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Memories
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Prologue End
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Alex couldn’t believe everything he had just witnessed. He had a front row seat to the last twelve hours of his life, and had watched every moment replay, as clear as it had been the first time. He was shocked this kind of… magic existed.
That sounded so odd to him. Magic.
Now that his flashback had ended, he wasn’t sure where there was to go. He had expected to wake up surrounded by those girls, but he just surrounded in darkness, waiting to open his eyes.
“Maybe I need to focus…” Alex mumbled, reaching up with his hands and rubbing his temples, before looking to his fingers, “Hey! I’m a human in here!”
“Well, this is your mind, Alex.” A celestial voice said through the darkness, “And you’ve done a very good job convincing me of your story.”
“Well that’s good to hear,” He laughed, looking around to see where she was talking from, “Where are you?”
“Well, we’re actually in my mind, while we’re in your mind,” She explained vaguely, as he frowned in frustration, “Well, what next then?”
“I’m going to wake you up,” She said, with a brief pause in her simulated breathing “However, I’d like to clear some things up with you first.”
“Sure, shoot.” Alex said, sitting down on the black ground.
“Your parents were… killed.” She said carefully, seeing his expression soften, “This is something I should keep to myself?”
“Please.” Alex nodded, his voice showing small signs of strain, “I’d rather not have the pity party.”
“Of course,” She nodded, moving on to the next order of business, “Now, about your return home, I’m afraid that might be a problem.”
Alex exhaled. Great.
“While the magic exists that could get you home, it’ll only work if you cast it,” She explained, unsure of how to interpret his blank expression, “The spell requires the caster to imagine their home. The sights, the smells, and the feelings it elicits are all critical to the spell succeeding.”
“Okay, well, how hard is magic to do?” Alex asked, hopefully.
“The spell you need to get home is advanced. In fact, I myself would have trouble casting it.” She said quietly, her face apologizing to him.
“How old did you say you were again?” Alex asked, biting his lip, hoping he was wrong about the number he remembered being thrown out.
“Well, for your sake, I’ll simply say, over a thousand,” She said to him as he squeaked sadly.
Now longer blank faced, he was now dejected.
“So… a thousand years, huh?” Alex mumbled, “That’s not so bad.”
“If you were to focus on that spell in particular, you would be able to cast it in only a few years,” Celestia offered, happy to see his expression perk up.
“Seriously?” He asked, before realizing just what ‘years’ was, “That’s… pretty long too.”
Celestia understood his frustration, but needed to move on with the conversation. Their minds were linked, and she was afraid of what he might see of her.
“So, assuming you wish to learn this spell, do you have a preference on where you’d like to be while you’re taught?” She asked, considering the possibilities for him.
“I mean, I have no idea what’s even going on,” Alex shrugged, looking around the dark room, “I’d appreciate a recommendation.”
“You may return to Canterlot, our capital, with me, and I will teach you as best I can with the little time I have,” She began, as she gauged his reaction, “Your other option, however, would be to stay here in Ponyville with my student, Twilight Sparkle. She is completely capable of teaching you the spell you need, and would have much more time to spend with you, helping you along.”
“Does she know she’s being considered for this job?” Alex asked, surprised that this Princess would just throw her student into a job like that without any conversation between the two.
“I’ll get your answer first.” Celestia said simply, “I didn’t want to get her hopes up, only to have you decide to come to Canterlot with me.”
Alex thought to himself for a moment, considering his options.
He could stay here in the town he had been in for… a day, with a group of ponies he met briefly. Or, he could go to this Canterlot place, and study with who he assumed was the strongest being in the world.
“What do you think the time difference would be?” Alex asked, relishing in the use of his fingers once again, as he fiddled with them, doing nothing in particular.
“Twilight would be able to teach you much faster than I,” Celesta explained, shaking her head, “She has little responsibility, and could devote more than double the time I could.”
“Well, I guess we have our answer!” Alex laughed, shrugging at the little choice he had, “She’s pretty cute too, so I guess I could survive.”
“Cute?” Celestia asked, verbally raising her eyebrow.
“Well, as cute as ponies get,” Alex said, considering just how attractive he felt the girls in this world to be, before catching himself at the odd thought process, “I’m getting used to this whole world way too fast if you ask me.”
