Do I Know You? (Closed)

Vassago sat on a bench in the Whitetail Woods in Ponyville, and he was very confused.

He stared at his parchment colored hooves with a perplexed expression. "Why In the world..." He muttered. He touched his eyes just to make sure. Salt water was coming out. Of his eyes. This has never happened before. Why was he... doing that?

His face turned red and his nose started to stuff up with mucus. The science behind it was simple. It was a survival instinct, the body preparing for danger, but he wasn't in any danger, so why?

Was it because of... that thing? In the Tangent? It was that Hooves girl. Must be. But why?

The droplets fell from his face onto his hooves, and from his hooves onto the ground. He still didn't know why.

It was winter break for the students of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and Nikki Hooves, like any young filly of thirteen, was singing in the woods of her home. It was a beautiful song, a song that not many of her friends or family truly understood, but, nevertheless, a song that meant a lot to the strange unicorn.

It was about the leaders of Equestria, a mournful lullaby from the elder to the younger, and though she didn't truly understand the meaning of the words, she appreciated the music anyways.

"Carry the peace and the coolness of night, and carry my sorrow in kind..."

But then, her sensitive ears picked up a sound that did not fit with what she expected to hear. Yes, there was the rustle of broad leaves in the gentle breezes that floated through Ponyville, and yes, there was also the sound of the dead foliage under her hooves, and yes, there was the sound of her oddly melodic singing, but there was also something else, something out of place.

And then she realized what it was. Somepony, somewhere in the forest, was crying.

Curiously, she followed the sound, blowing the strands of magenta and purple mane out of her eyes when the wind disturbed her waves. Without really noticing, her hoofsteps stopped making noise, and she silently moved towards the pony, who, when he came into view, she realized could really only be a few years older than herself.

"Are you alright?" she asked, curiously staring at the colt.

"are you alright?" A voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the exact same time came from next to him, causing him to jolt up a little.

He looked up at Nikki. She looked a little different... or did she? It was very annoying having two varying views of the same pony. It was equally annoying to have to compare them constantly.

He took a deep breath, attempting to steady his voice so it didn't quaver "I don't know." He stated very flatly. A bubble of snot formed on his nose, causing the colt to let out a sigh and wipe the mucus away with his front leg, leaving a streak of grossness.

"Crying is the most useless action the equine body can do." Vas said with disgust as he looked around for something to clean his sullied leg with. he sniffed up some more snot and blinked through stinging tears.

She watched the colt for a little while before nodding.

"Agreed. It's supposed to wash bacteria and the like out of your eyes and muzzle, but it's really just a sign of weakness that, sometimes, can be good to have. Other times... it's rather embarrassing, don't you think?"

She sat down next to him while barely making a sound, and, quietly, she dropped a hoofkerchief that clearly wasn't there before into his lap. The unicorn wasn't really sure how she felt about her current companion, but everypony deserved a chance, and here was one, right in front of her.

Vassago took another deep breathe and gave the square peice of cloth a sideways glance. His sniff turned into a snort as his nose started to plug up. Without any other option, Vassago grudgingly took the kerchief from the filly and blew his nose, mumbling an apology.

granted it took some effort, and it looked like he was regurgitating a bad hunk of hay, the apology came out.

"Thanks, Nikki Hooves..." He said into the rag.

Nikki stared at the colt again, but this time, the ever-present smile was gone from her face.

"I've never met you before," she started, her eyes narrowing. "How did you know my name? I have to say, that's rather creepy. I'd even go so far to say it was... stalking."

The soiled kerchief disappeared from the colt's grasp, popping out of existence (it was really just teleported to the washing machine back home). She scooted towards the other end of the bench, warily observing him with careful eyes that glowed with an electric quality. Then again... she couldn't really stay upset at somepony who was crying. It was her weakness.

"What happened?" she asked, still on guard.

"What?" Vassago didnt realize his mistake until the rag disappeared from his hooves.

