//------------------------------// // Desire chapter three: You and I have Memories // Story: Desire // by frutineo //------------------------------// Chapter 3 You and I have memories All the mares and fillies gathered at the main room of the library had their eyes over the stallions that were getting some drawing supplies. "As I have already told you, I was a Student in Canterlot, I remember how hard it was to concentrate when you only like to read novels instead of magic books, and being the adventurous and bold colt that I was" he turned to see if Twilight Sparkle´s expression had changed, and it had, now she had a thoughtful expression, just as he had predicted. "I wandered into the basement of the Great Canterlot Library" "Wait, what? Where you insane? The basement is a deep maze to take care of the most important books, if you are lucky Celestia could rescue you, if you are not too deep in it you can get out by yourself" interrupted Twilight. "As I said; I was quite the foal, so as I was there trying to get out I actually managed to get to the center of the labyrinth and out of boredom I entered, it did not surprised me that it was empty except for the books, I thought there could be some kind of novel or something I could read, all I could see was ancient books and some that where in the middle of translation from ancient equestrian to actual equestrian, in the midst of it where some potion books that had already been translated, there was a potion and concoction tome, it had this recipe for a ink that could draw in mid air" "Hold it sugar cube you saying this magic here can draw in mid air?" "It is more a mix than it is magic and it did not last more than 1 hour in the original mixture, I had to travel to faraway lands to get some of the ingredients, anyway after analyzing it, experimenting and a lot of…. Mistakes I managed to create this paints and Soft Edge also managed to crate the spell we are going to present" he looked at Soft Edge and nodded. Soft Edge started drawing with a pencil the outlining of a coat and a hat on the floor of the library, used a brush to mix some of the paint and drew the inside of the garments, finally he just concentrated his magic at the drawing and suddenly it somehow lifted itself and gained dimensions, no pony or dragon except for the stallions could believe what they saw, Twilight stepped closer to look and analyze this object, she touched it, while it felt that existed, it felt quite unreal at the same time, almost as if it was just telekinetic magic holding…. Air? She could not describe what this sensation was and before she could dwell deeper into that matter the coat and hat floated away from her and over Apple Bloom it fit her a bit loosely. Twilight both admired and confused just spoke "you have got to be kidding me it is even a perfect fit, how do you do that?" "Well" shyly started Soft Edge "it is just that after drawing a lot I got an eye for dimensions and measures, I just estimated her size and I tried to do get it to fit her though I seem to need more practice" "Never mind that dear you have a wondrous talent I do not seriously think there is anypony else in Equestria who could do that spell why you could do so much more than that, that magic could certainly help me in my boutique" Rarity eloquently told Soft Edge as he just blushed and tried to his embarrassment between his hooves. "Well A Thank yah mister" "Call me Soft Edge little Apple Bloom" "Amazing" "so cool" where the expressions used by the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and a now amazed Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. It should have been impossible for somepony to blush to the point of looking like a tomato but Soft Edge managed to do so when he heard those words "I… I don't think it is that great" "Sugarcube, please do not try to hide that talent of yours, maybe yah don't want to brag about it but at the very least acknowledge it let me tell yah that this here Twilight" Applejack said holding Twilight Sparkle in her leg "was once behaving like yah did but she learned something valuable" "Applejack is right, if you have a gift or something you can do that not many ponies can you must feel proud of it, do not hide it and you certainly most not boast about it you must acknowledge and share it with your friends" added Twilight Sparkle. Soft Edge relaxed a bit and gave them a soft smile "thank you, I will most certainly will, so any other pony ready to get a suit done?" "Please make me look like a princess" asked an excited Sweetie Bell "pleeeease" Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo talked at the same time "Make me a Wonderbolt" both of them blinked and looked at each other smiling Hardcover chuckled a little and told the ponies in front of him "well there might be a problem there, we only offered these drawings to the fillies, but we only promised detective suits if you want something special I will have to ask my princess for permission" "What?" asked Rainbow Dash "why would you need Princess Celestia's permission to do that?" Hardcover smiled slightly "not that princess" he turned to Twilight Sparkle, she became surprised and blushed lightly. "Princess Luna?" asked Scootaloo. "Close but no cigar" "Princess Zelda?