Anecdotes of Heart

by Pegasus Rescue Brigade

Anecdotes of Heart

"...Enchanted?"

Photon Flash mumbled it under his breath, but he still glanced around to see if anypony had overheard. The sky tram, speeding down a rail of light toward Canterlot, moved almost silently after all. Fortunately, the voices of other unicorns chatting excitedly in the seats all around him had done what the tram itself could not, and drowned his muttering out.

Photon, an electric blue colt of twelve or so years, normally would've been thrilled to share an enchanted object with the ponies around him, especially today, considering he was on his way to Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns for the very first time. Even though it was just a book, the simple fact that it contained a spell sealed within its bindings was sure to be an exciting discovery for any new student. Had it been any other item, he wouldn't have hesitated to share it with the foals seated nearby, friends and strangers alike.

But a gift entrusted to him by Princess Twilight herself was an exception.

It had been a very unexpected encounter. Mere days after Photon had received his coveted acceptance letter to the nation's most famous and lauded school of magic, he'd been busy practicing basic spells when his mother arrived in the doorway to his room, looking unusually distracted and pale.

Photon, Honey, um... somepony is here to see you.

Yeah? Who?

You're going to want to see for yourself.

He recalled being a bit annoyed at the interruption as he made his way down the stairs. That is, until he discovered Princess Twilight, ruler of Equestria for several millennia now, standing patiently in the foyer in all her regal glory. Waiting to talk to him.

It should've been incredibly exciting. In fact, at first, it was. But unfortunately, Twilight Sparkle herself hadn't appeared on his doorstep just to chat. She'd come to deliver two things: a bit of somber news, and the old book he now clutched close to his chest.

Photon paused, glancing out the window of the sky tram at the gleaming towers below. After a few moments of searching, he spotted what he was looking for. Nestled between two glossy skyscrapers far below was a squat, unimpressive wooden house, that stuck out like a sore hoof against the modern architecture. It was an oddity at best, and perhaps an eyesore at worst, yet the colt thought of the little cottage very fondly. After all, almost all of the magic he'd learned thus far was taught to him within those walls.

He also knew he'd never step through its cozy little doorway again.

With a small sigh, Photon closed his eyes, letting the unusual visit play out in his head yet again.

---

"P-p-princess Twilight!"

Twilight smiled. "Hello, Photon Flash."

Photon gaped at the monarch for several seconds, before his brain finally kicked into gear and he scrambled to bow.

"Your highness! H-hello! I'm sorry, I've been busy practicing and I just wasn't expecting—"

The princess chuckled softly. "Now, now, none of that," she soothed. "There's no need to be formal. I do need to speak with you about something though; would it be alright if I come in?"

Photon blinked. Princess Twilight, ruler of Equestria for millennia now, was here to speak to him?

"I... y-yes, sure, come on in!"

As the alicorn stepped inside, Photon was made more acutely aware just how big she was. In a home designed for ponies of a more typical build, her long, slender horn nearly touched the ceiling, and the colt knew she wouldn't even be able to fully extend her wings in the hallway. Trying his absolute hardest not to simply gawk, he slowly led the way to the living room.

What in Tartarus is happening? he mentally screamed, relieved he was facing away from the princess so she couldn't see the torrent of rapid fire emotions crossing his face. How could the princess herself possibly have business with a nopony of a colt like me?

Arriving in the living room, Photon gestured to the couch, and waited patiently for his unexpected visitor to seat herself, before hopping up onto the remaining space.

"Uh, welcome," he managed, finally daring to make eye contact again. "What brings you here, Princess? We've never even met, I don't think."

"A few things, actually," Twilight admitted, surprising Photon even further. "Firstly, I wanted to give you my congratulations! Dean Gamma recently submitted the list of this year's first-term students at Celestia's Academy, and I couldn't help but notice your name was among them. You should be very proud; only the brightest unicorns get a chance to study there."

The colt swelled with pride. "Thank you, Princess!" he replied, beaming. "I've been working on my magic for a couple of years now. My tutor is a former academy student herself, and she kept telling me I'd easily make the cut. I was still nervous right up until I got my acceptance letter, though."

