I was in a field. The grass was tall and yellow, there were trees in the distance, the sky was a dark brown colour and no stars were in the sky. A warm breeze was blowing through the area as well, and it was quiet besides the sound of the breeze and trees swaying in it. It was calm.
I was laying the grass, not knowing why I was there and not doing much but I was content with just laying there in the warmth. A lantern was there on the ground next to me, giving off light and warmth. The area around me was lit up in the soft yellow glow of the lantern. Everything outside of that area was dark but I was certain that there was nothing out there. It was peaceful.
Something moved in the darkness, catching my eye. The breeze did not feel as warm anymore. I continued watching as something came towards me out of the darkness slowly, the warmth of the breeze and lantern dissipating the closer it got.
Finally, it entered the light, revealing itself to be a dark mushy looking thing covered in eyes and in the shape of an alicorn. It didn't seem scary or anything but it was weird. It took me a second to remember the only other thing that resembled it.
"Voth, what are you doing here?" I asked. I hadn't seen Voth for the three days I had been in the hospital and since I left... I didn't remember leaving the hospital, let alone how I came here. I suddenly became aware that the grass beneath me felt more like cloth than grass. What was going on?
"YOU ARE DREAMING," Voth said as he came closer and 'sat down' next to me. Him sitting down was less him moving the limbs of her mushy form and more of the mushy form just transforming to look like it was sitting, much like how water shifts to fill different containers.
"Dreaming? So, I'm still in the hospital?" I asked.
"YES YOU ARE"
I looked at the lantern that was there next to me. It only gave off light now that I knew I was dreaming. I didn't really know what to do, so, I imagined that it was levitating and as I had expected, the thing started floating a meter above the ground. I didn't feel particularly fascinated and was in fact, a bit disappointed by how the comfy dream I was having became nothing.
"So, why were you gone for the last few days?" I asked.
"I WAS SETTING UP THE CORPSE OF THE THING FOR ME TO HIDE IN AND PAYING THOSE WHO HELPED ME KILL IT"
"So, you bough eldritch mercenaries to kill that THING and it took you like three days to give them their money?"
"GIVING MONEY WOULD BE FASTER AND EASIER BUT WE DO NOT HAVE MONEY WE ONLY HAVE ENERGY THIS BRINGS ME TO THE REASON I AM HERE IN YOUR DREAM
I HAVE FOUND A CLUE FOR THE KEY IN THE CORPSE"
Ah, the key, the thing Voth sent me to find in Equestria. Looks like they found clues before I did and now that Voth told me that energy was like money for his kind, the key felt less like an actual key to something and more like an eldritch stack of cash that I had to go get him. It was like a person making an ant go retrieve a thousand rupee note lost in the drain.
"What did you find?" I asked.
"AN ARTEFACT CALLED 'GROGAR'S BELL' MAY BE IT"
"Okay, Grogar's bell. Guess I'll have to look for that."
"I HAVE COME FOR ANOTHER THING AS WELL
I WISH FOR YOU TO STOP PUTTING YOURSELF IN DANGER LIKE YOU HAD EARLIER"
I almost thought that Voth was concerned about me.
"IF YOU KEEP DAMAGING YOUR VESSEL YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE UNABLE TO RETRIEVE THE KEY AND I WILL HAVE TO MAKE YOU A NEW VESSEL WHICH TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND ENERGY"
I should really stop thinking that Voth's nice every time he says something nice. He only cared as long as I was working for him. My mood worsened a tiny bit at that thought.
"Anything else?"
"NO"
"So, you'll be going now?"
"NO I HAVE NO REASON TO RIGHT NOW"
Okay, I guess. I turned back to look at the field I was in. It was no longer peaceful or warm like it was earlier and I doubt that I could make it like that again. Suddenly, Voth's from shifted so that he was laying down next to me. He draped one of his large fleshy wings over me and it was warm again.
"YOU WILL BE WAKING IN TWO HOURS I WILL NOT BE THERE FOR SOME TIME AFTER THAT" Voth said with a hint of disinterest in his voice, as if he wasn't really looking forward to doing nothing for the next two hours. I was happy though since it was warm again.
"Say, what'd you do to Nightmare Moon? She was completely changed the last time I saw her."