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Eeeh" he paused himself analyzing the question "what?" "Don't mind her she's just being Pinkie Pie" clarified Rainbow Dash. "Ok, very well you see a long time ago I received the title of knight from a cute little princess" he cleared his throat "I am the knight Cover the bold and I serve only the wishes of Princess Sparkle the Pretty" he said as he bowed in front of the purple librarian "please tell me o princess what are thou orders" Everypony was now looking at the purple mare who was nostalgic, happy and she was sniffing a little but that expression soon changed, she wore a face similar to that of Princess Celestia and she even tried to make her tone sound as gracious as the one the Princess used "you may rise" she touched his cheek with her hoof and he slowly did so Twilight gave him a look none of her friends had seen on her "your friend shall draw the Cutie Mark Crusaders the detective coats that were promised earlier and nothing more" a duet of aaaaw were heard and she continued "for even if they did not harm you, their crimes rage in between false accusations, holding a knight against his will, attempted kidnapping and so on, they will have to like their detective coats else they want to use prisoner garments" she eyed the Crusaders. The 3 nodded furiously and after some time they were more than happy with their coats but they were as confused as the rest of the ponies in the room they demanded some kind of explanation for this little play, Hardcover promised them to explain things. All the ponies sat at the center of the library except for the 2 stallion unicorns as they were preparing a makeshift stage that consisted on just a long parchment paper, Soft Edge took the special ink and threw it to the piece of paper and used his magic to levitate them, at the same time Hardcover linked his magic to Soft Edge's and he started his tale "it was almost 10 years ago I remember" the ink started to move and it drew pictures as if by the wish if imagination was moving the liquid to match a memory "I was six at the time and you must have been 5, it was a few weeks after the Summer Sun Celebration and the tryouts at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, we had been interrupted because somepony went out of control and destroyed the room we were supposed to use for the test" Twilight Sparkle laughed nervously and quickly adverted her eyes back and forth at her sides, Hardcover noticed that but decided to continue his story before he could ask any question "well, my test went like yours, hatching of a Dragon egg that had been donated by a dragon from the eastern kingdoms, I remember that Princess Celestia was present in every other examination that day to prevent any more accidents as I did not knew what were the tests like I entered with a spell I had imagined while reading the stories of Strong Hoof the warrior, I remember how I imagined that if you could increase your strength with magic you could protect those who you loved and I made a grand entrance with my speed boosting spell" "You know that spell has been used by the royal guards for countless generations right?" interrupted Twilight Sparkle. The stallion frowned "the town where I come from did not have a library and we did not needed to have that kind of books at home or at school also imagine my surprise when Princess Celestia told me the exact same thing, she was impressed that I managed to work out the spell by myself but we still needed to get on with the test, after the egg was brought, I could not even fathom how would I hatch it, the only thing I could think of was to warm it with magic, but I could end up boiling it at that moment I thought I could always rise my temperature and maybe I could hatch the egg something apparently unheard of" he felt silent and the ink pictured him getting up to the cart and embracing the dragon's egg suddenly some paint fell over the scroll thrown by High Rise and the picture colored itself at the efforts of the unicorns, depicting now a young Hardcover embracing a dark blue and purple striped egg, the words 15 minutes later appeared over the scene and one could see the egg starting to move and crack, from it a slender whelp appeared her scales a dark blue with tiny wings her belly and spikes in purple and a face resembling that of spike looked at the colt and the colt opened his tired eyes, looked at her and finally both of them fell asleep over the cart filled with hay. "Bleh how girly" said Scootaloo. "Shut it, don't you think I don't know I often find myself regretting that action but please be understanding I was more focused on battle and body magic back then" Twilight Sparkle just smiled "I thought that was pretty sweet…" "Shut it, just never mention it again I am most ashamed of that, thanks to that I am the only pony in the history of the school to ever made such low grades and to