The Guild of Light

I whistled in surprise when I saw the size of the enormous castle Cadance had led us to in a place called Canterlot. The walls looked to be made out of ancient stone that despite its age stood strong with no signs of wearing away anytime soon. The huge stained glass windows were amazingly detailed with several images of six different ponies with magical looking items floating around them. The guards around the doors gave warm smiles to the two women but looked at me with frosty eyes. It was a good job that I could make imposing faces when I wanted to; make several of them quickly move out of my stride with caution in their eyes. Something about the marble hallways of the castle made the back of my head twinge as if something locked away was trying to get out and reveal itself to me. I shook my head and almost knocked my hat off while trying to get the feeling to disappear; it was making me feel twitchy and was kind of pissing me off at the time. Thankfully it went away after a few minutes and we were soon making tracks towards wherever it was we were going, I hadn’t been told where exactly it was we were heading but I wasn’t really that bothered to be honest.

“Alright here we are” Cadance said, stopping us outside two huge oak doors “Now remember to be on your best behaviour while talking to my aunts” I nodded and Cadance pushed the doors open which revealed an enormous hall with tapestries, drapes and fine furniture. I walked in and looked around the room, trying to guess the cost of all of the fineries contained in the space.

“This place looks great” I said. I heard a female chuckle behind me and I turned around to see two women sitting on thrones at the end of the hall.

“Why thank you” the large white alicorn said. It was at this point my mouth and tongue moved without me even willing them to.

“Salutationes Principem Celestia” I said, my mind completely spacing out.

“Super vos tam iuvenes visitator” she responded with a nod “It has been a long time since I have met someone with a grasp of that particular language” It was at this moment something unlocked in my head and I suddenly remembered I spoke fluent Latin. Who would’ve guessed it?

“Tell me” she said, gesturing for me to approach her “How did you learn of this language?” I walked over to her and began to structure my sentence when I was interrupted by a feminine purr.

“Well, well, well” a voice said from off to the side “What have we got here?” With a soft landing sound a red mare appeared from seemingly nowhere. She walked over to me and I managed to get a better look at her. Her hair was a dark red colour with her Cutie Mark being a white dagger with a silver hilt. Her mane was long and combed being styled to cover half of her beautiful face. Her body was sleek and curvy but also toned from what seemed like years of training. She was a few inches taller than I was so she had to lower her head down slightly to look at me in the face. She flashed me a cute smile before tilting her head and biting her lip.

“You’ve shrunk my friend” she stated “And what happened to your wings?”

“I think you must be confusing me with someone else” I said, my face covered in confusion. It was at this point that she suddenly moved her head forward and kissed me passionately. My instincts kicked in and I kissed back using my tongue to great effect. She tasted like ripe cherries in the summertime, a great taste in my opinion. She broke away from me and giggled.

“No, I’m certain it’s you” she said “You’re not the kind of person I’d want to forget… but why have you forgotten me?”

“I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff recently” I shrugged “I guess you’re one of them” Realization dawned on her face and she nodded knowingly, obviously enlightened to something I wasn’t.

“So you actually went through with it?” she asked “I never thought you would give up so much”

“Give up what?” I asked “What did I do?”

“You even forget about that?” she asked with a whistle “That must’ve been painful”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, starting to lose my temper.

“Have you even finished puberty yet?” she mocked “You seem a little more irritable than usual” I growled angrily and grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air using my arm.

“What do you know about me?” I demanded.

“I promised not to tell anyone” she said with a grin.

“Who did you promise?” I growled, tightening my grip and glowering at her.

“Who do you think?” she asked “You made me promise” With that she winked before disappearing in a flash of red light, making everyone gathered flinch. I was extremely annoyed at this point, having someone who apparently knew everything about who I used to be but was jinxed not to tell me. An angry snarl still plastered my face until I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to wash a calming hoof over the disturbed pool of emotions inside me. As the pool stilled I could feel my anger extinguishing and my calmness regaining a hold over my mind. I opened my eyes once more to see my nose almost rubbing against the chest of the white alicorn. I held my breath to try and not look like a weirdo by sniffing her chest so instead I stepped back quickly.

“Who was that?” she asked, locking eyes with me.

“I have no idea” I shrugged. She suddenly whipped her hoof towards my head but I caught her arm quickly, giving her a questioning look.

“I’m going to examine your mind to see if there’s something you can’t remember” she said “Don’t worry, I won’t pry into something I’m not supposed to”

“Not like I’ve got any secrets to hide anyway” I shrugged letting go of her arm and allowing her to touch me head. She wasn’t lying about not prying into anything secret. But what she conveniently forgot to tell me was that the process was going to hurt. A lot. The mind search was like a sword being rammed into my ear and having it be twisted several times so it was only natural that some kind of defence magic came into effect. The alicorn was blasted back several metres by a red energy field that seemed to be protecting me.

“What…” I panted, my skin still tingling from the after effects of the pain “The fuck was that!?”

