Twilight Sparkle's Tome of Creatures
Friendship is Fantasy, part 1 (Part 1)
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.
Peace reigned for a time. Ponies lived in harmony. As did the two sisters. Then a great Darkness cret through the lands of Equestria. Like a vile worm, it burrowed into the younger sister, twisting her mind. The younger sister soon became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.
One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the Darkness within the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare: Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. With the lands shrouded in darkness, monsters from beyond Equestria's borders swarmed into the weakened lands. Ponykind was unprepared for the forces of Darkness.
The elder sister tried to reason with Nightmare Moon. Yet Nightmare Moon refused to listen. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both...
"Sun and Moon..." Twilight Sparkle read, narrowing her eyes at he the book laying on the grass in front of her. "...and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since." She flipped to the next page. However, the author of the book then decided to move on to a new subject.
Twilight blinked once. Twice.
"What?! Wait! No! Go back! What happened to the monsters that invaded?! What about the Darkness?! What about the Elements of Harmony?! Who the buck wrote this?!" She slammed the book closed with a blast of magic and glared at the spine. "History of Equestria: Revised Fifth Edition. No author listed... because of course there's not!" Twilight snapped. She shut her eyes and rubbed a hoof against her temple. "I'm sure there's a better version somewhere..." She opened her eyes. "Wait a sec. Elements of Harmony..... I'm sure I've heard that name before....."
With a hum, Twilight levitated the book into her saddlebags, got up, stretched, and trotted towards the nearby stone pathway.
"There you are Twilight!" A voice caught Twilight's attention. She swirled her ears towards the voice in confusion. Then turned her whole head to see who had called her name. She saw her friends Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette trotting towards her. Twinkleshine smiled at her. "Moon Dancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?"
"Sorry girls... " Twilight said weakly. "I've got a lot of studying to catch up on."
With that Twilight backed away with an awkward smile, then spun around and galloped away.
Twilight furrowed her brows in thought as she pushed the door open to her personal library. "Spike? Spike!" She called out. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed that there was a significant lack of personal assistant. "Spike? Where'd you go?"
"Sorry Twi!" A high-pitched yelp called from above. "I was reshelving some of the books you'd stopped reading."
From high on a bookshelf, figure a clung by a claw. He was reptilian. Red scales covered his body, with the exception of the cream colored hide on his under jaw and the front of his torso. He was skinny, seemingly lacking much muscle. His feet bore three clawed digits and his hands bore four clawed digits A pair of black horns protruded from the back of his head, and a pair of bright green eyes peered down at the mare. A tail gently whipped back and forth curiously. A pair of leathery wings sat tightly furled on his back. His only clothing was a pair of black shorts at his waist.
"Spike! You know I hate when you reshelve books I was reading!" Twilight whined.
"And I hate it when you just leave books lying around for me to trip over!" Spike countered, pointing a claw at her. "Plus, it's only the books you haven't picked up in four months. I have lists for these things you know!"
"Fine. I don't like it, but I see your point." Twilight sighed, shook her head, then looked back up at the small dragon. "Why are you climbing instead of flying?"
"You try and fly while carrying your bodyweight in literature." Spike countered with a raised brow.
"Right....." Twilight said with a weak giggle. Her brow furrowed in thought. "I came here for a reason... Oh! Right! I need you to find me that copy of Predictions and Prophecies!" She said as she trotted across the room to the desk that sat in front of a large bay window that overlooked Canterlot. She opened her saddlebags drew out the lone book and set it on the desk. She then undid the strap on her saddle bags and let them drop to the floor.
"Predictions and Prophecies...." Spike hummed. "Right, that's under Mythology." He nodded. The small dragon kicked off the bookshelf, twisted in the air, unfurled his wings, and gently glided to the bookshelf on the other side of the room. Upon latching onto the new bookshelf, he furled his wings began crawling around the bookshelf, searching for his quarry.
"Found it!" The dragon called out, causing Twilight to look up at the dragon. Spike griped a rather hefty looking book in a claw while clinging to the bookshelf with his other three. "It's a bit heavy, want me to toss it down to you."
"Please." Twilight nodded. I don't want you hurting yourself.
"Thanks. Here you go." The dragon gave the book a light toss and Twilight easily caught it in her magic.
"Thank you Spike." She said as she flipped the book open.
"You're welcome." Spike responded as he glided his way down to the floor. His claws clicked on the stone as he walked over the the mare. "We going to Moondancer's party?"
"Hmmm? Oh. No." Twilight shook her head. "I was reading and something got stuck in my head. I think it's important." She gave the dragon a brief glance.
"Awwww, I was kinda looking forward to it, but if it's important." Spike deflated, his tail and wings dropped.
"Elements.... See Mare in the Moon..." Twilight quietly read aloud.
"Mare in the Moon.... Isn't that a myth?" Spike's brows knit in confusion as he crawled up onto Twilight's back so he could read over her shoulder.
"Spike, it's rude to read over somepony's shoulder." Twilight shot him a brief glare.
"Well I didn't want to wait for your ah ha moment." Spike gave the mare a small smirk.
"Fine." Twilight rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the book. She flipped pages until she found what she was looking for. "Mare.... Ah! The Mare in the Moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal."
"See... myth." Spike pointed a claw at the book.
