//------------------------------// // 3. Explanations // Story: Gifts and Curses // by flamevulture17 //------------------------------// [Chapter 3] Explanations Coming up on high noon and Twilight was getting hungry. She had already skipped breakfast back at the library and was now feeling her mistake. She had been looking through a countless number of books, reading every page carefully and keeping in mind that she had all the time in the world. She was accompanied by Princess Luna who told her to take her time, and Spike was busy napping on a pile of books. As Twilight scanned the pages to hopefully find what they were looking for, Luna fed her as much information as she could to Twilight so she would know what magical keywords to look for while leaving out one crucial piece of info that only Luna knew. She was unsure what to make of it. She thought it be best to only tell if asked about it specifically, not like anypony would know she was keeping something a secret. “Nothing. The information you gave me is a little vague Princess.” Twilight finished the book she was reading and placed it aside. Luna was feeling guilty already. “That is all I know from the incident.” “If you say so.” Twilight felt uneasy speaking to Luna like that. Twilight's stomach growled. She was starving and all this reading was making it worse. She knew that both Princesses were busy, Celestia was probably done resting and Luna needed to stay in the Mysterious Magic wing at the tower. Twilight figured she'd just go into town and get lunch. “I'm so hungry, do you think we can get something to eat?” Twilight had her doubts. “Of course Twilight.” “Thank you Princess.” Twilight smiled. “Do you know the way back to the ballroom?” Luna asked. “I think so.” Twilight started towards the entrance. “Splendid. Don't forget to bring Spike with you.” “Oh yes, I almost forgot.” She walked over to the sleeping purple dragon. “Wake up sleepyhead.” She nudged him on the head. This again led Spike falling off of his resting place, awakening him quickly of his slumber. He crashed down the pile of books and some books followed him, making another mess, though miniscule compared to the rest of the room. “Ow.” “Oops, sorry again Spike.” Spike picked himself up and rubbed his head. “Seriously Twi? You need to work on your wake up calls. I could use something less physical than that.” “My bad.” Twilight giggled this time, catching on to Spike sense of humor. “Come on, we're going to get lunch back in town.” “Finally!” Spike was relieved of the news but then realized that meant they needed to walk all the way back where they came from. Sucking it up for his whims, he followed Twilight, leaving Princess Luna alone in the room. “Does this mean we're done?” “Not even close.” - - - “Where are you going?” … “I was not expecting you to head off so sudden, Lyra.” The mint-green unicorn stopped dead in her tracks. She was not anticipating Bon-bon to find out this quickly. “Oh, uh… it's nothing really,” she lied. “Doesn't look like it, given that you didn't tell me beforehoof.” “Well, I was told not to.” “By who?” “Princess Celestia.” Bon-bon at this point became confused. The look on her face showed both surprise and disbelief. Her blank stare lasted a few seconds, followed by a sigh of disappointment. “I know you're mad, but I have to go,” Lyra said. “I'll explain later when I get back.” “Where are you going?” Bon-bon was curious rather than annoyed that Lyra was leaving without saying anything. “To Canterlot. I must be there for something. She didn't tell me the reason either.” “Okay, but this 'leave without telling my roommate where I'm going' ordeal has to end.” “I try. I really do. But I need to get going. I'm sure you'll understand this might be important to me, or even Equestria at large.” Lyra only prepared her saddlebag with her most personal work, enough bits just in case, and a couple books. That is all she thought she needed for the trip. Besides, the Princess did not tell her why she was called upon to take a trip all the way to Canterlot. It was hard for her to think of reason for her agreement. “I guess I'll have to do things on my own around here for the weekend,” said Bon-bon, wanting Lyra to get the hint at extreme displeasure. “I'm sorry, Bon-bon. I really am. I'm sure you'll do fine without me,” She was about to walk out the door when she heard Bon-bon speak once more. “Do you know why you're going?” “No.” She made her answer as simple as possible, exited the building, and headed off to the train station. Bon-bon just stood there with her mind in a mist, wondering if was worth worrying about. She felt Lyra needed to do it on her own, again. Her unicorn roommate looked pretty determined. Bon-bon got really good at reading eyes, especially those of the pony she lives with. Lyra had been wondering why this particular day had started off so unexpectedly. First, she gets a letter personally from Princess Celestia sitting next to her bed when she, again, woke up late in the morning. Second, she was not told in the letter