• Published 19th Jan 2012
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Sweetie's Mansion - Moon Shooter



A My Little Pony/Luigi's Mansion Crossover

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Chapter 22- The Party Crasher (Segment 1/2: Tour of Her Tomb)

The white filly exited the bedroom with Feather, slowly getting back into the swing of using her own four legs and hooves. Though she was almost sure that she had been walking as long as she had lived, the filly felt as though she was doing it for the first time. If it weren't for the nurse hatted mare's support, she might have tumbled down the stairs and hit her head... probably for the second time that day.

Guess another bump’s the last thing I need... the white filly thought. She noticed her thoughts were blurred and disoriented, almost to the point she couldn't even understand them. Was it from the impact she couldn't remember happening? It had to be... why else would her thoughts be so distant?

Finally, the white filly made it to the bottom of the stairs, and entered a medium sized living room area. The floors were wooden and smoothed out. A couch, along with a few extra love seats that all seemed to be fashioned out of a yellow colored wool sat at the center of the room. The white filly counted there to be about five windows, that provided the majority of the light in the room. From what she could tell, the sun was just about to set. Paintings and shelves filled with various knick-knacks and pottery littered the walls, adding something for ponies to look at, if they were to wait in the room. There didn't seem to be any books anywhere around...

"Sweetie!" somepony said from behind one of the love seats. The head of a little colt popped out from behind the chair. The confused little filly scanned the room to find this "Sweetie" pony that the colt seemed to be so excited about. Oddly enough, the only ones in the room were the colt, Feather and-

The colt embraced Sweetie, nearly knocking her onto the ground. "I'm so glad you’re all better! When you fainted like that, I thought... what happened to you?"

"H-huh?" the addled filly pushed the colt away, mildly confused.

"Sweetie?"

"You’re... talking to... me?" she asked. Sweetie huh? I guess that's my name.

"Sweetie? Something... wrong?" the concerned colt asked.

"Um... your friend is having a little trouble remembering things. Amnesia, I believe." Feather explained. "Hopefully it's only temporary..."

"But besides that, she's fine?" the colt asked hopefully.

Feather nodded. "But... just to be safe Squee, would you mind telling me something? What happened before you and that other stallion brought her here?"

"I guess... but nothing really happened. Sweetie wanted to see Mr. Yield's mansion. When one of his butlers caught us jumping the gate, she kind of just... stared at him and fainted."

"And... she already had this bump on the head?"

Squee shrugged. "I guess. Nothing hit her when Mr. Butler helped me carry her here."

"Hm. I suppose what hit her the first time must have caused her brain to shut down... Sweetie, does any of this seem familiar?"

She shook her head.

"Not... not even your Cutie Pox rings any bells?"

"Cutie what?"

"The disease that's giving you all of your Cutie Marks." Feather explained.

Sweetie looked at the mare strangely. "What's a Cutie Mark?"

Feather looked at the filly unsure of her memory's condition. "Maybe this amnesia might last a little longer than I thought. All she seems to remember is basic language... maybe a few other things."

"But she can still walk around, right?" Squee asked.

"She's still getting used to it again, but yes." Feather smiled. "Why?"

"Cool! That means I can still take her around town!" Squee said excitedly.

"Town?" Sweetie asked.

"Stabletown! I was touring you before you fainted."

"You were?" Sweetie asked. "I thought I lived here."

"I'm not sure about that. All I know was that I was going to tour you... and we were going to go out to eat afterwards!"

"We were?" Sweetie asked.

"And you told me that you were looking for a colt friend!"

"I did?" Sweetie asked. Even Feather looked at the colt strangely. "What's a 'colt-friend'?"

"I'll... tell you later." Squee said, rubbing the back of his head, showing a sudden sense of shyness.

Well, I'm not really sure what's going on... Sweetie thought. But this "Squee" sounds like he's a trustworthy pony. I should probably take his tour thing and learn about wherever the hay I am... maybe I'll figure out why the hay I'm here anyway. Maybe I'll figure out what he means by 'colt-friend'. Maybe I'll find one?

"C'mon Sweetie!" Squee said, lightly tugging at Sweetie's tail to follow her.

Feather stared at Sweetie and smiled. "Yes, go along now... though, don't go too far, ok? J-just in case. Stay inside of Lower Stabletown for now, alright?"

Sweetie nodded as she began to follow her tour guide, stumbling for a moment before being able to normally follow him out the door. As she did however, something whispered from behind her. She turned to see Feather heading back upstairs. Sweetie opened her mouth to ask if she'd said something, but the whisper came again. This time, as the filly focused more on it, it was the same six words that she'd heard on her way out of the bedroom.

Need a ticket... get an invite.

It said it in a sense of urgency, though Sweetie couldn't place why. There was nothing urgent at all about her situation... then again, how would she know? She couldn't remember anything... Just as she did before, she pushed off the vague thought as nothing to worry about as she followed Squee. She had a town to explore.

***

"See anything Buster?" Paita asked the stallion she was sticking to in the bedroom.

"Shhh!" Busby said, sticking his head out of the doorway. "Are you trying to wake up the dead?"

Paita stopped scanning the room herself to look at the stallion. She separated herself. "Well, do you?"

Busby continued to scan the room as Paita groaned and left the room. Finally, just before noticing Paita had left him, he shook his head. "Just another bedroom." he sighed, before turning back around and heading back to Paita in the hallway. "You'd think by now the place would have opened up some portal to somewhere else by now? You know... like we got here?"

"Or maybe it's just trying to keep us trapped. You know, like a trap?" Paita said in annoyance. "Give up Buster. There's no way that old stallion would want us wandering around freely around here. Especially if he's got something to hide. You'd probably need some kind of special access or some crap to actually move around here normally. Otherwise, we're gonna keep walking around in circles, finding more and more dead ends..."

For the last ten minutes, Paita and Busby had been looking through any door they could open to find some hope of exit. Fortunately, they had yet to come face to face with any ghosts or triggered traps of any kind. On the negative side, they didn't find anything useful in any of the rooms. Even Busby, who was the only one who was even trying to drive any optimism to the 'locate an escape route' plan was losing hope.

"...maybe there's something we're missing." Busby considered.

"Like what?" Paita asked.

"Maybe... maybe there's supposed to be a way out of here, but there's some kind of secret we're not looking at. L-like a puzzle."

"A puzzle..." Paita sighed with a small laugh before whirlling around to Busby, eyebrows crossed. "You think this is some kind of game?!"

Busby took a step back from the fury he saw in her eyes. The mare approached Busby and backed him up against a wall. For those moments, their faces were barely 3 inches away from each other. "You think this is some kind of game, don't you?!"

Busby looked off to the side nervously and said with a sheepish grin, "Uh... maybe?"

Just as Paita looked as though she was about to knock Busby's block off, the stallion put his hooves up to defend his face. "You said it yourself! The mansion's just messing with us!"

After a few moments of glaring, Paita stepped off. "What are you suggesting?"

"I don't know, lady..." Busby said, relaxing his hooves. "Maybe... maybe you're right. Maybe there is no real exit because the rooms don't hold one... but maybe they're just a key to getting out. A piece of some kind of really big and unconventional puzzle."

Paita looked down either end of the hallway. "Each room on the left side of the hallway are the same... so are all of the ones on the right. Every room on one side is the same." Paita recapped. "That means... under those white sheets is probably the same thing. Same bed type, same seats, same dressers, same mirrors..."

"Right. So if there's nothing in one room, there's bound to be nothing in the others." Busby agreed."

"There wouldn't be a trap door or some other type of portal in every identical room, I suppose," Paita said. "Then if the exit's not through the door, where is it?"

"...how about the paintings?" Busby said.

Paita raised an eyebrow. "What about them?"

"Unless we go too far, they're the only things that don't change," Busby said.

"You have a point there Buster," Paita said looking down each side of the hallway. "There are five different paintings in this hallway. Now that you mention it, this is the only hallway we've found that has paintings at all! At least before we ended up back here after venturing too far... or just plain hitting a dead end over past that staircase."

"They've got to hold the key!" Busby exclaimed. "I mean... we've just got to figure out which one." Busby went for the clouded village portrait. Paita stared at him as he went to take the portrait off of the wall. Suddenly, something in the back of her mind... an instinct of some sort said something. If I were hiding something big, I wouldn't make this so easy...

"Busby wait!" Paita said, holding out a hoof as Busby stopped in his tracks. He'd yet to get a good grasp on the painting yet, but by hearing his real name, he knew the mare was serious.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't... take that one down." Paita said. "I don't think it's that one."

"Can't hurt to check, right?" Busby said.

Paita shook her head. "No. Actually, I don't think we can afford to make any mistakes without triggering some other type of trap."

At the idea, Busby backed away from the painting. "You think this place is booby trapped?"

Paita shrugged. "Hey. I would anyway. This place... I bet it's some kind of front for some operation involving some evil plan, the princesses, and the Elements themselves."

"And?"

"And if I were this old stallion, I'd be afraid someponies... or in our case, some guards would try and thwart my plan. If I were as paranoid as he was-"

"Which you are."

"Shut it." Paita snapped. "If I were as paranoid as him, I'd probably put some kind of death trap behind that painting. Like a spear, or an arrow to go through your head. Heck, even a bomb could be behind any one of these things. If I knew the answer, it wouldn't be a problem. Same case if I put in the effort of making it 'solvable'."

"Huh?"