have taken that much time to finish his entrance exam" Spike just raised his claw (hand if you like) "eh Hardcover just let me ask you 2 questions, first of all why does she has wings and I don't, secondly what happened to her?" "Hasn't Twilight, can I call you that?" he asked and the mare nodded "hasn't she told you what happens with the dragons?" "wait, dragons? As in many?" asked a confused Spike "ok from the beginning, almost an eon ago or what we should exactly call 835 years, 7 months, 16 days ago the Eastern Kingdom was having a shortage of cattle and feeding grounds, and their birth rate was increasing alarmingly, to avoid what could be a war Princess Celestia thought of a birth control program, and a cattle farming program that could be ran by the dragons and pony farmers at all times, in a way to thank her great efforts and help the Council of Elder Dragons agreed to help Princess Celestia to sort out the most talented unicorn ponies from Equestria by giving them the opportunity to try and hatch unwanted or parentless eggs, back then dragons, would fight for territory and most of the times the dragon who died would leave an un-hatched dragon egg and to avoid the destruction of said eggs they were sent to Princess Celestia herself, nowadays dragons have communities and have learned to be more pony like, they have cities and communities and the eggs that have not been able to hatch for unknown reasons, this way they will be given the chance to be hatched at some time either by a student of by a specialized group of scholars back in the Eastern Kingdoms, beside it is rare that an aspirant to student actually manages to hatch an egg, the eggs are mostly there to see how they react to the magic of young unicorns, it is rare to see a dragon hatch, let alone 2 of them" he tried to recover his breath by inhaling deeply. Spike stared wide eyed at Hardcover, then at Twilight asking a question with his eyes 'is that true?' and the mare just nodded slowly at him with watery eyes and an expression of pain and sadness, sadness born from the inability to tell her assistant and foster brother the truth about his origins, but now was too late to apologize, they would have to talk about it soon but now was not the time. "as to why she has wings and you do not, is because her egg came from a sky dragon, of the different types of dragon the sky dragon is the only one that is born with wings, they get their full size when they reach optimal age, other dragons develop them over the years, except for a certain race of dragons, mhhh, ok tell me, are you able to dig out earth and rock easily and eat jewels?" "Well yes of course, why? Is that rare among dragons?" "As a matter of fact, yes, even when the Dragon Kingdoms have changed some things remain tradition, one of them is gathering of treasure; the only race of dragons that did no such thing is the Gaia Dragon race, and they are very prolific in digging up gems for sustenance, though for reasons unknown, their hatching rate has been steadily going lower with each generation, sorry to tell you this Spike, but you may be one of the few Gaia Dragons left in this world" Spike's heart sunk like an anvil in the ocean, his eyes watered and the only thing that kept him from bursting out of the room and cry his sadness away was the warm and loving embrace of Twilight Sparkle, he then fully realized how much did he loved her not as a sister or employer, but as a mother that had always been there for him, he hugged her with all of his strength and left her hoofs to look at her and say "let's just, finish hearing his story" "Hey cover, hey" Hardcover turned to the hyperactive Pinkie Pie "what is the name of your whelp? What happened to her?" He was surprised by the sudden question but he then stared at the moon that was visible outside the window and smiled slightly "she is Merope and she is back home with my parents, I always leave her behind when I am travelling" he closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "hey stop being so mopey wopey, it makes me sad, here have some cheesecake with some strawberries over it, whipped cream over them and chocolate chips on top, your favorite" Hardcover took it smiling slightly and then realized something. "Ok first of all, how did you know it was my favorite?" "Duh, I asked, High Rise told me how much you love chocolate, I found a cheesecake recipe while checking out the contents in your saddlebag for which I apologize and Soft Edge told me that you love Strawberries, and the whipped cream was my idea" said Pinkie Pie nonchalantly smiling widely. "Ok I understand that so far, the fact is, that I have seen no cheesecake all night hmpf" Rainbow Dash had rushed at him and muffled his mouth with her hoof, he looked at her eyes and she just told him not to even bother to ask anything else with her stare. "Ok let me carry on with my tale" taking a bite at the dessert in front of him and was surprised at the incredible flavor that had, he made a mental note to ask her to teach him how to achieve this flavor "anyways it was the registration day, I had