• Published 27th Dec 2014
  • 2,079 Views, 28 Comments

Keys of My Destiny - RageLokiCat



A horrible event has caused me to forget everything about who I am, and has sent me to the world of Equestria. I don't have a clue what I'm doing here, or what's going to happen, but I know I'm in for one heck of a ride!

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Chapter 4: Bookville

"A brief guide to Equestrian History." I read aloud, looking at the first of the two books Fluttershy had brought. Clearly, someone has a different definition of 'brief' then me. I thought to myself, noticing the book was almost two inches thick. I pushed it off to the side and looked at the second book, the one inspired by Fluttershy's interests.

"Notable Pets Throughout Time." I read. I stared at the cover for a few seconds, before shrugging and opening it up. The table of contents listed a number of different regions and times, from as long as 3000 years ago. I opened up to the first pet and began reading. Firethorn, a dragon who was born in the year 1382, lived for almost 300 years. He was owned by a family of earth pony miners, and saved them from cave collapse multiple times. It is said he could produce a flame so hot, it melted stone. No one knows exactly when he died, as he disappeared when he was 297 and was never seen again. I read onwards, learning about his famous abilities and skills at moving rock.

Much to my surprise, the book was actually quite interesting, and before long, the sun began to set. I switched on the lamp on the bedside table and began reading about Glythious the fierce. More of a family member then a pet, he held off a changeling invasion for an entire day while the ponies of his town escaped. In the end, it cost his life, but he helped save over 500 ponies, and has been memorialized in a statue carved in his honor, which now resides in the Canterlot palace. I read several more pages, then I decided to switch to the book about history, which was no doubt less interesting, but likely far more useful.

It was long past sunset, and in all reality nearing midnight when I slid into slumber. I had gotten through the first age, the medieval time of ponies. I had just started the next section on the rule of somepony named Discord when I fell asleep. The book slid slowly out of my hooves and over onto the side of the bed. Sometime later, I awoke with just enough brainpower to remember to turn the lamp off, and then I slipped off again, into the world of my dreams.

After many hours of skipping in and out of various dreams, none of which were terribly interesting, I finally awoke. I yawned, stretching and sitting up. After a few seconds sitting in the bed, I glanced out the window. My heart sank when I saw that it was no longer nice out. It was dark and dreary, and raining heavily. I yawned again, and then remembered that today I was allowed to get out of my bed, and that later I would be meeting Twilight to began my training with magic.

I sat in the bed for a few more minutes, before I stretched again and decided I was getting up. I pushed the covers off, and clambered over to the edge of the bed. I gripped the edge of the bed and slid down onto the floor, smiling at the feeling of standing on my hooves again. I took a cautious step, and then another. Soon I was walking around the room, although it wasn't much of a place to walk. After a few laps around the room, I still felt fine, and I decided that I would be ready when Fluttershy came. After a few seconds of thinking, I remembered that she had failed to tell me when she would actually come get me, although I hoped it would be soon. My physical exploration of the room had made me realize the fact that in terms of entertainment, it wasn't much better than the bed, as it too was fairly boring. As I wandered back over to the bed, I glanced back to my side, to where the gunshot wound was. It was still wrapped over, which I decided was most likely to stop infection. I jumped when I heard a knock on the door, but with a smile, I walked over and opened it.

"Hello Flutter- Oh. Or not. Hello Doctor." I said, seeing that it was not, in fact, my brightly colored friend, but instead a stallion of a much more reserved complexion. He looked me over and grimaced before responding.

"I do wish you could have waited for me before deciding to go running about your room." He said sternly.

"I'm sorry; I was bored out of my mind. Also, you said I was allowed to walk around 'Tomorrow', and it is now that." I retorted. He let out a long sigh, and then shook his head, as if in despair.

"I guess that is technically true, but you know what I mean. It is my job to make sure you are healed when you leave, not that you had a fun time. Now, since you have clearly already gone and tested your body out, how much does it hurt? I have a guess already, but it's always good to ask." He said, looking me over again.

