To New Horizons

After what felt like hours... although it was probably only one. You managed to survive one of Twilights famous lectures. To be fair, you did ask for it. But you were unaware that she would bring out a chalkboard and testing material. In all honesty, it made you feel as though you were back in the Cloudsdale educational system. But you have to admit, you did at least learn how sentence structures worked for old Poinsh. Unlike Ponish today, old ponish was, to say the least, less literal in its meaning and more subjective.

Twilight was nice enough to give you a small leather-bound notebook to write down your notes on the language in and encouraged you to use the journal as a directory or cheatsheet of sorts as you continue to learn the language. Which, you couldn't argue with the logic behind it. You finished writing your last paragraph of notes when Twilights voice brought you back to reality. "And, that concludes an in-depth study on old ponish sentence structure... and just in time too. Looks like it's around one in the afternoon." Twilight says with an eager smile as she briefly glances out the window to check the time.

"Looks like I should be going then. Really Twilight, thanks for the lesson on this stuff. Without you, I'd honestly be completely lost." You reply as you eagerly get out of your chair and stretch your legs. "I'm happy to help! It's always nice to see other ponies actively trying to learn something new for a change... Not to seem rude or anything but." Twilight says as she trots over to you and conspiratorily leans in and lowers her voice to a whisper. "Hardly anypony actually visits the library unless they have some major issue they need to solve." She finished before leaning away with a concerned look.

"Well, that's a shame. I quite enjoyed the lesson, though I must ask. Is it alright if I check out this book to take some notes on my own? I'd love the new reading material." You say with a nervous smile, silently praying to both the goddesses that you didn't accidentally offend the purple unicorn. "Of course! Just, try to bring it back by the end of the week in one piece. I had to order a new copy of the last book I lent. Somepony decided that eating a strawberry jelly filled donut while reading a mystery novel was a great idea." Twilight says with a smile earning a small chuckle from yourself.

"Well, I swear I'll treat it with the utmost care." You say as Twilight levitates your notebook and the Old ponish book into the air, which was soon carefully placed into a small cloth bag taken from under the wooden table. Twilight then proceeded to levitate the cloth bag over to you, which you responded by taking the bag's handle in your teeth before carefully sliding the handle over your head and safely around your neck.

"You better, I don't want to have to revoke your library privileges for damaged property." Twilight teases as the two of you start to leisurely trot over toward the libraries entrance. "Well, with those stakes I'll definitely be thrice as careful with it." You tease back, earning an eye roll from the smiling purple mare. Twilights horn lights up with its purple glow as the two of you approach the door, covering it in the same glow as it gently swings open. Revealing the cobblestone street outside, and allowing the gentle sounds of the small yet busy town to enter the library.

It amazed you at how well insulated a tree house could be, though now that you think about it. It makes sense that solid oak walls would be fairly insulated. "Well, if there's anything else you need to study. I'm always happy to help a friend." Twilight says with a genuine smile as she stops just inside the libraries door, allowing you walk outside and turn around to properly address the kind mare.

"In that case friend, if you ever need an artifact dug out of a dingy old ruin. Just point the way and I'll gladly recover it for you." You reply with a smile. Twilight giggles to herself briefly before responding. "I might take you up on that one day. Now if you excuse me I'm expecting..." Twilight starts but is soon cut off by a loud belch sound as a bright green light flashes behind her. Twilight quickly twirls around as you look past her into the library proper, only to see Spike holding a rolled-up scroll, held together by some sort of goldenseal. "A letter." Twilight finishes as you look to her, and her assistant.

Barely trying to hide the expression of confusion that must be plastered across your face. "I've never heard of letters arriving by green flashes." You tease earning a small sigh from Twilight and an annoyed look from Spike. "You mean dragons fire. Not a green flash." Spike quickly corrects you, earning another sigh from Twilight. "My apologies. I've never seen a letter delivered via dragons fire before." You correct yourself, seemingly turning Spikes expression from dour to a small smile.

"Very few ponies actually use this method of postal delivery. It uses some pretty intricate dragon magic and horde placement to even get it to work... Only high-class mages and nobility really use it." Twilight dolefully explains as she uses her magic to levitate the scroll into her hoof. Her demeanor changing from cheerful to extremely uncomfortable. This allowed you to get a better look at the scroll. The scroll was held together with a red ribbon with a golden encrested C as a button of sorts.

