//------------------------------// // Part III - Chapter 8: Friendship Problems // Story: Return of the Mare // by Victoria //------------------------------// Chapter 8 – Friendship Problems We didn’t linger on the platform any longer – Twilight invited us all to Canterlot Castle and Fields excused himself again. The princess promised to send Marcus home as soon as possible. She even offered me and Marcus to stay in the castle while she went to the College and tried to activate the Mirror portal. I, on the other hand, was going to stay in Equestria much longer. Unlike Marcus, I couldn’t just hop into the portal and come back out on the other side – I had to become a human first. Twilight was sure she could do it – eventually. According to her, she could turn me into a human right now, but she would have to renew the spell each hour so it wouldn’t wear off. Starswirl’s spell that he had woven into the Mirror’s magical structure fed off of powerful interdimensional energies. “So the main problem with that method is that you have to actually be between two dimensions for the spell to work,” explained Twilight, leading us to the castle through Canterlot’s busy streets, “But even Starswirl didn’t get it right the first time. His next attempt was more successful though–” “Wait a minute, are you saying there is another Mirror?” Marcus interrupted her. “Eh…Sorry for interrupting, Your Highness.” “You can just call me Twilight, please,” she said. “We’re not on some official meeting or anything. And I’m happy to answer your question! Yes, there is another Mirror, but it leads to a completely different world, believe me.” Marcus asked some questions about that world and the two started a lively discussion. Twilight told him that there was another dimension with humans in it, though they looked much different from Marcus. I stopped listening to them pretty soon. What was the point? Twilight had told me that it was impossible for me to become a human again in the near future and Marcus looked like he only cared about returning home, wishing to abandon me. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Starlight put a hoof on my withers in concern. “Nothing,” I answered sharply, but then looked at her apologetically. “Sorry…I’m just a little upset.” “I understand. You don’t want to be a pony,” nodded Starlight. “But really it’s not that bad.” I flicked my ear in annoyance. She didn’t understand me. I didn’t think being a pony was so bad. I kind of liked the ability of using magic and I wanted to learn more about it. But at the same time, I was afraid of losing Marcus if I stayed that way for long. I knew he liked me more as a human. “Why are you wearing a bedsheet, Anne?” Starlight asked after a while. “I don’t want to appear naked in public,” I answered and looked at her naked flank. “Although I see that you ponies don’t have a problem with that.” “Yes,” the pony agreed. “I noticed your human friend is fully clothed. But you don’t have to wear a bedsheet, you know. I can give you my jacket. My friend Rarity made me pack it when she found out where I was going, but you need it more than me.” “Really? It would be nice,” I was curious to try on some real pony clothes. A bedsheet clearly wasn’t supposed to be worn – it was almost slipping off my back and I had to adjust it constantly. We were finally approaching the Castle. Up close it looked even more impressive and even a little intimidating. A tall stone wall surrounded it, but the gates were wide open. Two guards who looked just the same as the one following Marcus around were guarding it. The only difference was the color of their armor – it was golden instead of the metal gray of our guard. He was still there, by the way. Twilight tried to dismiss him, saying that she would take care of Marcus if he suddenly went berserk, but the guard was unshakable. He claimed that he couldn’t leave until his captain gave the order. At least he offered to carry a bunch of bags that the Princess and her companion had with them as an apology. The castle guards were more agreeable though. Twilight approached them and waved and they let us all in without question, only throwing a side glance at Marcus. Directly behind the gate was a nice paved road among the trees. “The Royal Garden,” Twilight explained to us. “It goes all around the castle. The oldest tree here is exactly 238 years old – that was when the Garden was founded by Princess Celestia.” “Very interesting fact,” commented Starlight with a smile, though I noticed a tiny note of sarcasm in her voice. But Twilight seemed to miss it. “Exactly,” she nodded happily. She shared a few more “interesting” facts on our way to the castle, but only Marcus seemed to listen. They went forward while Starlight and I stayed behind them along with the guard that was following us. Soon we got inside and appeared in a large hall. A crimson rug under our hooves followed up the flight of stairs opposite to the entrance. Two stained-glass windows decorated the wall over the stairs’ landing: the left one pictured a sunny sky, the right one showed the night sky. Giant colorful flags hung on the walls, making the hall seem brighter. It was magnificent. Twilight led us to the side archway and after a long walk through the corridors of the royal castle, we finally stopped by a fancy door. “This is my room,” she told us, opening the door. “I always stay here when I visit Canterlot.” “Must be nice to have your own room in the castle,” Marcus commented. “It saves a lot of money on hotels for sure,” agreed Twilight with a smile. “They’re awfully expensive here in Canterlot.” “But you’re a princess,” Marcus said thoughtfully. “In our world that usually means you’re rich.” “I have money, but it doesn’t mean I should throw it around foolishly,” Twilight answered with a little frown. “Who wasted a hundred bits on that book just a few weeks back?” Starlight poked her on the side teasingly. “It was a very interesting book,” the Princess blushed noticeably and snuck into her room before Starlight could say anything else. We all followed inside, except for the guard, who dropped their bags into the room and took his position by the door. The room was nice, but it didn’t have the royal feel to it; instead, it felt like a working office. The furniture was of the highest quality, albeit very simple, without anything fancy. Practical – that was how I would describe the room. Twilight jumped on the couch and invited us to join. “I can get a few more beds in here