Author's Note
And so, my first attempt at fanfiction. Opinions and thoughts welcome and thanks for reading.
A note: This story was conceived in the hiatus between Season 5 and Season 6 of the MLP series. I have tried to be as faithful to the actual series as I could, but as this is an alternate universe story, it will not be using information from Season 6. If anything contradicts with information presented in Season 6, will this is the reason why.
Chapter 1: A New Book!
“It’s here! It’s here, it’s here, it’s HERE!”
Spike snorted in his sleep as he rolled over onto his back, rubbing his eyes blearily as a familiar and excited voice dragged him from his slumber.
“Ugh, Twilight?” he muttered, “Oh, it’s the crack of dawn. Why are you so excited?”
“Because Spike, the day is finally here!” the excitable purple Alicorn exclaimed as she bounced happily around Spike’s room. “Two weeks. Two weeks Spike! It’s been two weeks since that day. That means, it’s done!”
“Nnngh,” Spike groaned as another yawn, “Yes, it’s done. That’s great. Now, back to bed.”
With a well practiced twist, Spike turned his back on the excited Alicorn and tugged his blanket back around his shoulders. However, no sooner had the warm, fluffy fabric settled when a sudden burst of violet light enveloped the entire bed and Spike was yanked suddenly from it’s comfortable embrace.
“How can you sleep at a time like this, Spike?” the Alicorn replied as she held Spike in her magic in front of her face, not realizing that Spike was upside down in her excitement. “It’s done! Let’s go see it, right now!”
And with that declaration, the Alicorn promptly dropped Spike and started towards the door of his room. Landing with a soft ‘oof’ Spike got up. “Ooooooh, but Twilight,” he whined, “The sun has just come up. The only people who should be up right now are Celestia and dawn birds.” He began dusting himself off, muttering as he did. “And I’m pretty sure even Celestia is going back to bed for more shut eye.”
Twilight stopped at these words. On the verge of the door to the hallway, she turned and faced Spike, a surprisingly serious expression on her face. “Spike, how can you be casual about this? We waited for two weeks.”
“We did,” Spike replied, “But it’s a building, Twilight. Not like it’s going to get up and walk away if we don’t go immediately.”
“I know, Spike. It’s just…” Twilight hesitated as she made her way over to the window and peered outside, “It’s Ponyville’s new library, the first since the Golden Oak. Even more, it was built right where the last one was, right where…” A longer pause this time as she looked off into the distance, right in the direction of where the Golden Oak Library had once stood. “…home was.”
The sudden shift in tone was not lost on Spike. He understood. Golden Oaks library had become as much his home as it had Twilight’s and, even after all this time, it’s loss still hurt.
Walking up to Twilight’s side, Spike placed a claw gently on Twilight’s foreleg. “Aw, come on, Twilight,” he said, “Even if the library is gone, we are still here and we are still together. You, me, Owlicious and Peewee. And as long as we are together, we can make a new home. We can make this castle home.”
Twilight smiled and gazed down at the little purple dragon affectionately. “Yes, yes we can Spike. Thanks.”
“Great,” Spike said, leaving Twilight and heading off to bed. “In that case, time to get some more shut eye.”
There was a suddenly sparkling sound and a familiar sensation enveloped Spike. Opening his eyes to look around, Spike realized that Twilight had once again placed him within her magic, holding him in place even as his legs walked uselessly against the floor.
“Oh no you don’t, Spike,” Twilight said, “You never get back up after going back to bed. Come on.” She began dragging Spike out of his room. “We’re going to the library.”
“File that under E, and that one under M. And… finally!” Spike muttered before releasing a moan of pain and relief, as he inserted the last three books into their places. “Thank goodness!”
His task complete, the dragon spread his arms and fell flat onto his back. He had forgotten how Twilight got in a library. Did he really used to do this every month before he and Twilight relocated to the castle. His entire morning had been filled with books, lists, heavier books and longer lists. For the instant Twilight entered into the newly rebuilt Golden Scroll Library, she had started gushing over the assembly of books. It seems that a brand new collection had been assembled with the aid of ponies from all over Equestria and beyond. Even the Princesses were contributing a collection of texts. Because of this, some rare and truly precious books had been added to the collection, books which Twilight quickly began to fawn over.
At least, for all of ten minutes. Immediately after the initial rush faded, Twilight had phased back into librarian mode and decided that all the books had to be inventoried and sorted. And so, Spike was forced to fade back into his role of number one assistant and help Twilight re-archive every…
single…
book!
Just the memory was enough to draw a groan of pain from Spike. Realigning his claw bones with several uncomfortable sounding cracks, Spike got up and headed downstairs to find Twilight.
