A Tale of Magic

Hey there everypony! Now I don't know if you've noticed, but these chapter are rewritten. This means that if you didn't read chapter 1 a week ago, chances are you won't understand what's going on... I suggest you take the time to read it again, unless you read the rewritten chapter. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Chapter 2: A Comfy Bed

Sometimes, things don’t work out quite as one could have hoped for. Today, this was the case for a certain purple unicorn.

“I’m sorry Miss Sparkle, but even with your resume and my personal experience with your magic, I can’t give you the position,” Moon Shade explained while fumbling with a pencil, occasionally taking a sip of his now lukewarm and somewhat stale coffee. “It’s not that you’re not qualified enough; far from it in fact, but with our budget, we simply don’t have the funds to expand our personnel. I hope you understand.”

“I see. Sorry to waste your time Mr. Shade,” Twilight said apologetically. “I understand your situation.”

Seeing Moon Shade give her a nod and go back to his pile of papers and other forms, high enough to make even Twilight a bit weary, she walked out of his office, closing the door behind her.

As she closed the door, she couldn’t help but feel a bit down. This had been her second time applying for a job as a teacher at Celestia’s School for the Magically Gifted.

Twilight loved her job as Ponyville’s librarian, but she had always wanted to pass on the knowledge she had. And seeing how much she had loved being in school herself, hearing about the wonders of magic from her teachers, a job as a teacher sounded like the best way to do so.

To get a job at the school, you of course had to be extremely gifted in the arcane arts, as well as getting a letter of recommendation from Celestia herself.

While Twilight was in possession of both, she would normally have had a good chance of getting the position. However, after talking with Moon Shade, the principal of the school, she had learned that there were no positions for a teacher open. ‘Damn the education system! Surely they can always use a few extra teachers!’

“I should just be happy with what I have, I guess,” she said. Trying to keep her spirit high, she forced a smile on her face. “Spike wouldn’t want to be alone in the library all day until I got home anyway.”

The trip back to Ponyville wouldn’t be too long, seeing as the school was located between Canterlot and Ponyville as to encourage anypony from both places to apply for the school. This had also been where Twilight herself had studied before being taken on as Celestia’s personal student.

“Twilight Sparkle!” She snapped out of her state of mind when hearing the all too familiar voice calling out to her.

Turning around, she was met by the sight of her old teacher, Ancient Tome. One word came to mind: ‘Ugh.’

“I’ve heard about you applying for a teacher job? I take it from your expression that it didn’t go too well?”

“Sadly no. It seems like there aren’t any positions open at this time,” Twilight said, seriously trying not to get a conversation going.

She had always felt weird around Tome. Sure he was a nice pony, but there was something about him that Twilight just didn’t like. He was nice, sure. But everything he said sounded… rehearsed, forced... wrong. Yet you never felt the need to question him. A dangerous personality to be sure.

“Oh well, I’m sure you will find something else if you look hard enough. This isn’t the only school for magic, you know? Just because this school is for the gifted and the Princess’ personal establishment, doesn’t mean we have unlimited funds. But surely other schools might have a position open.”

“I am well aware of that, but this school was the one I had set my eyes on. I’m sorry but I must go now; I have an appointment to make.”

“Oh, well then I shan’t hold you here any longer. It was nice talking to you again Miss Sparkle.”

“As to you, Mister Tome.”

In reality, Twilight didn’t have any appointment. In fact, she was free for the rest of the day, but she just couldn’t stand being on the school anymore after her rejection from the principal… And most certainly not if Ancient Tome was going to converse with her.

Sure he had been her teacher once and she had the utmost respect for him. She just didn’t like him, is all… not at all.

As she got on the carriage she had borrowed from the Princess. She sighed as she looked back at the school.

“Oh well,” she said in a low voice before turning to the two ponies in front of the carriage, requesting for them to get going. The trip back wouldn’t take long, but she felt like it would feel like an eternity.

---The Everfree forest---

The dark forest inhabited by only a single pony… ehm, zebra. A place no one would go willingly without a good reason, which was just what a certain pegasus had.

Everyone in Ponyville knew her; the timid pegasus with a heart of gold.

“OK Fluttershy, be brave…” she said, shivering. She didn’t like the forest at all. The only reason she lived so close to it was for the animals’ sake. Most of them lived in the forest and so she had to stay close to it, to take care of them.

After having stayed inside yesterday because of a terrible storm, she had to go into the forest to check up on the little family of badgers living just beyond the forest’s border. The trails were filled with puddles and twigs from the storm yesterday. Everything as sappy as the books on Rarity’s shelf, and not in the romancy way.

Having seen that the badgers were fine, she had turned towards the exit of the forest, not wanting to spend a second more in here, could she help it.

As she found the trail leading out of the forest, she saw another pony. He looked old, he looked worn out and he looked like he was about to fall over… which he then proceeded to do.

Panicking, she raced to his side. He was out cold, seemingly hurt. His coat messy and his glasses cracked.

