//------------------------------// // Errands // Story: Why Am I here Again? // by Z-A-C //------------------------------// Twilight and I were walking through Ponyville. We just passed the town hall and are now heading towards the marketplace. I can see the remains of the old library a short distance away. I thought about asking, but let it pass. It might come up in conversation later. From what I can remember about this place, it hasn't changed much. We passed by that music store a couple minutes ago, Twilight asked me if I remembered it. I just nodded my head as we walked. Not much of a conversation here, so why attempt one? That, and I don't remember much about the place, or the owner, so....yeah. I guess I lied. What was the bigger red stallions name? Big something....hmm... Well, anyway, he was running the apple cart at the market. He seemed to know me, and asked if Applejack knew I was back. I told him that she probably did, and looked at Twilight, who nodded. He raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged. "Memory loss..." I scratched the back of my head and turned away. Best leave before this gets too awkward. I thought. "I'll explain it to you later, Big Mac." Twilight said, handing over... Well, I guess, hoofing over, three bits. "Thanks!" She said as she turned toward me to lead us on to the next stall. She looked at me. "I haven't been back long, and your magic lesson was the first thing on my list when I got back." I nodded my head. It has only been a day, and she was sleeping pretty much the entire day. Not that I have any room to talk, considering I usually wake up at nine O'clock at night. We walked up to the carrot cart, and I asked if I could have one. "Are you hungry?" She asked. "I thought you had breakfast?" "I did, but it wasn't a lot." I said. "I don't really eat much." She hoofed over five bits, and received three carrots. "Thank you, Carrot Top!" She then gave me one. "Here you go!" I took a bite, and it was good. Nice and juicy. "Thank you, Twi." I took another bite. "Where to next?" She stopped and levitated her shopping list out of her saddlebag. "Hmm," She hummed while she checked the apples and carrots off from the list. "Broccoli." And then we walked over to that stall. I'm glad it was a nice day, maybe a bit bright but I can deal with it for now. Most of the ponies around were nice, some seemed uneasy. Which I guess is understandable, but oh well. It was nice to get to know how to get around again, well at least how to get the market. Food is always good. Speaking of food, Twilight said that we're going to Sugar-cube Corner. That's a place I remember, their cookies and brownies are amazing from what I remember. "Pinkie Pie is the baker's name, right?" I asked Twilight as we walked towards the door. "Yep! And she's our friend. I believe she's working the counter today, she'll be happy to see you." She said with a smile. I could already smell the pastries, and suddenly the carrot I had a few minutes earlier wasn't enough. I looked at my watch, and it was about lunch time, so I guess it makes sense. Not sure how the time got away from me, I guess the magic lesson took more time than I thought? Twilight asked me to get a seat while she gets Pinkie Pie. I chose a booth off to the left, and sat patiently. Which wasn't needed apparently, because it took all but two seconds for a pink blur to appear, and next thing I knew I was in a tight bear hug. I patted her on the back a couple times, and she let me go. "Waaaiiiit a second..." She said while eyeing me up and down. "Something about you's changed..." I just stared at her. "Well, It has been almost three years so..." "Ponies are bound to change a little bit over time, Pinkie." Twilight chimed in. She then looked at me. "People, sorry." I just shrugged my shoulders. "He just seems...not the same." She put a hoof to her chin, and after a couple minutes she perked up. "AH HA! I got it!" Twilight and I raised an eyebrow. Pinkie pointed at me. "You've become bitter." "Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed. "That was kinda rude, don't you think?" I chuckled. "She's kinda right. Fair assessment, but not what I was expecting." I cleared my throat. "Let's just say there's things going on in my world that... aren't wonderful. But I don't want to get into it." Twilight gave me a look of curiosity, while Pinkie just nodded. "Twilight, I thought we came here for lunch?" Pinkie's eye grew wide, and she took off towards what I assume would be the kitchen. "Okay?" And almost as soon as she left, she was back with a plate full of cookies. "I know, not much of a meal." Twilight said. " But I don't remember you being a fan of the other restaurants around town." "A bowl of oats, a carrot, and now cookies." I said. "Eating like a king today, aren't I?" I said in a sarcastic tone. They both gave me a look. "Do you not want the cookies?" Pinkie asked. I grabbed one, and shook my head. "I haven't changed that much." Yep, as good as I remembered them to be. Catching up with Pinkie Pie was... Interesting. I can't believe I could forget someone so... Odd. But at least now I remember more about this place, and my friends. On our way to the next stop, I couldn't help but think about that pony I was in the hospital with. We had talked a bit, and I found out that she's a pegasus that had a bad flying accident, and it had ripped off one of her wings. I was released shortly after that conversation. I asked Luna and Twilight if they had prosthetics here. They told me that they did, but they were mostly non-functional so most ponies opted to not bother with them. That kinda bothered me, but I don't know why. "Zane?" Twilight said. "You seem to be thinking about something." I noticed that my right hand was stroking my beard. "Yeah, umm... Remember me telling you about that one pony?" "Sassaflash? What about her?" "Was that her name?" Twilight nodded. "Hmm... Anyway, I feel kinda bad for her, ya know. I mean, similar accidents happen in my world but, we have functional prosthetics. They're not widely available, and kinda expensive, but it's an option. At least to a few" "Nopony could figure it out." She shrugged. "It's actually pretty complicated magic. I've read the theories, and looked at the diagrams. They seemed pretty sound, but the author wrote down the results on the opposite side of each page." "Nothing?" I asked. "None of them worked?" She shook her head. "And eventually the project was dropped and deemed not possible." She stopped by the cabbage stand, and the pony looked kinda familiar. Could just be the clothes, haven't seen a pony with a goatee before either. He saw me looking at him and waved. I waved back and kept thinking about Sassaflash's situation. Why are thinking about it so much? I'm not sure... You want to help her, don't you? What if he does? I think it would be wonderful. Of course YOU would. I rolled my eyes. It may not be possible for these ponies, but maybe it is for a human. Isn't that what your species does? At times, but what could I do? Everythings been tried before. Then think of something that hasn't been... I rolled my eyes again. No shit Twilight bought her cabbages, and walked over. Leading me to the next stop. "I'm sure Luna would help you find somepony that could help. It seems that you thinking about it quite a bit right now." I shook my head. "Sounds like it's all been done. Not sure I could think of something new." "But you could try." I nodded my head. "True. It would also help if I could read your language, but maybe I could figure it out by looking at the diagrams." I looked at Twilight. "If I do, for some reason, take this on, don't tell anybody. I don't want anyone getting excited only for there to be failure." She nodded her head. "It would be a pretty big task for a beginner magic user." I raised an eyebrow, then remembered about the inherent magic that each type of pony have. "Fuck." I said silently. "Language!" Not silently enough, apparently.