//------------------------------// // 5 - The Friend of my Enemy is my Frenemy // Story: Oddities Anonymous // by TheAlmightyTinCan //------------------------------//         Anthony was in another of his dreamless sleeps, it was a phenomenon that was discovered about him soon after he’d been confined to the castle by the princesses. Not that he cared. Dreams were never a thing that came often, if at all to Anthony in his days before Equestria. Hell, Luna had even looked into why he wasn’t dreaming at one point and she didn’t come up with anything. Why did she fail? Well, how do you find something wrong with someone's dreams if you’re the master of dreams and they aren’t having dreams? Anyways, the only explanation Anthony could come up with was that his basically mind never got bored in Equestria. Well, he did get bored of course but his mind always had something to think about, and because dreams occur in order to keep the brain stimulated while you sleep it would make sense that a thoughtful mind wouldn’t have them. Sort of...         Ultimately this just left Anthony’s mind in a blissful darkness when he slept, a place where he didn’t have to stress or worry about anything until he woke up. Anthony’s eyes opened slowly. Like a garage door whose gears were just starting to rust over. Reaching up a hand, he attempted to rub the crust from his peepers, only to be unpleasantly surprised when his hand slapped across his face lifelessly with an audible smack. “What the?” Anthony grumbled to himself, suddenly taking notice to a heavy tingling sensation racing through his arm. A feeling he soon identified with having slept on the limb. “Bah!” he said to himself, shaking the arm from his shoulder, the odd cold sensation of blood refilling the appendage sending a shiver up his spine as he sat up. Though the mid-afternoon light still streamed into the room, Anthony could still feel the familiar haze over his mind that one who didn’t sleep well would often get.         A funny thing about Anthony, he didn’t like sleep, like at all. It’s a hard thing to explain to those who happen to really enjoy sleep. But for a man like Anthony, sleep seemed like such a waste of time. The only reason he did it nowadays was because there was nothing else to do, oh and also something about needing it to survive or whatever.         Time passed in a blur as he got out of bed and freshened up. Suddenly finding himself dressed and out in the hallway, Anthony felt the strange haze of sleep finally starting to ebb away. Closing the door he felt the eyes of the two guards trained on him. He was now on his way to the library. Why there of all places? It seemed that there would be many things for one to do in such a large castle. This was, quite literally, the most powerful place in the world after all.         Bedrooms, and ballrooms, and meetingrooms, and diningrooms, and kitchenrooms, and cleaningrooms. That was what the most powerful building in the world consisted of. The only exceptions to this being the stations for the guards, which Anthony wouldn’t dream of going near during the day for fear of his life, and the library. Of course the princesses also had some personal areas of theirs like the private baths and Luna’s observatory, but those were off limits for obvious reasons.         If there had to be any plus side to Anthony’s forced forevercation it would have been the improvements to his reading skill. He tended to find himself within the confines of the library almost every day, reading up on whatever he could about the world. After all, he didn’t plan on staying in the castle forever. As he walked, Anthony could hear the rhythmic tapping of the guards hooves as they followed him through the halls as per their duty. He was so used to it nowadays he almost didn’t notice. However, whatever part of him did notice was still irked by their presence. Anyways, there’d be time to deal with them soon enough.         After what seemed like miles, Anthony found himself at the grand doors of the library. Knowing what to do, the guards posted themselves on each side of the door respectively. Unlike a lot of the other doors in the castle, the library’s ones were mostly glass, more specifically, a mosaic of colorful stained glass pieces that turned the mid-afternoon rays into a myriad of deep reds, oranges, and blues. The sight alone brought a small comfort to Anthony as he stepped inside, closing the door lightly behind him. “Who is iiiITTT YAAAAH! *OOF*” Anthony cringed as he heard the shout and thud from within the confines of the library, worry setting in as he quickened his pace into the center of the jungle of books. “Mr. Light? Are you okay?” Anthony called. Finding his way to the main desk he started looking through the nearby ailes. “Over here young lad!” The breathless pony’s voice called. Turning, Anthony followed the sound through the shelves to one of the many corners of the library.         There, laying barrel up sprawled on the ground beneath a ladder was a blue unicorn, a duel crescent cutie mark adorning his flank, and a pair of reading glasses skewed on his brow. “Mr. Light, you okay?” Anthony said, rushing over and lifting the downed pony back onto his hooves.         Night light shook his head, trying to reorient himself from the fall before reaching up a hoof and straightening his glasses. Blinking his eyes back into focus, he looked up at his bipedal savior. “Anthony! Thank you for your help, these old bones surely needed it. And yes, I believe I’m alright.” He said, giving the man a warm smile. Oddly enough, Night Light was one of the few ponies he had met that was actually able to pronounce his name. Anthony could only attribute it to him having worked in a library his whole life. The man shook his head. “Firstly sir, you’re not that old. You’ll know you’re old because I won’t hesitate to call you it when you are. Secondly, whether or not you are old you need to be more careful, you don’t realize how hard a knock to the head from that fall would be until it happens.” He finished sternly. Night Light gave a small roll of his eyes. “Alright, alright, I’ll be more careful next time. Anyhow, what brings Equestria’s one and only to the library today?” He said, looking up expectantly.         