I woke up some time in the late morning. I checked my watch to see that it was almost 10:30. I quickly got up and got ready for the day. Perhaps I would pay Pinkie Pie a visit, in order to sort things out from last night.
That's when I remembered that I didn't even know where Pinkie lived; and I didn't want to ask random ponies if they knew. Maybe I should go see Twilight Sparkle instead, since I did know where she would be.
I ate a couple brownies for beakfast (I was kind of in a rush), left the museum and headed for the library. On the way, I could see ponies greeting each other, talking about current events (no one mentioned that fight over some doll that Twilight charmed yesterday), and sometimes giving me looks. you know, like what others do to those who are new in town. I haven't exactly been out much since I got back to Ponyville.
I don't know what it is, but the general atmosphere of the town was... unheard of, in my opinion. How everypony knew everypony was baffling for me. I've never had that particular experience, but I always wanted to live in a place like that. Only with actual human beings.
Again with the unlocked memories that I don't quite remember. Maybe they have something to do with Discord trying to control me again, like what happened last night with Tarnished Sterling.
I decided to take my time getting to the library, and looked around at all of the stores and attractions that Ponyville had. I could see some boutique that I knew belonged to Rarity (she told me yesterday), Applejack's farm, Sugarcube Corner, and some other places that didn't quite pique my interest...
Well, there was one place that I was very interested in: A music shop. At first, I almost passed it without a second thought, but then I looked back at what they had in one of the windows.
A baritone sax. My first thought was "how in God's Name could a pony actually PLAY that thing??" You know, without opposable thumbs. I then had a sudden flashback.
I was in a jazz band, possibly at a school, playing a very old and beat-up bari. Not just as a background instrument, but performing a solo. I could remember almost everything. What song we played, how I did my solo, the roar of the crowd afterwards, applauding for myself as well as the whole band. I never felt more accomplished; more happy than I did that night. The only thing I couldn't remember were other people's faces.
My first true memory of home. I sensed that this particular memory was something really important to me; that music was very important to me. I wondered why I didn't have a saxophone for a Cutie Mark instead of what I did have. Oh, well.
I'd better keep track of that store, I thought. Maybe I'll check it out later. I knew that I couldn't create my own bari sax. I didn't even want to try; with all of the intricacies of the instrument, I know I would fail at making a sax that was in-tune.
By now, I was at Twilight's library. I knocked on the door and waited. I could hear someone's voice, followed by Twilight's (who sounded very irritated). I almost considered coming back some other time when the door opened. I had to look down to see who opened the door.
It was a dragon. A young one, by the looks of it; still a baby. How did I even know this? "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Sterling Smoulder," I introduced myself. "Twilight Sparkle wanted to see me, but she never said when. I hope this isn't a bad time or anything..." I tried to act casual, like ponies saw baby dragons every day.
"Hold on a second," the dragon told me. He closed the door and I could hear voices again. Before I knew it, Twilight swung open the door.
"Oh, hey Sterling!" she said, without any of the annoyance I heard in her voice earlier. "What brings you here?"
"I have a few questions about the Elements of Harmony," I explained. It wasn't a lie; but it wasn't the only thing I was there for. "And I was wondering if you still wanted to know stuff about where I came from." I grudgingly added. I made sure that I didn't say the Northern Continent, because I hate it when I lie.
Twilight clapped her hooves together. "Great!" she said. "I was just talking to Spike about you, and how you came from the Northern Continent."
"Uh... Spike?" Who was Spike?
"Oh, he was the dragon who opened the door. He's a gem dragon, you know." Twilight showed me into a room in the library where she had a bunch of quills and parchment set up.
"Uh..." I began. "Is it alright if we keep this off the record? I don't want everyone knowing about home."
Twilight looked slightly disappointed. "Alright then, if you insist. I do want to know more about the Northern Continent, though."
I sat down. "OK, but just don't tell anyone. I can't promise that I remember everything."
"What do you mean? You only just got here."