Twilight's smile faltered slightly. "Yes, there haven't been too many unicorn mages like Dinky Doo," she admitted. "And I'm glad you brought her up. As excited as I am for your upcoming years of study at the academy, I'm sure you've guessed that I can't exactly drop in and personally congratulate each and every new student. There's another reason I'm here today, concerning your tutoring with Ms. Doo."

"Oh?" Photon asked, tilting his head curiously. "I suppose you have known her for a really long time. You weren't even the ruler of Equestria yet when you met her, right?"

"Ah, I see she shared a bit of her history," Twilight chuckled.

Photon nodded. "Is that why you're here? Is Ms. Doo being a wraith like... a state secret or something?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, it's not that," she assured him. "It does concern your lessons with her, though. I'm sure you're aware that, even for a being like her, Ms. Doo is rather old to still be teaching, even if it is just private tutoring."

"That's true," Photon admitted. "We're only scheduled for a few more lessons anyway. Is she retiring after she's through working with me, or something?"

The rest of Twilight's smile faded away. The colt stared into her compassionate eyes for a moment, and it started to slowly dawn on him why she hadn't spoken yet.

"...Oh. That's not it, is it."

It was a statement, not a question. Twilight gently placed a forehoof on the young student's shoulder.

"Photon," she said gently, "Ms. Doo has passed on."

He knew it before she said it, but it still made him shiver to hear her say it. He stared at the upholstery beneath him, not sure what to say in response.

"Ms. Doo has been around for several millennia," Twilight continued. "She's lived a fuller life than any normal pony ever could, and all evidence indicates she was able to pass away painlessly in the comfort of her home. She wouldn't want you to be sad for her."

Photon mulled that over. After a few moments, he glanced up at the princess again.

"I think... I would've been a lot sadder if she hadn't told me that story last week," he said finally. "But looking at it now... well, Ms. Doo's been waiting a long, long time to see some old friends again. Friends whose hearts are joined with hers across time, and even across the boundary of this world and the next. I think... she's probably very happy that she finally got her chance to make her way back to them."

Twilight beamed. "Exactly, Photon," she affirmed. "Dinky Doo had century upon century of adventures, learned magic most ponies could never even fathom, and made more friends than you could hope to count. She's seen it all, but in the closing decades of her time here, I think her greatest desire was to return to the company of the friends that were awaiting her. She was probably thrilled when the moment finally came."

A wistful look crossed Photon's face as he pictured the ponies in Ms. Doo's tales of the past, and imagined his old tutor catching up with them after so long. He looked as his regal guest, more resolutely this time.

"I'll miss old Ms. Doo, but I'll be alright, really," he promised. "I'm gonna remember what she told me, and cultivate my magic— both my unicorn magic and the magic of my heart— and make the best of my future. And when I see her again someday, I bet she'll be proud."

"I'm sure she's already proud," Twilight reminded him. "It seems you've really taken her teachings to heart, which is what she wanted most for all her students. But there's actually one more thing you'll have to remember her by until the day you finally meet her again, which brings me to the final reason I stopped by today."

"There's more?" Photon asked, stunned.

Reaching into a small bag she'd brought along, Twilight produced an old book, with a smooth cover and sturdy bindings. The cover bore no images of ponies or Equestrian landscapes, or even a title. Instead, it bore the simple but unmistakable image of old Ms. Doo's cutie mark: a halo of black and purple stars surrounding a much larger yellow one. A ring of small, multicolored gems, embedded into the cover, encircled the image.

Photon recognized the book immediately. He'd seen it many times, resting on the end table in Ms. Doo's parlor, but she'd never mentioned it, and he'd never asked. Seeing it now, he couldn't help feeling curious.

"This belonged to Dinky Doo," Twilight explained, placing the mysterious tome in front of the colt. "Well over a hundred years ago now, she told me it was something very personal to her, and gave me just one simple instruction; that when she finally passed away, to give this book to her final student, whoever that may be. So, Photon Flash, out of respect for her wishes, it seems this now belongs to you."

"Wha... really?" Photon blurted, staring at the book as a thousand possibilities of its contents rushed through his mind. "So what is it? Is this like, her personal spellbook or something?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Twilight chuckled. "It's not mine. I'm just delivering it to its new owner. It wasn't my place to look inside. Your tutor had incredible respect for the lives of the ponies around her, though; whatever's in there, I'm certain it's something she thought you'd be happy to receive."