Thankfully, he didn’t seem to be hurt too badly. “He must have been in the forest for quite some time,” Fluttershy thought. “Doesn’t look too bad; not any worse than most critters I deal with.”

Nursing animals back to health was pretty much Fluttershy’s everyday life. But on a few occasions, she would have to treat a few fellow ponies. A regular of hers, was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane, who usually got hurt while practicing.

Realizing that she had been standing, reminiscing about her past sessions with Rainbow, each time with weirder and weirder injuries, (seriously, how can anypony get their mane and tail caught up in each other, crash and come out with a broken ear? Can ears even break?) for several minutes over the hurt stallion, she hurried him onto her back and set off towards her cottage.

---Fluttershy's cottage---

Hours later

The sun shined through the curtains in the dimly lit room. Its rays slowly made their way towards the face of a certain pony it loved messing with.

Wasn’t it enough to torture him in the morning? Did he have to suffer in the… well whenever it was? Not if Bright had anything to say about it! In a daring attempt of escaping the rays, he made the move that ponies through generations had perfected in these kinds of situations. That one legendary move that could save your precious comfort in bed: he rolled his head… What, expecting something else?

The last thing he remembered was moving along the trail in the forest, just about to finish his 3256th (or something along those lines, he had stopped counting halfway) song of 'The Road Goes On', and then promptly greeting the ground a final time before passing out. In retrospect, traveling through the storm had been one of his less than successful ideas.

Looking at the side of his bed, he found a yellow pony with a pink mane, sleeping soundly in a chair. That was pretty much all he could make out without his glasses, but from the quiet breathing and the fact that she wasn’t moving, he could guess that she was sleeping. Looking around, he couldn’t find his glasses on that side, which meant much to his dread that he would have to face the horrors of the sunlight again to look on the other side of the bed.

Slowly turning around, prepared to face his lifetime nemesis, he felt confident. Confident enough to defeat it; to end this conflict. He turned… and found nothing. A white ‘blob’ was in front of him, making a living barrier between him and the reign of the sun. That was at least the observation he could make, his vision wasn’t the best. ‘Oh, glasses!’ He put them on and noticed that, the aforementioned “blob”, was in fact a bunny.

‘Well, this is new…’ he crooked his head to the side, the bunny following his movement with his own head. First a bit to the left… then a bit right… and assume starting position, thank you class, that’s it for today.

After his little 'dance' with the white wonder, it gave him a small nod, either thanking him for the dance or simply acknowledge him as an equal. Bright had a small feeling that what he had just gotten was a symbol of great honor. Though why he would think so was beyond him, it was just a bunny… right?

Jumping off the window sill, hereby allowing a bit of sunlight to give Bright a final sucker punch before he turned away, the bunny jumped to the yellow pony (which was now identified as a pegasus), and with a bit of pointing and hand gestures, some with origins Bright didn’t want to know about, Bright figured he wanted him to put his blanket over the pegasus.

Bright felt torn for a second. His manners as a gentleman told him that he should definitively give the blanket to the mare, but on the other hand… it was soooo warm. But in the end, he didn’t want to disappoint the furry little guy. He had an odd form of respect for him, not even 5 minutes after meeting.

In the end, his manners won. Now no longer in the comfort of the blanket, he stepped out of the bed. Wobbling a little, he slowly made his way to the door. Outside was a small hallway with stairs at the end, leading down. Bright figured that he was on the first floor or something like that, and following the bunny seemed to be a good idea at the time.

It was almost like it was in a hurry or something. Heck it even pulled out a small pocket watch at some point, from Luna knows where! Regardless, it wanted him down the stairs. Which went well if you can believe it! Even Bright was a bit surprised by that. He had completely expected to fall down or something. This was turning into a good day fast.

The room he now found himself in was… well in lack of a better word: cozy. The light brown walls went well with the surprising amount of birdhouses and small animal homes. Furniture was sparse, but the essentials were present; like a couch, a small table, a most comfy-looking chair and a few shelves.

The bunny jumped in front of him, pointing to the couch. It told him to sit, and Bright obeyed with military-like commitment. Seeing that he had been understood, the bunny quickly ran into a small house on one end of the room, promptly discarding his watch, before running into an adjacent room.

Looking at the orange light coming from the windows, Bright determined that it was about 4pm. The clock, however, told him 5pm. ‘Meh, close enough’. Taking a look at the house the bunny had used, he noticed the word 'Angel' over the opening. 'So my new-found friend finally has a name,' Bright thought.

Bright sat on the couch for a few minutes, simply enjoying the sounds of the birds outside and the orange rays coming in from the windows. As one would normally do when having lost his memory, he began to think; 'Where had he come from? Who was he? Why was he here?' He felt a bit sullen about it. The only thing he had on him when he awoke was his clothing and the medallion, one of which he threw away. He looked at the star shaped necklace, its shiny surface reflecting the light perfectly. He didn’t know if the medallion itself meant anything, but if there was even a small chance that he could find out who he was, he’d take it.