the occasion that lead the Princess to got through the trouble to ask for her presence, only that she's been requested to meet in Canterlot as soon as possible. Third, she heard Pinkie Pie next door talking to Rainbow Dash how Twilight was not in the library earlier that morning, not telling anypony where she was going and why, as well as something to do with a very strange Pinkie Sense she had never felt before. Fourth, she angered Bon-bon on her way out the door. Lyra thought that since Twilight was the most powerful unicorn in Ponyville and the Princess's personal protégé, it made sense that she would be in the same situation. Though it might just be coincidence. Probably not. Did Celestia trust Lyra enough that she'd personally chose her to aid in some secret government service? This amused and scared Lyra at the same time. She was one of the top students in the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns and showed excellent interest in magic. Even though she was no scientist, the word science confuses her with the word magic. Both were on opposite ends of the logical spectrum. Lyra casually made her way to the station. She did not encounter anypony that showed curiosity in her purpose for going to the train station. It all seemed like a normal day to everypony else. It was almost noon and Lyra just made on her train bound for Canterlot. It left as soon as she boarded. There were not that many ponies in the train cars. Only a few who were most likely going to visit family or friends, or returning home to Canterlot. Everypony else were either having an early lunch or doing their daily business back in Ponyville. I would be a mere ten to fifteen minute ride at the speed the train traveled. Lyra rested her eyes for the journey. - - - Twilight was eating her fair share of hay fries and mouth-watering apple pie made by the second best apple pie maker she knew, behind Applejack and her family's famous Zap Apple Pies. Spike had himself a bowl of the finest jewels in Canterlot. Instead of eating their lunch at the shop they purchased from, they brought their food to the castle library where Twilight used to go every single day when she was a filly. It was a much shorter walk than all the way back to the tower, so they thought it would be a good idea to make a quick visit down her childhood memories. Twilight and Spike stood in the middle of the large, book-filled room, moving their heads right to left examining the contents of each shelf. It struck them as still an amazing sight to see, but more amazingly, nothing had changed. Every little detail was just as they left it ages ago. Everything seemed to be where they should be, as if they just left yesterday. “It looks untouched,” Twilight said slowly with her eyes wide open and pie floating to her side. She paused a moment longer. “We could look at some of the books in here Spike. I have read almost every single one on the shelves.” “Almuh emmhy bmuhmmk...” Spike had a mouthful of shards from the ruby he stuffed in his mouth. He swallowed the rest whole and repeated. “Almost every book?” “Yes. I haven't gotten to all of them yet, but I have my doubts that they will give us any useful information. If it was very important, I would have known about it a long time ago.” “Are you sure? I would have known too, but I don't recall having sacred stuff in here.” Spike put another jewel in his mouth. “Well, there's only one way to find out.” - - - The train came up to the station on time as always. Lyra felt like no time had passed as the a trip to Canterlot by rail is known to do that to a pony's mind. She got off the train and with no time to waste, made her way to the royal castle. It felt like home walking through the streets of Canterlot because, after all, this was her hometown. There was nothing like her surroundings to help her remember all the memories she spent with her parents and the very few school friends she had made, all to make her childhood worth thinking about. She also remembered the personal strives for certain information that most ponies, including her parents, avoided. They thought it was not normal. Lyra was not in the mood for food, even though she was getting a bit hungry. She was so excited and eager to know what Princess Celestia had sent her here for. She had been thinking of possibilities on the train. Each scenario that came to her was more exciting to think about than the last. However, she could not quite pinpoint the feeling that made her feel warm inside. Maybe it was the new adventure. Maybe it would clear up her obsession. Lyra hated when ponies called it an obsession, especially Bon-bon. It was an interesting hobby. With that last thought she snapped back to reality and found herself standing at the large golden gates of the Canterlot Castle in all its glory. All that thinking was enough to lose track of time, but not direction. Even the heavy weight of her saddle bag couldn't stop her from pressing on to find out her reason for coming to Canterlot. The guards had expected her arrival and, one