Part of me wanted to tell her the whole truth, but that would lead to more questions being asked. Possibly even the truth about Discord would be brought up; and now was not the time for that. I would only tell her part of the truth.
"When Discord was around, he hypnotized me into helping him. And by doing that, he blocked off most of my memories. I remember some of them, but not everything." There. That should cover it.
Twilight seemed to buy it, and I proceeded to tell her what I knew of "home". It was mostly trivial facts; things I knew that Equestria had but we didn't.
This led to the inevitable question: "So why did you come here in the first place?"
For some reason, I didn't think of this. In all reality, I was forced here, but I told everypony else that I came here of my own accord. I had to think of something, and fast.
"I... I had no one else left back home," I found myself saying, right off the bat. "Nopony I could relate to, since they were all gem dragons. At first, everything was fine. But then I aged faster than the dragons, and I decided to leave for Equestria. I wanted to make a dent in the universe, so to speak. To be someone. I heard about the Elements of Harmony, and that Discord was able to break free. You see, Twilight, Discord was originally from the Northern Continent. I wanted to come here and stop him from breaking free. I had several reasons for coming here."
"So how did you get to the Northern Continent in the first place?" Twilight asked.
"To be honest, I'm not sure," I admitted. "I was probably abandoned at birth. All I remember are the gem dragons raising me. I have no idea how I got there." Now I was lying; but I had to for the sake of privacy.
She then asked me how I knew about where Discord came from. I told her what I learned from the Alicorns, minus the fact that he was originally good. I explained that the dragons came to the Northern Continent right after the original inhabitants disappeared.
"...And that's all I know," I said. "Some of it I just guessed, since I can't remember much. Sorry that I couldn't be more helpful."
Twilight seemed to understand. Then her eyes widened, as if she just realized something. "Wait a minute, you said that Discord hypnotized you into helping him... What did you mean by that?"
Oh no... I just blew my cover! Quick Sterling, think of something...
"I meant to say that he knew I was coming to warn you guys about him." I hastily explained. "I... I think I knew things that could probably stop him before he ever broke free. Discord knew this, and used whatever power he could muster to stop me. I was almost in Equestria at this time, and he teleported me to the Everfree Forest."
I knew that I would have to eventually have to bring up Luna finding me. At least I could do it in this way.
"When I came to, I had no idea where I was, how I got there... I didn't even know who I was. I wandered around the forest and found myself at the ruins of a castle in the forest. Apparently my arrival must have caused some sort of commotion; and next thing I knew, I saw Princess Luna. She helped me get here, and we've kept in touch eversince." I could feel my face going reddish--even though I was a blue Earth Pony. I Hoped that Twilight wouldn't notice.
Why was I reacting to Luna in this way? Perhaps it's because I'm her first friend, and vice versa (at least, my first friend in Equestria) No, it's much deeper than that, I believe. It's like... I LIKE her! No. It can't be. I don't have time for relationships. Not now. From everything I've heard about "love" (it's only a mental chain reaction, after all), it never lasts. Not at my age, at least. And she's over a thousand years old, and... We're not even the same species!
I didn't know how long I was thinking about this when Twilight interrupted my train of thought.
"Sterling," she said, "Are you blushing?"
I pretended to act stupid. "No, why would I be?"
Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. It seems that you started to turn red when you mentioned Princess Luna."
"No, I don't like her," I blurted out. What the heck, mind? "I mean, not in a like-like kind of way. So, what do you know about the Elements of Harmony?"
Twilight said no more of my reaction to mentioning Luna. She instead proceeded to get Spike to grab the book she had about the Elements. She explained about how she and the other Element Bearers were able to defeat Luna--then known as Nightmare Moon--and change her back to who she was before. She moved on to how they were once again used to defeat Discord. "So you don't have to worry about him anymore," Twilight assured me.
If only she knew.
