"Who told you that name?!" I screamed.

The Princess trembled and put her hooves up. "T-Tempest, calm down. Please." Her body quivered as much as her voice did. Sweat beaded down her forehead, and her eyes were wide and locked with mine.

"Who told you?!" I reared up, threatened to turn her skull into puddy. "Who told you?!"

A flash of light blinded me. Twilight was gone.

I turned my head. She stood a few feet away, her eyes struggling to hold my gaze. My hooves stomped forward. My blood rushed with strength. There was a distant rustling, but I could barely hear it over the throbbing of my heart. A voice screamed to charge her down.

It screamed to buck her in the face.

"Who... told... you?"

Before she could answer, something hard hit me. The force swept me off my hooves, smashed me into the dirt. I wheezed to find two Royal Guards pinning me to the ground. I flexed my muscles, lifted my shoulders upward, but they slammed me back down.

"Are you alright Princess?"

"Where did you two come from?" Twilight narrowed her eyes at them. "I didn't see any guards in the garden."

"We were present, Princess."

"Present where?"

"Present, Princess."

I looked at them. Twilight was right; there weren't any ponies in the garden earlier. It was only Twilight and myself. The grounds were as empty as a rosebush in winter.

At least, that's what I thought.

I narrowed my eyes at the second guard. A stray twig lodged itself between the chest and shoulder plates of his armor, and his horseshoes were wet and caked with dirt.

Twilight must have noticed, as she was staring at the second guard as well. "Well. The threat is subdued, as you see. I no longer require your assistance."

"But Princess — "

"No buts." The Princess' furrowed her brow. "You two are dismissed. As the ranking pony present, you have direct orders to take your break. To do otherwise would be a direct violation of chain of command. Is that understood?"

The guards frowned and exchanged looks. "But Princess..."

"No buts!" She stomped her hoof. The guards jolted like she speared them in the flank. Even I had to take a step back. "Is that understood, or should I take this to your superiors?"

The guards exchanged looks again, then a collective gulp. "No Princess."

"Good." The Princess stepped forward, forced the guards back. She gave them one last glare, then leaned in close to me. "Come with me."

I nodded.

We vanished in a flash of purple light.

When the light faded, we were surrounded by books.

Shelves as tall as houses stretched high to the sky. Dusty spines stretched farther than the eye could see. They came in dull, flavorless colors like burly brown or pallid purple. The air weighed thick and heavy, and the scent of earth and pine assaulted my nostrils. I rubbed my nose to avoid sneezing my brains out.

I turned to Twilight. "What was th-...?"

"Shh."

I blinked to her. "Shh what? What were those gu-"

"Shh." She pointed to a nearby poster. A silhouette pressed a hoof against it's mouth, above big bold letters that read, "QUIET PLEASE".

If my eyes rolled any further, they would've fallen out of my head.

"Princess stuff," she whispered, then stared at the ground. "Those guards were doing princess stuff. You'd understand if you had important people caring about you."

I blinked again. She blinked back, then gasped and covered her mouth. "Not saying important people don't care about you. I'm sure they do! I only mea-"

"I got it."

The Princess fell silent. She opened her jaw to speak, but nothing came out. She then looked left, then right, before back to me. "Come."

I didn't see elsewhere to go, so I followed.

She led me through the maze of bookshelves with uncanny speed. The Princess would trot down one corridor, take a sharp turn, then dash straight to the other before taking another turn. I lost her several times during our journey. I had to stop and wait before she'd backtrack and we'd continue again.

We found a dark, dusty corner away from the rest of the public. Distant hoof-steps reverberated off white marble walls on the way over here.

Now it was completely silent.

A spark fell from the Princess' horn, followed by a second, then a third. I turned and stared at her magic. The sparks began sticking together, then collected into a ball of light on the tip of her horn. It flooded the shelves with bright, periwinkle light.

I made a mental note of this.

"Hmm..." The Princess frowned as she scanned the spines. "It should be here somewhere..."

I turned my head, spotted a rolling ladder to my right. I walked over to it, gave it a firm push. The sticky, worn metal groaned, then lurched forward. It squealed like a mouse being butchered.

But it was operational.

"Ah, perfect. Bring it here." She tilted her head forward, then stepped back. I pushed it into place, and we began our ascent.

The Princess went up first.

Granted, ladders aren't the easiest thing to climb with hooves. Ponies are far more comfortable on the ground, unless you're a pegasus. But the steps were wide and fat, and you could wrap your hooves around the vertical beams to keep on.

The restraints didn't make it easier though. I clung to the left beam with both hooves, then awkwardly squirmed each step.

"You doing okay down there?"

I looked up. I regretted it.

My eyes were presented with an uncensored view of the Princess' plot. Two round fuchsia cheeks parted to reveal her tight, unadulterated tailhole, and the slightly parted halves of her netherlips. A faint, but new scent drifted into my nose as well, one that was hot and sweet as all Tartarus.

I didn't need to lean to tell what was that smell.

"Tempest?"

My heart skipped a beat. My mouth went dry. I tried swallowing, but my tongue was as parched as the badlands of Equestria. Nothing I did returned it to normal.

"Tempest, are you okay? Say something."

I was dead.

It had to be a crime to stare at a royal plot. Voyeurism. Sexual harassment. Spying. They were going to jail me for good now. Lock me up until the flesh rotted off my bones. I was never going to see the light of day, never to repair my horn. Never to get a second chance.

It wasn't after a while did I realize I was still staring at her ass.

"Y-yes." I coughed below her. "I'm here, just... distracted."