A few minutes later, Angel came jumping into the room again, this time carrying a small bowl of soup. Bright was amazed, how did it know? Food! He loved food! It took Bright a full two seconds to come out of a state of true bliss, now slightly embarrassed about his fascination of food of all things, and another 10 seconds to finish his bowl of what he presumed was carrot soup. It was only then he realized just how hungry he had been. He hadn’t eaten since back at the cave, not after those blasted squirrels had stolen his last few spoiled carrots.

He ate seconds, thirds and fourths. Damn this was good food! Finally feeling that his belly would burst if a single pear would find his way to his mouth, he sat back and relaxed. He felt a bit bad for having Angel bring him all of this, but Angel didn’t seem to mind too much. He felt sleepy from eating and the comfort of the couch didn’t help. He needed a distraction from his drowsiness. This distraction came from a purple unicorn that opened the door. She looked at Bright a bit surprised, but gave a smile when she came over the initial confusion.

“I see you’re finally up. My name is Twilight Sparkle, may I ask what yours is?” she asked, smiling.

“Ah, of course, I mean, ehm…” Bright felt a bit besides himself, this would be first time to introduce himself. “My name is Bright Eyes, or that’s at least what I’m calling myself.”

Bright wanted to smack himself from saying that. She had to find him a bit suspicious from him saying that. He settled for a mental smack though, as smacking himself, would make him seem even more like a lunatic. At least he didn’t start talking about him getting inducted into a breeding program/forced enslavement. Now isn’t that a thought? Where the heck did that come from? Oh great, she was giving him an odd look. Thankfully not a look of suspicion, but more along the lines of confusion. She seemed just about to ask him a question, before he held up a hoof, signaling her to give him a second.

“Well you see it’s actually a strange story. You might want to sit down, this could take a little while…”

Later that day

It was well into the evening when Bright finished the story. Twilight had, for the most part, quietly listened; only giving the occasional question. Thankfully Twilight seemed very understanding and was genuinely concerned about him. Bright told her that she shouldn’t worry and that he felt fine, which to some extent calmed Twilight down. Twilight had told him about how the pegasus upstairs, who was apparently named Fluttershy, had found him in the forest and nursed him back to health. Twilight had fixed his glasses, as they have had a small crack in them.

“Oh that reminds me,” Twilight stood up. “Shouldn’t she be awake by now? It’s been a while since you came down, right?” He nodded. A sudden sound from the stairs made both Bright and Twilight look up in surprise; in front of the stairs stood Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t… I mean… I didn’t mean to eavesdrop… ehm… I’m sorry…” she spoke in a timid voice, almost as if she was afraid to be heard. This didn’t make much sense in Bright’s mind, conversations usually involved being able to talk to each other. He decided not to question his savior though.

“Oh no, not at all! In fact this just means that I won’t have to tell my story twice,” Bright reassured her, trying to cheer her up a bit. “But you could have just joined us here, instead of sitting on the stairs.”

“Oh, ehm… yes…”

An awkward silence insured. It’s hard to keep a conversation going if it’s only one side that gives input. It was at this point he noticed just how cute Fluttershy was; heck it was borderline adorable, no screw that; she WAS adorable! He couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle. He was going to enjoy his stay… his stay? All Bright could think of at that moment was how much he was actually imposing on Fluttershy. Yeah he was hurt, but that didn’t mean he could just linger around and do nothing. She had saved his life for crying out loud. The awkward silence was still lingering in the room until Twilight, bless her, decided to break it.

“In any case you should come by the library sometime tomorrow. Maybe we can find something for your amnesia.”

“Sure, I… wait, what? The library? Do you think there’s a book that can help us? I’m no expert on the mind, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t that simple,” Bright was confused to say the least. Yes books were useful and you can learn a lot from them, but a way to cure amnesia probably wasn’t amongst it. “Unless there’s an edition of my biography in the register.”

Twilight simply shook her head. “No, that wasn’t what I meant. I know that there’s no real cure for amnesia, except waiting for the memories to return. What I meant was a way to ease the process and make them come back faster. The reason why you should come to the library is because I live there.”

Living in a library? Now Bright didn’t have much against books, in fact he loved a good book, but to live with them might be a bit much. If he had to take a wild guess, he presumed that Twilight had already read all of the books at least twice. She sure seemed like someone who would do that. There was a word Bright didn’t like using, but for once he found himself sitting in front of a living specimen of this race; a true nerd.

The rest of the evening was spent getting to know each other better. More than once, Bright noticed Twilight and Fluttershy giving each other a look. It was almost like they were having a conversation with their eyes. It seemed like they were worried about something, but Bright just minded his own business.

Little did Bright know what horrors awaited him the following day…

OK, so if you're watching me and/or read my blog post, you'll know that I was supposed to send Bright into Ponyville in this chapter... This didn't happen, simply because I didn't think it made sense to have him there after so much stuff at Fluttershy's... It'll happen next chapter, no worries ;)

References: Memory Pending and Human

Special thanks to my pre-reader Kiroberos