Spellbooks, Dating and Why Humans don't like the Arcane

by Emerald Oracle

Morgan

Author's Note:

We're gonna shift away from Kenny and Luna to focus on Morgan Le Feu for some much needed character development. Please comment and like! Hope you guys enjoy!

Morgan collected her things and transported them to a pocket dimension she had made exclusively for storage. Once all items of import were carefully stored away. She was now packed and ready for her trip. Earlier that week, Celestia had mentioned that Morgan could perhaps get more research done if she joined forces with her student, Twilight Sparkle. Morgan agreed, Celestia had shared many stories with Morgan on the feats and skills of Twilight. Morgan was eager to meet the newly anointed alicorn prodigy.

"Sterling?" Morgan called.

"Yes, Ma'm?" Sterling was front and center in a moment's notice. His dedication brought a smile to her face.

"As you know, I will be leaving today for Ponyville to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle. Are you going to accompany me?"

"Yes, Ma'm." Morgan had expected this. Sterling had never fully explained what his job entailed. She had no issues with him coming along, seeing as he was served an incredibly useful assistant.

"Very well. We depart immediately." Morgan left the empty room with Sterling Saber close behind. They left the castle and headed straight for the train station. However, once outside and on the streets of Canterlot, Morgan quickly noticed that she was drawing stares as she navigated Canterlot with Celestia's helpful directions. Wherever she went, nobles' and commoners' alike heads would turn to follow her. Several groups would whisper among themselves. Morgan grew worried about what they were talking about. Had she done something wrong? Was she not welcome? Kenny had told her about a group of ponies that had opposed his presence in Equestria, but he had assured her they were no threat. Too bothered by the whispers, she discreetly caste a spell to allow her to eavesdrop on them.

"Is that another one?"

"Look at its hair."

"This one is different than the other, ohh, what is it they call themselves?"

"It is much prettier than the other one."

"It doesn't seem to ride a giant timber wolf, so that's a bonus. That thing is terrifying." Morgan giggled a little when she heard that. Most of the whispers were like this, mere observations, curious questions and statements of opinions. They were generally kinder than Morgan had feared.

"Does it use magic like the other one?"

"Oh, great. Another ape has infiltrated the castle." Morgan's mood was affected little by this jab. Not when so many more seemed to support her.

"I wonder if it models?" This one had a distinctly German accent, confusing Morgan.

"Where did it get that dress? It looks divine!"

"Is it male or female?"

Once Morgan was reassured she had not started a riot with her presence she removed the spell and placed her focus back on finding the train station. However, she quickly realized that she was lost. She had been so distracted by the conversations around her that she had inadvertently taken a wrong turn and ended up heaven knows where. She looked around for somebody to ask directions and found a mare relaxing at a cafe table with a book.

Morgan approached her and said, "Excuse me, Miss?"

The mare jumped from her seat when she heard Morgan's voice. She jumped again when she saw who was speaking. Morgan had to work hard to refrain from laughing. "Oh, you give me a turn!" The mare said, her voice tinged by an accent Morgan placed in the United Kingdoms, but from which kingdom she knew not. "My heart jumped right out my barrel!" She continued. "Wait, you're one of them hoo-mans up in the castle aint'cha? Why I heard rumors of another one running around over there, but I didn't think once that I would meet it myself! Ooooo! This is so exciting! Tell me, are you a mare or a stallion? The other one said he was male, but you don't quite look like him now don't cha?"

"I'm a female human, yes," Morgan said and continued by asking, "I was wondering if you could-"

"Now what are these?" The mare had a hoof to her chin and was eyeing Morgan's chest, which were safely covered by her white blouse. The mare suddenly placed her other hoof on one of Morgan's breasts, shoving her hoof into it. Morgan furiously blushed and leaped back. Sterling was in front of her in a second, glaring at the mare.

The mare sheepishly smiled. "Sorry," she said, "Sometimes I get ahead of myself. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable young lady. You are young right?" Morgan nodded. "So, what is it you need from me?"

"I just need some directions to the train station," Morgan meekly asked, suspiciously eyeing the mare. Silver never relaxed, still looking as if he was about to pounce on the mare.

"Is that all? Just go down to that end of the street and make a right, then you take the third left and your there."

"T-thank you." Morgan slowly walked away. Sterling followed, never taking his eyes of the mare. Morgan took one more look back to find the mare waving as she turned the corner. Morgan hoped that she wasn't the norm and moved on.