Vassago floundered for a moment squirming uncomfortably under the filly's glare. "Didnt you introduce yourself?" He askedblankly.

Vassago sniffed again and blinked harder, trying to clear his eyes. "Okay, so I know your name by some mysterious circumstance. So what? Obviously my need for emotional assistance overrules any silly little details."

He sat, looking like what a wolf thinks a puppy face would look like.

"I mean... Look its been a long day." He admitted. "My body has been doing some funny stuff. And it's certainly not Pew-Burr-Tea." He starred off towards the housing district. "Ozy said i wouldn't have to worry about it for a while." He got a little quieter, drawing into himself. "My Master just laughed."

Nikki, bright as she was, didn't understand at all what the colt was talking about. Her frown deepened at, "Okay, so I know your name by some mysterious circumstance. So what? Obviously my need for emotional assistance overrules any silly little details."

"A little cryptic, now aren't we?" she asked rhetorically, glaring at him. "At least tell me who you are. You know me, and I think it's only fair if I know you. If not, well, I'll be on my way then, and I don't expect to see you again. Am I clear?"

It was rather assertive for Nikki. She rarely got angry, but this young stallion and his words irked her. It was, overall, not an enjoyable feeling to be so ignorant to the meaning of his allusions to things she did not know.

Vassago jutted out his chin and pouted. "Would you really abandon a colt in need just for a name? personally, im Insulted." He let out a giggle that could have easily also been a sob. Vassago frowned as he tried to blow his nose again. His eyes hurt and it was hard to breathe and he just wouldnt stop crying. Vas clutched his hoof to the edge of the bench. And everypony either hated him or was scared of him and he always messed things up and now he just... couldn't...

"$t0p €RY1NG" He screamed in blind frustration as his horn flared with magic. The wood of the bench splintered and shattered under his hoof, cutting his hoof a little bit. His side of the bench being pretty much nothing but scrap wood, Vas was forced to scoot to the middle, closer to Nikki. He stared at the dirt road. "Sorry." He mumbled. "I'm Vas. I'm not good at controlling my actions. You can leave if you want."

Nikki wanted to point out that the colt was older than her, and therefore it was really just a safety precaution to leave if she wanted to do so. Then again, she thought it would be unwise to duel somepony who could probably blow up half the forest in one blow. She didn't know how she would explain that to anypony.

With a burst of magic, suddenly there was blood and wood splinters everywhere. She got to her hooves and stared at the wreckage with neither fear nor apprehension. She just stared at it.

"Clearly," she said quietly. "Might be something to work on, hmm? I was the same, you know."

And then she was walking on the back of the bench, tilted sideways as if gravity was pointing left and not down. After a second, she was back on her hooves, but this time, she was sitting in a tree, gazing down at Vas.

"Can you teleport?" she asked. "You can come up if you promise not to break the tree. I rather like this one."

"Clearly," she said quietly. "Might be something to work on, hmm? I was the same, you know."

"Oh, sure Hooves. I'll just pick up the book on 'Stoping  Psychomagical Tendencies: For Dummies'."

"Besides, can't afford to be the same." Vassago snarled. Again with the cryptic. To his defense, explaining his situation would probably take time. And could potentially put him in danger... Vassago never really thought of the legal ramifications of Black Magic, but he didn't intend on finding out now. He glanced back as the Hooves girl started to walk on the side of the bench.

Vassago studied her, curious and amazed. He had heard of a Gravity spells, but had never seen one In practice.

The science was fascinating. Gravity is the force that attracts a smaller mass to a larger mass. With magic you can "trick" gravity, making it ignore earth's gravitational force and ground it in a specific object, be it the top of a building, or a bench. As long as you have a point of reference, you could anchor yourself to virtually any point in space.

Or at least thats how he saw it. Almost Every unicorn understood their magic differently, the most common similarity being the effect

Vassago's attention being taken up, he stopped his crying for a moment.

"Can you teleport?" she asked. "You can come up if you promise not to break the tree. I rather like this one."

