After finishing her breakfast / lunch, Twilight came downstairs into the library proper. The shelves were neatly lined with row after row of books of all shapes and sizes. It was one of the rare times when Twilight’s studies did not interfere with Spike’s seemingly endless task of keeping Ponyville’s public library neat and orderly. Only a smattering of books lat strewn across the desks and tables that dominated the library floor. Much to Twilight’s surprise, Pinkie Pie was leaning over one of these books; a frosted glass of milk perched beside her.

“Twilight, what’s an elf?” The mare asked. Twilight trotted over to her and looked down at the book she was reading.

“Elf, Pinkie Pie, where did you hear that word?” Spike asked.

“From this book.” Twilight announced, nudging a paperback tome toward the dragon.

“Hmm. The Lord of the Rings? I’ve never heard of this book?”

“Neither have I, ” Pinkie announced. “After I got my milk, I was looking around because I knew Twilight wanted to talk to in private, so I looked at this book here on the table. I don’t normally read as much as Twilight, but I could tell it was different, so I opened it up and I was all like ‘HUUHHH’. Because there’s so much stuff in here I don’t know about.”

“That’s because it’s fiction Pinkie Pie, ” Twilight told her. “This book is a part of the human mythology.”

“The what?” Pinkie Pie and Spike asked together.

“Human are mysterious creatures that often appear in books that nopony seems to write. The Canterlot Library has a collection of all the books on humans that have appeared throughout the centuries.”

“Wait, ” Spike asked. “You mean these books just, appear?”

“Spooky.” Pinkie Pie whispered, wiggling here forelegs in a supposedly scary manner.

“That’s right Spike. For some strange reason, books about humans just seem to appear. The strangest part is that these books don’t seem to be connected in any way.” She levitated the paperback tome into the air in front of her. “For example, this book, The Lord of the Rings, talks about a Middle Earth, and a dark lord named Sauron. But I’ve read a few other books about humans, one of them was even a play. And none of them even approach any of the topics mentioned in this book.”

“That’s amazing.” Spike announced. Even Pinkie Pie seemed stunned for a moment.

“Wait a second, ” she finally said. “How come you believe in these humans, but not in my pinkie sense?”

“First off Pinkie Pie, ” Twilight retorted, levitating the book back onto the table. “I don’t ‘believe’ in humans. I find these books fascinating pieces of literature and nothing more. Second, they’re only books.”

Twilight turned her head and motioned to the books surrounding them in the library. “They hold knowledge and wisdom beyond comprehension. They tell stories of grand adventures and aspiring romances. But that’s all they do. Anypony can write something down on paper. Within the realm of a story, anything is possible. What you were doing was in the real world, which warranted closer investigation than the tales between the pages of a book.”

“Umm, what did half of those words mean again Twi?” Spike asked.

“Oh, well that makes sense.” Pinkie announced.

“Thank you for seeing it my way.” Twilight sighed, glad things were straight with her friend.

I woke up, feeling terrible. I was lying on a comfortable bed in a slightly too large yet equally comfortable robe, my left leg was in a cast and the rest of me was randomly covered in bruises. I slowly and delicately took stock of myself. My left leg was broken, but that, along with the bruising, appeared to be the extent of my injuries, which surprised me; I thought I'd be worse off. After checking myself out, I promptly fell asleep.

When I woke again, there was a tray beside my bed. On it was a plate of fruit, a bowl of lettuce, another bowl of what turned out to be flowers and grass and a mug of orange juice with a straw. I left the flowers and grass alone and ate the rest. As I laid back, the mug fell off the tray and shattered on the floor. There was a trotting sound, the door opened and a small horse stepped into the room.

It was pure white, and most of it was covered in golden armor. It had a dark-blue tail and there was a crest of the same color emerging from the top of its helmet. It gave me a stern but not unkind look, turned its head toward the door and gave a deep whistling whinny. There was a reply from outside and a slightly faster trotting that faded away. I then noticed the small horse (pony, I thought to myself) had wings. I giggled to myself and fell back onto the pillow.

I couldn’t have been out for more than a minute; the Pegasus was standing over my bed, now with a slightly concerned look on its face. A second pegasus, which looked almost exactly like the first had pushed in what appeared to be a wheelchair. The guard (and they clearly seemed to be this) whinnied at me.

When I made it clear I couldn't understand, it pointed its muzzle towards the chair. Both guards put their necks under my armpits and, as gently as possible, guided me to the chair. I sat down gingerly and braced my legs. The two pegasuses (pegasi?) got behind the chair and pushed it out of the room.