Twilight told me about how she thought that she didn't need friends to get things done. Personally, I agreed. Friends only seemed to weigh me down. I work best alone. Then she told me what she learned in the past year of being in Ponyville. I was astounded. I knew that I would have to befriend the other Element Bearers in order to finally defeat Discord, but I never knew how Twilight changed from an antisocial recluse--much like myself (More fragments of my past that just popped up)--into somepony who had some of the best friends anyone could ask for.
Twilight also told me about how the Elements were actually stronger when together, and when the users have a strong friendship. I originally thought of this as getting the others to trust me, but now I understand that I actually have to be FRIENDS with them. Why didn't I think of that before? I remembered last night, when Pinkie Pie showed up and saved me. She was wearing her Element, and that seemed to make me stronger. Maybe she had some sort of connection with me that I don't know about.
After this, we had some random conversations, and I finally asked Twilight where Pinkie Pie lived; that she wanted to see me too.
"She lives above Sugarcube Corner, the candy shop." Twilight explained. "But she's usually all over town. She'd probably find you first."
With this, I thanked Twilight and headed off. "If you remember anything else about the Northern Continent, Sterling," she said, "Please let me know." I assured her that I would, and headed for the general direction of Sugarcube Corner.
Sure enough, Pinkie Pie caught up with me first. "Heya, Sterling!" She said in her usual happy tone. "Did you like the goodies?"
"Yeah, there was a lot of them," I replied. "What was up with the note you gave me--" Pinkie covered my mouth and dragged me into an alley.
"SHHHH!" She hushed me. "Do you want HIM to hear you?? Or anypony else??? We need to go somewhere safe: Everfree Forest. Let's go."
We headed off in that direction. Pinkie going from her cautious attitude to a cheery one, hopping instead of walking. This pony is nuts. I still had a bunch of questions that she might have answers to, though, so I had no choice but to trust Pinkie.
Once we arrived at the edge of the forest, Pinkie spoke.
"Are you trying to get us both killed!?" She said irritably. "You don't say that kind of thing for all to hear! I thought you would know better than that."
Alright, that was pretty dumb. She told me not to tell anyone, and I didn't. Doc didn't know; Twilight didn't know... I didn't even plan on telling Luna.
I admitted that it was stupid of me. "But what's the harm?" I added. "It's not like anypony would pay attention."
"That's what you think!" Pinkie retorted. "He's got ears all over the place. He even has someone who looks like you running around. That was no dream, Sterling."
"Then what was it?" I asked. "Did Celestia actually tell me that she saw my evil twin roaming about Canterlot?"
Pinkie nodded. "She talked to you before she came to see us, so I guess."
My mind was going into overdrive now. Just how much did Pinkie know? "How much do you know? Are you a spy or something?"
"If I were a spy, why would I even be talking to you? I'm trying to save you. I know who you are, Sterling. YOU were the spy. And now you're with us. That watch you're wearing, it's no ordinary watch. It's an Element of Harmony. I don't know how you got a Seventh Element, but you've got it. I doubted it at first, but then I saw it in action. I took a risk there, saving you. I'm glad that I was right about you. You're one of them, aren't you?"
I was really confused now. "What do you mean, 'one of them'?"
"You know..." She leaned closer, "One of HIM. You looked a lot like one of him, you and your evil twin."
"So you know I'm a human," I said. "But I don't know how you got me mixed up with such a mixed-up creature like Discord. We look entirely different--" I turned into a human to prove it.
Pinkie Pie backed away. "Yeah..." She said. "You're one of him, alright. He just changed his form, that's all. Whenever I'm around you... I just know. Who you are, what you're doing here, how you got here..."
I was beginning to get irritated. "Pinkie, you need to be more clear on this," I demanded. "You're not making any sense. Is Discord a human, too? What do you know? Do you know anything about my past?"
"No. All I know is that you were his pawn, just like I was. Your memories were wiped out and you got abilities. I was supposed to help him, but the Princess knew already. She protected me. Sometimes, I lose track of how long it's been. A side effect of my protection from him. All I know is that I was spared. I still have some tricks up my sleeve, and he's still trying to use me."
