//------------------------------// // Recovery // Story: Surrogate Light // by scootalooftw //------------------------------// The next few days passed in a blur. I hadn’t spoken much in that time, instead choosing to take the time to try and process exactly what had happened to me. I hadn’t been able to figure out much about what I was going through, but after a brief conversation with the mayor of this town, I was able to learn a few things about what had happened here. The conversation started with Mayor Mare showing up shortly after I had woke up and had breakfast, she apologized profusely for taking so long to visit. Apparently, the memories about me being the monarch's personal student and protege had been correct, and I had been sent here to oversee preparations for the festival celebrating the Sun Princess’s thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. She informed me that the library had been prepared for me to stay in during my visit, as my love of books was well known, but much to their surprise I hadn’t shown. They had chalked it up to a last minute change in plans, up until Spike had come stumbling into town. They got him to the hospital, however, before they could send somepony out to look for the two guards that had been with us or me. Darkness had enveloped the land as a mare straight from a pony’s worst nightmares descended upon the town. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for reasons unknown to me when Mayor Mare stated that the pony's name was Nightmare Moon and that she had claimed that she ‘disposed’ of Princess Celestia to take her rightful place upon the throne. I leaned my head back and sighed as I thought of the dark alicorn. I couldn’t help but feel like I knew more about what was going on than I could remember, and ever since the library had been mentioned I’ve been plagued with an almost unbearable urge to go there. Looking at the small green and purple ball curled up against my side, I once again contemplated sneaking out to go there. The sun hadn’t fully risen since I’d woken up, apparently being blocked out by the moon that Nightmare Moon controlled, so it would be easy to get there unseen. But Spike… the poor guy cried himself to sleep when he was finally allowed to see me, and none of the nurses have had the heart to separate us since. He swore I wasn’t breathing when he woke up from the crash and given my current situation, well… I’m inclined to believe him. Sliding carefully out from under the sheets, doing my best not to wake Spike, I gingerly lowered myself to my hooves and hobbled over to the nearest window. I had been surprised to learn upon standing that along with the memories of the previous owner, I had all of the instincts that came with this body. Much to my embarrassment that also included magic, as I discovered when I attempted to grab my dinner one evening and accidentally bashed myself in the face with the tray. Lighting up my horn, I unlatched the window and slowly pulled it open. Glancing over my shoulder once to make sure I didn’t wake Spike, I stuck my head out of the window and looked down. “Second floor, bushes below the window,” I mumbled to myself. “Not optimal, but doable.” Glancing to the side, I noticed a downspout from the hospital’s gutters running right next to my window. “As long as I can grip it, I should be able to use that to climb down,” I continued. “Worst case scenario, I can hopefully use my magic to catch myself.” Pulling my head back in, I took one more look around to make sure the coast was clear before turning around and carefully lowering my hind end out of the window. Resting both of my hind legs on the ledge, I was able to slowly shimmy myself backward until I was far enough back for gravity to do the rest. Once the entirety of my body was through the window, I used one foreleg to hold myself up while I reached for the downspout with the other. “Almost… there,” I grunted, stretching as much as I could. Managing to hook my foreleg around the spout, I attempted to swing myself over to the downspout before I remembered one very important fact; ponies don’t have fingers. Before I had a chance to shout in surprise, I dropped the remaining distance to the ground and landed flat on my back in the bushes. I laid on the ground for a time, mouth open in a silent scream as I waited for my breath to return to me. I could hear the sound of a few ponies walking, but thanks to the darkness and my position in the bush, none of them noticed me as they passed by. After taking a few minutes to get my breathing under control, I waited until I no longer heard any ponies and rolled out of the bush onto my hooves. Taking a quick look around to make sure nopony saw me, I continued on towards where I hoped the library was, doing my best to look nonchalant. ~   ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~   ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~   ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ “How hard is it to find a library in this town?” I grumbled to myself. “According to the mayor, it was pretty much impossible to miss, and besides that bakery, I haven’t seen any notable buildings.” “Maybe ya’d have an easier time if ya asked fer directions,” a voice spoke up from behind me. Yelping in surprise, I jumped and spun to face the speaker, my whole body throbbing in protest. “Oh, hey, Applejack,” I chuckled nervously, instantly recognizing the mare. “What are you doing out here so late? Er… early?” “Ah should be askin’ what yer doin’ out here, period,” Applejack said. “Mah friend Rainbow Dash here came n’ got me after she saw ya climbin’ outta yer window.” Looking past Applejack, I noticed she was flanked on each side by ponies. To her left was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, and to her right was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. “I wouldn’t call it ‘climbing,’” the rainbow-maned pegasus chuckled, “more like ‘falling.’” “Rainbow, be nice,” the yellow pegasus spoke in a kind gentle voice. “She could have been hurt!” Stepping around Applejack, she circled me while looking me over with a critical eye. