Coming to terms with reality........

by Furstreak

Chapter 8

The dark blue stallion gave a tired yawn as he began his morning stroll over to Sweet Apple Acres. The previous night had not been kind to him in the least as it had been seemingly filled with a very odd dream that seemed to haunt him. As he trotted slowly along the path toward the apple farm, he began to mull over everything that he had remembered from the prior night’s dream

“What does it all mean?” He asked himself as his face contorted in thought. “That voice, those ponies. What does it all mean?”

“Ah said morning sugarcube! Ya’ll alright?” AJ spoke up causing his attention to be brought to her with surprise.

“OH! Applejack, sorry, I was just deep in thought.” He stated as he gave another yawn, only to cause the orange earth pony to laugh softly.

“Ain’t no problem, but what’s got ya’ll thinking so hard that ya ain’t talked in the past hour?” She asked only to cause Kami to look around him in slight surprise. He had been apparently been working for just over an hour now without even noticing that he had arrived at the farm.

“S-sorry AJ. I’ve been mulling over this weird dream I had last night and can’t seem to figure out what it means. Kind of annoying really. I’ve never had a dream that caused me any type of grief, so this... This has me kind of spooked, ya know?” He stated nervously as he finished placing another bushel of apples into the wagon.

“Hmm, ah don’t right know anythang ‘bout what dreams mean’n such. But ah reckon Twi knows. She’s got all sorts’ah books talkin ‘bout all sorts’ah hoo ha, and whatnot. Ah thinks she’d be ya best bet inna situation like this’n.” She stated with a knowing nod, smiling at Kami’s reaction to being directed toward the library for referencing what dreams could possibly mean.

“Thanks AJ, I owe ya one. But now my only problem is getting to the library and letting Twilight know about this odd dream before sundown. I doubt I would forget about it, but I honestly don’t want to take the chance. Do you think I could head out early, even though I’ve only been here for a few hours?” He asked only to elicit a chuckle from the farm pony.

“Sure thang sugarcube. Ah kin tell ya’ll’r a might preoccupied, so ah guess it’d be best if’n ya go ahead and work on fixin that.” She smirked, giving the unicorn a nudge. “Now get! Ah still gots work teh do an don’t need ya’ll sidetracking meh.”

“Alright! Alright, boss lady, geez. I get teh work, ah’m praised, ah need teh leave ah’m ostracized.” He chuckled loudly as an apple zipped by his head.

“Ah’ll show ostrashiz...ostrasaiz.... whatever the hoo ha ya’ll jes said!” AJ chuckled as she tossed another piece of red fruit at the stallion, hitting his flank as he bolted away laughing.

XXX

After a short gallop into town, the blue unicorn slowed to a steady trot as he made his way toward the library. It wasn’t long before he arrived and made his way inside.

“Hey Twilight, you home?” He spoke up just above his normal volume to garner her attention.

“Yes, I’m in my study.” She spoke out from one of the back rooms.

The young stallion made his way past a few stacks of towering books before finding the entrance to Twilight’s study. Once he had made it into the room, he carefully danced around a couple more towers of books before making it to the lavender unicorn’s side and taking a seat.

“Another busy day studying?” He asked causing her to giggle softly.

“Actually, I’ve been looking more into something the princess has been asking me to research. It isn’t often that she asks me to do something of this caliber, but I like to take advantage of any situation that allows me into the royal archives of the library.” She smirked slightly, giving the stallion a sideway glance as she continued reading through the book laying on her desk.

“The royal archives?” Kami asked, cocking his head slightly. ‘Maybe this won’t be as hard as I first thought.’ He chuckled inwardly. ‘I can just ask Twilight if I can go with her and look for the information myself. It shouldn’t be that hard.’

“Do you think the princess would mind if I tagged along? I mean, if it isn’t too much trouble. I would really love to be able to read some of the older books that this world has to offer. Considering that the royal archives contain such items of interest that are usually meant for royalty only, the temptation to rifle through such a thing is pretty unbearable.” He chuckled softly thinking of what the princess would say upon finding him in the archives between several large stacks of books, as if it were Twilight on one of her massive study sessions.

“I don’t see any problem with you joining me. But why the sudden interest?” She asked cocking her head slightly.

“Hello… new to this world… crazy about books and knowledge… wouldn’t you want to learn as much as possible about a world that is completely alien to you?” He asked as he stuck his tongue out playfully.

“I guess you’re right. I would be completely swamped in books for weeks on end. But I will only be able to stay in the royal archives for a few days at most. Plus, none of the literature from within the archives are allowed to leave. Not even copies are allowed to be made of the texts. These books are centuries older than you or I could even imagine. So if the princess does allow you to join me, don’t think for a minute that you will be able to check out a book from that area. Some of the books are even kept under strict lock and key, whilst some of the even more rare texts are kept under armed guard at all times. So if one of the guards tells you to do something, you had better listen. I don’t want to take a chance at making the princess angry and denying me any future access to the royal archives. That would be beyond devastating.” Twilight groaned in exasperation.

