Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Of Ends and New Beginnings?
Chapter 2 - Brain Twister
Chapter 3 - Knowledge, Magic, and Muffins
Chapter 4 - If the moon could cry
Chapter 5 - Visitors
Chapter 6 - Of Many Things and Yet of Nothing
Chapter 7 - Red Washed Tears
Chapter 8 - Lost With the Winds of Question
Chapter 9 - Time Holds Grudges, Forever

Chapter 1 - Of Ends and New Beginnings?

Everything has a purpose, be it alive or dead. But sometimes we need a helping hand to guide us on our path.

Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapter 1

Of Ends and New Beginnings?

Everything was black. Was I dead? No, everything hurt, especially my head. Everything was still black, where my eyes closed? I couldn't tell but I tried to open them anyways.

My vision was blurry but I could tell I was in some kind of cave there was also a strange glowing pool of water near the center of the cave. My mind was foggy, I couldn't tell what it was about the pool but it felt inviting.

I did my best to get up, a bit wobbly at first but that was probably because I was on four legs. Walking on four legs felt strange to me. Had I not done this before? I pushed the thought aside, as the pool was just in front of me.

The pool was small but had three pillars holding up the ceiling around it, each with a plaque of something on them; on a closer look I took note that the plaques all had four legged creatures on them, each looking similar to the next. The one in the middle, however, had features of both the others. I wanted a closer look at this one but I would have to go into the pool to do so.

I carefully walked into the pool to get a better look, only to almost walk on top of a round object in the center of the pool that I hadn’t noticed before. Seeing this made me look at my reflection.

I was silver in color with a two tone mane of white and a second color of silver, lighter then my coat, as well as having wings with the same tint, thinking about my mane made me realize it was covering my left eye. “Maybe that why I’m not seeing very well” I wondered to myself; I brushed my mane off to one side, giving me a better look at my eyes. My eyes where different colors, one being a dark steely blue and the other being an off color orange; I used my mane to cover my right eye, the orange one, making my colors look more natural. Thankfully I could see just fine out my left.

Looking back to the pool I decided to lift the object out of it; it was a pretty thing glowing white and black almost like it had a pulse, “Its glow must be the pools light source.” I thought to myself; I don’t know what about it made me want to put it into my mouth but I did just the same.

I walked up to the third pillar to gaze upon the plaque, the object giving me more light so see what was on it. The creature on it looked a lot like me, only it had a horn as well as wings, well as having a symbol of a sun and moon on its flank; I look back at mine, not seeing anything on it I decided I had been here long enough and climbed out of the pool.

I walked back to where I awoke from to find a bag sitting against the cave wall, I didn’t pay it second thought and put in on my back, upon doing so I realized the orb, as I was now calling it, was no longer in my mouth but back in the pool. That tossed me for a loop, though one thing was for certain. I wanted that orb.

I went back into the pool to find the same orb in the exact same spot it was before; I picked it up again, only this time it shattered in my mouth.

Light, water, and rock started to spin around me and before I could think about what was going on I was sitting in front of a hut, cold and soaked to the bone with a surprised look on my face and only a few words on my mind. “Water in my everywhere…..”

I didn’t move until I saw the huts door open, I could tell that whatever was standing in front of me was female, I was about to say something to her but she shrieked and rushed back into her hut before I had the chance to, I tried to say something anyway but my voice came out as a sneeze instead, making me jump a little.

I didn’t feel like sticking around, I’ve had enough happen in one sitting already to make me want to find someplace to sleep; I followed the path from the hut to the outside of the forest. I still don’t know what those creatures where, all I know is that they look like me; then a voice came from the back of my mind, “Ponies” it said. I wondered to myself about the word, it seemed to fit into a hole in my mind. It felt like I had known that word already, but I couldn’t place why.

I came up to another hut, rather larger than the last one; it had a large assortment of animals sleeping around it, “Maybe the owner takes care of these animals” I wondered to myself, I didn’t feel like being a bother to the animals to I did my best to stay quiet and walked up to the door; it was locked. The window next to it, however, was open so I decided to invite myself in.

Inside was, of course, another maze of animals; most being birds sleeping in their houses and bunnies in their warrens from the look of things. I didn’t have time to think about what the owner was going to say about my sneaking into their house but I was dead tired and needed someplace to sleep so I quickly located a sofa to sleep on and fell into a deep sleep, still feeling the pain coming from my skull.

“Darkness again” I thought to myself only to then realize my eyes were still closed from sleeping, I promptly opened them to find the animals that were sleeping the night I arrived here to all be looking at me, along with a pony sleeping next to me; the pony was yellow in color, along with a matching pink tail and mane. She also had a trio of butterflies on her flank as well as having a pair of wings. I quickly picked up that she was, at most, double my size.

I saw that the bag I found in the cave had been set on the floor next to me and decided to check its contents; inside was a notebook, a few sharpened pencils, and drawing that caught my attention. The drawing was a seen of rain and a shadow of something on the ground. Something was missing from it, I just didn’t know what.

I decided to take out the notebook and one of the pencils from the bag and draw; I remembered the place I awoke from, the pond and that strange orb along with the three pillars with the plaques on them. I figured a third…..um.”Third-Pony” the voice in my head said, I didn’t question that it wasn’t my own voice saying it but thanked it just the same. Yes a third-pony view would do nicely. I didn’t even notice that the pony next to me was awake by the time I started drawing.

I think I finished my drawing about an hour after I woke up; it was the scene of my finding the pond and the pillars, along with a second spot on the drawing for me finding the orb and it shattering. By the time the pony next to me finally said something I jumped, “Just how long has she been staring at me?” I wondered to myself, more so wondering why she was sleeping next to me in the first place.

“Are you….all right?” she quietly asked. Was I all right? “I never bothered to check myself over did I.” I thought to myself while feeling my head for any damage; I quickly took note of something wrapped around my head, “Did she put this on me?” I wondered, also noting that my head wasn’t hurting as much as it was before. I nodded.

“That’s good; I was a little worried to see you so banged up and wet.” She said, a little louder than before. “Maybe she’s a bit shy” I wondered. I smiled for some reason at this thought. This seemed to loosen the tension in the room, making the animals go about their business, leaving me and the other pony to talk.

“So, do you have a name?” she asked while reaching for something on the counter in front of her, “Mine’s Fluttershy.”

“A name?” I wondered to myself, “I’m not sure. I sure don’t remember having one.” I shook my head upon thinking this also making Fluttershy frown a little.

“I see…..” Fluttershy said while drinking something from a cup she was holding, “What about family? Do you have some-pony to go home to?” she asked.

A home and family; those words rang in my skull like the dull thud of a giant broken bell. I wanted to say something but my throat was so dry all I could to was stifle a chough that made my eyes water. She must have picked up on my dry throat, because the handed me a separate cup of whatever she was drinking.

“It’s tea, drink it. It should help.” She said after handing me the cup.

“Tea huh…?” I thought while taking a sip of the liquid; it was extravagant, I had no idea what this so called *tea* was made from, but it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted so far. Though that wasn’t saying much because this is the first thing I remember tasting; the dryness in my throat went away after finishing my glass.

Since the first time since ever after waking up in the cave, I spoke the only three words I could think of. “I don’t know…”

I ended up being embraced by Fluttershy a few moments after I said those words.

Fluttershy said, “I’m sorry”, but was almost inaudible from her shallow crying.

I didn’t know why she was sorry but I accepted her embrace just the same; the moment felt like it lasted forever, though it only lasted a few minutes.

After a while Fluttershy said she wanted to take me to some place called Ponyville to see another pony named Twilight. I had no idea who this Twilight was but Ponyville sounded nice, considering the name had the word pony in it; I grabbed my bag with my notebook, drawings, and pencils then proceeded to follow Fluttershy out her front door.

The walk to this place called Ponyville was nice, the scenery was amazing; birds playing in rainwater, squirrels eating things on the ground which Fluttershy told me where acorns. I was about to ask what an acorn was when a pink pony the same size as Fluttershy walked up to her.

“Oh hello, Pinkie Pie, how are you today?” Fluttershy asked the other pony who was apparently known as Pinkie Pie.

“Super duper!” exclaimed Pinkie; “Today I meet a new pony in town so I’m going to throw her a Welcome-to-Ponyville-have-a-good-time-party!” exactly after Pinkie said that she zoomed off in the opposite direction in a pool of what Fluttershy called confetti.

Not too long after that we finally arrived at Ponyville; I’d have to say the sight was something to behold. There were ponies everywhere I looked, in the sky, in houses, moving clouds around, even a particularly colorful pony was sleeping on a cloud. Every pony I saw looked different; some had wings, others had horns, some didn’t have either.

Fluttershy managed to remind me why we were here, to find a pony named Twilight. Fluttershy seemed to know exactly where she was going, leading me right to a giant tree with a door on its front; she knocked.

A voice from inside called, “This is a library you know, the door’s open!” upon hearing this Fluttershy smiled and pushed the door open to be greeted by a purple two legged creature with green spikes on its back and tail; I hid behind Fluttershy.

“It’s alright,” Fluttershy said,”Spike is Twilights assistant in the library.” I had no idea what the word assistant meant but after hearing what she said I shyly waved at him; he waved back with a smile, making me feel a bit less shy about his looks.

“Spike do you know where Twilight is?” as soon as Fluttershy said this Spike pointed to a large amount of empty boxes in the middle of the room as a purple pony with a horn popped out of the mess of boxes.

Twilight took one look at me and looked back to Fluttershy.”Fluttershy, it's nice to see you as always" she said with a grin," but when did you take up foal sitting?” she asked, looking back to me.

“Oh no, I’m not foal sitting.” Said Fluttershy,” I found this filly sleeping on my couch this morning.” She told Twilight as she then progressed to explain the matters of finding me to Twilight while I was entirely distracted by the large amount of boxes sitting in the middle of the room; I jumped onto the pile as my inner filly raged to life as I progressed to make a box fort.

My mind was on one track. Box fort, my mind repeated the same words over and over again as I moved around boxes, stacked them on each other, and even gave my fort a sealing made out of flattened boxes; I had no idea why but I was positively giddy with my fort. I wanted to name it after myself, though that razed a problem. I had no name, but I found a few books on the floor which distracted me from my problem; one being a dictionary, an almanac, and another book labeled “The Legend of ---------------”. The rest of the words where worn off the cover.

I started with the dictionary, I found a rather large assortment of words I didn’t know and even more words to explain them, heck, they're even words to explain the words that where explaining words, as so on. The almanac explained history to a point, but not as much as I would have liked, however it did mention two alicorn princesses that razed the sun and moon. That reminded me of the pillars in the cave, though I didn’t pay it much mind.