She followed the strange mares directions and quickly found the train station. She gave her ticket to the bewildered conductor and took her seat in a luxury car with several other richer looking ponies. They all went into quiet whispers when she and Sterling walked in. Morgan took no mind and simply took her seat. Sterling sat next to her, as stiff and hard-faced as ever.

The trip was relatively quiet. Morgan would smile and wave to a couple of the ponies in the car and giggle when the shyly waved back. Morgan eventually dozed off under the watchful eye of Sterling Saber. Once the young woman had fallen asleep, a stallion gathered the courage to say something.

"Excuse me, Sir?" The richly clothed stallion asked. Sterling locked eyes with the stallion as a show of acknowledgement. The stallion gulped underneath the stony gaze of the guard before continuing, "If I may ask, I was wondering if you could share some things about your charge."

He immediately responded,"Any questions you have about Miss Morgan le Feu are to be brought to her. I have no right to share information she has not willingly shared to the public already." His tone carried no malice or reprimand. It was completely devoid of any emotion. The effect was frightening to the stallion and he quietly nodded before deciding not to press matters.

Sterling roused Morgan's sleeping form when they reached the Ponyville station. She sleepily stretched out her lithe body before rising to her feet and leaving the train car. They walked out onto the mostly empty platform, the few ponies present giving them shocked stares. Morgan eagerly waved a friendly hello at those present, eliciting nervous smiles from the sparse crowd waiting at the station She walked through the station, drawing more stares from the staff, and out onto the dirt road leading into Ponyville proper. She opened up a map of the town she had gotten from inside the station. Once she had affirmed that she had the right direction, Morgan set off for the Golden Oaks Library.

---

"Hurry, Spike! She'll be here any minute!" Twilight dashed around the library, insuring that everything was spic and span for when her guest arrived. Spike hurriedly dusted off the less visited of the library's large collection of books. She had received the letter from Celestia informing her that a new, yet-to-be-announced human had decided to visit only that morning. Immediately, she and Spike went about cleaning the library from her latest late-night study session. They were almost finished. The used papers were thrown away, the books were returned to their shelves and her desk was reorganized. Now they were just doing a general tidy up so that the library looked its best for its foreign visitor.

As Twilight double-checked that everything was in place, a hard knock emanated from the door. "Its here!" She harshly whispered to Spike, urging him to finish. With a few more sweeps with his feather duster the shelves had reached an adequate level of cleanliness he hopped off the ladder and rushed to the door. Twilight triple-checked that she was presentable and turned to the door with a wide smile. Once Spike saw she was ready he opened the door.

"Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library!" Twilight cheerfully greeted with her eyes serenely shut as to instill an air of confidence and refinement.

"Well, darn Twilight," Came the drawl of a very familiar voice. "Iffin you keep this up, I won't be able to stay away." Twilight's brain came to a crashing halt when she opened her eyes to find that the visitor was not the human but Applejack's older brother, Big Mac. "You, don't have ta go all this way to make me feel welcome." Twilight rolled her eyes. Since Applebloom was getting older and taking on more responsibilities at the farm, Big Mac was having more free time to do what he wants. Usually he would go out with his marefriend, Cheerilee, but it wasn't unheard of for him to visit Golden Oaks and check out a book or two.

"Ha, ha, Big Mac, very charming. I'll have you know I have an important guest coming today." Big Mac nodded as she spoke, entering the library and putting some books in the Check-In bin. "I thought you were the aforementioned guest at my door, who should be here any moment." Big Mac grunted, his attention on the shelves of fiction. Twilight rolled her eyes and went to her desk to checked in Big Mac's books.

Big Mac perused through the shelves for another book to read. He pulled a book out and asked, "It wouldn' happen to have anythin' to do with the party Pinkie's havin' would it?"

"Party?" Twilight asked, walking up to him. "What Party?"

Big Mac returned the book to the shelf. "Pinkie is holdin' another one of her 'Welcome to Ponyville' parties right now at Sugarcube Corner. I heard the guest of honor is a real sight to see. I was thinkin' I'd head over myself a little later."

Now that Twilight thought about it, Pinkie had dropped off an invitation to a party a couple minutes ago, but she had been to wrapped in preparations to take a look at it. She left Big Mac to his business and levitated the invitation to herself. She opened the envelope, releasing a spray of confetti and pulled out the actual letter. She read a couple lines in and dropped the letter.

"SPIKE!!! Take care of Big Mac while I'm gone!" She yelled as she rushed out the door. She sped out the library and headed immediately to Sugarcube Corner. It wasn't long before she began to hear the sounds of party-goers. She reached the pastry-shop's entrance and quickly jumped inside. She was immediately assaulted by the sights and sounds of one of Pinkie's patented parties. Everyone inside crowded around a table towards the back, the mass of ponies preventing Twilight from seeing what it was. She squeezed her way through the crowd until she saw what exactly she was afraid of.