"Its hard. I've only done it voluntarily a few times" He studied the tree and his position in relation to the tree.
"I usually get nausea and migraines after a teleport." He stretched a bit and sat down on the ground.

He pictured the branch with The Hooves filly on it. He pictured himself, next to Hooves, on the branch in front of himself. On the count of three, He will be on the branch in front of him with Hooves.

One
Two
Three

Vas was exactly one foot above the branch.

The colt's eyes widened slightly as he bounced off the branch and started to fall. His horn flashed, and he grabbed the tree, slowing his descent. slowly, he stood up and walked (as one would walk on the street) up the tree, to be level with Hooves. Vas sat down perpendicular to Hooves, the world looked strange and alien sideways, with trees growing out of a infinite wall that was the ground.

His breath was labored as he spoke. "I should probably work on accuracy... its... hard to get the particulars right..." He sniffed, but instead of mucus coming out of his nose, a little trickle of blood came out.

"Oh... for the love of..." Vas grumbled as he tilted his head back and pinched the bridge of his snout. "Sorry."

Nikki moved to catch Vas, her horn glowing with purple light, but stopped as he caught his footing on the tree and started walking up it. To the furthest of her knowledge (and really, that of her teachers), she had been the only unicorn able to manipulate gravity and physics (to an extent, of course... She was still only twelve), hence the purple triskelion in the center of the atom diagram on her flank. 

"Are you trying to impress me, Vas?" she asked sarcastically, though her expression softened as she saw the sorry state of his own mixed emotions. Scrunching up her face, she concentrated on the blood seeping from his muzzle and, ever so slowly, the blood ceased to flow from his muzzle. 

"Oh for Faust's sake," she muttered, yanking him up next to her as his gravity started to revert to normal. "Calm down. You're going to faint if you keep exhausting your magic like this."

"Are you trying to impress me, Vas?"

"Oh Vas, I'm so glad you're safe Vas, really glad you didn't die Vas." He whispered under his breath. He didn't MEAN to steal her thunder. Monkey See, Monkey Do! Vassago certainly saw a great deal. One would even say it was his special talent (albeit a borrowed talent), but nopony could tell from the strange occult marking that adorned his flank.

His nose stopped bleeding as his current company did her magic. Vassago muttered something else that could have been 'thank you' but was too quiet to make out. His ears perked up as he looked what would be up to him at Hooves. "How did you do that? How did you stop the bleeding?"

His line of questioning as he began to slip down the tree, gravity starting to take its course. "damndamndamndamndamn-"

"Oh for Faust's sake. Calm down. You're going to faint if you keep exhausting your magic like this."

"Ha! As if it would be the first time THAT ever happened!" Vassago laughed manically for a second, got light headed, started to sway back and forth dangerously, and finally decided that he should cling to the tree for support.

"But... whoo give me a second..." He blinked a couple of times and shook his head, trying to clear his dizzyness. "Much better. Sort of. Anyway... How do you... you know. Do that? I could never figure it out." He pointed to his nose, still slightly bloody, but no new blood flowed from it.

Nikki shrugged in response as her horn glowed and she moved the older colt onto the branch beside her, panting a little with the effort of all of her spells. The gravity thing and any other form of teleportation took almost no energy, but everything else was exhausting, as it should be.

"It was in a med class I took when I was a first year. I haven't gotten beyond cuts and scrapes yet, but the final this year is supposed to be mending a broken radius." She shivered in apprehension. "I'm surprised you wouldn't know, what with all of the magic you've demonstrated."

She reached down with her head towards her left foreleg. Moving away, one could see the bloody mark she had left on her pelt as the goldish-red liquid seeped out of her skin.

"You focus really hard on what the wound should look like if it wasn't there," she said first, her face scrunching up again. "Then envision your skin knitting together, as if someone were sewing it. In the case of your nose, I just saw a giant tissue in your nostril before closing it up. It takes a lot of energy."

Vassago alighted on the branch and steadied himself, still a little lightheaded.

