming out!” Dreamy winced through her teeth, “Makes me glad I don’t want any foals yet.”

I look back at my hind end for a moment, mulling over those words before saying, “You and me both.”

After getting the rest of the ending work finished with signing up with the guild I was given a bag to carry what I was given with me back to my new house, along with the silver card that I had been given as well as the list of the rest of the tiers for the rankings; Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald and Diamond. As well as the two separate tiers Lunar and Celestial; I was unsure why those last two were separate from each other but I didn’t bother asking why.

I did end up asking why I wasn’t starting out at copper, though all Dreamy had to say about it was that the ponies at the hub that go over the information must have deemed that I was already well enough ready for the silver tier for some reason or another. She also stated that I didn’t have much a reason to complain about it, as the higher the tier you are the more Bits you receive for your work. She also mentioned something about starting pay to get equipment for my travels that would be sent to my new house in the morning.

Thanking Dreamy for her help I figured it would be a good idea to let Cheerilee know I wouldn’t need to stay with her any longer so I went back to where her house was only to remember that she had turned in early for the day, “I guess I could just send her a letter or something.” I mumbled to myself, deciding to head over to head over to the house I had been given instead.

The map I had been given was helpful to say the most, though that didn’t stop me from getting all the more lost somewhere in the middle of the town's market district, I wasn’t exactly the best with maps. On the bright side it was getting later in the day so most of the market ponies had already packed up their stock and headed home aside for a select few.

One mare was selling flowers to an older stallion that seemed to be having a hard time picking out what he wanted while another across the street was a stall selling nothing but apples, apples and more apples. This stall seemed to being ran by one of the fillies I remembered seeing at Cheerilees school when I first walked in, of course no sooner then I looked at her the filly was waving me over to her. Lost enough as I was there was no harm in seeing what she wanted.

Walking over to her stall I was soon face to face with the select filly, an over sized bow adorned her head making her stand out a bit more; I assumed this was on purpose for marketing reasons.

“You look a bit lost.” The filly says in a distinctly southern accent.

“And then some honestly, I’m not exactly the best with maps and it honestly doesn’t help that I only just got to town last morning.” I huff out, actually a bit annoyed with the town's layout.

“Just moved in then?” She asks, showing a bit of interest in me by crooning her head forward.

I nod to her, “More or less. I’m just trying to find my way back home and I ended up here instead.” I say with a sigh, holding out the map I had been given.

The filly scoots herself over to me to look at the map then points a hoof over an area on the map, “This is where we are now,” She says to me, then pointing up to the circled part of the map, “And this is where you’re headed, right?”

“Yeah, house two thirty seven.” I nod to her.

“You’re heading the right way then, just head down the road like you had been then take a right when you reach the bridge and keep going straight until you see the sign for Whitetail Woods. Your house should be on the left right before the bridge to Fluttershy's house.” She says, looking over the map a second time to confirm the route.

“So I wasn’t lost then.” I breath out in a sigh.

“Far from it,” The filly states, picking up a few apples and putting them into my bag, “Name’s Applebloom by the way.” Applebloom says before looking over her stock before adding, “Those apples are on the house in case you were wonderin', figure you wouldn’t have much to go on if you just moved in.”

I smile at her, not having expected such a kind gesture. "Mine's Wispy" I say, taking her hoof as a friendly gesture of a hoof shake.

“Well then, Wispy, I hope you come back later for more apples when you need them.” The filly says with a smile, shaking hooves with me.

Thanking her again, I continue my way down the road like I was instructed while following Applebloom's words to the letter. Eventually I found my destination of house two thirty seven.

It was a small building roughly two floors in height, dark ash wood had been used to build its walls and roof. Though that wasn’t the interesting thing about the house, it was more all the brass and copper tubes running in and outside the house along with the chimney that was blowing out steam. “I could have sworn Dreamy said nopony lived here anymore, so why is there steam coming out of the chimney?”

Making my way up to the front door, I fished out the house key from my bag and pushed it into the lock, half expecting the key not to work. The lock clicked and unlocked the door regardless of my thoughts. I put my hoof up to the door handle and pushed it open, wanting to know what awaited me inside.

Author's Note

A bit of a shorter chapter this time around, figured I'd been holding back on getting this one out way more then long enough already.

Chapter 4 - Those "What" Moments

Heir of Winter

Chapter 4

Those ‘What’ Moments

“Could be worse.” Those were the first words out of my mouth the second I stepped into the door.

The place was an honest mess. Scraps of metal had been thrown haphazardly on the floor that one could just barely make out from the thick layer of dust covering them and everything else. The broom that Metal Brook had more than likely used in the past to clean up his floor from his workings was laying on the floor as if it had been tossed aside in a hurry. Either way, It wasn’t like I had been expecting to be given the best house a pony could afford; pre owned or not, I would simply have to make due with what I was given. Besides, I could always move into a new place once I saved up enough for it.

Thankfully the broom itself wasn’t too worse for the weather for how long it had been laying on the floor so I got straight to work in cleaning up which, incidentally, gave me a small mental checklist of all the things that needed replaced;

One refrigerator for the kitchen, one new bed and replacement forge for the workshop; either that or I would hire somepony to repair it later down the line, considering the fact that I have no idea how to use one to begin with. Though, other than those things, everything else was just odds and ends like food, toiletries, bedding and whatever else I could think of.

On a side note, the piping that was hooked up outside the house was apparently just for winter heating. I had no idea where it was drawing its heat from but it was still my only guess after touching my hoof to one of them.

Either way, I had my work cut out for me cleaning the house out, it took a good few hours before I was satisfied with the inside of the houses cleanliness. By the time I stopped for long enough to look around outside whomever delivered the mail for Ponyville had already come and gone without so much as a word as I noticed the little flag on the side of my new mailbox standing to attention.

Checking inside showed a large bag full of what looked to be some form of gold coin currency, closer inspection told me each piece had a different values ranging from one, five, ten, twenty five and one hundred. Pretty much the exact same values that Earthen money used. A quick coin count told me that I had exactly five hundred bits to throw around, though I didn’t know exactly how far that would get me since I didn’t know how expensive common items are. “Though now that I come to think of it, it’s a pretty damned convenient time for this money to come in. I would of had to spend another night at Cheerilee's since Metal Brooks old bed got eaten.” I mumble to myself, thinking back to Cheerilee's house. “Then again, it’s not like I had slept there to begin with that first time around. I ended up falling asleep reading a book at the castle library.” I continue, talking to myself after deciding to head back into town for a much needed bed.

“And what was up with that note from Celestia anyway? And what did they mean by ‘Tireks kind of work being far from over’?” I mused quietly to myself, walking over the bridge back into town, “ And even more still. Alicorns holding power over the seasons themselves, amongst other things? Good grief Ryan, what in the world did we do get sent here for?” I sighed out, wondering what in the world was actually going on here. It was beginning to feel like whomever this Celestia was could be hinting that the very race of Alicorn she was herself, along with the others of her race, could very well be in danger from an unseen force. Of course that was just speculation, but I'd be damned if it didn’t sound plausible.

“Well, it’s not like that note was meant for you to begin with, you may as well just forget about it for now.” I silently state to myself, now finding myself standing in front of a store that conveniently sold new bed frames and mattresses. “Funny, I ended up exactly where I wanted to go and I wasn’t even looking at the map Dreamy gave me. Weird.”

Funnier still, it turned out that the owner of the store was running something called a ‘Hearth's Warming Eve’ sale so everything was half price. Call me lucky, but I scored a new bedframe and mattress for only fifty bits! Even better still, the owner offered to have them both installed into my house for me! For crying out loud did that ever put a smile on my face, because truth be told I entirely forgot that I didn’t have anything to haul something that bulky with me.

Food was simple enough to find since I remembered my way to the food market from my run-in with that pony named Apple Bloom. Go figure that I found myself passing by her again on my way out after packing my saddlebags full. Either way, I felt like I was pretty good on cash for the next item on the list; that is of course assuming I could find a store that sells refrigerators.

Not has hard to find as I had first thought evidently, the shop in question turned out to be directly next to the place I had bought the new bed from. Though silly me had entirely forgotten that I had a map of the entire town with all the shops and other places clearly marked for easy reading. I immediately facehoofed at that thought the very second the map came to mind after paying for the refrigerator to be installed.

It was thankfully rather cheap since it was the off season and, thankfully, it too was set to be installed in replacement of the old one. I even ended up with some cash back for the old refrigerator since the mare I bought the new one from said she wanted to scrap it for metal to make new parts for repairing other appliances.

All in all, it was easy enough to replace everything that needed to be replaced. Afterwards I found myself bored from shopping for the past hour so I elected to find something to occupy myself with, coming down to the idea of walking to the castle library. Assuming that it would still be open even if Twilight wasn’t around to look after it.

“Admittedly, I have no idea what to do with myself now that I’ve joined the guild.” I think to myself, walking past the same few stores I bought my appliances from, “I have no combat ability or general survival skills, nor do I have all that much for magic aside making things float around with a magic wire and freezing objects solid with ice. What’s more, I’m pretty sure that the ponies at the guild would catch on that if I simply sat around on my ass. Not to mention that my only general idea of Equis itself is dream knowledge or things I read from before when I had just gotten here.”

“I admit that I got ahead of myself when I joined the guild. But what other choices did I really have? I can’t just sit around and do nothing, doing that would just wind up with me being homeless and I for sure never want to deal with that.” One way or the other, I found myself once again standing in front of the castle doors. I politely gave the door a good knock, waiting to be invited inside.

Only a few moments later, Spike had arrived and let me up to the library. I admit not knowing what I had came here for, it just seemed like a good idea at the time to be around some form of knowledge that could point me in a good direction to get myself moving with the guild work that I would later have; one way or the other I needed to know things.
Spike himself was a helpful kid, he knew exactly where to look in the library for anything I seemed to have questions about. The first of which I found myself asking was about the lines of magic that came out of my horn, of which he handed be a rather old and dusty looking book called “Ley Lines and You”.

Ley lines themselves could apparently be seen by an exceedingly rare few of the unicorn population, such ponies that could see the lines of magic are normally ratherly sought after and used by other unicorns in their spellcraft for major fine tuning of their general craft. Even more so, an experienced Unicorn that could see ley lines can also see the very aura of magic itself aside simply seeing the hardened version that other Unicorns see on their own horn or when casting spells themselves. Or morley, having a higher degree and finesse in their spells, as being able to literally see what they are doing wrong makes things a lot easier.

Long story short, that kind of trait is apparently what I found myself with. The ability to see the magic in a more literal sense than normal. More down the same line, the main “Levitation Line” I found myself with was the more basic spell unicorns find themselves in tune with when they first start out dabbling with their own magical abilities, mainly, basic levitation of objects. Simple enough when one thinks about it.

Now to the interesting bit. Most unicorns only start out with the levitation line when they get their horns working for the first time. I, however, seem to have started with both that line and an elemental line of ice. Which apparently, again, was yet another rarity.

Mainly when a Unicorn starts moving on from levitation and onto more complicated spells they usually get confused on how to do something entirely new with their magic, as, evidently, most unicorns never actually go any further than their basic levitation spell.

