Chapters It was cold…
That was my first thought. It was cold.
The freezing air blew through my fur as a laid on the ground.
My eyelashes followed with the wind, creating a somewhat rhythmic movement, almost like waves moving along through the ocean.
I laid there… hoping to regain some of the strength that I had left, but I couldn’t move a muscle, I felt too weak.
All I could see was white, with a hint of brown (or was it black?) lying under it.
My legs looked like slumped over logs, and my hooves were cracked and rugged, almost as if I marched for years in the Royal Guard.
My forehead was aching. The icy cold weather didn’t help satiate the pain, as it slowly began to spread throughout the rest of my head. It was painful, as if somepony pulled my mane so hard, the scalp began to follow suit.
I attempted to lift my fore-hooves so I could feel for the location of my pain. Maybe I just had a bad headache, or fell on a rock and bruised myself. Yet, neither of these things could have caused this much pain.
As my hooves moved across my head and through my mane, I finally made it to my horn. As soon as my hoof made contact with it, I writhed in pain. I felt a long crack moving from the base to the tip of my horn. When I reached the top, the tip broke off, and I screamed in pain.
At least, I thought I did, but my voice was completely muffled. My vocal were strained and all I could really make out was a cough. As I did this, I saw red joining the different shades of color that were placed before me. I was coughing blood.
That’s when I realized the other pain I began to feel, which was localized in my chest, and on the left side of my back.
The pain in my chest was probably the cause of a broken rib. Sadly, it appeared that it could have punctured a lung, which would explain me coughing up blood.
My back pain, however, I had no explanation for. It was a stinging sensation, which was probably because of the cold.
I finally regained the strength to life my head, though my neck was still very stiff and felt somewhat uncomfortable. Of course, when you lie on the ground for an undetermined amount of time, the pain was unsurprising.
I craned my neck to get a good look at my back, what I saw ran shivers down my spine (and that wasn’t the cold). My left wing was completely burnt, the feathers almost completely gone and the skin charred, giving off a horrible smell. This made me very sick and it didn’t help the already painful headache I felt in my cranium.
I tried to move it, but the bones cut through the remaining flesh and muscle I had left on my wing, and I that was when I finally heard myself scream in pain. Though my voice was raspy, I could still hear my screaming, louder than a wolf howling at the moon.
I collapsed once again, the pain making my strength dissipate.
After waiting for a few minutes, I tried to move the entirety of my body once again, this time avoiding the sight of my mangled wing.
I was slowly able to rise onto my hooves, but the intense headache I experienced blurred my vision as I rose, making it very difficult to see.
I stood motionless for a couple of seconds, until the blurriness subsided from my eyes.
I began to look around, hoping to get a lay of the land, but all I saw was snow; lots, and lots of snow. This, of course, probably explained the extremely cold temperatures.
I knew only one place could match this description, the Frozen North.
I then began to wonder how I came to arrive here, and, more importantly, why my horn and wing were virtually destroyed.
I used every ounce of strength I had to walk, but my hind-legs didn’t contribute to my movement. In fact, I couldn’t move them at all. They must have frozen over.
I decided to drag them along with me, like how a dog moves with two broken legs.
After moving along like this for about fifteen minutes I saw a light over the horizon, which soon began to get brighter and brighter, until I saw grass appearing at my hooves. At this moment, I began to feel elated.
Over the hill ahead, I saw the shining dome of the Crystal Empire, and the gleaming civilization that prospered beneath it.
I hobbled slowly towards the warmth of the Empire, my strength finally growing with every inch I took towards the warming glow.
When I arrived to the arch that lead to the castle, I finally regained control of my frozen hind-hooves, and then realized that one of the m was broken. Great, another injury to add to my long list of them.
Two guards galloped towards me. One of the guards was gleaming like a shining diamond, and the other was a guard with orange fur and a blue mane. “We need a medic over here now!” The crystal guard yelled. “I’ll go get him,” said the other, and he soared into the sky at break neck speeds, making Rainbow Dash seem slow in comparison.
As I slowly began to succumb to exhaustion, the crystal pony lifted me up on his back and began to run towards the hospital near the base of the castle.
As we made our way into the hospital, doctors and nurses crowded around me, hoping to keep me stable. As I was being pushed through the halls of the hospital, I saw a familiar pony not so far behind me. He began asking for assessment of the damage and gave tips on how to treat me.
The doctors shut doors between me and him, and began to put me under anesthesia.
The last thing I remember was when the doctors asked me what my name was, to which I replied, “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
One Week Earlier...
It was a beautiful summer day in the small town of Ponyville. All the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi enjoyed a wonderful time in the warming glow of Celestia’s sun.
Proceeding through the town square was the bookish alicorn, Princess Twilight Sparkle, her wings stuck to her sides and her horn emitting a faint glow, for she was levitating a book in front of her muzzle.
