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

It’s been a week since she had her breakthrough, since Twilight found a way to enjoy books like the North Wind series. She still felt incredibly stupid for overlooking their value, but it was a new sort of stupid, somehow she found it easy to laugh at herself and find a sort of gladness in it all.

The book club wasn’t coming along exactly as she originally planned, but it was perhaps better this way. While her original thought of sharing deep and thought provoking books didn’t come to pass, the chance to explore a whole new plane of literature and share in it with her closest friends was incredible! Of course Rainbow found a way to wiggle herself out of the whole thing. When she asked her, the pegasus didn’t directly insult her love of books like she often did before - perhaps in light of the unicorn’s recent episode - but it was pretty obvious that she was not going to sit around in the library reading, while she can sit around on clouds and snooze. Twilight didn’t give up on her blue friend yet, but she wasn’t going to force the flier into her own passion.

The breakthrough made her think though, was she always this oblivious? Was she missing out on stories like this all her life? When she looked back, she remembered her mother reading her simple little stories that she just loved when she was a small filly. None of them had any depth, yet she loved them, so she must have had this appreciation one day. In fact just two days ago, her eyes were caught by the sight of a small group of books she was keeping in a corner shelf in her room, a few books she didn’t read in a very long time. They were old copies of little romance and comedic stories written by Clover Cover, who was her favourite author when she was still young.

Strange how memories can just blend in with the backdrop of a pony’s past. She never really forgot about how she used to write a lot of letters to the author, nor the kind words and interesting thoughts and opinions the older mare shared with her through their exchanges, there was simply a gap in her past. Somehow nothing past a mark somewhere four years ago seemed too “real”. There wasn’t any big event that would have happened then, it was simply that beyond that everything was so far away that she could hardly remember.

Why she changed though, was a different matter. She soon realized that she simply started spending more and more time learning magic and had little for anything else. For a single moment, when this realization came to her, Twilight felt terrible; she thought that she made a mistake by concentrating on studies and forsaking the rest of her for it. Only then, a quote ran through her mind, a quote from the most unlikely of places, Clover Cover’s book “Out of the World” and it went like this:

“If not for my mistakes and they were many, if not for what I thought to be terrible luck, if not for the misdirection I faced and all the confusion that fell on me, if not for all of these things together, I would never had a chance to learn to love you.” The line was spoken by a stallion essentially damned himself and a mare to be trapped in a strange mystical place from where there can never be coming back, but the important part, the part that now touched Twilight was that without making mistakes, none of the good that came of it could have happened. In fact neither of the protagonists would have been the same without all the events that came of it. Did it matter what could have happened? No. Should Twilight feel devastated for missing out on one portion of life for the sake of another? Definitely not! Who knows where she’d be now? Maybe she’d be still in Canterlot, maybe she’d have great friends, but it would mean different friends, a different life and she had to admit she was happy the way she was, even with the occasional hardships.

‘Twilight?’ came Spike’s drowsy voice from upstairs, interrupting Twilight’s line of thought.

‘Yes Spike?’ she asked and put down an old copy of “Starmane and Cindercork”. Looking at the stairs, Twilight saw her assistant standing on the top of them, looking down and holding a small scroll.

‘Mail.’ sighed the dragon tiredly, who wasn’t too happy about having to stop his nap, even if the Princess herself wanted to send a letter.

‘The Princess?’ Twilight’s voice mirrored a blend of surprise and confusion. She lifted the scroll gently from the dragon’s hand and flew it to herself. ‘Thank you Spike.’ she nodded towards the dragon, her eyes already locked on the curious seal of the paper, which carried the royal image of Sun and Moon while Celestia always sealed her messages to Twilight with a single Sun.

‘I’m gonna go back and finish my nap.’ yawned Spike and left.

Alone, Twilight looked at the letter curiously, it took her a few seconds to work out who it could possiblycome from and once opening it, the first line seemed to already confirm her suspicion.