"Like... if I were Specter, I'd have henchmen. Like that Sweetie. But if my lackeys got killed because they didn't remember the solution to a puzzle, they could still just solve it and get where they have to get anyway... but like I said, that's if I were Specter."

"Why would he care if-"

"I said if I were Specter," Paita glared. "I don't know why he'd care if his lakeys could die, but considering Sweetie and him looked the part, it's plasuable... or maybe you're right. Maybe he's just sick in the head and wants ponies to play his game before he kills them. Probably truth in both."

Hey, my idea stuck! Busby thought proudly. Then he thought about being impaled through the head, and that pride went away as he shuddered. "Fine. Then how do we figure out which painting we can take down?"

"Well... if this hallway's a game or a puzzle like you said, then there's got to be rules, right? Something off about one of the paintings that's not with the other ones?"

"That makes sense." Busby nodded. "Let's look at each painting before we figure out which one to take down."

With that, the two started looking at each painting, taking out every last detail they could from each one. They started with the one at the dead end of the hallway, with the blocked off stairway that Busby had nearly triggered the mechanism of... if there was one behind it to begin with. As they figured, it depicted a little village that seemed to have just experienced a terrible fire. The origin of the smoke that was covering the village wasn't clear, but it was likely somewhere off in the smoke-cloud blocked background. At the center of the painting, among the other ponies wandering around in the smoke, there was a banner... though what it said was extremely unclear.

Further down the hallway, the next painting was one that depicted a cave. Possibly a mine of some sort. Tracks led out of it, likely for any mineral carts to be dragged in or out. A sign was posted in the darkness... it said: "Stabletown Mine - Condemned - Keep Out". Despite this, there seemed to be the shadow of a little pony somewhere deep in the cave...

Even farther down, the third painting depicted a factory of some sort. Much like the cave, it seemed to be closed down. The factory looked strange, to say the least. It was mostly composed of metal, aside from a few extra add-ons and watchtowers that were mostly made out of stone and some other unidentifiable purple material. The factory held a certain elegance to its design in the way that each tower curled around the main body of the building and the cone-like shape it created at the top. If it wasn't for the gears and belts popping out of the factory, or the smudged sign in the foreground that one could barely make out the letters "S...l...t...n F.cto.y" one might have assumed it to be some kind of fortress.

The fourth picture depicted a Ferris Wheel, towering above some kind of festival below. Balloons floated above the scene up to the peak of the Ferris Wheel before they seemed to pop. In the top passenger cart, there was a pony looking below at the festival. Oddly enough, besides the balloons and the booths, the festival looked... quiet. The background was grey and gloomy. It looked more like a funeral than a parade.

Finally, there was one of the mansion itself. It looked old and unlivable like they saw during their first confrontation with the building. Though there weren't any gravestones, there were dead trees that seemed to be decaying, mold and fungus growing along the sides of them. In one of the windows, at the front gate, there was a blue scaled, baby-sized dragon looking up at the mansion. It watched one window in particular that had fire popping out of it, and the silhouette of a pony likely trapped in the mansion.
"...well?" Paita asked. "Notice anything about any of them special?"

Busby scratched the back of his head, under a piece of plating to his armor. "Uh..." Busby thought, giving every picture one last scan. "Well... I guess those three all have something to do with Stabletown. I mean, I'm guessing that village is apart of the town right there." Busby pointed to the village painting.

"Right. The factory and the mine also mention Stabletown." Paita agreed. "So that leaves these two... the mansion and the Ferris wheel."

"But... if we're working with which one is from Stabletown, and which one isn't... how do we know?"

Paita squinted. "Hm... hey look!" Paita said, pointing to the Ferris wheel. "The Ferris wheel is mobile! This is some kind of carnival!"

"Carnival? But there are circus tents too, see?" Busby said.

Paita shook her head. "You're missing the point Buster. If that Ferris wheel moves around on wheels, and is apart of a moving carnival, then it's not from anywhere! It couldn't have a home... at least not like the mansion."

"But wait... does that mean this mansion is from that Stabletown?" Busby asked. "Then what's it doing here, I wonder. It's looks almost exactly the same... but that's impossible!"

"You're asking the wrong mare," Paita said. "But if there's anything useful behind one of these paintings, the Ferris wheel is our best bet."
"Alright..." Busby said, moving over to the painting. He hesitated for a moment and looked back at Paita. "M-maybe I should use my magic instead this time eh? Just to be safe."

Paita rolled her eyes, indifferent to Busby's decision. The stallion guard focused his magic into his horn and then onto the painting itself. He tried to lift it... but there was a problem. It wouldn't move! Because of some strange magical gravity spell surrounding the painting, his magic wasn't having any effect on the two pounds painting that felt as though it weighed a ton. "Magic isn't working on this thing! I can't lift it."

"Then use your hooves." Paita sighed. "It's easy really. You just get up on your hind legs, reach for the painting-"

"Alright, alright." Busby said. Nervously, he put his hooves on either side. The thought of being stabbed through the skull by something lurking behind the painting reached his brain again. Before making another move, he looked back at Paita unsure. "Are you sure this-"

"Look, If you die, I'll bury you in one of those holes we saw coming up. How's that sound?" she said with slight annoyance in her voice.

"You're the most reassuring pony I've ever met, and I appreciate you, you know that?"

"Quit being a little foal and be a guard. Take painting down already! Take it down!" Paita snapped.

That's not how guarding works though... Busby took a deep breath as slowly lifted the painting off of the wall. As he did, he heard something click behind it, scaring him back onto his flank. Paita rolled her eyes at the downed stallion. "You're the biggest jellyfish I've ever met, Buster."

Jellyfish?

"You want to do this?" he asked, getting back up.

"No, I wouldn't want to steal the chance from you. You're looking for respect right? Pull that thing down and I'll respect you a whole two percent more." Paita said with a small smirk on her face.

Woowwe. That's a whole two percent more than never minutes ago. Busby thought. Maybe I'll earn the rest by the time I'm that Yield stallion's age.

Busby got up and went for the painting again, lifting the piece of artwork carefully. He shut his eyes, afraid of what might happen next as he heard the click again. Once the painting was completely off, he dropped it on the floor as the wall shook. "Uh... Paita?"

Paita, got close to Busby, now afraid for her own life as they both stared at where the painting used to sit. They watched as a yellow box appeared on the wall, just about the same size as the painting itself. Within seconds, it expanded to about half the size of a door. Suddenly, without warning, the spot ignited and blew up at the two ponies. Though the flames were too far to hurt either of them seriously, they came close enough to lick the noses of each of them. Oddly enough, rather than being burnt by intense heat, they felt a brush of coldness along their snouts. As fast as it came, the fire went out, revealing a rectangular hole, just large enough for either Paita or Busby to fit through.

"Well... that was frankly terrifying," Busby said, still somewhat frozen by fear as he continued to stare at the portal.

"Uh huh..." Paita said, imagining what might have happened if those flames had come even a few feet further.

"...but hey. There's a thing behind it after all. Who would've thought it huh?"

"Y-yeah..." Paita said. After a minute, she shook her head, snapping her out of her trance, and looked at Busby. "Well Buster? I know you're eager to find out what's on the other side."

Of course I am. Of course, Busby thought sarcastically. Without another word in protest, knowing they'd be futile against the mare, he went towards the square hole. He climbed up into it and began crawling through. Paita waited in anticipation on the other side. After a few minutes of waiting, she decided to call him.

"Buster?" she called. There was no answer. "Buster!" She was beginning to get worried. Did something happen once he made it to the other side? Was he okay? She thought of the other guards and how quickly they'd disappeared. Leaving her...

"...Busby?"

"...So you only call me my real name when you're scared then. Good. To. Know!" Busby answered, sticking his head out of the hole.

"Don't do that, I thought you were-"

"What? Dead? Didn't realize you thought that little of me," Busby lied with a stupid grin. "If I died that fast, I think I might have broken a record somewhere."

"What did you find?" Paita asked, in attempt to change the subject.

"You won't believe it-"

"Coming from your mouth, probably not, but go ahead." Paita said.

"There's another hallway! No blocked exits or... well, any exits at all. Just a hallway with a bunch of windows and doors."

"That doesn't sound very unbelievable, honestly," Paita said with a sassy lean.

"In this place?"

Paita straightened. "You have a point ...okay, fine. Move back so I can climb through too."

Busby did as he was told, as Paita climbed up. Once she was up, they were face to face. Busby gave Paita a sly smirk.

"What the hay are you smiling about." She asked annoyed.

"You were worried about me, weren't you?"

Paita gritted her teeth. For a moment, she just sat there, face to face with the stallion in the small space. Finally, she answered. She didn't answer with words, but instead, with a hoof to Busby's snout.

"Gah!" Busby said, covering his shout. The HAY! This armor sucks!

"Want another one?" Paita asked. Busby shook his head still. "Then start backing up."

Busby uttered a painful moan and nodded as he began moving backward through the portal as Paita followed him. Finally, Busby made it to the end, and so did Paita. It was a little bit of a drop as they exited the portal, and they managed to land hooves first.

"Hm. Looks like we're gonna have to use something to climb back up." Busby said.

Paita nodded in agreement. "My wings still aren't working right, so we can't really rely on them yet..."

"Then let's get searching then." Busby suggested. And hope that there's something we can actually use here...

***

"Where we goin' Squee?" Sweetie asked as she followed the little colt through the dusty little village. The immediate surroundings were mostly dirt and bricked housing. Any shops were built from wooden logs and bits of straw.