The last book however proved a challenge as a large amount of the pages were missing, had faded text or was in another language that I couldn't read. I did however find one page that stood out, it was much like the third pillar in the cave; only this page had an inscription under the picture. It took a bit of flipping back and forth between the dictionary and the almanac, but I did find out what the inscription said, though only one word of it.

“Aurora”, I liked the sound of that word, so I decided to look it up in the dictionary. An aurora (plural: aurorae or auroras) is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.

That definition made me like the word even more, even if I had to look up half of what the definition defined, so I decided on something. Since I didn't think I had a name I figured it best to call myself something for the time being so I decided to call myself Aurora; I then remembered my box fort and looked out of it to see Twilight and Fluttershy still talking to each other so I decided to get their attention.

I said in a loudish voice, “My name is Aurora Queen of the Box fort!”

They both looked at me straight away with a funny look; they both laughed.

Chapter 2 - Brain Twister

Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapter 2

Brain Twister

The laughter was short lived; apparently they had more to talk to each other about, leaving me to my box fort, a name to call myself, and a question, “What are they talking about anyway?” I asked myself.

I decided to listen in on their conversation; of course I didn’t want them to know that so I ducked back into my fort, hid in a box that was relatively close to them, and listened.

“Fluttershy, you can’t just let her get away with braking into your house,” Twilight said with a bit of anger in her voice, ”She could have stolen something for all you know!”

“Yes, but…um” Fluttershy quietly stammered out, ”Would she have been sleeping on my couch if she did?”

“Mental note,” I thought as I poked my head out of the box, ”She makes good points.”

Twilight’s anger cooled down a bit upon hearing this, though still seemed to have more to say. “Still,” Twilight sighed, ”What was she doing in your house to begin with?”

Fluttershy simply added while gesturing in my direction, “Well, you could ask her yourself, that is.” She added, ”If that’s alright with you.”

“Shoot!” I thought quickly ducking back into the box.

Too late I was being pulled out of the box by my tail with an unknown force that made my eyes water from its pull, it hurt.

“Alight missy, time to hear your side of the story.” Twilight said while her horn was glowing the same color that was around my tail. If I hadn’t known better I’d say she was holding me up by my own tail.

And she was for that matter, let me tell you. It hurt like mad, tears where literally pouring down my face at this point just from pain alone; I wanted to tell her to put me down but the only thing I managed was a low whimper of pain.

Thankfully, Fluttershy told Twilight to put me down after seeing the tears running down my face. That helped, but I was still in a good deal of pain. “Meanie” I said. Sticking my tongue out at Twilight made me feel better; Twilight facehooved.

“Ugg…” Twilight groaned,” Just tell us what you were doing in her house already……”

“Nope” I said sitting on the floor

“Wha—What?!” Twilight stammered out,” Why not?!”

“Cause you’re a meanie” I stuck my tongue out at Twilight again to make my point. I didn’t like being held up by my tail one bit.

“Fine then, this gives me a chance to use a spell I found last night.” Twilight said with a grin. Her horn started glowing.

“Hold on Twilight” Fluttershy cut in suddenly, making me and Twilight jump.”How about you let me talk to her?”

Twilight looked at me and Fluttershy for a bit but let the glow of her horn fade.” Fine….” She said while going off to a nearby table and bringing some pillows from it. We all sat down.

“Alright,” Fluttershy said in a calming voice, “Could you please tell us what you were doing in my house?”

I nodded then said, “It’s was better than sleeping outside….” I remarked then added, “Or in the forest.”

Fluttershy looked at me with a grim look, “The Everfree Forest?” she asked with an added frown.

There wasn't much to tell. Everything that happened yesterday didn't make much sense, first the pool with the pillars and orb, then the hut with the black and white pony that rushed back into her house at the site of me, and now talking to two ponies about sleeping in a house that wasn’t mine.

The two looked at each other for a few moments then Twilight looked back to me and asked, “What where you doing in the Everfree forest?”

“I don’t know.” That’s all I could say. Everything was beginning to become hard to grasp, how little I know about where I was, the pool, pillars, everything.

“Well, there is a way we could find out” Twilight said looking back to Fluttershy, “The spell I learned last night is a memory spell, it would allow me and another pony to see into their past.” She giggled at this,” I also forgot that it can only be used if the other is willing.”

“A spell to look into a ponies past.” I said aloud, “Sounds like my best chance to explain anything.” and that it was, nothing made any sense to me.

Fluttershy looked at me with a concerned look, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” She asked. I nodded.

“Alright, just sit still and I’ll do all the work.” Twilight’s horn was once again set aglow as soon as she said this. She set her horn on my forehead and everything went dark.

The next thing I know is Twilight and me looking at the box fort I had made not but a half hour ago, everything after that started moving in reverse. Voices, ponies, all backwards; Walking from Twilights house/library, meeting pinkie pie again was strange as her voice was still normal to both me and Twilights surprise, drinking tea with Fluttershy, the drawing of the pool and orb, waking up with Fluttershy next to me and the animals starring at us, sneaking into Fluttershys’ house to sleep because of all the animals outside, the coldness of the forest, meeting that strange pony in the hut, the orb shattering, the plaques, me unmoving on the cave floor, then a close up of the drawing with the outline of something that was missing from it.

After that I felt like I had run full force into a wall, everything began to slow down and then fast-forward back to Twilight staring at me with a perplexed look on her face, sitting on the pillow in front of me.

Twilight broke the silence in the room, “That was…..” she paused not sure how to word what she just experienced.

“Strange.” I finished for her.

“If the spell worked the way it should have, then….”she paused again, “No that can’t be right.” She said as she got up from the pillow and walked to the M section of the library.

I wasn’t paying attention as Fluttershy was looking at me again. “Are you alright?” she asked, once again making wonder what just happened, I knew something wasn't right about my memory, they should have just stopped the way they did. I nodded anyway, just to make sure Fluttershy wasn't going to worry about me; nodding made the bandage that Fluttershy put on my head come loose making my mane cover my eyes.

Fluttershy took the time to help me get it off while Twilight was still nowhere to be seen.

Twilight came back a good five minutes later, levitating a book next to her; she sat back on the pillow and gave me a look like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

“Are you alright Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight looked at me again and then looked to Fluttershy with a frown. “I’m ok,” she said after a long silence then looked back to me, “But I don’t think she is.”

Fluttershy tilted her head in question; I did the same.

“From what I can tell after looking into her memories. Along with them suddenly stopping ,” Twilight continued, “She has a severe case of amnesia, meaning loss of memory.”

“Memory loss.” I thought to myself, “That would explain just about everything, aside from how I got in that cave.”

None of us liked the idea of my memory loss, but at the same time none of us had any idea of what to do about it.

“On another note,” Twilight stated, “From what Fluttershy told me before hoof you also don’t have a home or family to say with so,” Twilight paused for a moment to look back at Fluttershy, “Some pony needs to take care of her until we can figure out this memory loss issue, and I dare not send her to the Ponyville orphanage.” She winced at the name. “What’s so bad about that place?” I wondered.

Twilight added, “We should get the girls Fluttershy, we're going to need all the help we can get to find a suitable home for her. At least for the time being.”

Fluttershy nodded as she got up and walked out the door.

Twilight looked to me and said, “Well, from what you said earlier your name is Aurora. Right?” I nodded and she continued, “I need you to stay here until we get back, so feel free to read any of the books in the library as well as use the kitchen in the back. Don’t worry, we shouldn’t be long.”

She walked out the door, leaving me to myself, the box fort, library, the kitchen, and another question.

“What am I going to do with myself?

Chapter 3 - Knowledge, Magic, and Muffins

Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapter 3

Knowledge, Magic, and Muffins

Being alone in a library wasn’t that bad, I had books on just about anything I would ever want to learn about; books on winged ponies, which I was now calling a pegasus after reading one of them, as well as ones on unicorns, alicorns, something called magic, and a ton of other things I would have to look up in the dictionary, “Where did I put that book anyway?” I wondered. I didn’t want to go loosing anything; I’ve already lost enough as is.

Thankfully it didn’t take very long to find the book I needed, turned out to be right where I left it. In the box fort, along with my bag of paper and pencils; I picked up both figuring if I had paper I best make some use of it in doing some research.

I started with the book on pegasi, being that I was one myself could prove some insight about what I could do, if anything it would help to learn as much as I could before Twilight and Fluttershy got back with the “Girls”, “Could be more ponies I guess.” I figured, of course what else could it be, the only two things I’ve seen that could talk where ponies and Spike, and since I’ve only seen one of Spike and tons of ponies it was my best option. Anyways back to the book.

The book as helpful, I’d give it that much. Pegasi could control the weather, could fly at great speeds using their powerful wings, as well as walk on clouds; I looked at my own wings and tried to move them, I only managed a twinge of movement. “Guess I should work on that later.” I had more books to read after all.

The book on unicorns was interesting, it also explained my “unwanted tail pulling/being held up by it endeavor”. Simply put magic could be used for just about everything. From teleporting to levitating objects it was truly something I wanted to try; of course I hadn’t read the part that only unicorns and alicorns could use magic.

I flipped though the book on magic, confusing or not I did find a spell that I thought I could manage. Levitation, much like what Twilight did before it simply allows the user to made objects float. The book said something about imagining the said object being held up by something like an orb around the object, thus holding it in place for you to do that you want with it; I stared with one of my pencils, imaging it being held up by an invisible claw. My right eye felt a little odd for some reason, not a bad odd just odd as in odd. To my delight the pencil did move a little, thought not very much it was a success on my part.

I had to blink a few times after my short attempt at magic; my right eye was bugging me to no end, though I figured that was because my mane was getting into it. I made a mental note to get my mane trimmed and went back to the book I had been reading before.

Just think about the shock I had when I saw the part where only unicorns and alicorns could use magic, it made no sense, I had just used magic myself only a few moments ago and now the book is saying I shouldn’t be able to? This was confusing to me but I didn’t feel like thinking about it, I had enough on the table already. It’s not like it’s the end of the world for one exception, right?

Of course it didn’t help that the growling of my stomach jutted the thought from my head; “Where did Twilight say the kitchen was again?” I didn’t remember where, but I figured looking around wouldn’t hurt either. Thankfully it didn’t take long, ironically it was just around the corner from the table I was sitting at; Twilights kitchen was fairly small, with only a refrigerator, an oven, a few cabinets, a table in the middle with more pillows around it, as well as a few windows, a garbage can, and a door to the outside.

My best bet was the refrigerator; I opened it and found mostly leaf greens and other commodities as well as some dressings, the oddest thing I found was a green round thing on a stick. I grabbed a bowl from one of the cabinets and made a quick salad, also taking whatever that green thing on a stick was.