Dear Miss Twilight Sparkle!

Please, excuse my haste. I’m writing to you today for two important reasons. First of all, I would like to thank your assistance once again. I can’t stress how much it meant to me to be welcomed like this as soon as I arrived to Equestria and though the fact that you’ve sent my book to the Princess first concerned me regarding my own future, it surprisingly gave me a chance for a normal life, which I couldn’t have imagined before.

Secondly, I will be visiting Ponyville later today, around four o’clock on important business and I was hoping I might speak with you personally on a matter or two. I would ask that if you are available at that time - and would not mind my company - please meet me at your library.

With goodwill and gratitude;
- Oakleaf ‘the Vagrant’ ~ SP

“Um... Okay?” that was all Twilight’s mind reacted on the first turn, she didn’t expect that the teal stallion would ever happen by here again and what “important business” may he have in Ponyville? And why would he want to see her again?

Since the letter he wrote a week ago, she didn’t think of the stallion, though her opinion softened. The unicorn struck her more as a very, very strange eccentric wizard, than a mad pony. The fact that the Princess would reward him has just shown that his spells were actually useful, they were all valid and probably danger free, which made her previous opinion all the less true, and meeting him again, in this new light would have been... Awkward.

In all honesty, Twilight didn’t really have anything planned for the afternoon so not leaving the library was already “the plan”. Though she knew it was early right now, before lunch time even, she checked the clock to place the arrival in her mind, noting that she has six hours to figure out what to make of the ... Or perhaps she can just pick “Starmane and Cindercork” back up and continue reading the story.

Being faced with the option of solving a mystery or enjoying herself, for once she decided to take the more comfortable path and flew the letter off to a desk as a reminder, before returning to the love struck ravings of a fictional farm filly.

‘The door isn’t even closed now.’ sighed Spike after four knocks on the library’s door. While the dragon walked to the door to see who it was, Twilight took a glimpse at the clock which now signaled two minutes before five.

‘I know who it is.’ she said simply and placed a bookmark in chapter two of “The Impossible Adventures of Doctor Whooves 1 - Skin of Metal, Mind of Death”. ‘I’ll let him in, Spike.’

The dragon shrugged and went back to his chair and continued sketching.

‘Good afternoon Mr Oakleaf.’ she greeted the hat wearing teal unicorn in a welcoming tone. Still, the only thing she felt was awkwardness, having no clue on what he may want from her.

‘Same to you Miss Sparkle.’ replied the stallion who seemed to be in an exuberant mood. ‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything important!’

‘Oh, no. I’ve just been reading. Um, come in?’

‘Thank you.’ The stallion stepped in and flew his hat, to the clothes hanger. Looking over her shoulder, the mare noticed that Spike disappeared, probably upstairs. ‘What sort of book would it be, that you read?’

‘Oh, just... A bit of Science Fiction.’ Twilight was a little thrown off by the unexpected small talk. From the sound of the letter she expected something very important to be shared, something that cannot wait, but it seemed that the teal pony had time and she didn’t want to be rude.

‘Science Fiction?’ asked the stallion uncertainly wrinkling his eyebrows. ‘Oh like Master Spring’s works! The Mysterious Valley? Twenty Leagues Above the Highest Mountain? Or, well I suppose the tales of the Airship Semirossia and her Captain Nemine, as well as the other adventurers may not be that popular these days.’

‘You’ve read those stories?’ asked Twilight surprised. It wasn’t that the stories wouldn’t have been well known, in fact they were legendary in their own right, but few ponies actually took their time to actually read them and because of this, they were rarely spoken of.

‘Oh, I’ve read a lot of stories.’ smiled Oakleaf. ‘A lot of old stories. Of course.’ he corrected quickly.

Twilight glanced towards her book, she was looking forward to see how it goes and this pointless chat didn’t help her achieve that. Yet,she owed Oaklead as much as to give him an ear, and really: It was rare to meet someone who read such old books.