and you all are welcome to stay until tomorrow. It’s getting late,” she said, looking both at me and Marcus. “But we have some time to talk until then. I would be delighted to hear about your world!” “What would you like to know?” asked Marcus, leaning back. “Oh, I prepared a whole list of questions on the train,” a long scroll flew out of Twilight’s bag and levitated in front of her. That was an impressive use of magic and I knew I could learn it too. After all, I blasted a dog into the bushes back at the forest; how hard would it be to move a paper scroll? While Marcus was answering a row of various questions, I decided to ask Starlight if she could explain to me how to use levitation. “It’s pretty easy,” she lifted a table off the floor and spun it around before putting it back in place, invoking a disapproving stare out of Twilight. “We’d probably better go out there.” She went to the far end of the room, levitating two chairs along. We both sat down on them comfortably. “I know you don’t remember anything about your past, so let me ask something first: have you already tried to summon your magic?” “I have, actually,” I said with pride. “I was attacked in our world – the human world – and was saved by an energy field. It blocked the dog that was trying to hurt me. That’s how I figured out I could do magic.” “So, a shield spell, huh?” Starlight raised her eyebrows. “It’s impressive. Not every unicorn can pull it off.” “Really?” I was surprised as well. “It just happened on its own. I tried to do it again later, but nothing happened. I managed to smash a lamp into the wall though.” “Good. It means you already know how to channel your magic,” Starlight leaned closer to me and levitated a feather onto her hoof. She put it on the floor in front of my chair. “Come on, try to move it, but don’t channel too much magic. You need just a tiny drop here.” That sounded simple enough. I settled in the chair comfortably and closed my eyes, concentrating on the task. My horn started to charge up with magic; I felt it growing hotter by the second. “You can stop now,” Starlight said, seeming a bit worried. “Hold the magic in your horn and use it to move the feather.” I tried to follow her instructions and carefully released just a tiny bit of energy, but instead of a small push, I blew the feather away. In my defense, the feather was very light. Holding magic in my horn was pretty exhausting – I was sweating under my improvised dress. “That’s good,” Starlight nodded in approval. “You definitely have the strength, but you need to work on the finesse. Also, don’t summon as much magic as you’re doing if you’re not going to use it.” Heeding her advice, I relaxed and slowly released my hold on the magic, letting it dissipate without any dangerous discharge. Starlight sat back in relief after I’d done that. She explained to me what I had done wrong and another try proved more successful. Turns out the more magic you summoned for the task, the harder it was to control it. Now I could keep the feather in the air and even move it in circles. It felt almost like holding it with my hand. A happy smile grew on my face. “You’re making progress, Anne!” Starlight smiled back. “I would be happy to teach you some more, but I’m afraid I won’t have the time. I have some business in town tomorrow that might take a while.” “Oh…” I dropped my ears slightly. Doing magic was about the only thing I liked about being a pony and talking about it with Starlight distracted me from some heavier thoughts. I threw a glance at Marcus – he was still answering Twilight’s endless questions. She was asking a lot about our culture, our country and even wanted to know about magic in our world. Marcus explained to her that it didn’t exist there as far as he knew. “Aren’t you curious about our world too, Starlight?” I asked, looking at the pony before me. “I am,” Starlight said, biting her lip. “It’s just…” Something was clearly bothering her. I encouraged her to go on with a friendly nod. Starlight drew a deep breath and said: “You see, the Map has sent me to Canterlot to solve a friendship problem for the first time. I’m afraid that I’m going to mess up somehow.” “The Map?” I repeated the word in confusion. After Starlight’s short but informative explanation, I understood what she’d meant. Apparently, there was a magical Map in Twilight’s castle that sometimes sent ponies on missions to solve a problem. There was one catch – the map showed you an approximate location, but you had to find the exact problem on your own. “I can keep you company if you want,” I offered to Starlight and she eagerly accepted. Marcus planned to go to the College with Twilight. She wanted to examine the portal to see if it could be reopened again, but I had no desire to go near that thing. What was the point if I couldn’t go through it anyway? I was also a little disappointed in my friend. He appeared so ready to just leave without me. He was basically abandoning me in this unknown world. Of course, Marcus had no obligation to help me – he had already helped me more than I could have hoped for. Maybe that was his limit. “Eh…Anne?” Starlight tapped my shoulder a few times. “Are you okay?” “What? Yes, sorry,” that was why I needed to get away from Marcus for some time to clear my head. Seeing him just reminded me that we couldn’t be together. “No, I can see that something is wrong,” Starlight narrowed her eyes. Lowering her voice, she continued: “It’s hard to ignore all those stares you’re giving your friend here. You two also haven’t exchanged a word since you’ve met us.” “That’s none of your business,” I said more sharply than I had intended. “We just had a little argument, that’s all.” Starlight drooped her ears and I immediately felt guilty. Just because I had some problems with Marcus I shouldn’t be rude to people – ponies – trying to help. To distract myself, I started to play with the feather, making it fly in the air. After a while, Starlight suggested I try to lift something heavier with my magic, like the chair she was sitting on. The difference between the two objects was obvious. I was grunting and straining myself, but the chair barely twitched. I recalled in frustration at how easily Starlight had carried two of them at the same time earlier. Now she looked at my tries with a smile of amusement. After my failed attempt, Starlight revealed me a secret. The heavier an object, the more magic I had to use to move it. Well, she could have told me that before my pointless