//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Knowledge in purple // Story: Portentous - Lone Star's Chronicles // by Einzel //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Knowledge in purple Ponyville. It’s been a while since I had the help of an earth pony called Applejack, she gave me a chance to prove myself and thanks to it folks in that town weren’t avoiding me like before, my apologies for the scene I caused (flipping a wagon full of hay with a kick) also helped I guess. I was going to Ponyville’s library, the Golden Oaks Library, to study a little about Equestria. When I asked Applejack a question that sounded like “is water wet?”, she really told me I really should study at least a little bit so I didn’t look so “clueless” about our own land. Applejack told me the Golden Oaks Library was inside a really big tree in the midst of Ponyville, naturally it didn’t take long to find it, that place wasn’t exactly subtle anyway. I knocked on the door few times but no one answered, at first I thought I had came to the wrong place, but after peeking through the window and seeing the large number of books everywhere I had the faint feeling that this was the place. I knocked on the door again and waited for few minutes but no one answered. I shrugged and prepared to go do something else, but then I heard footsteps coming in a hurry. The door opened but before I could say anything an unicorn of purple coat zoomed through me as if I wasn’t even there, she shouted something but I couldn’t understand whatever it was). Shortly after a small purple dragon appeared in the door and sighed, “Overreacting like always,” he said still looking in the direction she ran. “Excuse me,” I said still a bit baffled with the scene. “Oh, hi there, do you need something?” he asked surprised to see me, I don’t really stand out but this was getting a bit ridiculous. “Um, yes. My name is Lone Star, I’m here to use the library.” “I’m Spike! Ah, you’re that pony who destroyed the hay shipment for the restaurant,” he said pointing one of his claws to me. “Yes I am, and I need to add that I already paid for that,” which broke me, I had to find another job. “I know, that was a nice way to get attention here, but if you needed to meet everypony you just had to ask Pinkie Pie,” he spoke walking inside. “That was, well, a mishap of my part, I didn’t do that to get attention,” it worked like that anyway. And who was Pinkie Pie? “Well, if you say so.” Spike shrugged. “Anyway. Spike, do you have any books about Equestria’s story?” I said a little fazed, that place sure looked a lot bigger from the inside. Spike grunted and crossed his arms, “We sure have lots of them, but I don’t know where they are now.” This time I was the one who grunted. “How come? I thought you worked here.” “I do, but Twilight re-shelved all the books last night because she couldn’t get any sleep. You’ll need to wait her to come back if you need a book.” Spike said while pointing a place for me to sit. “Twilight?” I wondered if that was that unicorn. “Yes, she is the one who takes care of all books that you can rent here,” he said while picking some papers and scrolls that were lying on the floor, “She went to finish something, but I think she’ll be back soon.” “I don’t think a librarian should leave her working place during the expedient like that,” I snorted upset about it. “Twilight doesn’t do that all the time, only when she needs to finish something really urgent, besides movement in library has been slow lately,” Spike spoke while pilling some books that were scattered on the table. While I waited for the library’s curator Spike gave me something to eat and we chattered a little more. The dragon was a young energetic fella, he certainly had a lot going for him. Although Spike was a dragon living in midst of ponies he had a lot of proud in being a dragon and bragged about several feats like fighting Diamond Dogs, fighting an adult dragon, participating in a majestic gala in Canterlot, migrating with other dragons to wastelands and saving a phoenix egg from other dragons and even helping to save an entire empire, the Crystal Empire. Obviously I thought he was hyping himself to no point, but I praised him for every good deed, the little guy could barely contain himself and was being more boastful every time I praised him. That until a voice echoed through the library, “Alright, I think our visitor knows how brave and courageous you are, Spike.” “Twilight!” Spike said happily running to her. “Sorry about Spike, he can get a little carried away sometimes,” she gently tapped Spike’s head. “Come on, Twilight, you know I’m not lying!” Spike stuffed and slapped his chest proudly. Twilight giggled and nuzzled Spike’s head, “I know you aren’t, but you should be a