“Do you know this pony?”
“No.”
“Do you know this pony?”
“Sorry, I’ve never seen him before.”
“Do you know this pony?”
“Who?”
“This red guy here, have you met him before?”
“I don’t think so.”
Pinkie Pie kept dragging Red from pony to pony in the ballroom where she was hosting a ‘party’. I say ‘party’ because it’s mostly upper-class ponies who wouldn’t know how to have fun if Pinkie Pie shoved it in their face. Instead, she shoved Red in their faces. How she managed to invite and get all these ponies here in less than an hour, I just left at ‘Pinkie being Pinkie’.
“Do you know this pony?” Pinkie asked a white pony with a monocle.
“I don’t believe I do.” The white Unicorn held out a hoof. “My name is Fancy Pants. A pleasure to meet you.”
Red shook Fancy’s hoof. “Hi. I’m, uh…” Red rubbed his neck. “Well, we have no clue who I am. That’s why Pinkie here is showing me to everypony, but my friends here call me Red.”
Fancy brought a hoof up to his mouth. “Oh my. Amnesia?”
“I guess you could call it that,” Red nodded.
“Well, I certainly hope you get well soon,” Fancy said.
Red nodded. “Thanks.” He was quickly dragged away by Pinkie to be shown to more ponies.
Fancy Pants grinned at them and turned to see Tia and me looking in his direction. Smith had left a while ago and wanted to look around after I turned him back into his normal grey self. Fancy Pants grew excited and approached us, and then bowed to Tia. “Princess, what a pleasant surprise!”
Tia nodded for him to rise. “Likewise, Fancy Pants. We see you have met Red over there.” I looked in their direction to see Red and Pinkie practically teleporting from pony to pony. Pinkie Pie magic would be incredible to study sometime. I chuckled and turned to see Fancy giving me a questioning look.
“Oh, sorry,” I said. “My name is Blast Shield. I’m a friend of the Princesses.”
Fancy Pants shook my extended hoof and grinned. “Fancy Pants. It’s a pleasure to meet a friend of the Princess.”
“He is actually my newest personal mage,” Tia said.
Fancy went wide-eyed and inspected me. “But…” He looked at my wings. “He’s a Pegasus.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I wasn’t always one. Watch.” I lifted my hoof as it lit up cyan and placed it on the floor in Red’s direction. A cyan barrier wrapped around his rear hoof, causing both him and the pink mare pulling him to abruptly stop and fall down. “Blast!” Red yelled. This wasn’t the first time I’ve done something like that to him. Well, to Smith at least. Red shot me glare as my magic faded. Pinkie was already up and pulling his hoof again like nothing happened.
“Fascinating.” Fancy Pants turned back to me. “You must be very skilled if the Princess made you her personal mage. You know she hasn’t had one since Starswirl the Bearded!”
“Really?” I smirked at Tia, who avoided my gaze. “I guess that’s something to discuss later.” Fancy gave us a questioning look and was about to ask when I noticed Trixie and her tour guide walk in. “Trixie! Green!” I waved. “How was the tour?” I trotted closer to them and noticed a faint blush fading from her cheeks and the guard smiling. Ha, knew it.
“Ahem, it was adequate,” she said, trying to compose herself. “It is truly incredible to be able to say that Trix- uh, I live at Canterlot Castle.”
“That’s exactly what I thought when I first got here,” I said.
The guard looked at me. “If that is all you want, I must return to my post.”
“Oh, sure,” I nodded. “Thanks for the help, Green.” He nodded and walked back to the door they had just entered. “And tell Forest to lighten up a bit!” I called to Green. “Even Shining knows how to smile every once in a while!” Green nodded and disappeared around the corner.
“So what’s Pinkie throwing a party for this time?” Trixie asked. She thought about it for a moment. “Wait, why is Pinkie Pie here?”
I groaned. “Long story short, Smith’s doppelganger was a disguised Pegasus whose memories were replaced by Smith’s. Pinkie followed us here because she sensed a new pony, and she’s seeing if anypony recognizes him.”
“Oh,” Trixie mouthed.
“Actually,” I thought about it, “you travel a lot, right?” Trixie nodded. “You might recognize him from somewhere.” I turned to look for Red but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. “Hey, Pinkie?” I asked to nowhere in particular. “Do you know where Red went?”
Pinkie popped up behind Trixie. “He said he needed to use the little colt’s room.” I facehoofed.
Trixie jumped and squeaked. “What has Trixie said about doing that?!” she yelled at the pink pony.
“Oh, hi Trixie!” Pinkie said, ignoring Trixie’s glare. Pinkie gasped. “You might know who he is! I’ll show you him when he comes back.”
“He’s not coming back,” I groaned.
“Huh?”
“He only calls it the ‘little colt’s room’ when he tries to get away from a party or out of an appointment,” I explained. “We’ll be lucky if he isn’t halfway to Ponyville by now.”
