Readover Gone Wrong

It was a quiet, yet lonesome day inside the graceful walls of the Royal Palace in Canterlot.  In the massive bedroom chamber, one of the beautiful and powerful co-leaders of all of Equestria, Princess Celestia, stood at the large window, staring out into the cloudy afternoon abyss at the domain below her.  She had nopony to talk to, for today she had let the Royal Guard off (though reluctant, all returned to their quarters and only kept on a minimal watch), Princess Luna was in town with some new friends she had made on Nightmare Night, and not a single soul except her and her faithful student, another very beautiful and powerful unicorn pony, Twilight Sparkle, remained in the palace.

Twilight had ventured to the palace, because she too had been, and was, alone.  All of her friends were busy wrapped up in their own business, and Twilight did not want to stop them or get in the way; she knew how it felt to get behind with your duties, no matter how big or small.  Twilight had talked with Princess Celestia, and the two decided to stay and study together in the library, and possibly learn and practice new spells.  Twilight had already gone down to the library, and was most likely caught-up in a “History of Equestria” or “Science of Mechanics” book too much to notice that Celestia had not come downstairs yet.

Princess Celestia had wanted to freshen up before meeting with Twilight, as she did before meeting any other guest in the palace or before going out into public, but she wanted to look extra proper for Twilight seeing as how she was much more than a teacher and mentor on a personal level.  Yes, it was true that over all the years Celestia had known Twilight Sparkle only as a friend and student, but it seemed as if her feelings grew stronger for her with each day that passed.  These were strange feelings, Princess Celestia admitted.  So strange in fact, that Princess Celestia seemed at a loss when she tried to explain them.

Celestia turned from the majestic viewing window, and used her magical abilities to grab a brush from the nearby shelf.  She took a few quick strokes of her mane and tail, placed the brush back onto the shelf, and used her magic to open the lock on the door.  The Princess walked out into the grand hall, and closed the door with an almost inaudible click behind her, ready at last to catch up with her faithful student.

She walked down the hall toward the staircase, and crossed it into the upper library.  She stopped and looked briefly over the railing, sure enough to see Twilight Sparkle sitting on a cushion, a towering stack of books to her right, and a large carefree smile on her face.  Giggling softly, the Princess walked forward and opened the small gate in front of her that led to the stairs, and then she walked down the spotless white marble stairs, her great hooves making a rather loud tap with each step; Twilight didn’t even glance up.

Princess Celestia reached the bottom of the stairs, and walked forward to the table that Twilight was at, quite loudly at that.  She stood above Twilight and looked down at her, almost in disbelief that any little pony could read so much and not notice the world around her.

“Ahem,” the Princess cleared her throat.  Twilight shot her head up, and locked eyes for a few moments with Princess Celestia.  Twilight gave a short bow and said in her ever friendly voice “Good Afternoon Princess!  I was wondering what was taking you so long,” she gave a little smile to indicate she had meant no disrespect, though she and the Princess often talked as friends instead of Princess-to-subject.  “Oh, I’m sorry My Little Pony.  I was trying to get all of the tangles out of my mane,” Princess Celestia smiled easily down at Twilight.

“It’s alright Princess, I do that when I get up too,” Twilight giggled softly as she joked with the Princess.  Then, in an excited voice she asked “Now, what should we study first?” Twilight turned and looked at the stack of books that was almost as tall as Celestia herself and continued “I thought that maybe we could study "A History of Powerful Spells" or "Horns and Hooves: A guide to Perfect Magic".  I was hoofing through the first one, and I have to say that I’d very much like to try out some of the spells in there; I've never even heard of some of them before,” Twilight felt she was being selfish, so she asked “What book do you want to study Princess?”  Twilight grinned up at the Princess, eager of course to hear what Princess Celestia's wise and knowledgeable mind had in store for her.

“They both sound fine to me Twilight.  We can read anything you like,” was her soft reply.  Twilight skipped around and grabbed the already open “A History of Powerful Spells” from the top of the stack.  She then pulled a cushion from one of the sofas using her magic, and placed it beside her.  She then turned and smiled up at the Princess, making her come forward and take a seat next to Twilight.

Twilight flipped to one of the pages she had been referring to and began to read aloud an explanation of the spells.  Celestia sat all but immersed with Twilight’s beautiful voice; it seemed like she had the perfect voice to Princess Celestia.  They spent hours reading the book over and discussing the history and other aspects of that particular spell, sometimes moving quickly, and sometimes not so quickly on to another spell.  They also talked of some of the spells that Twilight had just discovered (Princess Celestia explaining them with her mastery of magic and spellcasting), debated over which spells would be useful in Twilight’s adventures and studies of friendship and which would not, and finally tested some of the new, lighter spells on the old books in the library.  Twilight taking extra care with the old tomes of course, as Princess Celestia instructed her patiently.