Chapter 4
After another brief walk, Twilight and Avery arrived at the apartment. Avery's apartment is on the second floor, of course, so after a brief struggle, Twilight finally gets through the front door. She is greeted by the sight of hundreds of items scattered around. All sorts of trinkets and momentos line the walls, floors, dressers, and any other reachable surface. Twilight couldn't believe the sheer amount of stuff held within the space she was standing in.
"What is all this!?"
"I wasn't kidding Twilight. I collect stuff."
Some of the items looked like personal artifacts while others looked like simple every day items. A thought immediately popped into Twilight's head.
"Are any of these things stolen Avery?"
"Uhh, I may have grabbed a few of the less important trinkets from ponies other than myself."
"Avery! You can't just go around stealing stuff like that!"
"I know! I make sure that the item isn't TOO important to a pony. It's just a feeling I have when I look at something interesting. The irresistible feeling of desire. I want it. I'm pretty weak to this impulse, as you can see."
"Yes I can see that!" Twilight yelled back to him as she began to explore the apartment more. All the stuff seemed to be placed at whim, except one corner of the apartment. Twilight walked up to five pedestals against a back wall of the apartment. These items were seemingly important, important enough to keep the rest of the clutter away. These five items sat by themselves, each on a separate pedestal. Even more puzzling were the items themselves.
On the far left pedestal was a tribal drum. Twilight thought it looked like something she'd seen before, then she remembered she had indeed seen something like that. During her stay at Appleoosa, the buffalo had been causing trouble to the town. She could tell that the drum in front of her was undoubtedly a buffalo drum. Weird object to collect, where did he even get this thing? Are there even buffalo here?
Next, a pair of goggles. They looked pretty high tech, but simple in design. Goggles were something Twilight didn't have much experience with. They were usually only worn by pegasi ponies while flying fast or manipulating dangerous weather. Maybe they were Avery's personal goggles? But he doesn't fly... so why does he have them?
Following that, another puzzling item. What seemed to be a part of a large deer antler. This antler looked different to Twilight. Deer antler she had seen in the past weren't as thick as this one. She decided not to spend too much time reflecting on this one. She had a feeling there was no way she'd figure this one out so she moved on.
The next item sent a shiver down Twilight's spine. It turned out Avery wasn't kidding at all when he said he had a pony skull back at home, because Twilight was staring it right in the eyes, eye sockets actually. As disgusted as Twilight felt she should have been, she couldn't help but giggle at the empty skull. The giggle that escaped her mouth surprised Twilight and she quickly scooted over to examine the last pedestal.
She noticed that Avery had crept behind her, watching her as she studied his artifacts.
"You weren't kidding about the pony skull Avery. Why though?"
"Be careful around these, they are of extreme importance to me."
Twilight noted that this certainly must be true, all the other objects in his apartment were strewn around in random order, seemingly without care.
"I will be careful. Why are these items so important to you? They just seem so random."
"It's difficult to explain. I felt like I was drawn to each of those items in a way I cannot emulate. I feel a bond with them unlike anything I've experienced before."
"Well that's interesting," Twilight said as her eyes glanced over to the last pedestal, "Oh wow I know what that is!" On the final pedestal was a shining piece of golden armor. But that wasn't what caught Twilight's eyes, the object on top of the armor was familiar to her. "That's a phoenix feather! Those are extremely rare Avery! My teacher, the ruler of my country, has a pet phoenix."
"That's impressive. Phoenix are said to be nearly impossible to domesticate. They will only stay around someone they sense to be extremely loyal. They hold pretty high standards."
"Princess Celestia certainly is that kind of pony. However did you come to own such a rare item?"
"I found it together with the piece of armor. They are inseparable. I'm lead to believe that the phoenix which that feather came from was the pet of the armor wearer. Who knows though, just a theory."
Twilight was impressed with Avery's change in attitude when talking about his collection. He seemed to take a more formal and serious tone, it was a nice change from his usual lackadaisical way of conversing about things. Twilight continued to stare in awe and curiosity before finally the events of the day caught up to her. She was surprised at her own stamina, the day had been quite taxing on her body but she hadn't felt fatigued until just now. Just how long was I sleeping in that field...
"Avery, this is an interesting collection but my hooves are starting to feel really heavy. Where am I sleeping?"
"Oh right! This way."
Avery guided her through the path that was cut between the piles of stuff laying around before they finally reached the end room. Upon entering the room, Twilight immediately noticed only one bed.
"Uhhh, I don't think this is gonna work out Avery."
"Why's that? Is this bed not big enough for you?"
"I mean, you're a nice pony and all, but I don't know if I'm comfortable with this."
Avery looked at her with a questioning look before finally understanding what she was getting at. He burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?!"
"That's not where I sleep! It's just a guest bed."
"What do you mea-"
Avery leapt onto a dresser before gracefully jumping into the air and landing on a cot that was hanging from the ceiling.
Twilight grew a deep blush on her face, "Oh, didn't see that. Guess you can't stay too far from the sky huh?"
"Yeah I guess so. I should be mad at you Twilight Sparkle! To think you would consider me a pony to take advantage of a mare in need! Never in all my years!" Avery said with a joking tone.