On the other hoof, well, I was just as confused as what the book suggested that other unicorns get when learning a new spell for the first time. I had no clue how I ended up with ice magic right off the bat, nor did I know how the spell had been made to begin with since the ice line in of itself was, as stated, a simple cyan line of apparently very cold magic.

“I have no clue what the hell I’m doing.” I sighed out as I moved the ley lines I had around idly. I found that they would move through each other if I wanted them to or simply collide like a pair of twigs. The reaction the two differing lines made when they touched was interesting though, as they seemed to join together for a few moments like some kind of static electrified hair to a balloon before I had to pull them back apart with some colors of static coming off the two when I did.

It was fun to mess around with to be perfectly honest, it was like my own personal light show meant just for me. Though that messing around also made me ask myself the question of. “How do I make more ley lines? And is magic exclusively line based or can I make other shapes?”

“No reason why I couldn’t try, it’s not like I have much else to do this morning.” I think to myself before asking Spike if I could check out the book for a while.

“Go right ahead. Just be sure to bring it back in one piece. You would be amazed at how many books used to come back damaged before Twilight took over for the old librarian.” Spike started out with a wince, “Long story short, right after Twilight took over, everypony seemed to be afraid to even damage a single page in any of the books they checked out.” Spike said before handing me the book on my way out.

Though just as I had taken my fourth step out from the building I began to notice something unusual from my vision, mainly the signs of when a person is beginning to wake up from a dream.

The darkening around the edges of my eyes began to form rather quickly as if I was being pulled quickly backwards. And before I could even think of trying to do anything about it, like calming myself down, I already found myself entirely in the darkness of wakefulness.

“What the actual fuck…?” I grumbled to myself, finding my pony body to still be what I was living in my own bemusement. It turned out this entire time I had still been sleeping on Cheerilees' couch in her living room when I suddenly found myself waking up from what I had elsewise thought had been reality.

“Guess this means I am a pony after all?” I mumbled, “Or is this yet another dream? Wouldn’t be the first time I had a dream within a dream...” I added, taking a look outside the window next to the sofa. It was snowing outside, which reminded me of what I had tried out in my dream. Though it also made me look over to the coffee table to see if the paper I had gotten from Twilight was there out of curiosity.

No such paper was found, meaning that the entirety of the events after being brought to this house had never even happened. That made no sense at all! I had gone to Twilight's Castle before even stopping to sleep on the sofa in Cheerilees' house, so why in the world were the books I had borrowed from her as well as the paper now entirely missing from the table?

“Maybe I was more tired than I thought and fell asleep the second I was on the sofa?” I thought to myself in ponderment, now wondering what other inconsistencies were about to pop up from the unusual event of waking up from an apparent dream.

So, wondering if I still could or not, I tried to light my horn up experimentally to see if I could still use my Ley Lines or not. Thankfully, and to my own happiness, I still had both my lines of magic nor was it difficult to get my horn to light like I thought it was going to be like the last time around in that unusual dream.

Though that tangent of thought brought me back to the cutie mark I had earned in the dream, though one quick look did make me rather confused. The same mark I had earned in the dream was still plastered on both my flanks in defiance of being earned in it.

Thinking for another few moments while watching the snow falling outside, I recalled that since I had been dreaming that whole event, none of the material things such as meeting the ponies I had run into or getting my own house to live in never happened either. The same with joining the adventurers guild. Though now that I thought more about it, losing those things wasn’t entirely bad in the long run, I had no idea how to protect myself with this kind of body should something have happened while I was god knows where in Equis. Not only that, I don’t even know if the age for my body was accurate or not since I was on ‘Dream Paper’.

I sighed. “Kind of screwed the pooch on that one didn’t I?” I thought to myself with a chuckle. “What was I thinking I was going to do? Fight some eldritch abomination from the depths of hell in the body of a who even knows how old little filly?! Fuck sakes Ryan those kind of things usually think to rape the girls! Especially those damned moss men from those D&D campaigns that liked little girls for some dumb reason! God fucking damnit… at least I managed to make that species go entirely extinct in that game, but I have no idea what so ever if that kind of abominations exist in this world. Or worse creatures then those even.”

I had found myself frowning at the very thought of those creatures, simply staring out the window for who knows how long before I felt my ear swivel around towards the stairs. Hearing the sound of Cheerilee coming down them I turned myself back around with a sigh, laying myself back down onto the sofa and resting my head on the arm rest.

Cheerilee took a seat on the other sofa across from the one I had slept on for the night, she gave me a worried look before asking, ”So… Wispy?” I nodded slowly from my head rest, “I know you’re probably thinking I’m going to send you off to an orphanage or something, but, since to me it seems like you’ve been living on your own for a while as far as I can tell. Being you fell asleep the second your head hit the sofa pillow. I really don't want to have to do something like that to you since we just met last morning…. I can offer you to stay with me for a while since I have no idea if you have anywhere else to go, Celestia knows how I feel about leaving you out in the cold during winter...” She says in a long winded speech, before pausing to look outside the window to see the snow falling rather quickly. “I don’t even know how old you are.” She adds quickly, looking back over to me.

I sighed loudly, I was hoping she wouldn’t ask that. I ended up giving her the only answer I could think of at the time, being my thoughts were still on the dream I had woken up from. “I… honestly don’t know how old I am.” I said in a slow huffing whine, swearing that I could even feel my ears drooping down to fit with my current mood of Bleh.

Cheerilee didn’t seem to take the answer very well as her own ears drooped in response and her face looking more saddened then it had just been, “I… see…” She sighed out before she seemed to try looking at me more closely, “Well.. this is just a guess since it’s harder to tell a ponies age in a lot of cases since we use both Unicorn years and Earth pony years to tell age in different cities. But… taking a closer look at you, I’m tempted to say you’re maybe… twenty in Unicorn years? Maybe around ten in Earth pony?” She says, squinting her eyes a bit as if trying to look a bit harder for a few moments before adding, “Not too much younger then the ponies I teach in school I think. Though it does seem you have your cutie mark already, so you’re at least ten years of age according to Ponyvilles standard for foal ages; being most fillies get theirs around that age.”

“Ten years old..” I say mostly to myself, I was hoping I was older then that. It would seem I drew the short stick in being suddenly thrust into another world in an entirely different body in that regard.

Cheerilee nods to me, “At least that’s how it looks to me. Though it seems you’re also a unicorn now that I’m taking more time to look at you to notice, I didn’t notice that when we first met. No idea if you ever even learned how to use your horn or not but… well. I’m no unicorn, so I wouldn’t be able to help you in that regard. Honestly one of the other students I teach already has a hard enough time with her magic,” She sighs before audibly mumbling, “I really wish she would ask her sister for some help with her magic, or Twilight for that matter. Though I’ve tried giving her some hints in enrolling in Celestias' school through Twilight in a hope she would try a bit harder to learn. Though only she knows if she could be accepted into it or not..”

“Celestias' school?” I asked, wanting to change the subject away from my age and hopefully away from anything more depressing.

Cheerilees eyes seem to light up at the mention of it as well as her ears perking back up, looking back to me directly after seeming to have an idea, “You know Wispy, that’s not actually a bad idea for you if you can get accepted into it. They provide living quarters at the school itself as well as being able to teach quite a few things to a unicorn that most other places wouldn’t be able to accommodate…” She says to me, then getting herself off the sofa she was on to walk over to a desk next to it to open up a drawer, “In fact, I seem to recall getting a pamphlet not that long ago that they would be accepting new tryouts for the school in a few days from then...” She says while rummaging through the drawer before taking out some papers and placing it on the table. “Here. This is the pamphlet sheet for signups that you turn into the school in Canterlot in person.”

I sat myself up from my head rest to look down at the papers themselves to read it over, having liked the idea of someplace I could both learn and stay for a good while to get my ‘hooves’ under myself for whatever future I found for myself while being here.

The paper was pretty much exactly as she described it, though the actual title of the school was openly printed onto the top as ‘Celestias' School for the Gifted’. It sold itself as a school meant for gifted unicorns as a higher place of learning under the parted tutelage of Princess Celestia herself as well as her younger sister Princess Luna; the later part saying that it was a new edition to the school having been added by suggestion by Princess Twilight, a past honor grade student of the school. It was also noted that Twilight herself was planning on teaching a Class in her open time from being the Princess of Friendship and would be available intermittently.

The second page, however, stated that there would be an acceptance trial for those trying to be admitted into the school as there was limited space on campus for those wishing to join the school and that the trials usual passing rate was about five percent of those actually partaking in it. As the past trial was deemed to be too easy and a danger to the supervisors of the test. Thus a newer test was created and deemed to be ‘hopefully’ safer for both the students partaking as well as those overlooking it.

“Seems like a hopeful idea at least.” I state turning to the last page that had the actual ‘sign here to partake’ slip on it that tore off from the pamphlet. It also seemed to those signing the paper that if they showed the signed slip to their local train station that the expense was already paid for, so that would mean an easy and free way to get there as well. “I don’t have any other ideas for myself to be honest with you Ms. Cheerilee. My getting here to Pony Ville was a fluke enough as is, so why the heck not?” I said after a few moments thought. Taking notice that she had put a feather pen next to the slip itself.

Though seeing the pen made me remember that I have yet even once to actually write something with my own hoof before aside for in the dream. Though, figuring my luck so far with my magic still working, I managed to pick the pen up with my hoof and somewhat messily signed my name onto the slip as ‘Wispy Spirits’ before tearing the paper off with a smile of hopefulness. Even if my chances of getting into the school were slim at best, it was still better then not having anywhere else to be.

“Seems that’s well and settled then.” Cheerilee says, looking over the papers a secondary time before stopping a moment to look at a particular page; I could see her eyes shrink down slightly the moment she stopped on it. “Erm.. Well, It seems that the test for getting into the school is actually being held about five hours from now, while the train happens to leave for Canterlot in about fifteen minutes or so.” She states before walking herself immediately over to the door to grab a pair of scarves, tossing one in my direction. “Thank goodness it’s the weekend else I would have to have you go on your own!”

“I guess we better get going then!” I stake, picking the scarf up and wrapping it snugly around my neck. Interestingly the scarf had a pocket on the inside of it, my guess is that it was made for pony convenience in mind so I elected to put the slip into the pocket for safe keeping. “Certainly beats having to keep it in my mouth the whole way.” I thought to myself, then remembering something else I wanted to grab before getting on the train. “I need to make a quick stop to the library before we get onto the train,” I declared just as we both had gotten out of the door, “There’s a book I want to read on the way.”

Cheerilee nods as we make our way through the snow covering the ground. It took us both a little while to get to the large crystal castle I remembered from the dream; though it does help that I also remembered it from being brought to Cheerilees’ house, It was pretty hard to miss. Even more so, I recalled exactly where the library was and ran myself up the stairs to it ahead of my companion to open the door.

Even more to the dream, Twilight was in the same spot she was just as before but this time around she was reading through the book I myself had read through that Celestia had given her. “Don’t mind me, just borrowing the copy of Ley Lines and You.” I regard to Twilight, remembering where It was that Spike had pulled it from earlier. A part of me was confused on how all those many things from the dream I had still managed to come to fruition so far; though I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth about it because I was already a bit on a time crunch.