"I KILLED THE THING SHE MADE A DEAL WITH AND THAT RELEASED HER FROM THAT THING'S INFLUENCE FOR LONG ENOUGH SO THAT SHE UNDERSTOOD YOUR ARGUMENTS AGAINST STOPPING THE PLANET'S ROTATION
I DID NOT DO ANYTHING BUT LET HER BE FREE FOR LONG ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF HER ACTIONS YOU ARE THE ONE WHO EXPLAINED TO HER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SHE DID WHAT SHE WANTED TO AND THAT REVELATION COMBINED WITH THE DISTRESS A MIND FEELS AFTER POSSESSION MADE HER CHANGE"
I lay there, taking in the fact that I had been a part of the metaphorical straw that broke Nightmare Moon's back. I actually felt a tiny bit bad about it, because even though she wanted to do something bad, she didn't actually know the scale of how bad it would be.
Whatever, I guess. I returned to relaxing under Voth's wing.
I woke up feeling well rested. There was no beeping sound or IV thing in the room since I didn't need it. Light was coming in through the windows and it looked like it was nine in the morning. My back was a bit sore with all the sleeping on my back. I sat up in my bed, stretching a little. Most of the bandages I had three days ago were gone and the ones I still had, mostly on my legs, would be gone today.
My stay at the hospital was mostly just staying bed and getting bandages, covered in what I called 'healing goo', placed on my wounds but besides that, they had done some tests to find out why I was having problems with breathing and it turns out I have asthma. Who would've guessed what the streets could do to a bozo such as myself.
Right now, I just had to wait for a nurse to come and get me checked before I could go, which did take not long.
Nurse Redheart came in the room. She had her clipboard, and some other things as well.
"Good morning, Anya. How are you feeling?" She greeted.
"I'm feeling pretty good, nurse Redheart," I responded with a smile.
"That's great to hear," she said as she put her clipboard on the table and brought the other things she had, a glasses case and an inhaler. She handed me the case first. "Here are your new glasses."
I opened the case and pulled out my new glasses, which had thick black plastic frames like my old ones, but also large circular lenses, which I did not like much, but that was on me since I didn't tell them my preferences when they took me down to the eye doctor and got my prescription to get me new glasses. Other than that, the lenses were pristine and not scratched up.
I put them on and my vision improved significantly, for the most part. It felt a bit funky at first, but it'd take, at most, a day for me to adjust to the new glasses.
"Are those fine for you?" asked the nurse.
"Yeah, they're good."
"Moving on, let's get those bandages removed."
She removed the bandages slowly, revealing the almost completely healed tissue under it.
"Looks like your legs have all healed up as well, but that doesn't mean you can go running around doing things that are taxing on your body right away."
"Aww man, guess I can't go to the five-hundred ton anvil and pick it up."
Nurse Redheart just rolled her eyes at the joke.
"Anyway, this inhaler should help with your breathing issues and I'm sure you know how to use it," she continued, giving me the inhaler. "Now, we can go get you checked out."
I stepped out onto the street, my inhaler and the case for my glasses in my magic. I didn't have much to do except get home and maybe rest, and so, I began my not very long walk home. There weren't many people on the path I took and they didn't really notice me either which was great.
That changed when I was on the street back to my home.
"Anya!" I heard the familiar voice of Brush call out from behind me as I was reaching the crossroads. I stopped and turned to find the pony flying towards me with two bags. I didn't get to say 'hi' or anything as she landed right in front of me and pulled me into a hug. I tried resisting at first but let it be.
"Hey, Brush, nice to see you," I greeted, not really reflecting her enthusiasm at meeting a friend.
"It's nice to see you as well, but first, one thing,", she returned my greeting before putting on an expression that was a lot more angry, and as much as I don't want to admit it, I did shrink back a bit at that.
"What in the name of Faust were you thinking?!", she began. I was confused about what she was talking about but she continued, "Like why would you just go into the Everfree when you tell me that you'll be coming back in a minute and then go and fight an alicorn of all things?!"
Oh, this was about that. I guess she could be upset about that since I did lie about being back in a minute. But then, I did save the world, or at least helped save it.
"Okay, Brush, I'm uhh I uh apologise for that, but could you like, not be that worked up since I'm fine, mostly, and I don't want to see you angry," I responded, trying to calm her down. It worked, and she was back to her normal nice and friendly self that I liked.
"Sorry about that, I was just worried," she apologised for her earlier outburst.
"No problem, but there isn't much to be worried about."
"What do you mean 'not much to be worried about'? You literally looked like you were going to die when the princess brought you back to town!"