"Well, I thought I'd show you a few of the attractions little ol' Stabletown has to offer, y'know?" Squee responded.

"Like?"
"Well..." Squee started. He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. "...Huh. Only big thing we have I can think of is Yield's place."

"Really?" Sweetie asked.

"I mean, we've got smaller, less important stuff here in Lower Stabletown, but that's the only thing that's really put us on the map. It's the biggest one in this region."

"Why is it so big?" Sweetie asked curiously.

Squee shook his head. "Dunno. Remember learning about it in class though." Squee shrugged. "If you're really curious, I guess you could ask Audit about that. She teaches the Stabletown school around here."

"Okay. I'll try and remember that." Sweetie said. Then again, without any other memories to hold, what left is there to?

"But uh... Oh yeah! I know who we could see."

"Hm? Who?" Sweetie asked.

"There was this new stallion that arrived here a little while ago. A little after that big carnival fire not too long ago..." Squee said. "An odd ball one... then again, lots of ponies around here aren't really on their rocker. Like... ever."

"Who is he?"

"Dunno. Came with another really cut- er... j-just a filly and a silly looking mare. Don't remember their names though... anywho, he set up shop and keeps to himself mostly during the day, but loves meeting new ponies when they come around. So does his kid and wife apparently. 'Least that's what they say."

"You think he'll let us meet him?"

"Like I said, he likes to meet to new ponies." Squee said. "I think they live around here..." Squee scanned the houses for a couple moments before responding with an "Aha!", pointing to one wooden house in particular. It stood in a little square area of Lower Stabletown. From here, Sweetie could also clearly see the mansion... but she didn't give it that much thought as she followed Squee.

"That looks like a shop."

"It is." Squee explained. "I think it was a flower shop, but I forgot. See, you know that mansion you were so crazy about earlier?"

"No." Sweetie said flatly.

"Right... no memory... anyway, some mare caught the eye of Mr. Yield and went to live up there. The other mare... old one I think... something happened to her. Disappeared sometime around her leave. I forgot if it was before or after though. Anyway, I think it got sold to some pony, and eventually that stallion rented it out from 'em."

"Why a shop? Why not get a nice home to move in."

Squee shrugged as they stopped. "Dunno. Only reason he gave anyone was that he was planning to stay for a really short while. But uh... to be honest..." Squee got in close to Sweetie's ear and whispered. "I don't think he's supposed to be here."

Sweetie turned her head to the side as she noticed Squee had gone into some weird trance like state. His face looked like he'd come to some kind of realization... "...Squee?"

Sweetie's eye was taken off of Squee as she noticed a mare walk out of the shop. A purple maned mare, who for the first time since Sweetie had woken up, looked familiar for a split second. She was carrying some kind of magestic fabric materials that almost seemed to hypnotize Sweetie. She was also accompanied by a second pony... a stallion Sweetie figured. For a second, Sweetie could have sworn he saw him as a silhouette of a pony, rather than an actual-

"SWEETIE!" Squee yelled, snapping Sweetie out of her stupor. Upon the breaking of her trance, Sweetie grabbed her head, feeling intensely lightheaded. The light around her seemed more intense than it should have... the filly felt ready to faint again. Squee braced Sweetie's sides to keep her up on her hooves. "You ok?"

"Y-yeah... I uh... just was feeling dizzy again for a second." Sweetie shook her head. "I'm fine now."

"Okay, you ready to head over to the library now?"

Sweetie shook her head in confusion before looking at Squee. "Huh?" She asked as she squinted at the colt.

"Yeah. You kept talking about how you wanted to go to the library and check out some books earlier... don't tell me you forgot already." Squee teased.

"O-of course not!" Sweetie lied. Had she really forgotten where she wanted to go? Did she really want to go anywhere to begin with? She wasn't sure... but she knew that she could trust Squee for now. Besides, though she wasn't entirely sure what Squee meant by "check-out" or "book", but somehow, the words seemed to interest the little filly.

"Well, let's head over there. Not in the square though. Follow me." Squee said smiling.

Sweetie smiled back as she began following the little colt out of the square and along the streets of Stabletown. As Sweetie continued down the street, closely following behind Squee, she found herself feeling a little awkward. Though most of the other species didn't seem to pay her as much attention, she noticed that every pony was staring at her. As the little filly passed by a window, transparently showing her reflection, she was reminded of why... it was those marks on her. Feather had called them Cutie Marks... but from what she could tell, everypony around her seemed to posses only one cutie mark. She had five... and only one or two were even on her flank correctly. She questioned where they came from... then she remembered Feather had mentioned something about "Cutie Pox"... was that bad? Was this Cutie Pox something she had to worry about?

As the little filly pondered this, Squee once again brought her out of deep thought. "Here we are!" Squee said grandly, gesturing his leg toward the building in front of them.

"It's... it's-"

"An acorn, I know."

"I was going to say big, but... wait, what's an acorn?" Sweetie asked, looking up at the giant building. As Squee had said, it was in fact, an oversized acorn. Though there were windows along the sides of the door on the first floor of the giant brown tree seed, the two biggest ones were on the second one, taking up the space four or five windows might. On both sides of the acorn were two tall trees, extending up twice the size of the acorn itself. "And even better, what's inside?"

"What? An actual acorn? I don't actually-"

"No, not that thing. The library."

"Oh! Uh... books."

"Books?"

"Books." Squee repeated.

"What's a... book?" Sweetie asked. She wasn't sure why, but for some reason, the simple four to five letter word gave the filly a rushing feeling she wasn't expecting. It wasn't another loss of equilibrium, but simply a sense of excitement... did she have something inside of her that made her feel so... intoxicated. She felt some kind of importance of knowing what these books were... or better yet where she could get them. "Can I see them?"

Squee chuckled. "Wouldn't be much of a tour if you didn't get to see things, right?" the colt headed forward and opened the door for Sweetie. "Pretty fillies first."

Sweetie smiled as she trotted inside, followed by Squee who closed the door behind him. Once inside, the filly looked around the acorn. On every wall, there seemed to be a shelf of books as well as there were shelves along the center of the room. At the front however, right next to the door, there was a small desk with a bell. There also seemed to be a quill as well as a piece of parchment listing off the names of other ponies and books. Sweetie guessed that the long piece of parchment could hold just about every pony living in Stabletown... it was likely to keep a record of what was going in and out of the library. Sweetie didn't know what any of these things were, but she did notice something in particular. Some of the names had been written in a strange green ink, as everything else had been written in black. It seemed to bulge out of the paper unnaturally-

"HEY!" Squee yelled, making Sweetie jump. "ANYONE HOME?!"

"Shhh!" hissed somepony from the second floor... oddly enough, there didn't seem to be any platform or stairs reaching up to the second level. There were only walls of books... "This is a library! That means you need to... wait... visitors?"

"Yeah Ms. Covri. You got a sec?" Squee asked.

As Sweetie scanned the shelves above, she noticed on one of the shelves along the center of the room, the purple head and mane of a mare popping out to look at the two ponies. Something was odd about the way she looked at them though... almost as though she weren't looking at them, but instead their general direction...

"Of course! I've always got time for fellow scholars and veracious readers such as yourself."

"Actually, Ms. Covr-"

"Sheep! Be a good dog and fetch me my ladder would you?" Covari called. Her request was followed by the sound of a barking dog. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a brown border collie leaped out of nowhere, surprising the little filly. The dog ran over to a wall where a wheeled ladder lay against. After skidding to a stop, Sheep grabbed the ladder with his teeth and dragged it over to the shelf Ms. Covri sat atop of. Once it was there, Sheep barked again.

"Good girl Sheep. Catch!" Covri said as she tossed down a multi-colored dog biscuit to her. Sheep caught the treat and wagged her tail before quietly going back over to the front desk to lie down and rest. Ms. Covri then used the ladder to climb down to the first floor.

"Um... what's was she doing up there?" Sweetie whispered.

"Inka Covri lives here I think. She has her bed and stuff mostly on top of the shelves." Squee explained. "Never leaves the place unless there's a party, a parade, or a firework show to check out."

"Why?" Sweetie asked. "Doesn't she like to be outside?

It was but a few seconds before Covri made it down to the first floor. From this angle, Sweetie got a better look at her. The mare wore big goofy looking glasses and a casually colored librarian skirt and blouse... but it wasn't the glasses or clothing that shocked her. It was the mare's eyes. Everypony else she'd come across so far had eyes that somewhat complimented their coat or mane in some way. Covri's eyes however were different. Rather than being the color of her mane, or... any other color, they were white.

"What's wrong with her eyes?" Sweetie asked as the mare approached them. "Can... can she see?"

Squee nodded. "Yeah, she can see fine... sometimes."
"Sometimes?"

"Yeah. She can see in rooms that are moderately lit... but she can't really see anything too bright. Like the daytime sun. That's kind of why she she spends most of her time inside... and part of the reason she has that dog. Otherwise, the daylight would blind her."

"But... you said she goes outside sometimes. If she can't see anything, then why bother-"

"Why don't I be the one to answer you questions about myself, hm?" Covri said, causing Sweetie to jump again. Even she was surprised how high strung she was now. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Sweetie quickly regained her composure. "It's fine. I wasn't scared..."

Covri smiled. "Of course not, now what can I do for you fine ponies today? Oh, I actually got a shipment of books from the mansion you might be-"

"A-actually Ms. Covri, I'm just here for her," Squee said. "Besides, you and I both know I don't have the attention span for books anyway, right?"