by one, let her pass by with ease. Lyra directed herself to the main ballroom. It was huge. Absolutely immense. She remembered it once before at the Grand Galloping Gala a while ago, and it still amazed her like seeing it for the first time. She was supposed to meet the Princess in the castle, but didn't know exactly where. She did not know if she was late, early, or on time. If she was on time, the Princess would be here somewhere. She took a moment to think where she had to met Princess Celestia. Lyra sighed and asked herself, “Where would you go if you were to scheduled to meet someone that is supposed to fill you in on important information?” She paused to think about it for a couple seconds, put her hoof on her cheek. “The main library of course,” she said, thrusting her foreleg upward. Knowing where most of the castle rooms are located, she started walking in the direction of the library. “Maybe this has something to do with...” she thought for a moment, then shook her head. “...no way.” - - - Twilight was having a hard time looking for something that she might not find. She did not know what she was looking for, her only thought was to start looking. It had been a full ten minutes scanning the spines of each book on each shelf when she had gone through the whole library. She did not want to keep Princess Luna waiting and had to get back to the tower, hence not wasting her time with detailed searches of every book. There was simply not enough time for everything. “That's every book in here, Spike.” “I told you there is nothing of value to us.” Twilight paced around the room some more, hoping to remember any place she might have missed. It has been a while since she was in this library. “Well then, come on. Let's get going.” Twilight and Spike were on their way to the door when they heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. “Oh no!” Twilight froze. She panicked in her mind from fear of being in deep trouble. She posed motionless and quickly shut her eyes, bracing for something bad to happen. Moments later the hoofsteps stopped. As they suddenly disappeared, they sounded awfully close. Spike was not worried one bit. He thought Twilight would take the fall for whatever trouble she'd get into. He stood there rolling his eyes and looking off to the left. Silence filled the room for a few seconds. Then Spike spoke. “What are you afraid of Twilight? Open your eyes.” She did what he said and opened them slowly, only to find a normal unicorn standing in front of her. It was none other than Lyra Heartstrings herself, the other pony Celestia said would be helping with the investigation. Twilight went from highly nervous to extremely comfortable. Lyra had been a friend back in Ponyville and even earlier still. “Twilight?” “Uh... yes?” “What are you doing here?” Lyra asked. “Well, the same reason you are.” This confused Lyra to some extent, but it made sense to her hearing how Twilight did a good job of avoiding her friends this morning. Unlike her and Bon-bon. “I don't know why I'm here. Is this where I'm supposed to be?” Lyra asked. “No.” “If you're here for the same reason I am, why are you in here?” “Nothing,” Twilight lied, “I was just wanted to remember the memories in this library. Ah good times.” She was horrible at dishonesty as she was taught well to suppress the urge by her friend Applejack. “Okay then.” “I was just leaving.” “Should I follow you? I think you and I are on the same team, right?” “Yes. Princess Celestia already told me why I was called here, it only makes sense to tell you. She called you here, too, right.” “How did you...” “She told me you'd help us out,” Twilight interrupted. “She just knows everything huh?” said Lyra in a low voice as if she was talking to herself. “Now I'll fill you in with the details on our way back to the the tower.” “The tower?” Dale started laughing. “Ah ha ha ha, yeah right bro! You're so bad at jokes. Ha ha ha!” “No, I'm serious!” “What ever you say Dane Cook. Ah ha ha ha!” “I knew this was a bad idea,” Andrew mumbled. “What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of horrible talent. Ha ha.” Andrew sat there in the dark closet listening to Dale laugh out loud. It was no joke, and even if it was, it wasn't hilarious enough to laugh at. He still didn't understand his friend's sense of humor. “Can you please stop laughing? I'm not making this up.” Dale wiped the one tear he shed for laughing so hard. “Oh man, should I really take you seriously? You know that's not possible. You of all people should know that. Now can you come out of there so I can see the miserable look on your face.” Dale was not an evil person, he just took amusement in the embarrassment of bad talent. Andrew took one long, deep breath. “Fine, if you say so.” He struggled with the doorknob and finally unlatched it. He opened the door was slowly walked out with audible thuds hitting the hardwood closet floor. … Dale went completely silent. A moment earlier he had been recovering from laughter from a terrible joke from Andrew and now he sat