I didnt try arguing further since I wanted to be nice to her, and so, I just nodded in agreement.
"Say, what are you doing right now?"
"I'm going home. What about you?"
"Just coming back from grocery shopping. Do you want to come over for lunch?"
I considered the offer. I was hungry, yes, but I didn't really feel like imposing on her but she would probably insist on it till I accepted. I guess I could do something nice for her later in return.
"Sure."
Lunch had gone fine. It was mostly us making idle talk with Brush leading the conversation, telling me about how she had been busy painting cool stuff and then showing me the aforementioned paintings. We were in the living room when someone knocked on the door.
"Wait a second, I'll go see who it is," she said as she left to go check who it was. She came back a minute later, not looking too happy. "It's Mayor Mare, she's looking for you."
I nodded and followed her out of the house, where Mayor Mare was. She looked tired but was happy to see me.
"Ah, Anya, it's good to see you on your hooves," she greeted me.
"Good to see you as well, mayor. What is it that you called me for?" I said, getting straight to the point.
"Why don't you walk with me. I'll tell you on the way."
I could tell that it was something important that she wanted to discuss. I bid Brush goodbye and walked with the mayor.
"So, what is it?"
"It's about the princess's student, Twilight Sparkle. The princess has mandated that Twilight should stay in our town and learn more about magic."
"So?"
"So, the town is compelled to provide her a house and a job."
"So, she'll be staying in the library?"
"Yes, she will. She's also taking up a job at the library."
"Okay, what do I have to do?"
"Well, she and the rest of the element bearers would be returning from Canterlot today in some time, and I'd like you to tell Twilight what she'll have to do at the library since I have some work to do, mainly improving the town's security. That reminds me, thank you for helping save the princess. That was truly a brave thing to do."
"Thanks, mayor. Anyway, how long till they're back?"
"An hour or so."
"I'll wait in the library then."
"Yeah, you should. Once you're done instructing Twilight, you can go back to your home and rest."
" 'Kay, boss."
The hour of waiting would be long, and since I was alone until Twilight came, I decided to go do some research on Grogar's bell. Unfortunately, I did not find much relevant information about it. According to the books I read, it's a legendary magical artefact that some guy named Grogar used to steal magic and rule Equestria in the very distant past. It was then stolen by a unicron named Gusty the great and hidden away on top of a mountain named Mt. Everhoof behind powerful magic. The location might have been useful but there was no Mt. Everhoof on any of the maps I checked, and without any description of its surroundings or physical features, I couldn't guess its location either.
I did find out about another artefact that was simply called 'the key'. It did not have any description other than it holding a great amount of power that could only be wielded by those who know everything about it. Paradoxically, it could only be found and used by those who cared little for it. All this sounded a lot more like the thing Voth wanted me to find and fortunately, its last known location was an abandoned fort somewhere in the Everfree forest. If I wanted to find it, all I needed to do was get a map of abandoned fortresses in the Everfree.
That would have to wait though.
The door to the library opened and in came Twilight Sparkle and her dragon, Spike, who was carrying two bags larger than him with unnatural ease. What did bro do to get that strong? That question would probably go unanswered.
"Greetings, Twilight and Spike," I greeted and then immediately cringed at how stupidly formal that sounded. They didn't seem to care, however.
"Hi, miss Anya! Guess what?" said Spike, clearly excited about something. I knew that it was probably him moving to Ponyville along with Twilight. A small part of me, however, thought for some reason that he was going to say 'chicken butt'.
"What?" I asked, knowing that he's probably going to talk about moving to Ponyville.
"Chicken butt."
"Spike! Stop making jokes, we're in a professional setting! Why don't you go and put our stuff upstairs" Twilight reprimanded him quietly before turning back to me and smiling nervously. "Sorry about that, he's just a child."
Spike walked off with the bags, unhappy that he was reprimanded over a joke. Twilight was a lot more different around me now, probably since I was her colleague/boss, and honestly, it was kinda weird to have someone treat me like I was their boss.
"No need to be that formal, or formal at all, we're in a library," I said, quoting the words of that one chad librarian who worked at my highschool. I kinda missed his positivity.
"Oh, uh, that's fine, I guess," Twilight said, less nervous than earlier. She then changed the topic, "So, are you fine now? Nightmare Moon had hurt you quite bad."
"It wasnt Nightmare Moon from what I understand but yes, I'm fine now. Let's get down to business, shall we?"