At least I wasn’t hungry any more, but the thing on the stick was still left over; it had a plastic wrapping around it with the works “Apple Lollipop” as well as having a label under it that said “S-C Corner”. Without question I took the wrapping off and stuck it in my mouth. It tasted of apples and sugar, both complimenting each other perfectly. I had no idea long that taste would last but I wanted it to last as long as possible.

In the mean time I located a sink and washed up, I also found a pair of scissors in a cabinet and did my best to trim the hair in my face back, “Least now I can see out of both eyes” I remarked before hearing a knock on the nearby door; I looked outside the window to see a pegasus with a bag outside the door. I tossed my finished lollipop into the garbage and opened it for them.

The other pony was a gray color with a blond mane and tail as well as bubbles on her flank, the interesting thing was her eyes as they were both looking in different directions; I couldn’t help but stare, to my surprise she was doing the exact same thing. I think. It was kind of hard to tell with them looking like that.

“Your staring you know.” She remarked.

“Well, so are you.” I added; she blinked after I said that.

In fact she blinked a lot. Maybe because my eyes were different colors; I had no idea, I was every bit as confused as she was. I blinked back, she blinked in return. I was interested to know who this pony was, everything about her eyes just made me feel like hugging her for some reason.

“Um…..would you like to come inside?” I offered; she nodded.

She followed me into the library area and we both sat at the table; she reached into her bag and pulled out a bag of muffins as well as a box and set them on the table.

“So,” I started, “What’s your name?” The other pony reached into the bag and took a muffin out of it, “Derpy Hooves.” She passed the muffin to me as if asking me my own name, so I replied. “Aurora,” I then ate the muffin she gave me; she smiled and ate one of the muffins in the bag. “I don’t get to talk to other ponies often” she suddenly said in a sad voice, “most would rather poke fun at my eyes, or are too busy with other things to notice me.”

I could understand that, having eyes like that made her different from other ponies. Mine where no different, different colors meant having to deal with being stared at just the same as I just realized, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, being different is what makes us who we are.” I said.” And no pony has the right to say otherwise.”

She smiled right after I said that and then said, “It’s nice to hear another pony besides Dinky say that.”

“Dinky?” I questioned with a tilted head.

“My daughter.” She added with a nod. “It’s been a good life for the both of us though, with my job at the post office” she took the pack off her back and set it on the floor “I’ve had more than enough bits to take care of ourselves. In fact, I’ve been thinking abou----“Derpy was cut off by the sound of the front door opening from Twilight and Fluttershy returning with four other ponies in tow.

The first pony with them was a white unicorn with a trio of diamonds on her flank as well as a purple main and tail that complemented them perfectly, the second a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored main and tail as well as having a tri color mark of a cloud and lightning bolt on her flank, the third was Pinkie Pie who was also carrying a box with her, and the fourth was an orange pony with a blond mane and tail with a trio of apples on her flank, she was also wearing a Stetson hat that had a significant amount of ware on it.

“Alright girls” Twilight started, “remember, were dealing with amnesia here so she isn’t going to know much about Equestria or anything right now. So try and keep things simple for now alright?” the other ponies nodded then looked over to me and Derpy sitting at the table.

The cyan pegasus was the first to say anything, “What’s Derpy doing here?” she said with a hint of rudeness in her voice.

“Package.” Derpy replied with a muffin filled mouth while gesturing to the box on the table.

The cyan pony simply nodded while she and the others took seats around the table with us. “Aurora,” Twilight started, “these are the girls. Applejack” she gestured to the orange pony, “Rarity” the white unicorn, “Rainbow Dash” the rude cyan pegasus, ”and since you already know both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, I guess we can get started.” Twilight looked to me for a moment then to the table. “Alright girls what I didn’t tell you all before we got here, from what I know, is that Aurora is also an orphan.” Each pony shared a confused look at Twilight and me.

Rarity was the first to say something, “But, Twilight, what does that have to do with us?” the other ponies gave a nod of agreement while Derpy was simply listening with interest.

“As you all know, the Ponyville orphanage isn’t a place a pony would want to be. Amnesia or not.” They all nodded so Twilight continued, “Because amnesia is such a serious thing, as well as what I just said.” Twilight paused to look at every pony including me, though excluding Derpy, “I think it would be best if she stayed with one of us for the time being.” She finished, leaving every pony but Derpy with a surprised face.

Applejack spoke up quickly, “Twi’ you know ah’ can’t feed another mouth, ah’ve already got more than enough trouble keepin’ up with Applebloom alone.” Applejack shook her head, “And not ‘ta mention that Granny Smiths health hasn’t been the greatest these days.” She finished in a sad tone.

“I have the boutique to take care of as is Twilight, as well as Sweetie Bell. And you already know that winter is only two weeks away, I’m going to be swamped with orders to fill.” Rarity said in a light tone.

Pinkie simply added, “I have the Cake twins to look after, it’s not like Mr. and Mrs. Cake can look after them all day being that that have Sugar Cube Corner to run.”

Rainbow Dash seemed to be distracted for some reason then asked, “Twilight, what time is it?”

“Around one PM, why do you ask?”

“One.” Rainbow Dash repeated. She seemed to be trying to remember something.

Derpy spoke up knocking her out of contemplation, “Storm time Dash.”

“Storm……” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment then suddenly got up and rushed to the door and said, “Sorry girls but I gota’ go!” right after that she disappeared out the door and took off to the skies.

Twilight looked confused, she looked to Derpy and asked, “What was that about?”

Derpy reached into her bag and passed Twilight a pamphlet; Twilight looked at it with a stunned look which made Derpy say, “You did know about the early snow storm right?” Twilight shook her head.

Fluttershy suddenly spoke up upon hearing this, “I need to be going soon then.” That comment took every pony for a loop making them all look at her with interest, aside Derpy of course as she was eating another muffin. “I got a letter yesterday from the Fillydelphia Animal Care Center; they need me to come there to help some animals they don’t have the expertise for.”

We all nodded, but I was a little concerned about the outcome of this conversation. They had all been brought here to find a place for me to stay, and now the only pony left is Twilight to whom I’m still not happy with for picking me up by the tail.

“Well, I’d say that leaves me then but I can’t take care of her either.” Twilight killed off the concern I had and replaced it with question. “My parents want me to come home for a few weeks to visit, as well as my brother wanting to see me for some reason.” She was biting her lip the entire time she said that.

“So now what then?” I asked; Derpy was smiling for some reason but I didn’t notice.

“I don’t know Aurora, it seems like the orphan—“she got cut off by Derpy.

“Twilight, are you forgetting some pony?” she asked out of the blue.

“I don’t think……” Twilight was looking at Derpy for the longest time, “Wait…” she blinked a few times then blurted, “You?”

“Mmmm hm” Derpy smiled, “I’ve been thinking about it for some time now actually.”

I hadn’t been expecting this, but it seemed like a good idea. We both got along rather well for only meeting each other a few hours ago, I nodded at Twilight.

“Derpy you do realize the situation she’s in right?” Derpy nodded, “Well, if you’re both sure about this….” She paused to look back and me and Derpy; we both nodded. “I did talk to the mayor before we got here about custody papers, so I guess all you have to do is sign them.” Twilight shrugged and the rest of the ponies and me got up from our pillows and followed Twilight out the door.

“Hey hold on a second!!” Pinkie suddenly blurted out making every pony stop dead in their tracks, “She forgot to open my present!” with that remark I was quickly given the box she was carrying with her; I looked at Pinkie with a questioning look, “Your supposed to open it silly!” I mentally facehooved myself and opened the box; inside was a small triple decked cake that smelled of chocolate, the chocolate had it; I ate it on instinct.

The cake itself was made of chocolate, marzipan, orange flavoring, and a few other things I would have to ask pinkie about. However, I could tell one main ingredient right off the bat. “Pinkie is there coffee in this?” is what I would have said if Pinkie didn’t cut me off before saying coffee.

“No spoiling the secret ingredient.” She whispered into my ear.

I looked at her for a moment then looked back to where we were walking; I stopped when I saw every pony else had as well. “Pinkie when did we----“Pinkie cut me off.

“Scene change.” She said in a giggle.

“Wha---?” I didn’t have time to finish my sentence since I just noticed Derpy walking out of the building in front of us with another older looking pony.

The elder pony stopped in front of me and said as she passed Derpy some papers, “You have a good life ahead of you Miss Hooves; she’s a good parent, you’re lucky to have her.” I was a little confused, was she calling me Miss Hooves or Derpy? I looked over to the left of me to find Twilight and asked her.

“Aurora, Hooves is your last name how, that’s how it works.” She said, then added, “Because Derpy is adopting you you’re take also taking on her family name, which is Hooves. So now your full name is Aurora Hooves, like my full name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“And my full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie. Talk about a mouth full.” Pinkie added.

It made sense I guess, though I wasn’t thinking about it much being the rest of the ponies went their separate ways, leaving me with Derpy.

“Guess we should head home then.” Derpy told me; I nodded, I was more tired then I realized.

I’m not sure how long it took us to get to Derpy, no, our house. But by the time we got there I was about ready so fall asleep standing up. “Come on, not too much farther now.” Derpy said while opening the door for me, I gladly went inside; it smelled like muffins after all.

I didn’t really fell like doing much else but sleep, so any thoughts about muffins went over my head and hit Derpy; she guided me to the living room. I was thankful she had a sofa, because as soon as I climbed onto it I mumbled something I couldn’t make out and fell into a deep sleep filled with fresh muffins.

Chapter 4 - If the moon could cry

Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapter 4

If the moon could cry

Sleep didn’t come easy, I had awoken several times before deciding it best to look around before trying again. That and having a strange feeling in my gut wasn’t helping matters so I decided to go outside thinking some fresh air would help so I picked up my bag and went outside.

It was almost midnight from what I could tell from looking out a nearby window, the moon being the shining symbol of night’s arrival.

I found a bench in the yard then proceeded to look at the moon in the night sky. The moon was a shining example of sadness or that’s at least what it felt like to me. It was a cold, dark, and sad place; I could only imagine what Luna was felling like on her time in such a lonely place. Luna had been on the moon for a thousand years from what the almanac told me. A cruel jail if you ask me. But what more could have been done to save her at the time?

I looked back to the road in front of me, still lost in thought; I hadn’t noticed the pony walking up the road. I wondered what she was doing now being that her time on the moon had ended. She had a new life to live, a time to become reacquainted with, as well as being with her elder sister Celestia. She had a lot to look forward as well, though that was for her to know.

I thought of a question and spoke it aloud, “If the moon could cry, who would understand its sorrow?”

“Not many I’m afraid.” A voice answered; I wasn’t expecting a reply.

