Carrying two books about an animal's diet, Fluttershy quietly walks to the counter to check them out. She wanted her animals to eat healthier, so she wanted to find some ways in either making or finding certain ingredients and herbs to help. She especially wanted Angel bunny to eat healthy. She had notice that he gained a little pounds on him. Waiting for the librarian to check out her books, she spots an out-of-place, worn out, dusty old book on a shelf with some other books behind the librarian. It stood out so much, and she wonders why they have such an old book that's about to fall apart from the looks of it. The librarian notices Fluttershy glaring behind her, and smiles.
"It is an old book, but it's an odd one too."
"Odd..?" Fluttershy quietly says with a curious and confused look. "How odd?"
"Well..." The Librarian takes the old book from the shelf and puts in on the counter to where both her and Fluttershy can see it. Fluttershy slowly opens it, and see's that most of the pages are stained with dirt, and some pages are missing. The writing was in perfect calligraphy, and none of them could interpret what it says. The drawings were still visible, but the only thing that was noticeable was the drawing of two Alicorns circling an orb, which looks very similar to Equestria's current flag. "This book has been through thick and thin over the years, probably for 10 or so years, but I can't really judge or claim that that's right."
"But what's odd about it?" Fluttershy asks again, still trying to read the writing, even though she can't.
"Oh, it's the fact that this book appears in different locations, like on the sidewalk for example, or in a completely different building. I had complaints that this book appeared in houses and schools."
Fluttershy gasps, quickly closing the book. "W-what? R-really?" Getting creeped out, she changes her mind about her own books, and thanks the librarian for her time. She wanted to quickly go home and hide, but not before asking, "So... Why does it do that? Is it... Alive?!"
The librarian laughs out loud, so loud that the ponies shush her. She covers her mouth to keep herself quiet. After taking her hoof away from her mouth, she says, "No, it's not alive, but some believe that it was enchanted by an unknown pony, most likely a Unicorn, or an Alicorn maybe. As for why, we can't really say, but if a book is following some ponies, then it must be doing that for a reason. Actually, I haven't seen it do that for myself. I've always seen it here behind me on this shelf, so don't you worry, you shouldn't anyway.
Fluttershy chuckles, hiding half of her face, still creeped out by the story she just heard. She should've kept her mouth shut and just went on her way, but she had to be nosy. Telling herself all this in her thoughts, she leaves the library empty handed, and walks in the direction to catch the train. She stops and looking slightly behind her, sensing that some pony was behind her. She was probably getting paranoid she told herself, so she continues to the train.
Taking a seat in the train, she sighs, wondering what Angel has eaten, or gotten his little paws into. Whenever she would feed him healthy food, he would make a disgusted face, and would usually go in Fluttershy's refrigerator to get something. She of course scolds him for it, but he just doesn't listen. As the train begins to move and wriggle from occasional bumps, she notices that her bag has a bulge in it. Feeling it, she gasps. She must have forgot to put a book on animal diets back on the shelf. That story about the worn out book did distract her, she must've missed one more.
Reaching into her bag, she stares. Right in it.... Was the worn out book... With that old smell. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" The whole train and every pony on it begin to shake as she screams to the top of her lungs.
Getting off the train in Ponyville, Fluttershy sits down at a nearby table, breathing heavily. After screaming from seeing the book in her bag, she quickly puts the book in a storage shelf on the train, locking it. She looks into her bag and sees that it's not there. She breaths a sigh of relief as she gets back up, and walks back home. She was ready to call it a day actually...
Reaching her home, she puts the key in her door lock and opens it. "Good afterno-" She quickly stops her greeting to the animals. Right in front of her on the floor.... Was the book. She goes wide eyed, and before screaming, she covers her mouth. Turning around to face outside, she starts to breath in and out as she starts to figure out what to do. "Ok... So the story was true. THE BOOK IS ALIVE!!! Ok... It's not, but what am I suppose to do? Didn't I leave it on the train? Did some pony see me leave it and drop it off? Yea, that could be it." She turns back around, and sees the book on her table. She squeaks, and asks Angel or any other animal if they moved it, much to her dismay, they say no... In their animal language.
She packs the book in a box in the form of a package, and stuffs it in her mailbox. She runs back into her house and closes it. She looks around, and in her bookshelf. She looks all over hre house, and finds that it's not there. She sighs, finally relaxing as the weirdness went away finally. She addressed the book back to the Royal Cantorlot Library with a note saying that she must've grabbed it on accident, even though that wasn't true.