Covri frowned. "I suppose one could hope." the mare looked over at Sweetie. "But you... are you a reader?"

"What's a reader?" Sweetie asked.

"She's er... got amnesia or something." Squee quickly explained. "And new to town too, so I'm giving her a tour. When I mentioned books and the library, she got excited so... I figured she'd at least like to take a look around."

"I see... and what your name might be?" Covri asked, pointing her full attention toward the white filly.
"S-sweetie." she said.

"Sweetie? That's all?"

"I don't know." Sweetie shrugged. "I'm kind of learning stuff as I go along."

Covri looked at the filly strangely before Squee came between them. "Er... her last name is 'Belle' I think."
"Really?" Sweetie asked.

"Sweetie Belle." Covri said, allowing the name to fill her mouth. "Alright. I'll need to remember that when I write you down for a library card."

"Library card?" Sweetie asked. "What's that?"

"It's a little er... piece of stone we use to tell who can take out a book or not." Covri said, taking a stone out of her pocket. It was white, and had an etching of her name, as well as a few other pieces of information. "You don't have one, do you? Possibly from where you're from?"

"I... I don't think I have anything, really." Sweetie admitted.

"Oh... well, until you can get you one... probably by tomorrow, you can't really take any books out."

Sweetie frowned, looking severely disappointed. She looked over at Squee who simply scratched the back of his head. "Sorry Sweetie. If I could, I'd give you one... but I lost mine a while ago." he explained. "Besides, I rarely come here anyway."

"Oh..." Sweetie said, bowing her head.

Squee hated seeing Sweetie upset, and racked his brain for some kind of compromise. "...wait! Can't she at least look at them?"

"O-of course!" Covri said. "This is a public library."

Sweetie looked back up at the mare. "Really?"

Covri nodded, giving Sweetie back her will to smile. "Well, I suppose I could tour you the different sections of the library... maybe I could even reserve a book you find interesting." the mare said smiling. "Squee, are you coming?"

Squee scratched the back of his head. "Actually uh... I think I'm going to keep your dog here company."

"Of course you are." Covri sighed. "Come along Sweetie Belle."

"I'll be waiting for you here Sweetie." Squee waved as the two female ponies moved deeper into the library.

Once he was out of earshot, Covri shook her head. "Colts... can't appreciate the wonders of a good book, eh Sweetie?"

"I'm not even sure why I appreciate it myself Ms. Covri... but they've got to be something if they make my spine tingle every time I hear about them."

Covri smiled. "That they are Sweetie. That they are."

As they walked around, Sweetie spied different metal labels atop every few shelves. They started around the Fiction sections of the library.

"So... Ms. Covri. You still go outside? Even with your eyes like... like that?" Sweetie asked.

The mare nodded. "Only at night though. My eyes aren't supposed to be exposed to extremely bright light... but I do love to go outside at night for one of the Yield's parties, or one of the Bonker's parades and firework shows." Covri explained. "But I can't look at, or see any bright surfaces on light backgrounds. That's why you see all of the shades drawn in here... and so many lamps."

"Oh, ok." Sweetie said, somewhat comprehending what Covri was talking about.

The mare then began explaining the genres of fiction there were, as well as what fiction was to begin with. Sweetie took a few minutes to flip though the pages of the book. Though she could understand some of the words, she felt she'd probably understand even more if her memory wasn't so bad on what every word meant. The next area they went to was non-fiction section.

"Now, this place during the school year is where most of Ms. Audit's students set up."

"Why?" Sweetie asked.

"Mostly because much of the history of important ponies is concentrated here. It's the best available place to get information on your favorite historians."

"Um... best available place?"

"Why yes... didn't Squee mention where the books came from?"

Sweetie thought for a moment. She remembered that Squee had mentioned something about the books she got from the mansion. "Yeah, he mentioned it... but I don't think I understand."

"Well, as you could imagine, there are many books that I get from other libraries... but a majority of the books I get come from Yield's enormous mansion library."

"Bigger than this."

"Much bigger Sweetie. Amazingly enough, his library takes up 3 of my little acorn library's space... and it's only one room in the mansion."

"And... it's also filled with books?"

Covri nodded. "Naturally."

The strange purple cutie mark around her horn began to tingle and itch with excitement, as well as the rest of the filly's body. So many books... she wondered if she could even handle such a thing.

"Anyway, every so often, Mr. Yield donates his books to us. I'm unsure of where he manages to get them, but the point is, that he's our main supplier of books... because he's got the biggest library in this region of Equestria."
"...but?"

"But... he doesn't like ponies wandering his mansion, so nopony can access the library, or anywhere in the mansion for that matter, unless he's hosting a party, like tonight."
"Party?"

"Yes... he's allowing ponies to come in, eat, mingle... at least anyone who's been invited anyway."

Suddenly, Sweetie felt another wave of dizziness. She moaned painfully as she felt a sharp pulse in the back of her brain. Then... she heard the whisper again.

Need a ticket... get an invite...

Sweetie shook her head, trying to make the whisper go away.

"Sweetie, you alright?"

"Yeah... I'm fine... now, what were you saying?" Sweetie said, thankful the annoying little whisper was gone again.

"About the party? Well... not much to tell besides the fact Yield only invites ponies he knows, has business with or are performers for his theater and music... and even they must go in couples."

"Oh... guess I won't be going then... I don't have an invite, or somepony to go with huh?" Sweetie said sadly.

Covri smiled. "Oh, I don't know. If you did somehow manage to get an invitation, I'm sure that nice colt in the front would really want to go with you."

"What?"

"Oh, I've seen how he looks at you Sweetie..."

"No, I mean, what's a date?"

Covri giggled. "I'm sure you'll find out later."

"...hey, what's that?" Sweetie asked, pointing over to a shelf in the non-fiction section that stood out to the filly in particular. It held a large array of big and bulky looking books.

"That?" Covri asked. "Nothing you'd be interested in. A bunch of books taking simple subjects and dissecting them into extremely complicated subjects you wouldn't really understand. Hay, even I don't understand some of the discussions in there..."

"Like?"

Covri thought for a moment. "Hm... I'd say books on subjects like the different types of Apple Trees, their life cycles, and their changing bucking spots.... explanations on the different Pegasi related and Non-Pegasi related weather patterns... the different animals and their eating habits... only to name a few."

From just hearing the subjects, Sweetie's body, especially the areas around her Cutie Marks, began to itch eagerly as she looked at the books.

"You said I could look at them right?" Sweetie asked in confirmation.

Covri smiled. "Now Sweetie, I'd probably lose my job if I said you couldn't. Just... remember not to take them anywhere outside the library alright? Not until tomorrow."

Sweetie nodded and found herself hopping happily over to the shelf. She wasn't sure why, but the oddly placed joy she felt was now accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to bounce... She'd have to figure out how to control this misplaced urge, lest she looked silly to the townsfolk. Even Covri gave the filly an odd look before going off to pre-occupy herself with some inventorying of the books on the wooden shelves.

Having herself a little bit of semi-privacy, Sweetie began taking out books and placing three or four on the nearest table to begin attempting to read what they had to offer. She opened the book and began reading.

As Covri had warned, the books were completely convoluted, using large words that no filly Sweetie's age would even be close to learning. It didn't help that Sweetie's grasp on Equestrian language was limited by the amnesia either. Sweetie found herself barely spending one or two minutes on each book before checking out a different one. Though there was nothing remarkable or exciting about each book aside from the strange tickle on her horn every time she turned a page; Sweetie did sense something odd on a few certain books she looked through. When she came across books such as "Apple Farming: An Explanation of How to Maintain an Acre of Apples", "Clouds: What Are They and How do They Work" or "Woodland Creatures: Know Thine Animals", one of her Cutie Marks began to itch slightly. Even a book named "Surprises of the Brain" seemed to make one tickle her, almost to the point of giggling in the library... but all of those types of books, no matter which one... the filly felt as though she could do what the books illustrated. Did she know how to do the tasks listed in the books before her amnesia?

Once Sweetie has skimmed through just about every book on the surprisingly small shelf, she noticed that she'd managed to miss one. A brown leather-spine book that... unlike the other books, made the filly's horn itch just by looking at it. How could she miss a book like that? Sweetie looked around by some strange paranoia that surfaced from inside of her, to see if Covri was watching her from afar. She was nowhere to be seen.

What's wrong with me? she wondered, finding her new found paranoia strange and silly.

She pulled the book from the shelf and sat at another clear table, seeing as the last one was now covered in books. Though... without the wall of books to cover her area, Sweetie felt open for some reason. Once again, she shook off the sudden paranoia. What was the harm in checking out the little book she'd probably never understand anyway? Then why did she feel so scared of opening the book... that she'd somehow be doing something wrong?

Sweetie buried the feelings and opened the book. Immediately, she found herself greeted with a very old looking picture of a white bearded pony casting a grand spell on thousands of other evil looking ponies with holes in them. The next page contained the table of contents.


Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................3

Spell Safety............................................................................................................10

Magical Measurement Equations Reference Tools......................................................17

Section 1: Teleportation

Chapter 1: Teleportation Introduction..........................................................................23

Chapter 2: Teleportation Theory.................................................................................35

Chapter 3: Symbol Sequences and Orders..................................................................49

Chapter 4: Teleportation Exercises.............................................................................55

Chapter 5: Teleportation Conclusion............................................................................77

Section 2: Facial Hair Spells

.....


