Picking Up The Pieces

by Fluttercheer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Other
Length: 11826

Twilight's library is destroyed and so are her memories on the time she spent there. But that was something that Twilight couldn't accept. She had to find something that survived, anything. Something that gives her a glimmer of hope in her dark time.

Memories are tied to things and once those mementos are destroyed, the memories begin to fade.
Twilight knows that and so she is devastated and hopeless after the destruction of her library and home.
Returning to the ruins of the library in the night after the destruction happened, she tries to salvage what she can from the ashes.
But will she have success? Will she find something that survived the gigantic explosion and the fire that came after it?
Twilight didn't know the answer on these questions, but she knew she had to find something. She just had to.

I read a lot of "Memories are forever" fanfictions that were written for Twilight's library after she got destroyed so I wanted to make a more realistic approach to the tragedy behind the destruction.

The cover art belongs to Heir-of-Rick on Deviantart. Thanks for letting me use it!

March 22nd 2015, 10:22 PM (CET): Surpassed 100 views and that in not even 24 hours, thanks so much for reading everypony! :scootangel:

Published 2015-03-22 02:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-22 02:00:02 UTC

Chapter 1

It was night in Ponyville. Luna's moon stood high up in the sky, casting it's silver light over the buildings of the little town. Their roofs, still wet from the rain a few hours ago, glistened in the light the lunar body shone on them.

One of those buildings, though, was reflecting it's light back into the night sky, like it was not accepting it's beautiful gift. It was a giant crystal castle, emerged from the ground on the past afternoon, and now towering over the other buildings that surrounded it. The pony inside the castle, however, appreciated the moon's light that was shining through a window near it's bed. At least it seemed so.

Twilight was awake, watching how the light casted it's shine on the crystal floor of her new bedroom. She couldn't sleep. Too much had happened during the past two days. Tirek's escape from Tartarus, Discord's betrayal, the problems she had to get used to possessing the magic of Celestia, Luna and Cadance. And..... The destruction of her former home. Twilight turned to the side, away from the light that was suddenly blinding her and faced the wall.

She had fought against Tirek. After he destroyed her library, the place she loved so much, something had snapped inside of her. She wanted revenge. She wanted to let him feel what she felt over the destruction of her home, of all her books, slow and in a physical way. She wanted to do to him what he almost did to Owlowiscious, if she wouldn't have managed it to save the owl that became her faithful night assistant more than two years ago. She didn't succeed with it, because the monster had taken her friends hostage and threatened their lifes. She had no other choice than to give him all the alicorn magic, she couldn't sacrifice her friends..... But in the end, they defeated him anyway, together, with the new magic the chest gave them. Tirek was imprisoned in Tartarus again and all ponies got their magic back, but Twilight had lost something she couldn't get back anymore.

The purple alicorn squeezed her eyes shut, just to see the destruction of her beloved library happening again behind her closed eyelids. Abruptly, she opened them again, a slight sob escaping her mouth, barely audible and luckily not loud enough to wake Spike, who slept in an own bed, not far away from hers. Twilight choked and turned to the other side. For a moment, she watched Spike in his sleep. It somewhat eased her a little to watch how the small chest of the baby dragon moved up and down in short intervals and to listen to his quiet, little snores. She smiled. It was the first time in Spike's life that he slept in a real bed. The castle came with a complete interior; the thrones she had found with her friends and Celestia after Tirek was defeated were only the beginning. The Tree of Harmony had thought on everything. Almost everything. Twilight bit on her lip. It had not thought on books.

There was a room in this castle that could serve as a new library, full of shelves that were arranged at the walls of the big room. But the shelves were all empty. No beautiful, brown book spines that greeted her and tempted her to read when she looked at them. Seeing those empty book shelves had just reminded her more on it what she had lost.

Twilight could feel how her eyes became wet. She rubbed over them with one hoof, then she sat up in her new bed. It was useless. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. Her thoughts circled around the library and every time she closed her eyes, the same image haunted her. And the unfamiliarity of the castle that she had to accept as her new home now didn't make it easier to find some rest. The mare shook her head. No. She couldn't stay here in bed, trying to find sleep and reminiscing over the events of the past two days that led to the terrible situation she was in now. She had to do something. And there was only one thing she wanted to do now.

The alicorn removed the blanket that was still partially covering her body and got out of bed, carefully, to not wake up her dragon assistant. Taking care of it that her hooves didn't make too much sound on the crystal floor, she left the bedroom and silently closed the door behind her. While walking through the hallway, down the stairs and then through the big entrance hall all the way outside, she did not pay any attention to her surroundings. She was happy that she and Spike had at least a roof over their heads again and was thankful for the Tree's gift, but currently, she was only interested to see one place.

Having reached the big entrance gate of the castle, she carefully nudged the door open and stepped outside into the night. She looked around for a moment and then noticed the gate falling shut behind her. Twilight winced, afraid of it that the sound would wake up the little dragon who was still asleep on the second floor. But then she sighed relieved as she realized that barely any sound happened. Despite being completely made of crystals, the doors of the castle shut themselves in a strange, silent way. But it was nothing that surprised Twilight too much. She had already noticed that the castle was bigger at the inside, when she entered it the first time, and considering that the Tree of Harmony had created this castle, she assumed that everything was possible with it. The Tree was the most powerful source of magic in Equestria, after all. For a moment, she pondered about it which other secrets the castle might hold, but she shook away the thought, instead of following it. There was no time for this now. And she was not in the mood to ponder about this castle that she couldn't accept as her new home yet. She only wanted to get back to the library, her real home, now.

Twilight took a deep breath, then she released her eyes from the castle and went her way through the town. The castle sprouted out of the ground in the outskirts of Ponyville, so she knew it would take her a while to reach the ruins of the library. It was a chill night, the temperature was falling after the spontaneous rain Rainbow Dash's weather team had scheduled for the afternoon to extinguish the fire in the library, in order to prevent the fire from jumping over to other buildings. But Twilight didn't care. She felt cold inside of her anyway, so it didn't make a difference. The purple mare barely noticed the cold air around her and just made one step after another towards her destination, all her thoughts focused on reaching it to see if some of her possessions, hopefully maybe even some books, had survived the explosion and the fire.

Twilight's walk to the library was an unsteady one. Her pace was a fast one first, as she was eager to find something that was still intact, that could ease her in her loss. Then she thought on it that she had to see the desastrous look of her destroyed home for a second time and she was hit by a feeling of dread. Her movements became slower and for a few minutes, her trot became so slow that one could think she wasn't moving at all from the distance. Then her thoughts returned back to saving some of her belongings and her pace quickened again. This interplay between fast and slow, connected to her emotional state and her alternating feelings, continued until the alicorn princess had reached the library she used to reside in. The amount of time she needed to reach it couldn't have been more than twenty-five minutes, but to Twilight, it felt like an eternity.

