//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Magic and Memory 
// by Summer Knight 
//------------------------------//

I am Waxing Gibbous. I am a batpony from Chiroptera Cavern. I am a sight to behold, with piercing golden eyes, sable wings, and a long mane of dusky gray that is the envy of my colony. I am quick on my hooves and equally quick-witted. I am... I am talking to myself because nobat else wants to talk to me.
Every night it's the same thing: Wake up, climb down from my perch, walk down the mountain and into the nearby woods to pick fruit. Pick a basket's worth, bring it back to the colony, eat my share of whatever we found that night, then go back to bed before the sun rises. Most of the colony actually enjoys it—I can hear them chatting and laughing as they walk through the woods of Mount Enyo. But, for some reason, nobody ever hangs out with me for very long. 
I sighed deeply and pushed through a tangle of shrubs. I emerged into my favorite place, my secret place: A small clearing in the woods, gently bathed in the light of the moon, quiet and solitary. I was always alone, but at least here I could be alone by myself. 
Or not. I stopped short as I realized there was someone... something... else here tonight. A bluish lump lay in the center of the clearing, apparently asleep. I crept forward on silent hooves to take a closer look at the intruder.
Who is that? What is that? I'd never seen anybat like it. The creature almost looked like some sort of pony, except it had two huge horns curling up off of its head. Plus the hooves were all wrong, they split down the middle and almost seemed to form toes. 
Whatever it was, it lay on its side in the middle of my clearing, bathed in moonlight, breathing so slowly and softly that someone without batpony hearing might think it wasn't breathing at all. I couldn't help myself—I just had to take a closer "look." 
I opened my mouth and emitted a noise that was too high-pitched for anything but a batpony to hear. My sonar bounced off the strange creature and back to me, painting a clearer picture in my head. 
It was covered in thick, coarse fur, or maybe wool, with strong muscles rippling underneath. The horns were made of keratin—no surprises there—but it also wore a thick, heavy collar made of leather. 
I instantly snapped my mouth closed. Leather! Only monsters made clothing out of other animals. 
I took a step backward, then froze as the monster grumbled and rubbed at its ear. Had it heard my echolocation? No, that was impossible. Should I run? No, that would rouse it for sure. 
It stirred again. A pale yellow eye gleamed in the soft light of the moon. A burning red pupil swiveled around, then locked onto me. 
My muscles locked up even as my bones turned to water. Run. Run! I screamed at myself, to no avail. Even lying down, this monster's mere presence was like a thousand pounds pressing on my shoulders, crushing me into the grass. 
The pressure only increased as it slowly heaved itself upright, balancing its weight between those weird cloven hooves. The monster wasn't all that big—I'd seen taller griffons—but it seemed to loom as large as a manticore. My horror peaked as it opened its mouth.
"Quis es? Ubi est?"
My own mouth fell open. It can talk! Sort of. 
"Quid accidit?"
"Um!" I cleared my throat, swallowed hard, and tried again. "Um, sorry, I... I don't know what you're saying."
The monster grunted and shook its head, and then something impossible happened: Its horns began to glow. 
Ever since this creature had first stirred, there had been a scream building up in my chest, trapped behind the lump in my throat; now it burst out. Finally freed from my paralysis, I turned tail and ran. 
As I ran, a wave of red-orange energy flowed from the monster. It overtook me in an instant, but didn't seem to hurt me. I had no idea what it had done, and I wasn't about to ask even if I could have understood the answer. I sprinted toward the top of the mountain and home, then froze again as the creature's voice echoed across the clearing.
"Hold!" 



I am Grogar. I am a ram, and a powerful sorcerer. I seem to remember being called "father," so I must have a family somewhere. That is all I know.
"Who are you?" I asked the odd creature in front of me. "Where am I?" My memory was a blur, and my muscles ached terribly. How long had I been asleep? And why was I sleeping in the woods? "What happened?"
The batlike being squeaked and cleared its throat. "Big oof, this ain't it. Yeet."
What language is that? No matter, a simple translation spell would let us understand each other.
As I channeled the spell, the creature screamed—that was the same in any language—and ran away from me. My magic burst out from me and caught it easily. 
"Hold!" I called. 
The other creature stumbled to a stop, and I began to walk toward it.
"Where are we?" I asked again.
"W, what did you d-d-do?" it stammered. 
The creature was trembling. I frowned; the night wasn't that cold. "A translation spell," I answered, "so we may speak."
Its bright yellow eyes grew, if possible, even wider and rounder. "A s...s-spell? Like magic?"
"Not like magic. Magic."
"You can use magic?!"
"As you just saw, yes. Are you going to answer my question?"
"That's impossible!" the bat squeaked instead. "Magic isn't real!"
I frowned more deeply. "You cannot cast spells because you don't have horns, but the magic is still there."
The bat shook its head frantically. "Look, the colony elders tell stories about magic. They say it used to be everywhere, and creatures could do amazing things with it. They say we used to be able to fly!"
I squinted. "You cannot fly?"
"No, that's what I'm saying! If magic ever did exist, it's long gone. These—" it spread its large, leathery wings, "—are just for show."
"Yet I just cast a spell," I pointed out. "Have you tried flying?"
"Everybat has. We flap our wings really hard like this, and if we're lucky we might get a couple of inches off the groooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuund!" The bat's scream faded as it rocketed upward.
I grunted. "See?"



"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" My wings shot me impossibly upward, higher and higher, so fast that the wind nearly forced my scream back down my throat. The ground shrank away beneath me and was quickly lost to sight. I was flying! I was flying, and it was terrifying!
Okay, think. If my wings were somehow making me fly, then to stop flying I just needed to stop using them. I snapped my wings to my sides, and immediately realized I'd made a terrible mistake. I needed something halfway between flying and falling. 
That's it!
I extended my wings again, but instead of flapping, I just let them catch the air. Then I realized that I'd somehow ended up upside-down. I closed my wings, rolled over, and opened them again. Now I was gently gliding through the air. I was getting the hang of it! 
With my newfound skill, I descended in a wide, slow spiral back toward the clearing. I came in for a landing, and stumbled forward a few steps from the leftover momentum. Nonetheless, I had returned from my first flight unscathed. 
"That. Was. Amazing!" I squealed. "How did you do that? Why did you choose me? Who are ymmf!" An orange glow covered my mouth and muffled my speech.
"My name is Grogar," the creature answered, "and I need you to answer my questions. Understood?" 
I nodded, and Grogar's magical muzzle dissolved. 
"Who are you, where are we, and what happened to me?" Grogar asked. "In as few words as possible," he added.
"Waxing Gibbous, Mount Enyo, I have no idea," I answered. 
"Hm."
"Okay, my turn! How did you use magic, why did you give me magic, and can you do it for the rest of my colony?"
Grogar rubbed an eye with one of those weird hooves. "I have always been able to use magic, and I did not give you magic," he answered. "Your people don't know that they can fly?"
"We can't!" I protested. "Er, couldn't. I told you, the world lost its magic ages ago."
Grogar raised an eyebrow.
"And now it's... back." I gasped as the implications hit me. "Magic is back! Oh my gosh, I have to tell everybat!" I spread my wings and leaped, only to find myself snared in a field of Grogar's magic. "Oh. Um. Would you like to come with me?"
Grogar nodded.