Dinner rolls around the corner, and Fluttershy gives all of her animals their desired food. After making sure that everyone was eating, she heads back to the refrigerator to go and grab a bite for herself. As she opens the door, she grabs a carton of milk. After closing it, she drops the entire carton, relieved that I wasn't open, and quickly opens the refrigerator back to reveal that nothing isn't out of the ordinary. "Maybe I'm just paranoid. I should just make a smoothie as planned." She closes the refrigerator back, then picks up the milk. She then opens the freezer to grab some ice. Reaching in to grab some, she feels something that doesn't feel like ice, it was cold, but the texture wasn't right. Grabbing what she was feeling, she drops the object. There on the floor with a couple of ice that came out as well... Was the book, steaming from being in the cold freezer. She goes wide eyed, before running into her room and locking her door. She runs to her bed and goes under, only to jump out from seeing the book again. She opens her window and jumps out, falling in a bush. She heads to the chicken coop, but before getting in, she spots one of the chickens sitting on the book, and another pecking on it. She runs here and there, under her table, and in a river, wherever she went, the book followed her.
Getting tired, she lays on the ground, staring at the book that just appeared in front of her. "Why did you have to follow me? Why are you following me?" She sighs to try and calm herself, "I'm talking to a book. What do I do now? Will it just keep following me? Is it trying to tell me something? I can't even read it... This book actually is enchanted." She grabs the book and skims through it for a second before getting an idea. "Enchanted... Twilight!" She gets up, going back into her cottage and grabbing her bag and placing the book inside. She runs out to Twilights castle, hoping that this weird mess can be solved.
Twilight, drinking tea, sorts out her books into the right shelves, while Spike lays in his little bed reading a comic book. She goes down to the map, and sees that there is nothing out of the ordinary, until she hears a frantic knock at her door. "Hm? I wonder who this could be at this time of night.? She quickly walks to the door and opens it, only to be knocked down by the force. "What the..? Fluttershy?" She gets up and runs to where the map is, and sees Fluttershy sitting in her respected seat. "What's the matter, what happened?"
"Um... There's something I need to show... And tell you." She takes out the worn out book, and shows it to Twilight. Twilight just looks at it, skimming through the front of it. "Ok. I see an old book that's about to fall apart." She uses her magic to take it and look through the pages. "Such perfect calligraphy! This book must be a hundred years or so old, but don't quote me on that. What seems to be the problem? You can't read it? Sorry, but I can't read it even if I tried."
"Um... You see..." Fluttershy tries to find the words to describe the weirdness that happened today. She wants Twilight to believe her, so she needs to at least prove it to her. "I'll show you." She gets up, leaving the book on her seat, and motions Twilight to follow. They go into the bedroom.
"Alright. What do you want to show me?" Twilight says. Fluttershy looks around for anything that looks like that book. Unfortunately she finds nothing. Odd...
"But... That book.... It's suppose to.... You know, like..." She stutters, while looking and making a mess.
"Are you sure you're ok? You're acting weird, like you've seen a ghost or something." Twilight opens the bedroom door and trips. She lifts her head up to see what had tripped her. Fluttershy then yells.
"There it is!! That's the book that I left on my seat! That book... It's enchanted, and sometimes it would follow certain ponies. That certain pony is me! It followed me all the way from Canterlot, and I don't know what to do. Please help me!"
Twilight, peeking at Spike, who was now sleeping, gasps as what Fluttershy showed her turned out to be true. She levitates the book in front of her, and opens it again. Looking through all the pages (and even the missing ones), she thinks and ponders about the book. The only thing that made this book stand out was the fact that it was coming about and it was all dull, and it cannot be read. But this book being enchanted made her even more confused. She closes the book and looks at Fluttershy, who was tired from all the running and hiding.
"So... Do you know what the problem is?" Fluttershy asks, moving closer.
Twilight smiles a bright smile, then places the book on her bedroom table. "I have no clue, but I won't give up. I'll let you know something by tomorrow. For now, you go take a nice rest, you look exhausted."
Fluttershy breaths a sigh of relief. "Thank You Twilight for believing in me. I hope you're able to find why I'm being stalked by this."
"The book doesn't have feelings Flutters, but it could have some sort of objective. I mean, you said it was enchanted, and some pony must have done this for a reason. So don't you worry, I will try and keep this book in my sight."