“Twilight? The task is done,” Spike announced as he entered into the room. “The inventory is complete, and in record time too.”
Not to his surprise, Spike found Twilight engrossed with a massive list printed onto parchment that spanned almost the length of the library. As Spike got closer, he recognized that the list was the complete inventory of books which had been sent for this library. Twilight noticed Spike as he took the last few steps towards her and gave him a quick smile.
“Done? With all of the books?” Twilight asked. There was a knowing tone to her voice.
“Yup! Every last one,” Spike replied, “They don’t call me the librarian’s number one assistant for nothing you know.”
“Well, number one assistant,” Twilight said, her voice amused as she pointed a hoof at a nearby table, “You may want to take a look over there.”
“What?” Spike said as he looked. There, upon the table, laid a very large and very old looking tome. “No way! I missed one?”
“So it seems,” Twilight said, “Perhaps the number one assistant is getting rusty?” Twilight giggled. But when she spoke again, her voice was serious. “Joking aside, I don’t think this one is your fault. This tome is not on the list. Were we sent an extra book?”
“Ah, so I didn’t miss one,” Spike said, examining the tome in question. “…Huh?”
Spike’s confusion was well placed. Printed in neat gold lettering was the presumed title of the tome. Time and use had worn away a few of the letters, however, the imprint of the missing letters remained so the title was still legible. That fact was of little help as the words printed were in a language that Spike could not read. In fact, it didn’t even look like a language he had ever seen before.
Spike stared for a moment longer before turning slowly to Twilight. “I know we were sent several books from abroad, but I wasn’t aware we ever asked for any that weren’t written in Equestrian.”
“That’s another thing, Spike,” Twilight replied, “We didn’t. This book isn’t in any of the itineraries either. And I have no idea what the book is about because I can’t read any of it.”
“Really? You can’t read it either?” Spike asked, genuinely surprised. Between Twilight’s love of reading and her natural burning curiosity, seeing her being stumped by a book was like seeing Pinkie Pie shy away from cake. Neither seemed possible.
“No,” Twilight confirmed, coming over to Spike besides the book. “It bears some vague similarity to Equestrian, but it’s obviously not the same language group. The word structure and syntax, it’s all subtly different. More over, it doesn’t seem to respond to any of my magic.” She sat and began listing off spells. “Translation spells, comprehension spells, reading spells. I even went a non traditional angle and tried a transfiguration spell to morph the writing into Equestrian. Nothing worked.” There was a twinkle as Twilight’s magic enveloped the book. With her magic, Twilight opened the book to a random page which revealed that the book was written in more of the same indecipherable language.
“Is there anything else we can check to find where the book came from?” Spike asked, “The ones who sent it should know more about the book.”
“I already looked, Spike,” Twilight said, “But there just isn’t any other records. I tried checking everything, from the mailing recipes to the donation records. This book isn’t in any of them.” Sighing, Twilight closed the book. “I even went through the entire library shipping logs and still nothing. It’s like this book just appeared out of nowhere!” Shaking her head, Twilight used her magic to place the book back upon the desk. “I don’t know what else to do with this book.”
“Well,” a voice from behind them said, “You could try asking for a second opinion.”
Turning, Spike and Twilight saw a unicorn mare standing behind him. Her pink coat and her purple and grayish blue mane were quite distinctive, but her familiar voice identified her to Twilight and Spike before they even turned around.
“You may be surprised at what others can tell you,” Starlight Glimmer said as she approached Twilight.
“Oh, good morning Starlight,” Twilight greeted, “What brings you here so early this morning.”
“Well, you could say a nice friendly wager with Rainbow Dash,” Starlight replied as she grinned at Twilight, “And I won! I bet Rainbow that you would be here before me. And here you are, bright and early, visiting the library before it is even officially open.”
“Well, of course,” Twilight said, “It was my library, and someone has to come organize the books for the grand opening.” A pause. “Wait, you and Rainbow were betting on me?”
Starlight gave Twilight an amused look before laughing quietly. Catching on, Twilight rolled her eyes and joined in the laughter.
“Well, it may have been your library,” Starlight said, “But it’s my job to organize the books from now on.” She stood a bit straighter in front of Twilight. “I present to you the newest Ponyville librarian.”
Twilight and Spike paused for a moment, staring at Starlight before Twilight smiled. She went up to Starlight and placed a friendly hoof on her shoulder. “So, you were the one who got the job! Congratulations, Starlight. It’s good to know that the books of this library are in good hands.”
Starlight returned Twilight’s smile. “Thanks, your faith in me means more to me than you may know,” she said. However, her smile faded as she pulled away from Twilight and Spike. “Unfortunately, I may not be off to a good start.” Stopping in front of the table before the mysterious tome, Starlight used her magic to pick up the book. “I’m not sure where this book came from either. I only found it in the last batch sent from the Stallionstonian Institute. But it wasn’t listed on the package slip.”
