//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Secret Identity 
// Story: Subject #7 
// by StarryDay 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3
Secret Identity
June 9, A.C. 1014


Theseus dreamed of many things. A massive pack of Timberwolves clawing and biting. A pony, a stallion, rescuing him. He looked around and saw only forest. Then behind him he saw a cottage, strangely out of place. The inside was small and relatively bare; a medieval-looking shield, rough wood furniture, miscellaneous bric-a-brac.
Theseus rounded a corner and saw a pony in a black cloak.
"Who are you?" he asked. The mysterious pony turned and magically pulled back his hood, revealing a brown head with black hair, eyes glowing blue... and no horn.
"You know who I am, and you always have, though you would never remember me."
"Dad?"
"Yes, Theseus. I abandoned you as a foal, and for that I am truly sorry. It was the only way." He looked at the floor in sorrow.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"If I had only kept you but a little longer, the war would be over and none of it would have happened."
"None of what?" He was growing increasingly frustrated. His father looked up.
"You will come to understand, in time. But not now. I must depart. To keep you safe." He trotted out the door and toward the forest.
"Wait! Safe from what!?" He tried to run after his father, but it was no use. He felt himself slowing, and it was like running through syrup. The forest began to fade into darkness...

Theseus woke with a start. Cold sweat soaked his mane and his front leg ached inside its bandage. He must have hit it on the bed frame. He relaxed a bit and opened the window, letting in the cool night air. He laid back and tried going back to sleep, but something nagged at his mind. It suddenly hit him, and he spoke out loud.
"Wait. He called me Theseus."

Fluttershy yawned and dusted the dresser as a certain stallion paced back and forth. She appeared like a zombie, not moving around, just swinging the duster robotically. He walked over and pushed Fluttershy a few inches to the right, where she continued to swing it over empty air.
"Why are you pantomiming a feather duster?" he asked. She stopped dusting and turned her sagging eyes toward him.
"I thought since I was up, I should do something productive," she said tiredly. Then she stepped over to the window and tried to dust the sill without falling asleep.
"Are you sure you should be up this early? It's okay if you're too tired." She jerked her head suddenly and snorted.
"Uh, no, that's okay. It's 3:30. I should have been up already."
"Well, in any case, we need to figure out what this means."
"I called you Theseus; it could've just jogged your memory." She yawned again. "Dreams are funny that way." He shook his head.
"No, it couldn't be." He turned to look in the mirror, staring at his reflection. "I don't remember either of my parents. And he was addressing me as a grown stallion; not as the foal I would have been then. He knew who I was." He slammed one hoof on the dresser and ran the other through his mane in frustration, causing it to become tangled. "I don't understand!"
"I'm sorry you're mad," said Fluttershy softly. "Do you want me to make you some tea?"
"No," he said, chuckling. "I don't think you should be handling fire. You should go back to bed."
"Oh, okay." She slowly and sleepily walked toward the stairs, but Theseus stopped her.
"Wait," he said. "You said your friend owned the library, right?"
"Yes, she just bought it from the mayor a few weeks ago."
"Can you take me there?"
"Oh, I don't know," she said, making a sudden change in personality Theseus had seen only with the animals. "It's awfully early in the morning, and you need to save your strength. Besides, Twilight is probably asleep; we wouldn't want to bother her, now would we?"
"I guess not," he grumbled. Fluttershy walked up the stairs.
"Now I'm going back to bed," she said sweetly, "and you need to get your rest. We'll go see Twilight in the morning."
"Good night," he grumbled again.
"Sleep tight." Theseus perked his ears.
"Wait, why would I sleep tight? Are there restraints on the bed or something?" Fluttershy paused.
"You've never heard that expression?"
"I've heard 'good night.'" She stared blankly and he felt embarrassed. "Like I said, I don't get out much." She simply shook it off and went up to bed.

"I'm confused," said Twilight. "Do you need a book on magic, or a book on unicorns?" Theseus was standing next to Twilight at the train station, attempting to garner as much information as he could before she left for the Crystal Empire. Fluttershy was standing a bit away waiting for him to finish. They had gotten up at 6:30 that morning to catch Twilight before she left. They had managed to reach her at the train station at about 10 minutes 'till. Twilight did not seem to understand the concept that he was attempting to convey, as well as the fact that he was a strange new pony she knew nothing about, leading to the majority of the time being wasted.
"Neither," he said. "I need to learn about earth ponies that can do magic."
"There's no such thing," she said dismissively. "It's just an old mares' tale."
"Then what do the tales say?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you right now; I have to leave any minute."
"Well," Theseus said, "if you're leaving, then who do I talk to?" The lavender alicorn thought for a moment. She pulled a slip of paper and pencil from her bag, wrote for several seconds, then held it in front of him.
"Go to the library and give this to Spike; it's the title of the book you need. He knows the library top to bottom; I'm sure he'll be able to find it without trouble." Sparkling violet mist flowed out of Theseus' eyes and the note floated out of the mare's telekinetic grip and behind his ear. Twilight's mouth hung open in amazement. "Wha- how did you do that?"
"I've always been able to," he said. "And I'll make sure to talk to Barb," he added.
"His name is Spike," she said.
"Uh, right."
"But you're an earth pony!"
"Sorry, I know it's kind of freaky." Twilight suddenly chuckled.
"I'm friends with a certain pink pony. You can't talk to me about freaky." Her face then returned to its default scientifically curious look. She slowly walked around him, as if he were a rare, exotic creature. "I've never seen anything like that." She looked at Theseus. As she spoke she began to bounce excitedly and gave an enormous smile. "You're one of them. I can't believe they're actually real! I've heard stories my whole life about great earth pony wizards, but I never thought I would actually meet one!" Theseus felt uncomfortable.
"I don't know if I would go so far as 'wizard,'" he said.
"But why did you do that in the open?" she asked. "Aren't you afraid of somepony seeing you?"
"I don't really care what other ponies think. They can have their own opinions and beliefs without affecting me." The conductor suddenly yelled loudly, signaling the last call for passengers. Twilight looked over her shoulder at the train, then back to Theseus.
"We must speak when I get back from the Crystal Empire," she said. "I can't wait to hear everything you know!"
"Well, actually-"
"Bye!" Before Theseus could respond, Twilight had already stepped onto the train. She poked her head out the window and waved goodbye to Fluttershy.
He returned to Fluttershy with a smile on his face. "Time to head for the library!"
"Did she tell you anything helpful?" she asked.
"She said to talk to this guy, Spike." She giggled. "What?" he asked.
"You'll see when we get there," she said.