‘You were a fan of the Semirossia books?’ she asked putting her mind at ease and allowing the pointless but potentially enjoyable conversation take lead.

‘Sort of. Actually I had a... friend, who loved them.’ the stallion explained. ‘Would always go on and on about how the machines work, extending the descriptions here and there to make me see.’

‘Her people must have been pretty good with engineering if she understood all that.’ Twilight noted, the mention of a good friend sparking a memory from when she last met the stallion.

‘Huh?’ Oakleaf seemed surprised for a moment then hastily explained: ‘Oh, no, no. She was... Special. She learned most of it, um... From my books. Had an amazing talent for it though.’

‘Oh I see.’ nodded the mare. ‘She must have been very smart.’

‘Yes...’ smiled Oakleaf, but then his expression turned more dejected. ‘I think I mentioned her before, I’m not sure if you could remember.’

‘At the party.’ nodded Twilight.

‘Yes. Nice of you to remember. Anyway, that’s one of the things I wanted to ask you, if you don’t mind. You seemed... in sorrow. I’m afraid that I may have been the source of that.’

“No.” is what ran through the mare’s mind. “No.” is what she should have said, or perhaps just what she wanted to say? When a week ago she read the goodbye letter this stallion sent her, she thought - she hoped - that this whole ordeal is finished. Now however, he slowly dragged her guilt back. As much as Twilight wanted to dismiss the topic, she couldn’t - she wouldn’t - lie to him, not again.

‘Partially...’ she admitted, her eyes drifting from Oakleaf to a neighbouring bookshelf. ‘But it was my own stupidity mostly. I was just... I was just terrible for taking your book so harshly and for not telling you that I’d send it to the Princess.’

‘You truly think, that you’ve acted terribly by doing so?’

‘Didn’t I? I lied to you!’ Twilight preserved her statement, her voice in a mix of regret and slight anger. What does the stallion want? Pretend that what she did was good? She made a mistake, she knew she did and she dealt with it! There is no need to try and deny facts.

‘Yes, you did lie. When I found out where my book went, I felt terrible too.’ acknowledged the teal unicorn. ‘As I thought over it however, I realized that you were right to do so. I tried to express this in my letter to you, but I knew that could never be enough.’

‘Why do you insist on making me feel better?’ Twilight looked into the stallion’s mournful eyes. ‘Why can’t you admit that I’ve done wrong and let me deal with it?’ She didn’t mean to be rude, but just couldn’t hold this back anymore. Even the Princess didn’t sweep away the unicorn’s failures, why must this stranger be so obstinate in this?

‘I’m sorry. I’ve unwillingly wronged so many in my life, I’m perhaps a bit too zealous to correct my mistakes.’ said Oakleaf, his eyes dropping down from Twilight’s. ‘I’ve placed you in an impossible position, caused you to justly believe me mad and showing you a book that should never be handled by the mentally ill. What else could you do, but lie? How could you tell I would accept the truth? No Miss Sparkle. The words may have left your mouth, but I was the creator of the lie.’

The stallion looked back into Twilight’s eyes as he finished and for a few moments neither of them spoke. The mare was somewhat surprised to recognize her own reasoning, coming from this mostly stranger unicorn, but though it seemed he wishes to take the guilt upon himself, Twilight didn’t feel she could blame him, perhaps because her friends made her get over it, or simply because he asked for it. Yet her frustration went off somewhere. She didn’t know where that could be, but as the stallion recollected, and justified her cause - which Twilight herself thought to be wrong - she didn’t feel guilt anymore.

Perhaps her facial expressions gave her new found ease of mind away, because the earlier smile returned to Oakleaf’s face and he said:

‘The other things I’ve written have just became more true while I was in Canterlot. I was amazed to learn who you Miss Sparkle truly are. While the continuing cycles of day and night reassured me long ago that Nightmare Moon was dealt with, I couldn’t have imagined that it could have been done by anypony else but Celestia. Knowing that my own saviour is the one who indeed saved Equestria, on multiple occasion as the Princess was proud to recollect to me, was amazing. I’m glad to see that my interference didn’t upset you too gravely.’