Now the ruins of the library were in front of her. The moon in the cloudless sky shone it's silver light upon them and gave the place something holy, like the moon princess herself wanted to honor it.
The destructed state she had to see it in again now didn't matter to Twilight. It was still her library. It was still beautiful.

Taking another deep breath like before at the castle, she made her way across the last meters towards the scorched treehouse. There was no door she had to open to enter it this time. Right. The door was busted out of it's hinges, even some hours before Tirek did his unholy deed. It was herself who did it, unable to control the combined alicorn magic of Equestria in her body. A sharp pain jerked through her heart and she hesitated. Feelings of guilt washed over her for a moment as she realized that even she did some damage to her beloved home, like she herself was foreboding the destruction of it. Had this been an omen? A sign for the things that should come? A sign she hasn't noticed? Would she have been able to prevent the destruction of her home if she would have interpreted it the right way? Was it her fault at the end, because she didn't listen to the hint that fate had given her? Twilight didn't believe in bad omen that predicted the future. Even though Pinkie Pie teached her that some things couldn't be explained, back then as she didn't live here for long, she still couldn't believe in such a thing. And yet, she couldn't shake away the thought. In the aftermath of the destruction of her home, it seemed awfully real to her.

She sighed. Now it was too late. No matter if it was an omen or not, she knew she couldn't do anything against it anymore. The princess shook away her paralysis and forced herself to move forward again. She entered the hole that was once a perfectly intact doorway and then was inside of the ruins.

A deep expression of pain and regret in her eyes, she looked around the blackened walls while trotting forward to the middle of what was once the main reading room of the library. The book-loving mare was suddenly distracted from her pain and grief as she felt that she was running into something. She stopped and looked down. It was something sturdy and hard, but she couldn't see what it was, as even the moonlight that shone through the hole in the ceiling, wasn't enough to lighten up the place completely. Twilight activated her horn and casted the light spell and then bent down further to illuminate the object in front of her with her horn.

It was of a round shape, like a big cylinder. Nothing that Twilight ever saw in her library. Was it just a deformed part of the interior or..... Twilight put more magical energy into her spell and lied down in front of the unknown object, following a sudden afflatus. Now, in the brighter light, she could see that the object wasn't perfectly round. There were irregularities on the surface of it, two sharp and pointy shapes protruded out of it at one side, followed by something that could be a long cock's comb and that began between the two, pointy shapes and reached down from there to the other end of the object. Curiously, she moved a hoof over the object. The irregularities felt like somepony had carved out parts of the object. Carved, like somepony wanted to make a sculpture out of a wooden block. Now the mare was sure what it was. It was the ancient pony bust that had always stood in the middle of the reading table that was the center of the room. She looked up. The table wasn't there anymore, obliterated by the explosion, but the pony bust somehow survived the impact without getting destroyed completely. The surface was burnt black, but it was still recognizeable what it was, once you did a closer look.

She lifted up the bust and hold it with both of her hooves and, out of instinct and habit, followed it's carvings with her eyes. It was something she was used to do. Every time when she read at the now gone table and when her eyes began to hurt, she looked away from the book and rested her sight on the carved bust. Simply following the carvings and the thin lines in the wood with her eyes let the pain disappear and made her feel better until she was able to continue her read. It had a relaxing effect on her eyes and her mind and helped her often to read books in accord with her reading schedule in order to prevent her from getting into a delay with it.

A smile appeared on her face. This bust alone contained so many memories on books she had read here. But the smile vanished, as she realized that it wasn't the same anymore now. She could still see the carvings and the basic shape of it. And if she would look at it in the daylight, she would probably see them better. But the fine lines of the wood it was made out of were gone. Burnt away from the surface by the enourmous heat when her home was destroyed. And it didn't have the beautiful, light brown color, that she always adored so much, anymore. It was a different bust now, not the one she used to know and that was her silent partner during so many reading sessions. It had a different look, unable now to spark her memories on the books she had read in front of it. Twilight's eyes became wet and a tear streamed out of one of them and down her face, followed by more as she gave the bust a tight hug. The distressed mare began to sob and her body shivered, while she pressed the pony bust against the side of her face and while tears continued to stream down on it, wetting both her coat and the beloved bust in her hooves. She remained like this for a while, unconscious of her surroundings and only aware of the pain and sorrow she felt right now. Then her sobs became reduced to a few sniffs and she put down the bust and placed it at her side.

Twilight wiped the tears out of her eyes and got slowly up, with her legs feeling wonky and her being afraid for a moment that she would collapse again. But she made it and stood secure on her hooves. The bust couldn't be saved anymore. Nothing could return it to it's former glory. Even the best of the restoration spells she knew couldn't do that, as her skilled look while examining the bust told her. But maybe she could find something else. At least one of her possessions that wasn't ruined completely and that she could restore with her magic. Maybe even one of Spike's possessions. She had to check and she had to do it thoroughly. She couldn't afford to miss one spot, she had to search the whole ruins of her library to be sure that there wasn't something left that she could save! And the light of the moon or the light of her lighting spell were not sufficient to lit up the library enough. She needed something else.

Twilight let the bright, purple light from her horn disappear and switched to another spell. An orange light appeared on the tip of her horn now, forming a small orb and then go adrift. It drifted a few inches above into the air and then stopped. The light it radiated was a very bright one, almost blinding when one looked directly at them. It was brighter than Twilight could ever make her lighting spell and especially much brighter than the moon's light. The spot below the orange orb was aflame. If something would be there, anything, it would be impossible to miss it. Twilight continued to cast the spell and created more of the orange light orbs while walking through the whole ruins. A few minutes later, the library was filled with many of these orbs and everything was bathed into a very bright, orange light. The mare looked around and checked if really every corner of the destroyed library was suffused by the light the orbs radiated and nodded satisfied as she found that confirmed.

