Escaping from Celestia

Finally around noon they arrived at the old castle. Both were hungry and thirsty so they ran straight towards the lake and the fruit trees that grew around it. As they began to eat Twilight was amazed by how delicious the fruit was and how much cleaner the water was than that of both Ponyville and Canterlot. She said, "Wow princess, these fruits taste better than anything I have ever ate and this water tastes so clean!"

Celestia replied, "Despite nopony having lived here for nearly a thousand years, there is still a powerful magic that keeps the fruit and water in pristine condition."

After spending thirty minutes eating and drinking they headed into the old castle. As they were walking through the main library, which had been badly damaged Twilight was looking at all the old books and asked, "Your Majesty, how badly damaged were the books when you and Nightmare Moon had your fight?"

Celestia was looking at the shelves of books and replied, "They managed to escape any damage and surprisingly, it looks like they have avoided any damage from the weather as well."

Twilight asked, "Do you think it is the magic that still surrounds this place that has protected them?"

Celestia smiled at her student and replied, "I do think that is the reason. Come my student, I want to get to my old bedroom and library."

They walked down an old hallway and finally got to an area where the roof had not been damaged. When they reached the end of the hall there was a door on the left and a door on the right. Celestia pressed her hoof on a horseshoe shaped lock on the door to the left and the door creaked open. After entering her old room the door slammed shut behind them, making it to where only Celestia could open it.

For the first time in almost a thousand years, Celestia entered her old bedroom. Twilight said, "I take it this was your old bedroom and the one on the right was Luna's old bedroom."

Celestia replied, "Yes, the other door would have led to her bedroom but I could never have gotten in there because these locks were designed to where she was the only one who could activate it just as she could never have opened the lock to my room."

Celestia used her magic to light all the torches in her old sleeping chambers. On the other side of the room from her bed was another door with the same type of lock on it. Celestia pressed her hoof on the lock and the door swung open. The two headed down a stairwell into what appeared to be a pitch black abyss to Twilight. Celestia used her magic to light all the torches in the room, revealing a room with many, many books.

Twilight saw this and said, "Wow princess, you have so many books in here!"

Celestia replied, "Yes, I do. These are very rare books and many of them contain information on the rarest magic not just in Equestria, but the entire planet."

Twilight asked, "Did Luna have a private library like this too?"

Celestia replied, "She did, except it was even larger than mine. She had some books in there that bothered me."

Twilight asked, "What kind of books did she have?"

Celestia replied, "Well she had the same type of magic books I do, she had books regarding war tactics, she had the entire Equestrian Law library in there, she had books about fantasy worlds and she had quite a few books which contained dark magic, which is what I think gave her the information on how to transform into Nightmare Moon."

Twilight asked, "Do you have any books on dark magic?"

Celestia replied, "Goodness no Twilight! I do have types of books that she didn't have though."

Twilight asked, "What kind were they?"

Celestia replied, "You will find out. Follow me."

Twilight followed Celestia over to a secluded corner of the library. Above the shelves of books were hearts painted on the wall. Twilight wondered what those were for but decided to wait to ask.

Celestia levitated a book called Sweet Afternoons down and sat at the table to read it. Twilight asked, "Sweet Afternoons? Is this a book about love spells?"

Celestia put her wing around Twilight, pulled her close and replied, "Yeah, you could say it is."

They began to read the book. Twilight was not impressed with the contents of the book as it did not mention any kinds of spells. It was a book about a couple whose families did not approve of them being together but would sneak off together, primarily in the afternoons to spend time together.

As they continued to read the book, Celestia began to stroke her wing through Twilight's mane. The more steamy chapters of the book made Celestia want Twilight more and more while it was boring and uninteresting to Twilight. After finishing it, Celestia asked, "Twilight, what did you think of this book?"

Twilight growled, "Princess, I thought we were going to study books on advanced magic, not read sappy romance novels." She paused and asked, "When are we going to start reading REAL books, books on more advanced magic."

Celestia figured that she would get this kind of response from Twilight at first. She replied, "We will soon enough Twilight."

Both of their stomachs were growling so they headed back out to the lake and fruit trees. Twilight was really wishing she could just run back home as she was feeling very uncomfortable around Celestia at this point yet she knew that doing so would be a huge mistake. Celestia realized that it would take time to get Twilight more interested in the books given her no nonsense personality. After eating supper they headed back down to Celestia's library and continued to read before heading to bed.