Little Hooves in a Dark World

by David Silver

21 - Hat's Off To You

After a few hours of practicing magic, Louis was holding his head, clearly trying not to fall over from the intensity of it all.

Sandra held his shoulders and guided him to the couch. "Okay, maybe that was too much practice."

Louis rubbed his head with one hand, the other flopped on the couch. "I have no idea how you managed it. It doesn't even make sense."

She giggled softly, dropping beside him. Her arm draped over his shoulder as she hugged close. "That's okay. I'm the mage of this couple, and you're my stalwart defender."

He smirked at the idea, his grimace turning to a little laugh. "Are we playing a game? I'll be your tank any day though." He leaned in to peck her on the cheek. "Just try not to turn me into a newt."

She laughed in turn, kissing him back. "I promise." She hugged him tightly. "I'll always protect you, my love." She rubbed his chest gently, giving him a playful smirk.

He quickly forgot about the book in favor of snuggling in closer with Sandra. "I'll leave this magic in your capable hooves and stick to pony magic, as far as that goes." His hand slid along her side. "Though this is something that looks amazing on you." He ran his fingers through the purple hair. "It suits you so nicely."

She beamed, looking down at him. "It fits me so much more than I thought it would at first." She brushed a hand through her hair, admiring it. "It's a silly thing, but I'm kind of glad to arrive at this absurd and pampering moment after all that."

He hugged her once more before getting up and plodding off to the kitchen. Sandra leaned back on the couch and smiled, letting out a relaxed breath. Life wasn't always good, but sometimes it could turn out nice. "This is nice too, your place that is. Nobody here judging us, just each other. I can judge you sufficiently all on my own." She laughed lightly.

Louis nodded as he started to make dinner. "That's how I like to be at home, totally relaxed. No expectations."

Her gaze drifted to the door. "I guess I understand why you were so insistent on staying away from other people like us, at least, not at home." She sighed gently. "Still hope she's alright though."

By the time Louis got back, Sandra was peering through that dense tome of forbidden knowledge. He sat down, setting a glass on the table for her to reach for whenever she wanted. "You're really into that."

Sandra nodded as she set it down. "It's amazing. The way magic works is just mindbending and I love it." She reached over and grasped his hand, gently stroking the back of it. "Not as amazing as having you here is, of course."

Louis smiled warmly. "Of course. Even I have to admit it's neat that you're doing magic now." He squeezed her hand gently in return. "Just be careful."

"I know." She tapped her hat. "I already got one unexpected trinket out of it." A thought reached her with a snap of her fingers. "Actually, I wonder if it'll visit me tonight, now that I've done a proper spell."

Louis' expression fell a little. "You mean the thing that gave you that... keepsake?" He gestured to her hat.

"Not the giver, he's a human. I think? Mages are humans, right? Just like we're humans, and also ponies." She frowned, puzzling over that. "But human, yeah. The hat isn't. It's, uh, something else." Her face scrunched in concentration as she tried to figure out what the hat was, exactly.

Louis' hand slipped from hers and landed on her lap. "It's more magic things."

She felt along the attached arm back to Louis. "More magic things, for sure. I think it, the hat, may visit, by showing up in my dream. At least, that's how it did it before."

Louis' expression furrowed in thought. "Is it dangerous?"

Sandra shrugged gently, tilting her head side to side. "Well... It's hard to say. It's got some kinda magic powers of its own, but it just talked last time. I didn't feel threatened, just confused and a bit annoyed at the time."

Louis nodded slowly. "I guess it should be okay then. Do you mind if I watch over you?" His lips curled in a fond smile, while his gaze lingered on her. "You look really cute when you sleep, you know."

Sandra lightly pushed him, bursting into laughter. "We're sleeping together, but you just made that sound creepy!"

Louis rubbed his arm with an awkward laugh. "It's not like that. I like seeing you happy, and you're very happy, when you're sleeping."

She smiled gently at him as she moved in closer. The two spent a few quality minutes exchanging little kisses and hugs in a pleasant evening of cuddles. Still, all good things had to come to an end, and both were tired from the day. They had work the next morning, after all. So, they pulled apart and got ready for bed.