struggle with a chair. “Annie, can you join us?” Marcus asked out of blue. “Twilight wants to ask how you activated the portal from our side.” I jumped off the chair and went to them. I deliberately chose a spot on the couch that was close to Twilight and far from Marcus to get some reaction. He didn’t appear to notice anything. “Marcus has told me you touched The Boulder with your horn and the portal appeared. Were you doing some kind of spell?” Twilight asked. “I doubt it,” Starlight threw in, jumping on the couch by my side. “She doesn’t know any spells yet. I just taught her some basic levitation.” “Well, she managed to get us here, so she must have done something,” Marcus mumbled under his breath, but I’d heard it. “Don’t say it like it’s my fault!” I exploded at him with a furious snort. “Whoa,” he threw up his hands. “I didn’t mean it that way.” I already felt ashamed for my outburst. I guess I was much more upset with Marcus than I had realized. Twilight opened her mouth in surprise – for her this had come completely out of nowhere. Starlight, on the other hand, put a hoof on my back, stroking it gently. “Sorry about that, everyone,” I mumbled, looking down. “What’s gotten into you, Annie?” Marcus asked with a confused frown on his face. Seeing it made me mad again. He didn’t even understand why I was upset with him! Was he expecting me to be jumping for joy after he had rejected my kiss and crushed my hopes? “You lied to me!” I pointed an accusing hoof at him. “You claimed to like me, but you don’t! You want to leave me here alone!” “You’re being unreasonable, Anne,” he spread his arms, shaking his head. “I really like you, but you…you’re not a human anymore. We can’t be more than friends.” I opened my mouth to make a retort, but Starlight’s hoof stopped me. He continued with a nod of thanks to her. “And I’m not leaving you alone. Twilight here –” the pony in question raised her hoof “– assured me that she would take care of you, while she researched some transformation spells in case you still want to become a human again. I helped you to get here and find the truth about who you are. But I wish to return home now.” “What your friend is saying is true,” Twilight patted me on the back gently. “I will help you both return home. I feel like it’s kind of my fault anyway because I was the one who helped to restore the Mirror.” “Don’t blame yourself,” Marcus said. “If it weren’t for you, Annie would have been stuck there as a pony with no hope. At least now she knows what’s going on.” I felt deflated like a punctured balloon. Tears streamed down my face as I sunk it into my forelegs, wetting them. I realized that I had been overreacting all that time. I let my emotions control me and turn me against my friend, who’d only wanted to help me. I sniffed and lifted my head up to look at Marcus, blinking hard to clean out the remaining tears. We looked each other in the eyes. It was time to apologize. To my surprise, he started first. “I’m sorry, Annie. You’re a good friend and I don’t want to lose that.” I let out a heavy sigh. I didn’t want to lose Marcus as a friend either. The problem was that I wanted him to be more than a friend. It would be better to suppress my feelings for the time being. Or at least try to. “I’m sorry too,” I said, breaking the eye contact. I just couldn’t handle it right now. “Buck,” Starlight murmured behind me, ruining the moment. Everyone in the room turned their heads in her direction to see her looking at her flank. She tore her gaze from it and smiled at us shyly. “I just thought that since you two have solved your friendship problem, my mission would be over. But I guess it’s something else.” “To be honest, they solved this problem mostly on their own,” Twilight shrugged. “The Map sends you only when your direct involvement is absolutely necessary.” “Huh?” Marcus voiced his puzzlement. I retold Marcus what Starlight had explained to me earlier about the Cutie Map, but there was something I still didn’t quite understand. “How do you know when the mission is over?” I asked the question that was bothering me. “Is there supposed to be some magical signal?” “In a way, yes,” nodded Starlight. “My cutie mark should glimmer if the Map’s quest is finished.” “Your cutie mark? I thought it was just some tattoo that everybody got.” “Everypony,” Twilight corrected me. “And a cutie mark is much more than that. You’re right that everypony gets one, but it’s not a tattoo – it’s a magical symbol representing your special talent. It appears on its own when a pony discovers it.” “If everypony gets one, then where is Annie’s mark?” Marcus pointed at my blank flank and looked at Twilight for an answer. “Green Fields mentioned this in his letter to me,” Twilight said. “He thinks it’s the result of a bad transformation spell and I think he’s right. I’m afraid you may have lost it forever.” She looked at me, drooping her ears. “What if it’s stuck somewhere in the Mirror?” Starlight suggested with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “Similar to what happened, you know, at my old village?” “That’s a good idea, Starlight,” Twilight smiled at her. “I will check it out tomorrow.” We talked some more about cutie marks before it got completely dark outside and Twilight suggested we should rest. I went to sleep feeling good that Marcus and I had talked out our problems, but at the same time I was upset we had remained just friends and nothing more. I suppressed these thoughts. Twilight could send him home tomorrow and I’d stay here for a while until Twilight found a way to turn me back into a human, but I shouldn’t waste my time going around feeling bitter at Marcus because of that. He was a good friend and would be an even better boyfriend one day, I was sure of it. *** I woke up from the sound of Twilight leaving the room. Everyone else was still asleep, so I got up, trying to be as quiet as possible. Marcus was sleeping close-by on the couch, even though Twilight had offered to get a bed for him, like she had done for me and Starlight. The pony was snoring from her own bed at the other end of the room. I wandered around the room purposelessly, thinking about what the new day would bring. Starlight had promised me to take me along on her mission to find the friendship problem, and I intended to use it to distract myself. Twilight returned soon with a bag stuffed with books and saw me. “Sundae…I mean, Anne,” she said, stumbling over my name, “Good morning. I brought along a few books