As she stood there, checking the orbs to see if they brightened up the place enough, she couldn't help but thinking on fireflies. Awestruck by the beauty, she watched them floating in the air, slightly moving up and down, and remembered the old meaning of fireflies in Equestrian culture, that she read in a book once; that fireflies were the souls of soldiers who had fallen in war. It was an almost forgotten meaning nowadays, but many wars happened back in the old days of Equestria, hundreds of years ago, and the ponies back then found solace in the belief that their loved ones continued to live on as fireflies, after they became victims in a war. The library was no soldier, but in some way, she had become a victim of war, when Tirek, this ancient enemy of Equestria, attacked and destroyed it. And it was trying to protect her books. She was sure of that. And what constituted being a soldier more than protecting others? Yes, the library was a soldier. A soldier that had fallen when trying to protect her books. And even though it seemed that the tree wasn't successful with it, Twilight had to look around if something resisted the fire. If the tree managed it to protect something, she had to find it, otherwise, it's sacrifice would be for nothing. She had to be strong now. She had to do it for her library.

Twilight released her eyes from the floating orbs and turned her attention to the bookshelves. As it was to expect, they were all burnt completely. The former brown had turned into a dark black and some of the shelves had become unstable and broken down. There was no sign of the books that were on them, but at the bottom of the bookshelves, Twilight could see a pile of ashes. The shelves that weren't broken down still had their books on them, all of them arranged in a neat order in the way Twilight had put them there, like nothing happened. But they were all black, like the shelves they stood upon. Just by looking at them from the distance, Twilight could tell that they were completely burnt and not to save anymore. Nonetheless, she walked up to one of the shelves anyway and lifted herself up into the air to reach the higher shelves, the only ones that were still somewhat intact.

Carefully, she stretched out a hoof and touched one of the books in the row. As nothing happened, she lifted it out of the shelf with her levitation magic to take a look at it. The book was shaking slightly, as she didn't dare to make the grip with her magic too strong out of fear that this could destroy it, but it kept it's form and Twilight managed it to lift it into her hooves without dropping it. But as soon as the book had touched her hooves, before she could even consider opening it, it fell apart and only a big amount of ash remained in them.

Tears appeared in Twilight's eyes and as she looked up to the shelf in front of her again, she raised her hoof a second time, moved it towards the next book in the row, with more force now, and had to witness how this book was falling apart to a pile of ashes too under the impact of her hoof. She moved it to the left, aiming for the third book with the same force as before, and it went through it once the book turned into ashes, followed by all the other books in the row, as Twilight moved her hoof further to the left until she had reached the end of the shelf. A new pain built itself up in her heart and grew bigger with every book that turned into ashes. As she had reached the end of the shelf, new streams of tears were flowing down her cheeks and she began to sob uncontrollably. Under tears, she rested her head against the now empty shelf, her sobbing becoming louder and louder and more and more tears streaming down her face, wetting the scorched bookshelf that just revealed such a terrible reality for her. “My books..... All of my books.....”, Twilight cried out between two sobs as the realization kicked in completely. All of her books were destroyed. Every book she touched..... turned to ashes. There was no hope that any of them could have survived the fire.

Twilight was aware of it that most of the mementos for the important moments in her life weren't able to withstand a fire. Her gala dress, her team leader vest from her first Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville, her coronation dress..... And all the other clothes she had brought over from Canterlot or that were made for her by Rarity. They were made of silk and fabric and if the explosion shouldn't have destroyed them, the fire had done this job. Then her letters that she wrote to Celestia..... Made out of simple, thin parchment..... It was the same for them. But books were more sturdy than those things. There was a slight glimmer of hope in Twilight that most of her books survived the destruction. Protected by their strong and thick covers, only partially scorched, with most of the pages intact. And the rest of them restorable. This was her biggest hope when she came here. The one hope that kept her going. What prevented her from collapsing completely in her shocked state after the destruction of her home and the most important place in her life. And now this hope was destroyed. Turned to ashes right in front of her. It was over. Everything was over and Twilight did not know what to do anymore. “My books.....” she sobbed again. “All of my books..... I couldn't save them. They are all gone! What should I do now? What should I–”

“Twilight!” A voice suddenly emerged behind her and interrupted her desperated monologue.

Slowly, she turned around, facing the entrance of the library with her tear-filled, reddened eyes. “Spike.....” she said weakly.

“I woke up and saw that you were gone. I knew you would come here, so I followed you.” The purple alicorn hovered down to the ground at the bottom of the shelf to greet her dragon assistant. Spike walked over to her, a worried expression adorning his face. “What is wrong, Twilight?”

“It's the books.....” she answered quietly, her still tear-filled eyes fixated on the ground. “They are all gone. I hoped that they survived, but they are all destroyed. Like the rest of our things.....” She rubbed some tears out of her eyes.

“Can't you fix them?” he asked her.

“No. I wish I could. But they turn into ashes once you just touch them too strong. I hoped that I could save them, that at least some pages are still fine and that I could restore the others. But they can't be saved anymore.....” Another stream of tears shot out of her eyes.

Twilight felt the claws of the little dragon in front of her clutching tightly around her neck suddenly. “But you still have us, Twilight! Me and your friends! And Owlowiscious! That's what counts!”

The mare put one of her hooves around him, thankful for the sudden hug. “I know. And you're right, Spike. But these books..... They contain so much knowledge. And some of them are irreplaceable. And now they are lost.” She sniffed and pulled him closer, burying her wet eyes into his shoulder. “And they contained so many memories on the things that happened here. Like the book I was reading when Applejack came to me and told me that she needs my help because you didn't wanted to stop to serve her all the time. This book is gone now.”

“But you still remember this day, Twilight!” The dragon tried to comfort her. “The book is gone, but the memory is still in you!”

“Oh, Spike..... If only it would be that easy. The memory is still in me, but one day it won't anymore. A pony can't remember everything that happened in it's life for all time. Not even all of the important memories. You need things to remember yourself on the events in your life, because someday you will forget them, no matter if you want.” She choked before she continued. “And all these mementos I had are destroyed now. Even the one book that started everything; the book about Nightmare Moon that brought me to Ponyville and that is responsible for it that I could meet all of my friends. It was a symbol of our friendship and how it started and now I will never be able to look at it again.....” The former librarian closed her eyes and started to sob again.

“Uh, are you sure it is destroyed too?” Spike answered surprised. “The last time I saw it, it was thicker than most of your other books! Maybe it's not completely destroyed. Have you looked for it?”

As slowly as they closed a second earlier, as fast Twilight's eyes shot open again now. “Spike!” Excitedly, she released the hug and pulled away from Spike, just to embrace him in another hug a few seconds later. “Thats it! The book is too thick! There's just no way how it could be destroyed completely! Why didn't I think of that?” She released the hug again and, filled with new energy, flew up the shelves again. It took her a while, now that everything looked so different, but finally she found the shelf with the books about Equestria's history. The titles on the spines of the books weren't readable anymore, but with it's thick cover, the book she was searching for was sticking out of the others. As her eyes caught sight of it, she casted her levitation spell on it and brought it carefully down while flying back to Spike. She took seat in front of the dragon and placed the book between them on the scorched floor.

