The sound of birds chirping outside woke Robin up from his slumber. He slowly opened his eyes and stretched his arms. As he woke up, the smell of flowers and sweets caught his nose. Robin tilted his head to the side and saw, on the ground beside the bed, a plate filled with a delicious looking breakfast. From the looks of it, a blueberry muffin with flowers on the side. There was also a glass of orange juice from the looks of it.
"Aww, she didn't have to... but flowers? I guess those ponies are like the ponies back home. They probably never heard of the greatness that is bacon."
He pulled the covers off of him and bent over to grab the plate. Inside the plate was a piece of paper with a message written on it with a sloppy handwriting. The message, that Robin could guess Derpy wrote, informed him that Derpy should be back home by sun down and to wait here inside the house for her to return. It also noted to stay inside the room after three, as Dinky should be coming back from school anytime. Still half asleep, Robin wobbled over to the desk, sat down and started eating breakfast with his hands in silence, as Derpy didn't give him any cutlery. While he was eating, he glanced to the side and noticed the books he left sitting there last night. Out of the three of them, the one that interested him the most was the one supposedly about fire magic and started reading from the first page.
"Fire magic is, as the name implies, magic used to cast spells related to fire or as we mage call it, the Ignis element. If one wishes to cast said spells, one must first learn the basics of spell casting."
Robin flipped the book over and read the title; Fire magic for foals and new mages
"I really got lucky there. Could have grabbed one about advanced magic."
Robin opened the book again at the page he left on.
"To perform a spell, one must first concentrate and feel the magic inside of them. Then, they must move some of that energy over to their horn to give the spell the needed power. The unicorn then says the incantation either out loud or in their mind to activate the wanted spell. Inexperienced mages need to be careful about how much magic they pour in the spell, as using all of their magic will lead to a magical exhaustion, ridding the unicorn of all it's energy and most likely knocking it unconscious. Now, the most basic spell one can learn in fire magic is 'Ignite'. What 'Ignite' does is it lights up a small flame at the tip of one's horn. Do not worry, as the flame won't hurt it's user."
Robin closed the book and thought about what he just read.
"Wow, fire magic? Like the magic in fantasy novels and games? Seems like only unicorns can perform it, but why not give it a try? You never know.
Wanting to give it a try despite not being a unicorn, Robin closed his eyes and focused on the magic inside him. Much to his surprise, he could actually feel something swirling around inside of him. Following the instructions from the book, he redirected the magic over to his finger, thinking it might act like a horn to a unicorn. Slowly, magic started pouring at the tip of his finger. Then, when he thought it would be enough, Robin cut the flow and called out in his mind;
"Ignite!"
Immediately, Robin opened his eyes and saw, at the end of his finger, nothing. Feeling a bit frustrated, he tried again, this time putting more magic power in the spell.
"Ignite!"
Hoping it worked, robin looked very carefully at the tip of his finger. There, a tiny little flame, not much bigger than a grain of sand, was standing proud atop of Robin's finger. With a big grin, he put out the fire by squeezing his finger on the desk.
"That's awesome! I can actually do real fucking magic!"
He laughed and looked at the ceiling, contemplating what to do now.
"It's like every single one of my childhood fantasies just came true all at once."
Robin grabbed the book again and inspected it further. He flipped through all the pages, looking for anything else of interest.
"That's it? There was only this single spell? I guess with all the images it was intended to be a kid's book. The explanation was pretty simple, after all."
This time, Robin tried to move the magic around without closing his eyes. Again, he poured his magic inside of his finger, this time putting more of it into the spell, hoping to make the flame bigger.
"Ignite!"
At the tip of his finger, a flame, now almost the size of his fingernail came out. Robin started laughing like a giddy child on Christmas morning as he casted the spell once again.
"Hahaha! This is awesome!"
"Ignite!"
"Ignite!"
"Ignite!"
"Ignite!"
Robin lighted on fire the rest of his fingers, his hand now looking like a candelabra. In his excitement, he accidentally poured in all of his magic to grow the flames, which now were at least three inches tall.
"W-What's going on? I'm... tired."
He fell out of his chair, his face landing painfully on the ground. He rolled on his back and groaned as he remembered the advice from the book about magical exhaustion.
"Fuck...Brain...why?"
Those were the last words he uttered before he fell into a deep state of unconsciousness.
'Hu..n.'
'Hum.n.'
'Human!'
Robin slowly opened his eyes as he heard a voice call out to him. He was laying down in his old bed. Robin sat down in the bed and inspected the room around him further. It was the same ceiling as his apartment, the same desk, the same bookshelf, everything was the same as his old room.
"Was... was this all a dream?"
As Robin was starting to question whether or not what he had just lived trough was all a dream, he heard the feminine voice again.
'Human! Over here!'
He turned his head to face the voice and came face to face with a blue cloud that seemed made out of mist. What weirded Robin out was that not only had the cloud just talked, but it had a pair of sharp looking eyes with cat like pupils. He rubbed his eyes and, intrigued, passed his arm trough the cloud. It then seemed to blush, which Robin didn't think was possible for a cloud to do.
'Thou shall not touch us like this! We won't let a mere mortal such as thyself to touch the empress of the night, Nightmare moon!'
As the cloud went on about how great it was, thunder fell down from a seemingly sunny sky as to accentuate it's speech.
'But we art sure a lowly ape such as thyself already knew thy place.'
Not knowing what to say back and completely confused as to what was happening, Robin just laid back down and tried to ignore the floating anomaly beside him.
'Do not ignore us human! Thou still have to answer for thyself! Why did thou idiotically spend all of thy magic?! And for a mere Ignite spell no less! If not for us, thou would be dead right now!'
That last sentence piqued Robin's interest.
"What do you mean, I would be dead? Also, where are we exactly?"