been summoned at the castle's main room where Princess Celestia needed to ask and maybe try to sway young unicorns from the far reaches of the kingdom to stay at school grounds, my family supported my decision to stay in Canterlot even if I was going to see them very few times a year" it was then he linked his magic once more and the scene started playing as he described it "that day as I left the castle's main chamber I found myself exploring around the castle and I found a young little filly, sulking on a couch dressed in a light blue princess dress, with pink decorations and pink hearts at the skirt" Hardcover could not continue as a loud laugh appeared from the rainbow mane Pegasus and the dragon whelp that until recently had been at the verge of crying. "Bwahahahahahaha that is so rich, hehehahahaha Twi you really are a laugh" told Rainbow Dash holding her sides as she was rolling on the floor laughing at her friend. Twilight Sparkle's face became a giant cherry and just sat there were she was. "Ok let us carry on" Once again the ink and paint took the lead and started to draw the story, the young colt approached the sulking filly. "Hey" asked the colt. "I'm not hungry" responded the filly. "I said hey as a greeting, not as hay of food" "Whatever" "Why are you so mad?" he asked with a worried face. "nuthin" He rolled his eyes "yeah right, nuthin' always mean sumthin', you look angry and sad, maybe I can help, if yah tell me what happened" The filly raised her gaze at the colt with a questioning stare "why have you not laughed at my dress like everypony else?" "Well, if you want tah know, I think you look pretty in it and my dad told me never to laugh at other ponies unless I have a good reason for it, now that you mention it, why are you dressed like that?" She shifted in her seat "I wanted to be pwetty for the Princess" "Why would you do that?" "Cause I am her student" "Well I know that from time to time she will lecture ponies at her school that means we are going to be classmates" he smiled widely. "No I really mean it, I am her personal student" she looked at him with some kind of pledge full eyes. Young Hardcover blinked once, twice and finally trice and after it he managed to talk "ok please, tell me everything from the beginning" Young Twilight huffed "When I entered this school, my powers went outta control and Princess Celestia took me as her student, HER personal student, so today I thought 'I wanna look real pwetty for her' and my mom gave me this dress that was meant for my cuteciñera and I wear it but everypony just chuckles at me when they see me and they are being mean and it hurts" she sniffled a little. The chocolate colt sighed "well, look I know ponies can be real mean meanie mean pants, but they are jealous" She cocked an eyebrow at him "Why?" "Well first, not everypony enters this school, and more importantly you are the princess's very own student, what else do you need?, you practically have a golden ticket to wear and do almost anything you want" Young Twilight's face brightened as she realized the obvious truth "you are right, you are right, you are so incredibly right, I am her student a chance not presented to many" she clopped her hoofs and looked at the colt "you know you are really smart for cutie filled colt" "Is that supposed to be praise? Cuz it sounds like an insult" "sowy, so tell me what were you doing?" "a yes, I was looking for somepony to play with to kill some time while I leave to the dorms of the school" "Oh you are a student as well" "Yeah I sure as sugar am, hey I got an idea, do you want to play?" "How about I am a princess and you my knight?" "Can I rescue you from a dragon?" "Of course, but first I need to knight you and how can I do that without your name?" "You can call me Cover, all my friends call me that" "ok you can call me princess Sparkle" "What? No title?" "Why should I have one?" "Well duh to be a great princess you need a great title, like eh 'the Great and Powerful Sparkle' or something" "Well if you insist why don't you give me a title?" "Ok, how about Sparkle the pretty?" "okey dokey, but now I need to knight you…. Wait I have an idea" Twiligth went looking for something, after a while she came back with a book and a quill and she set them in front of him. "Hey where did you get a copy of 'Current Equestrian Laws?" "It is the castle, there is bound to be a copy around in case someone needs to check up on rules or what is allowed or not, ok put your hoof over it" Cover did so and Twilight used the quill as a makeshift sword to tap his shoulders "do you sole, solemn do you swear to uphold the laws of this country and protect us from any danger that may come either from inside or outside our borders?" "I do swear over my life that I will protect you and all of Equestria from any and all dangers" "Then from now on you shall be referred as 'Cover the Bold' please rise" "Bold?" "Means adventurous or daring" "Cool, hey now that I am a knight, wanna go play?" "Of course silly" "Let's go" Soon the scene of both foals playing at the palace grounds and soon it was