Chronicles of Equestria I: The Tome, the Stranger and the Book Club

'The train at Platform 01 is leaving the station!' declared the voice of Canterlot Central’s station master, shouting from the many speakers around the station’s platforms. 'For your safety, please stay clear of the platform.'

“Zealously obeying the raspy voice, the cars of the train on Platform 01 winced, then slowly but surely started to make their way out of the station in a nice orderly fashion. One would have though they were trained professionally to move in perfect files.” thought to herself the beige earth pony sitting on a station bench next to the platform. “Oh I am just terrible!” she chuckled.

She smiled after the leaving train and moved about a bit to find a more comfortable pose. Once she was satisfied with her seat she reached into her reticule and took out this morning’s copy of ‘The Equestrian’ which of course was the daily newspaper renowned as the most reliable source of news from all of Equestria, not to mention it’s connection with the Royal Book Association of Canterlot which was shown in the form of selected short stories being included on every Sunday’s issue. With a quick movement of her head, she threw back her slightly graying, weavy brown mane and opened the paper.

Though the pony at Platform 01 loved these literature rich issues the most and today’s day sadly happened to fall on Friday in the calendar, this didn’t stop her from looking at the fifth page with a certain, satisfied smile.

“It would appear that Miss Scarlet Pen puts an extraordinary amount of faith into the belief that she’s the intellectual return of revolutionary authors such as Ink Weave, Bastion ‘the Word Painter’ or even the mysterious writer of the famous ‘Draconequus’ Saga.” - began the vitriolic article in the middle of the ‘Theatre’ column of the ‘Arts’ section. - “However, I would like to remind her and the reader of this article that this isn’t so. To beautifully summarize this: one needs but refer to the simply laughable review she wrote for this very paper, in this Tuesday’s issue (Page 5 Theater Column ‘Marble Raindrops’) on the topic of ‘Marble Raindrops’. If one saw the play, it should be obvious that this story is rather about the relationships and everyday dramas of the side characters - whom she neglects to even mention - than the actual woes and redemption of our protagonist, who serves but to allow us an outsider’s view into a much richer story.”

The beige pony chuckled a little, imagining the face of Miss Scarlet Pen who is probably reading this very article right now. She continued to read: “Sadly, it is difficult to tell much about the true essence of this play without robbing the potential viewer of the adventure of discovering it for themselves. Because of this I shall not even try. I will instead just say: If you happen across the theater and you enjoyed previous works of Violet Vision, then definitely give a chance to this most wonderful experience. Scarlet: Your Adventure stories promise much talent. Don’t ruin your reputation by trying to criticize works outside your expertise! - Clover Cover”

She rarely bragged about it, but that didn’t mean the pony of Platform 01 didn’t love to see her name in the paper every now and then, when she wrote an article. As such vitriolic works go, Clover didn’t have many of them to her name. She was regarded as a very kind pony, despite the occasionally very tragic and heart breaking love stories she weaved so carefully in her art. Because of this, when she spoke as harsh as in this particular article, it carried all the more weight.

She lowered the paper to check the time on one of the station’s clocks and noted that she still has some time... Perhaps she should hit up the riddles on page thirteen.

While flipping the pages she wondered to herself; she hoped Scarlet Pen doesn’t take this writing too much to heart. The young author, as brash as she may have acted at times, was talented. There was no question about that. Clover even endorsed one of her earlier works to be showcased in The Equestrian a few months back. Still, she needed to be put in her place at times. A large ego is the worst disease a writer can develop, as it makes her immune to the pharmaceutical values of criticism. “Then again... Wait. Seriously? ‘Creature with the head of a horse, antlers of an elk, horn of a uni- yadi, yadi, yada. Ruler of Ancient Equestria’?”

“This would have been an awfully simplistic question, even if the answer didn’t turn half of Equestria into a theme park just months ago.” Clover thought to herself with a disappointed smirk on her face and looked over to the other side of the riddles section. Questions like these sometimes made her wonder, just who do the publishers suppose takes their time to flip the riddle section anyway? Definitely not simpletons. “Ah! ‘I have but one face. Yet when you look at me, you shall always see nothing but what your heart seeks. Should ponies cease to truly look, I would be just a square on a hook. What am I?’ Now THAT is a riddle, thank you very much! A bit easy, ‘abstract painting’ but at least some effort went into it!”

For the next few minutes, the author delved into rest of the riddles, slowly working herself through them. Finally she was interrupted by the raspy voice of the station master, who now announced:

'11:35 from Manehatten, through Ponyville; arriving on Platform 01! For you safety please stay clear of the platform!'

With a quick movement of her hooves, she closed the paper and put it safely away into her reticule. She then looked off to watch as the train slowly pulls up in the station, with possibly the subject of her next article on board.

Earlier today - as she usually done on Fridays - Clover Cover visited the Castle grounds. These mornings were a casual meeting time of sorts for the Royal Council of Magical Practices. It is interesting perhaps to note that even though this group is infinitely above others such as the Royal Book Association of Canterlot, it’s members do not insist on everypony calling it by its full name and usually refer to it simply as RCMP themselves. In fact even on the rare occasion that they would publish something, they usually just use RCMP beyond the cover.

Clover liked this. She didn’t much enjoy the completely undeserved, stuck up attitude of their book association, but what was there to be done? Besides, let them have their pride if they so wish, she has better things to worry about, her stories for one.

Her stories indeed, while romantic in nature, often contained hints or even whole plot elements dedicated to magic. One of the reason for her renown was her insight into the workings of unicorn magic, which was unheard of from an Earth Pony.

The explanation to this was located - as suggested before - at the Castle grounds, mostly during the early hours of Friday.

She had a very unique standing with the RCMP. In a way she could have been considered a sort of mascot for the academic group, but she didn’t mind this position as lowly it may seem in its first sight. Thanks to the fact that her parents worked in the Castle, she was allowed to come and go there as she pleased from a very young age - even if under the ever watchful eyes of the royal guard.

