Us and Them

Chapter 5

An Enlightening Talk

When I woke up inside the next morning, I thought for a moment that all I had just lived through had just been a very long, vivid dream. “Mmm... that was nice. I’d like to have more dreams like that.” I muttered groggily to myself as I slowly began waking up.

“Ooh! What did you dream about?!?!?” Well that voice woke me up pretty dang quick. The reasons were as follows:

1: The “voice” happened to be just short of a scream, and originated dangerously close to my ears.

2: The “voice” belonged to a character from the “dream” I had supposedly just woken up from.

“Oh. Sorry. Did I scare you?” Lyrica stood in front of me now. Welp. That certainly wasn’t a dream, then. “I was scared when I woke up. I didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t know what was going on, and there was this purple dragon, and I, and I... I was scared.” She looked close to tears. Jeez, this pony was a crybaby on the inside.

“Sorry, we didn’t have anywhere to stay for the night, so I took you to Twilight’s to spend the night. That purple dragon you saw is named Spike. Don’t worry about him, he’s nice.”

“We already told her that, but I’m sure Spike doesn’t mind the compliment.” Twilight’s voice came from behind me. As if she knew that I would be waking up that very moment, she was carrying breakfast. We sat down to eat, Spike joining us, but electing to have a jeweled snack rather than eat our breakfast hay.

Hay tastes... dry. I had a daffodil and daisy sandwich earlier, but this was entirely different. Hay, unlike the sandwich, is just... hay. It tastes like dry grass, no hidden surprises. Maybe I’d stop by the kitchen later to make something... flavored. For now, I politely said I was still full after the party, and didn’t eat much.

“So you said you wanted to ask a favor from me at the party last night.” Twilight began.

Before I could respond, Spike interjected. “Oh yeah, you’re the pony who came here looking for Twilight yesterday.”

“Right, um, do you have any plans for today?” I asked. I didn't want to dwell on that encounter, for fear that Twilight think any worse of me than I already had. Let me tell you, my track record around town at that point was less than stellar.

“Well, I sent off my weekly letter to Celestia last night, so I can spend all day with you if you need. Why?”

“Well, I have a... a few things I’d like to discuss with you, and I feel like it’ll take most of the day. I wouldn’t want to pull you away from any other plans you have.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s fine. I can always make time for a friend.” Yep, I am officially friends with Twilight Sparkle. I resisted the urge to squeal with sheer joy and continued.

“Well, let’s find something for Lyrica to do, I’d rather it just be the two of us for the talk.”

As if the Royal Sisters themselves were smiling down upon me, I heard a mix of laughing and arguing characteristic of a certain group of fillies outside. Lyrica jumped out of her seat, flew (literally flew, she did it without touching the floor. I don’t know how she did it.) to a window,  looked out, and then dashed outside. The entire movement took about three seconds, which was also the time it took for her to yell “OMIGOSH! Is that the Cutie Mark Crusaders?!”

“Well that was... convenient.” I said after being shell-shocked for a few seconds.

“Spike, why don’t you clean up. I’ll take Historia into my room. Let me know if you need anything.” We walked to her room, and sat (technically, we were lying) on the bed upstairs.

“So what do you want to tell me?” She asked. She was smiling gently. She really wanted to help. I thought of where to begin.

“Well, there are a few things, actually. First off, um... could you teach me how to use magic?” She tried to hold back, but even the tallest dam can’t hold back a wave the size of Mount Everest. She laughed. She laughed hard. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone laugh as hard ever before.

After a few minutes (yeah, it lasted minutes. Imagine how it made me feel) she calmed down enough to ask “Really? That’s what you wanted to ask me?”

“Look, I was one of the four who woke up knowing just about nothing yesterday. Except I did know some things. More on that later, though.” I said with a wave of my hoof. “Either way, I don’t really remember anything about being a pony, including how to use magic.”

She made the connection, and instantly began apologizing. “Oh right, I’m so sorry, I forgot. You seemed like you knew so much, I figured you would at least know how to use magic.”

“It’s alright, I do put up a facade, I suppose.”

“Well let’s start with the basics. Magic is all around us. When we cast spells, we don’t create magic, we just focus it and then manipulate it. So let’s start by finding magic. I’m going to focus magic in the air on one side of you. Try to feel where the magic energy concentration is higher, and then hold up your hoof on the side where the concentration is higher.”

“Alright, let’s give it a shot.”

She began to focus the magic. Remarkably, when I closed my eyes to focus, I could see and feel a sort of... energy on my right side. It felt like there was a cloud of electricity in the air, just hovering. I held up my right hoof, remembering the directions.

“Good, now I’m going to turn it down bit by bit, until you can detect normal magic levels.”

She kept lowering it. Every time I correctly found the concentration of magic.

“Wow, you’re a natural. The last time somepony did as well as you was... well, when I was going through this. Now, can you feel magic all around you?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Now try to focus the magic energy inside your body into your horn. It’ll act like a magic magnet, drawing magic from the air automatically.”

I tried what she told me. I just tried focusing on my horn. Nada. I focused on the magic around me, and then focused on myself. I could feel that electrical sensation I felt in the air when I was sensing magic coursing through my body. I did something I can only describe as “reaching out” to grab the magic energy. Imagine an invisible comb brushing the energy, bringing it along as it goes. I moved the magic through my body, slowly working it towards my horn.

When I reached it, I felt the magic in the air automatically being drawn to my horn. I felt the magic levels increasing and increasing. Twilight broke my concentration to stop the process.

“Woah, there. That’s good.” My concentration lost, the magic dulled down.