Sitting at the table was Morgan Le Feu being served cupcake after cupcake by Pinkie Pie. She would take the colorful confection, take a bite, and offer a couple words about the flavor. Pinkie would listen to her opinion with apparent glee then quickly give her another. Twilight contemplated stopping this whole charade but stopped when she noticed that Morgan did indeed seem like she was having fun. Twilight instead joined the rest of the crowd in watching the interesting display.

"I advise that you stand back, citizens, or I will be forced to remove you." Twilight suddenly found herself being pushed back by a previously unseen Royal Guard. He locked eyes with her and his stony features suddenly took on a look of surprise. The guard immediately bent a foreleg into a deep bow. "Forgive me, Princess Twilight," the guard sternly spoke to a now very self-conscious Twilight Sparkle, "I did not see you there."

"Oh great! You made it Twilight!" Pinkie dragged Twilight out from the crowd and into the center with Morgan and herself. The guard rose to his feet and stood at attention in front of Twilight. "I want you to meet somebody!" Pinkie continued, "This is Morgan Le Feu, she's a human just like that Kenny guy who's dating Luna, isn't that so cool!"

"Hello, sorry that I wasn't able to greet you earlier." Twilight presented her hoof in friendly offer to shake. She breathed out a sigh of relief when Morgan happily shook her hoof.

"No worries, Princess, I was just on my way to your home when this cutie pie dragged me off to a party." Morgan gestured to a blushing Pinkie.

"Awww~ Isn't she just the sweetest!" Pinkie said while pulling Morgan into a hug. "She's going to fit right in around here!"

"It's great to see you making friends." Twilight beamed at the human as she cuddled with Pinkie.

"Well as you can see," Morgan said with a cheeky smile, "I'm quite popular with the locals."

"Well, as you can probably guess, I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"And I'm Morgan Le Feu."

"The Fire?" Twilight asked a little confused as to the meaning of Morgan's surname.

"You know French?" Morgan asked.

"French? Here it's Prench, and I learned a little when I was still in school." The crowd began to disperse, the novelty of the human was vanishing, and they wanted to enjoy some of Pinkie's cupcakes themselves.

"Prench?" Morgan leaned in. Twilight mimicked her.

"From Prance. It's the capital of an earth pony province over in Greifland."

"The land of the Gryphons?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"The name seems to be based off the German language, back where I come from."

"Hold on," Twilight said. She quickly summoned a quill and paper to her from the library. "So, tell me-"

"Sorry, could you give me a second?" Morgan pulled her notebook and pen from her storage space. "Okay, you can continue."

They proceeded to ask eachother all kinds of questions concerning any matter that came to mind. They would record every detail, eventually enchanting their items to record the exchange on their own so as to focus more on the conversation. Every now and then another pony would come up to ask a couple questions of their own, and Morgan would be glad to answer them. Soon it became apparent what was going on to the rest of the guests at the party. It would seem to them that they had a new bookworm living in Golden Oaks.

---

"And this is Applejack!" The cow-mare tipped her hat to Morgan when Twilight pointed her out the five mares currently amassed in the library.

"Howdy there, Morgan," Applejack cheerfully greeted.

"It is nice to meet you, Applejack." Morgan shook her hoof with a wide smile. "I have heard a lot about you six. Things like saving the world on a regular occasion?"

"Oh, I don't know about the whole world, darling," Rarity piped up, "Closer to a nation or two perhaps per incident."

"And we kicked bad-guy butt every time!" Rainbow Dash proudly declared, striking a pose mid-air. Morgan giggled and Rainbow quickly asked, "What's so funny?"

"You're all just so adorable!" Morgan squealed and an incredibly girlish voice. There were a plethora of mixed reactions. Pinkie giggled, Twilight and Applejack blushed, Rarity and Rainbow Dash both took on looks of indignation, and Fluttershy squeaked before vanishing behind Twilight.

"I am not adorable! I'm awesome!" Rainbow Dash angrily affirmed.

"I like to think I'm more fabulous than adorable, thank you." Rarity was no less firm in her declaration.

"And yet you act more adorably every second!" Morgan was almost crying in mirth as the two mares huffed and puffed over her words.

"Ahhh, Don't be like that," Morgan continued, "If it makes you feel better I think all of you the ponies I've met are adorable. Even Sterling over there." They all followed her finger to the stoic guard in the corner. He made no move, continuing his duty with nary a twitch or expression.