"I feel great! No pain at all. A little stiff, but that's fast wearing off." I smiled; glad he wasn't going to continue to complain about my exercise. He nodded thoughtfully before replying.

"Ok then. If you are not in any pain, then there is not much else to be done. Although I do need to change those wraps." He said, pointing at my side. I nodded and backed out of the way, letting him in.

"I was hoping to be able to leave later today, although I'm not sure exactly when. Is that ok?" I asked as he rummaged about in the bag he was carrying. He nodded as he grabbed the things he needed and looked up again. Within a few seconds, he had the old wraps off, and I heard a gasp. I looked back and saw what had so thoroughly shocked him. The gash, which I remember being almost two inches wide and deeper than I could easily discern, was closed to the point of being only about half an inch wide, and much shallower. He shook his head in amazement as he began to re-wrap the wound, which despite being much better, would be a major health hazard if left uncovered. I stood patiently for a few minutes while he finished up, until finally he was done.

"Well, now that that's all done, you're set to leave. Feel free to check out whenever you are ready. I've done all I can, now you just need to stay out of trouble and you'll be fine." He said as he packed his things back away into the bag.

"Thank you so much, Doctor; I never would have made it without you." I said, smiling. He nodded and said 'You're welcome' before walking out of the room again. With the click of the door closing, my room was once again plunged into silence. I spent a few seconds standing there, wondering how I could have healed so fast, but my attention soon wandered off. I walked back over to the bed and climbed up, wondering why they built the beds so high off the ground. I settled myself back into the center of the bed and grabbed the history boom from its resting place on my bed. I flipped it open to where I was, and then after I finished that page, I turned it away to reveal a horrible scene. The next page, along with what looked to be the dozen after it, were all torn out and missing. Wondering who would do such a thing, and more importantly, what they were trying to hide, I checked to see what the next available page was about. It was the next section of the boom, about the history of various villages and settlements of the early Midwest. Annoyed that I wouldn't get to learn more about this 'Discord' character, I began to read again. I had barely gotten down the page, however, before there was another knock on my door, as though fate was determined that I don't get to read more.

"Come on in." I said, still reading. I heard the door creak open, and I looked up to see the familiar smile of Fluttershy. I smiled and closed the book, giving it up as a lost cause.

"Thanks for the books, Fluttershy, they've been a huge help. Especially the one about pets, that was really cool. Although this book has a big chunk of pages missing from the section about 'The age of Discord', which made reading it difficult." Her smile grew when I mentioned her book, but she looked worried when I told her about the missing pages.

"I'll make sure to let the library know it's damaged." She said, avoiding the question that she no doubt knew I was asking about the cause for their disappearance.

"Ok, thanks. So anyway, are you here to come get me out of this place?" I said jokingly, and she smiled again.

"Um, well, yes, if you're ready." She said happily.

"Never been readier." I responded, climbing back off the bed again. I glanced around the room to see if there was anything I should bring with me. I didn't own anything at that point, and I had no food to keep with me. I grabbed the books off the bed and turned back to Fluttershy. She nodded and turned towards the door, leading me away from the prison from entertainment that was the bed. Out in the hall wasn't any better, the walls were plain, with nothing the various doors on the walls to detract from the monotony. We walked to the end of the hall, then turned and traveled down three flights of stairs. My amazement at the view from my bed suddenly gained more meaning when I realized how high up we were. At the bottom, as we approached the main desk, Fluttershy slowed so she was walking next to me.

"Are... Are you still feeling all right? I'm sorry there were so many stairs." She said in an apologetic tone. I nodded and responded cheerfully.

"No need to apologize about the stairs, you didn't do anything wrong. Nothing hurts, I'm just a little tired, I haven't really done a whole lot of walking on these legs." I said with a laugh. She smiled and slowed up as we reached the front desk.

"Hi, I'm just here to check out, I was in room..." I trailed off, looking over at Fluttershy when I realized that I never checked the room number. She giggled and finished my sentence.