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” the yellow mare asked. “I grabbed my first aid bag when Rainbow came to get me, but if you’re hurt we should really get you back to the hospital.” “Come on, Flutters,” Rainbow scoffed. “If she was that anxious to get out of the hospital that she’d throw herself out a window, I doubt she’ll want to go back.” “Ah still think we should take her back,” Applejack said, fixing me with a stern look. “She shouldn’t be outta bed, n’ she knows it.” “I don’t know,” Rainbow said, “if she’s willing to throw herself out of a second story window to get out, she must have a reason.” “That’s true,” Applejack said, glancing from Rainbow to myself, “what are ya doin’ out here, anyway? We followed ya fer a bit, but ya just kept goin’ in circles.” “Well, I was trying to find the library,” I said, looking around at the nearby building. “But, I just can’t seem… to… find it.” Looking back at the ponies in front of me, I trailed off when I noticed they were all pointing at a large tree right next to us. “That’s a tree,” I said, giving them a bewildered look. “It’s tha library,” Applejack responded. “But… it’s in a tree?” I asked, giving the tree another confused look. “Eeyup,” Applejack smirked, “carved right inta tha wood.” “That’s...“ I stammered trying hard to contain my mirth, “that’s just…” Despite my best efforts, a light giggle slipped out, and that giggle turned into a chuckle. It wasn’t long before I was laying on the ground, holding my sides as my raucous laughter echoed down the nearby alleys. “It hurts! Laughing hurts! Make it stop!” I laughed, tears gathering in my eyes. “But the library… the library is in a tree!” “I know!” somepony spoke up from beside me. Turning to my left, I saw a pink earth pony laying on the ground next to me laughing. “They took the books, which are made of trees, and put them inside of a tree!” the pink mare cackled. “It’s so morbid!” “I know!” I yelled back, tears streaming down my face. As I slowly got my laughing under control, it suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea who the pink earth pony laughing along with me was. “Uhm, excuse me,” I said through ragged breaths, attempting to get her attention “Ya-huh?” she said, turning to look at me. “Not that I didn’t enjoy the laugh,” I said, “in fact, I actually kind of needed that. I was just wondering… who are you?” “My name is Pinkie Pie!” the pink mare exclaimed excitedly. “I saw you walking through town, and I got super excited because you were finally out of the hospital! I was about to go and get your welcome party set up, but my tail told me you’d be needing my help.” “Uh… huh,” I muttered, turning to face the others. “Did any of you catch that?” “Just somethin’ ‘bout a party,” Applejack said, fixing Pinkie with a flat look, “but Ah’m not sure how good of an idea a party is right now, given the state a’ things.” “Are you kidding!?” Pinkie gasped. “With everypony so sad about Black Snooty taking the sun away, this is the perfect time for a party. How else will we keep everypony’s spirits up?” “By finding a way to get the sun back,” I said, turning to face the library. “And ya think tha answer is in there?” Applejack asked. “How exactly would you know something like that,” Rainbow Dash asked. In a flash of speed and color, she positioned herself in between me and the door. “Ya know something that the rest of us should?” “No, I don’t know much of anything,” I answered. “Or at least, not anything I can remember…” Leaning back on my haunches, I brought a foreleg up to my head and began rubbing my temple. “I keep having these flashes of memories… sounds, images, stuff like that.” I said, closing my eyes in concentration. “Like, I know, or I knew about Nightmare Moon before I came here, but I can’t remember how, or even what I knew.” “And what does that have to do with the library?” Rainbow challenged. “I don’t know,” I admitted, “it’s just, ever since the Mayor brought it up, I’ve had an almost irresistible urge to come here. Like something is telling me that all the answers I need to fix this can be found here.” “What do you mean ‘fix this?’” Rainbow asked, taking a step towards me. “The princess couldn’t stop whoever this is, what makes you think you can?” “How ‘bout instead a’ questionin’ her, why don’t we let ‘er show us?” Applejack suggested. “Alright, fine,” Rainbow Dash said, before turning to face me, “but I’ve got my eye on you.” Satisfied that she had gotten her message across, Rainbow Dash stepped to the side and let me pass. Giving her one last glance I walked past her, swerving slightly to give her a wide berth. As I approached the library, the door became encased in my light purple glow and slowly swung open the reveal the darkened lobby of the library.