"Oooooo... Methodist. Like the acting technique." Vassago mentally cataloged what Nikki had said. Maybe he could find somepony to cut up a bit (not too much, just a bit), just so he could test it effectively on live subjects... But that's something for another time.

A inquisitive look crossed his face.

"Wait, you go to School?" Vassago asked incredulously.

Nikki's expression seemed comically incredulous as she teetered on the branch, utterly nonplussed by his question.

"Well, of course I do," she said, confused. "Everypony under the age of sixteen has to. It's Royal Law. Don't you have a tutor? Something? I go to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot. It's a highly-selective boarding school for... well... unicorns from ages ten to eighteen. My mother went when she was a filly, after Grandma and Grandpa died in an avalanche. What about you? Where did you learn all that magic, if not at school?"

She stroked the newly healed cut on her foreleg and gazed up at the sky. It was approaching noon, and she had promised that she would come home for lunch... but she supposed she could wait a bit before. After all, her mom wouldn't really mind, as long as she came home at dusk. She could use the excuse of hanging out at Sandy's house.

Vas stared at Nikki for a good five seconds before responding.

"PFFFFFFFF. Do I- Do I go to school? HA! OF COURSE I DO. Because... Because it would be illegal not to! Royal decree and... pfff... and all that. I go to... the university of... Rainbow... Sparkle..." Vas sucked in air between his teeth and shook his head,shrugging.

"Okay. I don't go to school. I'm... Its hard to explain. I don't have time for school anyways."

Nikki couldn't help it. She laughed at "Rainbow Sparkle," little giggles shaking her body as she tried to stop. It was just too funny. Never mind that Vas didn't go to school... he had magic and a good sense of humor.

Finally getting herself under control, she sighed and looked to him for an explanation, urging him to reply with piercing blue eyes and a small smile.

"Oh, I have all day, and then some," she said. "I think long explanations will be just fine. I think it better be important, your little excuse. I can think of nothing, really, more important than a good education... other than the essential, basic survival tools. It can get you anywhere, and I absolutely love it, school. So many things to study, so little time to learn it all! Come on, you can't tell me that it doesn't sound appealing to you. Then again, they say I'm a little loony, so who knows? I could be spouting nonsense that really only makes sense to me."

Vassago groaned and leaned back, balancing on his plot. "Although I do not deny School as a resource. Particularly one so close to the Canterlot Libraries, there is no way to get around the one issue with any institutionalized education." He got up and reached for a higher branch, trying to get higher in the tree.

"Your being indoctrinated." He said simply. "And I'm not trying to sound like a crazy tinfoil-keeps-Discord-from-scanning-my-brain-pan ranting maniac. At school you are told how and what to think." Vassago shrugged. "Nothing seriously wrong with that. Equestria is a nicer place because of it." His eyes narrowed slightly, as he grabbed the higher branch. "But I don't want to know how Celestia wants me to think. I can learn so much on my own, without any grades or homework or teachers or ethics to bother me."

"I don't need school to learn or study! So I don't go. Besides, my business demands my attention at usually school hours. It conflicts too much." Vassago waved a hoof and started to heave himself up to the higher branch.

Nikki shook her head in disbelief, but she didn't say anything regarding Vas's odd thinking. Instead, she had other questions.

"Business? What kind of business?" she asked, tilting her head sideways a little. "Is it something I've heard of before?"

She paused for a moment before fiddling with her mane again, remembering the way it felt after she pulled it out of a braid and removed that large, slightly annoying pink bow. Her scalp tingled with the memory, and she was suddenly glad for the reprieve of her confusing younger years.

"But, you know, you can learn pretty useful things in school that you really can't teach yourself," she said. "You have to have somepony else show you... Like with the healing thing. But, hey, you can confide in me. I won't tell. You seem to be doing well on your own, anyways."

Her eyes want blank for a moment. Sitting in silence, she only interrupted it to make an odd remark.

"I have this weird feeling, like we've met before... But I remember everypony I've ever met starting around age two. It's strange."