I looked out in front of myself to see none other than Princess Luna herself; yet another thing I wasn’t expecting. “Luna?” I said to myself, more so asking if she was really in front of me; she nodded. I found myself crying and hugging her leg before I could stop myself.

Luna gave me a knowing look and hugged me back, “The moon cries for the ponies it longs for.” She said after a while; from the sound of her voice I think she may have been crying a little as well.

A few moments after we where both sitting on the bench looking up at the moon together, both wondering the same thing, “What was she doing out here so late at night?”

Luna must have found her answer because she was looking at me with a grin on her face. “Couldn’t sleep?” she said, though it sounded more like a statement. I gave a short nod then asked after a moment of thought, “Taking a midnight walk?” Luna gave a nod.

After a short moment I took notice that she was wearing something, “What are you wearing?” I said after a moment of looking at it.

“This old thing?” Luna sated while gesturing, “Just a sweater my sister gave me a long time ago; keeps the cold out at least.” She blows out a puff of fog to make her point.

The cold, I had almost forgotten about it; unfortunately remembering made me start shivering a little. Luna gave me a look of notice and used her magic to take her sweater off, “A little large for her, but I’ll see what I can do about it” she said under her breath.

The sweater was suddenly ripped apart and reformed into a smaller sweater with a hood; a blanket was also made with the spare material. She gave me the sweater with a smile, “Here, you looked like you could use one. Though, it may need a little tailoring for your wings.” I accepted and put it on; it was still warm.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I should be fine, I’m the princess of the night after all.” She said with a grin, “I have spares at home anyway.” Luna looked up to the moon for a moment then back to me and added, “I should be going, the moon doesn’t move itself after all.” She paused for a moment, “Hm, I never got your name.” she said shortly after.

“Aurora Hooves” I said with a smile.

“Princess Luna-“she paused for a moment and looked around for some reason then added, “Though you can just call me Luna.” She said as she got up from the bench. “May we meet again some time.” She added as she took to the skies.

I sat outside for a little while to make a short sketch of me and Luna together, though I eventually went back inside and fell into a sound sleep on the couch with the blanket over me, still wearing the sweater Luna gave me.

Chapter 5 - Visitors

Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapter 5

Visitors

I think I may have still been trying to sleep, I just felt so….warm. It was like nothing else in the world mattered; I would have been content just to lie on the sofa for the rest of the day if not for the rain coming down along and the added thunder. There was a note on the table in front of me, it read.

Aurora, seeing that you’re still sleeping I’ve left with dinky to drop her off at school and talk with the schools teacher, Cheerilee, about getting you to into school, at Twilights request and my own. I’ve left some muffins under a container in the kitchen.

Be back soon,

Mom

Guess that meant I would be alone for a while; that would give me some time to figure out a few things, such as how to use my wings and why I could use magic. I started with my wings, remembering reading something about flexing my wing muscles I tried moving them a bit like before; they unfurled to full length with a bit of trouble, they were a bit on the tense side, most likely for not being used for a while. I pushed my wings down to the best of my ability; the result. Hitting my head on the ceiling and crashing back down to the floor with a headache.

My vision was blurred so I sat on the floor for a while remembering the muffins Derpy had left for me, I went to the kitchen after my vision retuned and looked for the muffins she had left me; I looked in the refrigerator first but found that the inside was a completely different room and saw a brown pony inside flipping random switches and knobs, he looked at me after a few moments. I closed the refrigerator without a second thought and opened it again, only to find the muffins I had been looking for to begin with.

I heard a sound coming from outside; I dismissed the thought though, thinking it was only the rain. That is, until I heard a knock on the door and some-pony saying, “Ditzy? It’s me the Doctor, may I come in?”

I said, “Doctor? Doctor Who?”

“Huh? Who is this? Dinky, is that you?” the pony asked.

“No it’s Aurora Whooves.”

The knocking stopped for a moment but the pony quickly asked, “Um….may I come in please? It’s dreadfully wet out here.” I didn’t know who this “Doctor” was, but I opened the door anyway to let him in. He was the same pony I saw in the refrigerator; he looked at me and blinked a few times then said, “You again? You’re the same pony I saw looking into the door of my Tardis!” as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

“And you where in my refrigerator.” I added bluntly while I squinted my eyes at the strange pony in front of me.

“In your fridge? You where in my Tardis’ door!” he said quickly after taking a strange looking object from out of his jacket pocket.

“Uh….What’s that thing?” I said, looking at the weird object with a blue light on the end of it.

“Sonic screwdriver.” He said after a moment of staring at me he then pointed the sonic screwdriver at me and pressed a button on it.

I jumped for no good reason and hit my head on the ceiling for the second time in one day; there was a bit of a hole in the ceiling now.

“Interesting…” he said after a moment then looked back to his screwdriver, “Very interesting…..”

“Interesting? What about me making a hole in the ceiling is interesting?” I said with a bit of frustration in my voice while rubbing my sore head.

“No, no, not that; it’s that I’m getting an extremely large amount of feedback readings from you, and not of the same type….” He added, looking at me with question written on his face.

I had no idea what we was talking about but I was determined to figure out why he was in the fridge, I asked, “Why where you in the fridge?”

He looked at me for a moment and looked over to the refrigerator, “Right, the fridge.” He said while he walked over to it and opened it up.

“Ooooh, you have muffins in here!” He said as he reached for one, ironically from under the container. I swatted his hoof back.

“That’s my breakfast.” I stated, also wondering why this pony was here in the first plac-

“By the way, do you know where Derpys’ clock is by any chance?” he suddenly asked with a mouthful of muffin……wait a second, when did he grab one? I shook my head, more so because I couldn’t figure out how he got a muffin past me without my knowing; though I think he took it more as an *I don’t know* being he was walking past me into the living room without a moment’s notice.

“Should be around here somewhere…”

What in Equestria was he doing, I asked myself…..wait, why am I asking myself when he’s right in the living room? “Hey, just what are you doing here anyway?” I asked shortly after.

“My dear that is a good question, which I will answer as soon as I find that clock” He said while looking about the room.

A clock, maybe she kept it someplace out of the way. Could be broken for all I know….. Wait. Broken? And he’s looking for a clock? “You’re here to fix a clock?” I said mostly to myself, though he seemed to pick up what I said.

“Yes that I am. Though I would help if I could find the thing…..Ah! Here it is.” He said after opening a closet door; he took it out and set it on the table in the middle of the room. “Now then being this could take a little while to fix why don’t you tell me a little about yourself while I work?” he added while taking out a normal looking screwdriver out of another one of his jacket pockets.

Tell him about myself? Unfortunately there wasn’t much to tell being I had memory loss, though I did my best to tell him about yesterday and the day before (excluding the part about the orb in the cave, figuring it best to keep that to myself for the moment) also telling him about me living with Derpy now as a part of the family while Twilight does some research about memory loss.

(Speaking of which doing some research myself isn’t a bad idea, It could bring me closer to knowing what that orb was as well as learning a thing or two more about Equestrias history.)

-Tic- -Toc- Tic-

“Ah, there we go.” The Doctor said, brining me back from my thoughts, “Best I be on my way now, I have more jobs to do after all.” He added while he picked up his tools and headed for the door. “Nice meeting you Aurora, be seeing you some time in the future, or maybe even the past.” He said as he walked out the door and vanished without a trace, aside from the –whirring- of some kind of machine.

Maybe in the past he said? What did he mean by that I wonder? Then I remembered the broken hole in the ceiling and looked up at it, not to find a hole but a normal looking ceiling that looked like it had never been broken. I noted a note under my hoof and read it aloud. “Courtesy of The Doctor.” When in Equestria did he have the time to fix the hole?! I shook my head, already confused from what he said before though my stomach took my out of my thoughts with a loud –Grumble- brining me to go back to the refrigerator.

I hesitantly opened the refrigerator, thinking I was going to see that same strange pony fiddling with, well, something. Thankfully once I opened it the rest of the way I was only greeted with cool air touching my hooves and the smell of muffins, thus my picking up the plate of muffins and heading back into the living room for my breakfast………only, from what the clock said, it was lunch. Time flies I guess. (I put the note from earlier on the clock so Derpy wouldn’t know about the hole that I had made in the ceiling.)

I ate my “lunch” and found myself getting bored rather quickly being I had no-pony to talk to now that the Doctor left, as well as it raining outside making going out a bad idea unless I wanted to get soaked in the cold rain. Thankfully I found a rubber ball in the same closet the Doctor found the clock in; thus began my magic experiments.

I tried to levitate the ball like I had the pencil before, by sure concentration and maybe a bit of luck on my half; the ball was being lifted by a bright orange aura with minimal effort a short time later. Though I still felt like I could do better, so I decided to test my reaction time by tossing the ball into the air with my magic and do my best to catch it before it hit the ground. Unfortunately the ball went off speeding into the wall, bouncing off the ground, and then hitting me in the face making me glad it was made out of rubber. Though my nose could say less being it stung a bit after the impact.

Note to self, my reaction time sucks. But I didn’t stop trying, knowing I wouldn’t get any better if I didn’t try to catch it, thus began my numerous bops on the nose, failed attempts, and mild dizziness spells. Heck I even began counting score; Ball 143, myself 49 and a half. Thankfully I was getting better after I had gotten bopped on the nose a good 150 times, though I was getting tired of using magic and reverted to using my hoof to smack the ball back into the wall; a little revenge for hitting me on the nose so many times.

I was bored after hitting the ball a grand total of 483 times, more so that the clock ringing 3:00 PM clicking something in my head; school was going to end soon, and I had no idea why I knew that. I was right too, the front door opened around a half hour latter brining in two ponies and a wet filly who was younger than me. I put two and two together and figured the younger filly was Dinky and the other mare was Cheerilee, being that Derpy said she wanted to talk with her about getting me into school.

“Go on upstairs and get yourself dried off Dinky.” Derpy said to Dinky who quickly went upstairs without a second word.

I went up to greet them though it seems I was the one being greeted first being Derpy was suddenly moving me next to herself at the first site of me; this gave be a better look at Cheerilee. She had a purplish coat of fur, white and pink hair and tail (going to just use hair as mane now), with a three smiling flowers on her flanks. Her eyes spoke only kindness being of a light green in color, a nice contrast to her I’d say.

“Aurora, I’d like you to meet Ms. Cheerilee I asked her to come over so she could see what grade of school you would be in.” Derpy said motioning to the bags on Cheerilees back, most likely being filled with books and paper.

“History, math, science, geography, economics, hoof-writing, et-cetera; whatever you’re comfortable with trying your hooves at. Of course, the more you do the better the results on what grade you’re supposed to be in.” Cheerilee added. I almost wondered what to start with though something told me to go on and say.