The contents themselves looked extremely dull and boring. Something about the font of the text alone was making Sweetie yawn... but something inside of her told her to keep looking through-

"You've got quite a number of interests Ms. Belle." Ms. Covri said from behind the small white Cutie Mark covered filly. Sweetie jumped at the sound of her voice, falling out of her chair.

"Yeah, and you've got a knack for sneaking up on ponies," Sweetie said back.

"Sorry, but I can't help but walk quietly," Cover explained. "I am a librarian after all."
"Right..." Sweetie said, mildly annoyed she'd been scared once again by the purple librarian.

"So what's this book? Starswirls the Bearded's Book of Magical Spells and Theories?"

"That's what it's called?" Sweetie asked. "It didn't have a title on it..."

"Yes... that's the original copy. Written by Starswirl himself before he died... besides the Table of Contents of course. Somehow Mr. Yield obtained it and sent it down here by mistake."

"Aren't you going to give it back?"

"Just got it today. I haven't gotten the chance... but I'm hoping to return it when I go with my date up to Yield Manor for his party."

"Your going too?" Sweetie asked. "With who?"

"Maybe you'll find out." Covri smiled.

"...so... who's this Starswirl guy?" Sweetie asked, changing the subject to bury the whisper that had returned at the mention of the party.

"Him? Only one of the most respected Magicians in Equestria. One of the best too until he died."

"Die? What's that?"

"Er... think of it like a vacation you don't come back from. Or want to go on in the first place for that matter." Covri explained.

"Ok... how'd he die?"

"Nopony knows... some speculate that he went on some kind of magical expedition and something went horribly wrong... others say he simply was experimenting with spells and it backfired, killing him. No body was recovered, but only his notes, which were compiled into that book."

"These are them?"

Covri nodded. "Hasn't been largely copied yet though... only a few others around Equestria exist, but that's the original you're looking at."

"Oh..."

"It's quite complicated though..." Covri continued.
"Complicated?"

"Because it was written by the modern Father of Magic, unabridged and unsimplified, right now, that's one of the most advanced magic books in Equestria."

"I don't understand." Sweetie admitted. "Or know what abridged means."

"Well... think of it this way. Do you know the telekinesis spell?"

Sweetie shook her head.

"Well, simply put, it's one of the simplest spells a unicorn can learn. Here. Let me demonstrate." She said as she began floating the books Sweetie had taken out back into their appropriate shelf.
"Neato!" Sweetie said in awe of the demonstration.

"Now, my Cutie Mark doesn't make me a magician," Covri said, exposing her flank under her librarian attire. It was a single page that seemed like it was ripped on the ends. "...but from what I understand, other spells can be cast in by creating variations of that spell by visualizing certain marks... it's complicated, as I've said. Somepony would need years of studying for one to even comprehend the first spell in there unless..."
"Unless...?"

"Well, unless their talent was for magic."

Hm... every time I looked at a certain book, I got a tingling sensation... and felt like I could do what the books were saying easy. Like an instinct... Sweetie thought. Maybe... maybe...

Once again, Covri left Sweetie alone to look through the book she doubted she'd ever be able to decipher. Sweetie began scanning the book. At first however, to her disappointment, she couldn't understand a word of the first page... but pushed on. She read through the introduction, explaining who Starswirl was, and touching base on a few adventures he detailed in a separate set of notes. Then the book started lecturing what magic was, and how the book would explain further upon how magic worked. Once the tiny text book was finished, it went on about how dangerous magic could be. How it could be used not only for assistance and experimentation... but defense and even as a killing weapon. Both purposefully and accidentally... The next chapter talked about different measurements that needed to be taken into consideration... Sweetie didn't understand one of them, but her ticklish horn urged her to push forward.

As the table of contents foreshadowed, the next section was all about the teleportation spell. The introduction simply gave a brief explanation and history of teleportation... the filly learned teleportation could transport a pony from one point to another with sheer willpower. Though most of the words in the chapter were far beyond her understanding, she did catch a few words an sketch to the side of the page that did shock her a bit. It said that sometimes, ponies can make mistakes... and teleport into other beings. The illustration depicted a crude image of what happened to the victim. The picture wasn't graphic enough to make the filly vomit, but it was enough to make her shiver. Could... could she do that if she made a mistake? Sweetie was apprehensive toward reading further to learn more about the potentially deadly spell...

Sweetie skipped ahead to the next chapter, which talked about theories regarding teleportation. Some believe that one can teleport to other dimensions... or even places that didn't even exist in the real world if one could visualize it enough. Places that existed outside of what ponies called "reality". She skipped through most of the convoluted speech. What use would she have for the ability to teleport out of this wonderful world anyway? For the most part, it was perfect.

Finally, she came to the chapter that talked about the "Spell Symbols". Sweetie could feel it in her horn... something was on the next page that was important... but what could it-

Sweetie turned the page and was met with a barrage of crazy symbols. Sweetie's eyes widened as she scanned the page, the numbers, the symbols and the words that were on it. From which, Sweetie was shocked to tell she could fluently read it... and comprehend it as though it were a child's book! Flipping through the pages as quickly as possible, Sweetie didn't feel in control of herself. Her eyes and arms seemed to, for the moment, have a mind of their own as they ran through the chapter. It felt like forever before finally, she reached the end of the chapter... all of her tensed up muscles released as she turned onto the next page. The filly breathed heavily as she felt as though she'd just finished with some intense workout. Her brain throbbed from the information that was forced into her head by the will of her horn... or possibly the Cutie Mark? It didn't matter though... Sweetie was sure of it. She knew how to teleport.

Sweetie blinked, allowing for light to normally enter them, and for her to see her previously blurred surroundings. She looked around... thankfully, Covri wasn't there this time to see her little freak-out. Once she had completely calmed down from the strange information scramble she'd experienced, she turned the page to see what kinds of exercises the book had to offer.

The next part was a simple explanation of how to cast the teleportation spell. Apparently, the spell was similar to telekinesis where one simply had to visualize the object. Sweetie had to visualize where she wanted to go as well as the symbols and her flowing magic into them. She didn't want to go far however... just to test herself to see if she could truly complete the task. Sweetie looked over at the table where she sat previously and closed her eyes. She visualized the table and the area around it and then imagined the symbols in the order she was supposed to on the table. Finally, she began flowing magic into them, as she felt magic flowing out of her horn... but not toward the table. Instead, the warm magic seemed to bubble out of her horn and cover her entire body. First her face, then her neck, then her abdomen... until she was completely covered in the magic. As the magic flowed out of her, she felt weaker and weaker... beginning to wonder if she truely had the strength to cast the spell. Then... it happened. For a moment, Sweetie felt as though she didn't exist... and in those moments of non-existence, Sweetie felt sickly weak. She felt almost... dead. The horrifying moment thankfully didn't last more than half a second as she felt herself land on the table with a thud. She opened her eyes to find that she was indeed on the table she intended to teleport to.

"I... I did it!" Sweetie said weakly. But... It's so tiring. To hay if I'm gonna ever use that spell again... only when I really need it.

Covri, before long, rushed over to the little filly on the table. "Sweetie! Is everything alright? I heard a thud!"

"M...Ms. Covri! I did it!" Sweetie exclaimed, fully regaining herself.

"Did what?"

"I-" Sweetie was about to share her magical milestone when she heard a bark from the front of the library... followed by a loud hiss.

"H-hey! Don't get on that! HEY!" Squee yelled before the sound of breaking glass echoed throughout the otherwise silent library. Sweetie and Covri looked at each other briefly before running back to the entrance of the library. There, they witnessed the aftermath of what Squee had just seen. The front desk was in ruins, scratched up paper everywhere and the oil-lamp that was previously on the desk lie at its bottom, shattered. A small orange flame had arisen where the shards of the lamp lay.

"FIRE!" Covri exclamed. "LIBRARY FIRE!"

"Um... what's fire?" Sweetie asked, momentary oblivious to the flame.

Covri didn't waste any time in using her magic to rip off one of the curtains to one of the nearby windows and smother the flame. "Squee! What happened?!" the mare asked angrily.

"I-I don't know!" Squee stuttered. "I was just sitting here, minding my own business when your dog went crazy! He jumped up on your desk, knocked over the lamp and ran out of the door!"

"Did you leave it open?"

"What?"

"You didn't close the door. Did you?"

Squee scratched the back of his head. "Uh... no?"

Covri groaned. "I hate it when this happens. Sheep must have seen something outside to catch his attention... did you see which way he went?"

"I'm guessing that way down the road, but I'm not sure."

"Alright... look. I need you two to see if you can't get him."

"What? Why?" Squee asked.

"Because one, you're the one who left the door open and let him out. And two... I can't go out until it's gotten a little darker. It's still too bright out."

Squee groaned at the new chore he'd been presented with.

"Come on Squee." Sweetie said. "Ms. Covri needs our help. Let's just get her dog for her, okay? Pretty please?" The filly fluttered her eyes for extra effect, almost instinctively.

Squee shot up and looked off to the side for a moment. Sweetie noticed a little bit of redness on his cheeks... did she do that? "Well... I guess. Yeah! We've got you covered Ms. Covri."

The librarian smiled. "Thank you, you two..." The two little ponies nodded and headed out the door in the direction Squee supposedly saw Sheep run off to. "Hurry back with my little assistant!"