"What are you staring at?" asked the small purple dragon. "Haven't you ever seen a dragon before?"
"Um, no," said Theseus bluntly.
"Well, now you have." Inside the Great Oaks Library, a small purple dragon stood in front of a pair of ponies, holding his claws on his hips with a frown on his face. Theseus stood on Fluttershy's left. He leaned into her ear and whispered, "You didn't tell me he was a dragon!"
"I didn't tell you anything," she whispered back.
"Um, hello? Anyone paying attention to the dragon?"
"Sorry, Spines."
"It's Spike!"
"Right, sorry. I spoke to Twilight at the train station, and she told me to talk to you. I need to find something on hornless magic. She told me to give you this." He took the note out of his saddle bag and levitated it down into the dragon's claws.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"I was born with it," Theseus said in an exasperated tone, rolling his eyes.
"Like a medical condition?"
"Yes, now look for the book!"
"Okay, okay!" The dragon read the slip of paper, then went to work. He hopped onto a ladder leaning on a shelf, and his claw skimmed the books, searching for the correct one. Finally, it landed on a book with a blue spine, and he pulled it off the shelf. "Here we go," he said. "Equestrian Encyclopædia of Magical History." He jumped down leisurely onto the floor, revealing a dusty, dark blue book with ornate gold trim. He then walked over to the gem chest in the corner and grabbed a large emerald to snack on. Theseus started to become impatient.
"Hurry up! I need that information!"
"Alright," said the small reptile, "don't get your mane in a knot." He opened the book and flipped through the pages, thinking out loud as he did so. "Blah blah blah, dark magic; forbidden magic. Here we go, hoof magic!"
"Hoof magic?" Theseus grabbed the book with his nonexistent horn. The smoke again began to leak from his eyes. The dragon held onto the book for a split second before being pulled off-balance, releasing the book and falling over on his face. Theseus held it in front of him, and read from the entry.
"'Hoof Magic. Noun. A term from mythology referring to magic produced without the use of a horn. See also Earth Wizard.'" He flipped frantically through the pages, searching for the entry. In the background, the emerald gave a quiet crunch as it was being eaten.
As Theseus read, the book slowly got closer to the floor, and he leaned in further as it did, until his nose was buried in between the pages. He quietly muttered as he read, but suddenly stopped, his eyes widening. "Oh, ma gush," he said, his voice muffled by the paper. He lifted his head and turned to Fluttershy. "Listen to this," he said, and began to read aloud.
"'The Earth Wizards are a race of ponies from Ancient Equestrian mythology, believed to be based on actual earth ponies with magical abilities. According to the myth relayed by the great philosopher Platehoof, the great unicorn wizard Starswirl the Bearded had an illegitimate foal with an earth mare. Rather than face discrimination as an interracial couple, Starswirl sent the mare and foal with a set of subjects to a far-flung corner of the world to begin anew. According to the myth, Starswirl was so powerful that even though the foal was born an earth pony, he was still able to use magic.
"'The foal grew up to become King Wither, the leader of a new kingdom, called 'Wither City,' now a real country bordering on the western edge of Equestria, on the coast of the Oatlantic Ocean. He married Navy Blue, a powerful female unicorn, and began a line of powerful Earth Wizards who used what he called 'hoof magic.' The Earth Wizards were known for their incredible magical abilities, and legend has it that each one had more power than Celestia herself.'" Theseus's mouth formed a silent, "Wow."
"'The royal family consists of a line of earth wizards ruling over mostly earth and unicorn citizens, with a military very similar to the Equestrian Royal Guard.'" Theseus looked up. "It can't be." He read the section again. "'The royal family consisted of a line of earth wizards ruling over mostly earth and unicorn citizens.' I'm a prince!"
"A prince?" said Fluttershy. "Oh, my goodness." Theseus seemed lost in thought. After a moment, he spoke.
"I need to go there," he said.
"Oh no, you don't, mister," said Fluttershy sternly. "You need to stay in bed. No adventures for you; your foreleg still needs to heal." He leaned down at Fluttershy's hooves. He looked up at her and gave her puppy-dog eyes, as if to say, "Pleeeeeeeease?" Fluttershy tried to resist, but finally gave in.
"Oh, okay. But we still need to make occasional stops to make sure you're holding up okay. And we need to have Lily look after the critters. She's always been really patient with them when I've been gone. We'll have to stop by her house first."
"Alright," Theseus agreed.