"Oh yeah? And how many years is that old colt?" Twilight said with a laugh.
Avery flinched, "You know what I mean."
Twilight noticed the flinch, "You certainly don't like talking about your past do you?"
"My past is a bit different than what you'd expect. You wouldn't understand."
"I'm a learned pony, and I'm your friend. Lay it on me."
These words hit Avery pretty hard. He felt comfortable around Twilight, and though he was reluctant to admit, she was his friend too.
"You know what Twilight, you're right. However, this tale requires more time and more concentration than I could pull off right now. So how about tomorrow after we get the business with Ira out of the way."
"Alright. Pinkie promise?" Twilight said as she stuck her hoof in her eye.
"Uh sure, whatever that is." Avery said as he mimiced her strange move.
"Excellent! Looking forward to it," Twilight said as she tucked herself into bed.
"Me too Twilight. Night." Avery muttered as he turned to his side.
Twilight was just preparing to fall asleep when a thought entered her mind and gave her heart a leap. My dreams! I should be able to communicate with Luna in my dreams! I'll be able to tell her that I'm okay and trying my hardest to get home as soon as possible. Twilight decided to try to accelerate her approach to sleep. As her mind was getting a list of steps to falling asleep in her head, her exhaustion finally caught up and she drifted to sleep.
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In the middle of the night
Twilight stirred back into consciousness frustrated. Her sleep brought no dreams. She desperately wished to contact Luna and her friends back home. With her last hope seemingly crushed, Twilight was almost brought to tears, the sorrow of the recent events finally compounding into one realization, she may never see her friends again. Just as the first tear was about to roll down her cheek, she felt a presence in the room unlike anything she had ever felt before.
"Don't cry Twilight Sparkle."
A ghastly voice called out to her. Twilight's heart immediately began to race from the fear of this phantom voice.
"Is anyone there?" Twilight called out in a whisper.
"Twilight Sparkle"
She heard yet again a voice call from the room. She shot upwards from her bed and glanced upwards only to see Avery peacefully asleep, half his body leaning out of his cot. It's definitely not him, Twilight thought.
"Yes? Who is this?"
"Your role in this country has not played out yet. You musn't return to Equestria. Your presence is paramount for the days ahead," the ghostly voice called out.
"What!" Twilight yelped in a still hushed voice, "But that's all I want to do! I need to return home to my friends, I miss them so much," Twilight said as another tear welled in her eye.
"I understand Twilight Sparkle. But this is more important than you could possibly imagine right now. This whole land will be doomed if you leave prematurely."
Twilight was struck by this line. Avery. Lux. She didn't want any harm to come to them, and this voice certainly seemed serious. She reached a decision,
"Fine. I'll do what I can to help. What do I need to do?"
"For now, stay safe. All will be made clear to you in due time."
"Seems simple enough. But how do you know all this? Who are you?"
At this, the ghostly voice started to cackle. Twilight was sure that this would stir Avery awake, she glanced upwards to see Avery still peacefully asleep. She then found a smile creep to her face as she continued listening to the voice's laughter.
"Let's just leave that as a surprise shall we?"
The voice burst out laughing again and slowly faded in volume before finally disappearing.
The next thing Twilight knew, she was greeted by sunlight pouring into the room and the smell of cooked hay reaching her nose. She thought about staying in bed and reflecting on the past night, but decided it best to get some food in her stomach. She rose up and started heading into the main room, finding Avery working hard over a stove that must have been hidden last night under piles of stuff.
"There you are Twilight! I'm no Gordon Ramshorsey, but I make some mean haybrowns."
The aroma of the food was hitting Twilight in full force now as her stomach led her to a chair to sit. The events of last night fresh in her mind, she decided to poke around.
"Did you hear anything last night Avery? Any voices at all?"
"Hmmm, nope! I'm a pretty light sleeper too, so I definitely would have been up if I had. Sometimes the wind wakes me up though, so you probably just heard that."
"Yeah, probably. Say, about this Ira person we're supposed to be seeing today, tell me a bit about her."
"Alright. I know her a bit more than Ace but a bit less than Lux. She's been around town for a while now. There have always been blacksmiths here, but she is certainly the best." Avery said as he laid down Twilight's breakfast in front of her. Twilight viciously attacked the haybrowns in front of her, manners would have to wait until a time where she was less starving. Avery also devoured his breakfast before helping Twilight get ready to head out for the day. They were making their way slowly downstairs when Twilight felt some input was necessary, "I hope she is as good as you say she is, I'm getting sick of this crutch slowing me down. I would just teleport downstairs, but of course my magic is still haywire as well. Certainly my most vulnerable moment in recent memory."
"No problem Twilight, happy to help. One word of advice though about Ira. She is extremely competitive. Try to avoid getting into any sort of competition or confrontation with her. You won't win. Other than that though, she's a pretty helpful person."
"So you really think she'll be able to fix this thing then huh? What's her line of specialty?"
"Weaponry."
A loud gulp echoed through the front entrance as they stepped out into the town of Cirle.