Chapter 4:
I walk through the forest, unsure of where to turn. My head hurts, and I’m unsure of how I got here. My guess is that I left Flim and Flam, though I’m not sure why. Why can’t I remember anything?
I decide to test every path to find where I need to be (where?), though the paths tire me out and confuse me. They’re all the same looking, with green-leaved trees covering every bit of sunlight, tall green grass that could swallow me, and no other signs of life that I can see. I am completely alone.
I finally find a new path, one I don’t remember noticing before. I stop to rest for a few seconds, needing to breathe. After what seems like hours, I get back up to head down the path. It was as if I’d been glued to the ground. I notice what seems like a giant river, and I stop where I am. I can just feel myself falling in, and I don’t want that to happen. I turn around, hoping to get back where I was before. I should be able to find it, because I’m not lost. Still, I’m exhausted, so horribly exhausted. I just want to go to sleep, rest as long as I can. But how can I do that if I have no idea where I am? What dangerous creatures could live here? There may not be any, but is it worth the risk?
That’s when I actually wake up in the hotel bed, perfectly fine. It was just a dream. I stare up at the ceiling, sure I won’t be able to sleep tonight. That dream was just too weird.
The first way I tried finding out who I am was by using old books. The hotel has a library, so I began searching for things in books like “all grey ponies”, “grey pony records”, and “Ponyville hospital patients”. Nothing I needed came up, so I was back on square one. I found other great things like the history of Equestria and records on other ponies, but nothing for me.
I stare up at my horn, hoping I can find some way to perform magic and find what I need. I’ve tried performing magic before, but nothing’s worked. If I can’t even do magic, how will I get my cutie mark?
I grab a few random books on magic, hoping I can at least learn something about magic. I go back up to the hotel room to read them.
I notice a sentence reading: “Unicorns usually begin developing magic at young ages, though many don’t realize it. However, almost all magic is developed when they grow up or are older fillies. Small signs of magic usually happen when they’re babies.”
I’m a filly, so I must have once been a baby. Did I have parents? Did I show signs of magic? Could I cry out? Nothing is coming up, all my memories begin in the Ponyville hospital.
That’s when Flam runs up to me. “River!” he yells excitedly. “Princess Celestia has invited us to Canterlot! We’ve won an award for what we’ve done here!”
I couldn’t believe it, but the paper is real.
“It’s funny to say we won it,” Flam comments. “Celestia could have improved the entire town with a flick of her horn.”
“The bucking tyrant wouldn’t cast a glance at this town,” Flim says. “The damn pony finally noticed this place once someone improved it for her.” Flim chuckles. “River, that’s Princess Celestia for you. But don’t you ever make her mad, or you’ll be stuck in the moon for years.”
I nod.
“But this is great, and it’ll definitely improve business. Hopefully a few towns will buy our cider that said they wouldn’t,” Flam says.
“Ponyville,” Flim says, the name sickening all three of us, “won’t. But every other town in Equestria? Yes.”
“And we have an all-expenses paid trip to Canterlot,” Flam says, “so brother, and you, River, what could go wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Flim replies. “Cross your hooves, River, because we want nothing to go wrong.”
I nod.
We won’t be going to Canterlot for a few months, so I have time before I go.
“How do you perform magic?” I write down, showing Flim and Flam. It’s been a few days since construction began.
They both stare at my small horn, then at theirs. They think it over for a second before Flim says, “I just think something should happen, and it does. Let’s say I want that book over there to come to me,” he says, and the book flies through the air to him.
“The same goes for me,” he says, making random things move around.
I stare at a door, hoping it will close. I focus on it, willing for my horn to make it move. I hope my horn is glowing, but I’m scared if I look up at it, my magic will stop.
“River, it’s not working, and that door sure as Discord isn’t moving.” Flim sighs. “Try something else?”
I stare at Flim’s hat, willing for it to move. It sits firmly on his head.
Flim groans. “It’ll happen one day, it will. I first performed magic when I was about your age, and it didn’t work out well. Dad made me clean up the kitchen for weeks. It also happened unexpectedly, after weeks of giving up on trying magic.”
“And mine happened the first time I tried,” Flam replied smugly. “I made a snowball with magic.”
“We said we wouldn’t mention the snowball incident again,” Flim says.
“We’re helping someone,” Flam says. “Besides, River wasn’t there to see you scream. You were so scared, and so shocked at the cold. It’s like you hadn’t seen the snow all around you.”
Flim glares, then turns to me. “It’ll happen, it always does.”
“And you’ll get your cutie mark,” Flam says, “whatever it’ll be.”
I was not hopeful.