***

Sweetie and Squee ran down the road, asking other stranger ponies whether or not they'd seen the little brown dog run past them. Most of them had been too busy to notice anything. When they were sure they had gone the wrong way, they came across a yellow pony with an orange mane. She claimed that she'd seen a little dog run through... and she noticed it because it had ran right through her garden of watermelons. The mare wasn't sure, but she had a feeling that it was chasing something over to the pear farm at the end of the road. With their new lead, the two of them ran off for Prickly Pear Farms.

Finally, they came to the wooden sign welcoming anyone to the acre:
Welcome to Prickly Pear Acres...

We Farm Pears and Pear Products

The two looked at each other before pushing open the picket fence gate that led onto the acre of farmland.

"You sure that mare was right?" Squee asked, looking around at the hundreds of pear trees.

"She sure sounded sure of herself. If anything, the ponies here might have seen Sheep pass by." Sweetie said back. "Maybe-"

Sweetie was then interrupted by the sound of barking and the same hiss they'd both heard back at the library.

"C'mon now! Shoo!"

Sweetie and Squee didn't waste any more time in running to where they heard the complaining pony. It wasn't long before they found the scene they were looking for. There was Sheep, barking up at a tree. He had a small scratch on the side of his coat. In the tree, there was a puffy white cat with yellow eyes wearing a small purple bow. The cat seemed as distressed and angry as Sheep was...

Next to the tree was an orange mare with a pear for a cutie mark and a rancher's hat, yelling at the two animals to get lost.

"Well, looks like we found our missing mutt eh Sweetie?" Squee said.

"Yeah... but between the two of them, I don't think it's going to be easy calming them down. C'mon." Sweetie said, attemting to take charge of the situation as she went to confront the orange mare. "E-excuse me."

The mare stopped yelling at the two to put her attention on the filly. "What? Who the hay are you? These yer little mongrels?"

"Huh? Uh... no. One of them's a... a friend of mine's that got out." Sweetie noticed a tiny scratch on the mare's face similar to the one on Sheep's body. "Um... are you okay?"

"Hmph. Which one is th' one yer lookin for?" the mare asked bitterly, covering her face. She hissed in minor pain.

"Um... the dog." Sweetie said, pointing at Sheep.

"Best be glad you ain't in charge of that cat." the mare said. "Like it's possessed or somethin'."

"It sure looks angry..." Sweetie said, looking at it. "Wonder why it's so mad?"

"Dunno little filly... Name's Cal. Cal Olive." she said holding out a hoof. "Yers?"
"S-sweetie." Sweetie said. "...Belle. Sweetie Belle." The filly remembered to add her last name, remembering how Covri had looked at her like some kind of alien.

"Well little filly... ah can't seem ta get yer little pup's attention. You said it ain't yers but... ya got any idea of how ta git it ta heel?"
"...what?"

"Can ya calm it down." Cal asked.

Sweetie looked back at Squee unsure of herself. The colt simply shrugged. "Sorry Sweetie. I'm terrible with animals."

"Um..." Sweetie looked back at the dog. She found herself staring at it... and suddenly, she felt sorry for it. That was the weird part though... the cut wasn't deep, and nothing the common pony would even think about... but something told her that it really stung the little dog. She felt like she had to help. "I guess I could give it a try... but do you have something I can use to clean and cover that cut right there?"

Cal nodded. "Eeyeah. I reckon there's probably some in th' farmhouse over there we could use. Hold up." The mare ran over to the pistachio colored farmhouse just through the trees. She returned within five minutes carrying a bucket of hot water, a rag, and a roll of tape. "Yer lucky ah had th' pot o' water over th' kettle when yer little animal friends showed up. But uh... how ya gonna keep em' still long enough ta work on em?"

Sweetie wasn't sure of that herself. She tried touching Sheep to make her give the filly her attention... but she just lashed out at the filly, attempting to sink her teeth into the filly's leg.

She quickly pulled her leg back to her chest. Sheesh Sheep! You nearly took my arm off! I'm never going to get close to him unless I figure out how to calm him down... but how?

Sweetie felt one of her cutie marks begin itching again. This time, it was the one on her left eye. The one with the butterflies... did she have some kind of talent that would help her calm Sheep? And if so, did it have something to do with her eyes? Sweetie supposed it was worth a shot.
"Sheep..." Sweetie said as she reached out to touch the dog's fur. As she did, she turned to Sweetie, ready to try and bite at her again... but that was when they're eyes met. At that point, Sweetie put as much focus as she could on the collie's eyes... it didn't bite her as she began petting her. In fact, she barely even breathed as she petted the dog. It was almost as if she'd frozen it with sheer willpower! First I can learn years worth of magic in a matter of minutes... and now I can freeze animals in their tracks just by staring at them. I'm just full of surprises!

"Squee? Could you please pass me that rag? Wet it too."
Squee nodded and did as the filly requested.

"Now Sheep..." Sweetie said softly. "This might sting a little..."

Sweetie began lightly stroking Sheep's cut. She flinched, but didn't or couldn't move in protest. Once the cut was clean, Sweetie put the tape over it, and patted it. As she did, Sweetie noted how natural it felt to care for Sheep... despite the fact she had no memory or experience of doing so. After petting Sheep to calm her down even further, Sweetie released the dog from her stare grasp. Sheep looked at Sweetie, then at the patched up wound, then back at Sweetie. After a few moments, Sheep began wagging her tail as she licked Sweetie.

Well, at least she's happy. Sweetie smiled as she wiped the doggy drool off of her face. "Well, that takes care of her."

"But what about that there cat?" Cal asked.

"Hm... I guess I could get her down too..." Sweetie said. "Squee. Do you mind taking Sheep back to Ms. Covri for me?"

"Um..." Squee said, unsure if he should leave Sweetie alone.

"I'll catch up. Go on ahead ok?"

"Uh... a-alright Sweetie. Don't be too long, ok?" Squee said, beckoning Sheep to his side. "C'mon you. Time to get back to your mum."

As Squee disappeared through the trees, Sweetie turned her attention back to the cat. "It's ok! You're safe now! You can come down!"

The cat merely hissed at the filly.

Guess something's wrong with her too. Eye freezing powers to the rescue I guess... Sweetie thought as she got in front of the tree. "Hey you! Down here!" The cat hissed at Sweetie again, but this time, Sweetie managed to catch her eyes, freezing her just like Sheep. Alright... now I've got you... now how do I get you down?

The apples Cutie Mark on Sweetie's flank itched this time. A new ability? Sweetie wondered... so far, the Cutie Mark abilities she'd discovered were all related to different parts of her body. Magic for her horn and staring for her eyes... but this one was on her flank. The filly doubted a pony's flank could be useful for anything... maybe it was referring to her back legs like the cloud mark? Now that she thought about it... they did feel particularly strong.

Not taking her eyes off of the cat, she got in front of the tree. Quickly, she turned around and kicked it as fast and hard as she could. The tree shook for a moment as pears and leaves fell out of the tree... as did the fluffy white cat.

"Ah got 'er!" Cal said as she caught it before it could hit the ground. As she did, she wasn't looking at Sweetie anymore, breaking her stare hold. The cat began hissing again as it started to scratch at Cal's coat.

"Gah! Git it off me!" the mare exclaimed. Something in Sweetie made her jump for Cal, just over her back allowing her to grab the feline off of her. The cat squirmed in Sweetie's grasp as she held it. It would have scratched at her too if she hadn't regained her stare again. Once the cat was frozen, she began examining it to see what could be wrong with it. It wasn't long until she found several small pieces of wood sticking out of the cat's body, buried under the poofy white fur. Where the hay did this cat need to be to get so much wood stuck into her? Sweetie began pulling out the pieces of wood, piece by piece, watching as the cat's eyes shook in pain at each splinter removal. Once Sweetie was sure all of it was gone, and she finished cleaning and patching the cat, she let go of her. Like Sheep, the feline no longer held any ill will toward the filly... but seemed to be indifferent to her selfless act.

Ungrateful dumb cat... Sweetie thought as the cat walked off from them, it's nose sticking up in the air.

"Thanks lil' filly." Cal smiled.

"No problem!" Sweetie said happily.

"Hey... where'd you learn to buck lik' that anyway?"

"What?"

"Buck. You know... how ya kicked them pears and that pussy cat down."

"Oh, that... I guess it came with my Cutie Pox."

The mare examined the filly. "Yeah... ya do have tha' disease, dontcha?" Cal said. "Hm... never heard of no pony haven' any control over it though."

"Over what? The marks?"

Cal nodded. "Eeyeah. Heard a pony'll just be forced ta randomly use their talents all at the same time til' somepony either cures them, or they jus' tire out and faint... sometimes it makes 'em go crazy."

"But... I don't use mine randomly... and I don't think I'm crazy either."

"Hm. Alrigh' then, but like ah said. That's how Cutie Pox usually works anyway."

Really now? Sweetie thought. She was beginning to question whether or not she had this disease everypony was talking about.

"Still though... nice buckin'. Really."

Sweetie smiled shyly. "Thanks, I guess."

"Wish ah had somethin ta give ya fer helpin' me out too..." Cal thought for a moment, before an idea came to her head. "Ah know. Here. Have mah hat"

The mare took of her hat and handed it to the filly.

"Huh?"

"Ah reckon yer good enough at buckin' ta be an honorary pear farmer. What do ya say?"

Well... it is a free hat. Guess you can't have too many hats... right? Sweetie thought as she took the hat. "Um... ok. Thanks."