“Everything sounds good to me. Besides I may learn something.” I said with a grin that made her smile, strangely enough I almost felt it ironic that I wanted to learn; I put the thought aside, I had a lot to do.

-Somewhat montage moment-

Cheerilee had been wide eyed though almost all the math testing being near the end she said something on the lines of, “Are you sure you’ve never been in school?” I simply shrugged at that being I couldn’t answer that even if I wanted to at the moment, which is unless I had my memories back; unfortunately I don’t, thus the shrug.

History was more of a hit and miss being I did read a little in the library, though it turned out that what I knew already was more common knowledge than anything. Though I did learn that the marks on a ponies flank where called Cutie Marks, a representation of one’s special talent.

Science was a little surprising for Cheerilee I think, being I understood how magic worked as well as its ties to science. In fact I was surprised myself being I had so much knowledge already yet had never been to school as far as any pony had known, as well as my age being from what Cheerilee said, the normal grade for pony my age was around third to fifth grade while I was acing most high-school level questions.

Geography and economics where as expected from the answers I gave before; I knew more than I should for a pony my age on most everything but history which Cheerilee found strange as did I.

“I honestly don’t know what to say Aurora; you’ve aced almost everything aside from History.” She said after a moment with a wavering voice, I couldn’t blame her for pausing being I’m just a confused as she is of not more, “If anything, I would only be able to suggest having a privet tutor for history lessons.”

“History lessons from a tutor….?” I asked wondering if I knew any ponies willing to teach me anything.

“I would also suggest asking Twilight Sparkle if she knows any ponies, after all, she is the student of our own Princess Celestia. In fact she was about your age when Celestia took her under her wing…..” Cheerilee said. It made me wonder though, what about Twilight made Celestia take her under her wing? I’d have to ask her later.

The clock struck 8:00 PM signaling to Cheerilee that she needed to head home being that tomorrow was a school day, a day that I wouldn’t be in school but at Twilights asking her if she knew any ponies that could help me learn about history. Though I had also thought about other things, like Twilight and her mentor Celestia, I wondered just how long Celestia had been around as well. I knew she was at least over one thousand years old as well as having a younger sister, Luna, who had been banished to the moon at some point in history as well as Celestia to the sun during the Lunar Era.

Thinking gave me an idea. I just wasn’t sure if I could convince her to teach me but one thing was for certain. “If I don’t at least try, then I won’t accomplish anything.”

I went to bed on the sofa with those thoughts in my mind, thinking of the best way to convince the lunar princess to teach me about history…….among other things.

Chapter 6 - Of Many Things and Yet of Nothing

Aurora: The End of Beginnings.

Chapter 6

Of Many Things and Yet of Nothing

I awoke today like the ones before, mostly confused as to a many of things, mainly as to how I had gotten in that cave and even more so about that strange orb I had found inside of it, though at least this time I had a goal for the new day; The asking of Princess Luna to be my mentor. This, by no means at all, was going to be an easy task for me to accomplish though at the most part I was going to try anyway, ”No use in not trying after all.” I thought to myself, though if anything I was more so wondering how I was going to get around to doing it, being after a short history update from Cheerilee I learned that both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna lived in a place far from Pony-Ville called Canterlot.

“Not much use in thinking about this at the moment I think, it’s not like I’m able to get all the way to Canterlot at the moment.” I said to myself in debate. Come to think I hadn’t even bothered to see what time it was. I looked toward the table the doctor had put the clock on to fix only to not see it there anymore,”Derpy must have moved it over to someplace else.” I thought for a moment, only to end up glancing over toward the window to the left of me to find that same clock hung on the wall for any-pony to see; a quick look at the hands of the clock told me it was 7:03 AM.

“Only around seven?” I thought for a moment, I then realized this was actually a perfect opportunity for me for I actually had remembered something for once; School starts at approximately 8:15 AM Monday through Friday unless it’s a Holliday such as Christmas, no idea what this “Christmas” was though, guess I would just ask some-pony later what it was when I had the time to.

As for why this was an opportunity to me, I figured even if I had known so much about stuff I shouldn’t know at my age that I should still attend school as even as I just thought; I may actually learn something I don’t know. “Who knows, maybe it’s a good idea, I could meet some other ponies my age after all.” Though shortly after thinking that, I had another thought; I had absolutely no idea where the school was.

“Oh, you’re up early today?” said a voice.

“Huh?” I got jarred out of my thoughts only to find Derpy standing in the entrance to the living room.

She blinked at me a few times, “Doing some early thinking?” she asked after a short moment.

I nodded, “Yeah, about the school Cheerilee talked about yesterday. Though I did end up thinking it may be the best for me to attend school after all, meet some ponies my age, and maybe learn some things I don’t know about.” in the end this would put a wedge in my plans with Princess Luna, though I figured it for the best. After all, for all I knew I may end up getting some of my memories back in the process.

She smiled at that, “Alright then Aurora, that’s not a problem at all. Though, may I suggest taking a shower first?”

“A shower? Why would I need a sho- oh….” A quick glance at myself from the windows reflection gave me the answer, I was absolutely filthy looking, my hair had dirt and mud in it, I had a few cuts on my face that most likely were from running through the Everfree forest, along with the fact I had been wearing the same sweater that Luna had given me a day or two ago; most likely covering up more dirt and cuts on my body. Come to think why hadn’t Derpy asked me where I had gotten it anyway? I mentally shrugged then asked, “So where’s the shower then?”

Derpy motioned for me to follow her, so I got up off of the sofa to follow her though the kitchen and upstairs to a set of five doors, “The door at the end of the hall is where I keep all the towels and cleaning items, the door at the back and to the right is the bathroom with the shower in it and across is the storage room which I normally keep locked for…..reasons.” she looked slightly distressed when she mentioned that room though I wasn’t going to question why, “The front two rooms from the left are Dinkies and mine on the right. Speaking of Dinky I need to get her out of bed, you can handle yourself in the shower….right?” she gave me a glance.

I nodded; I didn’t see any reasons why I couldn’t take a shower by myself aside maybe age. I left Derpy to tend to Dinky and opened up the bathroom and took a quick look around. Inside were the usual items to find in a bathroom; a mirror, soap, towels, a sink, a tub with a shower and, as always, the toilet along with the paper. I shut the door to the bathroom for some privacy as shortly after noticing the toilet I realized just how badly I needed to go; let’s just say that my eyes were floating up into the back of my head from needing to use it so badly. After all it had been around four days since I had found myself in that cave; some relief was much oriented.

After that short excursion I opened up the shower curtain and turned on the water to just above medium heat then took my sweater off and got into the tub with the water running, I thankfully found the soap just next to me and went to work cleaning out my hair, also making sure to keep my eyes closed as to make sure I didn’t get soap suds into my eyes. It was a mess of messes I tell you, I could literally feel clumps of mud falling out of my hair, shortly after I put the soap down to wash the leftovers out of my hair then I opened my eyes to clean the rest of my body off only to find something I had entirely not expected.

My silvery fur had turned into a purple-blue color with a silvery liquid pouring down off of my body and into the drain. After seeing that happen I screamed and found myself hugging the far corner of the tub trying to get away from the water. The next thing I know I see Derpy bursting though the door looking a bit frantic with worry, though after a few moments this look changed into a one of wonder and of question, “Aurora?” she said after pausing a few moments to try gathering what she was looking at.

All I could think to do was look at her face and hers to look at mine, we both had no idea what had just happened though it seemed that my simply looking at her calmed her down enough. She went over to turn the shower off then went over to me and sat down on the sill of the tub then put one of her hooves onto my head.

“It’s alright Aurora, just tell me what happened.” She said in a calming tone, thankfully also enough to calm me down enough to speak again, “I’m not supposed to be blueish purple.” I mumbled also pointing down to the silvery liquid still draining from the tub, she removed her hoof from my head to go down and touch the liquid and thusly also getting it stuck to her hoof in the process. At the same time I also noticed Dinky walk into the bathroom to stand behind Derpy, she then looked over to what Derpy had stuck to her hoof, “That stuff looks like clay.” She said abruptly catching both me and Derpy by surprise.

“Clay?” I asked.

“Yeah, clay, you know, take it, make pots and stuff, you know. That kind of clay.” She explained.

“Oh. Well, I guess I was just surprised is all. Not every day you find yourself covered in clay.” I said, though more so wondering how I ended up getting covered from head to hoof in the stuff. I climbed out of the tub to go look into the mirror to find that not only was my fur actually a purple blue color but that my hair was actually both light blue and black with my tail being a solid light blue (cut half way to full length) along with my hair quite a bit longer then I had originally figured as it was now covering up my right eye again. Though I decided this time that I would let it stay that way, it just felt right to me.

I hadn’t noticed at the time but both Derpy and Dinky had both left the bathroom and down downstairs to eat breakfast when I had been looking at myself in the mirror, so I quickly dried myself off with one of the towels in the room and headed down into the kitchen to get my breakfast as well. Though I quickly took note of the one extra pony in the room aside from Dinky and Derpy; the Doctor was also sitting at the table eating a few muffins.

“You again?” I said gesturing over toward the Doctor.

Too much Derpys surprise it seemed like I knew the Doctor already, “You two know each other already?” she exclaimed after a moment’s notice whilst Dinky simply ate her cereal.

“Quite yes actually, had a bit of a scuffle with the Tardis door I must say, along with the fridge, somehow managed to open the Tardis door though extension of the refrigerator, a minor error on my part really, fixed it up in a jiffy. And I must also add, wasn’t she a different color before?” said the Doctor though a mouth full of muffin, in all honesty it’s a miracle anyone could understand him with it in his mouth let alone how fast he said all of it.

I simply had my mouth agape from all that and frankly didn’t even know why he was here.

“Covered in clay.” Said Dinky with a mouth full of cereal.

“Ah, quite right, that would do it.” Exclaimed the Doctor with yet another muffin stuffed into his mouth.

My stomach grumbling at me brought me out of my stunned moment, it was best that I just ate my food at the table for the moment and question things like this later like after I get home from school for instance. Come to think, as far as I had known, this would be the first school I had been to too my knowledge, I hadn’t any idea what I should expect aside the fact I would be with other ponies my age that all had the same general goal; to learn from their teacher Cheerilee. Come to think again I guess I did have some idea of what to expect from going to school with Dinky after all.

Apparently I had finished eating without realizing it because I had been spooning leftover milk into my mouth for the past few moments, only after looking at what I was eating did I actually stop with the milk spooning.

I decided to help put away the dishes with Derpy before Dinky, Derpy and myself left for the school around 8:00 AM, thankfully I remembered to grab that bag I had found in the cave with me, for some reason I couldn’t find myself to leave it behind.