Twilight hesitated a little with releasing the grip of her magic that embraced the book, afraid that it could just fall to ashes again like the other books anyway. After a moment, she brought herself to stop the spell and held her breath. The magic around the book vanished. It was still in shape. Biting on her lower lip, Twilight touched the book. As nothing happened, she lifted it up with her hooves. Despite being moved now without magic that could keep it together, it stayed in it's shape.

“It's fine! It's fine!” the young alicorn cheered. Grasping the book with her magic again, she put her hooves for another hug around Spike, who gladly joined in, a big smile on his face. As they had let go of each other again, Twilight put the book back on the floor between them. “Let's see how bad the damage is,” Twilight said with a stern voice. Now that she examined the book, she could see that the cover was burnt black like the cover of the other books. There were also several holes in the cover, spots were the flames apparently managed it to burn through it. But the cover looked still sturdy and when Twilight knocked on it, she heard the familiar sound that a book with a thick and hard cover like this made when knocked on it.

Carefully, she opened the book on the first page. It was burnt black too, like the cover, and it was the same for the next page. It was not possible anymore to read what was written on the pages, but the thick cover of the book bewared it from getting burnt to ashes like the pages of the other books. Twilight flipped through the pages, making her way towards the middle of the book. Her face showed an eager expression. Not only wanted she to see if the book had pages that were still intact, there was also something specific she was looking for, now that she had discovered that the book wasn't burned:

Mementos that had not become devoured by the flames.

The nearer Twilight came to the middle of the book, the better the pages looked. Their appearance slowly changed from completely black to brown and every page was a little less burnt than the one before. Finally she had reached a page whose parchment was still white, with the ink the only thing on it that was black. The sides of the page were still partially burnt and showed a deep, brown color, but it was possible to read the text that was written on it without any effort. She turned two other pages and it was the same for them. For the first time since her home was destroyed, a broad smile appeared on her lips. She began to flip through the pages again until she had found what she was looking for. After turning a new page, four small, rectangular pieces of paper became visible. Two of them were of a golden color, the other two ones white, but purple on the edges and with a purple text written on them. “Here they are,” Twilight said. “The moment I saw that the book wasn't turning to ashes, I knew they had survived.”

“Are these–“, Spike began, but was cut off by Twilight, who wanted to say it by herself in her relieved state.

“Our Grand Gallopping Gala tickets from Celestia and the tickets for “Hinny of the Hills” Rarity organized for us a few months ago. I stored them here to keep them safe. Looks like it paid off.” Twilight's eyes became watery a little again, this time from joy.

“Wow!” Spike answered. “I didn't know you still had them.”

Twilight gave him a knowing smile, then she put the tickets back into the book and closed it carefully. “I guess this is the only book that has survived,” she said in a somber tone. “But it's also the most important one. I will try to do what I can to restore the other pages!”

Spike looked at her. “Should we leave now?”

“Not yet,” Twilight answered. “The other books are destroyed, but I want to look around a little longer. There are a lot of ashes and rubbish here and I'm not sure if we will find something, but maybe some of our stuff is buried under it and I want to save as much as I can. Can you check here? I go to the other side of my library and look around there.”

“Got it!” her trusty assistant answered. The way Twilight had said “my library” made it clear to him that she was, despite the discovery they just made, still in a slight state of shock after what happened, and so he wanted to do his best to help her. He turned round and began to dig into the ashes at the bottom of the shelves before Twilight could even make her way to the other side of the destroyed building. He wanted to find something that could help to put Twilight further at ease and to make the loss of her home easier for her.

Unfortunately, he hadn't much luck with it and neither did Twilight. They found a lot of damaged items; partially molten pans from the kitchen, colorful pieces of paper that were probably part of photos once, but too small to guess to which photos they belonged, even, much to Twilight's surprise, pieces of fabric in different colors that she identified as parts of the birthday dress Rarity made for her. And lots of burnt wood and shards of glass. But almost nothing that was really of value for them.

After an hour of intense searching, in which she had turned round every piece of wood and looked through every pile of ash, Twilight gave up and returned to the place where she and Spike had split off. Enveloped in her magic, she was carrying another book. At least that's what she thought it was at first. It was really a photo album that she had found in the remains of the desk in whose drawer she had stored it. Despite the protection the drawer offered for the album, most of the photos were burnt beyond recognition. But a few survived as well. She found some photos of her coronation, of Shining Armor's wedding – one of them showing Spike dancing together with Sweetie Belle – and some spontaneously made photos from random occasions; like the photo she and her friends made together with their pets after Rainbow Dash chose Tank as hers or the photo they made after they found Celestia's and Luna's journal in their old castle in the Everfree. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing and even though this was probably all they would find, she felt glad for it that at least some mementos of the time she spent here in Ponyville over the past few years could be taken home with them.

“Home,” Twilight whispered as she put the book down on the floor. It was the first time now that she referred to her castle as her “home”. But the feeling was like a sharp pain in her chest. Twilight realized just now that the first shock over losing her library had began to wear itself down after she had arrived here. But now that the realization that she had lost her home forever was kicking in completely and that her mind began with accepting the situation, it became exceptionally harder for her to deal with it.

Spike was still rummaging in a pile of ashes, so he didn't notice how Twilight's eyes filled themselves with tears again and how the former librarian broke to the floor again with a heavy sob. Lying on the floor in front of the salvaged photo album, her face buried in her hooves, she began to cry again without hesitation. Big tears flowed down her cheeks once more, leaving trails in her coat and washing away the ashes on the floor were they hit them.

“Oh, wow! How is this..... Twilight, you have to see this!” Spike's voice suddenly reached her ears. As she didn't move nor answer, distracted by the pain she felt and unable to recognize her environment properly, Spike got up, holding something in his claws, and tapped on her shoulder twice once he had reached her. “Look, Twilight, it's amazing!” As the desperated mare still didn't answer, he placed what he had just found persistently in her hooves.

