Advent of Victory

The day flew by without much happening. The ponies continued to pull the carts along the road as I took it easy riding in the back with only my thoughts and a sleeping pegasus to keep me company. They did stop once when the stallion that had been lying unconscious in the back of one of the carts finally woke up. He seemed fine though he was still bandaged up and would probably need to be looked at once we got to town.

I spent that night keeping watch as I had the night before. Once again nothing eventful befell our small group of travelers as they slept and I tried once again to figure out how my power worked. The only thing I gained from that venture was a sore rib cage that was still paining me somewhat today. It seemed that whatever was happening internally was continuing to persist, and was actually damaging my insides. I resolved that night to hold off on the magic training until I had a better idea of what this pain in my chest was.

Around noon the next day the town of Rubyton came into view as we crested a hill. From my seat in the back of the cart I was able to get a really good look at the city. It wasn’t actually big enough to be considered a city; it more reminded me of some kind of port town if anything.

Most of the buildings were small houses that looked very much like the houses in Ponyville. Smoke was making its way out of several of the chimneys, giving the whole town a nineteenth century vibe. There was a definite main street that was lined on both sides by an outdoor market and farther down by actual stores. I wasn’t able to actually see from where I looked down on the small town, but I guessed that the large carved out oak tree was some sort of library, which was super original.

Off to the right of Main Street smaller stores lined the roads including a bakery, and what was obviously an inn. We would need to stop there as soon as we got into town. Even farther off of Main Street was the residential area where ponies were walking back and forth to and from work. On the other side of Main Street a few restaurants could be seen, and behind that street was a path that led to the train station.

One of the trains was pulling in just now, and I noted that it didn’t seem to have any ponies pulling it. At least they fixed that before I came here. The train would likely be our way of getting out of town and I would need to check the times before we got settled, who knew maybe we would be able to catch a train to Las Pegasus today.

It took two more hours before we reached the outskirts of town where a couple of guards stopped the caravan to inspect it. I would have thought that any inspections would have taken place at the actual border to Equestria, but apparently since this was the closest city to the border it was good enough, probably a lot less dangerous too.

Everything was going fine until the first of the guards reached the cart that I was lazing in and stopped with a look of shock on his face. Out came the spear that he had been carrying and it somehow found its way to be pointed straight in my face. I sighed and lazily turned to look at the guard who was leveling a weapon at me. The first thing I noticed was his lack of wings or horn, and the asymmetric way he wore his armor.

I was still a little tired from waking up recently, and I wasn’t feeling so great with the constant ache in my chest. The guard that had his pointy phallic polearm positioned in my periphery was obviously very green. The exasperated guard standing behind him shaking her head about ready to facehoof was a dead giveaway.

“What?” I asked in the most bored tone I could muster. Aggression puts people on edge, sadness makes them confused or hesitant, unexplained glee can cause others to be fearful and fearfulness can make others happy, but boredom; boredom shows that you are no threat and they should simply look the other way.

“State your name and purpose,” he commanded, moving the spear a little closer to my nose. I batted the thing out of my face like I might a fly and astonishingly he actually lost his grip. Why were his hooves so sweaty?

“Vixen, entertainment.” I went turned to study my paw like it was the most interesting thing in the world, which at the moment it actually was. I was still amazed that I could actually pick things up with these soft padded appendages, but since ponies were able to pick things up with hooves who was I to complain.

The guard scrambled with his weapon for a moment trying to make sure that it didn’t hit the ground, and after some juggling managed to get it back under control. He put on a scowl that might have actually been scary if it wasn’t on a face almost as young as Deciduous’. How can ponies look scary they are just so darn cute.

“Assaulting a guard of her majesty’s royal service is a punishable offence. I will have you…” Finally the other guard, a white unicorn mare decided that it was about time to step in. Now that I thought about it they both had white coats, I wondered if what they said about the special enchantments that the guards have on their armor was true.

“Quick Fire, that is enough.” She stood before him and forcibly pushed him away with just her icy gaze. I smiled as the stallion backed away from her fury before she turned to me with a smile of her own. “All non-pony species have to pay a tax before coming into the city. It is twenty bits, and I am sure a mare like you can certainly afford it.” She was eyeing my saddlebags suspiciously.

“But I am a pony,” I lied, “ I was cursed by an evil unicorn and forced into a life on the run after my village ran me out.” Sure I had literally thousands of bits with nothing to spend them on, but think of it this way. Would you tell a harmless lie to make a few bucks? I know I would and that was exactly why I turned to it now.

“Well that sounds just terrible, but since you aren’t a pony now that will be twenty bits.” She held out her hoof expectantly which I deposited the required amount of bits into, and only called her a Nazi once. I was very proud of myself for that.

With that little delay out of the way the caravan continued into town uninterrupted, and soon we found ourselves on Main Street. This was the first time that I had seen a pony settlement up close, and I took in everything. The freshly baked goods in some of the stalls made my mouth water with anticipation. The smell of freshly trodden dirt burned at my nose, and the sound of a hundred conversations going on at once bombarded me from all directions.

Feeling no need to really stay with the group now that we had arrived I jumped out of the cart with my saddlebags firmly attached and went to find Deciduous. He of course was pulling one of the carts, and took a while to convince to leave and go with me to the train station. We said our goodbyes and farewells to the group before heading out; hoping that we would be able to get a train to Las Pegasus that day.