From what I could tell it was about a five minute walk to the school from Derpys house, though I had half expected it to be longer. Nothing wrong with being wrong I guess, though I can definitely say I wasn’t expecting to see so many other ponies my age to be attending the same school, I counted around fifteen others excluding Cheerilee and what I assumed were the other ponies’ parents or siblings, the total of ponies was around twenty. My guess is that some of the parents or siblings had left for their own work already or that the younger ones had walked themselves here. Needless to say the area was a little on the loud side for my liking.

It wasn’t very long after arriving at the school that Cheerilee spotted us, though I don’t think she knew who I was being that the last she saw me I had been an entirely different color. Needless to say she went up to greet us just the same; the change of my color was explained by both Derpy and Dinky, thankfully it didn’t seem like that was going to be much of a problem.

After a short talk with Cheerilee about my attendance at school it wasn’t long after that she had rounded up the rest of the ponies my age into the school house, along with me and Dinky. It was a rather orderly thing, aside a few quiet whispers, all the ponies other than me had taken their respected seats at their desks and awaited to hear what their teacher had to say about me, whom had been told prier to stand at the front of the class next to Cheerilee. In front of every single…pony….

Every single one of the other ponies in the class room was fixed directly onto none other than me, I instinctively shied over to Cheerilee. I was begging to think that it hadn’t been the best idea going to school after all.

Cheerilee started “As it seems I have every-ponies attention already I would like to introduce your temporary new classmate Aurora. Now, as many of you may or may not already know as news around Ponyville travels rather quickly Aurora was recently adopted into the Hooves family under some rather interesting circumstances that I won’t go into details about. None the less she will be attending class every so often when she herself sees fit, if you want to know why then feel free to ask her yourself later if you so chose to. Now are there any questions?” to my surprise not a single one of the others had spoken up at all despite what she had just said, not that I was complaining.

“Now then, let’s see. There’s a seat over next to Sweetie Belle and another next to Snails so feel free to pick one.” Cheerilee had gestured over to two of the ponies in the room, both unicorns, one being rather scrawny looking and to my personal opinion somewhat elongated in form as well as having as I had expected from the name, a snail for a cutie mark; as for color, a dark orange/brown coat with a green tail and green hair. The other however quite different though, curled hair and tail that are shaded pink and light purple and their coat being almost a pure white color, they had no cutie mark to speak of.

My personal opinion of Snails got the better of me and I ended up taking my seat next to Sweetie Belle, class started directly after.

Turned out I was right about learning a few things though there wasn't much Cheerilee covered in class that I hadn't already known aside some history about Equestria. I found that slightly strange actually; from what Twilight had told me when we first had met I had some kind of memory loss. I was actually starting to think that it wasn't memory loss at all but something else entirely. How else could I explain knowing so much about math and other things and yet know absolutely nothing about history? No, this was something else entirely alright I just didn’t know what.

It wasn’t long until we hit art class, I was actually glad there was one honestly if anything it would give me some time to quit thinking so much and just draw something random. Thankfully I remembered to grab my bag with all of my drawing stuff in it and went to work trying to find a pencil in my bag figuring that I had put the one I had used for drawing that one night Luna suddenly came by the house back into the bag, what I did find however I wasn’t prepared for in the slightest.

The unfinished drawing that I had found in my bag when I first found it was in color instead of black and white.

Chapter 7 - Red Washed Tears

Aurora: The End of Beginnings

Chapter 7

Red Washed Tears

Color, one of the many things in life that I enjoyed thus far, though, of this moment I could say otherwise. The drawing that had been in my bag at the start of my memory that was originally black and white was now also in full vibrant color as well, of course the problem with this was the fact that even though I figured the drawing was my own I had never once remembered drawing it let alone coloring it. Yet now of all times the drawing was now in color even though I never touched it before hoof.

What had changed to make this happen? Honestly I wasn’t sure I couldn’t think of anything that could have made this happen so suddenly. I figured it best to put it aside for the moment; on the desk in front of me next to another sheet of paper.

Though it would seem that the pony sitting next to me had taken notice of the drawing I set aside wasn’t going to let me forget about it as easily, as they had just leaned over to get a better look at it.

“I’m surprised that you don’t have a cutie mark for drawing because that has to be one of the most realistic drawings I’ve ever seen!” they exclaimed, if I remember what Cheerilee had said this ponies name was Sweetie Belle.

I nodded with a pencil held in one of my hooves poking at the empty sheet of paper in front of me, “Yeah, though I’m actually starting to wonder about that drawing myself.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, for starters I don’t remember drawing it at all. And secondly, I also don’t remember it being in color until just a short moment ago.” I poked at the drawing and around the colored area around that strange blank spot in the middle of the paper.

Sweetie Belle looked at it for a good while before saying, “You know it could be enchanted right?”

Enchanted? The thought had never once passed into my mind, though it could possibly explain how the colors suddenly came to be, that is of course if I knew what the word –enchanted- meant. I figured it best to ask an older pony what that meant later today.

“By the way, I wasn’t sure if I should ask you this on your first day at school but if your int-“ Sweetie Belle was saying before she got cut off by Cheerilee telling the class that it was time to go outside to play something called –Dodge Ball-. “Well, I guess I can always ask you later.”

Dodge Ball, as explained to me by Sweetie Belle on the way outside was a game were you run, jump, and dodge oncoming balls that are being thrown at you by the opposing team of players whist at the same time collecting those same balls to hit the players on the other team. Every player that gets hit by a ball or goes out of the boundaries of the field goes to stand next to Cheerilee and if one of your teammates catches a ball the player closest to Cheerilee gets to go back into the field for more. Use of magic was prohibited for fairness as well as the extra rule of no throwing anything other than a ball or hitting another pony in the face with the ball, Cheerilee also mentioned something about if you get hit by a ball but it’s caught before it hits the ground that your still in the game.

Sounded like a rather hectic game if you asked me, I even got mental images from when I was smacking that ball I can found in the closet back at Derpys; I rubbed my nose subconsciously remembering the number of times that ball hit me on the nose.

Cheerilee selected two team captains; those being a pony named Scootaloo a solid orange Pegasus with purple hair and no cutie mark and the other being named Silver Spoon a silver colored pony with also silver hair, she also had a cutie mark of a silver spoon and wore glasses; rather quaint if you asked me.

The two team captains selected from the other ponies from the school’s class; some of the memorable names of the classmates being the following;

Apple Bloom - a normal pony whose colors are brackish yellow with red hair along with an over sized bow as a hair accessory along with no cutie mark to speak of. They were placed on Scootaloos’ team along with Sweetie Belle.

Snips – a short and rather chubby looking unicorn whose colors are a light blueish green with dark orange hair, they also had a pair of scissors as a cutie mark; again this was rather quaint, I was starting to see a pattern between a ponies name and their cutie mark, but anyway both Snips and Snails were placed on Silver Spoons team.

Featherweight – another short pony, though this one was a Pegasus, they were also rather scrawny looking much like Snips just a ton shorter and has brown hair color and a cream coat as well as a single feather as a cutie mark. They were put onto Scootaloos team.

Twist – a pony wearing glasses, their body color was cream with red hair they also had two peppermint canes as a cutie mark. They ended up on Silver Spoons team.

The last pony whose name I could remember was named Diamond Tiara, a normal pony to speak of, though I could say they were of the higher class in this community rather easily. They were bright pink in color and had hair that was both purple and white with the topping of a tiara, “Figures.” I thought to myself, nothing could have said “I’m extremely self absorbed” than being named Diamond Tiara, wearing a tiara and even having a tiara as a cutie mark. They got picked to be on Silver Spoons team.

And lastly, of course, I was chosen to be on Scootaloos' team.

“Just a heads up but you’re most likely going to be the center of all attention being the new classmate and all so expect most of the balls to be thrown at you from the start.” Scootaloo warned me as we took our select places on the field, Scootaloo was most likely going to be right about that myself being new and all; just a part of sports after all, pick on the new pony and hope they don’t have a good throwing hoof.

Come to think I hadn’t thrown anything all that hard yet; any of the experience with balls came from smacking a ball back and forth from the wall to me and then back again. Before I could think of anything else about balls Cheerilee singled the start of the game, all the ponies on both teams rushed for the center line to get picks on the first balls to throw at each other while I myself lagged behind figuring it a better idea to wait for a few balls to be thrown before acting.

As for the first thrown ball, Scootaloo managed to get to the center line first followed closely by Diamond Tiara, the first ball was thrown at Snips whom had been lagging behind because of his small form; it hit him only seconds after on their side. The second ball to be thrown was by Diamond Tiara and, as thought by Scootaloo, was thrown directly at me though was quickly intercepted by Applebloom.

“Can’t be having you out of th’ game so soon now can I?” Applebloom said with a slight smirk at me. I nodded in answer.

The game picked up quite a bit after that, both opposing teams loosing and gaining their members as their team members caught and threw balls at each other, as such Diamond Tiara was back in the game as well and had surprisingly diminished a good quadrant of my team members. Though to say that I had been helping my team win wouldn’t be saying much, I had mostly been staying at the side lines not really paying much attention to what was going on. You could just say I was day dreaming rather than playing.

I hadn’t been paying much attention at all; most of my team was standing next to Cheerilee now, the remaining members being myself, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and another pony whose name escaped me. Or at least I hadn’t been paying attention to the game until I felt a sharp smack on my nose that snapped my head back from the force, I hadn’t even noticed Sweetie Belle catch the ball behind me.

After I regained my composer I still felt the pain from my nose so I put one of my hooves up to it to examine the damage then removed my hoof from it soon after because I felt something warm on it from touching my nose, I took a quick glance at my hoof; it was stained red.

Something about what was on my hoof angered me so greatly to the point that my right eye flared up to a burning point. Who ever had thrown that ball was going to pay dearly for what they just did.

I picked up the ball closest to me and without even looking at the ponies on the other team I had managed to aim it directly at Diamond Tiara. However the force at which I had thrown the ball was something I could never had accounted for as for the very second I let the ball loose from my grip it went flying faster than I could follow, shortly after all I could hear were screams of pain.

The ball I had thrown had hit its mark, only the outcome was something far worse then I wanted to happen. The force of the ball had connected and broke Diamond Tiaras left leg.

What I had done was something that I didn’t want to happen, something that I would be blamed for and most likely punished dearly for doing whether by Cheerilee, Derpy, or even diamond Tiaras parents. “No.” I thought, I wasn’t going to let myself be punished for something I didn’t mean to do. So I did the one thing I could think of doing at the time, I ran. Where I would go I didn’t know but I do know that they would most likely come looking for me, I needed to think of some place that they wouldn’t bother looking.