Fluttershy smiles. "See you Twilight." She walks off, but trips two stairs down. Looking back, she sees the book on the steps, and Twilight yells to her.
"Sorry! I was looking at something else and the book just.... Yea." She levitates the book back into her castle, and Fluttershy slowly walks away, determined that the weirdness will subside tomorrow..."
Fluttershy falls out of her bed from the sudden banging on her front door. She rubs her tired eyes, slowly getting up with the blanket on her. She opens the door, revealing a tired Twilight, with bags under her eyes and with messed up hair. "Oh Twilight! How's the research coming along? Did you find out anything?" Twilight stares for a bit before chuckling, pointing at Fluttershy's head. Feeling her own head, she realizes that there's something on it.... The book.
"I came all the way here just to get it back. To tell the truth, I haven't done any research. Wanna know why? It's because that annoying book of yours kept running- well... Disappearing somewhere! Do you know I was running all night trying to catch it? I thought it would go back to you first, but no! It was in Rainbow Dash's cloud home, in one of Pinkie Pies cakes, in Applejacks barn, and in Rarity's boutique! I'm telling you, this thing might be cursed or something, because right when you left it started going crazy even when I was looking at it!"
Fluttershy steps back, taking the book from her head. "I'm sorry about that Twilight. I don't how-"
"I'm not finished! I got so angry that I told Spike to message Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it! You probably didn't want me to do that, but I'm running out of ideas here!"
Twilight catches her breath, fixing her hair and getting back her composure. She lifts her head at Fluttershy, who is looking hysterical. After some minutes, Fluttershy finally finds her voice and speaks, "I'm fine with you telling Celestia and Luna. Did you tell Relic? Where is he?"
Twilight looks around. "Oh, I don't know. He should be home right now. He hasn't had any situations with this book surprisingly. Phew!" She plops face down on the ground.
"I'm sorry for burdening you with this Twilight." Fluttershy continues, "I don't know how this all happened- well on second thought I do, but I didn't think that a book would actually... Do all this..." She starts to laugh quietly, clutching her stomach.
Twilight looks like she's not amused, but soon begins to chuckle, then laugh along with her. "A book Fluttershy! We're being annoyed by a book! How hilarious is that?!" Twilight says while laughing, a tear coming down her eye. As they continue to laugh, large hoof steps can be heard from behind. Turning around, Twilight gasps and stops laughing. "Omigosh! Princess Celestia and Luna are here... That was fast, I just sent the message. Guess they were in the neighborhood.
The two princesses step out of their carriages and walks towards Twilight and Fluttershy, with confused looks. "Good afternoon you two. Now, after receiving your... Interesting chicken scratch of a letter that Spike sent to me Twilight, we just had to come and see what's up with you. Are you staying up all night again?" Celestia says, while Luna just stands there with a bored expression. She did wave though. When Twilight thinks of an explanation, Celestia turns her attention to Fluttershy, who was frantically looking for something. "Since Twilight is trying to think of what to say, I'll go to you Fluttershy. So, where is Relic? You two usually walk together to go on errands."
"Oh, um... He's busy." Fluttershy stutters.
"Doing what?" Celestia asks.
"I-I don't know... I don't ask him. S-sorry-"
"Something's following us!" Twilight suddenly yells, freaking out Fluttershy and making her fall on the book that she was trying to find. She wonders why it was under her the entire time...
"Something? What is? What took you so long in trying to find what to say?" Both Celestia and Luna chuckle.
Twilight snickers a little bit before speaking again, "Well... It's such an odd case. It's... Kinda silly actually, so silly that you probably won't believe it until you see proof. You see-"
"There is an enchanted book following you or Fluttershy, and you're in a bind trying to figure out why it's doing that, and it's basically going in places that you don't expect?" Luna quickly replies.
Twilight and Fluttershy gasp in sync. "Jinx!" Celestia yells out, and Luna rolls her eyes while smiling.
"How did you know Luna? Has it... Been following you too?!" Fluttershy says, walking closer to her, almost tripping on the book that suddenly appeared in front of her. She was getting pretty annoyed by it, so she tries kicking it, but Luna levitates it away.
"No, but me and Celestia had seen this old thing before apparently, a long time ago actually... A long, long time ago, before you two were even born."
"How old are you two again?" Twilight asks, changing the subject for a brief moment.