When we finally arrived at the single booth that constituted a train station in this insanely small town I hurriedly walked to the pony behind the glass shield and inquired about the departures. “Excuse me miss, can you tell me when the next train to Las Pegasus is arriving and departing?”

She didn’t even bother to look up from the book she was reading as she replied, “Next train arrives and leaves tomorrow at four.”

Damn, it seemed like we were going to have to spend the night in town. At least I would be able to hit up the library while I was here. “Two tickets for that train then please.”

I turned to Deciduous and motioned for him to pay to which he merely gave me a glare. I glared back and eventually the battle of wills was decided with me naturally being the victor. He sighed and went to the booth to pay the mare that still had not bothered to look away from her book. We left the small booth and started our way back into town when I nabbed my ticket from Deciduous, and in doing so caused him to stop.

“Why did you make me pay? You are literally rich right now,” he said a little too loud.

“Will you keep your voice down about that? After paying that racism tax I am not too thrilled about paying for much else, but if you are going to make such a big deal about it then I will pay for our rooms tonight. Does that sound okay to you?”

“Fine,” he replied with a huff. “So where are we going now.”

I stopped and looked around at the small town that was bustling with afternoon commerce. Ponies were milling about everywhere, and those near us would look my way for a moment before turning away out of fear or shyness. I could see the top of the library over the houses, and thought it would be a good place for me to stop. I was also pretty hungry so we would need to get some food soon.

“Why don’t you go and buy us some things to eat while I visit the library,” I said looking back to my companion.

“What do you want to eat,” he asked hesitantly.

“Some pastries would be nice unless they sell some sort of meat here. After you are done with getting our food meet me at the inn.” Without another word I turned and padded away towards the big carved out tree.

I passed several technicolor equines as I approached the store; all of which gave me a wide berth. Was I really so scary? I reached the door of what I had assumed up until this point to be the library and pushed it open without further ado. The inside was actually very different from what I had expected. When walking up to the building I had assumed that it would look exactly like Twilight’s house, but it had a completely different layout.

The bookcases stretched out before me in long neat rows with their subjects displayed proudly from a placard atop each. There was a standard librarians desk near the front that was vacant at the moment, and the entire place smelled of old paper. I took a deep inhale admiring the scent before looking around the abandoned building for somepony that could help me locate what I was looking for.

After ringing the bell at the front desk repeatedly for a few minutes an elderly unicorn mare with her hair in a classic librarian bun came from the rows of books and approached me. Her mane had grayed with age, and the glasses she wore looked to have three different lenses in them. Her gait was short and slow, and as she approached I was able to make out that her cutie mark was a book and inkwell.

She took a long squinted look at me through her glasses before going over to the door and opening it. “Come on a library is no place for a stray dog,” she said motioning me out of the door. Skipping straight past the direct insult that the gesture was I laughed it off, which seemed to catch the mare off guard.

“I am no dog, ma’am.” I leaned against the desk and continued to watch her as she stared back.

She took another very long look at me before finally shutting the door behind her and approaching me. “Can’t say that I’ve ever seen one of whatever you are before. What can I do to help you?”

“There are a few things that I would like today. The first would be the most complete bestiary that you have. As you just said my kind are rare, and I would like to find a book with at least one example of my species in it. Secondly, I would a book on beginner’s magic that teaches both practical application and theory. If I need to get two separate books for that then it is fine.” I looked back to the dozens of rows of books that likely held what I was looking for.

The mare tapped her chin in thought for a few moments before finally looking back to me with a nod. “Sure I can get those for you.” She immediately turned away and wandered back into the maze of bookcases.

I waited where I was for a while content to just be alone with my thoughts, but that quickly grew very boring. The librarian was taking forever, and I was still hungry. Finally, the mare returned with the books I had asked for held in a yellow telekinetic field. She placed the three books in front of me and began to explain them each.

“This is the bestiary that you asked for,” she said motioning to the massive tome. “It is the most current and up to date. It has everything that anypony has ever come across in it if they lived to tell the tale. These two right here,” she continued motioning to the two smaller books, “are intro lesions of the basics of magic. The blue one is theory and the red one is practical application. I don’t know what you would want those for, but it had never been my place to ask why ponies want to check out what they do.”

I reached into my saddlebags and pulled out a few bits to pay for the literature, but she refused any payment. “Just remember to bring them back and it is fine,” she said with a smile.

I smiled back and took the books; giving them a quick once over before placing them in my saddlebags. I was running out of room quickly. “Thank you very much I will remember to do that.” I would probably never come back to this place.

The elderly mare waved to me as I left, and I found myself waving back in return. As the door closed behind me I felt a chill run up my spine. This was going to be my first dishonest act in Equestria. If you discounted the lie I had told to the guard, which I did because I hadn’t gotten away with it. It felt like Equestria itself wanted me to be a good upstanding citizen, and that it was telling me that I should return these books before I left. I shook away the alien feeling and continued onwards towards the inn I had seen coming into town.

It didn’t take long to reach the inn, and ponies continued to avoid me the entire way the same as they had done before. The innkeeper even gave me some guff about not having dangerous animals sleep under his roof, but handing over a few extra bits cooled him down. I didn’t really care about paying some pony ten extra bits when I had thousands tucked away inside my bag.

It seemed that Deciduous hadn’t arrived yet, so I quickly hurried up the stairs to the plain two-bed room I had acquired for us. Tossing my saddlebags to the side I pulled out the bestiary that I had gotten from the library, and began to look through it. The learning of magic could wait a little while; at least until after I figured out what the hell kind of creature I was.