Derpys house was out of the question, it was most likely the place they would first think to look for me in as was hiding in town there were too many ponies there that would most likely point me out to whomever was looking for me. The only other place I could think of was the forest I first came out of, though the fact being was that I would rather not go back into it any time soon even if to hide for a while.

After I figured I was out of range of the school and any pony pursuers I gathered my thoughts to figure out a good place to hide, the forest was out, as was home and the town; I looked up to see the cloudy sky then remembered back to when I first meet Rainbow Dash at Twilights saying she was late for something then zoomed off out the window and into the sky. “The sky would be a good place to hide.” I thought to myself, “The problem is that I don’t really know how to fly at all.” Unfortunately I was right about the not being able to fly, though be that as it may it never hurts to try. I also remember my first go at using my wings, I did get myself off the ground rather easily but I didn’t have enough room at the time.

Those thoughts aside the sky was by best bet, they didn’t know I couldn’t fly at the time or that I most likely could if I tried hard enough. Thusly I unfurled my wings for the second time in my life and flapped; needless to say I was right about needing more room as the speed of my uprising was faster than I had expected, that is until I hit the apex of my climb into the sky from my single flap of my wings and started falling back to the ground.

I gave my wings another strong flap and found myself climbing into the sky once more, guess it takes more than one flap of a pair of wings to fly. Though to say I was having an easy time would be buttering up a pony, I wasn’t used to not having my hooves on the ground let alone being in the sky, about twenty feet off the ground, so frankly just being up here was a bit nerve racking; that and my nose was still bleeding.

I only managed to get above the clouds before vertigo kicked in and I started to fall back down out of slight panic of being so high up the large clouds beneath me seemed to have another idea in mind as for when I fell into it it was more like falling onto it, for some reason I wasn’t falling through the cloud in fact it was holding my weight like I was nothing at all.

Strange as it may be for a Pegasus standing on a cloud for the first time or for a pony who knows next to nothing about their own race of pony I didn’t question what was going on between me and this cloud I landed face first into, in fact this was perfect for me the one place I figured I could hide as long as I felt like I needed to hide for. A place for a young Pegasus whom nobody knew could fly.

If anything I knew it was best for me to be here for a while; I quickly poked my head farther inside the cloud to find it surprisingly hollow, I climbed inside it and made myself comfortable. Aside being scared, somewhat tired from playing, and having no idea what I would do next after hiding I did the next thing any tired and scared pony my age would do.

I cried myself to sleep.

Chapter 8 - Lost With the Winds of Question

Aurora: The End of Beginnings

Chapter 8

Lost With the Winds of Question

Dreams are a troublesome thing; you never know when you’re going to have them, whether they will be good or bad, long or short, or even nightmarish. Unfortunately for me the dream I found myself in was more like a living hell, fire, buildings laid to ruin, the ground split open in countless areas with nothing but darkness at the bottom, screams of panic and terror, and a dark figure laying waste to it all with dark and powerful magic.

I myself was floating far above all the wreckage and ruin peering downward in wonder and question of just what I was looking at. The place being laid to ruin was Pony-Ville or at least that’s what I figured I wasn’t quite sure but I did make out what I thought to be Twilights Library set ablaze. As far as I was concerned at the moment I deserved to see all this for what I had done in the waking world even if I had no intentions of doing what I had done, that which being somehow breaking one of Diamond Tiaras legs with a dodge ball.

Of course all dreams do come to an end; the end of my dream came from being hit by a stray magic bolt.

I awoke slowly, still groggy from my sleep my eyes being crusted over from my tears; a quick wiping with my hooves got the crust off along with the dried blood on my nose. A glance at my now more easily to see surroundings told me that I was still inside the cloud I had chosen to hide in, I hadn’t been found yet much to my relief, though it was apparent that I would have to get a move on eventually to get myself something to eat since I had forgotten my lunch back at the school. As for my bag I found it lying next to me, of all things, I hadn’t the time to grab it from inside the school where I had left it; a quick check inside showed me that everything was still inside along with that strange drawing and even stranger still I also found my lunch bag inside it as well.

Perplexing as it may have been I again didn’t have any time to think about how my belongings got here, just the fact of where to go next.

I decided to poke my head out of the cloud I was in to check the time of day, a glance at the sun told me it was getting close to night fall but glancing down at the ground was a different thing entirely; the entire ground was washed with nothing but blue waves of water. Afterward a great gust of wind blasted into my face almost knocking me right back into the cloud, apparently the wind had blown my cloud hiding place so far away from Pony-Ville that I ended up abroad at sea.

“Great, now how am I supposed to get back home?” I asked myself out loud. Unfortunately I didn’t have an answer to that question I already knew from experience that I couldn’t fly all that well, swimming was also out of the question as the sea was far to vast as from the prier check of my surroundings there was no sign of land in any direction, that and I didn’t know how to swim; my choice to run from my wrong doings was going to end up being my bane. Another strong gust of wind blew my cloud farther away from the place I had called home if not only for the few days I had spent living there.

Then a brilliant idea hit me, taking into consideration that I could walk, stand, and most likely move this cloud in whatever way I wanted I decided to climb out and onto the top of the cloud. I may not be able to fly all that well at the moment but with the help of this cloud and the help of the wind at my back I could most likely cover a great amount of distance with the help of my wings; I took a firm grasp onto the cloud under me and flapped my wings in the opposing direction of the wind, the amount of acceleration I had expected was a good deal less than what I felt now, the wind blowing my hair behind me and the world spanning out in front of me.

Even if I may never be able to get back to Pony-Ville because I had no idea where I was at sea there was still a vast world in the direction I was going, it was only a matter of getting to it and the time it took to find it. After all I didn’t exactly have much food or daylight to find land to get more should I run out let alone the time to fly around all day looking for it; whatever “it” may be.

Needless to say with my inexperience with flying it didn’t take long for my wings to tire out from use. The most I could tell about what direction I was going is that it was getting warmer so my best bet is that the wind was blowing me south; best I remember that later if I ever wanted to return to Pony-Ville though again I still didn’t know how far from land I had been blown away.

Since I was tired from flying, I pushed myself back into the cloud for some rest and some deep thinking. I already knew that I was a good deal different from most ponies as being able to use magic and not be a unicorn was something abnormal; thinking farther back I thought about the orb I had found inside of that cave, I had little to no idea why it was inside there to begin with aside thinking it was put there for safe keeping. Why else put it in a cave after all.

“Your thinking is correct young one.”

That same voice again that was in my head earlier made a rather abrupt return, making me look around trying to figure out where it came from.

“Take a look inside your bag my dear.”

“My bag?” I thought for a moment, I had no idea where this voice was coming from but I wasn’t going to bother questioning it; I took a quick look inside my bag only to find none other but that same orb I had picked up in the cave before, it was picked up out of my bag without a second thought. But wait, didn’t it shatter back inside the cave?

“Well, yes and no. More so the seal holding me inside the cave had broken and was bound to none other than yourself, you could say we are bound to each other now.”

“But you’re a talking orb, how exactly does that work and what do you mean by “Bound”?” I asked aloud in question.

“That my dear filly is a rather long story, though considering where we are at the present moment I guess it wouldn't do any harm to tell you what you would eventually learn for yourself in the coming days.” The orb spoke to me in my mind, its soft glow flickering with each word.

“It all started long ago, long before the princesses you know today had come to power and even before they had earned their right to be Alicorn. It was the very beginning of the Equestria you know today back when this land was still young, evil still roamed the land like it was its own and the forces of good where still yet to arise. I was once a filly much like yourself, gifted with magic though I was not of the unicorn race, I was a freak of nature so to speak as back then the races of equine did not see eye to eye and were in fact still at war with themselves. Though every now and again a few select ponies would band together and face the evils that walked our world rather than bickering with each other over silly endeavors, I was one of these select ponies, I fought against the evil that tormented our lands and even found love in the most tormented or places. I even had gotten married and had children. Though before that I had fought with none other than those princesses of today Celestial Sun and Lunar Moon, they were my best friends at the time and had helped me through many a horrible experience fighting a great evil that had ruled our land. He was called Jashiin a demon king of the underworld, he slaughtered many a good pony including my husband after learning that we had found a way to seal his evil away into the forest you now know today as Everfree, back then it was simply known as The Cursed Forest as all who dared stray from the path were never to be heard from again or were turned into the creatures that roam its woods.” The orb stopped for a moment after I took my lunch out from my bag which was of course, more muffins; it continued after my first mouthful.

“Anyway, Jashiin was sealed into the life force of The Cursed Forest using the magic I possessed combined with Celestias’ and Lunas’ magic as well using a spell we had learned from an ancient book of prophecies that we had stolen from under Jashiins’ nose. Though unfortunately the magic that the spell used also used the life force of a select pony from the group using it, I chose myself to be that pony and sacrificed myself to save the life of my friends and my fellow pony but before that moment I had became this orb I had asked Celestia and Luna to seal my daughter inside of a drawing she had made for my birthday the same day we sealed away Jashiin so that she may someday come free of that seal and live a better life in the future of Equestrian kind.”

A drawing; I took a look into my bag and brought out the strange drawing I had found in the same cave with the orb and held it next to it as if it could see it.

“That’s right my dear, you’re my daughter, brought from the past to this present with the same magical gift I once had so long ago. Though I find it interesting that you held no memories from the past when you were released from the drawing; most likely a side effect of being held inside it for so long. But at least hear your true name, and not my own.”

“Her own?” I thought to myself. Does that mean that the book I was reading in Twilights’ library was a history book from the past?

“Aurora?” I said aloud.

“Yes my dear, the book you had found was my and your own diary the drawing inside was done by none other than yourself. Though I think it’s about time you remembered your true name, *Vail Aurora Esprit*”

The name hit my mind like a bag full of heavy steel bars, memories of the past came rushing through my mind like a waterfall that had been blocked by a dam for many a millennia.

“Now my daughter… the magic of this orb and the drawing holding the rest of your memories is running thin. So with it, I will send you back home….to set things right.”

And with that along with the still rushing flow of memories I felt myself being pulled backwards away from the brightly glowing orb that contained my mother’s spirit inside; before I could even object to her leaving me once again I found myself laying on the ground in front of Twilights library with a loud crash of sound, dirt and pieces of cloud. The door to the library opened shortly after my arrival with Twilight standing in the door with a completely dumbfounded look on her face.

“Where in Equestria have you been?! Do you have any idea how worried Derpy has been?!” She exclaimed after regaining her composer from my abrupt arrival.

The only thing I could think to do was to thrust myself into her in embrace and tears, the memories of my mother still ringing through my mind along with her last words she had said before I had been sealed away inside my own drawing.

“I will always love you.”