Sweetie fit the hat over her head. Between the size of the hat and her big mane, it fit perfectly. Even more, hid the one cutie mark around her horn, and even shroud the one around her eye.

"Lookin' good filly."

Sweetie nodded. She then began backing toward the way that would lead back to the Stabletown roads. "...well... I really need to get going Cal. I'm supposed to be meeting Squee back at Ms.Covri's library for a tour of Stabletown."

"Tour? Ya new here?" Cal asked.

Sweetie shrugged. "Dunno. Don't think so, but my amnesia kind of makes it unclear."

"Oh really... well, you be careful then. Don't reckon I'll be seein' you at th' Yield party, hm? Ya'll heard about it by now, righ'?"

"Y-you're going to that too?"

"Heh. Bein' Stabletown's only pear provider, I just oughta be." Cal said. "Yeah, I got an invitation ta go."

Need a ticket... get an invite...

Shut up you. Sweetie mentally hissed back at the whisper.

"...the one where you need to bring a date, right?"

"Little filly's done 'er homework. So... ya goin'?"

"Not unless I find an invitation lying around..." Sweetie said.

Need a ticket... get an invite...

"Shhh!" Sweetie hissed.

Cal looked at the filly strangely. Sweetie blushed embarrassed... knowing no one but her could hear the voice. "Um... like I said. I got to go. Hope to see you sometime soon Cal!"

"Righ'... you too Sweetie."

And with that, Sweetie headed off of the farmland and back into the main area of lower Stabletown...


***


Sweetie left the Prickly Pear farm, beginning to head back the way she came... or at least she thought she was. It took a couple minutes to realize the street she was on was completely different from the one she remembered running down with Squee. The filly found it utterly amazing that in the last thirty minutes, she'd learned a new spell, stared down two deranged animals, and kicked down an entire tree of pears... yet somehow she'd managed to either go the wrong way, or completely forget the way she came to begin with. Either way, one thing was for certain: the little filly was lost.

Perfect... Sweetie thought. C'mon Sweetie. Think! What way is the library! There's gotta be a way back. Maybe if I ask somepony-

Sweetie stopped in her tracks. Suddenly, she felt dizzy again. Something was happening to her, and she didn't like it. Even worse, she wasn't sure what was happening to cause the dizziness... then, she heard it.

Need a Ticket... get an invite...

What the hay do you want from me?! Sweetie yelled in her head. Who the hay are you?!

Sweetie knew she had to calm down. Feather said that something like this would happen because of her brain trauma she'd talked about. That she should ignore any inner voices she heard... besides, they were supposed to go away eventually, right? Right?!

The voice didn't leave her this time. In fact, it only got louder and louder, as though it was coming for her. Sweetie got to the point that she shut her eyes and fell to the ground, clutching her ears in futile attempts at blocking it out. Every market pony around her either ignored her completely or glanced at her as simply a filly undergoing the madness that came with the Cutie Pox. Nopony wanted to mess with her, assuming the authorities would eventually come and pick her up. Nopony tried to help her until-

"Excuse me, mis?"

Suddenly, the voice in her head stopped. Sweetie was once again surrounded by the ambient sounds of the market vendors as they managed their various businesses. Sweetie looked up to find herself staring at the face of a brown coated stallion with a frizzy darker brown mane, tail and blue eyes. Though the whispering had stopped, the dizziness only got stronger as she looked up at him.
"U-um..." Sweetie said, somewhat dazed. Once she realized that she was in fact on the ground, in public, clutching her head like a mad mare, she scrambled to her hooves. She nearly fell down a second time, but managed to maintain her balance this time. Blushing and embarrassed, she responded with a shaky "I-I'm fine."

"That's good." the stallion smiled. "For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to carry you off to the loony bin."

"The what?"

"The mental hospital."

Sweetie blinked obliviously.

"A place where they take crazy ponies?" the stallion sighed.

Sweetie blinked a couple more times before responding again. "O-oh! Well... d-don't worry. I haven't gone crazy." Yet anyway... the filly added internally.
"Fantastic..." the stallion said. "You wouldn't be, perchance, oppose to telling me your name, would you?"
"U-m..." Sweetie thought for a moment, trying to clear her thoughts through her spinning world. "S-sweetie."
"Sweetie?" the stallion said. "What an appropriate name.

"But... I didn't tell you my last name yet."

"Oh. Would you rather I referred to you by it?" the stallion asked.

Sweetie looked at the stallion strangely. She hadn't met any pony that didn't care about her last name... until this one.

"N-no... I guess you c-can call me Sweetie." she said. "Besides, it's what everypony else calls me... what about you?"

"Hm?"

"W-what's your name?"

"My name..." the stallion thought for a moment. As though he were making some kind of decision, rather than trying to remember his own, likely two part name. "...you may just call me Time."

"Time?"

The stallion glanced at a watch on his left hoof. "My goodness, it's getting late." he said. "I must be off. You'd best be off to get ready for the party... if you're going, that is."
"Party..." Sweetie said, as though to remind herself of it. "Uh...uh huh..."

The stallion nodded as he walked off. As the distance between the filly and himself grew greater, Sweetie began to regain her equilibrium fully. It was as though... there was something about him that was supposed to keep her away. That she wasn't supposed to be around him for some reason...

The filly shook her head. That was silly. What reason would there be to be away from the kind looking stallion? That couldn't be it, right? But there was definitely something about that stallion that caught the filly's interest alright. Not only did he not care about her name... but he made her subconscious pest disappear. Maybe she knew him before her memory was lost? There was something about that stallion...

Maybe... maybe I should follow him? Sweetie thought. Was that her thought? Or the other voice's thought? Which one was fuzzy to the filly, but it didn't change the fact that she agreed with it all the same. As the stallion turned onto another street, Sweetie put down the rim of her new hat to hide her face. As she did the filly developed enough courage to begin tailing the stallion.

Sweetie kept her distance from the stallion as she followed him through the streets of Lower Stabletown. Sweetie's heart beat as she used the market vendor's booths and different ponies' homes to keep herself hidden. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't feel as though she could afford to be caught by anypony as she followed the stallion. As though... she wasn't sure why she got the feeling, but as though he'd just disappear up into thin air lest anyone stopped her.

She must have followed the stallion for a good ten minutes before finally, she came to a familiar part of the Lower Stabletown. The Stabletown Square... Sweetie thought, remembering Squee had toured her over here. She was sure she could figure out where to go from here, if she needed to find the library again. He used a key to enter one of the shops... it looked like a flower shop. Wait... did Squee say something about a stallion living in that place? Sweetie's memory was still a little vague, but if that was true... that would be quite the coincidence. Was there truly something about this stallion Sweetie needed to know?

Once the door was shut, Sweetie began walking towards the house. Dizziness seemed to push her away, but she pushed forward as she finally came to the door. She considered knocking... but instead simply creaked the door open. She'd already went through all the effort to sneak her way to his living quarters, why let him know she'd been following him by knocking on the door? Who knew... he might not want her in there to begin with...

Sweetie slipped through the door and looked around the room she was in. From the little knowledge Sweetie could recall, this was, in fact, a flower shop. As she used houses for cover as she made her way here, she noticed the place was filled with hooks, just like the ones ponies used to hang flowers and flower pots in front of their houses. Though... it was apparent there weren't any flowers being sold here for two reasons. First off, there were no flowers hanging on the hooks. Secondly... the entire place was a mess of odds and ends. Bits and pieces of metal, machinery, and tools Sweetie had yet to see anywhere else in town.. the filly figured the pieces looked like parts to something, but Sweetie couldn't tell what. Whatever it was, it was apparent that Time was inventing or working on something here.

Sweetie heard hoofsteps above her... Time was likely on the second floor. For now, she could explore the lower level of the little shop, as long as she kept quiet... The filly looked around the building, careful not to step on the metal items scattered around the floor. Eventually, Sweetie made it out of the room by going behind a checkout counter, and into another, much cleaner and organized, one. It seemed to be some kind of dining room. Though it was barren, it had to be, considering there were three plates and silverware set up on the table. Besides the notable fact there was a case of stairs leading up to the next floor, there was nothing in particularly remarkable about the room.

Finally, Sweetie made it to the back room... unlike the other rooms, which were either lit by lamps or windows, it was dark. Sweetie would need one of the lamps she saw...

Because Sweetie couldn't hold any of the lamps or candles by her hooves, she decided this was a perfect opportunity to test out that telekinesis spell she'd read about back in the library. Up until now she'd been apprehensive to using more magic but seeing as the room was pitch black, she didn't feel like there was much other option... at least not without risk of her dropping the candle or lamp and lighting the whole store on fire.. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as draining as the teleportation... once Sweetie found a candle she thought would be sufficient, she closed her eyes and focused on it. She imagined herself lifting it in the air... and then began flowing magic through her horn. Thankfully, she found herself able to circulate her magic well enough not only to levitate her candle with ease, but also open her eyes as she floated it over to the next room. She set it down in the center of it.

It wasn't the best illumination, but Sweetie could at least make out what was inside. Along the walls of the room, there were pieces of paper with blue writing on them. Yellow notes were stuck to them as well... though Sweetie couldn't make out what was written on them. She supposed it didn't matter anyway, as she doubted she'd understand a word.