Night Light was a very kind pony, not in the same way that Anthony was with Nightingale or Luna. It was a sort of mutual respect that the pony seemed to radiate. Anthony couldn’t really describe it, but he often found himself calling the middle-aged stallion with more formal titles than he would other ponies. “I’ll just be looking around as usual, I think I can find my way around here by now.” Anthony said with a small smile, gazing up at the rows of books around him. Night Light nodded, following his gaze. “I wouldn’t doubt it; however, if you do happen to need anything I’ll be at the front desk. I think I’ve done enough reorganizing for today.” He said, rubbing a sore spot on his shoulder with a hoof. After exchanging farewells Anthony began combing the various halls and floors or the library, occasionally finding a title that piqued his interest and slipping it into the slowly growing stack in his arms. Once he was satisfied with the number he had, he made his way over to a large lounge chair at the end of one of the aisles and set about reading. Unsurprisingly, one of the subjects that Anthony found himself delving into the most was magic. It was something that both constantly intrigued and frustrated him to no end. Why? Well, imagine asking a ten year old how gravity worked, and then imagine having whatever their answer was be the scientific definition of gravity. Now do that for every science related topic and you basically have what magic is, or at least how it is within literature. Anthony turned the page, reading to himself. “Oblivion Memoria, a subsection of mind control and memory magic. This ancient spell held the capacity to completely erase all personal and intimate memories of anypony being subjected to it. This spell renders them to a state often compared to retrograde amnesia, causing them to completely forget their past experiences, the ponies closest to them, and even the meaning of their cutie mark; however, for as powerful and difficult as this spell is to cast it has its drawbacks. In the same way which one with amnesia can gain their memory back through interactions with friends, family, and familiar environments, this spell can be countered as well. In fact, according to first hand accounts, the mere touch of somepony from their lost memories can break the magical seal and return all of their memories.         Thankfully, this spell has been outlawed for centuries now. The last known tomes detailing how to cast Oblivion Memoria, and more intricate variations of it, was destroyed by the hooves of Princess Celestia herself in the year 456 ANM. No occurrences of this spell being used have been reported since.” Anthony closed the book, setting it down on his lap. A disgusted frown adorning on his face. The golden leaf title “Of Minds and Magic: The New and Old” shown up at him. “That… wasn’t what I was expecting.” He muttered to himself. Indeed, when he’d spotted the shiny book resting upon it’s shelf he expected it to be some sort of intermediate guide to magic use, or a history of how magic was taught. What he didn’t expect was a complete history and organized list of various illegal and LEGAL spells designed to effect a pony's brain in one way or another… kinky.         I all seriousness though, most were basically things along the lines of concentration spells and ones that could help somepony’s dyslexia or coordination. What Anthony didn’t expect was to flip the page and find a plethora of subjugation spells, memory erasing and rewriting spells, and some even more intimate ones… Ones that “tickle the brain” if you get my meaning…         Anthony read over the last paragraph again. Taking note of the princess’s name. “So… Sunburn destroyed the last one eh?” he said to himself, scrutinizing the page. That means she likely has knowledge of the spell itself. Luna might to. Spooky.         Anthony leaned back, looking up at the tall white ceiling and did his best to recall his old family to mind. He smiled as their faces appeared clearly in his head. Mom, Dad, Tom, Mary. He thought to himself, recalling the happy memories of his youth and the time with them. Playing video games with Tom, helping teach Mary to read and having snowball fights in the backyard together. He recalled his Mom, with her compassionate and firm attitude and how she almost always laughed at his jokes, good or bad. Finally his Dad, the playfully sarcastic man who never failed to encourage Anthony and his siblings towards greatness. He chuckled to himself.         He was lucky, and quick thinking, the second Anthony had managed to get his hands on some paper and writing implements he drew his families portraits from memory as fast as he could. Good thing he was at least half decent at drawing, after about the fiftieth portrait each he’d gotten them all drawn perfectly, down to the tiniest freckle. He could remember them without fault. He had those, as well as anything else he could remember and write down from his time on earth hidden away in the desk in his room, it was almost overflowing by now. Anthony’s smile faded as he thought back to the spell, and to earlier today, the princess’s words echoing through his head “but be warned, should you continue this trend in the future, there will be… severe punishments.” A sudden shiver traced it’s way up the man’s spine. She’d never do that… right? I mean, she's a jerk but she’s not THAT bad. Also, Luna would totally flip out if she did that. I wonder if she could reverse it? A sudden shift in the light caught Anthony’s attention. Turning his head he looked out one of the many library windows overlooking the lush castle grounds and noticing the sun starting to dip just past the horizon. His eyes widened in panic. “Oh shit…” he said to himself. “I forgot to think of a game to play with Luna tonight!”