I didn't understand why Pinkie was being so obscure. "So, what you're saying is that you were to help Discord break out, like I was? And Celestia somehow helped you? You're on Discord's most wanted list, just like me. I thought he could only had enough power to bring one being to him..."
"He did," Pinkie replied. "This was a long time ago. So long, I can't even remember."
My eyes widened. Was Pinkie Pie possibly over a thousand years old? What happened? "So, you've been alive for over 1000 years? How is that possible?"
"Was it that long?" She asked with a sad smile. "I don't remember. All I know is the past 20 years of my life. In another 40 years, my mind will be wiped clean again, and the Princess will take me somewhere else, where no one knows who I am. Nopony will remember me, and I won't remember them."
I usually have a good understanding of things, but Pinkie was running circles around me. "OK, let me get this straight," I began. "You're over 1000 years old, yet you forget almost everything every sixty years? Is this because of Discord?" Pinkie nodded. "So why does he want you alive?"
"He's able to use his pawns as his eyes whenever they show negative emotions: Fear, anger, sorrow. It's why I act the way I do. He almost did it a few months ago. Remember what I said about the time I threw two parties in a row? Well, nopony showed up, and I got all depressed, and I think he was able to see Equestria through my eyes for a bit. I don't really know. I think he can do the same to you, too."
"That's heavy," I muttered. "That still doesn't explain how you thought Discord looks like me."
"He DOES look like you!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I can see through his illusions. He looks like you, but he's not at all like you. Now I know that. You, Doc, and him... You all look like the same being, but you all come from different places. What was that big word that they used...? Oh, right! 'Anomaly.' You're all anomalies. But you and Doc are here to stop him, aren't you?"
"I don't know..." I admitted. "Discord pulled me in this, Doc got here by accident and can't get out, and..." I realized that Discord was an anomaly too, according to Pinkie. "Where the heck did Discord come from?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. But we need to be on the right page here. He can work with negative feelings, and that'll bring up Tarnish or whatever his name is. As far as I know, only you and me can see him. We have to work together, Sterling. I'll try to get the others to see you more--"
"Uh, you don't have to do that--"
"If we want to get rid of HIM, you're gonna have to! You're just like Twilight before we found the Elements. She prefered books to friends. 'Every pony in this town is CRAZY!' she said." Pinkie Pie paused. "Do you think we're crazy???"
"In all honesty, I don't know what's crazy and what's normal," I said. "I just want the threat of eternal chaos gone, and I'll do everything in my power to do this. I'm sure you know that I helped Discord escape; and he's going to come back soon, whether I help him this time or not. If I have to, I'll kill him with my bare hands." I was starting to get very angry with how Discord duped me.
"YOU HEAR THAT DISCORD, YOU COWARD!?" I suddenly bellowed. "I'LL FIGHT YOU WITH MY LAST BREATH!! I'LL--" That was when Pinkie Pie covered my mouth.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about," she whispered. "He's gonna use you again. Try finding something that you really like, and focus on that. I've seen you talking to Princess Luna a lot--"
"We're just friends," I hastily blurted out, feeling myself turn red. And since I was still a human, it was more clear that I was blushing. I switched forms to kind of cover it up.
"Suuuure you are," Pinkie retorted, winking. "I've seen how you're always talking to her."
I tried changing the subject. "I really like music," I said. "I even saw a Bari Sax at that little music shop in Ponyville."
"Then get it," Pinkie ordered. "You need to stay positive. In a few days, HE is going to break free again, and we'll need all the help we can get to stop him. And we can't do anything if he's got you working for him again. Just smile." She gave me one of the widest grins I have ever seen (At least, the widest I can remember). I couldn't help but stifle a laugh.
"See?" Pinkie said. "Just like that! Now, I've got some work to do around town, like getting you to know the others more. Remember: Don't tell anypony about any of this. So I'll see ya later!" And with that, she hopped off back into town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later, I was back at the museum with that Bari Sax that I saw earlier. Turns out that nopony wants a saxophone; they all want string instruments. So they let me have it for dirt cheap. The Doctor told me that if I needed to buy anything to just put it on his account. Surely he wouldn't mind.