Twilight looked up from Celestias’ book with a smile, “Huh. I don’t even remember the last time somepony checked that one out, that’s for sure.” She said while glancing over to where I had been standing only to see nopony at all. “Weird. I could have sworn somepony just checked out a book…” She sighed before putting the book she had been reading down and walking out of the library herself.

I myself had already come and gone by the time I heard Twilight coming out from the library. As Cheerilee herself had been waiting for me at the castle doors we both bolted back out knowing we didn’t have much time to spare for pleasantries. Before too long we both managed to get ourselves to the train station by direction of Cheerilee just in the nick of time for the conductor to be saying the words, “All aboard that’s coming aboard!”.

Naturally, as I didn’t have any money to pay for them myself, Cheerilee ended up paying for both of our train tickets. Not that I had any room to object to it. But, tickets in hoof, we ended up on the train to Canterlot as the two of us now sat in cabin four. And thankfully so, seeing as I had a lot to think about, and, from Cheerilees notion, about an hour's trip before we had our stop.

Now, mind you, I once again had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had several books sitting next to me that now, coming to think of it, I had only just realized I shouldn’t have known existed in the library as the entire sequence of meeting Twilight had been entirely in a dream. And while I did have my suspicions as to why I would have known about them; those being that I honestly still think I’m in a dream of some kind, albeit a rather long and detailed one, and the fact that contextually I’m also starting to have doubts about my being here.

Things had been lining up rather quickly for myself, like I was being pushed in a direction with purpose rather than it being random happenstance. Both of which are honestly freeky to think about the more I sit here on this seat cushion. Like the biggest thought of; How did I manage to get here and why? Here I am thinking all these extra things and I’m not even beginning to think about how I turned into a unicorn. Honestly that should have been my first question since I had been human not but at least a few hours ago.

I found myself hanging my head down with a heavy sigh, I was starting to get the feeling this was all a bit more real then I would like it to be. Incidentally, my sigh seemed to track the attention of my current cabin room mate.

“Stress?” Cheerilee asked with some notable concern in her voice.

I end up sighing a second time before I voice out some of my thoughts, “Honestly? Yes. And a lot more than I would like to have to bear with right now. And I’m even more confused about my current situation then I would ever like to be. So now, here I am sitting in a train cabin heading to a destination that may very well decide my fate. Be it to be an orphan living on the streets or an actual orphanage or to somehow make the cut to get into a high grade school for an education so I have a proper living space for the time that I’m there so long as I keep passing grades.” The more I voiced out my own concerns the more and more depressed I was starting to feel. My situation was, in all honesty, pretty fubared whether I liked it or not, dream or no dream.

Cheerilee on the other hand, actually looked a little taken back by how much I seemed to have on my mind. She mulled over it for a moment before saying something I wasn’t expecting, “You know, Wispy, for being a pony who doesn’t even look like they're any older than my own students back in Ponyville. That’s a surprisingly adult way to think of all that. Then again. I didn’t know you before now so I have no clue how old you actually are or for how long you’ve been on your own, let alone what kind of mentality you have. But I can say this much for certain. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both care dearly for their ponies, so either way, no matter what happens. I’m sure you will be cared for.” She says, softly patting me on the head. “Besides, the cutie mark of a pony has a funny way of putting you right where you need to be. Hopefully, for you, it will be someplace for you to find yourself.” She adds with a sage smile only an elder could give; or a teacher in her case.

I simply gave a nod and a sigh of,” I sure hope you’re right…” before I picked up the Ley Lines book I had borrowed from the library. I still had no clue if I was just lucky the book was where I found it in the dream or not, but I surely wasn’t going to complain about it when I needed all the help I could get. I had an hour-ish to get as much information crammed into my head as I could manage and I sure as hell wasn’t going to give up hope just yet. So, I sat myself back upright, opened up the book and began to read what I hoped would be at least something of a saving grace to my upcoming dilemma.

A test I had no clue how to finish.

Author's Note

This is it boys and girls~. The rough un-proof read version of chapter 4~. Late night writing mistakes inbound :twilightblush:

Chapter 5 - Cantering Through Canterlot

Heir of Winter

Chapter 5

Cantering Through Canterlot

So ley lines are something of an obscurity when it comes to the pony folk around here, at least from what I can tell from the book I had been reading on the way to Canterlot City. They were considered the thread and needle of the magic world in a quite literal fashion. Unicorns quite often never really think about how they are such a fundamental part of how their spell craft is woven and more see it as a base of natural instinct. A talent, so to speak. As such it being thought of in such a way, and the rarity behind those that can physically see the threads of magic itself, there became a largely diverse amount of spells that the Unicorns of this world made.

Accuracy in spell craft is something nearly all Unicorns strive to master to its near utmost perfection. And while many will never see what they are actually doing, the spells of today are still quite a thing to behold if you were to truly see their interwoven threads. As an example, the common levitation spell that Unicorns use is often the first thing they will ever learn and is to be considered the most utilized spell out of any created. Aside maybe a stark few.

Basic instinct and tutelage in the ways of spell making is something Unicorns, as well as the other races in some cases, look to their elders, friends and family and fellow strangers even. This is also why many schools such as Canterlots School of the Gifted are often so sought after by everypony. Tutelage is often needed for many Unicorn fillies and colts to even be able to channel their magic through their horn, as they can not physically see what they are trying to do. And, as they grow older, their wisdom into magic grows with their skill set and growth into earning their very cutie mark. Which, more often than not, is usually tied to some form of the magic they learned growing up.

“Magic really is interesting..” I mumble to myself, reading through more and more of the book as time passes.

Cheerilee looks over from looking out the window of our cabin, ”Oh believe me, I’ve seen some real doozies of magic practice while teaching my class. One student in particular tends to get sap into the most unheard of places whenever they try their spells out on recess.” She sighs with a light smile while looking back out the window, ”On that note though. I think we’re just about to pull into Canterlot in the next few minutes from now.”

I close my book and put it down to look out the window with her. And sure enough I see a large white and gold castle looming in the distance with a massive city built directly under its mountain perch. I really had to wonder how their architects managed to keep its weight from buckling and falling over, because good grief was that castle huge! Of course, just as I was admiring the more fine details of the castle, my vision was abruptly interrupted by us going into a tunnel blocking my view. Just my luck.

I sigh and sit myself back down onto the seat, as I seem to have ended up standing on it to see out the window without realizing it. “Geeze, am I really that short?” I mentally asked myself while looking over to the other pony with me. It seemed I was a good head and a halfish shorter than she was.”Yes. Yes I am” I thought before asking a question to Cheerilee to try getting my mind off my short and more then likely adorable self, ”So. Do you think I actually have a chance? You know, with the test…?”

Cheerilee seemed to ponder for a while at my question and seemed about ready to answer it. But before she could even say a word as she was starting to open her mouth, the train started to slow down as we came to a stop at Canterlots train station as the voice of the conductor rang though, ”Now arriving at Canterlot Proper, please enjoy your stay and or visit to the capital of Equestria~! And to any fillies and colts on their way to Canterlots School of the Gifted, for the entrance exam, I wish you all good luck! And remember, there’s always next year should you fail the entrance exam~!”

“Way to spoil the mood there at the end Mr. Driver.” I thought while picking up my books and got up off the cabin seat. It seemed I was well on my way to knowing the answer to my question whether I liked the outcome of it or not.

The two of us made our way out of the train with quite a few other ponies that seemed to have the same destination in mind. Those ponies, being a large sum of fillies and colts all carrying saddle bags filled to the brim with books and writing utensils, walked with their parents or guardians.

The train station exit was packed full as we finally made it out from the train and into Canterlot itself. Large and ornate buildings of various sizes littered the stone cut streets before us as countless ponies walked about their day. Most seemed like high class citizens while others seemed to simply live here for their businesses just in a hope to make a better bang for their buck. Seemed to work well enough for them on the surface as I saw a restaurant in the far distance that seemed like a small-time coffee shop that had only just been built.

A voice of somepony speaking into a microphone abruptly took me away from looking at the sights, ”All who are on their way to Canterlots School of the Gifted please come this way in an orderly fashion, The royal guards ponies will escort you on your way just in case you get lost!”

“Guess that’s us then.” I say to Cheerilee with a slight pitch to my voice, trying to make sure they heard me over everypony else. I had been staying rather close to her after we had left the train, out of fear of getting lost in the sea of ponies all trying to go the same direction. I really, REALLY, didn’t want to get lost today. There was enough on my plate as is.

Cheerilee did her best to keep me close to her as we followed the line of ponies in front of us. I could tell she didn’t seem to like crowds that much as she seemed to shrink a little just from the sheer amount of other ponies. But regardless of either of our troubles, the line of ponies slowly straightened out as the pony in front of the line directed us all to our destination.

I looked around the sights as we walked by them, reading signs and looking at the many different store fronts as they came and went on from my view. There were some pretty interesting places around for sure. Like this one Doughnut restaurant called ‘Pony Joes’ we passed by; The place seemed like it was pretty packed for someplace that only seemed to sell pastries. Another was a clothing store we passed by that I sadly couldn’t catch the name of, though from the looks of things they were in the middle of an outdoors wear eighty percent off sale for winter hats and scarves; quite the good deal if you asked me.

Though sadly for my explorative viewing of Canterlots many odds and ends, they slowly petered out into the distance as our group of ponies went past a gate and into what seemed to be the main Estate of Canterlot Castle itself. Just by seeing the place up close and personal now rather than just from the train, the marble walls and brick work for it was surely something you could only see in fantasy. Anyone in this world would call this place a masterpiece of grand design. Tall looming towers too short but well kept hedge bushes trimmed into the shapes of ponies, statues of various tastes and doors that seemed to go up forever. This place was definitely fit for a capital building.

Our group of ponies was met with a single guard standing watch in front of the massive door into the castle itself. They turned their head over to the pony who had been leading us all here and nodded as something was said to them before they patted their hoof twice on the door itself, it slowly opened in response as we were all led into the castle itself.

Inside the castle, well. I could only call it a masterful work of art. Ornate pottery filled with plants of varied types decorated the halls, yet seemed to be perfectly placed in a set order so as to not make them stick out like a sore thumb. Expertly crafted stained glass windows also greeted us, showing depictions of many different scenes that I could only assume were events of the long past. Though, sadly, none of us had the time to sit and stare at them for all that long as we were all shoveled into a waiting room down the hall and up a flight of stairs where we all were given chairs and pillows to sit and wait for our turns at the exam.

“So this is Canterlot huh? Certainly quite the well decorated place.” I remarked as I found my own place to sit with Cheerilee, next to a window so I could look outside. I was still admiring the scenery, a welcome distraction from an upcoming crossroad.

“Oh it certainly is!” Cheerilee exclaimed happily. "It is the capital after all~. Surely if you were Princess Celestia or Princess Luna you would want the place to look nice for visitors from other countries?” She said in a teacher like tone, it seems she finally got over being in a crowd now that she was back indoors. Either that or it’s because we’re inside a giant school building.

I nodded to her, agreeing entirely. This place was certainly worth traveling from wherever in the world you came from. ”No kidding, this place seems to have a little of everything.” I say, taking notice that I could make out Ponyville from our window outlook. Certainly a view to behold even this far away.