Feeling the weight of the item, Twilight finally opened her eyes and did take a look at what Spike had given her. With her tear-filled eyes, she only saw a blurred, blue shape in front of her. She wiped the tears out of them, still accompanied by heavy sobs, and looked at it again. Her eyes widened. In her hooves was a picture in a blue frame, covered in ashes and the edges slightly brown, but otherwise completely intact. Not yet daring to complete the thought in her head, she shakily raised a hoof and moved it over the ash-covered surface of the glass that was surrounded by the frame. Wiped away by her hoof, the gray substance consisting of the remnants of unknown parts of her home and her possessions revealed a familiar picture, a picture so familiar, that Twilight would never fail to recognize where and when it was taken.

She and her friends were on it; Fluttershy lying in front of her, Rarity in a regal position to her right, Applejack winking into the camera to her left and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash behind her, resting their hooves on Rarity's and her head, with Pinkie Pie showing a cheerful expression and Rainbow Dash sporting a determined and proud one. Twilight herself was in the middle of them.
It was the first picture they had taken together, right on the day where Celestia allowed her to stay in Ponyville with her newfound friends. It was Pinkie Pie who suggested to make a photo to remember this day and the beginning of their friendship with her, so they went to a hill near Ponyville and Celestia took a picture of all of them. It was one of the first moments of her blooming friendship with the others that Twilight remembered and she couldn't believe that, of all the things that could have survived the destruction, this one photo did; this one photo that had such an extraordinary important memory preserved in it.

It was hanging above the chimney on the second floor and she wasn't able to make a sense out of it. It was a mystery how it could have survived the gigantic explosion that destroyed the treehouse, but unlike to her usual attitude to uncover mysteries like that, Twilight didn't care about it this time. She was just glad that one of the most important mementos on the time she had spent with her friends was still there and that she could take it into her new home and find a place worthy of it's importance there. New tears began to form in the mare's eyes and rolled down her cheeks, while she looked at the picture smiling. Without a word, she reached out to her her dragon assistant and pulled him to her for a tight hug that he happily accepted, glad to see her so relieved and light-hearted finally. “Thanks, Spike. Sometimes I really don't know what I would do without you.”

“Oh, come on,” Spike rejected the praise. “That was nothing. I just found it and if I hadn't, you would have!”

Twilight didn't answer to the little dragon's correction and just rested her head on his shoulder to express her gratitude further. For a second time in this night, his shoulder became drenched with tears, but now it were tears of happiness, that were followed by a few additional sobs that were weaker than the last ones. As her sobbing subsided and when she was about to break the hug to return back to the castle with the things they had found, her ears raised up suddenly, noticing something. “Spike..... Are you crying?” she asked softly.

“What? No, I'm not crying”, his surprised answer came and he pulled out of the hug. “What do you mean?” He looked at her cluelessly.

“I can hear something. Someone is crying, but I don't know where,” she whispered. The sound was only very faint, so Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated to find it's source. A few seconds later, she opened them again. “It's coming from below us,” she said.

“From below us? How–“ Spike interrupted himself as the realization hit him, like in one of the sillier moments of his comic books when the hero had an idea and a light bulb appeared on top of his head. “The basement.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. I almost forgot about it. It's the only part of my library that is left. Let's go look.”

She turned to the photo album and the book about Nightmare Moon at their side and lifted them up with her magic, together with the framed photo Spike just found. Filled with another glimmer of hope, as well as a feeling of curiosity for who was crying down there, Twilight and Spike approached the stairs that led to the basement and went down on them quietly. The walls around them and the stairs under their feet were scorched black like the rest of the library, but the further down they came, the lesser signs of destruction they could find. As they had reached the end of the staircase, Twilight lightened up her horn again and they were greeted by the familiar, brown wooden structure. Twilight and Spike shared a smile.

The constant crying had become louder on their way down and there was no doubt that it came from Twilight's lab here in the basement, behind the door that lied in front of them now. The dragon and the mare approached the door and opened it. The crying increased in volume as soon as it was open. Spike closed it behind them as they had entered the lab and then catched up with Twilight, who was already at the top of the second staircase, looking down to the bottom of it to find the crying pony. She could see the orange light of a lantern and something that looked like three sleeping bags, with ponies sitting on them. “Come on, Spike!” she said, as the dragon had joined her side again.

They continued to listen to the crying while they walked down the second staircase. It was high-pitched and occasionally, a little squeak could be heard. Twilight frowned. Her nightly trip to her library would turn out harder than she had expected. They reached the bottom of the stairs and now that Twilight was nearer at them, in the light of the lantern and with the light of her horn added to it, she could see the ponies who were down here better. The crying pony sat in the middle of them, comforted by the other two. “Girls.....” Twilight said softly. “What are you doing down here?”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave her surprised looks, while Sweetie Belle did not pay any attention to Twilight and continued to cry, covering her eyes with her hooves.

“It's because of Sweetie Belle.....” Apple Bloom said then. “She's so sad over losin' the place where she learned magic that Scootaloo and Ah had the idea to spend the night here together. We hoped that would make it easier for her, because it's the last part that is left of the library, but now.....” Apple Bloom hung her head.

Scootaloo continued for her. “But she woke up and began to cry suddenly and we can't calm her down!” A frown was on the face of the filly and she began again to stroke the mane of her distraught friend, with Apple Bloom joining in a moment later. On their faces, Twilight could see that it wasn't easy for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo either that they had lost the library. Both fillies showed expressions of sadness too in their little faces, even though they weren't crying like Sweetie Belle.

“Oh, girls.....” Twilight began again, an expression appearing on her face that was a mix between sadness and a comforting smile. She let the things that she was carrying carefully floating to the ground and then took seat opposite of Sweetie Belle. She didn't know what to say to the crying filly, especially considered that her two best friends already failed with doing that. The library was destroyed and even though the basement was still there, it was not the place where Sweetie Belle learnt magic. Close to it, but not the same. And there was nothing that Twilight could give to her little student, no memento on the time she practiced magic with her. They had made no photos during Twilight Time and the broom that Sweetie used to practice became a prey of the flames. But it was the only thing Twilight could think of to comfort the desperated filly, so she decided to went with it in hope that it would work.