Though the teachers weren’t always happy about it, she often listened in on the classes kept for the aspiring magicians - an activity she never truly stopped revisiting. One day she was discovered by a member of the RCMP who also taught magic there. Upon asking her a few questions, the unicorn was impressed by the young filly’s curiosity and allowed her to join his classes whenever she wishes, as long as she doesn’t distract anypony.

As the years passed she was later introduced by this unicorn to other members of the council. Very soon she gathered the attention of the members who were both impressed by the - then young - Earth Pony’s interest in magic and found a uniquely entertaining challenge of explaining their craft to such an outsider.

If not for this interest in magic, she probably never would have had the opportunity to spot a very young Twilight Sparkle failing miserably at gardening magic. She would never have written the book thatsoon became her break through (“Gardening for Unicorns, or Why It’s BETTER to Use Your Hooves Sometimes”). The same Twilight Sparkle at age thirteen would never have written her a single piece of fan mail. And they would never have developed a mutual respect for each other through their common interest in literature and magic.

This whole train of thoughts ringed a strangely sounding bell for the writer who was standing at Platform 01 at this moment. This bell in particular hung in an unlit corner of her mind, was small, gray but sounded like the voice of a satisfied chuckle rather than any kind of ringing produced by more healthier members of its ilk. The bell also had a small and simple inscription on it that read “Fate”.

Indeed: ‘Fate’. If those things don’t happen one thing is for sure: Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t have visited her two days ago in her office and as a direct consequence the unicorn wouldn’t have left Canterlot the time she did! However if it would have been so, she wouldn’t have made it to the right place by when the right time came along to save a certain stallion. In this scenario, said stallion would have ended up either dead or at the very least seriously maimed.

She was a novelist. She more or less lived off of carefully crafting the fate of fictional characters then telling it in a way that would keep readers guessing until the very last page of the very last chapter in the very last book of the saga. Somehow she still had a hard time believing in the concept of fate. Then again it was laid out before her perfectly!

If this stallion doesn’t make it, then obviously he can’t write a letter to Princess Celestia. In turn, Princess Celestia would hardly visit a peaceful get together of the RCMP next morning in the Castle grounds that she - Clover Cover - happens to be attending. And it is obvious that she couldn’t have shared a discovery with the group that would send them into a heated argument of what is and what isn’t completely impossible.

These things are however unimportant for the most part. There is exactly three details to the whole ordeal that Clover Cover considered important at the moment: One, this mysterious stallion had a story to him that baffled the greatest academic minds of Canterlot when they heard it just hours ago. Two, she managed to volunteer herself to the noble cause of welcoming this stallion to Canterlot. Three, there was a stallion stepping off the train, seemingly fitting the description given by the Princess down to the last detail of his attire. The whole, gray suit made the him look like the actors from the old theatre posters whom always wore that charming smile, so unique to the 40s and 50s. Even thought this stallion in particular did not insult the trademark by wearing a smile.

Taking a few steps towards the seemingly lost, teal coated stallion, Clover had to note in herself that today’s fashion could do with a little retro spirit. And more hats.

'Mr Oakleaf?' Clover called out to the uncertain unicorn. He searched for his caller for a moment in the leaving crowd, but then noticed and walked over to the waving mare.

'Good day!' Oak addressed the mare indifferently. 'Are you from...?'

'The Princess, yes.' nodded Clover putting on a smile somewhere halfway between friendly and formal. 'Good day to you as well! I’m sorry to say but the Princess asked to postpone your meeting with her. She said she will only be ready to welcome you tomorrow.'

'Oh... Well...' started the stallion. 'I’m not quite sure what I could- uh, should do. Did she say anything else?'

'Actually, she said that there is a guest room waiting, in the Castle where you are free to stay at anytime. To be honest however, I was hoping I may show you around Canterlot and ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.' Clover explained a raised her eyebrows a bit, as she usually done when she was in anticipation or excitement.

'Ah well that would sound... Good.' nodded Oakleaf thoughtfully, then added: 'Not to insult, but you wouldn’t happen to be a writer, looking for the plot of her next story in me?' He pointed his right hoof at the flank of Clover which shown a book with a bouquet of long, yellow flowers on it’s cover. 'I’m not as interesting as apparently Miss Twilight Sparkle made me look for the Princess.' Oakleaf said the last part a bit dryly.

'As a matter of fact, I am a writer and I’m also looking for your story, but only for an article.' Clover replied with a smile, dismissing the accusations from her mind. 'None the less, if you don’t mind me saying this: I still doubt that a story that can baffle the Royal Council of Magical Practices would be considered boring.'

The stallion finally smiled. Perhaps he just saw the ridiculousness of his claim of unimportance, or... Well what ever it was it didn’t last long. The stallion’s eyes wandered off of the mare’s blue eyes and after that, the smile slowly disappeared from his face, giving place to his previous indifference.

'As you wish.' he said simply. 'We can go whereever you please.'

'Thank you.' Clover turned around and headed for the nearest exit of the station, Oakleaf following besides her.

She had a thought, that perhaps if they visited her favourite Café, a hot drink would lift the spirits of the stallion. However she didn’t plan to be a silent guide until then, so quickly picked up a conversation:

'I hope I’m not intruding but I noticed you didn’t mention Twilight with much adoration. Did something happen?'

The stallion raised his eyebrows for a flash when she called out the name of Ponyville’s librarian, perhaps he noticed the way she called her by her first name.

'You know Miss Sparkle then?'

'We had similar interests, magic and literature mainly. Because of that we often crossed paths either in the Royal Library or in the company of esteemed magicians.' Clover explained. Oak raised his eyebrows in a surprised fashion when the mare mentioned her interest in magic, but didn’t wish to interrupt her. 'Sadly I didn’t get many chances to speak with her since she moved to Ponyville that is. Now say, is everything quite alright?' - she smiled and raised her eyebrows mimicking the stallion after last sentence.