“The Stallionstonian? Did you ask them about it?” Twilight asked.
“Naturally,” Starlight replied, “Nobody there can recall packaging the book. Furthermore, the institute doesn’t have a record of ever owning such a book. As it stands, I don’t think the book came from the Stallionstonian.”
“Hmm,” Twilight said, “Curious. It’s a shame we can’t figure out what the tome is about. It may help us figure out where it came from.”
Starlight looked at Twilight with a twinkle in her eyes. “Now that one I can answer. It’s a cartography book.”
Twilight stared at Starlight. “You can read this book?”
“Well, sort of,” Starlight responded, “It’s written in Ferusian.”
Ferusian?” Twilight said, “I’ve never even heard of that language.”
“I’m not surprised,” Starlight responded, “It’s an ancient language that was spoken by pony ancestors long before the forming of Equestria. In fact, it is so old that some scholars think that the language may predate the formation of the pony tribes themselves.” There was a soft flash as Starlight conjured a small note pad out from nowhere with her magic. A large amount of scribbles, both in normal Equestrian and in the mysterious language from the tome, covered the visible page of the note pad. “Because of how old the language is, very little is known about it. Most of the few artifacts that survive from that time are too worn to provide much insight on the language itself. I was lucky enough, during my studies in the Eastern Lands, to come across an extremely old tome that contained some translations between Ferusian and the better documented ancient deer language Eucladian. The information was fragmented and incomplete though. I’ve been working on this for two days now and I’ve only just managed to translate the title.”
As Starlight finished relaying what she knew, Twilight looked at the tome with renewed fascination in her eyes. “Amazing! An ancient, forgotten language possible used by pony ancestors? Think of the things that we might learn from this tome!” She looked eagerly at Starlight, a glimmer in her eyes. “Do you have the translation book?”
Starlight responded with a slightly sheepish expression. “I’m afraid not. The book was part of a private collection. I… wasn’t even supposed to look at it, really,” she admitted. “I’m afraid that all I’ve got are some hasty notes I jotted down when I was sneaking a read.”
Twilight seemed to deflate a bit with this revelation, but rallied quickly. “That is even more amazing. To do this much with incomplete materials. You are truly remarkable, Starlight.” Looking over the book again, a thought came to her. “Say, I know what we can do. We should go to Canterlot. Surely the princesses should know something about Ferusian. Even if they don’t, the Canterlot archives surely has some information.”
“That would have been my next course of action,” Starlight said, “But I’m not sure even Canterlot would have anything about Ferusian. The language was from so long ago.”
“Well, it’s still worth a shot,” Twilight said, “Spike, we need to get packing. Time for a trip to Canterlot.”
“Um… I don’t know,” Starlight said, as she and her group of friends approached the Ponyville train station. “I’m having some second thoughts…”
“Don’t worry, Starlight,” Twilight consoled, “I’ve already written ahead to the princesses. They know we are coming and that you are with us.”
“Yes but… What if they still blame me for what I did,” Starlight said, “I don’t think I exactly made a good first impression.”
“Nonsense, sugar cube,” Applejack said, “We’ve know the princesses for a fair while now and if there is one thing they would never do, it’s hold a grudge.”
“Yeah, and even if they do, we’ll vouch for you,” Rainbow Dash said from above, “You’ve been a great friend in Ponyville.”
“The princesses were perfectly happy to come to your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party,” Pinkie contributed as she bounced past, “Nopony would go to the party of someone they disliked. I’m sure the princesses will be happy to see you.”
“The point is,” Twilight said gently, “You have understood your mistakes and have taken the steps to atone for them. You have worked hard and made great progress in your friendship lessons. If there is one thing the princesses understand, it is forgiveness. And I think you have more than earned the right to be forgiven.”
“Maybe you are right,” Starlight said, feeling buoyed by the reassurances of her friends. “I guess I’m still a little jittery facing Celestia after everything that has happened. But I think I’ll be okay with all of you there with me.” She looked at Twilight and the others, “Thank you, all of you.”
“It’s no problem darling,” Rarity said, “Now let’s get a move on. We mustn’t miss the train. It wouldn’t do well for you to be late for your first audience with the princess.”
And with that, the group moved on towards the station, chatting animately about their plans for their visit to Canterlot, the nature of the book Starlight had discovered and speculating about it’s origins. Starlight hung back a bit to watch them go. A smile graced her lips. Just a short while back, she had given up on friendship, tried to fix the world around her by turning it into her own twisted version of equality. With the gift of retrospect, she could see all that now, could see the folly of her actions. Thank goodness Twilight and the others had come and shaken her free of that vicious spiral. And now, here they were, insisting on accompany herself and Twilight to Canterlot so that they could provide Starlight their support. It’s funny really. In the end, maybe that was all she had always ever wanted. Friends, true friends, that would stand by her.