Sandra didn't put on any clothes, just curled up in bed in her natural, fluffy state as Raspberry. Louis curled around her, his arms draped over her. His legs slid up under her, and she leaned against him with a soft exhale of contentment. "Goodnight."

Louis pecked the top of her head, which was right between the ears for Raspberry. She gave a happy whicker, and the two settled in peacefully for a night's rest.

Raspberry woke up what felt like moments later, trotting down a hallway of mirrors that turned at sharp right angles in a maze that stretched out forever in all directions. "Okay... This feels familiar." She looked around at her reflection in all directions. Then her gaze focused on a single reflection that was different from the rest. A small, purple hat. It bounced along through the reflections, just around the next corner.

She jumped into that intersection as if to surprise the phantom. "Ah ha! You can't escape—" She blinked, looking around at all the corners of this new intersection, seeing the hat bounce off in the opposite direction of where it should have come from. "Oh you..." She wheeled around and chased after it. "I did it. I cast the spell! Why are you hiding?"

The hat paused at an intersection. When Raspberry skidded to a stop inside, it bounced off in another direction, towards the right this time. Raspberry spun about and followed after it with a soft huffing for breath. "Is this a game? Feels like one. If you want to be chased, fine. Ponies are good at tag."

She sped up her chase, darting around the corner and barely catching the hat bounce away again. Her hooves slid off a mirror, which reflected the scene from all directions. She frowned, noticing something new about the reflection. She slowed to a stop, turning to face the closest mirror and look into it anew.

Within was herself. She wasn't moving as Raspberry would, but rather, watching with an intensity that was unusual for her. Then, she spoke, "Why are you chasing it?"

Raspberry blinked at herself, tilting her head to the side. "I was hoping he had some answers, and just to talk to it. It's kinda cool to have a magic mentor. Why?" She moved closer towards the mirror, to see her double move in time with her perfectly. The eyes were the only thing not quite matching. That, and the mouth, that spoke different words.

"Well. I think maybe you shouldn't." The reflection turned her gaze away, peering at a hat that bounced by. "It might not be a good idea."

Raspberry tilted her head. "He's stuck to my head all the time." She reached up, but in the dream, she was wearing no hat. "Huh, not right now?"

The reflection shrugged gently. "I don't know. But you have to wonder, why did he pick me? It has to be something special. What if, it isn't a good special?"

Raspberry shook her hoof at what was herself? Who was shaking their hoof right back at her. "They helped me learn magic, and that's pretty nice. Wouldn't that be a good special?"

"Is it good or bad? I don't know, and you don't know either." She turned to face herself once more, their eyes meeting. "We don't know what they want, or why they picked us."

Sandra felt her ears fall limply. "No, guess we don't. That was why I wanted to talk to him, among other reasons." She dropped to her haunches. "Does this mean—" She didn't get to finish her question, waking up. She jerked upwards to feel something land beside her. The hat, previously stuck to her head, was laying there on the bed. "Oooh."

She reached for it, inspecting it curiously, but it felt like any other hat. She didn't put it back on. "Fool me once." She instead parked it on a shelf. "A cursed hat of learning. You start learning or it's stuck forever? I don't think I'd buy you off the shelf, even with my experience." She shook her head and moved to her computer.

Louis wandered in while she was still going over the videos from last night. "Morning! Hey, where'd your hat go?" He reached to muss her hair, able to reach all of it.

Sandra smiled and leaned back against him gently. "I took it off. It's over there, on the shelf. I had an interesting dream last night. I don't trust that hat anymore." She shrugged as she moved to the next part of her video. "Part of me thinks maybe I got what I needed from it. If I put it back on, I'm signing up for even deeper craziness, right?"

Louis hummed thoughtfully. "If you say so. I don't want to judge, but it's a little odd, isn't it?"

She frowned softly. "It did make my hair this pretty purple color. Well, it helped me learn how to do it myself." She shook her head, making her hair bounce about. "So, I'm not mad, thankful even. Still, done wearing it. If you want to learn magic, you go put it on."