"You think Stone Face over there is adorable?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. A cacophony of "Rainbow!"s rang out from her friends and a "I'll have you know my uncle's name is Stone Face, and he is very expressive!" from Pinkie. The mares looked over to the guard to see that he has not moved or reacted at all to the insensitive comment.

"My point still stands," Rainbow said.

Morgan chuckled a little before saying, "He may seem hard as a rock now, but believe me when I say he's really a big softy at heart." She turned to the stony guard and continued saying, "Isn't that right Sterling, sweetheart?"

All the girls gave quiet gasps when they saw the normally solemn guard give a very visible blush and scrape the ground in embarrassment. "I d-don't know what you're talking about." His nervous stutter and suddenly embarrassed tone said otherwise.

Morgan decided deal her final blow. "Remember that time when you caught me naked in the shower?"

"That was an accident and you know it!" Sterling suddenly yelled, stomping forward and eliciting loud cries from all the mares. "You're never gonna let me live that down are you? One time, Morgan, One Fucking Time!" Fluttershy fainted.

Sterling angrily locked eyes with the smug woman. The he suddenly took on a look of defeat and resignation. He muttered, "Dammit..." and returned to his spot.

"What just happened?" Twilight asked.

Surprisingly, Sterling responded, "Over the past week, Morgan has aspired to make me more open and amiable. She attempts this by purposefully poking at parts of my psyche that break my guard mindset. What you all just witnessed was her most recent attempt."

"And my most recent success." Morgan deftly dodged a book thrown by the angry pegasus.

"I don't think that's very nice," Twilight commented, "Friends don't rile eachother up like that."

Morgan caught the note of disapproval in Twilight's voice. "If I didn't, he would sit in his little corner and act like he doesn't exist for our entire time in Ponyville. If their is one thing that Alfred taught me, is that you have to leave your comfort zone and make friends."

Morgan turned to Sterling and said, "Sterling, while I can understand your reasons for your guard mentality, I cannot condone how you shut out others. I have seen you when you are off duty, you never go out with your other guards or meet with friends. You don't even have a marefriend. You've let this take over every other aspect of your life. Admit it, you rarely stop being the 'guard' for anything. When was the last time you visited your parents or went on a date? Do you do anything besides guard me?"

Sterling's slowly shifted from anger back to the stony expression he usually wears. Morgan slapped him, to the shock of everyone present. Seeing that this has turned into something else entirely, Twilight urged everyone to go outside. They complied and discreetly left the library.

When Morgan saw him try and recede into his 'guard mode' again she delivered another hard smack to the side of his face. "No you don't," She growled, "You are going to face this like a man, Sterling. You can't keep locking yourself up every time someone makes you uncomfortable. Remember when we first met? Remember how much better it felt to talk to me about what happened back when you were a kid?" Sterling began to squirm under her gaze. "Clearly, something else is wrong. What haven't you told me Sterling? Why do you shut others out?"

"Because I'm a mare!"

Morgan only had a look of momentary surprise before saying, "While that is a surprise, Sterling, I don't see the problem."

Sterling took on a similar look of surprise. "That's it? You have nothing else to say about me being a mare?"

"Well, no, but I have to say you put on a very convincing male. I could have sworn I called you a stallion a couple times though, why didn't you speak up?"

"It's a long story," Sterling shyly responded.

"Listen," Morgan said as she pulled Sterling into a hug. "I am your best friend as far as I'm aware of. You can talk to me about anything." She released Sterling, still holding the golden armored mare by the shoulders. "Now tell me what this is all about."

Sterling meekly nodded and said, "When I was little, I was different from the other fillies. I didn't like dresses and dolls, I wanted to fight and eat mud with the colts. As I got older it got worse. All the girls made fun of me and how I looked and acted like a colt more than a mare. It got worse when all my colt friends wouldn't talk to me anymore. They said that I mares should do mare things, and that I couldn't hang out with them anymore. They abandoned me. The only people who supported who I was were my parents. Eventually, I just began shutting everyone out. I ignored everyone and just did what I wanted to anyway. I joined the karate club to help release some pent up anger, and one day I saw an elementary colt getting picked on by some freshmen from my school. I used the karate I learned to kick their sorry flanks to the curb. I told them to leave the kid alone, and when I turned around for the first time in forever I saw someone look at me with admiration." Sterling smiled sadly at the memory. "Then he said something that stuck with me to this day. Can you guess?" Morgan shook her head. "I didn't think so, cause I sure as hell didn't expect it. He said, 'Thanks Mister!' in the sweetest voice." Tears began to well up in her eyes. "'I bet you'll be a guard when you grow up!' He went on. He was so sure I was a colt, and I didn't have the heart to correct him. He asked me to walk him home. His parents invited me in for dinner and they thought I was a colt too. I was so shocked by all this, that I never noticed that I had gotten my cutie mark. It was then that I realized he was right."