Reaching out with her hooves, she pulled Sweetie Belle out of her sleeping bag and gently cradled her against her chest, embracing her upper body with her hooves in a tight hug. Twilight could feel her coat becoming drenched by the filly's tears. She rested her head on her mane and began to talk to her. “Sweetie Belle, how about we make Twilight Time still here in the library in the future? The basement is still there after all. And even when it isn't exactly the same, it is part of the library, which means something of the place where you learned magic still exists. How does that sound?” Twilight looked down at Sweetie Belle, a smile on her face, that she made look as hopeful as possible. But it turned into a frown as Sweetie Belle didn't answer and just continued to cry as intense as before. Having run out of ideas what to do now, the teacher of the little unicorn closed her eyes and proceeded to just rock her slightly in her arms. The only thing she could do now was to give Sweetie a chest to cry on until she felt a little better. Still, it would be hard for her to learn coping with the tragic fact that the library was gone. Maybe even harder than it would be for her..... “I wish I would have made some photos of us during Twilight Time and given them to you three. I'm sure it would be easier for you then.....” Twilight said and felt guilty suddenly. How could she not think on this? A few tears left her eyes.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo watched sadly how Twilight unsuccessfully tried to comfort their friend, almost tearing up as well at the heartbreaking sight, as Scootaloo's face suddenly brightened up. “That's it! I just got an idea!” She rushed over at Sweetie Belle's side and put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Do you remember what I did before we tried to search for our cutie marks for the first time, Sweetie?”

The filly retreated from Twilight's chest and looked at Scootaloo while the tears were still rolling down her cheeks, a slight expression of perplexity visible behind the sadness in her eyes. “W-What you did? I don't know.....” she said something for the first time since she woke up in her distraught state, her voice shaking and interrupted by sobs.

“The picture!” the orange pegasus bursted out excitedly. “I was drawing the library for our checklist! Remember? We made one to remind us to which places in Ponyville we wanted to go to try and get our cutie marks!”

Sweetie's face began to brighten up a little. “Y-You mean you still have it?”

Her friend nodded. “Mhm! I know you two wanted to throw it away when we didn't need it anymore, but I kept it, because it was remembering me on the day when we tried to get our cutie marks for the first time! It's still in my room!”

Apple Bloom had joined Scootaloo's side in the meanwhile. “And that means there's still a memento left on the place where ya learned magic! Scoots can get it for ya and ya can keep it to remind ya on it!” she supported the pegasus in her endeavor to cheer up their friend.

“Yeah and we can go to my house and get it right after the sun is up!”

Now, Sweetie Belle smiled for the first time in this night. But it was only a faint smile, proofing that she wasn't fully calmed down yet. “But will that be enough?” she asked doubtingly. “It will only remind me on the library itself, but not on the time when I learned to use my magic.”

“That's true, but ya still have ya memories! That's something ya'll never lose!”

Now Sweetie's face darkened again. “But not forever.....” she said quietly and looked down on the floor. “Someday I will lose them, because I can't get back to the library to reminisce in them.....”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes a little. “That's rubbish!” she bursted out. “I know that some ponies say that, but it's not true. You will never lose this memory!”

“Are you sure?” Sweetie Belle asked, taken aback a little from Scootaloo's speech. She sniffed.

“Yes, I'm sure! It was one of the most important moments in your life after all, how could you forget about it?” Sweetie Belle couldn't deny that Scootaloo had a point.

“Scoots is right,” Apple Bloom assured her. “It will always be here!” She put a hoof on Sweetie's chest, at the spot where her heart was.

The young unicorn had stopped crying in the meanwhile and rubbed the remaining tears out of her eyes. “I guess you're right.....” She looked at them and put up an awkward smile. “I was silly.....”

“Nevermind!”, Apple Bloom said. “Do ya feel better now?”

Instead of an answer, Sweetie Belle stretched out her hooves and put them around her friends' necks, hugging both of them at once. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo joined in and all three fillies were part of a big hug a moment later, wearing cheerful smiles on their faces.

The only pony that wasn't smiling was Twilight. She knew that what Scootaloo said wasn't right. One day, Sweetie would lose her memory on how she learned magic. Maybe not completely, but she would forget details about the moment and not remembering it as well as now anymore. Even Scootaloo's picture couldn't completely prevent that from happen. The three fillies in front of her just lacked the necessary life experience to be aware of this sad fact. They were too young to understand it. But she didn't dare to say anything. Now that Sweetie Belle was so happy again, she couldn't tell her the truth. But she couldn't let go of the thought that Sweetie Belle would one day realize how fragile her memories were either. Would she become sad again when her memories on the time when she learned to use her magic faded? Twilight couldn't answer this question, but it was troubling her. If only she could do something for her young student.....

As the fillies released their hug they sat down, forming a circle with Twilight. Sweetie Belle felt better, but she knew she couldn't sleep in this night anymore. Looking at the faces of her friends, Twilight and Spike, she could see that it was the same for them. All of them looked widely awake after what just happened. And it were only a few hours until daybreak anyway, so she decided to start a conversation.

“Do you remember how Twilight told us about the talent show here?” she asked towards her friends.

The earth pony and the pegasus nodded. “Uh-huh” Apple Bloom answered. “We were so desperated after nothin' had worked to get us our cutie marks on this day and then the talent show came at the right moment! Too bad that this didn't work either..... Maybe if Scootaloo hadn't sung so terrible back then it would have gotten us our cutie marks.” The filly snickered.

“Hey! I wasn't singing bad!” Scootaloo glared at her. “It was not my fault that the talent show didn't have any microphones! And besides, it was the first time that I sung in front of so many ponies. It's easy to get nervous in such a moment!” Scootaloo crossed her arms, pouting a little. “And at least I tried it, while Sweetie didn't even dare to sing.....” she added then.

Now it was Sweetie Belle who sent out a glare. A second later, a pillow surrounded by green magic landed in Scootaloo's face. “How do you want to sing with a pillow on your face?” Sweetie Belle asked with a mischievous grin.

“I could ask you the same question,” Scootaloo answered, grabbed the pillow from her face and flung it towards Sweetie. But the young unicorn dodged the attack and the pillow hit Apple Bloom.

It was falling off her face and Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes at the pegasus filly in front of her. “Scoots..... That means revenge,” she said, letting her voice sound as cold as possible. She lifted off her own pillow from her sleeping bag and seconds later, Scootaloo got a second pillow into her face.

“Hey, I didn't wanted to hit you, I was just aiming for Sweetie!” she defended herself, with a naughty expression suddenly appearing in her face. Apple Bloom understood.

“So this means it's Sweetie Belle's fault, huh?” The naughty expression was gracing her face too now. They both grabbed their pillows and slowly approached Sweetie Belle, who tried to flee from the superiority as weaponless as she was now, a both playful and slightly panicked expression adorning her face.

Watching the little fillies play so boisterously with each other, Twilight was remembered on something. It was here in the library, on the second floor, to be precise, that she had such a pillow fight too, together with Rarity and Applejack at her first pajama party ever. She smiled and relished in this memory, while she watched how Apple Bloom and Scootaloo teamed up against their friend and assaulted her with both of their pillows, resulting in a counter-attack by the little unicorn when she, unnoticed by them, lifted up her own pillow with her magic and slapped both of them with it from behind in quick succession.