that could help me with the mirror, as you can see.” There were much more than a “few” books that I could see in her saddlebag, but I decided not to mention it. “Good morning,” I nodded to her. “Do you think you’ll send Marcus home today?” “Honestly, I don’t know,” Twilight answered in slight concern. “We’ve tried everything to make the portal work before, but for some reason it didn’t work. I hope whatever you did in your world has fixed this problem.” At this point, the others started to wake up too. Starlight crawled out of her bed and stretched like a cat. She walked up to us. “Morning, everypony,” Starlight said. “Are you ready to go, Annie?” “Right now?” Twilight raised her eyebrows in surprise. “But we haven’t even had breakfast.” “We’re going to grab something to eat in town if that’s okay with Annie.” I gave her a nod, showing that it was fine. I realized that I’d eaten almost nothing yesterday except for grabbing something in the hospital; my stomach grumbled to remind me of that fact. “Before we go, though…” Starlight levitated her large bad towards her and took something out. It was a sky-blue jacket of a strange shape. I guessed it was designed specifically for a pony’s body. “I promised to give you this, so you don’t have to wear your bedsheet all the time.” “Oh, thanks, Starlight,” I pretended to be excited. The jacket looked nice and stylish, but I wanted something like a skirt to cover the back part of my new body. I was sure that those ponies wouldn’t understand my issue though, so I just put on the jacket with Starlight’s help without saying anything. She showed me to a mirror and it looked gorgeous on me, so I had nothing to complain about. “Wow,” I leaned closer to the mirror to see the jacket better. “It looks very expensive.” “It probably is,” agreed Starlight. “Rarity makes some great stuff, but I got this one for free as a gift. I want you to have it now.” “Really?” “Yes. Clothes are not really my style,” Starlight waved her hoof dismissively. “It would probably lie in my saddlebag forever anyway.” I admired the jacket in the mirror some more and then we finally went out. I decided to leave the bedsheet that I had worn yesterday in the room, not wishing to upset Starlight. It was a lot of trouble wearing the slippery thing anyway. If I was going to stay here for the time being, I had to follow the local customs. There was no guard outside of our room – the pony who had followed us all day had finally left us alone. His superiors probably decided that Marcus was trustworthy if the princess herself thought so. I followed Starlight out of the castle and into the city. Soon we were trotting through the streets of Canterlot. According to Starlight, it was hard to find some good food in Canterlot because of a new weird food trend that more and more restaurants had followed, but she knew a good place for a snack, though it was pretty far from the castle. Starlight explained to me the basics of magic as we walked. She told told me about some of the awesome spells she could do and the most amazing thing about all that was that I could learn to cast them. At least in theory. She warned me that it wasn’t easy. In fact, most unicorns lived their whole lives not bothering to learn more than a few basic spells. Starlight offered to teach me a thing or two while I stayed in this world, but I wasn’t sure how to respond. What was the point of learning all that if I was going to be turned into a human and lose all those awesome magic abilities I had – I shook my head to shake off these thoughts. I shouldn’t doubt my desire to be a human. I shared my thoughts with Starlight. “You should be ready for any turn of event,” she said, carefully watching my reaction. “Even if Twilight manages to make a spell powerful enough to turn you into a human for a long time, it wouldn’t be permanent – no transformation spell is. You would have to come back here to renew it.” “I’m ready for that,” I said determinedly, hiding the doubt I had. “Well, okay then…” We switched to other topics after that. Starlight told told me a little about Twilight. She sounded like a great pony, which could be confirmed by my own observation of her. She and her friends had saved Equestria from a lot of dangerous threats even before she had become a princess. Starlight had been one of those enemies once, she mentioned briefly. I was very surprised to hear that, since she looked like a pretty nice pony so far and I had a hard time imagining her being on the same level as some powerful monsters. I asked for more, but Starlight was reluctant to tell, so I decided not to press on the obviously painful issue. “How far is your place?” I asked a more casual question after my stomach grumbled again. “Relax, we’re almost there,” Starlight pointed her hoof at the long row of restaurants with a three-hoof sign hanging over them. I trotted forward happily and turned towards the first one I saw, but Starlight stopped me and led me past all of them into a small alley. I looked at the restaurants longingly, but I followed Starlight anyway – she probably knew better. The sight in front of me was not disappointing. It was a much more colorful building than the ones on the main street, which all looked the same. Orange walls were covered by a yellow pattern, which gave the restaurant an Indian appearance. An elephant head drawn over the entrance door added to the impression. “You have elephants in here?” I asked in surprise, looking at the picture. “Of course,” answered Starlight like it was the most obvious thing, “Well, not exactly here, they actually inhabit the lands pretty far on the east. But I suppose you meant our world.” I nodded. If our worlds had animals that looked the same, it could mean only one thing – we were in some parallel world. Maybe evolution here went differently and ponies – rather than humans –had become the dominant species. Then I remembered mentions of other species as well, but it didn’t change my conclusion. “How many sapient species do you have in your world?” I asked out of curiosity. “Let me see,” Starlight said thoughtfully, leading me into the restaurant. “We have ponies, obviously. There are also gryphons, dragons, minotaurs…Twilight would probably remember them all, but I would have to look it up. There are a lot of them.” “Wow,” was my reaction. In our world we had only humans. Though there were curious legends about each of the mentioned creatures, which supported my theory. Maybe our world had had them too a