But, again, a voice from behind me took me out of my enjoyment of the great outdoors. “Alright everypony! The Exam is ready for you all. So please come single file to give your slip to the pony to my left.” The stallion who was speaking gestures to their left, ”Willow Tag here will take care of any formalities and set you all up with a number to be called with your name when it’s time for you to turn in the Exam room. Please do note that the Exam itself this time around requires being reset after each pony has taken it and that each pony has thirty minutes to do their best in showing their ability against it.” The stallion says before he himself walks off without even bothering to say their name.

Cheerilee passes me the slip she had been carrying for me on the way here as I wait in line to give my slip to Willow Tag. Many ponies in front of me seemed either younger or slightly older than I was and not all of them even had a cutie mark yet. This put my mind at more of an ease, I figured that if ponies that didn’t have their cutie mark yet could pass then I surely had a better chance at the very least.

A nervous sounding voice from behind me brought me out of my thoughts, “Ah… So what do you think the exam is?” A light tan colored unicorn filly with a well combed down strawberry mane and ponytail about my height asks, looking rather disheartened at the upcoming slip pony.

“I don’t know. Something like a puzzle maybe? It would explain why it needs to be reset every time.” I whisper to her, not wanting to annoy any of the ponies in front of me.

This seemed to bring the filly back to a better mood as she whispers back, ”Good thing I like puzzles. My older sister brings them home from work a lot so I don’t get bored from school work.”

I smile back at her, recalling my own sister from back on Earth. ”Seems like a good sister to me.” I say, though also slightly depressing myself from having to recall that I wasn’t exactly on Earth anymore.

“Yeah, she’s nice. Makes me a happy filly to know she’s around when I need her. She’s actually why I’m trying to get into this school too. Says I have a talent for getting out of tricky situations, not that I have my cutie mark yet to say that myself. But I’m working hard on it!” She exclaims with a warm smile while looking at her own blank flank. “Anyways~! My name’s Locket Spring. What’s yours?”

Incidentally, right when she asked me that question it was my turn to pass my slip. “Wispy Spirits.” I say at the same time I gave my slip to the pony giving us all number slips in return. I was given the number twelve in return as I was told to wait my turn in the room we were already in. Naturally Locket was given number thirteen and so on and so forth for the other ponies behind us that had been waiting their own turns.

I went back to sit with Cheerilee as Locket elected to sit and wait with us as well.

“So, are you her mom?” Locket asks looking over to Cheerilee, who suddenly blushes and shakes her head no at her question.

“No no no no… just a friend really. Helping her get her hooves off the ground, so to speak.” Cheerilee stammers out, obviously taken back by the sudden question she was asked.

“Oh~! Okay~!” Locket says happily, very much so in a better mood she had been while back in line.

For a fairly good while we three sat by the window and did small talk about our lives, though I had to keep a fair bit of mine in check since I wasn’t originally from Equestria.

Lockets’ sister turned out to be a toy maker for an up and coming store out in someplace called Maresdale, while her parents did work out someplace else she didn’t know about because no matter how much she asked about them her sister wouldn’t tell her. I had a sad feeling that I knew the reason why and I wasn’t about to tell her either, even more so when she said she hadn’t seen them since she was a foal. Chances were that her parents had long since passed on. Poor kid, she’s going to find out someday and be heartbroken for sure.

Cheerilee on the other hand was a single mare living her own life in Ponyville after moving out of her parents house in some place called Colton Landing. And while she did have thoughts about getting married someday, be it to a lucky stallion or mare, she had yet to find anypony of true interest to her. Of which she ended up explaining to us both that it was okay to like mares if we wanted, though of course didn’t explain why it was okay. More than likely because we were kids in her eyes. Good on her to try her best to keep our innocence intact; though it’s not like I had mine for a long time now.

I myself didn’t tell them all that much aside from that I had a good few problems with my family and that I had gone out on my own to find my own way in life. And while not entirely true it seemed to be real sounding enough to them both to leave the subject alone. No point in telling them I had somehow got transported here from another world or I was just dreaming them all up as figments of my imagination; though I was leaning more towards being somehow transported here as time went on. Honestly I may as well just go with that now. It seems the most likely option at this point.

Time went on as the fillies and colts before us went to and from the Examination room, either with looks of joy or disappointment on their faces. We could only assume a few of the eleven before us had passed as we counted up to our own numbers. I personally counted only half of them had managed to pass, so the test itself had to be at least manageable for kids of my ‘age’ group.

“Number twelve, Wispy Spirits. Your turn is up. Please make your way into the testing chamber.” Willow Tag says, poking her head out of the room next to ours as a colt covered in soot from head to hoof came out with an amused smirk on their face.

“What in the world did that kid do to end up like that?” I wondered to myself as I bid Locket and Cheerilee a temporary farewell. I walked myself past the colt who was now dusting themselves off and over to Willow. ”Ready when you all are I guess.” I tell her, looking into the room beyond. The mare nods and gestures to walk into the room.

As I walk into the room, I take note of all the damage the room had suffered in the last few hours. Scorch marks, piles of ash and stains of water littered both the ceiling of the room as well as the floor itself. “Good grief. What in the world happened here?” I couldn’t help but remark aloud, even stray lines of used magic thread seemed to billow in the air as I looked around.

“Oh the usual.” A mare's voice said. I looked over to see five ponies all sitting behind a table, four unicorns, two male and two female and one tall lady Alicorn were sitting and reading over their papers about the last potential student. Though the Alicorn in question wasn’t who I expected to see. Rather than Celestia herself watching over the possible students joining into the school she herself had made, it was a dark blue/purple mare with an equally dark blue mane that seemed to hold countless stars and constellations within its flowing form. Quite pretty to look at if I would say so myself. And I definitely would.

Come to think, wasn’t this Princess Luna? Strange, I didn’t think she had an interest in her sister's school, what was she doing here? Curiously, I asked, "Princess Luna? I didn’t think you would be one of the judges.”

The lunar princess nods, putting her own papers down with a sigh of what seems like near annoyance, "Yes, it would seem that in my sister's infinite wisdom she has asked me to look over this year's exam. Albeit not something I would normally do, dear sister felt it would be good for me to oversee the younglings, as I am not usually active in the mornings to be around my own fellow pony. As such. I am here to both oversee this test as well as to help in making them more suitable for skilled children.” She says before looking over her shoulder, levitating what looks to be a rather skillfully built box onto a table that I had only just noticed had been placed in front of me.

“So. Just what am I supposed to be doing exactly?” I ask, not paying much mind to the box just yet.

“You are to use any means at your disposal to open this box without breaking it open forcefully. Within the constraints of the time limit of course. Though, as a reminder to all potential students. It is not required that the box actually be opened to be accepted as a student at this school.” One of the stallion examiners chimes in. ”And as you can plainly see from your surroundings, things may not be entirely as you expect.” He adds, gesturing at the many damages the room has suffered already.

“Also,” One of the mares starts, ”As a friendly notion of competition. No ponies before you have actually gotten the box open. So if you are the first to open this container, that has been custom designed by our very own Princess of The Night, then you are guaranteed a position in the school, regardless of actual talent.” She states plainly with a small hint of pride, it was apparent that she highly approved of this year's test. “Regardless. Your timer will start as soon as you choose to begin your attempt to open it.” They add while levitating what looked to be a sand timer.

I nod to them, now actually taking the time to look the box over as I sat myself in front of the table. The box itself for sure was custom built as it had many different odds and ends added to it. Gemstones of various types oriented in different positions made themselves apparent as I moved the box around with my hooves. Surely, it seemed I was right, this was meant as some form of puzzle.

I elected to pick the entire thing up with my levitation line to get a better look at the underside, only to suddenly and plainly see the countless patterns of magic lines inlaid across the entire box itself. “Okay then? Now we’re getting somewhere.” I thought to myself as I started looking closely at the patterns themselves. These patterns seemed to have vibrantly different colors to each of them, some fiery red while others seemed more like a grassy green. And yet even more colors made themselves known the more and more I stared at the many different gemstones.

“So what am I looking at exactly? I should be wondering more about what it is I need to do to get this box opened. But these gems are actually pretty interesting” I thought to myself while staring down the lines. Not all of them seemed to be connected to each other, in fact, the more I thought about the colors themselves I started to wonder if they could be more elementally tied. As some seemed to have a more active feel to them over others. Mainly the red lines connected to, funny enough, a large red ruby that seemed to feel slightly warm when I moved a hoof over it.

At the very least I felt like I was on the right track about the gems being elementally tied in with magic. “So the lines connecting to each other must be some form of enchantment. That would explain why there’s so much damage to the room itself, they must activate if you do something wrong.” I think to myself while looking over a green emerald. This one seemed to have an earthy texture when I rubbed it, as if I was pushing on dirt.

“Well that cinches it then. These gems are tied to their respective elements color wise. But what do they have to do with getting this box open?” I felt a smirk come onto my lips as I felt like I was getting close to figuring this whole thing out. “Since all of these gems have these threads connected to them, those threads themselves must be the magic that causes the enchantment to function. So what happens if I cancel them out with each other I wonder?” I mused to myself, as I began to try moving the connecting lines themselves into each other in a means to fuse the enchantments and cancel the elements out.

I started with the yellow and purple gemstones on the top of the box, as they seemed to go together naturally as the forms of Light and Darkness. Connecting the two different enchantments together was actually surprisingly easy, though when I brought the two lines together the lights inside the gems slowly dimmed out and simply faded away entirely the inlayed fabric of magic following suit.

“Alright. Good start, now onto the rest.” I smiled to myself as I joined the enchantments of the green emerald and billowing white stone with each other. The result seemed to be the same. As what I thought to be the stones for Earth and Air fizzled out just the same as the first two.

Next was the blue and red stones. Both went dim just the same as before as I was now left with two final stones. One being what looked to be a pearl and the other was a jet black onyx stone. Yet, while I started to bring the two enchantments together like I had the others, these two simply refused to move no matter how much I tried.

“Well this is perplexing.” I noted to myself, ”Lets see here. If the other gemstones were all tied to the elements then what exactly are these tied to?” I thought. I already knew the others just by experience. So maybe these two had something else to them that made them more important? I put the box down for a moment to eye the examiners for a moment, mainly Luna herself for any possible clues. It seemed she had a raised eyebrow that was giving me a questionable look, as if looking at me particularly in study.

I thought to myself for the next few minutes, feeling I still had a bit of time left on the hourglass. Of which I did check just to make sure; I still had a good ten minutes left at the very least. “What other kinds of things could these be? I know the last ones were elements. So… maybe these ones are more aspects of something? Like life and death maybe? That would certainly explain their unwillingness to move. They’re more like constants rather than temporary things that fade with time. Though I already know life fades easily enough. Maybe backtracking is in order.”

I looked back to the blue and red gemstones with an odd feeling in the back of my mind. Maybe there was more to this puzzle than it first meets a trained eye? In fact. Looking closely at the inactive gems, I saw that the original enchantments were inscribed into the stones themselves rather than being magically inlaid onto them. Meaning while the overlaid enchantments were gone they still were actually active.