'It’s just seems a bit strange for an Equestrian earth pony to show interest in magic. But I don’t think I would make a good judge, given your are one of the first I even met.'

Clover stopped in her track. Still smiling kindly, she pointed her hoof around and said:

'Just take a look around here! This is Canterlot, arguably the most magical city in all of Equestria! It’s hard to find anything here that wouldn’t be enchanted by some sort of magic to be more beautiful or useful in some way! Though many seem to disagree with me, I often ask how can somepony not fall in love with magic in a city like this? A city that is living and breathing proof of how much good it can do?'

'You sound very much like somepony I knew once.' The smile returned the stallion’s face for a moment then moved on again. Clover found it better no to ask him about it so just moved the conversation quickly:

'I dare say then that he or she is a clever pony! But you never did say what happened with Twilight and you.' She slowly continued down the street, followed by Oakleaf.

'I am afraid I have disturbed her. She slowly started to look more and more depressed and especially seemed so when we talked.' he explained.

'Hm...' Clover tried to remember any time she would have found the young magician depressed but couldn’t think of such times. She was usually pulled back and stayed to herself, the only pony who she would talk to with complete openness was Princess Celestia herself... Unless!

She recalled a mail exchange between the two of them, Twilight and herself, a few months after Twilight sent Clover her first fan mail. They’ve been mailing for a while exchanging little more than thoughts about Clover’s work and a few other books she recommended to her young fan.

The letter was strange because for the first - and honestly only - time, Twilight wrote to her to find composure. Clover could hardly remember the details, but the young filly told her that she messed up with a spell and something happened in the royal dining room, covering it all in dirt including the Princess. Young Twilight was completely shaken by the accident and though the Princess told her that everything is fine, she got it into her head that she messed up because she isn’t truly as good with magic as she should be.

While the most memorable part of this was that she was the second pony in all of Equestria who the filly would go to in times of doubt - only out done by the Princess herself. The letter and the ones exchanged soon after also served to show how at that age, the poor filly already developed a fear of not being good enough. She imagined, the appearance of a mage like this stallion could... No, Twilight shouldn’t be that unsure of herself, she just saw her two days ago! She looked fine.

Just now did she realize that her hooves carried them to the entrance of her favourite café. Frankly she was surprised at herself. They were two streets up just a moment ago, she usually didn’t drift of like this. Perhaps it was just that unique feeling she had when first reading that letter crawling back to her. That sense of dependence and duty. That moth-...

'Excuse me, I really drifted off there.' she apologized, as she realized that she’s with company.

'Not at all.' nodded Oakleaf with a probably fake smile. 'After you, Miss!'

Clover Cover stepped through the familiar door, a bit offmindedly reconstructing what she should do inside. There is still a great story to be told by this stallion and darn it if she won’t do her best to get it out!

The Café du Soleil was without a doubt the most esteemed café in all of Canterlot. The only place that a customer of the café could possibly considered ‘a better place to be’ is the palace’s terrace side tea room where the princesses entertained their guests on occasion but that would be hardly a fair competitor. Some cafés across Equestria aimed to challenge it’s throne as the Queen of Cafés, such as the Étalon Café of Manehatten. However, its position at the very end of the Caelum Avenue (the street that runs from the city gates to the very heart of Canterlot), the decorations that have been gathered and maintained through its seven hundred year history and the quartets that play refined music every evening justly place it above any competitors.

Indeed for many decades now, the very definition of an important pony of Canterlot could have been ‘somepony who often spends their time in this establishment’. Perhaps not knowing, or simply not caring, Oakleaf didn’t show any signs of awe when stepping into the café. He simply lifted his hat off using his magic and followed Clover Cover to a unicorn waiter who quickly shown them to an empty table.

'Coffee?' asked Clover once she and Oakleaf were seated and the waiter took out a notepad. The unicorn seemed a bit lost in thoughts but the question caused him to raise his head with a somewhat surprised look.

'Oh, yes. Definitely!' he nodded with a half smile.

'Two coffees then, one with no sugar, please.' smiled Clover at the waiter who quickly walked off. She turned to Oakleaf and continued: 'So you’ve spent but two days in Equestria but already developed a taste for the black ambrosia? Time well spent!' she smiled.

'Actually I didn’t have any here in Equestria yet. But to put it simple, Equestria is not the only land where there is coffee.' explained Oakleaf. 'Now comes the part of course where you inquire about where else there is coffee, trying to work out where I’ve been before then ask further questions about it to form a picture that you can put into your article. No?' Oakeleaf said this without any harsh emotions, he just spoke as if reading up the first half of a to-do list.

'Uh...' Clover paused for a moment in surprise. 'Does this mean you wish to tell me about it?'

'There are things I would not like to talk about...' he paused. 'Bad memories. But I have hardly anything else for me to do until I get to my hearing, so I suppose helping you out is the least I could do in exchange for a coffee.'

This was something she didn’t anticipate. Clover imagined she could break the ice in the café with a little work, then she could invite the stallion to her office where she can take notes and properly interview the mage but he just went and threw her whole schedule off balance.

That wouldn’t have been that bad if not for the fact that she - given that she isn’t a unicorn - was forced to use her hooves or mouth to write with a pen, which she didn’t quite excel at. She would usually just use a typewriter to write her books and articles. Darn it! Alright! This is a chance and she be damned if she let’s it pass! She’ll manage with the writing somehow.

'Hold on just a moment please!' she said.

Clover reached into her reticule and grabbed her copy of The Equestrian, quickly turning to the last page which was by tradition an empty page, easy to separate from rest of the paper. It contained nothing but orderly postal information to the offices in which the paper is edited and a few official seals bearing the insignias of The Equestrian and the associated corporations. The newspaper always wore it as a badge of honour, keeping it there so if anypony has a complaint about their work, they can just write it there and send it free of charge through the post. Now Clover Cover could use it as a note pad. A moment later she reached back and took out a fancy metal pen (With inner ink storage!) that she got as a gift, bearing the seal of the RCMP. She would usually just keep it around, not knowing where else to put it, but this seemed to be lucky for her today!