If Pinkie Pie wanted me to smile, I was beaming like a kid in a candy shop.
At first, The Doctor dropped everything he was doing. "What in blazes is that thing??" He demanded to know.
I closed the door and turned back into a human. "It's a Baritone Sax," I explained. "I used to play one back home. A wonderful instrument."
"So you remember some of your past now," The Doctor said. "Tell me Sterling, do you have any sense of how much one of those would cost?"
"The store practically gave it away to me," I explained. "Apparently, nopony's into jazz right now, and even less would actually know how to play one of these. This Bari is pretty much the only memory I have right now, so it must be very important to me."
"Perhaps..." The Doctor pondered for a moment. "Alright, you can keep it, as long as you actually know how to play it. I'm sure you need something to remind you of home."
I thanked him and carried my instrument upstairs into my room. I opened the case, set it up, and that's when I realized something: I didn't even remember how to play it.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember fingerings, notes, anything. I picked up my Bari and suddenly, I started remembering things. I started with a basic scale, then moved on to chromatic scale (Moving up and down the scale by semitones), and then I tried some songs that I remembered from my past. I didn't know where any of them came from, or who composed them, but I was so happy to have some piece of my old life back that I didn't really care.
I lost all track of time when I checked my watch. It was almost 8:00 at night. I should probably tell Luna about today's events, minus the whole secret of Pinkie Pie's life. I would have seen her later, but I have a couple questions to ask her...
I put my sax away and opened the door to see myself standing before Celestia. I kind of jumped back. You know, it's not everyday that you see the ruler of a whole country twice in as many days.
"Celestia, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I know about your discussion with Pinkie Pie earlier today," she replied. "And I know how confusing she can be. She's like that for a reason. Discord can still get to her if she mentions his name. He has more of a hoofhold on her than he ever did to you. That, and living for as long as Pinkie Pie has, losing all of your memories and friends after a regular lifetime... And Discord won't give her the mercy of death. I'm suprised that Pinkie Pie can still be as happy as she is."
"Wait, what's wrong with living forever?" I wondered. "If I were ageless, I could probably be wiser and learn more than I could in the few decades I've got left."
"Sterling, you're still too young to understand," Celestia told me. "If you were one of the few who are actually ageless--like Discord, Luna and myself--you would know how hard it is to lose someone you loved or were a mentor to. I may be Twilight Sparkle's teacher, but I dread the day that she too passes away.
"Anyways, I'm here to tell you about Pinkie Pie; to make what she has said to you more clear. When Discord 'disappeared', he tried to control some of the ponies in Equestria. He was trying to make this land ripe for the chaos he was going to unleash.
"Luna and I weren't sure what this was about at first. There were only a few that he could actually control, but he was able to get a few more to follow him, unknowingly. Pinkie Pie was always the happy-go-lucky pony that she is now, so it was obvious to see that Discord was trying to control her as well. She lived in Canterlot at this time, so almost everypony knew her. When she began to say confusing things, many feared that she had lost her mind. I learned later that Discord was trying to control Pinkie Pie, but for some reason, it wasn't working the way he expected. I realized what caused this about a year ago, when she was able to control the Element of Laughter. The Element was protecting her.
"Discord knew this too, so he cursed Pinkie Pie to live forever, so that he could figure out how to break the barrier the Element was using on her. Every sixty years since then, Pinkie Pie's mind was entirely wiped of all memories. Discord probably plans on either experimenting on her, or killing her off. And from what I saw last night--" I knew that Celestia was referring to Tarnish and I. "--I believe that Discord is going for the latter.
"I never told anypony about this, but it's important that some must learn the truth. You were the first to find out Sterling, but Now I have informed The Doctor and my sister about the matter."
Well, that's a load off my back. I was worried about not telling Luna.