“Interesting! So there was a secondary usage for these after all!” I found myself smiling happily once again before spotting a problem. The blue gemstone was water based and not what I figured it to actually need to have. “If the Pearl signifies Life, then the Fire Ruby should be connected to it. As fire is part of the heat that drives one to live. The sapphire is the problem, since this onyx signifies Death itself. And with death being a cold and empty thing. I don’t have anything to do with it.” I mentally berated myself before having a sudden thought. “Wait…. Can’t I just use that Ice line I have? Surely that should work right?”

I facehoofed myself before bringing the Ice filled line of magic I had found in that dream of mine out into the open. It seemed to cause frost buildup on the table as I brought it closer to the box itself as I did my best to combine the four different gemstones together magically. “The Fires of Life and the Chill of Death.” I mutter to myself as the four lines combine into one on the box itself.

In doing this, the box began to glow brightly as the other enchantments I had once thought to have been inactive reactivated all at once as the container began to violently glow and hover off the table. All the lines of magic on the box began to converge into one massive swirl of magical power, causing me to instinctively duck under the table. The sound of swirling air grew louder in the room as magical power moved violently of its own volition. And, just as suddenly as it happened, it all fell quiet as a small metallic tink came from something falling onto the table.

I slowly poked my head back over the table to see that a small metal key with the symbol of the moon had fallen onto the table next to where the box now rested, smoldering slightly as a keyhole appeared on the side facing me. Not knowing what else to do after the sudden show of magic force that came from the box, I carefully levitated the key into the keyhole and turned.

The box slowly made a creaking sound as the top portion opened up as a pendant with the same moon symbol on the key slowly levitated out and plopped right onto my head.

I slowly got myself back into a sitting position as I looked over the onlooking examiners. Everly last one of them was giving me a blank stare except for Luna herself, who seemed to be smiling from ear to ear.

“Well then,” She started, taking a moment to look down at her papers for what I could only assume was my attendance slip, ”You have most certainly passed my test Wispy Spirits. Though I must ask. How is it that you seemed to know exactly what you needed to do?” Luna seemed to give me a smirk at her own question, nearly seeming like she somehow knew what I was about to say.

“Well.” I started, looking over to her with my own smirk. “Being able to see the fabric of magic helped me realize that the gemstones held elementally based enchantments placed on them. After figuring that out it was basic cancelation of the different types of magic all I had to do was push them together to fizzle them out.” I state, recalling the past events with utmost clarity. “The Pearl and Onyx stones were the tricky part as they weren’t elements themselves. But rather Aspects that were too different from each other to directly connect. So, I improvised and used two of the prier stones as well as one of my own Ice magic lines to connect them indirectly. And the rest is as they say, history.” I finish with a nod and a smile. Feeling like I had done a good job.

Luna's smile only grew wider as I told her how I opened up the box, and as I finished she slowly stood herself up and said, “Verily! It has been a long time since I last saw somepony see magic in the same way as I! It is plain to see why my sister wanted me to oversee her schools’ exams this fine year!” She happily exclaimed as she walked around the table and stood directly next to me. “Young one, you have surely earned your way into Celestia's school of the Gifted. Though, for my sister Celestia's sake, there is a question she wanted me to ask to the pony that found a way to solve my puzzle of enchantments.” She says, now sitting herself down next to me while showing the other examiners off into the room next door.

“A question Celestia wanted you to ask?” I asked her, wondering just what they had wanted her to ask.

“Yes.” Luna says, before looking back to the door behind her to make sure the examiners were out of earshot. “It is the wish of my sister that I find a student for myself just as she had many years ago before I returned from my banishment to the moon. Her own student being the current Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna says with a warm smile on her face before she also says, “I have never taken somepony under my wing in tutelage, so this will be something new for me to learn just as it would be for you, should you accept my offer.”

I found my mouth sitting slightly agape at what she had just offered me. I wasn’t expecting such an added catch to getting her box open. “I was only trying to get into Celestia's school for a place to live and learn! But this?!” I thought in a jumbled mess of words. Surprised wasn’t a large enough word for how I felt about her question. “I- I - I mean. There’s no reason for me to say no.” I stammer out while looking back at her smiling face.

Luna herself seemed to only grow more joyous at my acceptance of tutelage as she spun around and suddenly announced down the hall in an astoundingly loud voice, “I! Princess Luna of the Night! Herein accept the one known as Wispy Spirits as my apprentice!” Luna's voice booms throughout the castle halls, echoing out in every direction at once.

“Well. I guess I’m her apprentice now. Also. Damn that was loud!” I think to myself while covering my ears. It seemed my life in Equestria was only just beginning as the both of us walked out into the hall where Cheerilee and Locket were waiting.

Oh boy this was going to be fun to explain.

Chapter 6 - Living Space

Heir of Winter

Chapter 6

Living Space

I didn’t have to explain anything to them. Luna's loud announcement was heard well enough to everyone in the other room; ponies in the next few rooms over included. So, now, I was being ogled at by the rest of the fillies, colts and parents thereof by simple proxy of being Luna's new student. And while I didn’t entirely mind the attention, mainly because I wasn’t expecting it to happen either, some of the nobility were already trying to get into my good graces with their children in hopes it would get them closer to their lunar princess of the night.

Some of the nobility was nice about it and left me be, while others seemed outright pushy about it. I even ended up with a marriage proposal of all things, from a single stallion parent trying to get me together with their son who happened to be the same soot ridden colt I ran into earlier.

Flicker Flare was the colt's name, he was a young unicorn colt that had a bit of an arrogant streak with the prying eyes of nobility; fiery personality and a coat of mane and fur just the same. And from the conversation I had with them he seemed nice enough on the surface despite their self bolstering nature. Though who knows if that idea would hold any water down the line when we all grew up in the later years of our schooling. For all I knew he was just acting nice for his fathers appearances to the other nobles.

But, since Luna still had to watch over the rest of the proceedings with the other school candidates, she had to see herself back to the testing room while I myself elected to sit back with Cheerilee to wait for Locket to be done with her exam. Thankful that all the pestering of the nobles and other parents with their kids had finally calmed down after she left.

I was hoping she would get in to be honest. She seemed to have a good enough life at home despite her parents not being in the picture. But there’s always those little details that make you wish that they had just a bit more to look forward to.

“Think she’ll get in?” I asked Cheerilee with concern. Looking over to the door to the examination room I had just left not too long ago.

“I think she’ll be better than fine. She has a strong head on her shoulders for somepony her age. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of Twilight to see her so engrossed in simple learning.” Cheerilee answers, looking the same direction I was while smiling at her own remark.

Weirdly enough, we found that we didn’t have to wait all that long for Locket to come walking back out the room with a gleaming smile running ear to ear with Luna herself following directly behind her.

Luna had a very confused look on her face from what was, by my count, only ten minutes of the test having gone by as she sat herself outside the door as she closed it behind herself. “Tests will be temporarily delayed from continuing for some time as the test in question, by some means of masterful expertise, has been entirely dismantled by Locket Spring. Whom, I have chosen to be a SECOND student of mine alongside Wispy.” Luna says with a warm smile to the room as she gestures to Locket.

“I certainly was not expecting you to take the entire puzzle box apart rather than go through the enchantments as all the others before you had.” Lunas says while looking down to Locket.

Locket simply looks back up at her with that same gleaming smile and says, ”My sister makes boxes like those all the time! Deconstruction is the best way to learn construction as she would say!”

Luna chuckles, ”Then I’ll certainly have to look into buying one of her puzzle boxes one of these days ! I would certainly learn a thing or two from her craftsmanship if you're used to puzzles like the one I made.”

Locket somehow smiles even wider than before as she sits herself down next to me; she most definitely had her entire year made with Luna's comment.

Luna then turns her attention back to the room as a whole, ”Now then! As our ability to resume the examination is currently hindered and in need of being put back together, all those that have already passed the exams may follow Professor Gold Wright to the school faculties to be shone into your rooms as you most definitely wish to retire for the time being. As for Whispy and Locket, you will follow me to your own living space, as it lay elsewhere on our grounds.” She says, gesturing to the named Professor and to Locket and me.

I turn my gaze over to Cheerilee,”Guess this is where we part ways for now.” I say, honestly feeling a bit sad to leave her care after all she had done for me.

The teacher scoots herself closer to me and wraps her front legs around me in a hug, ”Good luck Wispy. It was good to know you, despite it only being for a short while. I hope whatever it is life has in store for you finds you in good tidings.” She says warmly while also looking over to Locket Spring. Her words more than likely meant for her as well.

Shortly after, we said our goodbyes to each other and followed Luna down the castle hallways. I still had to admire the craftsmanship of the castle itself despite having looked it over multiple times in the waiting line. “I wonder how long it took these ponies to build this place. They certainly know their craft one way or the other, just by seeing that puzzle box Luna made.”, I thought to myself as we passed by what looked to be an outdoor garden that was in the middle of being trimmed by a pony wearing overalls. They waved as we passed by before going back to their work.

“I suppose at this point the both of you may be wondering where it is that I’m taking you?” Luna chimed in, breaking me away from the garden scenery.

“You could say that. Though I admit that the castle grounds offer quite the distraction.” I answered while looking over to Locket, who seemed more distracted than I was and hadn’t seemed to have heard Luna's question.

“Truely, they are a sight to behold to ponies that live farther away from Canterlot and even to a fair few living inside its very walls; My sister had a good taste for its construction while I was away.” Luna says with a slight sigh, “Though, it pains me to admit, it could use some remodeling in some places that are less commonly used. There’s a mighty few places none of the nobles even know about, much less myself even. I have not had the opportunity to explore the grounds of my own volition for quite some time.” She huffs, seemingly annoyed at the idea.

“I take it you don’t have much time to yourself?” I ask, honestly curious about Luna's life.

“You would be right in stating that, though not in the way you may think.” She smiles before stopping in front of a door we had just nearly passed by. Causing Locket to walk face first into my rear end from our abrupt stop.

“Sorry. Got distracted.” She says before realizing why we had stopped, “Oh! Right. Our rooms!”

Lunas nods to us both before taking two silver keys out from her mane, “My sister told me that Twilight had her own entire observatory to herself in her time under her wing when she was still being taught at school. So I took the liberty to have something set up ahead of time in case I did find somepony to give tutelage to.” She says while unlocking the door for us, opening it up to show us to our new living space.

The inside was all made of different shades of wood, unlike the stone castle itself, yet seemed to all fit together without plainly standing out against each other. This main room we all walked into seemed to be the main living space for the company we would have over with us, those being teachers and friends, most likely, as there were sofas and tables with chairs cleanly placed in the round room. Bookcases filled to the brim were across the sides, along with an unlit fireplace made of some kind of dark marble sitting off next to what seemed to be a reading area.

From the right, we could see a well kept bedroom with a pair of chests that were more than likely meant for our belongings. Along with a dresser for clothing much to my own surprise; I guess even in a world of talking equines they still had reasons to have clothes.

On the left side of the main room was what seemed to be a study lab that seemed to have an unusual shine to it, like it had been cleaned so well that you could see your own reflection from down the hall.