“I’m sure it would be, but don’t worry. I’ll be a good boy.” He replied giving her a wink.

“Good, because if you did do something to get us banned from the archives, I would turn you into a toad and toss you into froggy bottom bog with the hydras.” She giggled seeing his semi-shocked expression.

“Firstly, ouch. I didn’t think you would be so cold in retaliation. Secondly, what in the world is froggy bottom bog, and how big are the hydras?” He laughed seeing her disgruntled expression.

Twilight quickly pulled a book on equestrian bestiary from under her desk and placing it in front of the stallion. Smiling as she pulled it open to the page in question about Hydras.

After a few minutes to read and then re-read the pages, the stallion came to a stop as something occurred to him.

“Twi,” He began. “Do you happen to have a spell book on scan spells?” He asked, as he pulled her attention from her current project.

“I’m pretty sure that one of my spell books contain at least a few spells in regards to scan spells. Is there a particular spell that you are interested in learning?” She asked, clearly curious about what the stallion was thinking.

“Well, considering that we would only be allowed in the archives for a few days at most, don’t you think that learning a memory spell, or scan spell that can scan various types of texts, would be nice to have in such an occurrence?” He smirked slightly seeing the corners of Twilight’s mouth slowly begin to curl upward into a bright smile.

“You’re a genius!” Twilight squeaked out before quickly kissing his cheek and bolting from the room and into the front part of the library, leaving a stunned stallion in her wake.

“Did she just…” He trailed off as he could feel the blood rushing to his head, then waking another only to cause him to look down. “You have got to be…”

“FOUND IT!” Came the cheerful voice of a certain unicorn as she trotted happily back into the room with the book in question floating in her magical grasp.

Kami gave a startled gulp as he quickly lay down to cover his embarrassment. Twilight rounding the desk to see him laying quietly on the floor, giving him an odd look as she came up to his side and lay down as well before placing the book to in front of the both of them.

“S-so you found the spell?” He spoke out brokenly, a nervous smile etching across his face.

“Yes I did! I can’t believe that I never thought of this before. It could have saved me so much time studying that it isn’t funny.” She groaned out, realizing just how much time she had wasted by not scanning the books she needed to study from.

As she began to pull open the book though, she gave Kami one final glance to see him shuffle uncomfortably next to her.

“Kami, is everything alright? You seem a little… preoccupied.” She stated with some interest in seeing his ears lay back in embarrassment.

“Yea, ah’m fine. It’s just, getting used to being in a new body will take some time unfortunately.” He chuckled nervously.

“Why do you say that?” She asked, clearly curious.

“Well, my previous body was bipedal and quite tall. From what I can tell, quite a bit taller than most of the ponies in this world. The only one that would come close to how tall I used to be would be Princess Celestia. Even then I think we may have been right around the same height.” Kami smiled nervously, but began to relax once he felt his shame starting to return to normal.

“Anyway, I was around six feet, three inches tall. I’m not sure exactly how tall that is in hands. But the average height for a horse in feet was about fifteen to twenty hands. I’m not even sure if we have the same type of scales in distance and height that you have here. So don’t hold me to those figures.” He chuckled seeing her confused expression.

“Ok then…” She trailed off, pulling open the book that she had brought. “This spell is actually a little odd when it comes to its drawbacks. I took a peek at it before bringing it in here, sorry, curiosity got the better of me.” She giggled.

“No prob.” He smirked. “So what are the drawbacks?”

As Twilight pulled the page into question, open. She pointed to a specific spot that would tell them about the spell, and its drawbacks.

“Seriously?” He asked, cocking a brow at the lavender unicorn at his side.

“Unfortunately yes.” She sighed.

The spell, when cast, would temporarily give the caster then entire knowledge of the book. But after a week’s time, the memory of the scanned books would disappear, leaving only partial amounts of information. The book could be scanned and re-written word for word, but it would never stay in the casters memory unless it had been read and learned manually.

“I guess that just means we will need to write the contents of each book down before the allotted time runs out. I hope you have a lot of scrolls, quills, and inkwells ready. Not to mention a haste spell to speed up the process. This is going to take a long time to copy down.” Kami chuckled thinking of the hell he was about to endure mentally. After a moment, he silently cursed himself before speaking once again.

“Twi, when do you get to go to the archives? I’ll need to ask Applejack if I can have a few days off work so I can go with you.”

Twilight hummed for a moment as she pulled a small calendar from her desk and down to them. “It will be next weekend. The princess said that she currently has a few visitors from Griffonia that have requested access to the royal archives. Since there is a strict limit of three beings at a time allowed within the royal archives, not to mention the time permitted for them being so short. They will be there for the next few days and then the archives will be thoroughly clean and reorganized for the next party to come in.”

“Seems a little odd that she would only allow three at a time in there and for no more than three days as well. Do you know why she has those specific rules?” Kami asked, causing her to rub her chin in thought.

“You know, I’ve never thought to ask, but I will before we leave to head back to Ponyville.”