'Thou spent all of thy magic on this stupid spell, giving thou magic exhaustion.'
Robin blinked, perplexed by Nightmare's claim.
"I thought magic exhaustion only caused unconsciousness."
The cloud shook itself sideways.
'If left unattended for too long, one with magic exhaustion will not wake up. One must get a magic infusion from another unicorn.'
Robin swiped the covers off of himself and got up. He dusted his pants and bowed shortly in a apologetic fashion.
"Thanks for saving me, I guess. But could you answer my question from earlier? Where are we?"
'We art currently located in thy mind.'
That alarmed Robin, now feeling a bit more defensive.
"What? What do you mean, my mind? Are you some kind of mind raping demon?"
At the remark, Nightmare moon blew out;
'We art not a mere demon! We art Nightmare moon, empress of the night and you shall treat us as such human!'
Robin smirked at her outburst.
"It's hard to take you seriously when you speak like that."
'We art serious, human.'
The two stared down at each other for quite some time before Robin turned around and walked over to a desk in the corner of the room. He leaned over and picked up, from the desk, an old framed picture depicting him with his family.
"So, Miss mind demon, if you're so serious and you live inside my mind, you must know about my current situation right? If that's the case, then tell me, is there any way I can go back home?"
Nightmare moon grinned deviously
'There is, but before we tell thou, thou must agree to help us.'
"And what kind of help are we talking about here?"
'We need thou to delve into the magical arts. Doing so should help us regain some of our former power. Then, We can help thou go back home.'
Robin turned around and faced Nightmare moon, a smile spreading on his lips. He was going to learn more about magic anyway, so it really didn't bother him.
"If it's only that, then I'll be glad to."
With that, the place started shaking and collapsing. The whole room fell apart, in it's place, a void that seemed endless took it's place. There was now only a little platform of wood under Robin's feet as the void consumed everything.
'Is that so? Then start with getting another spell book. We shall try lending thou some magic, but we art also lacking in that field. So expect another meeting soon, Robin.'
Just as Nightmare moon finished speaking, Robin woke up on the floor. His head was pounding and a small puddle of saliva was starting to form in front of his mouth.
"My head...feels like I got it stuck in a microwave."
He pushed himself up with his arms, spit dripping from his mouth. Slowly, he finally got back up on his feet, stretched his legs and wiped his mouth, a bit disgusted.
"What a pain... Demons, magic, deals, why is everything so complex?"
Robin walked over to the window and looked outside. The sun was now starting to set in the horizon, leaving place for the moon to raise.
"Damn, how long was I out? Sun's already setting and Derpy should be back any minute now."
Just on time, Robin saw the mare in question fly over to the door. She reached inside of her saddle-bag and pulled out a key that she inserted in the lock. She opened the door and entered, locking it behind her. Robin walked over to the door leaving out of the bedroom and tried to listen to the other side. Derpy was apparently having a conversation with Dinky, from the voices.
"Hey sis! Did you have fun at work today?"
"Yes, I did my little muffin. What about you, did you have fun at school today?"
"Yep! But I told you not to call me that sis..."
"Sorry, Dinky... How about you go back up to your room? I'll join you in a second."
"Sure! Don't take too long please, I'm tired."
"I won't."
Robin heard the stairs creak as Derpy's little sister went upstairs to her room.
"*sigh* If only you were still there... Oh! Right. Robin."
Derpy trotted over to the bedroom and opened the door. Robin quickly stepped out of the way, barely avoiding the door. Derpy smiled warmly at robin when she noticed him.
"Hey there! Did you have a good day? I'm sorry for keeping you in here, but I don't want anypony to freak out or anything. Celestia knows what they'll do to you. The ponies here can be so paranoiac at times."
She sighed. Robin rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and waved with the other.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm used to staying cooped up inside all day long."
Derpy looked over at the desk and saw the empty plate with the book on fire magic open beside it.
"Let me get that plate off your hoofs, or whatever you have there."
She pointed over to Robin's hands and started making her way towards the desk.
"They're called hands. By the way Derpy, I know you've done a lot for me but could I ask you for a little favor?"
After grabbing the dirty plate, she turned back to Robin and made her way for the door.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Well, I was wondering if you could get me another book about magic at the library. I really enjoy the subject and I can't really just go get it myself."
Derpy smiled at Robin and nodded her head.
"Sure! Anything in particular you want?"
"I just thought that if there's fire magic, there's gotta be other elements right? So maybe start with another book from the same author, but for any of the other elements. I'm really grateful for everything you're doing for me... Can I do anything to help out? I kinda feel bad, just laying around your house all day, doing nothing."
Derpy jogged her memory, trying to think of something that Robin could do to help her out.
"I think I may have an idea if you want to help. I'll tell you tomorrow if you're still up for it, I need to set it up first. Well, I need to go clean the dishes and put Dinky to sleep, so have a good night Robin!"
"Good night."
With that, Derpy left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. A few seconds later though, the door opened up again and Derpy's head popped from the small opening.
"Ah, if you don't mind, I'll give you your books tomorrow. The library isn't open right now and I didn't see that it was so late. Well, once again, good night!"
Robin just waved his hand as Derpy left, this time for good, the bedroom. He then walked over to the bed and dropped himself on it, his whole body sinking in the fluffy goodness. He just stayed there for awhile, enjoying the feel of the fresh blanket and the silence of the night. When he felt relaxed enough, he closed his eyes and, just like earlier, focused on the magic swirling around inside of him. To his surprise, this time, there was a lot more magic swimming around than the last time he tried to focus. He thanked Nightmare in his mind and dropped his focus. The feeling from the magic quickly disappeared, his mind now cleared from any thought. In this state, he quickly fell asleep, dreaming about his deal with Nightmare and the prospect of learning even more spells.