"He was in room 317. I believe Doctor Whooves was taking care of him." She said. The mare behind the desk looked down at the list she had, and after a few seconds we heard an 'Ah hah!' as she found me on the list.

"Here you are. Now that you're conscious, can I please have your name for the records, Sir?" She said, looking up at me again.

"Blazing Star." I said, looking around the room.

"Ok, thank you. Have a nice day!" She said cheerfully.

"You too." I responded, heading towards the door. The rain had slowed down by this point, but I saw that we were still going to get soggy pretty quickly. I looked over at Fluttershy, who was walking up beside me.

"Is something wrong Blaze?" She asked, looking at me with worry.

"No, but I think we should probably drop these books off wherever you got them first, because unlike us, I don't think they can handle the rain for long." I said, looking down at the books I was holding.

"We'll first stop by the library then, it's only a few blocks off." Fluttershy said, taking the lead again. She pushed open the door and we headed out into the rain, sticking close to the cover of buildings when we could. After a few minutes plodding along in silence, I spoke up.

"So did you happen to check what it time it was when we left? I kinda forgot again..." I said in embarrassment. I heard Fluttershy giggle again.

"It's about half past eleven. That means we have around two and a half hours until you need to be at the royal courtyard up there." She said, nodding her head up towards the massive castle that loomed in front of us.

"The courtyard isn't on the ground floor?" I asked in amazement.

"Half of Canterlot, particularly the castle part, isn't actually on the ground. It's bound to the mountain with amazing building skills and a fair amount of magic. As such, much of the city is designed without really much thought to 'ground level'. They just put things where they would look good and work well. That's the marker where it stops being on solid ground." She said, pointing towards a line of black stone built into the roads several blocks off. I shook my head in amazement, wondering why humans with all of their technology couldn't manage this kind of city. After another minute or so of walking Fluttershy turned and entered a building, which I decided with its particularly ornate architecture and large size must be the library. I gasped when I saw the inside. There were more books then I could imagine, with bookcases everywhere. I did a quick count, and found that on the bottom floor where we were, there were six rows, each going 20 cases back. Then there was another four levels above us that I guessed would have almost as many books.

"Blaze? Are you all right?" I heard Fluttershy say quietly. I nodded slowly, but I was still doing the math. About 60 books per shelf, times six shelves per case, time 20 cases per row, times six rows per floor, times five floors... I got lost a little in the middle, but after a few more seconds, I got my answer.

"Nearly 220,000..." I said, trailing off.

"I'm sorry? Nearly 220,000 what?" Fluttershy said in confusion.

"Books. In this library. Sorry, I've just never seen so many before." I said, looking away from the rows of tightly bound paper. I smiled, and Fluttershy smiled back, although I could tell she was trying not to giggle at me. I blushed and spoke again.

"Forgive me for being sheltered; I'll do my best not to show my lack of familiarity with city scenes from now on." I said, pretending to sound insulted, but with a huge smile on my face.

"Oh I'm sorry; I didn't mean to insult you, I... I was just remembering when I first saw this place. I reacted the same way. We don't have anything nearly this large in Ponyville." She said quietly.

"I'm not insulted Fluttershy. Oh right, I had forgotten you said you lived in Ponyville. I was kind of wondering how an animal expert would be able to work in a city like this." I said, now laughing at myself. She nodded, agreeing that it would be difficult. I walked up to the desk with the books, but as best I could tell behind the piles of books on the desk, nopony was there.

"Um, hello?" I said, thinking maybe I just couldn't see them. Sure enough, a few seconds later a head popped around one of the stacks, then disappeared again. We heard hoof-falls and then the book-pony appeared with a panicked look on his face. I tried to ask what I should do with the books, but before I finished he grabbed them and disappeared behind a stack again.

"Um, are you ok? Is there something we can help with?" Fluttershy asked, peeking around one side of the pile.