The Princess looked at me. She stared at my face, then herself. Her tail flicked downward, concealed her rear, then turned back to the ladder. The light was dim, and her spell washed everything in a reddish-blue light.

I swear a blush filled her cheeks however.

We continued up the ladder. The climb stretched on and on. Eventually we were alone, surrounded only by dusty bookshelves and darkness. I couldn't see the ground anymore. All that awaited was a black, bottomless void, ready to eat any pony who dared slip off the ladder.

I sure didn't.

"Ah-ha! Found it!"

The Princess stopped. I didn't. My head bumped into the Princess' rear, causing her to yipe out. "Sorry..."

"It's fine. Here, hold on." An aura wrapped around two places: the Princess' horn, and a book roughly five hoofsteps from me. The book slid out, then levitated over to me. I awkwardly straddled the ladder and held the book with a forehoof to open it up.

What I saw made my breath catch.

Lined in neat, organized rows were pictures. Dozens of tiny pictures. They were small, and many were blurry or overexposed. I could tell they were fillies and colts though. Underneath each tiny picture in tinier print were names. Amber Night. Cinnamon Moon. Comet Storm.

They were my old classmates.

"Why are you showing me this?" I looked to the Princess.

"You asked who told me that name. I'm showing you." A smile crossed her lips. "Granted, I needed a little help from the Storm Guard. Your friend Grubber was particularly helpful."

"He's not my friend." I turned my head down, continued through the pages. I soon reached a filly with a beautiful pomegranate mane. Her eyes sparkled with life, and her smile was as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Hiya there, the filly squeaked to me. I'm Fizzlepop Berrytwist! I'm going to be the most powerful unicorn Equestria's ever seen! You'll see!

I know it's going to be hard, but I know I can do it! Anything's possible when you have such great friends!

What's your name?

I closed the book.

The world tightened, squeezed until I was about to burst. Heat flooded my face, insanely so, like a spotlight was turned up on me. My eyes glazed and became glassy, while my teeth choked any sound trying to escape.

"You found this yourself?" My voice was a whisper, barely above the hiss of the Princess' spell.

"... I did."

"Can you find something else?"

The Princess took a sharp inhale, like she was punched in the gut. Several seconds passed before either of us spoke.

"... I can."

I looked at her. "Can you find how to fix my horn?"

Silence. The Princess frowned. She opened her mouth, made a hesitant sound, then frowned and fell silent again. Her eyes looked away from me.

I knew it.

The sigh that left my lips wasn't of disappointment, but of expectation. I lifted the book, gestured for her to take it. After she levitated it away, I lowered my head and climbed down the ladder.

When I reached about halfway, she called out. "Follow me."

As the Princess led deeper into the library, I knew something was wrong.

The beautiful maple bookshelves were now raw, metal frames with thick plates locked over them. The smooth, cool tiled floors gave way to dull concrete. If we were strayed from the public before, we've abandoned it completely now. It felt like an entirely different dimension.

This was somewhere ponies weren't meant to be.

"Unicorn horns are very tricky," she said, as she stopped at the end of a hall. "For one, it's very hard to gain information about them. The only way scientists have been able to study horns is either a) when someone's sick, or b) when they're dead. Only problem, when a pony dies, the horn dies soon with it. So the latter isn't very useful."

I skim past a bookcart and trot up to her. "Why hasn't any pony researched while they're alive then?"

"We have. There's only so much you can learn without harming the subject though. A horn is a unicorn's connection to the Weave. It's their way to manipulate the natural raw magic flowing through Equestria and the outer lands."

She gave me an icy stare. "Mess with it in the wrong way, the unicorn could lose its magic. Or worse."

I took in a sharp inhale. "Okay. No messing with horns. So what does this freaky-looking door have to do with it then?"

A massive metal door stood a few feet away, in the shape of a cogwheel. In the center of the cog were several archaic runes carved into it. The runes were four circles, with each circle filled with a unique geometric design. It made little sense to me. To someone who knew magic however...

"This is the Vault of Forbidden Knowledge." The Princess stared at the behemoth before her. "Technically, it's the Vault of Forbidden Knowledge and Taboo Magical Items. The former is easier to say though."

She looked at me with a cheeky grin. I didn't laugh.

"Anyways. I told you a unicorn could lose its magic if tampered with. You could imagine because of that, there wouldn't be many volunteers. No one wants to be crippled for life." Her gaze snapped to my broken horn, and she frowned. "No offense."

"None taken."

The Princess turned to the door, and her horn and the runes lit up. "Well, some ponies didn't ask for permission. Some experimented on unicorns regardless of the risks. Regardless of the pain and torment to the patient."

The patterns shifted, then spun, like the tumblers of a lock sliding into place. Her eyes flicked to and fro, like she was taking apart the most complex puzzle known to ponykind.

She barely broke a sweat.

"Of course," she said. "Once they were discovered, they were promptly arrested, then imprisoned in the dungeons. The research they gathered however was brought here."

I looked toward the Princess. "Who is allowed access to the vault?"

She glanced toward me, then away. Silence.

The runes and her horn ceased their glow. The Princess sucked in a breath, held it for a long time. The cog pushed inward. The library trembled in fear.

The cog detached from the frame, then rolled to the left.

The Princess released her breath.

She entered without another word.

Author's Note

Hiya everyone!

Once again, thank you to everyone liking, tracking, and following me. I'm extremely happy that this story gave you a bit of enjoyment (or at least burned some time ;) ). These chapters are becoming a bit harder to crank out since it's been so long since I saw the movie.

The next is already in-progress however. Hopefully it'll be out in about a week from now.

See ya then!