"Oh, yeah. I was told that you'd be showing me how to run this place."
"Ya, I will. Anyway, you probably know the basics of putting the books where they are supposed to be on the shelves so we can skip that and go to the other important bits," I began. Twilight summoned a paper and quill and looked at me, ready to take notes. I questioned the usefulness of that since I wouldn't take long or explain something complex but whatever floats her boat, I guess.
"Okay, so, first important bit: we don't do late fees here unless it's like late for more than a month but even then, don't try to exceed ten bits. As for the second, this is it," I said as I walked to the front desk and pointed at the computer. I switched it on to show her what she'll have to use.
"So, we use a computer here to keep track of all the books?" Twilight asked in a voice that seemed... disrespectful to the computer specifically. "Excuse my choice of words but that sounds rather dumb."
"Why do you think it's 'dumb'?" I asked her.
"Well, I've tried to used a computer in the past and it seems that none of them actually work like they advertise," she began, "And they're not great for keeping track of books compared to physical records."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Twilight, but I can tell you that this guy hasn't failed me once," I defended the computer, knowing that Twilight was just tech illiterate. "Maybe the problem is the user, since a machine like this is only as smart as its user. Or maybe the machine spirit dislikes you."
I said the first part as an insult and the last part as a joke. I doubt that she would get the reference but I hoped that she would understand it was a joke based on my tone.
"The what dislikes me?" she asked, clearly not getting that it was a joke.
"Eh, nothing. Anyway, come here so I can show you the programs," I said, brushing off her question. She did as she was told and was at the desk in a moment, her paper and quill still with her.
"Anyway, basic usage etiquette, make sure to turn it off when the library closes, don't try hitting it if something goes wrong, just call me instead but if you don't feel like doing that then you can turn it off and on because that usually fixes whatever the problem is. If the problem stays then call me for sure. Other than that, don't go messing around with the code, not without me around at least.
If I'm not there then you can use the manuals. One is for the computer, the other is for the library program. Both are in the
top drawer of the desk. I'm sure you can figure out how to use the program."
"Actually, could you guide me through it once, just to be sure," she said as she finished writing what I assumed to be everything that I had said.
"Sure. To start, type 'library' in the prompt," I instructed as I moved to let Twilight access the keyboard. She began typing in the very annoying manner of looking through the entire keyboard to find they key. That would have been fine but she did that for every single letter, including the 'r's. I didn't say anything at that, staying patient because after all, they didn't have very many computers in this world.
"Okay, now what?" she asked.
"Press the 'enter' key."
Twilight did as instructed; the computer did not. It instead displayed an error message before turning off quickly.
"Is that supposed to happen?" asked Twilight, seemingly unaware that this was very clearly not supposed to happen.
"Nope, could you turn it back on and try again," I said, cutting her some slack over her tech illiteracy. She turned it back on and after it was booted up, she typed in 'library' again, this time significantly faster than earlier. She did that and just like the previous attempt, the computer shut off.
"Hmmm, Twilight, could you move and let me try," I said, surprised that it just refused to work when she was using it. I turned it on and inputted 'library' and this time, it worked just fine.
"That's weird. Anyway, it shows you two options now," I said as I moved aside to let her see them. "Database is to check if we do or do not have a book while check out and return is to update the database when someone checks out or returns a book."
"So, if I want to use one of the options then I'll have to just type the option into the prompt?"
"Yeah, that's one way but you'll have to type it exactly as it is written. The other is typing the number next to the option."
"Zero for database, one for check out. Got that," she said as she typed the number zero into the prompt. The computer's screen did not change when she pressed the enter key and ten seconds later, it was clear that it froze.
"Stupid thing isn't working," Twilight muttered, frustrated at how it refused to work.
"Try apologising to it," I suggested, not as a joke.
"Might as well," Twilight muttered with an eyeroll, then in a loud voice full of sarcasm, she said, "I'm sorry mister or miss computer for calling you stupid and dumb."
Twilight was clearly not expecting it to work but lo and behold, the computer unfroze and displayed the table with the list of books and the number of copies that were available out of how many there are in the library. Twilight was shocked at that while I just smiled.
"Looks like the machine spirit is happy with you now, and you know how to deal with it."
"What in the name of Faust is the machine spirit?!"
"You'll figure that out the more you work with the computer. Anyway, I'll be going, see you later, probably in a few hours. Have fun."
And with that, I left the library to go back and continue my talk with Brush.