Luna seemed to take notice of the look I was giving it, ”Ah, yes. I should tell the both of you that the chemistry room is aptly enchanted to keep both you and the room itself out of harm's way. And that it is, in fact, quite fireproof.” She says while gesturing to several glowing gemstones sewn into the walls, “ As for the other rooms, they are kept clean by the castle maids for the most part. They will knock and ask to be allowed entrance if one of the two of you are present in your dwelling. If neither of you are here, they will simply tidy as they have in the past; you need not worry about your personal effects, your bedroom is yours to clean as you see fit.” She finishes before sitting down onto one of the sofas. Chances are she wasn’t going to have time to relax later.

I sat down on the sofa opposite of her, “Certainly glad to have a roof over my head and a place to learn. Though I do want to ask. Just what is it that you plan to tutor us with?” I asked, wondering if Luna had thought that far ahead with her plans.

“That is the main question in the air, isn’t it.” Luna says with a slight sigh before looking to the both of us and the room around, “Truth be told, this entire ‘being a teacher’ role is a rather sudden one for me. But, I digress, classes for school don’t actually start until this next weekend to give time for both student and parent to prepare for the many months ahead.” She adds, now looking over to one of the bookcases to levitate a seemingly random book from its shelf to her.

Locket tapped her chin in thought, having not taken to sitting and had been walking around the rooms on her own, “I’m sure you’ll think of something; sage advice or otherwise.” She says with a smile to Luna.

“Yes. I’m sure you’re right. If not I wouldn’t make a good teacher to the both of you, would I?” Luna says, returning her smile before standing up from the sofa and walking towards the front door, “Though on that notion. Sadly, I do not have time for idle chat, I have prior duties to attend and a schedule to both keep and amend for the future. Keeping the both of you in mind, of course.” Luna adds, giving us both a nod before she leaves us to ourselves and exits our newly gifted home away from home.

I look over to Locket with a smirk, “Guess that leaves the two of us then.” I say, getting myself up off the sofa as well.

Locket on the other hand gives me a bit of a sad look before saying, “About that….” She starts, rubbing a hoof on the back of her head, “I left my luggage with my sister back at the train station.” She says, giving a light hearted laugh before heading to the door as well, “I’ll be back, hopefully won’t take me all that long to lug it back here.” Locket then opens up the door and leaves herself, making me the sole pony in the room.

“So much for the company.” I mutter to myself. While not entirely opposed to being alone now that I had my own place to stay, I had been rather enjoying having others around to talk with. Now with them out of the way I had my own thoughts to turn back to, again; I wasn’t looking too forward to that.

I found myself walking into the bedroom, putting the books I had borrowed on the desk next to a single bed. Shortly after I noticed there was a second bedroom just next to mine, “Don’t recall seeing an extra bedroom…… weird.” I tell myself, slightly off put by its sudden arrival. I chalked it up to magic being at play. And, with all the things I had both seen and done today, that was going to have to be my one and only guess.

I sat on the bed in my own claimed room, thinking about the past, present and future. I still had no answers on how I found myself on Equestria, let alone why I was a pony rather than a human being. Or how it was I learned to use magic so quickly despite it being my first time using it to my knowledge. Or how I was able to walk around in this body so easily despite it not being the one I had been born with.

“There has to be a reason I’m here…. Right?” I asked myself aloud, “I mean. I’m certain I wouldn’t have just fallen asleep in the woods and woken up in the same woods but as a different species entirely without cause.” I went back and forth in my head with this question for a while before coming to a simple answer to give myself, “I could just put it to some type of magic that brought me here. But what kind of magic would be that powerful to tear across dimensions, change my race and alter my brain chemistry to be able to use it easily?”

That question held firm in my head, though I had no way to answer my ‘why am I here’ dilemma. I still figured I would find out eventually. I had time on my side now that I had a place to learn and I’m sure as hell going to abuse it to my best ability.

That brings me to my thoughts of the future. I knew I was here and not dreaming. But now my question was; for how long would I be on Equestria as a unicorn filly? Days? Months? Years even? Again, no good answers. All I could do was mentally and physically prepare myself for the unknowable future ahead. If I was going to be here for as long as I was starting to think, I was going to have to leave my old way of life behind and get used to an entirely separate world then I grew up knowing. And, while I did have my dream knowledge, I knew that knowledge wasn’t going to last long.

I flopped over and rested my head on the bed's pillow, letting out a long and exasperated sigh. “Well, you’re sure in for it now aren't you. Stuck in a fillies body for who knows how long, young all over again, in school all over again. List goes on and on.” I rubbed my eyes with my hooves, honestly feeling a bit downtrodden.

I sighed again and shook my head, forcing myself to get off the bed and walk back into the main living room. I didn’t really have much of a plan of what I was going to do in the future but the least I could do was prepare for it as I walked over to the bookcase to scan over its contents.

The thought of just how much knowledge of the world I had was a bit of a pressing issue now that I started thinking about it, “Guess I’ll start with history, knowing my luck they’re going to test me on that in school and I am sorely lacking in that department.” I lament as I pick up an equally as fundamental book for my future as it would be for school simply and aptly called, “Equestrian History”

Now, as much as I would love to tell you the fine details of what seemed to be over a thousand years worth of knowledge pertaining to this world's history. I’m going to save you the trouble and skim over the details to the best of my ability; that and Locket came back with her belongings while I was in the middle of reading this book, so I didn’t really get to read it all to begin with.

Note, I’m pretty sure I ended up reading most of this in an old man's voice; mostly to keep history entertaining.

Equestrian History - The Tribes of Equestria

Quite some time ago, in the very beginning of our known world, we were not the united tribes that we are today. In fact, we were often at war with each other and the world itself. You could call it a manner of foalish pride that we fought as much as we did in those days, maybe even a simple lack of knowledge and unity to better our fellow pony. But there was a reason for it much like many things in our world of magic.

Land, being one of the main factors, was something fought for by nearly every known race to pony kind.

Earth ponies needed solid ground under their hooves in order to grow their crops as well as to keep their foals safe from the wilds of the currently untamed world. For back then many creatures were hostile to us as a whole. Hydras, Thessle-Wyrms, dire varieties of many of the currently known Everfree forest creatures and worse. Dragons were also a pressing problem, as their fire rendered all to ash in its wake; mind you that the dragons of today are not nearly as bad as they used to be and we actually have peaceful relations with them as I’m writing this.

But I digress. Earth Pony life was much harder than the other two races of pony kind of that time but they were none the worse for it. Earth Ponies are a hearty bunch and back then they often fought and won against all odds opposing them with pure willpower and strength alone. Nowadays you can find their ancient craft being put to use in nearly all our houses, tools and plumbing, as their durability has neigh no equal.

Moving on to the Pegasi. Records show they were a bolsterish bunch, often fighting against even their own and had a brain as arrogant as a dragon's hoard was vast. But, once again there was a reason for this. As it turns out, their arrogance was warranted to a very high degree as they were masters of the sky itself; they still are to this day, just not as arrogant as they used to be.

More often than not the Pegasi of those times would control the weather in giant mobile thunderheads they used as their home, as both a means of protection and war, as their clouds required a vast amount of water to function without breaking down. This often meant that they had little to no choices but to fight over water supplies with the other races down below, lest they go homeless and their yet to be able to fly foals would plummet to the ground. It’s very easy to see why they fought so hard for supplies and it often makes me wonder why it took so long for the tribes to unite.

Now, the tricky bunch. Unicorns were something of a rare oddity in the beginning days as far as our current records show, often picking the most unusual of places to live in solitude to have their families. But again, this was within reason.

Magic was something of an unknown back then, even to the unicorns. Untamed and wild, it fought against the wills of all creatures who stood before it, often slaying them outright or turning them into something more and less… often called A Creature of Chaos.

Unicorns however, did not fear the ramifications of their learning of the world's secrets. But rather fought tooth and hoof over their homes, other races be damned for getting in their way. Very often then not, Earth Pony tribes would be forced to move from their land if a Unicorn found the area to be of use in their study. Pegasi fared no better, as water was often used or even tainted by accident from a Unicorn's failed study. This brings a saying often used by the Unicorns of the past, “Knowledge is a poison best used by the wise. And only used in moderation.”

“Who would have thought war was that prevalent back then.” I lament while helping Locket unpack her bags. I had elected to talk to her about it, wondering what she knew about history; though mostly to help fill in the gaps of history other ponies would think me to know. Likely anyone here would think it strange for a pony to not know something seemingly everyone else does.

“You’re telling me! There’s a reason why we have Hearth's Warming every year. It’s so everypony remembers the meaning behind the ending of war in Equestria and why we're united as we are today.” She says, putting a few odds and ends into her own room; she also found it strange that we missed the second bedroom, she too chose to ignore the why behind it just as I did earlier.

“So in the end everypony found it better to unify then be apart from each other. Personally it seems silly they even fought to begin with, we’re all ponies in the end aren't we? Sure there’s different types of us, but we’re all the same base race in the end.” I said, now closing the book.

Locket scratched the back of her head at my comment before sitting herself onto her own bed, likely thinking it over in her head before saying, “You know, you have a point. I get they all had reasons to fight over the land we live in now. But what I don’t get is why their relations to each other were so bad to begin with. I have yet to read anything about the past tribes personal relations to each other tribal group.”

“No clue about it either. I’ve never really looked into history this deep before to be honest with you. It’s always been something I never really bothered to look into simply because I figured, past is past. But this really does bring the old saying of ‘history is doomed to repeat itself’ to light.” I say while looking back down at the book I had been reading, “If somepony doesn’t learn about their race's past then they're likely to start it all over again. Racism sucks, enough said.” I add, recalling back to when I was on Earth. These ponies definitely don’t need that kind of problem here. Ever.

Shortly after our short talk over the past history of Equestiras tribes I ended up heading to my own room to think, though mostly to give Locket her own time to study on her own since she said they had some things to catch up on before classes started. Convenient for me considering where I was, I had a lot to figure out and not much time to get myself situated into school life. For the second time in my life no less, none too happy about that, though it’s not like I have many other choices.

I sat myself onto the bed in my newly gifted room with a soft thump, being more tired from the day then I figured I rightly should have been. Likely it was the stress of nearly being a homeless filly in a nation I knew next to nothing about, to simply being a filly in a nation I knew little about catching up to me. I’d gone through quite a bit in just a day and a half, partially learning how my magic works and somehow getting into a school meant for gifted children all the while ending up a student to one of the most important figure heads in Equestria as a whole. A lot to say the least.

Regardless, I still had far too much to do to allow myself rest just yet. I had to study just the same as Locket did, and more books than I likely would ever like to read at once sitting on the desk next to me like a testament to saying ‘Guess what filly man! You get to go to school again!’. Far too true in every statement.

Book reading was what I ended up doing all the way to dusk, doing my best to catch myself up on past and current events. There were some other texts I got myself into, like how to measure your personal mana reserves as to avoid burning yourself out; something I didn’t know was a thing before that point. There was also their periodic table of elements I was curious about, as when I was on Earth I had a fairly large collection of rocks and other gemstones.