Just outside the center of the room, there was a large rectangular prism covered by a tarp. Sweetie was about to take the piece of cloth off, just as something else caught her attention in the very back corner of the room. A flicker of light. Sweetie went over to where the flicker came from and picked up the object that had drawn her attention. It was a little grey cylinder that opened up at it's end. To Sweetie, it almost looked like some kind of weird glass. The button on the side made it stream a magnificent stream of yellow light... then the word came to her.

It's a flashlight...

There was a little switch at its end. Curiously, Sweetie looked into the glass end of the flashlight and hit the switch. The filly was immediately blinded with light, nearly dropping the device. She hit the switch again and continued to examine it, once the spots in her eyes had left. Sweetie hadn't seen one of these contraptions anywhere else around town. What was it doing here? And even more, why did Sweetie feel so strange holding it...? It wasn't the same dizziness that she'd felt as she stared at Time, but rather it was a different feeling... as though Sweetie had one of these flashlights before. Whatever the case, Sweetie decided to keep it... but where could she carry it? The filly felt she might stand out more than she already did with the torch...

Sweetie spotted a pair of saddlebags in the very same corner.

How convenient... Sweetie thought, as she put the saddlebags on her back. She stuck the flashlight into her saddlebags and continued to explore the room. She felt morally odd about taking the items out of the room... though she shook off the feeling as she adjusted the bags further on her back. She figured she might as well explore the other parts of the room if she was going to start taking things from it...

Sweetie went to the other corner of the room to find a rectangular box with a cylinder on top of it. A piece of glass was at the end...

It's a camera...

There it was again. That subconscious voice... not as pestering as the one she'd heard before, but... it seemed as though it were reminding her, rather than repeating what the device was. In the tone it spoke, it was definitely her voice... yet at the same time, it was distant and faded. As though it were somewhere far away, trying to reach the filly... if it was truely her thought, why did it know the names of these devices? And more importantly, why were they important? Sweetie examined the spring loaded switch in the back. She used it to flip open the back of the camera. Once she did, she found two things. One was about six or seven slides, Sweetie assumed they were important to the use of the camera... and there was an etching in the back of the camera. It simply said the word "GREEN" in faded letters, the two 'e's filled with an ooze of the color.

Green? Sounds like the title for some really mushy story... Sweetie pondered. No, what am I thinking? Must be talking about the color... but why?

Sweetie decided to stick the camera in the saddlebags she'd acquired. She gave the room another quick look around, on the walls. The wall was littered with pictures of Time and other fancy ponies in front of places... only one Sweetie could make out was a mansion and a factory. There was one picture in particular that Sweetie noticed that stuck out from the others... it was a picture from the inside of Covri's library. It was of a shelf... and it had a circle around one area in particular. It was drawing attention to a book. Drawn with a green marker a similar shade to the filly's own eyes.

Something in Covri's library...? I wonder what? Sweetie questioned herself as she ripped the photo off the wall and stuffed it into her saddlebags. There wa one other thing in the corner. A rubber ball with the letters "CMC" written in black marker. Sweetie didn't exactly remember weither or not she had ever owned the plaything, though somehow, she felt it held some kind of sentimental value. Something worth holding on to... with that she stuffed it into her bag as well. Sweetie gave the room one quick look around. She didn't find anything else of interest to her and moved on to the mysterious looking tarp at the center of the room.

Ok... now what's this? Sweetie asked. She attempted to pull the tarp off, but found it to be too much wrapped around the top to pull off without ripping it. She could however slip. She sighed and figured she could at least take a peak by slipping under it. She lifted the white tarp just enough to get under. Once she did, she moved in further, just enough to get her head past the sheet. The tarp was now laying on her neck, just in front of her saddlebags.

Hm... too dark... Sweetie thought, as she squinted at the thing. She put her hoof against the thing the tarp was covering... but couldn't make out what it was from what she felt... or rather, she couldn't remember anyway. Suddenly, just as she did, something strange happened. Whatever Sweetie's hoof was resting against at that moment... it vanished! Either that, or Sweetie's hoof phased through it. And result, Sweetie fell further under the tarp as it fell on top of her. W-what the-

Suddenly, Sweetie heard something, that slipped a shiver down her spine. It was a laugh... an amused laugh at that. The part that scared the filly was that, much like the voice that had notified her of the items, it was in her head, completely out of her control.

Are you trying to leave so soon? the voice said.
"W-what?" Sweetie said.

The voice laughed again. Behind you...

Sweetie turned around and popped her head from under the tarp to see the exit to the room. Standing in it was Time... no... no, this wasn't Time. This was another pony... wasn't it? He had the same brown coat and brown mane... but he was different. His Cutie Mark... it was of an hourglass now... was it that before? The filly couldn't remember. All Sweetie knew was that it had an unnatural yellow glow to it. But it wasn't just his Cutie Mark that warned her, but it was his yellow, crazed looking eyes. Though he couldn't see it from under the tarp, all four of Sweetie's legs were shaking uncontrollably. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that she'd been caught, or the way that Time was looking at her that made her shake so... or perhaps it was the strange chill that had taken over the room...

"M-mr. Time- I-"

Time? That’s what he called himself? Ha!... I knew you wouldn't remember...

"Mr. Time? Is that you? How are you doing that? What's wrong with your-"

Time raised a hoof to cut the filly off. He then shook his head. I suppose it was expected for me to lose sight of you if I didn't continuously watch you. Especially with your Cutie Marks... it was only expected you'd subconsciously try and come up with ways to escape. Pockets where you could drop out and start to remember...
"H-huh?" Sweetie asked. "Mr. Time, I don't know what you're talking about... s-sorry for breaking into your house, I was just-"

Time laughed. It's amazing though. Amazing you managed to make a place to drop out in some place... a zone that isn't even supposed to exist in this time... let alone this memory. How you subconsciously knew it existed baffles even me... but you didn't, did you?

"I... I don't understand." Sweetie shook. "H-how are you talking without moving your mouth? What's going on?" She wanted to get under the tarp, and hide from the increasingly terrifying pony... but something kept her still as a statue. As though moving an inch could mean life and death...

You knew this pony in a lifetime... am I correct? Of course you did, he wouldn't exist here if he didn't. I suppose it's only by chance that you came across this memory by accident... did you come across this memory that way?

I've got to get out of here... Sweetie thought. But... why can't I MOVE?! Sweetie's body wasn't reacting to what her brain told her to do. It was... it was frozen! Sweetie forced her eyes down to look at herself and noticed something horrible about the parts of her coat she could manage to see... they were graying out. Her body was beginning to sting from the spontaneous frostbite that had overcome it. Sweetie wanted to scream... but her vocal chords seemed to be frozen shut.

It's alright Sweetie. Relax... hahaha... those little words won't save you now... it doesn't matter how you made your little safe haven pocket... nor does it matter how you knew this "Time" or whatever however he identified himself in this world...

Sweetie soon realized that she wasn't breathing anymore. It was as though she was in some kind of nightmare... and for some reason, she felt a sense of déjà vu...

All that matters is that now... this pony doesn't exist... and whatever Time had for you... you're out of it...

Sweetie's eyes contracted as she felt a particularly painful bite of frost before she heard herself scream at the top of her lungs as she shut her eyes...

"HEY SHUT IT!" Somepony yelled. Sweetie stopped screaming as she opened her eyes to find herself lying in a cart filled with ice.
"H-huh?" Sweetie said, as her eyes snapped open. She was cold all over... but she was sure that was because of the fact she was lying in a pool of ice and cucumbers. She lifted her head and lower body off of the ice so she could sit up. She was in Lower Stabletown square... lying in somepony's chilled cucumber cart as a few others stared at her. "W...what the-"

"GET THE HAY OFF OF MY CUCUMBERS!" the pony behind her yelled. It was a masculine sounding mare, with a voice so booming it was enough to make Sweetie jump out of the cart of ice, and onto the sun warmed ground.

Sweetie moaned, unsure of whether it was because of the rapid transition of temperature, the impact from hitting the ground, or the splitting headache she had developed upon her awakening... she had just woken up, right?

The filly looked up to find the annoyed mare who'd only seconds ago yelled at her, glaring down at her. They locked eyes for a moment. Sweetie could have sworn they were some kind of warning for something... she also swore for a second that they'd flashed yellow... Sweetie figured it must have been the light, combined with the mare's yellow coat and orange curly mane. The mare then put up her nose, and walked off, leaving the filly in the square.

What... what just happened? Sweetie thought. How the hay did I end up in there? Was... was I doing something? Wasn't I supposed to be going somewhere?

Sweetie's eyes went over to the flower shop just across the square from her. Her eyes seemed drawn to it, because it was the only one that was boarded up and closed. A sign on the front door stated the words "condemned".

Well, that's certainly not it. Sweetie thought. ...oh wait! I was supposed to be heading back to the library to meet Squee. Sweetie looked up at the sun. She noted how it was so much lower in the sky now. Wow... how long was I out? I'm wasting time! Squee and Covri are probably waiting for me back at the library right now. Better not keep them waiting... especially Squee... Sweetie wasn't sure what had made her think of Squee in particular... or maybe she did. She giggled at the thought of the colt, wondering if she was starting to understand the feelings of her new found friend. Briefly, the filly found it a little odd though... she hadn't had any feelings like that prior to her awakening in the chilled cucumber cart. Why now did the thought of the colt fill her with such feelings? And even more, why did she get a sense of foreboding toward them?

As Sweetie began to make her way out of the square, the little bit of paranoia left her, as well as her questions as to how she ended up in the icey cold cart to begin with. All she knew was that after who knew how long, she was finally going to make her way back to the library.

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