A bit sluggishly and lacking all signs of grace, she started to scribble down the words “Oakleaf ‘The Vagrant’ Interview”, balancing the metal rod in her mouth. By the time she finished with Vagrant, she decided she’ll just use “IV” for InterView.

'Not to pry but may I uh... Help?' asked Oakleaf.

'What?' Clover looked up a bit anxiously and the pen fell from her mouth to the table. 'Oh no, no, no! What would it be like? Make you write notes on yourself.' she wasn’t sure if she should smile or just take it as a "forget it" and put away the paper.

'Eheh, that’s not exactly what I had in mind.' the unicorn smiled honestly. 'Could I take the pen for a second?' Clover just nodded to which Oakleaf lifted the pen from table, it glowing with a dim teal light. 'I’ll also need your hoof, just for a moment.'

Clover was a bit unsure about all of this but felt very curious abut what the unicorn is aiming to do here so reached out her left hoof towards the stallion. He simply touched his own hoof against it and said:

'Look at the pen and imagine it write a word on the paper.'

The mare raised her eyebrows but did as Oakleaf asked. Much to her astonishment the dim teal light around the pen disappeared and it flew to the paper. A few moments later the word “Trickery” was written upon the page with pristine, elegant letters. The unicorn pulled back his hoof, pen gently levitating over the paper still.

'That should help.' he said simply with a smile.

'Wait, what do you mean? It will write what ever I want?' asked Clover, while her mind already imagined the pen correcting out the first line. When she looked at the paper again the words “Oakleaf ‘The Vagrant’ IV” and “Trickery” were crossed out and a bit lower it was adorned with beautiful text reading: “Oakleaf ‘The Vagrant’ Interview” - What sort of spell did you cast?

'That "spell" is one of the reasons they’ll want to see me I think.' sighed Oakleaf and the smile disappeared from his face again. 'Technically I didn’t cast a single spell. You did.'

'What?' Clover blinked. Did the unicorn just say that SHE casted a spell? 'I casted a spell?' He can’t be serious. Only unicorns and alicorns can cast spells. He must be pulling her leg.

'Think about it. I didn’t know you would want to write...' he paused and twisted his head a little to read the paper. ' “Trickery” on the paper. You did. The pen does what you and you alone want it to do.'

'But I can’t cast spells! I don’t have a horn!'

'That’s a problem, yes. But it doesn’t mean you don’t have magic in you. Everypony has. I just helped in organizing it into a spell and loaned my own horn for a moment.'

The pen started to move madly on the paper while Clover still looked straight at the unicorn. She didn’t want to believe him but neither did she want to believe that the pen would work!

'So you’re trying to tell me that you can help non-unicorns cast spells?!' Clover asked finally. 'Anypony?'

'Um...' Oakleaf looked around a bit uncomfortably, a few other customers of the café looked curiously at their table, listening in on the conversation. As soon as the unicorn looked at them, they quickly turned back to their own table. 'I can do that, yes. It’s among the things explained in my book.'

'That’s just... Amazing!'

'I doubt it will be that amazing when the committee gets through with it.' sighed the unicorn.

'What do you mean?' Clover raised her eyebrows. Such an amazing achievement would be applauded by any magician.

'It’s simple really: It’s too much! If...' he started to explain but was interrupted by the return of the waiter. 'Thank you.' Oak nodded at him then took a sip of the coffee. 'I must admit this is better than my home brew.'

Clover just looked at her cup. The thought that maybe she could just lift it with a thought and drink it crossed her mind. She would never have such thoughts before, perhaps as a filly but never since. She as all other Earth Ponies and Pegasi learned to adapt to their magical handicap and were perfectly happy this way. But if they could over come it now, even with the help of unicorns... Why would that be bad?

'Anyway as I was saying:' continued Oakleaf. 'It would be too much. Among other things it would make unicorns less ‘special’. I doubt that would be looked upon with much joy on their behalf. Not sure if it’s worth debating this though. It’s a touchy issue and I don’t have much more insight into it than a few dozen history books I’ve read of Equestria and what the Princess explained to me in her letter. There’ll be far enough talk about it in my hearing anyhow.' he took another sip of the coffee.

'Ye-yes...' Clover concentrated back on the unicorn. All of this started to increasingly feel like a dream. Never before did she feel this strongly that she got into something much larger than herself. 'Um, if you don’t mind, can I ask you a few questions about where you came from?' The pen quickly drew a perfect horizontal line on the paper and started levitating under it.

'Ask away...' nodded the teal stallion and lifted the cup to his mouth aiming to finish the rest of the coffee.

'Well, I’m not quite sure where to start actually. I haven’t heard such a wild tale since the so called “Great and Powerful Trixie” claimed she defeated an Ursa Major.' she admitted. The unicorn smiled a bit when heard the Ursa Major’s supposed defeat but just kept drinking. It took a few moments before his eyes suddenly went wide and he had to cover his mouth with his hoof, not to spit out the coffee.

'E-excuse me.' coughed Oakleaf, gathering the attention of neighboring tables once more. 'I just suddenly had to... hiccup. Sorry.' he quickly lifted a napkin with magic and started to soak up the little coffee that landed on the table, then wiped off his own muzzle and hoof. 'Who was this Ursa slayer you mentioned?'

'Just a loudmouthed unicorn who made a stage act of making a fool out of volunteers, trying to prove she is the greatest unicorn, who ever lived.' Clover explained with a shrug.

'And she called herself “The Great and Powerful Trixie”...' Oakleaf looked away thoughtfully and a smile slowly, but surely appeared on his mouth. 'Well that is quite the title. I might look into her when I’ll get a chance.'

'Don’t expect much, she was proven to fail in vanquishing even an Ursa Minor.' Clover shook her head. 'In fact coincidentally it was the same Twilight Sparkle we both met, who saved the situation back then. Was all around in the papers. I’m not even sure Trixie’s still in the business.' she finished.