"No... Well... It's been a slow day, so I was slacking off about getting books organized and put away. Then one after another, a dozen ponies came in with a stack of books, and then Princess Twilight came in with her pile... And my bosses are gonna be here soon to see if I have been keeping up with the workload, and..." The three of us heard the door open, and I turned around to see two official looking unicorns walk in, who were no doubt the 'Bosses' in question. I heard him gasp and he started working like crazy again. The two unicorns walked over, both with looks of anger and disappointment on their faces. I walked back over to Fluttershy's side as they reached the desk.

"What is this mess?! Have you been working at all today?!" The taller of the two said.

"Y-y-yes sir, it's just-" He started to stammer out.

"Just what?!" The shorter of the two demanded.

"Princess Twilight and some others came in a little while ago and dropped off a huge amount of books all at once, and I've been working since then, there's just so many..." He was visibly shaking now, and I felt sorry for him. Before they could reprimand him again, I spoke up.

"It's true. My friend and I came in a little more than an hour ago and saw the pile then. He's done an amazing job. We were just offering our help, but he said this is his job and that he should be able to do it all." I said to the two with my best attempt at a straight face, and the looks on their faces softened.

"Well I guess it's not fair to fire you over that. But we still want to see these cleaned up, and quickly." The taller one said, turning away. His partner quickly followed, and soon they were out the door. Fluttershy and I heard a huge sigh, quickly followed by a thud, and we looked around the corner to see him flat out on the floor. He lay there for a few seconds, then suddenly shot up and ran over to me. I didn't even have time to brace before he hugged me, crushing the wind out of me.

"Thank you so much! You saved my job! You are a very convincing liar by the way. Please, is there anything I can do to repay to?" He said in a blur of words.

"First, you're crushing me, and I don't want to go back to the hospital just yet. Second, I was just helping out someone in need, so don't worry about it." I said, wincing at the pain in my side after he let go.

"Hehe, sorry. Well, my name's Quilted Page, and seriously, if there's anything you need book related, just ask and I will be happy to help." He said, going back to one of the piles, working again.

"Will do. Oh, and my name is Blazing Star, and this is Fluttershy. So, do you want some help? We've got a little while." I responded, impressed at his sudden motivation.

"No thank you. You were right, this is my job and I should be able to do it." He said, picking up a stack.

"Well, if you're sure. See you later, maybe!" I said as he disappeared into one of the rows with the pile.

"Maybe!" We heard him say loudly, followed by a number of 'Shhh' emanating from various sources. I chuckled to myself, then looked back over at Fluttershy, who had stayed fairly quite the whole time. She smiled at me, and I laughed again.

"Anyway, where to next? I don't know what's in this city, so I don't know." I said.

"Well, if you're hungry, we could go get lunch." She said, looking at me.

"Oooh, like a date?" I said jokingly, with a big grin on my face. Fluttershy then turned the deepest shade of red I had seen in a long time, and began to stammer out a response.

"I was joking about the date, of course. But I don't exactly have any money, so I'm not sure how I'd pay for mine." I said, as if nothing had happened. Fluttershy began to return to a normal color, and she finally managed to respond.

"Well... I- I could pay for yours. I mean, if that's ok..." She looked down at her hooves, and I felt sorry for picking on her.

"Hey, I'm sorry I said that Fluttershy. It was out of line. I'm just in a really cheerful mood, I couldn't resist." I said, nudging her gently.

"No, it's fine. I... I've just never been on a date before, so I wasn't really sure how to react." She said slowly.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I've never been on a date either." I said to Fluttershy, blushing a little. She looked up at me, and I saw a small smile on her face.

"Really? I thought I was the only pony in the world who hadn't at my age..." She said, sounding less sad now. I put hooves around her and hugged her, and to my surprise, she actually hugged me back. After a few seconds, I let go and looked at her again.

"Nope! But let's stop worrying about that for now. Lunch?" I said, smiling warmly.

"Lunch." She replied, smiling back.

"Then lead on, because I have no clue where the good food is in this city." I said, and she began to walk towards the door. I followed her, knowing now what the warmth I felt before was. The feeling of having a close friend.