Starlight took a deep breath and started to follow after her friends, only to bump lightly against another pony who had suddenly crossed her path.
“Oh dear! Excuse me,” Starlight said. But the other pony had already hurried off. Starlight watched the other pony go. He or she was covered in a brown traveling cloak with the hood pulled up and was hurrying away from her with considerable haste towards the station exit. “Hmm,” Starlight pondered, “Awfully hot to be wearing so much.”
“Starlight,” Twilight called, “Come on. Don’t get left behind.”
Starting slightly, Starlight trotted off after Twilight. She had more pressing things to worry about and by the time she caught up to Twilight, the hooded pony had long faded from her thoughts.
A pine green unicorn mare with an autumn yellow mane was standing impatiently outside the Ponyville train station. She was here for a very important meeting and the other party was late! And said mare grew extremely annoyed when people were late. It made things unnecessarily risky. And when she had specifically paid for punctuality, than being late made her angry.
Snorting softly, she pawed the ground in frustration then quickly reined herself in. It would not do to make a scene here. She just needed to be patient, meet her contact, get what she needed and than get out of here. A low profile… No attention! Which just made her all the more upset when someone came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to draw said unwanted attention to herself by jumping and yelping loudly.
“GYAH!”
She spun around to face a small pony clad in a large brown traveling cloak with the hood up. Despite the fact that the face was consequently hidden, the mare recognized that this was her contact. She glanced around furtively to make sure the unwanted attention did not linger on her, thank goodness it was Ponyville, before glaring at the new arrival.
“Your late!” she hissed fiercely.
“And you should be glad I am here at all,” the pony, revealing himself to be a scarlet red earth pony stallion whispered fiercely back in response. He had lowered his hood and looked just as angry as the pine green mare. “Do you know what I went through for this job!?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” the mare hissed back in response, “I paid your price and I expect you to deliver!”
“Well if you had been truthful up front, this job would have cost you a plot load more bits,” the stallion retorted, “Stealing from the Canterlot Royal Archives? Do you have any idea how suicidal that is!?”
“You’re the thief, breaking in is your problem, not mine,” the mare replied hauntingly, “Did you get it or not?”
The stallion glared at the mare rebelliously for a moment before grunting and extracting something from a saddle bag beneath his cloak. It was an aged piece of parchment bearing what looked like an old but expertly hoof drawn map. The yellowed appearance, the worn surface and the faded ink made the parchment seem ancient beyond measure, but the fresh tear mark on one side of the parchment indicated it had been only recently torn out of a book. The unicorn mare gasped at the parchment and yanked it out of the stallion’s mouth with her magic.
“You tore out a page!?” the mare hissed wildly, “That tome is ancient! Do you have any idea how priceless that book is!?”
“Do you have any idea how priceless the book is!?” the stallion whispered back angrily, placing pointed emphasis on the word ‘you.’ “Because this book was precious enough to warrant an entire castle full of royal guards, multiple magical security measures and a city wide manhunt when it disappeared. I assume these facts conveniently slipped your mind when you commissioned this job! I almost didn’t make it out of Canterlot. If I hadn’t acted quickly and tossed the rest of the book into a package full of other books from the Stallionstonian Institute bound for Ponyville when the guards found me on the train, we’d be having this conversation in the Canterlot dungeons! Be glad you got anything at all!”
The mare glanced at the map, than returned her glare to the stallion, “But what if I need the rest of the book!?”
“That is your problem,” the stallion replied, emphasis on the ‘your.’
“The contract…” the mare started.
“The contract stated that I was to retrieve a map. It didn’t say anything about the book the map came in,” the stallion replied, “And I did. Here is the map, delivered as promised. With that, I consider this contract fulfilled.”
Before the mare could protest, the stallion turned and started his way back into the station. As he was just about the pull up his cloak, he stopped and looked back at the mare. “I don’t know what you are planning but that book was in the Forbidden wing of the archives. Things are in there for a reason! You are going to get yourself into a heap of trouble, missy,” he said, “And when the manure starts splashing, I intend to be in the splatter free zone. Do not look for me again.”
And with that, the stallion pulled up his hood and vanished among the crowd back into the station.
The pine green mare watched the stallion go for a moment, than grunted and turned away from the train station, making her way back into Ponyville. It doesn’t matter. She didn’t need that thief anymore. She had the map and that would be enough.
“Almost there, Snoop,” she muttered to herself, “Just a little more and your place in history is assured!”