Photon lifted the book in his aura, gazing at it with something like reverence. Though he couldn't begin to guess what was inside, the pony who had written it had seen an era that no living pony, save for the Princess herself, had any recollection of. It was as if he'd just been handed an artifact, unearthed from a time even the history books had little detail on.

"Th-thank you, Princess," he stammered. "I never expected Ms. Doo might leave me anything. I'll take it to the Academy with me. Who knows, maybe she still has a thing or two to teach me after all, even if it's not in the way I expected."

Princess Twilight smiled again as she rose to her hooves. "Perhaps she does," she agreed, causing her flowing mane to ripple as she nodded. "We can only guess what she's left for you within those pages. But, knowing her, you won't be left disappointed, I'm sure."

Photon placed his hoof on the image of the cutie mark. In spite of the sobering news, fond memories of the old mare who taught him so much brought a smile to his face.

"I'm sure too, Princess Twilight."

---

"Attention, students. We will be arriving at Hayenne station in approximately fifteen minutes. After that, there are four more stops before the Academy."

The latest announcement shook Photon out of his thoughts, and the sights and sounds of the sky tram returned. It seemed there was still a few more hours of travel before he reached his destination. He looked down once again at the book on his lap.

It hadn't seemed appropriate to investigate Ms. Doo's mysterious gift while Princess Twilight was still visiting, since she'd purposely avoided opening it herself. And in the whirlwind of activity of preparing for his departure for the Academy in the days that followed, he hadn't had any long stretches of personal time; at least, not any that he felt were long enough to give the book the attention it deserved.

Once I get to the Academy, I'm gonna be even busier than I was at home, he realized. I've got a few more hours on the sky tram anyway. If I'm gonna find out the secrets of this book— and what kind of enchantment is on it— I guess now's the time.

The colt placed his hoof on the cover. He hesitated just a moment, wondering if whatever magic was sealed inside would surge forth the moment he opened it, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Ms. Doo wouldn't have willingly passed it on to him if it was something she wanted to keep away from prying eyes.

Bracing himself, he lifted the cover, letting the book fall open to a random page.

Nothing unusual happened. The page was full of hornwriting he recognized as belonging to his former mentor, but that was about it. The enchantment he could feel pulsing gently in his horn was clearly something subtle enough that it wasn't visible at first glance. He turned the page, and the next one looked much the same. He flipped ten pages ahead. Then at least a hundred more.

Wait...

Something didn't seem right. The old tome was relatively large, sure, but it was no Encyclopedia Equestria. Yet after rapidly flipping through several hundred more pages, he discovered he'd barely made any progress toward reaching the back of the book.

"Some kind of... spatial compression enchantment?" he whispered, shocked.

The pages seemed to be made of normal paper, and the book, when closed, was perhaps just over an inch thick. But apparently, once a page was lying flat against the ones before or after it, it seemed to become almost infinitely thin. In reality, a book no larger than an average novel was, he estimated, well over ten-thousand pages long. And every last one was filled margin to margin with the same hornwriting.

Photon knew of a decent hoofful of enchantments. He'd even cast a few simple ones of his own over the last year. But he'd never even heard of something like this. Whatever it was that old Ms. Doo had written in this book, she'd written a lot of it.

More curious than ever now, Photon closed the book, and then opened it again, this time to the very first page, hoping for some sort of explanation. He leaned against the wall of the tram car and took a look at the short introduction that prefaced the nearly-endless volume.

To whoever might be reading this, if anyone even is,

It's after midnight. By all accounts I should've passed out by now; I just graduated from Celestia's Academy earlier today, spent all evening partying in Canterlot with my best friends, and now I'm sitting in a nice soft bed in a pretty nice hotel before we head home to Ponyville tomorrow. I'm dog-tired, but I'm still too wound up from all the excitement today.

Also Clarity's snoring louder than usual, so that's not helping.

Anyway, I don't know if this little project of mine will actually amount to anything, but I've been thinking about it for a while now, so now's as good a time as any to start it.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I just finished five years of study at Equestria's greatest academy of Magic. I helped save the world from the literal manifestation of hatred in the hearts of ponies. And I learned that I'm gonna live for like, a couple thousand years or something.

That last one has really been lurking in my thoughts a lot lately. It's weird... well, more like scary... to think that a hundred years from now, everypony I know will have passed on, and I'll still look and feel like a young adult. That's a prime topic for a full blown existential crisis, right there.