long time ago, but they had been forgotten and only legends and myths had remained… We settled on the table by the window without trouble, since we were the only guests at this place. A dark orange pony with a brown mane and a sad expression, changing into a smile at our sight, approached us. “My name is Saffron Masala,” the pony introduced herself. “I’m the chef here at The Tasty Treat, the most exotic cuisine in Canterlot. Would you like to make your order?” “We’ll have two of your curried oat cakes,” Starlight said after asking me if that was okay. I didn’t mind, since I didn’t know what the local ponies ate. The order arrived soon and we talked about my life in the human world while eating a delicious oat cake. Starlight was curious to hear about my life there at first and I tried to answer her questions honestly. “So it was pretty boring,” Starlight summarized my life story. “Sorry, that sounded a little rude.” “It’s okay, you’re right anyway,” I shrugged calmly. “It was the reason why I always liked fantasy books.” “If that’s so, why do you want to return so badly?” I couldn’t answer her question immediately. Really, why? If I stopped to think about it, there was nothing for me but my hated work at the store. The only good thing there were my foster parents and Marcus. I realized that didn’t that I didn’t mind being a pony quite as much as I had done yesterday, when Marcus and I had been fighting. “I guess Marcus is the reason…” I said slowly, analyzing my emotions. “I’ve always liked him, but we were just friends. But then we went on our first date together and he said he’d always liked me too. It was the same day I was changed into a pony. We can’t be more than just friends while I’m a pony.” “You shouldn’t change who you are because of that,” Starlight told me. “If he doesn’t want you as a pony, it’s his loss.” I shrugged noncommittally. Maybe she was right. We finished the pie and Starlight ordered me a new one because I was still hungry. “You said earlier that you have no memories of your past,” Starlight looked at me and I confirmed it with a nod. “What if you got them back?” Getting my memories back was something I had always wanted, until I had found out the truth about my past. Now I was a little scared by the possibility. “I don’t know,” I told her with a sigh. “The doctors told me they would return eventually, but even after six years have passed I still don’t remember anything.” “But that wasn’t really your world,” Starlight smiled. “There was nothing to trigger your memory. Perhaps if you met some of your old friends…” My old friends, right. Mister Fields had told me that a few of them had been on the expedition with me, when I was sucked into the mirror. He also mentioned that I wasn’t the only one to get into the mirror, but the other pony had managed to return before it was too late. She recovered later, but quit the job and he had never heard from her again. “I’m not sure about that,” I shook my head in doubt. “Why not?” Starlight looked at me in confusion. I didn’t want to share my fears, so I just shrugged instead, finishing the last bits of my curried oat cake. “It’s worth a try at least,” Starlight told me decisively. She called the chef and paid up for our pies, preparing to leave. “Tell your friends about our place if you liked it!” Saffron called out to us when we were at the door. We both nodded to her reassuringly and went outside. Starlight trotted forward determinately with me trying to keep up behind her. She explained her plan to me on the way. As I had expected, Starlight wanted me to meet one of my old friends, but to do that we had to find out her name first. Mister Fields was just the pony who would know such a thing, since he had known me in the past. Soon we were on an uphill road that I immediately recognized as the one leading to the College. I looked back to once again enjoy the view of Canterlot. It was still as amazing as yesterday. Starlight stopped to wait for me to catch up. We went straight for the main building of the College, trotting past the student ponies. No one was giving me a weird look now that I had ditched my bedsheet. Instead, some ponies even looked at my fancy jacket with some admiration. Starlight obviously knew the way to Mister Fields’ office, probably because she had visited here with Twilight before. Thankfully, the pony was at his workplace when Starlight knocked on his door. “Go in, it is open,” a grumpy voice answered from the inside. Fields’ annoyed expression changed to a smile when he saw Starlight and me though. “Ah, Ms. Glimmer and Sundae,” he stood up from his chair to greet us. “It is good to see you. Your human friend and the princess were here just before you.” Starlight shook his hoof and I repeated her action as well. “Actually, we’re here to talk about something else,” Starlight said. “We want to know about some of Sundae’s old friends.” “Ah, I wondered if you would,” he said, settling back on his chair. He opened a drawer and took a piece of paper out. “I wasn’t very close to you, Sundae, but I remember your friends from the expedition. I’ve only managed to find one so far.” I looked at the list and saw just one name – Blue Ruby – and a line with the address. That name was not ringing any bells. Perhaps I should meet that pony in person to remember anything. “That’s very helpful of you, Fields,” nodded Starlight approvingly. “Thank you.” “Always happy to help,” he smiled. *** We went straight for the place in the address after finishing our short meeting with Mister Fields, though we made a quick visit to Twilight in the Mirror lab on the way. She was there with Marcus, who looked bored and didn’t even notice us at first. Starlight told her about her plan, at which Twilight answered with a hmm. Now that we were coming closer to the address, I was getting more nervous with each step. Soon I would meet a friend that I didn’t remember; I was afraid of upsetting her if I didn’t recognize her. She probably didn’t even know I was alive. I took notice of how I was referring to Sundae as myself already. It meant I was starting to really accept that I had been a pony in the past. For god’s sake, I was a pony right now! Everyone in this world knew me as a pony, but I still felt like a human inside, though not as strongly as before. I wondered if that would change if my memories returned. Starlight, on the other hoof, appeared excited. Her trot was full of energy. She probably thought that my situation was the friendship problem