The three friends continued their pillow fight for a few more minutes, then they sank down on their sleeping bags, exhausted and gasping for breath. “Draw,” they said together at the same time, then looked surprised at each other and giggled.

“Your pillow fight just reminded me on something,” Twilight said to them. The fillies looked at her and then got up and sat down on their former positions again.

“What do ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked her.

“It was here in the library that I had the first pillow fight in my life,” the mare began.

“Wow, really?” Sweetie Belle asked her, her face showing surprisement.

“Yes.” Twilight was surprised too now. “Has Rarity never told you about it?”

“No. She never said something about a pillow fight.”

“I see. Well, I can imagine why she doesn't tell anypony about that night.” A look to Apple Bloom showed her that she knew what she was talking about. “It was two and a half years ago and I only lived in Ponyville for a few days when it happened. The pegasi had scheduled a big rainstorm and Rarity was helping Applejack with getting the loose branches off of the trees so that they wouldn't hit ponies or crash into windows if the wind should rip them off. But the storm had already began before they were finished and they were surprised by the rain. I saw them outside, so I invited them for the night into my library.” Twilight stopped for a moment to revel in the memory of this night.

“Since we couldn't leave the library due to the storm and no one of us had something better to do, I had the idea to held a pajama party with Applejack and Rarity. I was so excited because I knew it would be my first one. I even used a guide for pajama partys to make sure that nothing would go wrong during it. We had a lot of fun; told each other ghost stories, played “Truth or Dare” and of course had the pillow fight I told you about. Unfortunately, Rarity and Applejack started to fight and that almost ruined the party.”

“A fight, why?” Scootaloo asked Twilight.

“I don't know,” she answered. “I never really asked them for the reason. I guess they were just not such good friends back then as they are now. But they could settle their differences when Applejack let a tree, that was hit by lightning, crash into the library accidentally. The trunk of the tree was cut in half at the impact and Applejack wanted to pull it down with a lasso, but then the library was hit by it. Rarity did not wanted to help her first, because she was afraid to get her hooves dirty, but she had overcome her aversion against that when she saw how much Applejack needed her help. I think they became much better friends in this night.” Twilight looked around, over the excited faces of her audience and then across the small room. “I wish we would have held the party here in the basement. Then I could still get reminded on it when I come here. But we didn't and so I can't. The second floor is completely destroyed and even if we would rebuild the whole library, it wouldn't be the same anymore.” Rebuild. The word was echoing in her mind. “Rebuild.....” she whispered silently.

“Rebuild!” Twilight suddenly jumped on her hooves. “Spike, Girls, I just had the best idea.” The familiar purple of Twilight's magical aura surrounded her horn and some sheets of paper, a quill and a bottle with ink floated in the middle between her, the Crusaders and Spike.

“Huh? Where did ya get those from?” Apple Bloom asked astounded, her fellow Crusaders confirming her astonishment with their looks. Only Spike didn't look surprised.

“I always have something of it stored here in case I need it for some practical studies. But that's not important now.” Twilight opened the ink bottle, dipped the quill into it and began to hastily draw something on the paper, which turned out as a picture of the scorched library tree when she was finished.

“What are ya doing, Twilight?” Apple Bloom once again asked her, without any idea what Twilight was planning.

Instead of answering her, Twilight looked over to Sweetie Belle. “I said we can held Twilight Time in the future here in the basement, instead of the castle, but I just got an even better idea. The first floor is in a bad condition, but it's not completely destroyed like the second floor. It won't be easy, but if we work hard we can still restore it.” Twilight made a few notes on the drawing and marked it with some arrows, while the three Crusaders and Spike watched her eagerly, their eyes becoming bigger and bigger as Twilight added more notes and markings on the paper. The more she wrote and drew on the paper, the better they understood Twilight's plan.

As she was finished, she continued to explain. “We can remove the scorched branches and a part of the trunk here–“ She pointed to the left of the drawing “– then we build a roof on top and replace the broken windows. And then we only need to clean what is left of the tree and voilá, it can be used as an entrance to the basement! And the best thing is–“ She paused and looked over to Sweetie Belle again, then let her eyes wander over all three of them “– you can still visit the place where Sweetie learned magic and where all of you got teached by me and we can still held Twilight Time there!”

“But didn't you say that it wouldn't be the same anymore, even if we rebuild the library?”, Sweetie Belle asked her, unsure of Twilight's plan.

“Yes, I did. But because the first floor isn't completely destroyed, we only need to skim the scorched layer of the floor and the walls and maybe replace the old furniture with new one that looks the same if I can't restore them. The structure of the first floor is still to big parts intact. Everything is still there, we just need to make it look like we're used to it again!” Twilight's heart jumped from joy and she cheered internally.

And finally the fillies and Spike understood too. “In other words we can still save the place where you learned magic, Sweetie!” Scootaloo exclaimed happily.

Tears of relief and joy flowed down Sweetie's cheeks and she couldn't hold onto herself anymore after hearing the good news. With a smile, she jumped over the paper and almost knocked Twilight down when she gave her a crushing hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said, nuzzling her neck in gratitude. “You're the best teacher ever!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo clasped Twilight's sides and joined in on the hug, not any less happy about Twilight's idea.

The rest of the night was spent with planning how they exactly wanted to restore and refurnish the first floor of the library, occasionally interrupted by anecdotes about the place they loved so much and that they wanted to save now. Hours passed and when they were finished, they had worked out every detail of their plan. Another drawing of the remnants of the library was made by Twilight on the second sheet of paper, but this time it showed how the restored and repaired first floor will look once they were done with everything. The windows were replaced with beautiful new ones and on top was a pitched roof, consisting of nice red tiles.

The ponies and the dragon smiled satisfiedly when they looked at the paper. In their mind, they already saw the new look of the lower part of the tree once the scorch marks were all removed and when it's bark looked nice and brown again.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shared a grin with each other and then they jumped into the air and exchanged high-hooves. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Library Tree Restorer!” they shouted together. As they landed on the floor again, they suddenly heard a rooster announcing the rising of the sun.

“That must be the rooster of Sweet Apple Acres!” Apple Bloom exclaimed surprised. “Mah gosh, I didn't expect it would be morning already! Have we really needed the whole night to make the plan?”