"Business? What kind of business?" she asked, tilting her head sideways a little. "Is it something I've heard of before?"

Vassago shook his head. "I wouldn't really expect somepony like you too. You see, most of the magic I know now is... well its difficult. I get the headaches, and the nosebleeds. The one thing I can do easily is Clairvoyance. Its not an exact science, but its easy."

He dangled his hooves from the upper branch absently. "Naturally, I went into Information Brokering. Lots of ponies come for lots of reasons. Some not as legal as others, but hey, Got to pay the bills, you know?"

"But, you know, you can learn pretty useful things in school that you really can't teach yourself," she said. "You have to have somepony else show you... Like with the healing thing. But, hey, you can confide in me. I won't tell. You seem to be doing well on your own, anyways."


Vassago scowled and rolled his eyes.

"I have this weird feeling, like we've met before... But I remember everypony I've ever met starting around age two. It's stra-"

"This is the first time we have met." Vassago quickly cut her off. Thats it. That was why. Wait... how could she...

Vassago leaned back and flipped upside down. Hanging so that his face was level with Nikki (But, Upside down) "Why do you think we've met before? You've said so yourself, Hooves." He poked her head lightly. "We have never met, not in this world." He looked off into upside down space and muttered to himself some more. "Or, not in this world, rather. Hmm..."

Nikki started laughing, but this time, it was because she realized that she was truly insane. A memory of a castle wall and a screaming maid flashed before her eyes...And it was not her own. 

"Forget it," she said lightly, her eyes still blank and unfocused. "I'm sure they're just right. I'm insane. But how come a pony as young as you has to run a business? I mean, I'm nottryingtopryI'msorry."

She blushed and stared at the tree trunk, suddenly lost. She didn't know what was wrong with her... She was just different, right? Different and special, that was what Celestia had said (through a letter) when she had aced all of her finals last year. Not nearly as special as the new princess, but special enough.

Vassago did not like that laugh. He did not like it because it was familiar. Nopony else should have that laugh. What was wrong? His mind raced through all the theories he had compiled concerning his, and apparently now her, situation. If she was... Vassago couldn't even begin to think of the possibilities.

His eyes lingered on her with curiousity and concern. Wait. Concern? What was he, some namby pamby-

"Forget it," she said lightly, her eyes still blank and unfocused. "I'm sure they're just right. I'm insane. But how come a pony as young as you has to run a business? I mean, I'm nottryingtopryI'msorry."

Vassago gladly took the change of subject. "Nopony ever prys." He chuckled at his own lonely, lonely existence. "Its a good way of keeping busy. I get to meet all sorts of interesting characters. Just the other day I helped one of the most wanted criminal in Equestria. He was okay. Sort of stand-offish."

She didn't even react to the part about the criminal. She'd met her fair share of shady ponies, not including the rather frightening Canterlotian protegee guard who had rather gruesomely subdued said shady ponies and locked them up.

"Who do you live with?" she asked curiously. "I mean, unless you live by yourself. That would be even more lonely. I can hardly imagine that. I live in a dorm with a bunch of fru-fruey fillies and their silly color spells, and even without them... I think it'd be too quiet. I'm a loud, outspoken pony. I have to have somepony to talk to... even if I hate them."

She looked sadly at her hooves, making a promise to go find Sandy and Orey before she left Ponyville again.

Vassago pointed to the far part of town. "There's a abandoned Tenement on the far side of town. The place was condemned a while ago but It has pretty solid foundations. Nothing's collapsed yet."  He flipped over, righting himself and sat up on the branch. "And hey! everypony thinks its haunted, so nopony bothers me."

Vas glanced at his strange, occult cutie mark. "It certainly helps my urban legend..." He giggled a little at his own inside joke, but suddenly stopped.

I swear... The more I think about my life the sadder it gets... He inwardly groaned.

A idea struck. He remembered a certain, somepony he met in passing. "Hey... do you go to Manehattan often?