But today I realized I don't have to worry. Because if there's one thing these last few weeks have taught me, it's that little things like the passage of time, or the all-consuming destructiveness of dark magic, or barriers between planes of existence, or... death, I guess, are pretty insignificant compared to the power of the bonds of the heart. I've seen it firsthoof; when ponies' hearts are joined as one, any obstacle is just puny in comparison. It's because of the Magic of the Heart that I'm not afraid of this really, really long life I'm about to live anymore. As the years pass, the bodies of the friends I grew up with will get old and frail a whole lot faster than mine will, but their hearts won't change a bit. Our hearts will always remain connected, even if I'm still here in Equestria and they're in whatever realm comes next.

Now, you might be thinking, "Oh yeah, Dinky? Prove it."

That's kind of why I'm writing this.

Every time a pony makes a friend, a new bond is formed. Every time a pony meets their soul mate, or has a foal, or moves to a new city, or takes an opportunity to teach or help or serve or love anypony else, that web of connections grows and strengthens. Spreading infinitely, linking together each and every creature in our land who is willing to open their heart and let that magic in.

If I'm gonna live for thousands of years, I wanna fill this book with accounts of the bonds of the heart at work. Not just stories about me, of course, but about all the ponies whose hearts have joined with mine, or will join with it in the centuries to come. I'm gonna have to enchant it so it won't totally fall apart in a hundred years, so I'll do that as soon as I can get a couple gemstones to embed in the cover. I might need to call this "volume one" or something too, since there's no way I'm gonna fit thousands of years of stories in here.

...Actually, scratch that. I'm an expert enchantress now, I'm sure I can find a workaround for that too, eventually.

I don't want to fill this book with dramatic, life-changing tales. That wouldn't be very relatable to whoever ends up reading this someday. No, I'd rather demonstrate how the little things can create and deepen the bonds of the heart every bit as well as momentous events can.

The stories I'm cataloguing here aren't profound journeys of self-discovery or chronicles of defining moments in history. Quite the opposite, really. They're more like... anecdotes.

Anecdotes of Heart.

Yeah. I like that.

Clarity rolled over and stopped snoring, and I can barely keep my eyes open anymore, so I'm gonna try and get some sleep. To whoever's reading this, if I'm finally gone, and this book is full, then I guess my project was a success. Turn to any page you like; on each one, you'll find another example of the Magic of the Heart in action in the everyday lives of the ponies I was lucky enough to call my friends.

~Dinky Doo

Photon Flash sat, staring at the page. Slowly, he came to grips with exactly what it was that was resting on his lap. His original guess that it was some kind of secret spellbook suddenly seemed mundane in comparison. This tome was the final product of one pony's millennia-long quest to prove that the Magic of the Heart was present everywhere, in everypony.

The colt knew he'd never be able to read them all, and that was okay. He felt now that he was more the book's keeper than its sole owner. In a way, it belonged to everypony, since all of Equestria was connected through the bonds it worked to highlight. One day, he'd share it with more ponies, and eventually, perhaps he'd give it away. And its next owner, hopefully, would do the same, spreading Ms. Doo's message across the land a few ponies at a time.

But for now, there was little to do but wait for the sky tram to reach Canterlot, and that meant there was plenty of time to do a bit of reading, even if he was only scratching the surface. Beaming, young Photon Flash flipped a few pages ahead, and dove into the treasure trove of anecdotes waiting for him.

Comments

[Thought Prism]

A beautiful start. Can't wait to see what sorts of stories Dinky will share with us.

[Baree]

Well then... Quite a way to start this indeed. But also almost infinite possibilities for the anecdotes, so well played. I have already added this to my tracked stories so I'll be sure to read whenever it updates.

[The Spy of the Tiger]

I've been patiently waiting for five months, ever since I finished Magic of the Heart, and cried at a story for the first time in my life. As I write this now, I'm tearing up again, with a massive smile on my face. Even more closure, even more stories, even more Art. It's 1:18 AM, I clock in at 10:00 for work. I'll sleep. But it is tempting to continue on. I know if I do, however, that I won't have quite such a beautiful chapter waiting for me when I wake up. Pegasus Rescue Brigade, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your wonderful wordsmithing. I eagarly anticipate what awaits on the next page.