little humbler when telling your achievements, Spike.” A simple glimpse was enough for me to notice how close these two were, how Spike called her so casually and cheerfully and she answered to him; there was no way this Twilight ever treated him as her employee or something. Twilight walked towards me and started to talk with a very respectful tone, “I don’t think we have ever met. I’m Twilight Sparkle, welcome to Ponyville.” “I’m Lone Star, pleased to meet you.” Twilight was a unicorn with purple coat and had a very peculiar mane, part of it was dyed in magenta giving her a distinctive appearance. “So, Lone Star, what can I do for you?” she asked while putting the books Spike had piled in the shelves with her magic. I scratched my head and asked mildly embarrassed, “Do you have any books about Equestria’s history?” “Of course we have, personally I recommend this one,” Twilight said happily handling me a thick book entitled “Comprehending Equestria”. I flipped through the first ten or twelve pages of the book and my first impression was simple enough to describe: complete cluelessness. The book was written in a kind of Equestrian alphabet I wasn’t familiar and even though I tried my best to understand it I could barely read some pages at all. “Twilight, is this book recent?” I asked while flipping each page hopping I could read something. Twilight appeared to be confused, in the same fashion Applejack did, and only by the look in her face I knew what was coming. “Yes,” she said looking at me as if I had said something extremely perplexing, “Yes, this book is very recent, I think it is the most up to date. Why?” “No, it’s just that... I can’t read this,” I mumbled the last part. “What?” Twilight questioned staring at me. “I don’t understand some of these characters... Since when do we use this alphabet anyway?” I questioned while flipping other pages, I could read a thing or two, but there were certain parts I could barely form a word of two. Twilight suddenly grew quiet and kept staring at me for a while until she finally broke into a laughing fit. Personally I really preferred Applejack’s reaction over Twilight’s, not only that was shorter, it didn’t make feel like a complete idiot and it was much shorter too. Spike had to poke Twilight a few times in order to make her stop laughing, I just didn’t understand really what could be so funny. Twilight wiped some tears off her eyes before she talked again. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. But that had to be the best joke I heard since I’ve ever got in Ponyville!” she was nearly slapping her legs while chuckling. “Uh, Twi,” Spike poked her side, “I think that wasn’t a joke.” And then Twilight’s mood swung again, this made me wonder if she was bipolar or something. “You REALLY don’t know how to read?” she closed to my face startled as if I was about to tell a top classified secret. “I didn’t say I don’t know how to read,” I answered a bit upset, “I just don’t understand some of these characters,” I told her pointing the page that gave me the most trouble, “It’s not like I am completely illiterate.” Twilight went to look at the page and started pondering for a few moments, she tapped her chin while thinking and taking her conclusions. Once she was done she took another book and put in front of me. “This book should help you with your problem, Lone,” she said smiling. It was a book for grade school fillies, I didn’t know if I felt offended or misunderstood, but in any case my frown was quickly noted. Twilight was quick to start her explanation as she saw I was visibly upset by the book she gave me. “Lone, the characters you couldn’t understand we usually learn still in school. You have the basic knowledge of the Equestrian alphabet, but you have a lot of difficulties in reading more complex combinations.” I sighed and put the book on the table. “I wonder if I don’t remember even this because of my amnesia.” “You lost your memories?” Spike asked more curious than concerned. Then I told them my story, from the day I woke without memories in that hotel room until the moment I was there talking to them. Twilight entered again in that state of focus and concentration looking at the ground and humming, Spike told me I had to go and visit a doctor to see if they could help me, it wasn’t a bad idea, but I had already thought about that and felt it would be useless and waste of time (and money) since Princess Celestia herself told me time was the best medicine for sore memories. Twilight moved to the center of the library without saying a word and started searching for a another book, she picked one after another and pilled those who wasn’t the one she was looking for, Spike simply suggested me to start reading the grade school book because that could take