Their range of elements was truly jaw dropping to say the least, leaps and strides over the hundred eighteen Earth had by far. I took it to the fact that this world had magic as an element in of itself, it could easily make any normal material into something it could have never likely had been on earth. Much like the old takes of dwarves and their Mithril and Adamantium ores, both of those were existent in this world much to my surprise. And so many more elements I would have never had the names for, like one being called Thaumium; being apparently very dense in mana but also being highly volatile. Truthfully I lost count of Equestrias elements once I hit over the hundred fifty marker. Truly astounding to think about in the future, it made me wonder what other strange uses they had in this kind of world.

But, as time passed, I eventually forced myself to retire to bed as I eventually saw the moon shining through the window. I looked at the grandfather clock in the other room only to realize it was 2AM in the morning. Old habits die hard it seems, I always did go to bed this late even back on Earth. So with a soft yawn and some discomfort from being unused to a bed, as I had always preferred to sleep on the floor for some unknown reason to my family, I slowly found myself falling asleep.

I personally hoped I would find myself back on Earth when I woke up the next morning, though I didn’t hold much hope for it. I was likely stuck here whether I liked it or not, as I had already slept once before only to find myself still here despite thinking this was all just one long dream.

A unicorn filly was likely all I would find myself to be.

Chapter 7 - Advent of Dreams

Heir of Winter

Chapter 7

Advent of Dreams

I like sleeping just as much as the next person, well, maybe a little more. Dreams were my scapegoat from a reality I truly didn’t prefer to see. It didn’t help that my father had grown prone to watching politics every single day as if it became his one obsession to hold him together after having his heart surgery done twice over. It changed him, and as far as I was concerned it wasn’t entirely for the better.

Me and my father never truly saw eye to eye. As much as any other dysfunctioning family there was always the instigator behind why somebody was the way they were. He was the reason for a lot of my personal hardship, yet, seeing it now in an older mind, I can’t really blame him for everything wrong in my life. He grew up on a farm and I grew up in a house filled with video games and television, it’s easy enough to see the barrier between the two. One grew up knowing the value of hard work while the other grew up knowing the value of enjoying oneself while they could. Because somehow, someway, life would always know exactly when to inconvenience your enjoyment and replace it with personal torment.

Regardless, my thoughts of my own checkered past could wait. For as far as I was considering my current state, I was asleep. Or, at least, I figured I was. The landscape before me clearly wasn’t my current bedroom, that’s for sure. Rather, it seemed to be a nigh endless field of blizzard and snow. What's more is that the place I found myself in seemed vaguely familiar in a rather, literally, headache inducing way.

The air felt far colder than anything I could ever remember feeling before, as if the very air itself was angry for my being here. Wind, cold and biting snow was all I could see any direction I turned. What’s worse is this sense of wrongness to the whole scenario, like I wasn’t meant to be here or see what I was currently witnessing. I plain up didn’t want to be here, yet my sleeping self refused to wake up for once in its damned life. For all the times I wished for a dream to keep itself going for just a while longer, just to know what happens next, this for sure was not one of those times.

“Where… is this place?” I asked myself aloud, barely able to hear my voice over the blowing wind. I felt like I should know where this place was, yet for all the thoughts of the were no decent answer arose in my mind.

I considered just sitting myself down in the snow for a moment, but that thought didn’t hold much weight as I felt myself starting to walk automatically in a seemingly known direction. “Great… and now my body is on autopilot.” I mentaly noted.

As far as I figured, my body knew where to go despite my mind having no idea of where any of this place was. Or maybe some part of me simply knew I ‘had’ to get moving to some destination. Either way, I did feel like I was more in control of my body once I got going. I didn’t like the prospects of being stuck in some kind of cold, frosty nightmare; much less a familiar one. Yet, the more I walked, the more I considered the cold as strange.

I hadn’t felt a lick of actual cold since I found myself here. It was as if my body was simply immune to the aspect of low temperature, or at least highly resistant. So why was I feeling so frigid now that I was in this blizzard land? It confused me to no end, yet the more I pondered my own body chemistry or lack thereof. I found I had stopped moving, and, for lack of better explanation, found that the cold of the blizzard around me was actually quite the opposite.

I found myself standing in front of what seemed to be a burning door, set ablaze by unknown means that made my headache so much that I left like I was about to have blood spurting out my nose the more I looked at it simply from the pain alone. What’s worse is the irked feeling that I ‘Knew’ where this door went to and that I shouldn’t be standing in front of it by any means. Much more so. I felt like if I even so much as opened that door my whole world would end forthright, and without a single care for what it did to me.

Yet still, I felt my body moving on its own again despite my wishes to be away from the burning door and whatever it meant to my mind. I right walked up to the door despite the pain and the burning I felt, put its hoof right on the handle without a care in the world and turned hard with all its might.

I felt my mouth open on its own, speaking words not mine yet just the same as if it were myself speaking the words, “There are things you need to remember.” I said as I felt the blaze of the door overtake me as it opened, a dire ringing sound went through my very being in a cataclysmic reverberation of sound and pain.

Then. Everything went blank.

I awoke suddenly with a massive pain filling my head, as if I had been hit by a truck several times. I felt downright horrible and found myself covered in a hot sweat. “What in the ever loving fuck was that shit…” I slowly asked myself, getting out of bed to look at a clock and to find the nearest bathroom.

5:37 AM, from what the clock in the main room said, was exactly the time I got myself into said bathroom. Not even a moment later I was vomiting into the toilet like my very life depended on it. My body felt like absolute shit afterwards, uncontrolled shivering included.

I had no clue what I had just witnessed happen in that dream, let alone why I said there were ‘Things you need to remember’. Sure, I’ll admit that the more I think about my time here and how things have been going for me, everything seemed to be far too easy. In fact, I did wonder just how I managed to get myself walking around so quickly, let alone how I managed to figure out magic in a dream and use it in reality just afterwards.

Things simply didn’t add up. Any normal person would, and should, have a hard time figuring out either of those things. Walking isn’t as simple as putting one leg in front of the other, even more so for a multi limbed animal. Even more so was my ease of using magic despite not being a native to Equestria. It shouldn’t be easy for me. It just shouldn’t. And I’m starting to question just what the hell is actually going on here.

“First I fall asleep in my own backyard, then I wake up as a young pony in someplace that looked ‘Exactly’ like where I just had been. Then, thinking I would just head back home the same way I came, I end up somewhere entirely different then expected, have a mental breakdown, get taken in by a concerned adult, then get given an ultimatum of life altering decision making.” I remark to myself, thinking my current past over in an attempt to put things in place. More so hoping that by going over things that this damnable headache I was currently dealing with would fade.

It did help for the most part. The headache did subside enough to not be a throbbing pain that made me want to overdose on aspirin; yes, it was that bad. But… Still, I was quite confused about my ease of situation. I honestly could say I didn’t know a single thing on how magic actually worked here in Equestria, dream knowledge included. And that confused me further. Why exactly did I seem to have canonical knowledge about some of Equestrias details while other more important things were left out?

“What exactly am I supposed to remember….?” I sighed, slowly getting myself off the floor to turn the water for the tub on, not wanting to feel all the nightmare sweat on me any longer then I had to. “I remember my name for one, it's….” I felt myself trail off target for a moment while I tried to recall my own name. “Wispy Spirits?” I said after a longer pause than I would have liked.

“No… that.. Can’t be right can it?” I start slowly, trying to remember further back before I got here to Equestria. “My name was….” I find myself pausing again, for even longer than the last time. “That’s… that can’t be right. I’m sure I had a name before getting here… didn’t I?” I stammer out. Yet, the more I try to recall my own past name the more I find blank spaces in my memory. As if it had simply faded away like all dreams eventually do in part.

I promptly sat myself into the tub without a second thought. Somehow, someway, I had forgotten my own human name. That was certainly a bad sign. I’ve never found myself to be a forgetful person by any means. So forgetting my own name of all things was a dangerous sign of something far larger at play. Finally, one thought over the rest of my jumbled reasons of why I would forget something so meaningful clicked like a flashbang on steroids.

“I’ve been here before… haven’t I.” I slowly mouth out while I had entirely forgotten to turn the faucet off, the water overflowing the tub and spilling into the floor's overflow drain. Yet even as I mouthed the words, the headache I had found myself with had entirely dissipated. “Yet, If I have been here before… when was I?” I asked myself, only now turning the faucet off. I hadn’t been here for long as far as I was physically aware, yet considering the feeling I was having about being here in the past I wasn’t sure about that anymore.

So now I had to ask myself. If I had been here before, was all the ease I was having with walking and magic part of some old muscle memory? That did sound like the most plausible answer, and it would explain the magic part fully; you don’t forget a fundamental part of yourself. Still, I had to ask myself yet another question, “If I’ve been here before, then where did I come from? And who knows me as… Well, me?” Surely, that was one of the more important questions to ask.

If I had been here before then surely this body had to have come from someplace. A family, or at least a parent, somewhere out in this world had to be looking for me… Right? I had to wonder how I had ever been to Equestria before, though the question of why I couldn’t remember my human name was certainly concerning. It wasn't like I was going to get an answer to that any time soon.

At least the bath helped calm my nerves. Taking a hot shower before bed is something I nearly always did in the past, helping me relax and drown out the sound of my constant tinnitus ear ringing. Though now that I thought about it, my tinnitus seemed to be gone as well.

“It's freaky to be honest, after hearing your ears ring twentyfourseven for more than twenty years, the aspect of nearing nothing is frankly…. Terrifying to think about.” I said aloud, honestly wanting to break the silence. Though the silence returned the second I shut my mouth, or stopped moving long enough for the water in the tub to settle. I was honestly starting to feel a bit unnerved in a bad way.

“Just relax, Wispy,” I tried to tell myself, “It’s just pure… unadulterated silence… nothing to worry about…”.

Yeah, no, it didn’t help in the slightest bit. Much less so when I heard the door to the bathroom slowly creak open. And even less so when I found myself unable to move out of the water after I got startled because of the damn door noise seeming to be so much louder then I would normally hear. So my brain sent the only thing that seemed to compute to my mouth to even think to say about my startled self, “Eep!” A simple, yet rather loud and adorable noise.

Despite my startled self being none too happy about their current situation of being stuck for no apparent reason, I did hear a groggy and confused sounding Locket asking a surprising question, “Do you always take baths inside a block of ice at eight in the morning?”

I felt my mouth open for a moment and mouth the words, “Block… of… ice?” I slowly looked down into the tub. Somehow, someway, my entire body up to just below my neck was encased in a block of ice. Now, feeling just plain mentaly drained, I gave the most pathetic sounding, “Noooo….” my small filly self could manage. Admittedly not hard considering all the thoughts running through my head. And even less difficult when your current situation looked rather stupid to end up in.

Locket just looked at my situation for a few moments before she gave a long sigh, likely from still being tired from getting out of bed and said, “I’ll go get some help. Just try to stay warm alright?” She then turned around and left the bathroom with the door open.

I heard the main door open and close before I took a moment to contemplate what she just said, “Try to stay warm.” I repeated aloud. Yet, the more I thought about it, the statement to stay warm somehow felt weird to say. Even further still, I didn’t feel cold in the slightest. I know I should be freezing my ass off here, yet despite my frosty confinement I wasn’t cold, let alone even feeling chilly.