'That’s too bad.' replied the unicorn and the smile weakened a bit but not disappearing. 'I do believe I promised you a few questions though so shoot!'

Clover collected her thoughts and started asking her questions, the pen zealously taking notes all the while. She listened as the unicorn explained his first memories, of how lost he really felt and the clumsy way he attempted to survive on his own in the first few days. He explained how about three weeks after his arrival - which time he spent mostly in the mysterious house he awoken in, reading the many books - he was found by the Kiang while he was bathing in a nearby lake.

Oakleaf seemed to enjoy reciting his own failings from his time, noting that it took another week for the Kiang medicine mare to kindly cure him of a nasty poisoning that he gathered from eating all of the wrong fruits and berries in the forest. He also told about the troubles of communication as he awoken with his sense of pony language and ability to read intact, but that didn’t save him from the troubles of speaking with a species stranger to him.

Clover wrote down a traditional welcoming blessing spoken by the Kiang, that Oak told her and then even moved on to a few praying tunes they would speak at an altar that was placed at the foot of their tallest mountain. When asking as to why there was an altar placed there, Oak explained about the dragon Frost who lived in a cave on the top of that mountain and his position as their only defence against the windigos.

Oakleaf finally started to recite friends he made among the Kiang, their strange but admirable traditions and other elements of their every day life. At this point, Clover asked as to why he left there, if he had friends and lived with them for so long. The unicorn paused at this question and finally just said that he rather not speak of that and that it involved a terrible accident.

'Did... Did you create a spell that backfired somehow?' asked Clover carefully.

'No. That would make things a lot more simpler.' Oakleaf shook his head. 'The accident wasn’t anypony’s fault really and beyond my life it changed little among the Kiang. It’s not too important beyond that it made me leave them. It was also the reason why wanting to come home to Equestria sparked up in me again.'

Not wanting to elaborate further, the teal unicorn went on to mention a few other societies he met later as he started his great journey, searching for Equestria. He made brief description of the way a noble people known as “Wapiti” lived, describing them as deeply spiritual and making their home inside or around great trees. He went on to list a few other more tribal groups such as the Onager and Okapi.

Eventually he admitted to meeting a single group of ponies, completely separate of Equestria and the surrounding nations.

'They called themselves the Takhi. They weren’t exactly like us, but were very close. They were exclusively Earth Ponies and had a very long, well documented history despite being very few in numbers compared to Equestria. They claimed to never age, which though could sound unbelievable was supported the extremely few foals among them. They claimed they were blessed with this immortality by a formless spirit called Nikol who was the guardian of a great valley. The “Prze Walsk”.'

'And they were truly immortal?' asked Clover with disbelief, her paper nearly full with notes.

'Ehm...' Oakleaf stopped to think for a moment. 'I don’t know for sure. I suppose it may be possible but I didn’t spend so much time with them. What was interesting and inspiring at the same time was how... I did say they were all Earth Ponies? So despite that their life wasn’t free of magic! They somehow managed to tap into their inner magic and use it for simple things like curing diseases that would be impossible with simple herbs and remedies.'

'That can’t be.' Clover raised her eyebrows. A unicorn tapping into another pony’s magic to help her use it was one thing. She could sort of see how that works. But an Earth Ponies using magic on their own? That is just impossible.

'Well it was so. I studied it for the short time I’ve been with them. It was what gave me the idea for the process that allowed me to help you enchant that pen just now.'

Clover was always proud of her insight into magic, despite her born-with handicap. She knew the works of many theologians and it was without a doubt proven on many occasion that without the alicorn - the material that unicorn horns are made off - the willful control of magical energies is impossible.

'I think I know what you’re thinking.' noted Oakleaf. 'I’ve read studies form Equestria. I too know how much proof there is against exactly this. Problem is that all proof works with unicorn magic and its control by our will. They didn’t do that at all. In fact you are not willing that pen to levitate in the air right now, are you? You don’t need to concentrate for it to be there. It just is because why wouldn’t it be?'

Clover looked on the pen to which it fell to the table with a slight pinging sound.

'I suspected as much.' Oakleaf chuckles a bit under his breath, to which Clover started to feel a bit angry. Why would he laugh at her? 'Don’t take me wrong, Miss Cover. But that was to be expected.'

'So is the spell broken now?' she asked.

'Hardly. It’s just... This is hard to explain.' started the stallion. 'Take your head for example. Why is it in such an upright position?'

'Because I hold it so?'

'Oh no!' the stallion was smiling fully again. He obviously enjoyed talking about this. 'You don’t concentrate every moment for it to be that way! Same thing when you blink or walk, you don’t willfully make every step. You simply go. It is all something that comes from the inside! But maybe this is not the best example... I’m sure you at least once felt in your life that you need to wake up but instead of getting up you just imagined the process of getting up without actually moving.'

'You mean the pen is in Sleep Paralysis?' the mare bent back and crossed her hooves.

'Pseudo Paralysis! The only reason the pen doesn’t move is because you imagine there should be a step before it does. There isn’t however. You just make it write the way you make your hooves move! You don’t control every muscle separately, you just ‘move’! Just try and write something on the paper again!

Clover gave the unicorn another stare with raised eyebrows. By now she imagined that his maybe some sort of elaborate trick the unicorn is pulling on her. Who knows? He could have just taken wild guesses at what she would write on the paper, since he was the one the notes were taken of anyway. As for ‘Trickery’ well that was truly on her mind but not something that couldn’t have been guessed.

She looked at the pen which rested on the table and concentrated on lifting it. She imagined it as a fifth hoof and tried to move it but it didn’t do anything still. After about half a minute of trying she looked back at the unicorn in disappointment. Oakleaf just smiled and with a quick movement of his eyes made her look back on the pen. It lifted as soon as she took her eyes off it and was busy writing “This is all a bunch of-”. She stopped the pen before the inappropriate word.