“How did I do?”

“You’re definitely a natural. I haven’t seen many ponies with that much raw power. Now you just need better control. When you focus the magic, instead of keeping the magic in your horn, focus the magic around an object like-” She looked around, looking for something I could levitate. She found an old doll (I recognized it as a Smartypants. Thankfully her enchantment wore off long ago), and decided to use that. “Like this. Focus the magic around this, and then you can use the same techniques you used to focus the magic into your horn to levitate it. Make sense?”

“I think so.” I did as she said, focusing the magic in my horn was easy. As I felt the energy building, I switched my focus onto the doll. As I stared intently at it, focusing on the magic surrounding it, I saw a soft lavender aura- the same color as my coat- begin to form around it. I began to “drag” the magic around it up, and it took the doll with it. Happy to see it working, I started to send the doll flying back and forth across the room. I set it back down on the bed before saying “I think I’ve got the hang of it now.”

“Wow. You’re a fast learner. I think that’s pretty much all I can teach for now.”

“What about your other spells? I know you know at least 25.”

“Each spell is different. Just try to imagine what you want to have happen, and focus the magic where you want it to go. That’s the basics of any spell. Some will require more magic to be focused in your horn, or more concentration on what you’re doing, but the basics are about all you need to know.”

“Thanks a bunch. Now then, I have something very serious to discuss with you. It’s about who I am, who the other three are, and our stories. Let’s start off with this: What do you know about us?”

“Well, I know your names and your skills. Other than that, I don’t know much. I’m pretty sure nopony knows much about you four.”

“And I think I know why. I think that the four of us aren’t actually from Equestria.”

“What? Do you mean that you come from a land beyond Equestria? I know a zebra named Zecora  who comes from a land beyond Equestria.”

“No, I come from another planet, or existence, or... something. I come from a place called Earth.”

“What... or Where, is ‘Earth?’”

“Earth is a planet, not unlike the one you’re on now. But instead of ponies like there are here, there’s another race called ‘humans’ that live on Earth. I was a ‘human’ before I woke up in Equestria yesterday.”

“What in Equestria are you talking about?”

“Well, more like what on Earth, because I, as well as my three friends, are originally humans. Or at least, I think so. Either way, I have memories from when I was a human, and the three ponies who came at the same time as me all seem strangely similar to three of my friends from Earth. The only thing that bugs me is that I’m the only one that can remember anything from back then.”

“I... I’m not sure if I believe you.”

“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t. I know it sounds kind of weird, but it’s the truth. If you want proof, ask me anything you want about humans or Earth.”

“What do humans look like?” I joked about her taking notes the night before. Now she really did pull up a quill, inkwell and some parchment, and waited for a response.

“Hmm... Well, actually, let me try something.” I took a quill and inkwell from the desk below (she always had several on her desk, all neat and tidy) and a parchment from her stack, and set them in front of myself. I almost surprised myself with how easily I managed to levitate three things at once. I dipped the quill into the ink, and began drawing.

Now, I am a fair artist. Not amazing, I’m no Van Gogh, but I could knock out a drawing in ten minutes or less, and it would at least resemble whatever I was trying to make. I started to draw what a human looked like. Drawing with a quill using magic was very different from drawing with a pencil using my hand. My drawing didn’t come out perfectly, but I was close enough to say out loud, “Yep, that’s about right.” I instinctively signed my human initials, and floated the parchment to Twilight.

“Wow. Humans look... silly.”

“Yeah, well, if you asked the average human, they’d probably say ponies look pretty silly too. We walk on two legs, use our front legs- which we call arms- for manipulating objects, and at the end of those arms, we have hands that we can use to grab things very well.”

“Okay, but what does ‘Earth’ look like?”

“Well, it’s tough to say. Parts of it look like Ponyville, some of it looks like Appaloosa, there’s all kinds of environments on Earth. The thing is though, humans can’t control anything like ponies can. We can’t control weather or things like that. It works a lot like the Everfree Forest, to put it in terms you can understand.”

“Hmm... I think I see what you mean. What kind of magic can humans use?”

“Humans never learned to tap into magic, I suppose. We can’t use magic, so we rely on our size, strength, and brains to do things.”

“Hmm... for something that doesn’t make any sense, you’re explaining this pretty easily. So either you’re telling the truth-” My eyes lit up and my mouth curled into a smile. She believed me! She actually believed me! “Or you’re completely insane.” Or maybe not.

“Look. I’m telling you the truth, but if you have your doubts, I know of a pony who would definitely know the truth behind this situation. Somepony you know very well.”

“Applejack?”

“Somepony who’s taught you countless lessons.”

“Rarity?”

“You’ve known her for a long time...” I was starting to get a little annoyed. I thought she was smart.

“Fluttershy?”

“No, I’m talking about Princess Celestia!” I facehoofed. How could she not have gotten that sooner?

“Oh, that makes a lot more sense.”

“Right, so here’s what I’d like to ask you. Being her faithful student, could you arrange an audience with her for us when we go to Canterlot?”

“Only on one condition. I need to be there to see what happens, if it turns out you’re not as insane as you sound.”

“I promise you I’m not.” I then remembered something I could use to lighten up the mood, as well as get Twilight on my side. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I drew a laugh out of her, and with that I said goodbye.

“Oh, Twilight, if you don’t mind? Could you not tell anypony else? I think I want to wait to let them know.”

“Alright. Whatever you want. Now go have fun, crazy pony.” She joked. At least, I hope she was joking. Jeez, I just can’t catch a break here.