‘I don’t really want to be treated differently because of this.’ Twilight noted, but she blushed with a little, secret pride.

‘The other reason why I came to you,’ continued Oakleaf. ‘is a proposal of sorts. I won’t go into too many details, unless you’re interested, but due to your doings the Princess awarded me a great sum of coins in exchange for my spell book which she may use for the good of Equestria. While this feels more like a donation than an actual reward, she allowed me to start a normal life, as I’ve already written and the one thing I had in mind, would become a lot easier if I could employ a talented magician to aid me.’ he explained then added: ‘Only temporarily! I’ve already began searching for a permanent aid, but I thought perhaps I may request your help in beginning my new life.’

‘What exactly is this “new life”?’ the mare asked curiously.

‘It probably sounds silly, but... I’ve mentioned my friend just earlier? Who was quite talented with various mechanical sciences? She left me a collection of different designs, automatons, toys mostly. Small devices of illusion and the sort. I have little doubt that if she ever lived here, she would have opened a shop to sell these and well... I think this is the best thing I can do for her. I’ve also got a few little spells that would both make it easier to make them and would allow me to put my own little twist on them.’

‘Toys?’ asked Twilight indifferently, but as soon as she said the word, image of the insanely complex spell she saw in the spell tome crossed her mind and a dumbfounded expression snuck onto her face.

‘I know.’ The stallion held back a laugh. ‘The Princesses asked that of me first as well. “What would a mage want, making toys?”, but honestly: I’ve made more toys and illusions in my life than I did academic magic. I never really liked to think of myself as a mage.’

‘But all those spells! How could you make so many in so little time, without devoting all your time to them? How could you call this library nothing but a hobby? Few mages ever done this! And now you’d abandon magic completely.’

‘Few mages were allowed to see the ways of many civilizations and few were driven by the want to impress them.’ Oakleaf smiled. ‘I’m also far older than what I apparently look, if you are so shocked by what I’ve done. You didn’t oppose me abandon magic when I mentioned it after we met. I suppose that’s simply a sign of your well placed doubt.’

‘Still...’ Twilight tried to protest.

‘Look, I won’t keep researching magic. I don’t think I could. It’s just...’ Oakleaf stopped and gestured around, wearing a weaker, but persistent smile. ‘I want this. Simplicity. Peace. You have no idea ho-’ the stallion blinked at the lavender mare then laughed. ‘Right, Element of Harmony, vanquisher of dreaded Discord. I’m not sure my point of “I want a simple life like yours.” still works, but I hope you understand what I’m getting at.’

Having had idols like Starswirl The Bearded, Twilight couldn’t imagine what could drive an experienced magician to abandon his trade completely, not to mention his talent being the creation of magic! She knew she had no right to impose anything on him though.

‘I guess I can... See that.’ she noted. ‘It’s just hard to imagine it. Leaving magic behind to make toys.’

‘Well, maybe not so much “behind”. I’ve got a few interesting ideas. In fact, my offer still stands from earlier, and the Princess agreed when I mentioned it to her. Any spell of mine, that she deems “ready” is at your disposal Miss Twilight - as well as everypony else’s - but I still owe you a great deal and perhaps will always, so though I’ll never wish to make a living off magic, I’ll be always happy to assist, granted that the Element of Magic could possibly needs such a service.’

‘Well, uh. Thank you!’ Twilight nodded unsurely. She didn’t feel she would deserve such support from somepony she admittedly lied to. As he came to think of it more deeply, a thought crossed her mind however and she could not believe how she didn’t think of this before.