“Looks like it,” Twilight answered. “Let's get going. There are a lot of things we have to prepare now.” The alicorn used her magic to roll together the two sheets of paper with their plan on it and returned the rest of the paper, the quill and the ink bottle where she took them from, while the three Crusaders collected their pillows, folded their sleeping bags and put them on their backs. As they were ready to go, Twilight lifted the things she and Spike could salvage from the ruins of the library and the rolled paper up and together they went upstairs.

“We're going to my house first to get my drawing of the library for Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo took the word while they were on their way out of the basement.

“That's good,” Twilight answered without turning around to them. “Me and Spike will return to the castle and begin with the first preparations. And you three should get some sleep before we meet again. You didn't get a whole lot this night.”

“Roger!” the three fillies shouted in unison and saluted.

As they were above ground again, the alicorn noticed that the orbs she had casted had disappeared by now. But it didn't matter. She wouldn't need them anymore now that it was day again. The three fillies, the mare and the dragon made their way through the ruins of the library towards the entrance. As they had almost reached it, Twilight spoke up to the fillies again.

“Let's split up for now. We meet again at afternoon in the castle. Once you're rested up we can–“ She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes fixated on something in front of her. “Oh no.” was the only thing she could say.

Right in front of her, in some distance from the library, but near enough for Twilight to recognize it, stood a little pegasus filly with a turquoise-grey coat and a dark-blonde mane. Her eyes were big like plates and she looked shocked and in disbelief at the scorched library tree. The red, broken quill she was holding with her mouth fell out of it as she began to stammer. “W-What happened? T-The books?”

“What's there, Twilight? Why did ya stop?” Apple Bloom asked from behind. She was blocked in her view by the mare and couldn't see what was happening.

“Another problem to solve,” she answered in a pressed voice, then walked up to the filly.

“Hi!” she greeted it, taking care of it to make her voice sound more cheerful now. “I guess you came to trade your quill for my books again, right?”

“What happened to the books? Are they safe?” the filly asked her worriedly, without directly answering Twilight's question.

“I'm sorry.....” Twilight answered in a more somber voice. “I couldn't know what would happen, so I was not able to bring them away in time.....”

Secretly, Twilight cursed Pinkie for scaring this filly away at the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange a few weeks ago. If she wouldn't have done this, she would have traded her books for the quill. At least some of her books would have been in a safe place then when the library was destroyed by Tirek. And there would be one sad pony less now. But this wasn't the right time to develop grudges.

Twilight activated her horn and levitated the quill behind one of the filly's ears. “How is your name?” Twilight asked the little, book-loving pegasus.

“Ch-Chirpy,” the filly answered in a low voice, the shock and the sadness over what she had to see here clearly clinging in it.

The Crusaders and Spike had joined Twilight in the meanwhile.

“Hello, Chirpy,” Twilight said in a calm, soothing voice. “I'm Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends: Spike, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.”

The three fillies and the dragon smiled and waved at Chirpy to give her a warm welcome. However, none of them knew what was up with Chirpy and from where Twilight knew her. “Who is this filly?” Scootaloo asked Twilight curiously.

“The short version is” – Twilight began – “she wanted to trade this quill behind her ear against some of my books that I brought to the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange because I thought I wouldn't need them anymore. She is so devastated because she just found out that the books are destroyed.”

Immediately, a sad expression appeared on the faces of the dragon and the three fillies who accompanied Twilight. Now there was one filly more Twilight had to comfort after the terrible events from the day before. But luckily, she knew immediately what to do this time.

“Isn't there at least one book that has survived?” Chirpy asked the former librarian.

She shook her head slowly, then she placed a reassuring hoof on Chirpy's shoulder. “But even if, I had already changed my mind about trading my books after you were gone. I realized that they still had value to me, even when I had read them so often already, because all of them contained important memories. I couldn't trade those books that you wanted with you, even if they wouldn't have become destroyed.”

An expression of relief suddenly appeared in Chirpy's face for a moment, but her ears drooped immediately again when she heard that Twilight wouldn't have traded the books anyway. “I understand.....” Chirpy said sadly. “I just wanted to trade this broken quill against your books, because my parents don't have much money to buy me stuff and there was nothing else that I had to trade with you. I even came with the first train today to meet you, after I had finally found out where you live. But now I can't ask you for it anymore.....” Chirpy turned away from Twilight and began to went her way back to the train station, her head hanging low and a few tears dropping from her eyes.

Twilight knew that she could just let her go now, because the destruction of the library had nothing to do with it that she wouldn't trade with her anymore, but she had seen enough sadness since what happened yesterday and so she did not intend to do that. “Wait,” she said. Chirpy turned around and looked at her with wet eyes. “I can't trade the books you wanted to have with you, but maybe there is another way to get you some books. You weren't looking for specific books, were you?”

The sad filly shook her head. “No, I just wanted something to read. Anything.”

“That's good! I know a place with many books and it's not far away from here!” Chirpy's face lit up again with these words. “Just give me a moment,” Twilight said to her. “I say goodbye to my friends, then I lead you to the books.” Chirpy nodded in anticipation, a grin gracing her face now. Her tears had already disappeared.

Twilight turned to the Crusaders. “I will go and accompany Chirpy to the old castle of Celestia and Luna to get her some of the old books there. You three get home in the meanwhile and get some sleep, so that you're fit when we meet in the afternoon.”

The trio of fillies nodded. Each of them gave Twilight a hug, then they waved at Chirpy, who gladly returned the friendly gesture, and gallopped away, into the direction of Scootaloo's house. As they were gone, Twilight turned to Spike.

“Spike, please go the castle and prepare some breakfast for the three of us.”

“Three?” Spike asked confused.

“Yes. There aren't going many trains back to Rainbow Falls today and I'm sure Chirpy is hungry when we return from the castle.”

“Okay, Twilight, I have everything ready when you return.” He gave her a goodbye hug and one wave to Chirpy later, he was gone too.

“Okay, now that this is out of the way–” She turned to Chirpy again “– let's go and take care of what you came for. I hope you like ancient books too, because there are a lot of them.”

Hearing this sounded like beautiful music in Chirpy's ears. “Ancient books?!” she asked unbelievingly, her eyes big like plates again, from fascination this time.

“Yes. I guess you like ancient books then?”

“I love ancient books!” the little pegasus filly bursted out in excitement. “My hobby is to collect rare things and I always wanted to get some ancient books, but I could never find any!”

“A collector, huh? Then the castle is the right place for you. There are lots of ancient things there. You can't take everything with you, but I'm sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna won't mind if I give you some of their old books.”

With these words, she trotted at the side of the little collector, who almost exploded from excitement now, and together, they made their way towards the Everfree Forest.