“More dumb things to add to my dumb bodys list of crap to deal with I guess.” I mumbled, trying to think of any good reason why I seemed to be entirely immune to the cold yet felt entirely frosted flakes in the dream I had just prier to my episode with the toilet bowl. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a single one aside from simply having unique body chemistry. Fine by me I guess, I never liked the cold aside from being cool in summer back home.

Thankfully, it didn’t take all that long for Locket to bring a pair of unicorn maid staff back to get me out of the ice. Five minutes at best. Though getting me out of the ice block part took a mighty bit longer. From what the staff told me, it seemed the emotional episode I was having at the time caused a minor magic episode to occur. In layman's terms, my own magic was the cause of my predicament.

“Magic is tied rather closely to emotions in a lot of cases. I heard a unicorn over in Ponyville tried to bottle her anger up, quite literally, in a bottle. Didn’t go well for the town.” One of the maids, who had introduced herself and her sister as Maple Twig and Honey Bread.

“But then again, Ponyville has always been a bit of a troubled spot,” Honey added as she slowly chipped away at the magically formed ice, “Didn’t they have a hoard of Boreal Timberwolves in town last week?”

Maple nodded then remarked, “Sure did, didn’t they.” She looked to Locket and added, “You're lucky you weren’t in Ponyville when that went down. Rare sub breeds like Boreals are only supposed to live up north near the Crystal Empire from what I heard the guards talking about.”

“If they’re only supposed to live up north, then what were they doing down here?” both me and locket asked at the same time, honestly wondering what could bring a rare breed of animal so far from their home.

“Well, from what Fluttershy said, it seemed like they were looking for something,” Honey said after a moment's thought, “I was down in Ponyville for some time off that week to help with some holiday bake sales. From what I was told she seemed to think they came down from the north, saw that what they were looking for wasn’t there and got taken home by Twilight Sparkle soon after.” Honey shook her head, not liking the thought of being there in person, “Freaky thing really, they’re a LOT larger than the normal Timberwolves in the Everfree Forest. What’s more is the fact that despite them being there for as long as they were, not one pony was harmed, no building damages or anything.”

“Okay, no way that’s not connected to me somehow,” I thought to myself, now finally out of the ice block and able to stretch my limbs. Now thinking ahead for the moment, I thought to ask a seemingly simple question, “Do you happen to know where they were looking around the most?”

Honey raised an eyebrow at the question but answered nonetheless, “Right around the WhiteTail Woods, out behind Cheerilee's school. They sniffed around there for a good few hours from what I recall.”

I felt my ears fold against my head the instant she brought it up, “Ooooh fuck my life they’re looking for me.” I quickly thought, then covered it up with a quick notion. “Right, so, they just left out of nowhere after they were through.”

Maple seemed to pick up on my worry and asked in a concerned tone, “You weren’t there too were you?”

I couldn’t help but slowly nod my head, though I surely wasn’t about to tell the whole truth behind my worry, I told a white lie, “I was brought here by Miss Cheerilee last morning. It’s just good to know nopony was hurt…”

Maple scooted over to me and gave me a warm hug, only to realize just how cold my body was and levitated over a blanket to put over me. “Don’t you worry about her dearie, she’s a lot tougher then she lets on.”

It wasn’t too long after that they had to excuse themselves and get back to their castle duties. Though I for one surely wasn’t feeling much better for it, and Locket could tell. I didn’t want to tell her about all the thoughts running through my head, much less about why I thought the Boreals were looking for me.

The timing was simply too convenient to look over. Not even a week ago a rare species of animal came down from the far north to look for something and I showed up in the forest they looked over in the same week. Too convenient indeed, and it sadly seemed to add up to the weirdness of my body and its abilities. Immunity to cold, and ice magic were too likely a candidate for somebody used to living in a cold environment. I had to have come from somewhere around the Crystal Empire, or at least in that general area.

“Are you going to be alright?” Locket asked with worry after a while of staring at me sitting on the living room sofa.

“I don’t know…” Was all I could manage to get out of my mouth. There were simply too many things adding up to say otherwise.

Locket suddenly sat next to me, “Want to talk about it?” She asked while clapping her front hooves together slowly sheepishly, “At least that's what my sister asks when I feel down…”

“Do I want to talk about it?” I thought to myself in my solemn mood. I honestly did. But could I really trust this filly with that much mental baggage? I mentaly sighed, It wasn’t like I had many others to talk to about my situation. “I suppose some of the truth would be fine… just not all of it.” I think, then I start to explain my deeper thoughts to Locket, “Well… To put it simply, I think those Boreals were looking for me.”

“Looking for you? Why would they be doing that?” Locket asked, frankly just confused as I was about the finer details of the question.

“I’m not entirely sure Locket,” I start slowly, “See, before I was brought here I found myself passed out in the WhiteTail Woods about two days ago. And just as every bit confused as one would expect when finding themselves someplace they think they recognized but actually didn’t.”

Locket rubbed her chin in thought for a moment before questioning, “Okay, sure. That is a little weird. But, again, why would you think they’re looking for you?”

“Well fuck me, she’s not going to let me off with only part of the truth is she?” I mentally berated myself then answered with, “I don’t know for sure. When I woke up I honestly didn’t know how I was where I was, let alone why. I don’t have any real memories of having a family here or simply don’t remember having one currently. I have unique ice magic and am actually quite ‘Immune’ to being cold. Too many things add up to me having lived up north in whatever past I had that I simply can’t remember having.” Quite the mouth full, but I didn’t care at this point. I just wanted the baggage off.

Locket was taken back by my sudden outburst of information and seemed like she wanted to say something several times, considering she opened her mouth like she was going to then never actually did. It was a fair while before she simply asked yet another question, “What do you mean by not remembering your family?”

“I mean I don’t remember having a family here.” I say flatly. “I don’t remember a lot of things. And the reason why I was up so early in the morning and locked in a block of ice was a part of it. Bad dream freaked me out so bad it woke me up in the middle of the night. Far too familiar of one to not be something from my past… or, at least a small part of it.”

Locket didn’t seem to have much more to say after that final remark aside from saying, “Remembering sad pasts isn’t fun.” Considering her current facial expression, it seemed she likely knew all too well what had actually happened to her parents. Poor kid, I hoped she would have been older when she figured it out.

I scooted over and gave her a hug that she returned. I may not be one to believe in fate, but this certainly seemed like something brought the two of us together for a reason. Whatever that reason is I sure hope it’s for the better and not for the worse. It seemed like we had both lived with far more than enough hardship already.

Meanwhile, further away from the woes of Wispy and Locket, one Princess Luna of the Night was sitting at a breakfast table with her sister Celestia making talk over the recent events.

“I am glad you have finally taken on some students of your own Luna, though I admit I am a tad surprised that you took on more than one.” Celesta said before neatly eating a rather tall stack of pancakes.

“Verily. I admit that it was a rather spur of the moment thing to take on the two. But it seemed fitting for the both to be together, they did bond rather well before the test started.” Luna answered, though honestly a bit on the tired side from her nightly duties of dream walking. “Of course, they also solved the puzzle box you helped design for me some time ago. A fitting use for an old birthday gift if I say to myself.” She adds with a knowing and mischievous smirk.

Celestia snickered at the mention of the puzzle box, “‘That’ box? If I recall, that was a part of our prank war we had two weeks ago wasn’t it?” She said, before mulling over the better details of what the box actually did. “Get the wrong answer and get a harmless prank of the elements. That box, yes?”

Luna nods to her sister, “Quite, that box seemed a practical test of one's ability to think both inside and outside the box. In both a literal and metaphorical sense,” She says, bringing out the very box in question and putting it onto the table, “It was quite amusing to see the fillies and colts test their knowledge over something so seemingly simple.”

“Hmhm~. I would certainly expect so,” Celestia chortles while recalling her own fun with the same puzzle box, “I’ll certainly have to meet your two students one of these days, at least for a friendly visit to get to know the two that caught your eyes.” She says, now having finished her own food a lot faster then she seemed to have expected.

“But of course!” Luna exclaims happily, “I wouldn’t have it any other way! You are in part my own mentor after all. Being the elder sister.”

But, unfortunately for the two princesses, their talk would be suddenly interrupted by a letter forming out of thin air and plopping nearly into Celestias' used plate of pancake syrup. Celestia gives a long sigh at the sight before realizing who it was likely from as she picks it up with her magical grasp.

“A letter from Twilight this early? Certainly not unheard of, but it is a bit unusual for her to send one at this hour.” Celestia would remark as she slowly unrolled the scroll to see just what her own student would write to her about at such an early time in the morning.

Dear [Princess] [Still getting used to not calling you princess all the time] Celestia

I regret to inform you that the pack of Boreal Timberwolves we took back to their home far north of the Crystal Summit have been sighted traveling back south in a general line towards ponyville. We don’t know why they’re so intent on coming back here so far away from their natural habitat, but from what Fluttershy thinks is that something bad has happened to their climate that is causing them to migrate further and further away from where they’re supposed to live. The last time she saw them she said they were, of all things, frostbitten, despite them being extremely resilient to the cold.

Furthermore, the Cadence and Shining armor sent me a letter to inform you that the temperature of the northern region has dropped considerably lower than it ever has before. They think something terrible has happened further north from the empire and are on their way here to drop off Flurry Heart in case of danger.

As for myself. I’m currently conducting research into the last Equestrian Ice Age to see if there’s any correlation to the sudden temperature drop and to anything that has happened in the past.

I hope to hear back from you as soon as possible. I share the fear that something bad has happened up north and I would like to hear both you and Luna's input on the matter.

P.S: I read the book.

Celestia had read the letter aloud as she usually did, though most certainly did not like the context of what the letter entailed as she looked over to her own sister with worry, “Luna, It seems I must leave Canterlot to you for the time being. If what Twilight wrote is true and there is trouble brewing in the north then it is likely something truly terrible has happened. I will go myself to meet with Aurora, Bori and Allis, I pray they will bring light to the situation.” She says, standing herself off her pillow.

Luna however didn’t like the idea of her sister going off alone and stood up as well, “I will go with you, the north is not a kind place outside the Empire.”

Celestia on the other hand shot her sister down the second she voiced her plan, “No Luna! I can not in good heart leave Canterlot unattended, and much less so with the upcoming school year.” She would say quickly before adding in a softer tone, “Besides, you have two students to care for. It would be unwise to leave them alone and wonder where you would be leaving off in such a hurry. They are your responsibility now after all.”

Luna still didn’t like the idea of her sister leaving on her own, but she understood why this had to happen. “Very well. Just, at the very least, bring some warm clothing with you this time around. We both know you’re not a fan of the cold.” Luna would say after some time. She did genuinely care for her sister. She simply wished her sister didn’t have the bad habit of either leaving things to Twilight or getting herself in trouble if she took care of things herself.

“Of course, my dear sister.” Celesta would say with a warm smile on her face. “I’ll try not to be long, though I may find myself staying in the north for longer than presently figured. I truly pray nothing foul has happened to the Northern Kingdom…” Then, without as much as another word, Celestia would walk out of the room on her way to pick up some warmer clothing like her sister had asked.

Luna, on the other hand, still had her own breakfast to eat.