“Well, shoot. I guess I’ll have to work faster next time,” Pinkie said. Wait, that wasn’t her working fast?! “I’ll go find him! I’m the best at finding ponies!” Pinkie vanished, leaving a tiny puff of smoke in her place.
“Remind me to never give her caffeine,” I mumble to Trixie and she nodded. We turned and walked back to Tia, who was still talking with Fancy Pants. “Hey, Tia. We’re gonna go find Smith before he gets into any trouble.” I looked at Fancy Pants. “It was nice to meet you, Fancy Pants.”
“Likewise, Blast Shield.” He looked at Trixie and beamed some more. “And Miss Trixie! I was at your show in Manehatten last week. It was simply marvelous!”
“Thank you,” Trixie said.
I patted her on the back. “Well, you can expect her to become even greater and more powerful before too long!”
“Oh?” Fancy asked.
“She’s one of my apprentices.”
“One of them? Who else is under you?” he asked.
“Oh, just some low profile librarian in Ponyville,” I said.
Fancy raised his brow in surprise. “You’re teaching Miss Twilight Sparkle?”
“That’s the one!”
“Impressive, indeed,” He said. “I hope to witness your abilities at some point.”
“Well, I should go before my friend ends up in the dungeon.” I looked at Tia. “I’ll be back for dinner.”
Tia nodded. “It’s in the dining room in a couple hours.” I nodded and Trixie and I left the ballroom.
----------------------
“Where are we going?” Trixie asked as we approached the far end of the castle.
“I wanted to see my old room real quick,” I said. “Tia said that it was unoccupied, so I could have it back if I wanted.” Trixie nodded as I turned down an oh-so-familiar hallway. A short distance down was a turn that led to Tia’s room, where I’ve been twice since I got here already. A little further was the door to the kitchen and at the end was a large double door that led to my old room.
I smiled as I approached it and slowly opened the door. Everything in the bedroom looked as new and clean as it did 3000 years ago. The large purple bed sat at the back of the room. The door to the bath room was to the left and my old study was to the right. I entered the study to see most of my books exactly where I left them, including my old journal and book of notes on the desk in the middle of the room. Why is all this here?
“I figured you would want all of your things returned,” I heard a soothing voice say behind me.
“Thanks Tia,” I said without having to see her. I turned to see Tia standing in the doorway smiling at me. “Did you memorize every book I had, or…”
“I couldn’t remember a few of them. It’s been a while, so you couldn’t expect me to get everything, could you?” Tia smirked and started giggling. “No, I had your personal books stored away. I think the only ones you’re missing are the books you ‘borrowed’ from the library but never returned.”
“Hey, they told me that there were no due dates.”
Tia rolled her eyes and nuzzled me and I returned it. It felt a little weird, but I liked it. When we separated, I looked back at the journal on my desk. “It’s been technically only a few days since I’ve written in that thing, but it feels like an eternity now,” I said as I picked it up with my magic and brought it closer to me.
“Do you plan to continue writing?” Tia asked.
I shook my head. “Nah. There’s no need to anymore. Everything in here is in a past life.” I could swear I heard Pinkie Pie giggling somewhere in the distance. I opened my journal and skimmed over my first entry about my second day here in Equestria. Reading it made me rub my head in ghostly pain a few times, but I chuckled anyways. I placed it back on my desk and Tia and I walked back to my bedroom, where Trixie was looking out a window near the bed.
“Well, let’s go find Smith. I’m starved,” I said. Trixie nodded and we all went back out to the corridor. “I think I know where to find him.” Tia and Trixie followed as I led them toward the Royal Guard barracks.
“Do you really think he’ll be here?” Tia asked as we approached building.
I nodded. “He’ll be too bored if he doesn’t have something like this to occupy his time.”
We walked inside and I asked a nearby guard if he’d seen Smith. He told us a silver Pegasus just went to see the Captain in his office.
As we approached Shining Armor’s office, I could hear him talking. “And I said that unless the Princess herself walks through that door and tells me otherwise, you cannot join the guard!”
I smirked and pushed the door open. “Geez, Shiny. Lighten up. He was only able to trot past your entire guard until you intervened!”
Shining looked shocked. “What-” He saw the Princess walk in behind me and bowed his head. “Princess Celestia.”
Tia motioned for him to rise. “What seems to be the issue?”
“This guy won’t let me join the guard because I ‘trespassed’ and ‘disturbed the peace’,” Smith said, motioning his hooves in air quotes as he said them. “I mean, what’s up with that?”
“You snuck into the castle without permission!” Shining exclaimed. “A crime punishable by prison! Why Luna didn’t send you there immediately is beyond me.” Shining rubbed his head in irritation.
“Oh, they’re dating,” I stated. Shining stared in disbelief and slight disgust at Smith, who just crossed his forelegs and smirked.
Shining groaned and looked at Tia. “I’m sorry Celestia, but I’ve waited long enough. Who the hay are these ponies?” Tia and I started laughing.