Quickly you start getting the feeling you weren't meant to see that, and you gently rest your left forehoof on Twilights right shoulder. "And you didn't want me to know about it did you?" You ask bluntly, earning a small almost ashamed nod from the purple unicorn. Her eyes slowly went from the scroll in her hood to your eyes. "I'm sorry... I hate to be rude but I have to read this letter as soon as possible and it's... private. I'll explain all of this away later alright?" Twilight says with an unsure look.

"Course. If you need me, you know where to find me right?" You ask as you try to reassure the purple mare. "Right." She says quietly and returns her gaze onto the scroll. "Alright. Thanks for what you did today Miss Twilight, I hope you have a great rest of the day. Same for you Spike. It was nice meeting you, and have a great day as well." You say with a fake half smile as you nod to the both of them and begin to walk off the small steps to the library. "You too Sky." Twilight says before gently shutting the door behind you.

From there, you leisurely begin walking down the cobblestone street as you start to examine the area in an attempt not to dwell on what just happened. Houses lined the quiet street as ponies leisurely trotted to their unknown destinations. A young earth pony couple around your age, a blue-furred, dark blue maned stallion and a white-furred, red-maned mare were walking close to each other's side.

As you passed them on the street you recognized the stallion. He was a construction pony if your memory serves you right. He sometimes came in on his lunch break and ordered a hay sandwich heavy on the tomato, light on the mustard. How you remembered his usual order and not his name was beyond you. But you gave them a friendly nod, which the stallion returned with a toothy grin and a wink as you passed each other. Putting a smile on your face. "He must have said something about asking a mare out." You thought to yourself as you continued to walk down the road.

As you approach an intersection in the road, a couple of Ponyvilles resident guardsmen emerged from the right street. Stopping in their path as you approached. Like every town, the guardsmen's armor was always a unique sight. For Ponyville the guards wore steel light calvary armor, with the Ponyville flag draped across their barrel where a saddlebag would lie. You recognized these two stallions instantly as regulars. The white pegasus with a dark, nearly black mane on the left caring a spear is Cloud Hopper. From memory, the dark blue-eyed stallion had two crossed spears in an x as a cutie mark. Yes, you remembered that because you were staring one night.

But the other guard was Rocky Night, and his name doesn't lie. This light purple unicorn with a light grey mane and light blue eyes is built like a rock, and under that armor on his admittedly eye candy flanks, was a pony casting a shield spell cutie mark. "Evening Sky. You opening the bar tomorrow?" Cloud Hopper asked in his thick Manehatten accent with a friendly smile.

"If nothing comes up. Why? You looking to get plastered again so soon?" You tease, earning a chuckle from the two stallions. "You know it. There's nothing to do in this down until the festivals come back around." Cloud Hopper continues as you approach, and you watch as their eyes fall on the new scar on your hind leg and wince. "Sheesh, what happened to you as of late? Have a bad crash?" Rocky night askes in his usual bassy voice. You briefly glance back at your leg and lift it up to show it off a little. "Nah, timberwolf got lucky last night. But Twilight patched me up real nice." You say with a dry chuckle as you re-establish eye contact with the stallion.

"Sweet Celestia, that was your crew up at the orchard? Heard it was a right mess up there." Cloud Hopper states, as he nervously adjusts his helmet. "Yea, it was. Wouldn't have made it home last night if it weren't for AJ. I'm going to give that lass free drinks for a lifetime for what she's done I swear." You say as you run a forehoof through your mane. "You should've come and got the guard. We've been itching for a good Timber raid for a while now." Rocky Night says with a cocky smile.

"Yea, but we might get our wish soon enough. There have been reports that the Timberwolf attacks are starting to ramp up. Only a matter of time till the crown rounds up a warband to finally raze that Celestia damned forest to the ground." Cloud hopper chimes in, causing you to chuckle a little. "Well, when they do, give my guild a call. I'd love to wipe that nightmare of a forest off the map." You reply, earning hearty laughs all around.

"One day. Anyway, We'll see you later Sky, we've got to finish our patrol." Rocky Night says, prompting the two to walk past you and down the street. "Right, don't wanna keep ya. See you, two drunkards, tomorrow." You tease, earning a hearty chuckle from the two guardsmen. With a new found spring in your step, you finally start your way towards Sweet Apple Acres, fully intending to retrieve the last of your equipment.