a while. In the end Spike was right, I lost track of time, but I had read about thirty pages when Twilight found the book she was looking, it was another thick book and when she dropped on the table a cloud of dust arose. “This! This is what I was looking for!” she exclaimed triumphant. “What’s this book?” I asked intrigued. Spike hung on the table to read the cover, “Mysteries of the Mind? What did you pick this book for?” “Lone, you said you woke without any memories at all, right?” Twilight sounded like a doctor right now. “Yes, what about it?” I shrugged. Twilight flipped through a series of pages and bookmarked it. “You don’t remember anything about your past, not even when you were a filly, am I right?” “Yep,” I answered casually. Maybe I should’ve reacted a little bit more scared or dramatic, but what for, what if my past was gloom and full of sadness, then I’d be more than glad that somepony had erased my memories. “What’s this all about, Twilight? You’re starting to scare him,” Spike said and I cracked a smile, he was the one scared for whatever reason. “Oh, don’t be silly, Spike! Just another question, do you remember if somepony hit your head?” “My head was perfectly healthy by the time I woke up, except, well, for the memory.” Twilight kept reading the book for some time occasionally asking for Spike to bring other reference books and soon the table had about four or five books aside the one I wanted. Spike and Twilight discussed quietly about the information she gathered until they had finally came to a conclusion. “So, did you find the cause of my amnesia, Twilight?” I asked with a bit of sarcasm in my voice. Twilight nodded her head. “I may have an idea.” I was doubtful, Princess Celestia didn’t say anything about my memory loss, so how could a simple unicorn in a countryside village understand anything about it? Sure, Twilight looked talented with magic and she had a vast amount of knowledge at her disposal (and she certainly knew how to put it to good use), but I simply couldn’t believe her words. “So what do you think it may be?” I asked skeptic. “If you didn’t suffer any kind of trauma, mental or physical, I think there can be only one possibility, a Mind Override Spell,” Twilight said confidently. My look of cluelessness was quickly perceived once again. “It’s simple enough,” Twilight started, “Something, or somepony, casted a spell in order to muddle all your memories. That’s the best idea I’ve got so far at least,” Twilight said while pondering the information on the book, “I think my theory is reinforced because you forgot only a part of the Equestrian alphabet, you may have even remembered some of your memories, but you’re still unaware of it.” I snorted and shook my head bewildered. “How come I have memories, but am unaware of them? It just don’t make any sense!” “Actually it’s very easy to happen to any of us,” Spike replied waving to get my attention. “It’s like when you know something, but forgets it because you don’t think too much about it. But when somepony talks about this something, you suddenly remember!” “Exactly!” Twilight supported Spike’s explanation. That actually made a lot of sense because after I read few pages of that kiddies book I was slowly remembering the characters I couldn’t even start figuring out in couple of minutes ago and honestly, I don’t think I could learn such thing that fast. “That makes sense I guess,” I spoke while thinking, “But do you know if there’s a way to, uh, fix or remove the thing messing my memory? I could really use the help of remembering everything.” Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Unfortunately the best way to do it is to wait. Normally these kind of spells will fade with time unless somepony re-cast it on you.” I stood quiet for a while and then asked, “You said it was the best way, but is it the only?” Twilight shook her head again. “It’s too risky to try break this kind of spell, Lone. Even somepony very skilled could miss it making you forget everything for good.” I sighed disheartened about this, but at least I had a clue on what might have caused my memory loss. It was a rewarding afternoon in Golden Oaks Library, all the information I gathered there, from the Equestrian alphabet to my amnesia, would be very useful for me in a way or another. I thanked Twilight Sparkle and Spike sincerely for their help and rented few books to read before anything, two were about Equestrian alphabet (another grade school and the other in-depth for advanced study) and the book about our land of Equestria. The fact Twilight and Spike didn’t even notice (or mention) my blank flank was also something, I felt relived and happy to see there were ponies who helped me without judging me beforehand. I finally started to feel at home.