“You’ve got some kind of barrier placed around you” she said, getting back to her hooves “That prevents anyone from getting into your mind without causing you and the intruder unimaginable agony, but for the few seconds I was in your mind I could tell that your memories haven’t been blocked off, they’ve been completely erased”

“Erased?” the dark alicorn asked walking over to the white alicorn “Only the most powerful of ponies can wipe someone’s mind like you’re suggesting”

“And if I’m following the correct magical pattern then the one who erased your memory and placed that barrier on you” she said taking a deep breath “Was yourself” At this point my jaw dropped low and confusion spread over my face, my mind whirring around in circles.

“I did this to myself?” I asked in shock “What the hell did I want to forget so bad”

“I can answer that for you” a voice spoke inside my head. This was the point where I was wondering if I was losing my mind… again. I was hearing voices in my head just after I’d learned that I’d wiped my own memory and out up a barrier that could drive me insane with agony if I wanted an answer to the question. Was I some kind of murdering rapist before I wiped my mind?

“Don’t give any hints that I’m talking to you” the voice said quickly “I don’t want that white cow prying through your little head anymore” I looked at my brow and pulled a strange expression that didn’t seem to go unnoticed by the dark alicorn.

“I think one of them knows I’m here” the voice said “Just meet me behind Sugarcube Corner tonight and we can talk” At that point I was probably expecting for this telepath to try and rape me or something but I was a strong guy so I wasn’t really that worried about it. With that the voice disappeared from my mind and I started to feel a little bit better, like that contact had somehow revitalized me. I realized I was still getting still getting dirty looks from the dark alicorn so I decided to confront her about it.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, trying to keep a casual tone “Do you have a crush on me or something?”

“You wish” she scoffed.

“Not really” I chuckled “But seriously why are you staring at me?”

“You were just having a telepathic conversation with someone just a minute ago weren’t you?” she asked.

“Uh, no” I said, shaking my head “I don’t know how to use magic much less be a telepath”

“Wait, you can’t use magic?” the white alicorn asked “Why not?”

“No memories remember?” I asked “I can’t remember how to channel the magical energy”

“That’s pretty pathetic” the dark alicorn chuckled.

“How about I wipe your mind of everything you know how to do except walk, talk and breathe and see how well you get on afterwards?” I asked. Christ this was getting annoying, sitting here arguing with a woman I’ve never even met before and I was getting quite sick of it.

“Go ahead and try” she said, rolling her eyes “I’d destroy you in seconds”

“But there wouldn’t be a contest” I said “I don’t hit women” She shook her head before turning away from me and walking back to the throne she had been sat on earlier.

“If ya’ll don’t mind, ah’d to know where Twilight’s gotten to today” the orange pony said “Wasn’t she s’possed to be with Princess Luna?”

“She went to visit her brother about something several minutes before you arrived” the white alicorn answered “I think she said her parents were coming to visit or something similar”

“Alrighty then, thanks” she nodded before grabbing me by the tail “C’mon then Casanova, we’ve got work to do” I sighed loudly as I was dragged out of the hall backwards by the orange pony and down a flight of stairs.

We arrived at a large house that was built into a tree and from what I’d been told it was also a library. These ponies were weird sometimes you know? Applejack knocked on the door and waited for several seconds before it swung open to reveal a large white unicorn, the same size as me, with a shaggy blue mane. He smiled at Applejack but cast a strange glance. I decided to fuck with him for several minutes so I pointed my hoof out and cried.

“Onward my steed!” to Applejack. The mare rolled her eyes and dragged me inside the house which made the unicorn give me and even weirder look. Applejack spun once and threw me into the air. I flipped over backwards and landed on my hooves before settling down into a sitting position.

“Nice” she nodded.

“All you AJ” I smirked, wiping a hoof on my chest and straightening my hat once more.

“Applejack is that you?” a female voice called from another room.

“Yup!” Applejack answered “C’mere a minute!” After a few seconds a lavender pony walked out of the room wearing a strange looking crown with a purple gem set into it. She placed the crown down on a table and walked over to Applejack smiling happily at her friend. It only just occurred to me that I was getting really thirsty from all the walking I had been doing, so I decided to voice my problem.

“Do you mind if I get a drink?” I asked.

“Sure, I’ll fix us all something” the lavender pony said. She went to walk past me when she seemed to sense something while in proximity to me. She turned to face me and tapped a hoof on her chin.

“Are you wearing some kind of magical artefact?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously before grabbing my hat off my head. My head suddenly felt cold despite my ruffled mane keeping my head warm normally and I missed my hat now. She examined it with a critical eye before she deemed it to be unimportant and placed it awkwardly back on my head. I went cross-eyed as I attempted to look at my hat and she giggled at my stupid face.

“You’ve got a strange aura around you from some kind of ancient magic, something that doesn’t exist anymore” she said “But I can’t tell where it’s coming from”

“Maybe it’s coming from me?” I suggested, taking a wild guess.

“That’s impossible though” she said “The kind of magic I’m detecting died with the Guild Master over three thousand years ago” The mention of the words guild master made me space out slightly, my pupils dilating and my mouth hanging open slightly.

“Are… you Ok?” she asked. I straightened my hat and shook my head before growling angrily.

“I need to go” I said, excusing myself and bolting out of the house, leaving the others far behind. I ran for several minutes, looking at sign posts that would direct me to Sugarcube Corner to find the woman who wanted to meet me there.