a scene of both waving their hoofs at each other and leaving in their respective ways yet the colt had changed he now wore a book and quill in his flank as he trotted out the castle. "How girly" once again punctuated Scootaloo "that was how you got your Cutie Mark? Are you serious?" "I, I thought that was cute, I never thought that Twilight was so friendly back then" "Fluttershy you are right, Twilight my dear how is it possible that you were so social back then but when you arrived here you barely made an effort to befriend us" She smiled nervously "hehehe well; you see after I became the Princess's student I practically spent most of my life with my muzzle buried in the books, in between classes, the Great Canterlot Library and my own place in the palace grounds I never gave myself time to make friends or get out at all, I just forgot how to be friendly over time I guess" "What? Are you crazy? How is it possible for somepony to forget something so important?" interjected Pinkie Pie. "I can advocate for her" interrupted Hardcover "I barely made any friends in Canterlot most of my friends are from my home town" "You made 1 friend in Canterlot, and you only have Soft Edge and me as friends from Maneterrey in Mexicolt" "2 friends" "That apple selling colt does not count, you only saw him once" "He returned to his hometown but I was never free or at Canterlot whenever he returned he is still my friend that is the way of the Stallion" "Do you even know his name?" "But of course I do my skeptical brother; his name is not that difficult to forget for whom do you take me?" "You forgot his name" "That I did" as he said that he smiled dumbly A barrage of hoofs hitting their owners faces were heard "hey sorry the only thing I remember from him was his red apple coat and green half apple Cutie Mark" 'Wait a second there sugarcube, you saying you know Big Macintosh?" asked Applejack "That's it that was his name, wait how do you know?" "He's our big brother" said Apple Bloom. "You don't tell, well this is unexpected I think we shall meet him, let me tell you he is quite the stallion, strong and level headed I swear he could sometimes tell what I was thinking" "This is incredible; I never thought we could be connected like this even I am beginning to think this is more than a coincidence" said the purple mare sincerely amazed. "Well I might have a couple of stories from back then just let me give you something, Soft let me change it so you can dry it and give the drawing to Twilight" "Yeah sure just hurry up" Hardcover nodded and used his magic to return to the point when young Twilight knighted him, the drawing dried thanks to Soft Edge's magic the drawing dried at that moment Hardcover took it and he gave it to the Purple mare in the room. "Ok explain something to me, why do you need him to do that magic?" "He is the one that knows how to draw and this magic he invented works just when you know how to do so, I learned it from him but it seems lack the ability to draw so that leaves me out of possibilities to use it effectively, so I invented a mind connection spell so we could use the spell to its fullest, I share my memories and he draws them on the place he chooses but now let us talk, there is so much to tell, let me start with my adventures at the School and later on I shall tell you of how I met and befriended Big Macintosh" "That sounds nice enough, what do you say girls? Tomorrow is Sunday maybe you can stay and hear him" "My Twilight you are right beside" Rarity stopped to look at the fillies "seems that our Crusaders need some sleep; tell me could you spare one bed?" "Well Rarity of course, you know let me get some blankets for us to use while we listen to their stories I am sure that Soft Edge and High Rise could tell us more about their lives as well" "You can bet we can" answered High Rise. "Ok just wait here, maybe you can eat some more" "Will do" "Well let us all help yah with it you could use the help" "Applejack I appreciate the offer but Rarity and I can bring them all by ourselves" "No can do Twilight, we would be abusing your hospitality if we were to do so" "But" "We are going to help, no point arguing" Twilight Resignaded "Ok girls this way" The mares all left to the second floor, High Rise talked in a low voice "seems to me they do not trust us I think it would be better to keep this little play and agree with anything they want" the other nodded. "Applejack you know that I can do it myself" "Sugarcube, I know you are a good pony at heart but I think they are not telling us everything" "Wait he has not lied, all of that is the truth I can confirm that" "I know sugarcube I could tell that all of what he said was the truth but I fell he omitted some of it, he is holding something" "And what do you want to do?" "Good thing you ask me here is my plan" Soon after the mares left the fillies and dragon up in the second floor and returned down with the blankets the rest of the of the meeting went well with all the things they shared something close to a friendship was born and soon the hours got the best of the ponies.