Hold on... she stopped it! She definitely felt it as she stopped it, just at that moment! That couldn’t have been lucky timing, she just knew she was the one who stopped the pen from writing the last word. That means the pen is really controlled by her, but then can it mean that the unicorn is telling the truth? That there really is a group of Earth Ponies out there who use magic on their own? Could they also grant themselves immortality with that magic? This is just too much to take in.

'As you can see, it’s still working! You just had to stumble across the right key to make it work. Same thing applies for the Takhi, they train with mystical rituals to be able to tap into their inner magic and help themselves.' he paused. 'Well they don’t really do anything fancy though. Definitely nothing like using a pen like this. Mostly just... Well curing and fortifying their endurance. Still pretty impressive.'

'Yes... Impressive.' Clover looked at the pen again which this time didn’t fall to the desk just calmly swam around in the air above the paper.

She just noticed that the Café is awfully quiet compared to the usual noise. Not that it would be too loud usually but clearly everypony was keeping their voice down. Looking around, she saw that nopony was exactly ‘watching’ them but she managed to catch a few brief glimpses from the quietly conversing crowd. The mare never felt this awkward in the Soleil before, still it was understandable.

Trying to distract herself from the crowd, she continued:

'You seem awfully tranquil, for somepony who is personally summoned by the Council, by the Princess’s request no less! Usually they only grant hearings upon request but your case is very different.'

'I suppose.' nodded Oak sitting back in the chair, his face taking on a more serious look. 'However as little as I want to sound boastful, this turn of events is only natural.' He looked off for a bit, noting the few ponies that were evesdroping on them, then turned back and continued: 'I was hoping I can avoid any parading around like this, I really was. Still, looking back it was a silly hope. Somepony of my background would have to be inspected, not to mention my spells. Still I was quite surprised how it went as high as the Princess herself.'

'You’re saying you were hoping your spells won’t come under their eyes?' Clover didn’t like the sound of that statement. It was highly illegal to use spells that weren’t checked and allowed by officials, trying to avoid these authorities was perhaps equally bad.

'I know how it sounds. Believe me, I know. But I wasn’t afraid for the spells failing some sort of safety test or anything. I know my way around magic. I know they are harmless... In the direct approach.'

' “The direct approach”? What...' started the mare but was interrupted by another stallion’s cheerful greetings.

'Ah there you are! I was looking all over for you!' said a unicorn with dark, pale blue mane and an even paler thistle coloured coat, wearing a not exactly fancy but elegant suit. His light, cyan eyes shined with joy as he approached their table. 'Should have known you would be here.'

'Oh, I thought you’d be with your father Cres.' smiled at him Clover a bit surprised. The new stallion walked up to them and gave a small kiss on side of her muzzle.

'Saw Scarlet earlier, she didn’t look too happy.' he said with a slightly disapproving smile. Then turned to the other unicorn. 'Forgive my manners for not greeting you first. My name is Cresent Glare.' Cres reached his right hoof out to Oakleaf who smiled politely and shook it with his own.

'Oakleaf.' the teal stallion said simply.

'Pleasure to meet you.' the other nodded.

'He’s my fiance.' noted Clover, the appearance of the stallion quickly soothed her initial shock at the mage’s abilities and actions.

'I’ve carried that title with pride for two years now.' Cres added towards Oakleaf, stretching his neck and slightly tilting his head upwards, closing his eyes for a prideful expression.

'You’re the one who insists on holding our wedding at Astrum’s Aurora.' she pinched at him verbally but smiling in a Clover of course referred to the legendary phenomenon, that (as the story goes) helped earn Star Swirl the Bearded his mark. A magnificent supernal event that happens roughly around every hundred years or so when an exceptional star - Astrum Aether - ascends in the night sky and supposedly "breathes life and magic" into everything and everypony who is pure in an amazing explosion of colourful lights that spread across the horizon. After this, the star dims to a point where only an astronomer could recognize it and slowly makes its way across the sky and disappears completely until the next Astrum’s Aurora.

'But that is three more years from now, no?' asked Oakleaf.

'It’s worth it.' Cres said simply, smiling at his fiancee. 'And it was her idea originally! Don’t deny it! She loves being called ‘Miss’ too I think.' he chuckled a bit. 'I’m sorry for interrupting your conversation though. I was just hoping I could find you after dad sent me off. Some council business came up apparently.'

'Well uh...' Clover started, unsure if she should tell him who Oakleaf really is or not. She turned questioningly towards the teal unicorn, who after a few seconds of interpretation just sat forward and gestured to toward Cres with an approving nod. 'Well I think you managed to run into that council business.' smiled Clover at Crescent Glare, then turned back to Oakleaf.

'Wait, you mean?' Cres looked at the stallion then back at the mare. 'Shouldn’t you be with the Council? I don’t...'

'The Council, no doubt are busy enough examining a book a of mine right now.' said Oakleaf. 'I wrote a set of spells that apparently they found very interesting.'

'I already questioned him today.' added Clover. 'I can explain most of it later if you like. But...' she stopped and looked at the pen which still hung in the air, ready for her every wish. 'Guess what I did today?' she asked on a sudden whim. She just couldn’t hold back this from him.

'Uh?' Cres looked at her uncertainly. It seemed he logically attributed the floating pen to the fellow unicorn and didn’t even look at it. Clover smiled mischievously and flew metal pen with its non-writing end into a certain point on Cres’s neck that she knew to be very ticklish for him.

Crescent Glare twitched then stepped back, turning angrily at Oakleaf: 'What do you think you’re doing?!' Clover started giggling to which Cres became even more confused. Obviously he by now made the contact with the point on his neck and the strike but didn’t know what to make of it. Did his fiance tell this stranger about his weak-point? What sense would that make?

'What she’s trying to say here, is that she’s flying that pen.' noted Oakleaf, who though didn’t visualize it too much seemed to enjoy watching this little scene, despite how inappropriate it was both in the situation and in the location wise.