she had been sent to solve. And seeing how troubled I was – she may be right. The address was on the other side of Canterlot, so it took us some time to reach it. The quarter was worse off than the rest of the city. Some houses here were in poor condition, with boarded up windows; the paved road that we were walking on was missing a lot of stones. “That doesn’t look reassuring,” murmured Starlight. I agreed. If that pony, Ruby, lived somewhere here, it wasn’t a good sign. Starlight searched for a street sign and found one lying lonely in the corner. We were on the right street; now we had to find the right house. After going back and forth a few times, we finally saw it. A simple stone house, no different from any other in the neighborhood. Maybe a tiny bit cleaner. Starlight walked up to the door and knocked hard. We received no answer even after she knocked a couple more times. Finally, she turned around to face me. “Ruby is probably at work,” Starlight said. “Too bad Fields didn’t tell us anything about it. I guess we will have to wait here until she’s back.” I looked around the street in reluctance. I had no desire to stay here more than I had to. In fact, I didn’t really want to meet that pony in the first place. “Maybe she doesn’t even live here?” I offered a hopeful theory. Starlight threw a glance at the house and shrugged. “Well, the place doesn’t look abandoned, so at least someone should live here,” she said. “But we can stroll around the city instead of just waiting here, if you want.” “Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” I said with relief in my voice. We spent the next few hours doing exactly what we had planned. Starlight showed me the most interesting parts of Canterlot. We visited Starswirl the Bearded’s old house, which had been turned into a museum. Starswirl was the one who was in some way responsible for my situation, so I wanted to know more about him. There weren’t any really dangerous artefacts like the mirror portal, but I still was able to see plenty of interesting stuff. Starswirl lived modestly, without unnecessary luxury. I wouldn’t have even guessed a great mage of the past had lived there if I hadn’t been told specifically. After that, we went back to the castle and enjoyed being in the Royal Garden for a while. It was a good weather for just walking in the shadow of the trees. I mentioned it to Starlight. “Yeah, the pegasi have scheduled sunny weather for the rest of the week,” she threw in casually. “Do they work as forecasters?” I asked curiously. Starlight chuckled seeing my confusion. “They actually make the weather here,” she explained. “Twilight has told me about the other world that she’s visited and the weather worked on its own there. I’m guessing your world is like that too?” “Wow, so ponies can control the weather?” “Not any pony, only pegasi,” said Starlight. “But yeah.” I didn’t know if I should be either surprised or just take it for granted. This world had magic, portals and talking ponies; why not controlled weather? “That must be cool,” I said, looking up at the clear sky. “You would always know when it’s going to rain, so you won’t get wet.” Starlight told me more about the weather in Equestria while we relaxed on a bench. According to her, each town in Equestria had a pegasi team who controlled the weather over their town. They created clouds and could move them around to make it rain in that specific area. I could see how useful it could be for farming. Speaking of food – I was feeling hungry again. I didn’t want to bother Starlight with that though, not when there was so much tasty-looking greenery around. Ponies are supposed to eat grass, right? Picking a moment when Starlight wasn’t looking, I snatched a lone leaf out of a tree and chewed on it. The taste was…weird. It was edible, I guess, but it wasn’t something I would eat for dinner every day. Starlight looked back at me in surprise. “Why are you eating leaves?” she asked. I quickly swallowed the rest and chuckled nervously. “Isn’t that what ponies are supposed to eat?” I said, blushing heavily. “Well, no,” Starlight corrected my error. She explained in detail how wrong I was to think so and even gave me an example of delicious food from the kitchen that she had managed to get somehow. It was the best salad I had ever tried – much better than a leaf from a tree. “So you can’t just eat any random green thing you see on the street,” she told me. “Ponies can eat those, of course, but nopony in their right mind would do that.” Starlight was a little disturbed when I had asked about meat. Of course, I knew ponies didn’t eat that, but I just wanted to be sure. She told me that gryphons sometimes ate meat, but they tried not to do that in Equestria in front of ponies. “It’s the time when most of the ponies are finishing their work and going home,” finally said Starlight, switching from that disturbingly carnivorous topic. “We can go to Ruby now.” I had just begun to relax when Starlight brought that up. My mood shifted for the worse. But we had decided that I had to meet my old friend and there was no escape now, despite how unsure I felt. Starlight supported me with a gentle tap on my back, seeing my worry. “I understand that it may be hard,” she said. “But I’m sure it would be for the best.” We walked to Ruby’s home for the second time today, but this time I was sure to find her there. The neighborhood appeared more active, but the local ponies weren’t looking any better than their shoddy houses. When we got to the place, instead of knocking on the door herself, Starlight offered me to do that. She told me it would be better if the first thing Ruby saw at her door was me. I wasn’t happy about that prospect, but I trotted to the door determinedly and rapped my hoof on it. An azure-coated mare with a green mane opened it. She looked tired and her coat didn’t look as nice as Starlight’s or even mine. I would guess that life wasn’t treating her well, judging by her appearance alone, even ignoring the neighborhood she was living in. The pony looked at me indifferently the first few moments, but then she gasped and her eyes flew wide open. She tried to keep her composure though. “C-can I help you?” the pony asked in a flattering voice. I stayed there, not knowing what to say. Ruby, which I assumed was her, obviously recognized me, but I didn’t. It was a tough situation. Gladly, Starlight helped. “Are you Ruby?” she asked, standing beside me. “Do you remember Sundae?” The pony’s gaze snapped