Through years of practice, and the help of peripheral vision, she moved passed the other trotting ponies with ease, not missing a single step.
In the sky, she could see trails of rainbow following a cyan blur that would have almost gone unnoticed, if not for the vibrant rainbow mane atop the blur’s head.
Rainbow Dash proceeded to train, as she did every morning, in hopes of climbing up the ranks in the Wonderbolts Reserves.
Twilight smirked at how hard she trained. She knew that Rainbow’s speed and dexterity didn't need practice, but she really needed to work on her stubbornness and people skills.
Rainbow Dash slowly lowered to the ground until she began to float between Twilight and the book she had in her magic.
“Hey, Twilight!” Rainbow said in her usual tomboyish voice. “So, what is the new book of the day?”
Twilight proceeded to move Rainbow Dash with her magic out of her field of vision, and, with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice, responded, ” Well Rainbow, before your very unwelcome interruption I was trying to learn more about ancient civilizations and the history of Equestria. In fact, I just learned about a really interesting civilization that went ext-“ Rainbow Dash put a hoof to Twilight’s mouth.
“Listen Twi,” Rainbow Dash said with her hoof still blocking Twilight’s voice,” that all sound’s really interesting, but it also sounds really boring. If you find more interesting stories that aren't meant for eggheads, than please feel free to give me a call.”
Twilight pushed Rainbow's hoof out of her mouth and said,” You call me an egghead yet you faint at the announcement of a new Daring Do book.” Rainbow Dash only blushed from embarrassment and almost immediately shot up into the sky, causing some of the dirt trail they were on to shoot up with her, thus causing Twilight to cough.
Twilight scooped up her book and, to save time, proceeded to put the book in a satchel on her back and flew to the Golden Oak Library, which seemed to sag a little in the summer sun.
Twilight walked through the door into her home, and proceeded to place the satchel down on the ground in front of her desk, the sudden thud awakening her pet owl Owlicious.
“WHO!!!” Owlicious shouted. Twilight cringed slightly at the loud noise and apologized to the bird, who immediately proceeded to drift into a deep sleep.
Twilight ascended the steps to her small bedroom, while being very careful as to not disturb her other sleeping companion. Spike the Dragon was snoring in his little basket at the foot of her bed, while also mumbling recipes for various gem-themed deserts that he learned from Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner.
Twilight laid onto her bed, hoping to at least take a little nap before she took part in one of her late night study sessions.
Not only was Twilight looking forward to her study session, she was also looking forward to the trip her and her friends were taking starting tomorrow.
Every four years, an annual summit is held to discuss peaceful alternatives to global conflicts through long talks and discussions between major world leaders. Since Twilight and her friends were able to reform Discord, Nightmare Moon, and defeat both Chrysalis and Sombra, they were offered to be special guests. Of course, since Twilight was a princess, she would be attending either way.
Twilight was relaxing on her bed until something gently landed onto her stomach. She lifted her head and noticed that it was a leaf. Twilight raised her eyebrows and wondered where it came from, that was when she felt a slight breeze coming from her window.
She went towards the window and noticed something very strange, the glass wasn't there. The window was non-existent, nothing but a hole in the side of the tree.
Twilight was shocked to see that she no longer had a window, and decided to wake Spike and see if he knew how this happened.
She walked over to his basket and tapped Spike on the head, but he continued to snore loudly. Twilight did this over and over again to no avail, and eventually decided to lift him with her magic and shake him.
He eventually woke up and said,” Ugggghhh… I knew I shouldn't have eaten that Omega Ruby Jubilee.” He looked around the room and saw that he was above the ground and floating in the air.
Twilight than said,” Spike, do you have any idea how the window is missing?” Spike looked towards where the window once was and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know Twi, I was awake almost all morning, and while I was taking my noon nap I was never awoken by any noise.”
Twilight than lowered Spike back into his basket and trotted down the stairs into the main library.
She proceeded to look through the shelves of books looking to see if any of them were missing, while shouting out the numbers and letters of missing spaces to make sure that they were rented by other ponies.
Spike was looking through the list of rented books and told Twilight which were rented out,” Well, Friendship is Witchcraft was rented out by Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, and Philomena: Ace Attorney was rented out by Lyra. That leaves four books unaccounted for!”
Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. “Which books were taken?!” Twilight said with a very serious yet sad tone in her voice. Spike looked through the list of books and said,” Know Your Pony: An Almanac of Famous Ponies and Their Deeds, Advanced Alchemy Volumes I & II, and The Magical Atlas of the World .”
Twilight paced back and forth mumbling with a nervous tone, only to stop and take a deep breath, moving her hoof away from her chest, a trick she learned from her sister-in-law Princess Cadance, now Queen Cadence of the Crystal Empire.