"All myths have some basis in fact, Spike." Twilight retorted. "This doesn't mention anything about the Darkness, monsters, or Princess Celestia's sister.... Seriously? Why must we rewrite history? One book on history has about as much information as a book on myth." Twilight rubbed her eyes with a hoof, then returned her gaze to the book. She bit her lip and glanced over at the book on her desk. The book levitated off of the desk and rapidly flipped open to the section she'd previously been reading. She glanced between the two sections. "Okay, so if The Mare in the Moon is the Nightmare Moon from History of Equestria: Revised Fifth Edition.. Then that must mean The Mare in the Moon is Princess Celestia's sister."
"Princess Celestia has a sister?" Spike asked as he looked at the recently opened book. "Huh... she does. Who knew?"
"Very few pony's obviously." Twilight grumbled. "I had to pull this out of the Canterlot Castle Archives." She gently shook History of Equestria. "I'd have prefered an older version, but there wasn't an older version. There are massive gaps in both of these books and it bothers me!"
"...longest day of the thousandth year... Wait..... Isn't that....." Spike's face contorted into a grimace of concentration. "Isn't that the Summer Sun Celebration.... like the Summer Sun Celebration that's in two days?"
"What?!" Twilight yelped, simultaneously dropping the books and knocking Spike off her back. Spike pulled himself back to his feet as Twilight rounded on him. "You mean to say that a potential world ending catastrophe might be happening in two days and nopony's doing anything about it!?"
"Seems like it?" Spike frowned while crossing his arms over his chest.
"Spike, take a letter!" Twilight snapped as she levitated a quill, and a piece of parchment to the dragon while she began to frantically pace.
"Sure thing, your kinesis writing is terrible when you're panicking." Spike shrugged and held the quill over the parchment. "Go on."
Twilight took a shakey breath. "My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster! For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
"Spar-kle. Got it." Spike nodded.
"Great! Send it!" Twilight snapped.
"You don't want to mention the fact that you think it's her sister?... or the fact that this Darkness might be involved?... Or that monsters might possibly become evil when she comes back or something?" Spike asked wit ha raised brow.
"All of that might just be conjecture. We don't have enough information." Twilight glanced over at the dragon.
"That is a good point." Spike pointed aclaw at her as he climbed onto the desk, returned the quill to its inkwell, rolled up the scroll, sealed it with wax, took a breath, and incinerated it in a breath of bright red flames. The smoke cloud that formed swiftly sped away. "Ya know, Princess Celestia might be more than a bit busy. She's also planning for the Summer Sun Celebration."
"I know.... Maybe I overreacted?" Twilight sat on her haunches, and let her ears droop.
"You do tend to do that when you get into reading. Yet, I would honestly not be surprised if you're right." Spike hopped of the desk and walked over the the mare. He patted her on the back. "You can't really say anything's a myth when we live in a world where pony's control the weather and magic is a common thing. Given enough time history turns into myth."
"And now I'm getting worried again." Twinight shook her head then look at Spike. "Spike, distract me. Where is the Summer Sun Celebration being held this year anyway?"
"Hmmm, Ponyville if I'm remembering correctly." Spike tapped his chin in thought.
"It's that that multicultural town that's right outside the Everfree Forest?" Twilight frowned.
"Yep, the same." Spike nodded. "I've been meaning to visit there at some point, see if there are any dragons or dragonborn."
"Still not convinced you're a baby dragon?" Twilight gave him a cheeky grin and a light nudge.
"Twi, I stopped growing when I was three and stopped maturing when I was six." Spike responded flatly with a blank stare at his "employer." "The numbers don't add up. Just because princess Celestia says I' m a baby dragon, doesn't mean I am one."
"Well maybe we'll have to go to Ponyville together some ti-" Twilight was cut of as Spike leaned away fro mher and belched out a cloud of smoke. The smoke swirled, and with a pop, a scroll dropped into Spike claws.
"That was surprisingly fast." Spike said as he unrolled the scroll. He held it out to Twilight.
"I'm too nervous to read it." Twilight waved it away with a hoof.
"Okay." Spike shrugged and unrolled the scroll. He cleared his throat. "My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books! Ouch... that's a bit harsh."
"But she's not wrong, I do. Please continue." Twilight responded and gestured for him to go on.
"My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!" The dragon finished and looked up at Twilight.
Twilight blinked. "Friends? I don't need friends, I have you!"
"I'm more family than a friend, Twi." Spike chuckled. "So she's not wrong on the friends part. Also, hey we get to go to Ponyville. Lucky timing right?"
"Right...." Twilight sighed.
"Hey, Twi." Spike placed a claw on her shoulder. "She didn't exactly say that Nightmare Moon didn't exist. You never know, maybe she's playing chessmaster. Maybe she's sending you to Ponyville so you can make friends, so you can stop Nightmare Moon when she shows up?"
Twilight chuckled and gave Spike a weak smile. "Now who's been reading too many books?"
"Look on the bright side.... She gave us a list too." Spike pulled a piece parchment off of back of the letter. "We got a list of who to talk to, and- sweet! She's having us stay in the town library!"
Twilight perked up. "Really?"
"Yeah." Spike nodded with a grin. "Ya know, this library might have other books. You might be able to find something on Nightmare Moon's return."
"True...." Twilight hummed.
"Twi, even if the Nightmare Moon thing is a bust, we'll still get to go to Ponyville, we'll still get to stay in a library and we'll still get to meet tons of new people." Spike grinned at the mare. "You never know, you might actually make some friends out of this experience."
Twilight brightened. She stood up with a smile on her face. "You're right Spike. This is going to be a wonderful experience! Now we can take the train-"
"Uh- Sorry Twi, were getting dropped off via pegasi-pulled carriage." Spike said with a wince.
Twilight blinked and looked down at the dragon. "I hate flying....."
