A Magician's Secret

"I need you to stop moving so much!" A voice rang out through the small town of Ponyville. It was coming from a boutique that most ponies loved to go to. Most stallions seemed to go just to get a look at who worked there. Her name was Rarity, and she was one of the most beautiful ponies in town. At least, to most of the residents, she was.

Today she had a guest over to help her with some measurements. His name was Ken, a human from another world. He had few talents that they knew of. He would perform for ponies on a street corner using cards or other props. It wasn't necessarily magic, but slight of hoo...er hand. He was extremely good with a deck of playing cards. He could out-do even the most experienced of magicians in Equestria. And he was helping Rarity. With clothes. Something he didn't really care for.

Rarity was focusing on him extremely hard, her light blue magic aura holding a measuring tape over his waistline. The tape looked like it had diamonds on it in clusters of three. They matched the ones on her flank. Probably a gift from her sister, Sweetie Belle.

"I'm not trying to be mean, and I'm sorry I raised my voice at you. But you need to stay still." Rarity said to him. He almost sighed at this, holding his tongue. The mare had been trying to make clothes for him other than the ones he already had. Something nice for when he went to Canterlot.

"Sorry, I'm extremely fidgety when I'm under scrutiny." He said, holding as still as he could. The white pony had made the headache he had woken up with a little worse. He had been moving around all day as he pulled weight that most couldn't. Despite the fact he had his long black hair pulled into a ponytail, his neck was still sweating like crazy. He could feel the oil in his hair, only made worse by the sweat. His clothes, a t-shirt, and a pair of slacks were stuck to his flesh.

"Can I please go, Rarity? I need to get back to the castle. I have a meeting with Twilight." He asked, trying not to sound desperate. She huffed and waved him away. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the boutique and into the streets of Ponyville. It wasn't a big town, just big enough to be on the map. Canterlot was just a hop, skip, and a jump down the road. He pulled his deck of cards out of his pocket and began to mindlessly shuffle them. He knew where he was and where he was going. Though his mind wandered elsewhere. He wondered to himself why he didn't miss home. He had just woken up here, with no memory of anything except his name and an affinity for playing cards.

Ken walked into the front door of the castle, his mind elsewhere. He stumbled back a few steps and rubbed his nose, checking for blood and brokenness. He was fine. It hurt, but he would survive. He groaned and opened the door to the castle. The place was as clean as it ever had been, a maid or two in what could be considered traditional maid garbs. He gave them a nod as he passed, still idly shuffling his deck of cards.

After walking up a few flights of stairs, he made his way into the meeting room where Princess Twilight Sparkle waited for him. She sat in her crystal chair with several pieces of parchment in front of her, Spike right next to her with a quill in claw. He stopped shuffling his cards and put them back in his pocket.

"Uh, you wanted to see me?" Ken asked after approaching the table. She visibly jumped at his words. He blinked a few times, trying not to laugh.

"Oh! Ken! Yes! Please, sit down. I have a few things that I want to go over with you about what you told me last time." She said, teleporting the pieces of parchment elsewhere to be replaced with new ones. It was comprehensive notes on the conversations that he and Twilight had during his time in Equestria.

Over the next several hours, the two of them discussed the questions that the princess had. What he remembered of his home wasn't much. All he really remembers is that he was really good with a deck of cards and that he could perform street magic. Tricks of the eye, sleight of hand, things of that sort. She wanted to check up on the progress of his memories. She and the other three princesses were trying everything they could to clear his memory. So far, there was nothing they could do.

"Now that that's done, I wanted you to look into something for me," Twilight said. Ken raised an eyebrow at her. "Zecora mentioned that she came into possession of a deck of cards that seem to have special properties that she can't seem to make out. Obviously, they're magic. I figured that since you're so good with cards, you might be interested." She finished. Ken's brows drew down over his eyes in thought. Something about the whole situation made his instincts tingle.

"Yeah. I'll head over there in the morning." He told the princess. With that, she dismissed him and teleported the two copies of her notes away. As he walked out of the massive room he noticed that two maids were eyeing him as he passed. They were the same ones from downstairs.

Ken stopped for a moment as he looked at the two ponies. He blinked at them, his brain churning for an answer as to why he didn't recognize the two of them. Then he put his finger on it. He didn't recognize them. At all. They were completely new to him. He narrowed his eyes at them at little, causing one of them to shift uncomfortably.

Idly he pulled out his deck of cards again and began shuffling through them. The one on the right had a light green mane with accents of white and purple, her coat a relatively dark brown. The one next to her was almost a polar opposite, yet they looked extremely similar in the face. This one's mane was purple with light green and white accents. Her fur was almost navy blue.

"Who are you two? I've never seen you here before." He asked the two of them after inspecting them for almost five minutes.

"Dashed Hearts, sir." The one on the right said.

"Silent M-meadow, s-sir." Said the other. "W-we're both n-new." Ken's expression softened just a little bit. Silent Meadow seemed to have a tick to her voice, most likely from shyness. He still wasn't too sure about the two of them.

With a final shuffle and a pull of a card off the top of his deck, he returned his cards to his pocket. He kept the one he had pulled out from the rest and looked at it. The two of hearts. He sighed a little and put the card with the rest. For the past few days or so he had been doing that with his cards. It was starting to bother him, but it seemed to also help him with decisions. It made him think of Pinkie Sense in a way.

He looked at the two of them, their faces showing worry and confusion. The two of them were waiting on him to leave. It wasn't like him to be suspicious of two maids that were brand new.

"Carry on." He said. Turning away, he walked down the hall and the flight of stairs. The second floor was where the guest room he had been provided courtesy of Twilight was. He had originally turned it down, saying that he was fine with sleeping outside or in a barn. After a thorough talking to from all six of the Elements of Harmony, he had reluctantly accepted to use the room until he could properly support himself.

It wasn't that he was trying to turn down everything that the princess was trying to offer him. It was more like he didn't want to burden her more than he already knew she was. Twilight was the Princess of Friendship. From what he could see, it wasn't the easiest of jobs. There was a lot more paperwork involved than he ever thought there was, not to mention trying to maintain harmony with allied kingdoms and towns. Not the kind of job he would ever want to take on.

As he pushed the door to his current room he noticed that it had been straightened up considerably since last night. The bed was made up, the pillows and cases changed. The sheets remained the same as last nights'. He walked over to the bedside table and pulled his cards out of his pocket. After setting them down, he sat on the edge of the rather comfortable bed and leaned down to rest his elbows on his knees. Calming his mind, he began to think about what his life was like before he had been thrown into this world. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. Everything was clouded in fog as if he had been extremely drunk when it happened.

With a final resignation that he wasn't going to be able to remember anything, he got up and walked into the bathroom. He needed a shower and badly. He had been sweating pretty much all day. With a turn of the knob, water began to pour from the spout of the tub. Once the water was warm enough, he disrobed and stepped in, beginning to bathe before he got any grimier.