To Build a World

Celestia always loved it when Henry read to her. It was true that Luna loved it as well, but Luna loved to hear fairy tales; Celestia, for her part, was much more like Henry in that regard. She loved to hear real life stories, mostly about animals and how the world worked. Maybe it was the pictures, Henry thought to himself on more than one occasion. Every physical book he owned was, essentially, some sort of a science book. Most of the fairy tales Luna heard were recited from memory, or invented on the fly from the top of Henry's head, but the books Celestia loved for him to read to her has visual aids, even if they weren't intended towards younger readers.

"That's enough, time for bed," Henry said one night, putting down a somewhat technical yet easy to read volume. "Off you go." He stood up as Celestia, who was laying her head on the arm of his chair, looked up at him.

"No! No bedtime!" Celestia whined. "I want more! Read some more!"

Henry looked at her, then back at the volume in his hands. He sighed.

"Alright, I guess another page or two couldn't help. Do you want something with more picture?"

"Yes!"

He walked to the shelf and put the volume in his hand back. "Well," he said thoughtfully, "if you want pictures, there's really only one type of book you can look at. Now, where did I put it....."

"Find it, please."

"We can't read it if I can't find it. Ah, yes, here it is!" He pulled out the only fiction book in his entire library, a keepsake from a Christmas when somebody tried to get him to read something more normal. "Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials," Henry read aloud. He walked over to the chair, and sat down. Celestia looked at the small book in his hand.

"It doesn't look very big," she said, sounding more than a little disappointed. "It is like the other books?"

"No, Celestia, this one isn't real."

"Why not?"

He smiled, looked at Celestia and ruffled her main around her horn. "Because your grandmother doesn't know me at all."

He opened the book, read the title. "Alright, then, one page."