//------------------------------//
// 3: of Books and Vegetables 
// Story: One Way 
// by jroddie 
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	Chapter 3

“Twilight?” I said jokingly. “What an odd name.”
“Zecora, thank you so much for bringing him here. I wouldn't really have trusted the musketeers to bring him back unharmed.” said Twilight, completely ignoring me as she nudged a clinking sack on her desk
“It is the least that I can do for a pony such as you.” said Zecora, putting the small sack in her saddlebags. Zecora continued on as she hurried out of the door. “Flight, I must take, for the musketeers will soon awake.”
I watched Zecora bustle out of the door as Twilight began to look through her books. I turned away as the door closed and looked at Twilight, and nearly shat myself as I saw a book floating in front of her face.
“W-what are you doing?” I stammered.
She glanced at me without taking her focus off of the book.
“Reading.”
“B-but why is it floating?!” I shouted.
She stood erect at this statement, taking her focus off of the book. She turned away from me to follow the book as it floated to it’s shelf. When it was placed on the shelf and I worked up a good fear sweat, Twilight brought her gaze to bear and studied me as if i was one of her books. I fidgeted under the force of her eyes. 
“It has been centuries.” said Twilight ominously.
“Centuries since what?” I asked 
“Since there has been a Ghost amongst us.” She whispered somberly. She spun around and mumbled 
“And even longer since a Numbered.”
This was confusing. Sure, I was dead, but i can touch things. I am pretty pale in this world, and I DO have a cutie mark that is a number. an ornate five. 
“Twilight, this kinda makes sense.” I decided, and she looked at me as if I just suggested that we should burn her library. 
“What?” her horn glowed and numerous books shot from their shelves, already open. I shuddered as her expression grew more confused.
“ But none of the others ever really understood.” she reasoned to herself, her eyes shooting from book to book. “And the only documentation of Numbered.... folklore... old mare tales...
“Hello?” I said.
Twilight studiously did not divert her attention away from her books. I began to realise that this might be a flaw in her character, and I sought to heal her of that. I trotted up to her desk, jumped up and slammed my front hooves on the nearest book. Her horn stopped glowing and all of the books fell as she looked up at me.
“Twilight! You tell me what is going on right now! I don't care what you aren't sure about! Because what I know about ME doesn't even hold a candle to what YOU know about me!” I shouted at her, leaning on one of her open compendiums with my hooves. She cringed away from me in fear. She looked like she was sobbing.
“I'm... I'm sorry Twilight.” I said, trotting over to her side of the desk.
“It’s just so confusing, waking up when I thought I was dead, in a world I do not know and with a body that isn't human...” I was getting closer to her. She looked deathly afraid of me. 
“Don't be afraid of me Twilight. I couldn't hurt anybody.” I tried to console her.
Twilight seemed to muster the courage to say “Anypony. Besides, you could destroy our entire town if you wanted to.” Her horn glowed, and a book floated over to me. 

Mysteriouse legends and monstrosities.

The ghoste is a fearsome creature, who arrives in Equestria by unbeknownste means. 
Under the guise of a pone, they stalk the countryside waiting fore disasters.
Ghosts are creatures of great power, able to connect to the very force of nature, not unlike pegasus ponies or the Princess on high. Ghosts manipulate the very threads of power to create what they see in their mind...

“You see now, Ed. We can learn so much about you, being in these modern times. There hasn't been a ghost in centuries, and...” Twilight flourished her hooves at me “Here you are.”
“But what about that Numbered stuff? What is that even mean?” I asked confusedly. 
“Well...” said Twilight doubtfully. I watched as Twilight made more books hover and spin, her face growing doubtful with each passing page.
“Well, Twilight?” I asked sarcastically
She looked at me and said:
“There really isn't any hard proof that they actually ever existed other than legends.” said Twilight. she continued: 	
“And those are abound in our region of Equestria as well as others.” in a matter of fact tone, her face still streaked with tears.
“I'm... sorry I stood on your books, Twilight.” I said shamefully.
She looked at me and smiled, then looked at the trodden-upon volume.
“It’s fine, just don't do it again, okay?” Twilight said jokingly.
Twilight looked back to her books. My stomach growled. Twilight looked at me grinned, and said 
“There is a fridge downstairs. I'm pretty sure that there is something in there for you.”
I looked around and found a staircase hidden behind one of the books. walking down stairs with this body was very hard, but apparently you just go backwards. After stumbling down the stairs, I found the fridge. I thought of my human life, and how this artifact was so commonplace there. Such a frivolous place, I realized when I died. so few have so much, when so many have so little. it is no use worrying about such things, I've noticed. staring at the fridge, contemplating mortality. 
Screw it, I want food. There was a large assortment of vegetables, and I leaned down to pick up a carrot with my mouth. Chewing was a bit difficult to get a hold on, but I figured it out. I only dropped the carrot three times. I heard Twilight call my name from the main room of the tree. I tried to climb up the stairs, and was rewarded to find that it was much easier to climb up than down. I had trouble not banging my hooves together, but I finally emerged in the large central room of the tree. Twilight was looking at me.
“Ed? I think you should sleep. you looked tired.” She said. There was definitely truth in that statement, I thought to myself. But I didn't know where I was going to sleep. Twilight seemed to pluck the thought out of my head when she said:
“I have a spare bed upstairs that you would be welcome to. I am afraid that I can’t go to sleep right now, I notified Princess Celestia about you and she bid me to go to the palace. I told Fluttershy to come meet you here in the morning.” Not even wanting to know who this Princess Celestia was, I decided to not look a gift... horse in the mouth. I grimaced at the bad pun as it formed in my mind.
“I-” I stammered. Twilight raised her eyebrows at me, quizzical in her bearing
“I h-hope i get to see you again, Twilight.” I said red-faced. she smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. she looked away from me as she said
“I hope I see you again too, Ed.” She said without emotion.
I paused, thinking. Finding the stairs on the edge of the tree, I climbed up to find two beds facing each other. Taking the one that wasn't purple, I crawled in and curled into a ball.