------------------------
“So you’re the Silver Smith?” Shining asked. “The same Silver Smith that stopped the largest crime ring in Equestria?”
Smith nodded. “The one and only.”
“Well, sort of,” I said. “Technically there’s Red.”
“Oh, yeah,” Smith looked back at Shining. “Anyways, it wasn’t just me. I couldn’t have done it without Knight,” he motioned to me.
Shining looked at me and hummed. “Sapphire Knight. I think my sister mentioned something about you a few years ago. Something about Transformation magic, right?” I nodded.
“What?!” Smith exclaimed. “How do you not know about Knight? He was only the finder of the Elements of Harmony, helped make Celestia and Luna princesses, and the greatest magician rivaled only by Starswirl himself! I mean, he-”
“Dude, calm down,” I cut Smith off. “I made it so I wouldn’t be remembered all that well.”
“What? Why?” He looked at me incredulously.
“Just trust me. I had my reasons.” I looked at Shining who was shocked.
“Was all that true?” he asked.
I slowly nodded. “Well, yeah. But like I said earlier, I sort of had pre-existing knowledge of this place, so in a way I guess I cheated a bit.”
“But just knowing magic exists doesn’t make you a great magician,” Tia said.
“Yeah,” Smith punched the air a few times, “And it takes some guts to go up against Discord and Chief Biggs like you did.”
“Our point is,” Tia lowered her head to mine. “Regardless of what you knew before, you still excelled beyond what most ponies are capable of.”
“I’d have to agree,” Shining said. “Those really sound like impressive feats. I’d love to hear more at some point.” Shining looked back at Smith. “As for you…” He grinned. “I suppose you can join the guard. We’ll put you through a crash course in basic training to make sure you’re still up to par, and then we’ll see where to go from there.”
“Alright!” Smith cheered to himself.
“Meet me here Friday at 0800 hours.” Smith saluted and Shining returned it.
“Well, we should be going,” I said. “It’s time for dinner!”
Shining nodded. “It was nice meeting you two. Take care.” He looked at Trixie. “And it was nice to see you again Miss Lulamoon.” She smiled and nodded at him as we left.
Once we re-entered the main part of the castle, something occurred to me. “You know, he never said anything about my past as a human.”
Tia nodded. “He probably knows not to pry at the unknown. He’s met one or two ponies that were not always ponies.”
“Hmm,” I thought about it. “I guess I can trade him a story for a story sometime.”
“Why didn’t you mention you and the Princess?” Trixie asked.
Oh yeah, she wasn’t there when we discussed it. “Well, even though we may be together now, we’re unsure about how to go about it. If I date Tia, we’ll never get any privacy. But, if I date ‘Sunny’, Tia and I can’t really be close around the castle.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Trixie said. “You want to be able to go out without-”
“Found him!” Pinkie yelled as she appeared in front of us with Red in her grasp, causing all of us to stop in surprise. I laughed when I saw Red mouth ‘Help me’.
“L-Light?!” Trixie muttered, blushing.
“Come again?” I said.
“That’s Lightwing.” Trixie said. “I met him on the road just a few days ago!”
“See?” Pinkie said, dropping Red- err, Light on the floor. “I told you somepony would recognize him!”
“Uh, who’s Lightwing?” Light asked after dusting himself off.
“Apparently, that’s you,” I said.
“You don’t remember?” Trixie asked him.
Light shook his head. “I’m sorry. The only memories up here are Smith’s.”
“We met on the road right outside Manehatten,” Trixie explained. “I had just finished a performance when you caught up to me to compliment my show.”
“Umm…” Light put a hoof to his head in thought. After a few moments, Light let out a cry in pain and fell to the ground, clenching his head.
“Light, you alright?!” I said and ran to help him up.
“Uh, yeah. I-I think so.” Light slowly rose, leaning on me. “I… I remember. I remember meeting you.” Light looked at Trixie. “You… gave me an autograph and showed me around your wagon. I was surprised by how much bigger it was on the inside. It was… the best day of my life.” Light smiled at her and Trixie looked away, blushing. Great, she has a crush on her fan. I chuckled to myself. Looks like Green’s got some competition.
“Is that all you remember?” Tia asked.
Light nodded. “Yeah. My name’s Lightwing, and I-” His eyes went wide. “I was only visiting Manehatten for Trixie’s show! I still don’t know where I’m from.” He sighed.
“Come on, dude,” Smith said. “Don’t stress out about it right now. We’ll take it one step at a time.”
Light nodded. “You’re right. You know, it’s weird. It feels like I’m talking to myself.”
“Well, you do that anyways, so what’s the difference?” Smith asked and they both laughed.
“Let’s go eat,” I said. “Maybe you’ll remember something else at dinner.”
Light nodded and we all went to the dining hall. Trixie tried to avoid looking at Light, but Light constantly glanced at her. This should be interesting.