“Well, you’ll be staying with her at the library, so I hope you treat her with the level of respect she deserves.” Celestia said sternly, genuinely believing him to be harmless, but still taking steps to intimidate him.
“Oh, of course!” Alex nodded quickly, feeling stupid for talking that way in front of her teacher, “I’m incredibly respectful—Uh, ma’am!”
“Good.” Her voice echoed, “Are you ready to return?”
“Yes please!” He nodded, standing up and walking in a quick circle.
Her voice vanished, leaving Alex alone to wonder what was going to happen next. Was he going to just… wake up? What were the chances that he was going to just wake up at home, with his mom banging on his door?
Zero.
He knew that by now.
Suddenly, a large white doorway appeared in front of him, pouring light in to the darkened room.
“That must be my exit!” Alex smiled, standing up and walking toward the new door.
Stepping inside, he quickly realized he wasn’t awake. He was instead in a room to the opposite of the last one. Instead of never-ending darkness, he was surrounded by white.
“What now?” Alex moaned, walking through the room, hoping he was just passing through on his way out.
“Sister!” A voice called, echoing through the massive, and empty room, “Look what I found!”
Suddenly, just as it had in his own room, a large image appeared before him, giving him a first person view of an unknown pony, that sat reading a book, before looking up to see the source of her name.
“This bug was trying to eat my sandwich!” A small black filly with both wings and a horn announced, levitating an ant in front of her, “How shall we dispose of it?”
“Sister,” A familiar voice said to the frustrated filly, “He was simply hungry—Looking for food for his family.”
“Really?” The small girl asked in shock, realizing that she was about to hurt a creature that only wanted to help its family, “I was not awake he was feeding those he loved! Thank you Celly! I’ll help him!”
The girl bounded off, only to be heard giggling a moment later, as she followed behind the ant with the sandwich levitated just over it.
Alex could feel an overwhelming warmth pass through his body as the screen faded from in front of him. He almost felt like that was his own little sister.
Instantly, another screen appeared, showing the same pony on a trek through some kind of ripped apart forest.
“Sister, may we stop and take a break?” A female voice asked, clearly out of breath, “My legs feel as if they’re about to break!”
“Luna, we must reach the village, and rid them of their parasprite infestation,” The voice said, as the screen showed her looking back to the upset mare, who was now identified as an older version of the young girl he had just seen, “They may not eat ponies, but they eat so much food that several ponies could starve to death.”
“You’re right,” The dark mare said apologetically, running to catch up with the mare Alex was watching through, “I’ll have plenty of time to relax while we’re celebrating the removal of those pests. I can see it now…”
“Maybe they’ll shower us with gifts!” The voice that Alex now recognized as Celestia’s, said.
“A feast!” Her sister answered giddily, “They’ll treat us like royalty!”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to be pampered once in a while?” Celestia giggled, looking to her beaming sister.
“So long as we have each other, I think I can survive on scraps!” Her sister said proudly.
Again, warmth washed through Alex, as if he were experiencing the same emotions of the Princess.
You shouldn’t be in here…
Alex looked around to find the source of the new voice, only to hear the large screen in front of him crack.
Snapping back to it, he watched the images on it flicker, and vanish.
At this point, Alex just wanted out of this new room. He quickly realized that this was a very private place for the Princess, and somehow, while linking minds with her, he wound up in her memories.
His mind raced as he tried to think of a way out of this room, but was cut off when he started to hear more memories from the princess, except that these were much faster, and had no images to go along with them. As he listened in on them, he could only describe them as a highlight reel, as they were always coupled with a dominant emotion that surged through Alex each time.
“Fight Discord?” Shock.
“We’re not that strong!” Doubt.
“Elements?” Curiosity.
“Get your claws off of her!” Anger.
“You will stay forever in that stone.” Triumph.
“Me? A princess?!” Disbelief.
“Luna, A princess shouldn’t spend too much time with the royal captain.“ Playfulness.
“You’re my guard… but I haven’t felt this good in so long.” Arousal.
“It wasn’t professional. Please forget it happened.” Regret.
“You’re very quiet…” Concern.
“He was killed by the King.” Empathy….
“Destroy him, Luna.” Vengefulness.