This unicorn was alone. He came here alone, yet spoke of an old friend and many acquaintances. He looked content and happy - maybe even felt like that - but he came here without his friends. Whatever happened to them, perhaps the reason he’s so kind and open towards her is simply that, he needs somepony, anypony to relate to.

At first a cold ran over Twilight’s back as the thought came to her, being an involuntary anchor to anypony didn’t feel right. Still, she knew what it was to be alone, even if she didn’t realize it at the time. She knew how much a friendly face can mean. It was time for her to be that face and forget about the awkwardness of their past.

‘About the toys, I think I can probably help you out.’ she noted a bit quietly, but somehow with each word, her shoulders felt lighter and her voice became bolder. ‘Yes, actually, I think it would be interesting to see how automatons work!’

‘Magnificent!’ Oakleaf said in a cheerful tone. ‘To be honest, I wouldn’t have been offended if you don’t really want to deal with me again, but thank you, this makes everything so much easier.’

‘Ah nonono.’ Twilight shook her head with a slightly strained but honest smile. ‘As overly cheerful Ponyville may seem at times...’ she started, then paused for a moment. ‘It may be a good thing. We always welcome a friendly face.’

‘Thank you Miss Sparkle.’ Oakleaf said and bowed his head. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ve got a few things to take care of, look up something, a bit of walking about, trying to find certain ponies, that sort of thing. I’ll leave you to your-’

‘I think I can help you find those ponies if you want.’ Twilight interrupted on a sudden initiative. ‘Perhaps you could explain more about what you’ll need of me while we go?’

‘That would be fantastic, though I wanted to give you a little time to read this.’ Oakleaf noted and flew a very large, sharply folded piece of paper to the mare from under his suit. ‘I didn’t want to give it to you earlier because I thought it would be in the wrong light, because of the favor I just asked.’

‘What is this?’ Twilight asked, taking over- and opening the paper. ‘A list?’

Her eyes quickly ran through the paper’s contents, they were books. In fact they could have filled a smaller library! There was everything there from lexicons dating back a hundred years to ancient editions of classics. She even noticed a few rarities among them.

‘I made an offering of my old books, towards the Royal Library. They were treated with the same spell as my spell tome, so it was a simple deed for the princess to bring them to the Palace. Eventually it was suggested that the ones that weren’t considered “lost” before, could be sent to you, if you’d be interested. You do run a library after all.’

‘But this is incredible! Some of these are ancient! How could you have had them?’

‘Honestly? I have no idea.’ shrugged Oakleaf, smiling happily at the mare’s satisfaction.

‘I’ll have to go through this.’ Twilight said. ‘After I helped you find those “certain ponies” I mean.’ she said and placed the paper on a desk.

‘Well, in that case, I could use some directions to...’ Oakleaf flew another, much smaller paper out of his suit and looked at it. ‘A fellow called “Filthy” I mean “Filthy Rich”. He’s supposed to have an empty lot for sale. Strange name to call a foal.’ he noted.

‘I think I know where he’ll be, buuut I don’t think you’ll want to use his first name. At all.’ Twilight replied chuckling slightly at the end.

‘Oh I can see why.’ Oakleaf smiled and drew back his hat from the clothes hanger. ‘If you’d lead the way then Miss Sparkle?’

‘Of course.’ Twilight smiled at the stallion and walked out of the Library.

As unusual the past week was for her, she didn’t care anymore. She had the opportunity to do what her friends did to her, help somepony become a part of Ponyville, the greatest community she ever knew and that was something to be proud of.

‘One more thing,’ Oakleaf said as they started walking. ‘not important just out of curiosity: Do you happen to know anything about a mare called “Trixie” or where she may be found?’

‘Trixie? I didn’t hear of her since she was in Ponyville once.’ Twilight replied in surprise. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Ah nothing. Just something someone said and caught my ear. Nevermind that.’

‘Hm.’ Twilight thought for a moment. ‘Whatever you say...’

End of Book I