Louis waved his hand dismissively with a snort. "As if. You think I want to sit down and read that tome of arcane mysteries? It looks like it weighs half as much as you and costs more than all my furniture combined."

Sandra reached over to pat the book. "It's not like you have to buy it. It's already here. Now, I'm going to get this finished, uploaded, and maybe a new stream? You have work today?"

He nodded in return. "Yep, but it's nearby, so you can just walk in if you need me."

Sandra smiled gently at him, tilting her head. "That's good to hear, though I'm not planning anything crazy today. And I have your number. I'm way more likely to drop a text or a call." She clicked the upload button, getting her edited clip on its way. "Let's both make things we're proud of today."

***

Sandra had managed to get in several hours of editing and streaming before she looked at the time and realized it was almost noon. She shut off her stream with a farewell to the fans that were watching live. "Time got away from me!" She hopped up to snatch a snack for herself and sat down on the couch.

She only noticed after sitting that she had parked herself right in front of the book of magic without thinking about it. She glanced down at it and then shrugged at it. "Oh, why not." She flipped open the book and started to read. The words flowed with more ease this time. After an hour or so of reading, she felt confident enough to try another spell or two. "The purple hair is nice, but maybe something a little more practical."

Her eyes danced over the next ritual she wanted. "Some elemental mastery." She gathered up the candles, chalk, and other things needed for the spell to take form. The process felt a little faster and smoother. As she chanted, something seemed to flow through her, the magic she was summoning.

She reached for the pony side of her, laughing lightly as she mixed in that laughter energy to it. The energies she was working with took a lighter tone, filled with the pony mirth as she wove it. "Fire," she called out, holding up her right hand. A flame blossomed from it, dancing over her fingers. It was warm to the touch, but not enough to harm her. "Earth!" A heavy ball of steel appeared in her left hand, vibrating as if eager to move.

Sandra beamed and tossed them both away. The ball of steel landed with a thud, but the fire vanished into a puff of smoke. "Success!"

Her hands tingled with energy. She wriggled them as she stood up. "Now to make sure I didn't just—" But the steel ball was already gone, and there was no crater where it landed. "Phew. Louis would not appreciate a new dent in his floor."

She felt the magic coursing through her, even as she turned to look at the book once more. A small part of herself cautioned her about overdoing it, but she shook off that concern. "I'm probably fine." She closed the book. "All done." Learning a second ritual felt like quite a step for one day.

Sandra trotted off to the kitchen to munch on a little late lunch for herself. She felt like she was forgetting something, but it was probably just nerves. Her eyes widened and she coughed, choking lightly. "Water, for one." She poured herself a quick glass and turned, holding it, just to jump back.

In front of her was the smiling form of Jacob. "Good afternoon, my little pony. I see you've gotten good use out of my gift."

Sandra gulped, taking a slow sip from her water. "I hope you don't mind, I took it off."

Jacob tilted his head. "Should I mind?"

Sandra shrugged. "I'm honestly not sure."

"Who can be." Jacob walked right past her, towards the bedroom. "It was a gift, which you made use of. Its served its purpose, and you, little pony, are done with it, or it'd still be on your head." He leaned on the wall, his body language casual, but his eyes alert and intense. "You learned much."

She nodded slowly to that. "I did. How do you know?"

He waved a hand. "Come now! I gave you a magical hat that gave you magical lessons, and you ask how I would know that?"

Sandra shrugged lightly. "Fair point." She peered at him with her eyes squinted. "So, what do you want now, for it? I don't exactly have a pile of treasure."

"Droll." He vanished off into the bedroom and returned wearing that hat. "But no, I didn't do that looking for money. There are simpler ways to get that, if I wanted it. You already gave me what I wanted for this exchange, did you forget?"

Sandra stared at him. "I... transformed, right? Was seeing a pony that valuable?"

"That you ask tells me you like what you got in return. Excellent!" Jacob clapped his hands together in one firm strike. "I do love when what I give is remembered fondly.

Author's Note:

Who invited Jacob back into things?

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Comments

[dlambchic]

Did fire and earth, but forgot about air and water, Opps!

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

I don't trust Jacob.

[David Silver]

12069682
This is likely a good first instinct.