there staring at a... unicorn, realizing said joke was actually true. The both of them remained absolutely silent, waiting for the other to say something. Andrew could not tell if his human friend was either too scared to move, or faking it. Whatever the circumstance, he assumed Dale was taking it well. Andrew took a step closer to him who was only two meters away on the bed. Dale retreated at the same time. He took another step. Again, Dale retreated a little more, this time reaching the wall pressing up against it. Andrew stopped, he did not want to frighten him anymore than he already was. The room went quiet again. It seemed like forever went by until Andrew broke the silence. “I don't think it's funny.” “Wh- who are you?” asked Dale in a barely audible whisper, continuing to stare at the thing in front of him. “It's me Andrew. Your best friend.” “No your not! This is some kind of prank, isn't it!?” Dale rose his voice. He had been thinking that this was a setup by Andrew to scare him. It can't be real because he heard Andrew's voice clearly behind the door and this cannot be him, so he suspected he was still hiding in the closet. But after thinking it was a joke, Dale settled down on his bed. “Uh, no. This is no joke. I told you I'm... a... well just look at me.” Dale thought for a moment. Then a some more. Andrew's voice seemed to be coming out of this... this pony. This turquoise colored pony in front of him, which had what looked like none other than a horn on its forehead. Oh great this (if he can guess correctly) 'unicorn' looked so real and wondered how much time Andrew spent making a mechanical horse so lifelike. The controls must be hard for someone to maneuver as fast as it did through the window and leave him convinced to go outside. He must have also put his own clothes on this thing to make it more convincing when he revealed it. Dale was thinking this as more of a well played prank than an actual mythical creature who claimed to be his friend. He settled down now that he was confident he wasn't dreaming or insane. “Alright man, come out of the closet,” Dale finally said. “You got me good this time.” Andrew looked at him funny. Dale evidently thought it as not just a joke, but a prank. “Who are you talking to?” “Ha ha, not to a real unicorn that for sure. Good one man, you had me fooled for a minute there.” “But this is me. Andrew. I'm not screwing with you. I'm not a robot. I'm me. You have to believe me.” Andrew was feeling quite desperate to get his friend to realize that he is a pony. “I'm not too sure about that man.” He leaned to one side. “Are you going to get out of my closet now? Or am I going to have to pull you out of there?” Dale was hesitant to check for himself if Andrew were to pull another fast one on him. “I'm right here in front of you, you just gotta believe me. I thought I was going crazy too, but I can't deny it any longer.” “I know I'm not crazy, but if you want me to believe this is true, it's not working. Besides, unicorns don't exist, let alone talking ones.” “Okay then, check the closet for yourself.” Dale nodded. “Don't mind if I do.” Andrew stepped out of his way. Dale got up off the bed and walked to the semi-large closet. It was large enough to live inside if needed, but to small to hide oneself from sight, so he would have no problem seeking his friend. He turned on the light and looked around, removing boxes of clothes and stuffed animals. He stopped. Dale turned back to the pony looking at him and tilted his head. He began to believe the unicorn a little bit more. “Okay man, where are you really hiding?” “In plain sight.” Andrew thought Dale would interpret that a different way that he intended. “You under my bed? In the bathroom? In the kitchen? In that mechanical unicorn in my room?” “Mechanical unicorn?” “Nope you can't possibly fit in that small thing. You're too tall.” Dale was not ready to give up his sanity just yet. He only wanted to make sure Andrew was who he says he is and then try to get back to reality somehow. He took a deep breath. “Sooo...” “I keep telling you this is no joke! It's really me, Drew.” He thought that if he said his nickname, Dale would know for sure it's him, and maybe believe him more. “And besides, does my voice sound like a robot?” He was right. Dale perked his head up a little more from kneeling down in the closet. He took one heavy sigh to show his concern. Then, with little effort, he stood up, turned the light off, and closed the closet door in on himself. As blunt as it looked, this confused Andrew a little. Then he thought it was funny how Dale usually did things that make people grin. This one of those random acts. All was silent again, this time for several awkward seconds. Andrew sat down to get himself comfortable and looked around the room, waiting for his best friend to come out of the dark closet. He noticed they had switched places, Dale in the closet and Andrew next to the bed. The door opened and Dale was sitting down comfortably on a bunch of clothes with his head laying on some