towards me and she looked into my eyes intensely. I froze in place, not daring to say anything. “Sundae?” Ruby asked weakly. “Is that really you?” It wasn’t an easy question to answer. Despite everything telling me that I was Sundae the Pony, I still felt like Annie the Human. But I didn’t want to disappoint Ruby, seeing her insanely hopeful eyes. “I guess I am,” I sighed. I barely managed to let the phrase out as I was tackled to the ground and squeezed so much that it was hard to breathe. It continued for a full minute before I gently tried to get out of her deadly grip. The pony let me go reluctantly and put me back on my hooves. Wow, it looked like she was really happy to see me. The problem was that I couldn’t remember her at all. Starlight was wrong; seeing my old friend hadn’t managed to return my memories. I wanted to tell her that, but then I looked into her smiling face and couldn’t bring myself to do that. I didn’t want to take away her happiness. “Well, that answers my question,” said Starlight with a big smile on her face. I smiled too, but it was forced. I switched my gaze nervously between Starlight and Ruby and they noticed my discomfort. Their happy expressions were quickly replaced with more sober ones. “What’s wrong?” Ruby asked, drooping her ears. I looked at the ground silently and Starlight stepped up to answer the question. “Sundae’s lost her memories of the past,” Starlight addressed the issue directly. “She hasn’t even been a pony for the past six years.” “Oh…” We stood in silence on the street for a few moments, when Starlight suggested we go into the house. Some ponies on the street had already started to give us some weird glances. Ruby managed to keep her emotions in check and made a gesture for us to follow inside. She closed the door after us and we followed through the short corridor right into the living room. It was clean, but that was the only good thing I could say about it. I didn’t trust that old couch to hold my weight– it looked like it was about to fall apart on its own. The rest of the furniture wasn’t in better condition. Ruby invited us to sit down, so I carefully climbed on it, despite its poor state. It creaked loudly, but remained standing. Starlight sat on the floor beside the couch though, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t sure it would hold one more pony. “Sundae, I’m so glad to see you alive, even if you don’t remember me,” Ruby said, jumping onto the couch to my side, completely destroying my assumption about its toughness. She gave me another hug, though not as powerful as the first one, but this time I returned it. Her happiness was contagious. I teared up against my will – she was so happy to see me and I wasn’t even able to remember her. “Ruby…I’m sorry…” I sobbed. “I promise to do everything I can to remember you.” After one last squeeze she let me go and looked at Starlight questioningly. She gave me the cue, so I introduced them to each other, though Starlight already knew Ruby’s name. Starlight retold Ruby my life story for the past six years. I listened to it too – it was good to hear the story from a different perspective. I didn’t didn’t even have to correct her that often, since she had learned it pretty well. “It’s the Doctor!” exploded Ruby after Starlight had finished. It was so unexpected that I’d have fallen off the couch if she hadn’t grabbed me in time. “Sorry, Sunny. It’s the Doctor,” she repeated more calmly. “Do you want me to see a doctor?” I asked dumbly. “No, silly, Doctor Shade!” she repeated as if she was expecting me to know this name. Her ears went flat. “Oh, you don’t remember him…Anyway, I always knew he had something to do with your disappearance. Rose, the pony who went through the Mirror first, had no memory troubles after she had recovered, though she lost her cutie mark, just like you…” she threw a sad glance at my empty flank. “He was the leader of your expedition, right?” Starlight asked. “Yes, he was,” Ruby nodded. “Sundae couldn’t have lost her memory on her own; the Doctor must have had something to do with it. He’d always hated her.” Starlight considered that for a moment and said thoughtfully: “There are forbidden spells that can have such an effect, but Shade isn’t even a unicorn. How in Equestria would he have pulled it off?” “He had an accomplice!” Ruby stomped her hoof on the couch, which made it shake menacingly. “I forgot the pony’s name though. I tried to tell everypony, but they all believed the Doctor. I lost my job because of it.” “Well, that’s a pretty serious accusation, but I think you may be right,” said Starlight with a frown. “I expected Annie, or Sundae if you will, to remember something after seeing you, but the fact that she didn’t tells me it wasn’t a natural memory loss. Something is blocking her memory from surfacing.” After meeting with Ruby, I realized that I wanted to remember my past more than anything. Who knew if there was another friend who thought that pony Sundae was gone forever, not to mention something that I didn’t want to think about at all – my pony parents. I didn’t ask and no one told me, but I knew they were out there. “Starlight, I have to ask you something,” I turned to face her. “Can you return my memories? I think I’m ready to be a pony now.” Something flickered on Starlight’s behind after I’d said it. We all looked there at her shimmering cutie mark that symbolized her finished mission, as she had explained to me earlier. “So that what was it,” Starlight said, curious. *** Ruby offered us some tea with cookies and we stayed at her house until the evening. She was an interesting and nice pony and I was becoming friends with her even without my old memories. But it was time to return to the castle. I was kind of worried that Marcus had left for our – his – world without saying goodbye, even though I was sure he wouldn’t do that to me. Starlight offered Ruby to go with us and stay at the castle for tonight. She said that Twilight would be interested to hear more about her theory and maybe even do something about the Doctor, who, as Ruby suspected, had done something to me. Ruby was reluctant to go at first, saying it wasn’t safe to travel through her neighborhood at such a late hour, but Starlight assured her she was able to handle any trouble. Happily, it wasn’t needed. When we arrived back at the castle, it was already dark and the gates were closed. The guards at the gates recognized Starlight though and let us in without question. Ruby eagerly