I dreamed. The dream was of twilight in a car as it crashed into a train. I watched the glass fly into her face, blinding her for the rest of her very, very short life...

I awoke screaming to sunlight outside my window. my lungs heaved as they prepared to exert themselves against a threat that wasn't there. I looked around, and found a small yellow pony in the corner, shuddering.

“I-I'm sorry... A-are you Fluttershy?” I asked, ashamed. the pony perked up at the name, and stood up.
“Yes, i am. you must be Ed, I think.” she said in a quiet tone. I smiled. This pony was so composed and shy, I couldn't help myself but laugh.
“What are you laughing about, Ed?” said the embarrassed pony softly. I grinned at her, she was such a soft spoken pony.
“Nothing. is it too early to show me around your town?”
“Do you want some breakfast first, Ed?” she said. My weakness. I haven't had food since Zecora’s seed rolls, and I don’t even know what counts as pony cuisine. That, and when she mentioned food, my stomach began to growl.
“Would you mind if I take you to breakfast before we see the town? If that’s alright with you and all...” replied Fluttershy to my stomach. It growled even louder at the proposition.
“Well, let’s go, then.” I said.

Fluttershy didn't go into the middle of the town like i thought she would, but instead followed a path around the back of the library, which led into a little alcove in the trees. We walked for about five or six minutes, then I saw  the most beautiful little cottage with a chicken coop next to it. It was one of those things that they just didn't have when i was alive.

“I take it that this is your house?” I inquired playfully, looking at Fluttershy. She nodded, saying 
“Oh, yes. I decided to eat breakfast up here, because I am not much of a fan of the food they sell in the town. N-not that it is bad or anything... My front door is broken so we have to go through the basement...”
“No, it’s fine. I would swear it has been eons since I have had good food.” I said bluntly. She smiled as she opened the door to her basement, and gestured me inside. I walked in cautiously, wiping my hooves on the doormat. inside of the house there was a wondrous assortment of burlap bags, cages, and tiny beds. I carefully edged my way over to a couch that was out of the way of all the things. 
“Oh, my... I'm  very sorry, this isn't very organized, I usually just fly over it, but I can clean it up...” she said, trying to cover for herself.
“It’s, perfectly fine, I'll figure a way out of here...” I said, jammed between a feed bag and a stack of beds.
“Are... are you sure?” she asked, skeptical of my reasoning.
“Um... yeah, just go do whatever, I'll be out in a second.” I awkwardly replied, finding myself inverted over an ornate cage.
“Well... okay then...” She said unbelieving, and flew into a different room of the cottage. I thought about how to get out of here, and closed my eyes. It would be a lot easier if there was just a straight path to the other room through all the clutter...

Sighing, I finally opened my eyes and couldn't believe what they told me. Apparently there WAS a path through the clutter, just not in the direction I was looking. Swearing at my own stupidity, I climbed over some more cages and beds and landed in a perfectly clear but small path through the clutter.

“I survived.” I said to Fluttershy as I climbed the stairs into the house. She looked at me, surprised, making what seemed to be vegetables of some kind.
“I thought it would have taken longer to get out of that, the way you were stuck.” said the yellow pony with a grin on her face.
“Not for the amazing Ed!” I declared, grabbing a spatula off of the counter, holding it like a sword. 
“Ed the experienced! Ed the extractor!” I swung my spatula, make believing that i was slicing through clutter.
Fluttershy was staring, ogling me, really. which was confusing.
“How are you holding that?” she asked innocently. I stared at her, simply trying to figure out how she could ask a question like that.
“What?” I asked incredulously.
“Oh, I just meant how are you holding that spatula?”  she asked in the same innocent tone. I looked in my hoof to see the spatula i was holding. come to think of it, i had never seen a pony hold something with one hoof before. 
“I don't really know...” I said, setting down the spatula on the counter. 
“Well, it doesn't really matter... it could have been magic...” she said, pondering the vegetables on the cutting board while holding the knife with two hooves.
“Wait! Try it again!” She said hurriedly, gesturing toward the knife. I was skeptical that i could do it when i intended to, but i would still try. 
“But don’t you have to have a horn to use magic?” I asked questioningly,  reaching for the knife. 

I touched it, and could feel the knife. Not just the part of the knife that was touching my hoof, but it was like the knife was a part of my hoof. Like how a leg or an arm was a part of me. I knew immediately that it would do whatever I wanted it to.

I looked at Fluttershy as i picked up the knife, raising it slowly into the air.

And started cutting vegetables.