Cres didn’t want to believe it at first but then Clover quickly explained to him the pen. The unicorn tried to argue but his mouth just stopped while opening it and hung there. Clover knew Cres aspired to once be a part of the Council that his father is seated in right now and his expression perfectly matched most of the Council’s, when the Princess shown them the tome this teal stallion wrote.

Meanwhile Oakleaf waited patiently, silently watching the two of them. He exchanged a few nods with the dumbstruck stallion who switched between him and Clover, but didn’t say anything. As Cres slowly started give in, Oak’s attention wandered of to the neighbouring tables again, but soon turned back to his company with an uncomfortable sigh.

Clover picked up on this and quickly turned to him:

'I hardly shown you any of Canterlot so far. Would you like to move on?' While saying this, she worked her purse out of the reticule.

'Yes that would be preferable.' nodded Oak taking another look around.

Cres took the liberty to wave for a waiter before asking: 'Mind if I tag along? This is just amazing and my plans for the rest of the day just went out the window anyway.'

Oakleaf didn’t protest against the suggestion and soon after the waiter took Clover’s bits the three were walking down Caelum Avenue the teal stallion trying to explain the ‘how’ of the spell that allowed Clover to control the pen which was not safely put away in her reticule.

'I think the problem you have with grasping it is its simplicity itself.' said Oakleaf, still smiling after about the fifth claim of impossibility on Cres’s part who listed magical theologians’ counter proofs to the pen’s existence. Clover had just a little trouble keeping on with the unicorns but she didn’t share his fiance’s feelings that suggested that he’s taking this pen as something that by all laws of reality: should not exists right now. 'This isn’t a “spell” in the sense that you don’t really do anything for most part of it. This places it out of the jurisdiction of any of the theories you listed. In fact it doesn’t even use unicorn magic which is the very basis of all official magical practices. You just open your horn to the will of somepony else. If you really want to know more about it, I suppose I can explain to you sometime but I’m really getting tired of speaking of spells.' Oakleaf paused, giving a moment for the fellow unicorn to oppose the change of subject that he’s about to bring, but Cresent Glare just looked ahead, thinking. 'Anyway, I do think we both been neglecting Miss Cover. Especially since we didn’t quite finish our talk earlier.'

'Hm?' Half of Clover’s mind drifted off earlier and she was already considering the possible underlying messages if applying the ability to share magic in a romantic story. If the unicorn’s spell would become common knowledge, she could easily write a best seller off the concept.

'I just remembered that we left off with the interview on a low note.' explained Oak. 'You seemed to believe I was planning to do something nefarious with my knowledge. I don’t want it to end on such a low note.'

'Oh yes.' Clover remembered. 'You said you hoped that you don’t gather this much attention.' She still found this questionable, but the way how the stallion brought it up himself and in good spirits non the less; soothed her suspicion.

'Yes and what I wanted to say is that the reason behind this is that not everypony is like Mr Glare here. - he nodded at the stallion with a smile, but took on a more serious expression after: 'While you two seem to enjoy the premise of this spell an I imagine would be open to the rest, I doubt everypony will be like that.'

'I don’t understand what you mean.' interrupted Cres. 'This single spell you talked about is astounding! There is no way they wouldn’t want to see and learn more of these techniques.'

' “They”.' repeated Oakleaf turned his head forward. He paused for a moment then added: 'Follow me.'

The two others were surprised by this but before they could say anything, Oakleaf already walked off to a corner. They followed him to the street that opened there and after a few steps off the main avenue and visibly out of earshot, Oakleaf continued:

'Surely the Council will applaud this.' he said keeping his voice down. 'They live to see new possibilities they can explore. But I tell you right now, the Council won’t be the only side representing itself during my hearing. I could promise that there will be atleast one Pegasus representative there.'

Clover and Cres exchanged a confused look, they werent’s sure what to make of this at all.

'Did the Princess write to you about this?' asked Clover, without keeping her voice down.

'Why would a Pegasus even be interested in this?' added Cres.

'It should be obvious but fine:' he continued, still not raising his voice. 'Right now, everything is just the same as it was in the times before Equestria. The earth ponies still do most of the agricultural work, the pegasi still control the weather and the unicorns still provide the other two with magical services.' Oakleaf started. 'It’s only natural. Fact is, their own magical abilities lead the three races to their respective vocations. There are many deviations from this these days and in fact everypony is accepted for who they are. No arguments there either. But that doesn’t change the fact that cities like Cloudsdale live off of something unique to their race.'

Oakleaf paused for a moment to see if the two were following him.

'Now the problem is that I lacked the luxury of living in a land where everything is running smoothly. Fact is, most of the world runs itself. Weather, plant growth, everything. Because of this I was forced to experiment with ways to replicate skills like the pegasus’s weather control or even the rarely spoken-of connection that earth ponies share with nature. Naturally I failed at replicating them fully, but I came way too close for somepony to not get the wrong impression. That maybe I could have succeeded.'

'How do you mean "you could not have succeeded"?' asked Clover.

'I’m meaning that it is impossible for a unicorn to replicate pegasus magic. I can do something similar but it is impossible to replicate it in its full glory. Same goes with earth ponies. The essence of these magics is different. Problem is that if somepony looks at these spells they may think it is possible because before I managed to create the spell that allowed you to tap into my control of magic, no pony had any idea how exactly non-unicorn magic works. They have no means of proving that it is impossible, therefore they will think it is possible. Which...' Oakleaf shook his head. 'Why is this so hard to explain? The main problem here is this: If they think I can replicate their abilities, they’ll think I can replace them. If I could, it would mean the end of cities like Cloudsdale.'

'So you didn’t want to let them see your work because you were afraid they would wish to destroy it, so it won’t endanger the economy?' asked Cres.

'That too but it’s not the issue here. I never wanted my spells to have the opportunity to reach mainstream use. Even if they aren’t too powerful in this sense, used in mass they can still be devastating.' Oakleaf paused. 'I... I just wanted to give my help where it was needed and now I may end up starting an argument that will go on for years.'