Twilight said,” It is alright, luckily these books are very widespread so it should be easy to replace them, I only wish we had the time to figure out who broke into the library.”
At that moment, there was a strong hearty knock at the door. Twilight trotted over to the door and opened the top portion of the door.
In a Trottinghamian accent he said,” Greetings your excellency, my name is Clever Quill.”
The earth pony stood there in the doorway, having a slight grin on his face.
Twilight didn’t know what to do but smile back at him. Her eyes began darting back and forth very slowly, with her smile expanding.
Twilight closed her grin and responded,” No, no, no, you did nothing wrong. It’s just no one really refers to me as royalty with such… extravagance, plus I still haven’t got used to the fact I’m a princess.”
“Well,” Clever Quill responded,” you have been a princess for a few months. I’m surprised you still haven’t gotten used to being declared royalty.”
“Well, when you become a princess from writing a few words into a book you become a little flabbergasted,” Twilight stated,” If you don’t mind me asking, why have you come to my home?”
Clever Quill responded saying,” I have come to help prepare you for your trip to the summit in the Crystal Empire. I’m traveling there myself as an ambassador for the police and science divisions in Trottingham.”
Twilight seemed slightly confused as to his response, saying,” Why is an ambassador helping me prepare for travel, especially when no letter was sent to me by the Trottinghamian government?”
Clever Quill only laughed a little under his breath. He looked up at her said,” Well, that’s because I was never asked to come here by the government. I have been traveling around the world for a few months and figured the best way to get to the summit was to travel with the Elements of Harmony themselves from Ponyville. I do hope that doesn't come off as strange or eerie in any way.”
Twilight only looked him, her eyes squinting, as if she was getting a deep, in-depth look into his very soul.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Clever Quill, breaking the few moments of awkward silence. “Now, do you mind if I come in?”
Twilight responded saying, “A little, yes. I don’t mean to sound rude, but how do I know I can trust you?”
Clever Quill simply chuckled, leaning against the open door. “Your Highness,” he said, “If I was to commit some heinous act or injure you in any way, I would have done that the moment you opened the door. Now, would you mind if I came in?”
Twilight thought to herself for a few seconds. She eventually chose to let him in.
“Alright,” she said, “But if you do anything suspicious, then you will be teleported out of my home in two seconds flat.”
Clever Quill simply smiled and trotted slowly into the library, taking in the large bookshelves and the beautiful smell of an autumn afternoon.
After another ten minutes, Clever Quill looked toward Twilight and asked, “You appear to have some books missing from the shelves. Have you noticed their disappearance?”
Twilight and Spike raised an eyebrow and looked each other with puzzled expressions. “How do you know that?” Twilight asked.
“Well,” Clever Quill responded,” As I was walking along the bookshelves I saw that throughout this whole library there were six empty spaces, thus meaning six missing books. Now, or course, they could have been taken out by other ponies if not for one thing: dust. Two of the spaces have a layer of dust, as well as other book leaning over the gap, meaning that they have been outside of the library for quite some time, about a week or so. The other four spaces, however, are perfectly clean. No smudges, dust, and the corresponding books have not moved a millimeter. This, of course, means that less than a few hours ago the books were taken. I could also deduce that those were not taken out today since I have made an attempt to come back here more than twice today, but have found the door locked on both occasions. Simple as that.”
Twilight and Spike's jaws were on the floor. In the span of two minutes he was able to see four missing space in a library full of books and was able to prove that they were stolen and not taken out. Twilight shook off her surprised expression and proceeded to ask him a question. “If this is the case, how do you suppose they were able to get into my house, let alone sneak around without being heard by Spike?”
Clever Quill simply licked his hoof and held it up. “Can you feel that? A draft, my guess is they came through a window, preferably a big to fit themselves through. Probably the big window I could see from the back of the tree when I entered town above your bed.”
Walking along the floor, Clever Quill climbed the stairs, which creaked with every step he took, until he reached the window in Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight and Spike followed up the steps.
Clever Quill motioned toward the glass-less window. “As you can see, somepony used magic to sublimate the glass, turning it into vapor, which could be evident from the lack of glass shards. Now, only a unicorn could do this, clearly, so now you have your race of pony.” He then proceeded to trot back down the steps into the library. “As you can hear, I make the stairs creek with every step I take, yet you and Spike seem to not make a single noise. This means you are looking for a mare, preferably one who weighs almost exactly like you, Twilight, or maybe slightly less. This would also explain how Spike was unable to hear anyone moving around as well as how the books next to the stolen ones were not disturbed: levitation. Thus the culprit is a unicorn mare of light weight and adept in at least some expert levels of magic.”
Twilight just couldn't believe what she heard. How can a pony see this much detail in such a short amount of time?
Twilight simply said to Clever Quill, “How are you able to do that in a span of less than five minutes?”
Clever Quill laughed under his breath and replied, “I like to study.”