"That's not the point." Celestia comes in, not wanted to say their ages. "The point is that this book is following certain ponies because they have a certain duty to fulfill. Fluttershy, since I can tell that it's following you just by looking at how it's on your head again, I believe you have to do something very important."
Fluttershy thinks for a moment. Twilight was about to say something, but is in a lost of words. Even she didn't know what Fluttershy had to do. "... I... Don't know what to do. Maybe Relic might know- wait, he doesn't know anything... Sorry Relic... But Luna, do you know? Does it have something to do with the cutie map?"
"Actually..." Celestia comes in, levitating the book off of Fluttershy's head. "I remembered reading this book in the Canterlot Library one day, then I left without it for some reason. It's been their ever since... Well, not anymore."
Twilight, Fluttershy, and this time Luna both gasp, making Celestia say 'jinx' once more. Fluttershy yells out, "So, do you know?"
Celestia laughs, "Of course not. I can't read it actually either, but I like seeing the dirty pages and smelling the rusty book cover smell. Reminds me of someone important that I met a very long time ago..."
"Then it's yours?" Twilight comes in next.
"No. I found it in our royal basement collecting dust. Somehow it was the only book not dusty actually."
"The what about the librarian?" Fluttershy says quickly. "Yesterday, she told me that some ponies were being followed too. Plus, she had the book on the shelf behind her."
"She did now?" Luna comes back in, looking inside the book and feeling the pages. "Because yesterday I saw you in the library gathering books, and just when you was about to leave you saw the book on the check-out counter, then hurriedly took it with you."
Twilight and Fluttershy was about to gasp again, but quickly stopped themselves. Fluttershy, looking at the book confusingly, retorts, "But... I don't remember taking it... The librarian..."
"What librarian..? The library was closed because there was an event, some book club, going on. I remember you was talking to yourself, and you screamed, and everyone shushed you. Remember?"
She thinks for second before nodding. "I don't remember any of that... Was I going CRAZY?!"
"Nonsense! You were probably tired that's all. Don't worry about it, plus, the book will go away sooner or later. How soon, I don't know, maybe once you do something." Luna says, putting her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.
"Maybe when the cutie map shines for me to do a quest, that might make it go away, but I wonder how long it will take... I hope something happens."
Twilight was about to say something, but looks around Fluttershy, and then at the princesses. "Fluttershy! It's... I think... It's gone!"
All of them look around. She's right, it was gone. Poof, like it never existed. Fluttershy checks her head, and inside her hair, which she needs to comb by the way. Nope, the old book isn't there with them anymore....
"Weird, you must've said something Fluttershy. It's probably in your house... Or in someone else's house, like mines."
"Wha..? All I said was I had to do a quest so it would stop... I think that's... All I said maybe."
"Well me and Luna will go look around in our castle to see if it hasn't rubbed off on us and then we'll- and that's the name I was looking for!"
"What name sister?" Luna asks.
"Quest!"
"Quest..? Oh, Quest! haven't heard that name in years. How many years has it been again"
"That's not important." Celestia says, trying to go back to the subject and not answer the question about ages and years. "Quest is what's important. Because you said 'quest,' the book will leave. That book was for her, and she enchanted that book herself for some strange reason. Of course we wasn't their at the time because it was yada yada years ago. The password for the book to go away was her name after all. If only I remembered her name sooner..."
"Is that all you needed from us? You somewhat interrupted us from our royal duties as princesses. Celestia is somewhat late in setting the moon after this you know." Luna says while walking back to the carriage, and waking up the royal guards."
"Sorry about that, we just didn't know where to turn or who to go to." Twilight says tiredly. "Now I can finally get some sleep-" She falls face first on the ground, snoring. Fluttershy laughs, but quickly stops to ask one last thing, "Oh wait..! Who's Quest? She sounds important, but we... Never heard of her."
"You have to find out for yourself Flutters. Plus, I don't want to spoil the surprise." Celestia says with a smirk on her face. The princesses leave on their carriages, even though they know that they can fly, but they're to royal for that...
While in the air, Luna sees something next to her hoof, and notices the old rusty book. She was about to pick it up, but notices that the book is opened to a particular page. It was a sketch of two Alicorns, one light, and one dark, circling an orb of some sort. "Um, sister? Does this look familiar to you?" She levitates the book in front of Celestia's face.
"Oh... What a coincidence. It seems that our flag is based on a very old sketch. How did that happen..?" Celestia chuckles, looking away to lower the sun.
"Celestia... Did you... PLAGIARIZE?!"