Since I had no idea where I was going, and couldn't do anything about it even if I wanted to, I just sat back and made myself as comfortable as possible. Two slate grey ponies, these ones unicorns, walked either side of the wheelchair, staring forwards and seemingly paying no attention to me. Frankly, I was beginning to feel a bit nervous.

The guards pushed the chair further down the hall of what clearly appeared to be a castle. I was getting curious glances from others in the castle we came across, even a few guards. I was wheeled towards a gilded doorway, and I entered what had to be a throne room. It was huge, done in marble with gold trim and had banners and stained glass windows. Sitting on a high golden throne guarded by two of the grey unicorns, was her.

There was no chance of mistaking it; she was clearly female and royalty at that. She was the tallest in the room, with an almost deer-like appearance. Unlike the others, she had both a horn and wings, both of which were much larger than the guards’. She wore gilded slippers on her hooves, a golden choker and golden tiara on her head, both of which had an amethyst in the center. Her eyes matched the color of the jewels. I noticed a large sun-shaped mark on her thigh and both her rainbow-colored mane and tail were incredibly long and flowed like water.

The guards who escorted me in dropped on to their front legs in what appeared to be a bow. I followed to the best of my ability, carefully bowing my head to my chest. After a moment the guards stood back up and I raised my head. She nickered at me in what appeared to be a greeting. One of the pegasus guards broke away and climbed halfway up the red-carpeted ramp that led to her throne. She leaned forward and the guard whispered into her ear before backing down the ramp and taking his position.

She considered this for a moment, and then stood and gently trotted down the ramp to me. The two unicorn guards turned and pointed their horns at me. I got the message and didn't move an inch. She stood in front of me and her horn glowed. She carefully touched it to my forehead and I felt my head go warm. When she next spoke, I understood.

“Can you understand me now, my friend? Good. I haven’t had need of that spell in some time.” She turned to the unicorns: ”Stand down, please, gentleponies.” The two unicorn guards bowed and stepped back a respectful distance, joined by the two pegasus guards. “Greetings. My name is Princess Celestia, and I welcome you to Canterlot, royal capital of Equestria.”

“Now then”, she asked as she trotted back to her throne and settled back down, “Please tell me about yourself, for it is clear you are a visitor here…”

Ritardando then spotted something on the kitchen counter – several glass bottles, one with a straw inserted. He looked at them quizzically. “What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s my plan for the Autumn Apple Fair this year, ” Gold Standard said, seeming a little pleased with herself.

“The aw-dumb what?” Ritardando asked.

“The Autumn Apple Fair. Every fall there’s a big fair near the town celebrating the apple harvests. A lot of money is exchanged, and I mean a lot.” She said. “I’ve been trying to find a way to get in on the business for years, and I think I might’ve found something. I’ve been working on apple cider. Care to try some?”

“I’m underage…” Ritardando said. He then saw an expression on her face that he was more accustomed to seeing on Raincloud’s. “Or maybe not.” He said, taking a sip.

“I think I might be onto something here, ” Gold Standard said, half to herself. “If I can just… just…” The confidence fell from her face. “Ugh, it’s not going to work. There’s bound to be tons of ponies selling cider, and my wares aren’t going to make a dent in anyone else’s sales. I don’t know how I can possibly compete with the Delicious brothers.”

“The what?” Ritardando asked nervously, frightened at the prospect of cannibalism.

“Red Delicious and Gold Delicious, ” Goldie said, pacing. “They’re from the Apple family, the owners of the biggest orchards. Every year, they come in with their big fancy apple-wagons and their big fancy apple pies and my shop is left completely vacant for the entire fair. Even when I try to set up a booth in the actual fair, I never get back the money it costs to set up the booth in the first place.” She was growing more and more frustrated. “Apple cider, ” she muttered, disbelieving. “As if that’d be the winning strategy. I barely know how to make it-”

“I thought it tasted good…”

Gold Standard spun around angrily, “well of course you would-” she broke off, seeing the colt’s startled reaction. “I’m sorry, ” she said, trying to calm down. “It’s just I’ve been trying to do it for years, and it just frustrates me. I just can’t get it to work.”

“It was like that with me, once, ” Ritardando said, “with the guitar. Then I realized it didn’t have strings.”

Gold Standard, like many ponies, had absolutely no response to that, just staring as he ate his cereal.