Celestia continued, "You must protect the others. Luna has told me about the Seventh Element of Harmony that you now posess, and how it reacts to the other Elements. Even though I had all of them but yours locked up back in Canterlot, it seems that your Element can draw the others to their users whenever they are close by and in danger."
"That would explain how Pinkie had her Element..." I realized. "And how I was able to slow down time."
"Yes, it's possible," Celestia agreed. "So you have to defend Twilight and the others. I know that Discord is out to kill them all, as your dark side explained. He was once careless about his plans, but now Discord is doing everything in his power to destroy Equestria and all who stand in his way."
So I noticed. I've been having more and more nightmares about Discord and Tarnished Sterling. How I could be posessed by my darker self... and that the Elements of Harmony would be in Discord's hands. I knew that Discord was more of a joker than an organized criminal. But now I was seeing that he was becoming the face of pure chaos.
I explained this to Celestia. "It's like before, he would toy around with his opponents. But now, he's trying hard to kill us all."
"I know," she replied. "And to think that he was once very different... Anyways, remember what Pinkie Pie told you: Stay positive. If you start to become depressed, an dyou have no friends to cheer you up, Discord will probably control you again. And it won't be just Equestria that will fall... All of reality may be his to control."
"Don't worry Celestia," I assured her. "I'll do everything I can to stop Discord."
Celestia said that she had some things to attend to back in Canterlot, so she had to leave. I showed her out, and she told me that Luna was waiting for me in Everfree Forest again. After Celestia left, I teleported to where I knew Luna would be: The castle in Everfree Forest.
She was right where I knew she would be. Luna heard me appear, and she came running up to me and hugged me. I was taken aback by this, because I didn't expect it. But I hugged her back all the same.
"I heard about everything," Luna told me. "About Pinkie Pie, about this Tarnished Sterling being... I was worried that Discord was going to kill you."
I was still recovering from Luna's reaction to my arrival. All I could think of was the fact that she was hugging me. Even though I was human and she wasn't, if felt normal. It made me feel like less of an outsider.
Finally, we pulled away and I was able to tell her about what happened today. I explained everything from my visit with Twilight to Celestia's suprise appearance.
I then brought up my rection to whenever I or somepony else mentioned Luna. "For some reason, I started to blush," I explained. I was fighting with myself over whether or not to ask her... "Luna, I was wondering..." Just say it Sterling, you moron! "This may sound like a random question, but..." I could feel the heat radiating from my face now. "Do you like me?" I asked at little more than a whisper.
Luna was suprised that I would ask something like that. But her reply was even more suprising.
"I don't know..." She replied. "You're the first to ever appreciate the evening sky I make every night. And what you've told me before... you're a great pon--I mean, person. You're smart, nice, and musical, too! My sister told me about what you were doing this afternoon!
Luna turned to me. "Do you like me, Sterling?"
I decided to be honest. "Yeah, I think so. so many have just taken you for granted. From what you told me, nopony has really appreciated your work. It's like Celestia gets all the credit, and you're looked at with fear, because of the whole Nightmare Moon incident. But I don't fear you. I'm not afraid of you at all. You're... Well..."
I could tell that Luna was beginning to feel awkward, and so was I.
"Oy," I sighed. "This is pretty awkward. So, are you still coming to town for Nightmare Night? I think it would be the perfect time for your public debut! Well..." I caught Luna's glare. "Not in a bad way. You know, for how everyone else seems to be afraid of you."
Her glare softened. "You're right. Of course I'm still coming. If everypony wants a scare, I'll give them one!" She said with a sinister laugh.
"So I'll see you then," I siad.
"Yes. I'll see you then." We looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity, then Luna kissed me on the cheek and teleported back to Canterlot.
Wait... She kissed me. What the heck? If my face could have got more red, it did at that moment. At least that confirmed that Luna liked me as well.
But... She's an Alicorn, and I'm a human... How is that going to work out? Even as an Earth Pony, it would be odd to like an Alicorn.
Oh, well. I need to get back to the museum and get some sleep. I'll bet that Pinkie will have plans for me to meet the other Element Bearers again tomorrow.