looked around, taking in every detail. It was a stark contrast to her own home and she was amazed at the splendor inside. I’d probably had the same reaction as her when I had seen it for the first time. Twilight was in the room with Marcus. They didn’t look happy. I had a terrible feeling in my gut that something had gone wrong and Twilight confirmed it. “I wasn’t able to activate the portal again,” she said quietly. “I also wasn’t able to find your cutie mark in it. I was doing my best all day, but I just don’t know what’s wrong with it.” I looked at Marcus, who appeared devastated by the news. I was already getting used to the idea of staying in this form for a while, but he had planned to return and now he was stuck like me. Ruby and I trotted to him, leaving Starlight to discuss the technical details with Twilight. I approached him and nuzzled his hand gently. He looked at me in surprise. “I’m sorry, Marcus,” I sighed. “It’s my fault I dragged you into this…” “Don’t blame yourself,” Marcus and Ruby said both at the same time. They exchanged curious glances with each other and Marcus continued. “I wanted to help you and I don’t regret it. I’m sure Twilight will find a way to send me back soon.” “Of course she will,” nodded Ruby. “She’s the Element of Magic after all.” Starlight had told me about the Elements while we were exploring Canterlot, but Marcus wasn’t there, so I repeated her story to him. Ruby was interested in it as well, since she knew it only from the press while I had been told about it almost first hoof, so to say. “I’ve met the big pony princess today, by the way,” Marcus mentioned, wishing to change the topic to distract himself. “She came to talk with Twilight.” “Princess Celestia?!” Ruby gasped. “You’re so lucky!” Twilight heard that and approached us along with Starlight. She introduced herself to Ruby, though I was pretty sure she had already recognized the princess. “I asked Princess Celestia if she knows something about Starswirl’s work, but she couldn’t help us,” Twilight looked at Marcus in concern. “She offered you two to stay here at Canterlot Castle if you want, but I would appreciate it if you went with me to my own castle in Ponyville. Green Fields has allowed me to borrow the mirror and I plan to work on it in my own lab until I fix it.” “Thank you, Twilight,” sighed Marcus. “I appreciate it. But how about Annie?” Twilight looked at me expectantly. I guess Starlight had told her about my decision to stay as a pony and she wanted me to share the news with Marcus personally. “I…I’ve decided to stay here for the time being,” I explained to him. “I mean, I already had to stay here because I couldn’t return while looking like a pony, but now I want to stay because I want to remember my past. Remember how to be a pony.” Marcus wasn’t overly surprised by this revelation. He was interested, however, when I got to Ruby’s theory about how I had lost my memory. Twilight turned thoughtful too. “That makes sense,” she said. “I assumed the memory loss to be the result of a psychological trauma, but a spell sounds more likely.” She turned to Ruby. “So you think Doctor Shade had something to do with it?” “I do, but nopony believed me,” Ruby complained to us. “He became a legend after our expedition that was led by him found Starswirl’s old lab, so no one listened to me.” “I remember it; I was still in school at the time,” said Twilight. “I’ve heard about the tragedy on the expedition – the pony who got lost in the Mirror. That’s why I had always wanted to study it in person. Don’t worry, I’ll bring him to justice if he had something to do with all of this,” her face turned to a stern frown as she said it. “On a brighter note – we’re returning to Ponyville tomorrow. I need to know your decision, so that I can buy you the tickets in advance.” Marcus and I exchanged glances and we both nodded affirmatively. Marcus saw no point in staying here without Twilight, while I wanted to ask Starlight to teach me to use serious magic. I was only worried about my new old friend Ruby. If I went to Ponyville, we wouldn’t be able to see each other very often. Fortunately, that problem solved itself. “I’m quitting my job and going to Ponyville too,” Ruby stated. “I don’t want to lose you again, Sundae.” “Is she one of your old pony friends?” Marcus suddenly asked. I realized that I had forgotten to explain who Ruby was to him. I wanted to explain it, but Ruby took the matter in her own hooves. “I’m her best friend,” she said proudly and offered her hoof to him. He bumped it with his fist unsurely. “And you’re the human who helped her to return?” “Yeah…” After that, Twilight offered Ruby to stay the night with us. Ruby agreed and Twilight got one more bed for her. The room was pretty big, but with four ponies and one human in it, it was becoming a little crowded. When the matter of sleeping arrangements was taken care of, I asked something that had been bothering me. “Are you sure you want to quit your job just like that?” I swiveled my hoof in the air. “I mean–” “I know what you mean, Sunny,” Ruby interrupted me. “But you’re more important to me than some lousy job. Besides, I was going to quit anyway. I’m sure there are better jobs for me in Ponyville.” “She can stay at my castle too until she can find her own place,” Twilight offered from her couch. “Celestia knows, I have a lot of free room there, even considering the new guard detachment that’s going to move in soon.” Ruby looked at the floor, lowering her ears a little. I put a calming hoof at her shoulder and she twitched it, but looked at me with a tiny smile. “Thank you, Princess,” she turned her eyes back to her. “But I wouldn’t want to impose on you. I have some money saved to rent my own room to live until I get a job.” It was a silly idea and Starlight told her exactly what was on my mind. Together, we managed to convince her to accept the offered help. To be honest, her behavior reminded me a little of my own. I went to sleep feeling much better than I had been the morning. I’d met my old, forgotten friend, reconciled with the other and had made friends with Starlight. If Starlight’s magical map had sent her here to solve my friendship problem, it was doing a terrific job. Tomorrow I would leave for Ponyville and was probably going to stay there for a while, but now this prospect didn’t scare me. I wanted to remember who I was in the past, wanted to learn more about magic and the most important part – I had finally accepted being a pony.