“Cool, I’m glad to have a quick thinker as a friend. It isn’t often that someone… some… pony, can be smart when it counts. I really admire you for that Twi.” He stated with a soft smile, his cheek giving off a slight blush.

Twilight sat there for a moment as those words made her head feel as if it were burning up from the blush that had encased it. She hadn’t realized it, but she had been staring dreamily at the unicorn sitting at her side for a little longer than she had intended.

“Uh… Twi… You ok? Yer kinda, creeping me out.” Kami laughed nervously as his vision flicked from the unicorn to the book that lay between the two of them.

“Huh? Oh, OH MY! I’m so sorry…” She squeaked out in embarrassment as she lay onto the floor, covering her head with her forelegs as she let out an embarrassed groan. “I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just that nopony ever really compliments me, and I really don’t have that much of a social life outside of my five friends and the princess’. So when you said that...” She paused as a hoof pressed to her mouth to silence her. She crossed her eyes looking to the hoof and then to the pony pressing it against her. Kami just gave her a warm smile before pulling his hoof away.

“Sorry, but you were rambling. I understand how you feel. I was kind of socially awkward back in my world as well. Not many friends, too many books to read, not enough free time to enjoy even the small things in life. I understand you far better than you think Twi. We’re kindred spirits, you and I. So don’t think you have to explain yourself to me over something that you say or do…” He was suddenly cut off as a pair of lips met his own. His eyes shot open at the sudden contact, he stared at the lavender unicorn in front of him who had her eyes clenched shut. He could even feel her shaking a little. Was it fear? Was it nervousness? At that moment he didn’t care as his eyes soon closed and the feeling of warmth from his first kiss in Equestria began to cover his entire body.

After what seemed like an eternity, Twilight broke off the kiss, looking away as she covered part of her face with a forehoof. Her ears splayed back as the redness from her blush encased her head once again as she gave a soft giggle, staring at the dopey grin that was plastered across Kami’s face.

“Tha… wa… wow.” He managed to get out before shaking himself from his stupor. “Twi… Twi… Twilight! Wow! Uh... ahem, that was… rather surpr-ising.” He choked out, making his voice crack slightly from the surprise kiss.

“I know…” She squeaked out again. “I’m sorry… but it… it just seemed right… you know… since we’re so alike… and well… I do… kind of… like you.” She blushed brightly at finally saying the words that she had been wanting to say since she found out Discord had found another being just like her. To fit all of her tastes and quirks, and most of all, to be her special somepony.

“Twi, I don’t know what to say. I wasn’t expecting this so… so soon.” He chuckled nervously. “Maybe after our first date, but honestly, never this soon.” He chuckled again as a blush began to run all over him.

“After our first… date?” She squeaked in surprise. “You mean… you were going to ask me out?”

“I-in time, yes. I mean, Discord did go to such lengths to get us together, plus I love talking with you on just about any given subject. You’re far more intelligent than anypony gives you credit for. You go to extreme lengths to study and learn new things. You’re just... awesome.” He squeaked out as he rubbed his withers with a forehoof, a nervous chuckle escaping him as he smiled.

“S-stop it. I’m nopony special.” She stated with a bemused grin.

“But you are!” He spoke out sharply, pulling one of her hoofs to within his own. “If the princess has taken it upon herself to make you her protege and you being the element of magic. Don’t you think that you are at least a little special? If not the most special pony on the face of the planet?” He managed to squeak.

Twilight sat there in utter shock, nopony had ever considered her more than a mere friend. However it began to click in her head as to the reason why nopony ever took any advances toward her. It was because she was special. She and her friends had save Equestria several times in the past, and that alone would cause any suitors to feel more than a little skittish toward her. But wouldn’t it also cause many of them to seek her out? She wasn’t sure, but she wanted to know.

“So, do you find me special?” She asked as she looking bashfully into his eyes.

“I do, and not because of all the ties to royalty and being a super magical being. It’s because we connect at a special level. We seem to know each other’s thoughts before we realize it. We click, in so many words. As if…”

“As if it were meant to be?” She giggled again, moving a little closer, staring into his eyes dreamily. He did the same as he spoke.

“You… could say that.” He finished by pressing his lips to hers.

Nothing could have prepared the two for this moment in time. Not even the soft growl that escape a certain orange earth pony as she pulled back from the window overlooking the two ponies within Twilight’s study.

“That rotten… no good…” She huffed as she stomped off toward the Sweet Apple Acres. “I have to ask Twi about the dream I had, maybe she can tell me what it means.” AJ spoke out in a mocking tone. “Yea, ah bet it was a dream’bout her. Rotten stallion playin me like ah fiddle teh get the day off so he can up’n have a smoochin session with one’o mah best friends. Well ah’ll show him tomorrah when he gets teh the farm. Ah’ll work his flank til he cain’t up’n move.” She snorted again as she continued stomping along the path to her home on the farm.

Author's Note:

Edited by ReFro

Comments

[Deadinlight]

really...really...really really..?

[TheTownCrier]

Ouch.

[Furstreak]

3085753scan spell was in my two biggest stories