"That you would grow up to be a guard?" Morgan guessed.

"No, that I was a better colt than a filly." Tears began to fall from her face. "Little did I know I would get an opportunity to try it out. My dad got a new better job in Canterlot, so I changed schools. When I got there, I dropped all pretenses that I was a mare. It was easy, everyone I met thought that I was a colt, even the teachers. Soon I could hang out with the other colts and join the hoofball team. Life was so much easier as a colt. I never let my parents know what I was doing. For three years, no one new who I really was, but of course I didn't anticipate one thing. My heat cycle." Sterling suddenly took on a look of depression.

"When my first heat kicked in, I was torn. If I couldn't find a way to cover it up, everyone would find out I was really a mare and reject me again. So I convinced my parents that I needed birth control pills. When they asked why I told them that I had met a stallion and didn't want to take any risks. They congratulated me on my forethought and told me they wanted to meet this stallion. It hurt so much to lie to them like that, especially when they were so supportive of how I was for so long. I got the pills, and things went on. Right up until a teammate of mine found them in my locker. Everything fell apart then. I was kicked off the team, lost all my friends, and even got suspended. It was even worse then before." Sterling began to sob. "E-Even my parents couldn't believe what I had done. For years I had lied to them, keeping this big secret from them the whole time. It g-got so bad, I nearly considered ending it all. Then I remembered that young colt. I ran away from home back to Vanhoover to see him again. I found him walking home and he instantly recognized me. I told him then and there that I was a mare. I needed to see how he would react."

Sterling put on the first smile in a while. "He said he didn't care." She spoke through her quiet sobs. "He said that all that mattered to him was that I saved him from a couple bullies and that I inspired him to stand up for others like I did. He said that I was the best that ever happened to him, that being a mare hadn't changed his perspective on me. I was so happy, I kissed him. I thanked him and went back home. I enlisted in training, and became the first female guard in close to a century. But, old habits die hard. To this day, everyone of my fellow guards thinks I'm a stallion. I refused to let what happened in school affect me again, and never bothered correcting them or interacting with them. I just focused on being the best guard I could be. Soon, it became like an armor. When I was a guard, no pony could tell my gender. They respected me and, in some cases, admired me. It isn't perfect, I now struggle with a horrific loneliness, but it is something."

Sterling looked up into the equally teary eyes of Morgan. "Then you came along."

Morgan began to cry and pulled Sterling Saber into bone-crushing hug. Sterling returned it in full force. They sat there and cried into each other.

"Rainbow Dash, are you crying?" Rarity's sniffly, snooty voice said.

"N-NO!" Rainbow Dash's equally sniffly voice cried.

"Give 'er a rest Rares, the rest of us aren't much better." Morgan and Sterling stopped hugging to see that the six mares were back again. They were all equally affected as the first two, tears ran down their faces from their slightly swollen red eyes. Fluttershy was the worse, and was in fact still sobbing a little. Fluttershy quickly flew over and hugged them both harder than any mare her size had the right to.

"T-That was b-bBEAUTIFUL!!!!" Fluttershy managed to push out before crying even harder than anyone else had. Soon it got the other two crying and the other five mares crying as well. They all got into a collective crying group, until Spike walked in and asked if someone had died while he was out getting groceries for dinner that night.

---

"Well today was interesting," Morgan said as she snuggled into bed, the sleeping form of Sterling, sans the armor she seemed to always wear, curled up in a little ball next to her.

"I should say so," Twilight responded. "Morgan?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Your a great friend. I thought you should know that." Twilight turned off the lights in the guest room and went to her own bedroom upstairs.

Morgan slept peacefully for the first time in weeks, untouched by the nightmares of Kenny's demise.

Comments

[I-Read-Stories]

Huh, did not see that coming. Still, pretending to be the opposite gender must have been rough. Pretending to be something or someone you're not just to be accepted or because you think it would be better off. That would mess up anyone, even if they do have "Guard" mode activated.

[Fireeaters]

I bet morgan wouldnt worry if kenny had an orange jacket. Then kenny would be immortal!

[Emerald Oracle]

4526674
...I don't get it

[Fireeaters]

4529231 south park. The kenny from south park keeps dieing and coming back somehow.