Silence came. Not the awkward kind of silence but a more thoughtful silence. Clover had a hard time understanding the argument at first, but the more she thought about it the more sense it made. It’s only natural to fear being replaced and the possibility to also lose one’s job? Anypony would try to oppose such a thing and they should!

Normally Clover did not care much for politics, especially since it was mostly for ponies that insisted that despite the just and considerate rule of the princesses, there should be more power in the hooves of the common pony, simply because they don’t like the idea that there is somepony with more power over them. Even thought that those ponies put nothing before their happiness. Now however she had to think. Maybe there is a balance here, a balance that can easily be thrown out of order.

A cold shiver run over her back suddenly, something that didn’t happen to her for nearly twenty years, since she sent her third novel to a publisher, fearing that they might find it terrible.

'There.' sighed Oakleaf. 'This is why I didn’t want everything to go in this direction. This is also why I wasn’t all that happy about Miss Sparkle sending my tome here. I wanted you to know so you can understand why I’m not all that excited about all of this and you won’t think I was just planing something sinister, as you seemed to do earlier.' he explained then took one last pause and forced a reassuring smile on his muzzle. 'Still, the same travels blessed me with what I hope to be a decent diplomatic sense so there is no reason to take these fears too much to heart.'

Here, Oakleaf straightened up and loosened his voice, returning to his normal speaking voice. A slight gleam of teal light around his clothes quickly corrected dents in his suit.

'Now, if you don’t mind,' he continued. 'I’d like to view the sights of the finest city of my homeland. The famous Soleil Café just earlier served only to increase my int...' suddenly both his facial an vocal expression changed. The forced, supportive smile gave place to an honest, open happiness that seemed to come from nowhere. He even seemed to hold back a laugh as he continued: 'The Canterlot Theatre! Seat of the arts and magical illusions! I need to see that! Did that magician you mentioned, “The Great and Powerful Trixie” as you called, make a performance there?'

'Oh... I’m not sure.' replied Clover exchanging another view with her fiance.

She had no idea what changed the wizard’s mood all of a sudden. The phantom he painted just a minute ago, about his spells possibly destabilizing Equestria seemed distant yet surprisingly vivid. it was as if he pulled a blanket off a shining light that stood in the corner of her mind for years now. And then in the face of such danger the thought of the Theatre suddenly changed his mood this easily?

There was a lot more to this, she felt it. She wrote books about these subtle mood changes for heaven’s sake!... Yet, maybe because she selfishly wanted to move on to merrier thoughts, or because of the honest and calming joy on the teal stallion’s face or just the fact that she would have loved to spend the day with Cres by her side for a change; she decided to not push the topic.

After exchanging a few words with Cres, asking him to join them on a tour of the city and convincing him to leave boggling over the situation to another day; Clover took the lead once more, leading the two stallions back on Caelum Avenue and the off towards the Great Canterlot Theatre.

They’ve soon settled on a new discussion, brought on by Oakleaf about the history of Canterlot. They slowly toured through the city, visiting every major sight there is to see. Some time later, Cres attempted to return to the topic of magic, but Clover quickly quieted him down about it.

The two of them were frankly surprised about the amount of historical data Oakleaf could list out about various places, often outweighing their own knowledge! What absolutely astounded Clover was when Oakleaf managed to name all of the founders of the Canterlot Royal Library and name three of the four major disasters that occurred to it due to miss use of magic through the ages. The only one he didn’t know of happend only a hundred years ago and he defended that none of the books he had access too had mention of it.

In a strange way it made sense. While the Clover and Cres lived in Canterlot all their lives, they didn’t find it a very special place. They didn’t learn more than what was common knowledge while this stallion seemed to put a lot of effort into reconnecting with his home by reading and learning what ever there was to know about it.

By the end of the day, it was had to decide who learned more from who during the tour but Oakleaf thanked them dearly for their company. Before he bid farewell to them he stopped for a while to think and said this:

'I have a feeling that neither of you would mind the opportunity to take part in my hearing tomorrow.' Naturally Cres verified this claim instantly. Clover just listened. 'I was thinking that well, for all they know I’m but a poor wanderer from who knows where, which come to think of it is entirely correct! So why would they deny me the comfort of bringing along familiar faces to such a frighteningly prestigious event? I might be able to get you in if you wish. It’s the least I can do after the hospitality you’ve shown!'

Clover was unsure if she really wanted to take part in all of this, but she knew Cres couldn’t pass down a opportunity like this. Despite their close standing with the council this was still perhaps a once in a life time occasion made all the more interesting by the circumstances. Naturally the only thing to do was accept the unsure invitation.

Oakleaf just smiled and bowed to them as a good bye.

'Do you have a bad feeling about all of this?' asked Clover from Cres when they were slowly walking away from the Castle.

'A bad feeling? What with all the rubbish about pegasi coming to interfere with everything?' asked Cres back, coming a bit closer to her and nuzzling her ear. 'Don’t worry about it. Even if he’s right, IF this is that important; the Princess will surely make an appearance. And she won’t allow any rivalry to break out. She didn’t run Equestria by luck and no matter what he thinks, I doubt it would be that easy to upset somepony.'

'Well he really doesn’t know anything about us beyond what was written.' nodded Clover.

'Exactly. The way I feel right now, is that tomorrow’s going to be an interesting day and I’m looking forward to it. In fact, I was thinking perhaps only a small dinner home and a mug of tea, before calling it a night.'

'That sounds nice, what flavour tea did you have in mind?' Clover raised her head and looked into the stallion’s cyan eyes, with a meaningful smile.

'Oh you know me, I just love morning glory. But I’ve got a secret passion for sweet clover.' Cres replied, mirroring her expression.

'You speak my language.' she said, resting her head against the stallion’s neck.

'I love you too Sweets.' Cres said simply giving a small peck on the mare’s head. Then a few yards later added: 'But you do realize that now you have that fancy pen you’ll have to write half of the seasonal greeting cards right?'

Clover kicked him gently on the shoulder to which he just laughed as they continued their way back home.