“Please stop crying… Come back to me.” Sadness. “What’s been wrong with you?” Fear. “The night must balance with the day!” Pain. “Don’t make me do this!” Crippling agony. “I’m so sorry!” Heart wrenching.
“I’ll never stop loving you, Luna. Nor your lost child.”
Shattered.
\/\/\/\/
Alex shot up from the ground with a yelp, as he looked around in panic to the familiar ponies around him. Twilight, Pinkie, and Celestia all looked at him with wildly different emotions on their faces.
Twilight was panicked, having no idea what had just happened.
Pinkie seemed to have a curious look on her face, observing his motions more than worrying.
Celestia only gave him a grave look.
Pressing a hoof to his face, he realized that his cheeks were stained with tears. Every voice, every emotion… each one was burned into his mind, like he had been stabbed in the brain with a cattle prod.
His eyes were locked with Celestia, as she gave him a soft, pained look.
“Princess, what just happened?” Twilight asked darting between the two.
“He simply fell into my mind for a moment,” Celestia explained calmly, looking from the distraught Alex to Twilight, “He’ll be fine. When you have as many memories as I do, it can be overwhelming to somepony that isn’t ready for it all, right Alex?”
It took him a moment of collection, but he finally nodded quickly. Still shaken up by what he had experienced.
“Good.” Celestia smiled, “Now, I’m pleased to announce, that he was telling us the truth of his origins, and that—“
Alex could hear nothing but ringing. The conversation between the Princess and Twilight was nothing more than white noise right now. Ringing and ringing.
Princess Luna was home now, wasn’t that what he heard the girls saying earlier?
Alex couldn’t believe how happy to made him to hear that this pony, who he had never met, or even heard of until a few hours ago, was home with her sister.
He could feel more tears run down his cheeks.
The love she felt for her sister was immeasurable, and it made him happy to know that all of those horrible, horrible emotions, were resolved today.
“So you’re living with me now, right?” Twilight said to Alex, seeing him in his own world, promptly snapping him out of it with a tap on the shoulder.
“Oh, yeah!” He answered, having no idea what she said, but giving a ‘yes’ anyway.
“This’ll be interesting for both of us, I guess,” She smiled to him, “But since I’m a teacher now, I’ve gotta go get some supplies!”
“Oh, I’ll help carry some of—“
“Please remain here, Alex,” Celestia said, with a quiet power that scared the hell out of him, “Pinkie Pie, would you please help Twilight with her collection?”
“Sure thing!” She beamed, “I know all the best places in Ponyville for supplies! Let’s do the tour right now!”
“Okay, Pinkie,” Twilight nodded, laughing to herself, “I’ll see you back at the library, okay Alex?”
“Yeah! Sure…” Alex mumbled, shaking his head as the two girls trotted out, having no idea just how much turmoil his head had experienced.
“Alex.” Celestia said from behind him, her voice stoic, “I must ask that you keep everything you heard to yourself.”
“About Bolt? And the baby?” Alex asked quietly.
“Among other things.” She mumbled.
“Your secrets are safe with me,” Alex said quietly, “All I ask is that you keep the death of my parents to yourself. I wasn’t supposed to see all that stuff about you anyway. I’m sorry about that.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I was careless, and let the barrier between us fall.” She said, walking around to his front and finally smiling, “But as for your secret, don’t worry. It’s safe with me.”
“I think I’m going to lie down and cry in to a pillow for a few hours,” Alex said, trying to make it sound like a joke, even though he fully intended to do it.
“Of course,” Celestia nodded, “But first, take this.”
A small card appeared from thin air, that she floated it in front of Alex, so he could grab it with his mouth.
“That card will allow you the purchase of anything you want,” Celestia explained, as he nodded along with her explanation, “You have no skills to earn money in this world, so Canterlot will hoof the bill until you return home.”
Alex nodded, and mumbled out a ‘thank you’ through the card.
“And if you ever need anything, simply have Twilight contact me,” She finished, “I’ll be happy to help however I can.”
Bowing to her awkwardly, Alex turned around and headed out the door without another word.
As strange as it was, he felt connected to Celestia. And it comforted him.
She had felt pain, suffering, loss… They were all very human traits. She wasn’t omnipotent in every sense.
And if the Princess of this world could have those kinds of feelings, so could everyone else.
Maybe he wasn’t in such a foreign place after all.