stuffed animals looking at the ceiling. His slumped position was as if he ran a marathon and was about to pass out. He stretched his arms and legs. After a long, obnoxious deep breath, he spoke. “Why are you here?” Andrew was surprised that Dale supposedly believed him already. Maybe the pointing out that his voice did not sound fake, but rather overwhelmed. “Um. I thought I could use your help.” “I'm still skeptical that you are real, but I have a habit of jumping to conclusions.” Dale sounded so sure of himself. He just wanted to know whether his best friend is really a unicorn standing in his bedroom. “Besides, you're not smart enough to build a working mechanical unicorn that good.” “Hey!” Dale laughed a little more. “Well it's true.” He gestured his hand to him to continue speaking, “You were saying?” “Okay then... I forgot what I wanted to say, thanks a lot.” Dale laughed again. “So...” Andrew followed up on his thought. “I didn't know what to do about this, so I came to you. The only person in the world I trust this much.” Dale felt warm inside when Andrew said that. “I'm not sure if I have anything useful to help, um... change you back. Or something like that. What do you want me to do?” “Anything. I just want to know what happened to me and why.” “That's it?” “Pretty much.” “Well, we have to start somewhere then.” “I could learn how to use this body more. I got the hang of walking so far.” “Are you kidding me dude? Don't you desperately want to be human again?” “Well yeah, but it seems we don't know how to change back anyway, so I think we'd have more use figuring out more about me that might lead to how this happened.” “How do you suppose we do that? It's not like you magically turned into a unicorn.” … The both of them automatically knew magic did not exist. “Magic? … no way.” “Well then how else are we going to explain it?” Dale asked. They just sat there thinking. Dale in the closet and Andrew next to the bed. At first, Dale's only explanation was magic. Like 'Ta da!' sort of thing, ya know, but none of that illusion stuff, but actual magic. Almost nothing came to mind that made any sense. He could try to explain it with science, but nothing known to physics could make this happen overnight, or at all for that matter. Andrew on the other hand... err- hoof, was thinking of just about the same reason. Like Dale, he knew magic was a scientific impossibility. It was simply impossible to suddenly turn into a weird disfigured pony because Andrew did not feel a thing while he slept. If it had disturbed him in his sleep, it definitely would have woken him up. He was now stuck and plain out of ideas. This is one thing that nobody would have the answer to. “You think of something yet?” “Nope,” Dale replied. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there was this sudden weird sound in my room last night. It was so loud and unexpected that it scared the crap out of me. Almost literally.” “A noise? Okay? So what?” “What I mean is, I went to check it out around the house and asked my brother about it. He didn't recall hearing anything. My dad was sleeping on the couch. If anything, the both of them would have heard it too. But I'm serious, it was like an gunshot in my ears.” “That IS weird.” “I then checked the outside the house to see if anything exploded. Nothing. Not another sound came after that. I'm telling you, it was SO loud, you could have heard it from here.” “When did it happen?” “This morning at like one. I was writing my chemistry paper when it happened.” “You too?” “You heard it?” “No, I mean, you were writing your chemistry paper too? So was I.” “But you didn't hearing anything?” “Nope. Quite as Minnesota.” “You are such a nerd,” said Andrew, laughing as he spoke. “And proud of it. I do what I do. The only thing I can't do is explain why you heard that loud noise while no one else heard anything. It is simply impossible from the way you described it. Are you sure you didn't imagine that sound?” “Are you kidding? I almost died,” Andrew exaggerated. “It seems impossible. Just as this does,” Andrew said observing his hooves. Dale got up out of the closet and walked over to him. He sat down on the bed right next to him. Andrew was no taller than four, maybe four and a half feet. His clothes were still covering the majority of his turquoise colored body. A funny color for a horse. His duffel bag was hanging to his left, away from Dale. His hair was a bit messy after the fence jumping journey and that evade move from earlier. He felt much better now that his best friend understood his plight and sat beside him. He wondered what Dale was going to do next. Dale poked the unicorn in the neck. “Hey!” Andrew recoiled with enhanced defense reflexes. He was not human anymore after all. “Sorry. Just making sure.” “About what?” Andrew questioned, rubbing his neck with his right hoof. “I believe you now.” “Truthfully?” Dale nodded his head, “Yeah. You're squishy.” Andrew smiled. Dale smiled back. Then they both laughed. “Okay... now lets try and... um... figure this out.”