Chapter 9 - Time Holds Grudges, Forever

Aurora: The End of Beginnings

Chapter 9

Time Holds Grudges, Forever.

Honestly, I was a little surprised that Twilight had known it was me right off the bat being the last time she had seen me was when I was still gray in color (my guess behind the color before was that it was an extra effect from being sealed away for so long that the colors had faded from the drawing). But again I was in a good deal of trouble not only for running away from school and now showing up again for a whole day and a half but also for, not breaking as Twilight told me, but for dislocating Diamond Tiaras leg and it twisting around causing damage to the muscle around the joint.

Thankfully it didn’t seem like Derpy had to pay any medical bills for her, Diamond Tiaras father, Filthy Rich, ended up paying for everything himself saying something on the lines of. ”I’m not going to have that ditsy mare pay for such a thing, besides I’m sure she would most likely lose the money just taking it to the bank to have it transferred.” The only reason I even knew that was because Twilight had escorted me home just a few minutes after giving me a harsh scolding and we both ended up hearing the rather one sided argument about what happened.

Of course, though, I ended up being banned from school for the week so things would cool off and told to stay home for a while. Naturally I figured out a slight way around that, as I made sure to ask Derpy If I could go visit the library every so often; she was hesitant as first but let me go once I reminded her about my memory problems and that the more I know about Equestria the better off I was, though I didn’t tell her that I had my memories back learning more about the time I was in would still be of some use to me.

So then we some to now, with me lazily sitting on a chair in Twilights library kitchen with another one of those lollipops that was in her refrigerator while reading a book on the more recent histories of Equestria. Amazing how much had changed in the thousands of years since the war with Jashiin, though not surprisingly I hadn’t found a single record of that war in her library.

I did however reluctantly ask Twilight if she had ever read anything about a war that happened in the distant past but the only thing she told me was about a draconequus named Discord that had been turned to stone by the Elements of Harmony but since then had been “reformed” and befriended by Fluttershy. Naturally I asked if there was any way to learn about things that happened even farther back into the past, though, her answer was a bit perplexing.

“Any information about the past dating that far back would be kept at the library in Canterlot Castle, in fact I’ve even asked the Princesses about it myself but they always tell me it’s best that I don’t know. But I guess if you really want to know that badly I guess I could always ask Spike to send a letter with my regards though don’t expect a miracle.”

I gave an equally perplexing answer, “That would be great, though I would rather write the letter myself without your name on it.”

She gave me a confused look but brought an ink quill and paper just the same, “Once you’re ready to send it just ask for Spike, he’s in the kitchen at the moment making lunch.” She then walked out of the room leaving me with the things she gave me.

It didn’t take all that long to figure out what I needed to say to get what I needed, because if I remembered correctly both Princess Luna and Celestia both know me already. A slight bit of irony also popped into my mind; I was almost as old as they were by all respects, I had just been sealed away for all those years much like Luna had been sent to the moon, in fact they were the ones that had sealed me to begin with along with my mother Aurora.

I quickly glanced around the room to make sure I was alone to use my magic, then levitated it up and went to work writing down what I needed to say.

“Dear Princesses Luna and Celestia, this is going to sound a bit strange but I need to speak with the both of you as soon as possible about the war with Jashiin that happened several thousand years ago regarding my mother and your friend Aurora.

Your old friend, Vail Aurora Esprit.”

I knew this alone wouldn’t get their attention alone as they would most likely think it just a prank from someone with knowledge they shouldn’t have so I grabbed the “Seal Drawing” from my pack and rolled it up with the letter as proof of who I was then put it in my pack so I wouldn’t need to use my magic to carry it then went into the kitchen to find spike rummaging through the refrigerator like he was looking for something.

I asked the obvious, “Are you looking for something Spike?”

“Yeah I’m trying to find that gemstone lollipop I saved for myself today, not like anyone else aside me could eat such a thing.” He remarked.

I only then remembered about the lollipop I still had in my mouth then grabbed the stick and held it out, “This wouldn't happen to be yours would it?”

He took his head out of the refrigerator to look at what I was holding then looked back at me in slight shock at what he was looking at, “You do realize that only dragons eat gemstones right?”

I shook my head then put the lollipop back into my mouth and crunched down onto it biting a rather good sized chunk off of it. “Tastes like purple.”

Spike just looked at me dumbfounded by the absurdity of something other than a dragon was eating a gemstone lollipop right in front of him, and in fact also knew what flavor that gem was as well.

I just shrugged mentally then took the letter out from my bag and held it in front of him,” Anyways, I need you to send this letter to Luna for me.”

Spike was still staring at me so I lightly taped the letter onto his head to get his attention, “Huh what? Oh right letter to send.” He then took the letter out of my hoof and held it into the air and took a deep breath then breathed out a light green fire onto the letter; I half expected it to burst out into flames but in fact the letter still remained in his claws, slightly shimmering. “That’s odd; it normally sends the first time I do that.” He tried a second time; the same thing happened again the letter just lightly shimmering.

“Well that’s weird; maybe my spell fire just isn’t working today.” He said, tapping the letter on his chin in thought.

“Spell fire?” I asked, interested in the spell part.

“Yeah it’s something I use specially as a Mage Dragon since I was hatched by a Unicorn, well hatched by Twilight actually, I can’t normally breath fire like other dragons so I made myself a spell to breath it instead. Twilight doesn’t know that part though so, um, if you could not tell her that part I would appreciate it.” Spike said, reminding me that I also had something about myself different then most any-pony else as well; my own hidden magic I hadn’t shown to any-pony or dragon.

I sat on the floor in front of spike thinking about spell fire, it sounded cool and hot at the same time, the kind of fire that could be controlled by the amount of magic you put into it and changed in nature to suit the user to do a wide verity of things; like sending letters quickly as example.

“Have you ever seen a unicorn use something like it before?” I asked my curiosity rising to a high point.

“Not yet I haven’t so far I think I’m the only one that can use it. I’m not sure I could teach it either even if it’s rather simple to use.” Spike mentioned, I was glad he said simple to use. I was tempted to give it a shot myself.

“How much magic do you normally put into the spell anyway, out of curiosity?” I asked, still wondering about the spell.

“I’m not sure actually, though I think Twilight may have a machine in the basement that could tell us if you’re that interested in knowing.” Spike then pointed out a door in the main library room; I nodded and said that would be cool. We both when down into the basement not a moment later; spike also yelled upstairs to Twilight where we were going and she just said, “Just don’t break anything!” The letter had also been put back into my bag

The basement was filled with all sorts of interesting machines, chemistry sets, and mathematical boards of equations that would confuse almost any-pony at all. We stopped at a large transparent screen with a machine next to it that read –magical test waiting- as well as names and numbers below, one of them being Twilight herself with a number next to it reading –Mana 237-.

“Guess this is it then.” Spike announced while looking at the data on the screen. I was looking at the board next to it reading on how to use the machine.

“Apparently you have to type your name onto the keys and then place your hoof or claws onto the screen, then it reads your mana amount and you can cast spells onto it and it will tell you how much mana you used to use it; heck helpful machine she made.” I stated out loud; spike typed his name into the machine then placed his claws onto the screen.

The screen showed his mana not a moment later for a total of about 63, after that he used his spell fire on the screen. Surprisingly enough the screen flickered up a number and showed he had only used one point of his mana.

“I didn’t think that my spell worked that well but I guess I did a pretty good job making it!” Spike exclaimed obviously happy with the result, but then again I was also wondering about myself; the only problem was that I would have to tell spike I could use magic.

“Hey Spike, you can keep a secret right? It’s kind of important.” I asked while typing my own actual name into the machine. I had a feeling that I may have figured out his spell fire spell when I watch him do it for a third time.

“No reason why not. What’s up?” He asked.

I placed my hoof onto the screen. “I can use magic too.”

The machine started to make a weird sound the second I put my hoof onto the screen but after a minute or two it showed something that perplexed me, nothing but question marks sat next to my name.

“What do you mean you can use magic? I thought only Alicorns and Unicorns and a few other creatures could?” Spike questioned confused by what I said.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure I know either.” I stated, “But I do know I need that letter sent more than anything else right now, even if I have to send it myself.” With that said I flared up my magic and stood back from the screen a ways before taking a deep breath laced with magic and my will to cast the spell then blew out as hard as I could.

Before I had even a chance to know what I saw in front of me a gigantic blue fireball smashed into the screen at full force, the machine next to it started smoking and making a loud noise as if It couldn't comprehend what it was trying to read; Twilight came galloping down the basement stares not a moment after the loud noise started. Remnants of the fireball could still be seen on the screen by the time she got down to where the both of us were standing.

“What the heck just happened down here?!” Twilight exclaimed while looking at the both of us and then back to the screen, looking shaken from the noise that she heard coming from the machine as it tried to process my magic. She then looked back to me and started to stare.

“Sorry about the machine. But why are you staring at me like that?” I said, staring back her.

“Take a look for yourself.” She said, pointing at my flank.

I took a quick glance back at where she pointed to find a new mark on my flank of a blue and white burning heart that looked almost like it was flickering slightly, like it was happy to find its home. I looked back at Twilight to see her smiling at me.

“Apparently you just got your cutie mark for something, though what I’m confused about is what it represents though I’m guessing it has something to do with why my machine decided to overload.” She said, still looking at me like I had something to say.

“Well I guess the cat is out of the bag now, so I guess I should start with the fact I can use magic and apparently breathe fireballs.” I said after a little while; I would have rather not told Twilight that but explaining why her equipment just burned out would have been near impossible if I didn't.

“That can’t be right, only Unicorns and Alicorn can use magic, and you are obviously a Pegasus it’s physically impossible that you would be able to use magic aside for walking on clouds.” Twilight said still looking at me with question.

“You’re just going to have to believe me on this one Twilight, that’s also the reason I needed to send that letter to the princesses about the past before Discord. What I can do falls under that at the moment.” I took a quick glance to my bag to take out the letter only to find it was gone; maybe a bit of the fireball I casted got caught onto it and sent the letter? Only time could tell I guess.

“And believe her you should Twilight, and I should say it is pleasing to see you again Vail.” A voice said from the shadows, only to show none other than Princess Luna walk into the room from seemingly nowhere.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight and Spike exclaimed, bowing their heads in respect; I simply nodded, I somewhat expected one of the Princesses to show up after the letter was sent but I didn’t expect it to be so soon after.

“Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon, your greetings are welcome, as is yours

Vail it has indeed been a very long time. Or at least, a few days since we last spoke.” Luna remarked while gesturing to follower upstairs; I followed along with Twilight and Spike.

“You will be coming with us to Canterlot Castle with post haste, we have much to discuss and less time to discuss then I had thought. For you see, time always holds a grudge on those that go against it.”

“He is waking up.”