Chapters
“The good news? The first shipment from Tall Tale will be here in three weeks. Maybe less.”
Twilight Sparkle blinked. Only three weeks? “The schedule called for four.”
Moondancer giggled softly, her hooves making soft ringing noises on floor. “That’s only when you don’t offer them a new exhibit of Starswirl Manuscripts.”
“T-That’s cheating!” Twilight flushed, completely annoyed by the underhanded trading on the great unicorn’s works and not at all annoyed by the fact that she’d never thought of it.
“That’s the library system,” Moondancer shrugged, glancing back at her and adjusting her new cat-eye glasses.
“Okay, fine , what else?” Twilight demanded as she flung open a door to hide the fact that she wasn’t thinking about how much those glasses made Moondancer look her new part.
Moondancer flushed. Her ears flatted even though Twilight caught a hint of a smile. “In order? Since Manehattan is already in the works, Hollow Shades, Somnambula—the town, not the pony—and Mount Aris."
Twilight’s brain locked up before her body as she crashed into Moondancer. Physical contact made her brain go from a locking up into twisting in on itself. She had to teleport herself a few feet away as she stared at her friend. “You… you managed… you managed to get a deal for a book exchange with a foreign nation?”
Moondancer sat there and seemed to hunch over. She flushed and slowly nodded, biting her lip. “Is… is that okay? I mean… oh, please tell me I didn’t break some trade embargo or treaty or something…”
Twilight had never even attempted such a thing. Sure, she’d visited other nations, but never in her role as a… well, that wasn’t important right now because that wasn’t her role instead the role would be filled by this wonderful, insightful and by-Celestia-she’s-good-at-this pony.
“No… no that’s… that’s, um… fine,” she managed to stammer.
“Fine?” Moondancer answered hollowly, not quite meeting her eyes.
“Great, actually! Sorry, fine is… well, you’re definitely fine, but better than fine and now let’s focus just on how much more you’ve already done for this place than I ever did because of… things demanding attention that won’t let me—” Twilight shut down her vocal chords through an intense act of will—which was far less embarrassing than having to use magic to lock her own mouth shut. “I’m… just really impressed, Moondancer. I never… you were made for this job. I’m… surprised you aren’t running your own library.”
“Well…” Moondancer played with a few stray locks of her purple and red mane. “No library really… there wasn’t one that really ever fit.”
Awkward silence teleported into the hallway. A lot of it. A whole huge mess of it. Enough that the door she’d flung open actually had time to close on its own. The bang startled both of them and brought them back into reality.
“Okay, right!” Twilight cried. “I should… right. Need to finish the tour!”
“Right.”
“Right.”
“Right.”
Twilight marched forward and didn’t focus on the faint blush still present on Moondancer’s cheeks for… reasons. She didn’t focus on her own unsteady heartbeat. She also didn’t focus on things other than the thing she was supposed to be doing!
“And, of course, we have the Central Library right here!”
A flash of raspberry magic pushed the massive doors inward, revealing the three-story room packed with shelves upon shelves of books in every shape, color and size. Beauty incarnate, right here. Everything anypony could ever want, really. It was perfect.
“Oh… oh wow.”
“I know, right? It’s not as homey as the Golden Oaks, but at least you don’t have to go from room to room to find that one volume! Right? Right.”
Twilight had finally gotten the twitch repressed. It had taken years , but she wasn’t going to crack today of all days. She’d worked too long and too hard to make this day a reality. Didn’t matter what it had cost. It was necessary . She was good at that. Doing what’s necessary .
Anyway, a twitch would demand questions. Questions would demand answers. And answers would demand the mare beside her flee from the crazy princess who still had more emotional baggage than she knew what to do with.
Yeah!
Everything was fine.
“I… this? I get to actually run this? ” Moondancer adjusted her glasses and peered up at Twilight. Her eyes were wide and her normally pale cheeks were flushed with color, like most of the times she ended up spending around Twilight and/or large numbers of books. “All of this? All of these books?”
“Uh…” Twilight blinked a few times. Had she missed something? They’d just been talking about her plans on filling the gaps in the library’s catalogue. In fact, Twilight had been very clear in her letters and her personal visits. She’d even had the official offer notarized by Ditzy Doo herself, which was no mean feat! Though for reasons beyond Twilight’s comprehension, Moondancer had seemed briefly disappointed by the offer. “Yes? I thought we talked about this. Like… five minutes ago? You talked about the orders and the exchanges…?”
“We did!” Moondancer squealed, then clapped her hooves over her mouth.
Twilight couldn’t help but scratch her head.
“I’m sorry,” Moondancer said, her ears and tail down in embarrassment. “I’m… I’m just excited. Really excited. I… it’s just a lot to take it all at once. This is just the biggest library in the Castle and… yeah , I’m excited.”
“You are? I mean, of course you are!” Twilight laughed in a way that wasn’t nervous or awkward or anything like that. “Who wouldn’t be? I mean, it’s not the Canterlot Cosmopolitan or the Royal Canterlot Archives, but since Ponyville’s new public library won’t be open for at least ten more years…”
“Wait a minute…” Moondancer cocked her head, a bit of a red-and-purple mane falling over her right eye. Then, she slowly began to smile. “Did you have trouble finding someone to take the job, Princess?”
“No!” Twilight cried—and clapped her hooves over her mouth. “No, not at all and anyway why would you say something so silly?”
“Because you’re… well, you’re sort of rambling.” Her ears flicked slightly.
“Am I rambling? I do that when I’m excited, not that I’m too overly excited just the regular kind of excited! I’m just happy to have someone get to actually take time and take care of my—I mean Ponyville’s—books. That’s all!”
“Twilight?” Moondancer’s smile grew a little. “Please. How long have we known each other? What’s really going on here? Are you setting me up for something? Again?”
That smile—normally somewhat charming—was actually rather annoying at the moment. As if she knew some deep dark secret of Twilight’s which was totally impossible unless she had forgotten something bad from her past which she couldn’t really be sure of and—
“Twilight?”
The second repetition of her name—this time using a vague note of concern—caused a sudden halt to Twilight’s brief spiral of… whatever that had been and allowed her to focus on the pony standing beside her in the Castle of Friendship’s Central Library. Now, if anything, Moondancer looked rather concerned. Her little topknot twitched back and forth as she studied Twilight. She adjusted her glasses in a bit of her pink magic before blinking owlishly at her.
“Twilight… I was just trying to tease you. I know you probably had thousands of ponies lined up for this.” Now, the teasing tone was entirely gone, replaced by a frown and a much stronger note of concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Who said anything was wrong?” Twilight asked with a laugh, waving her wings to make the question fly away to somewhere it was wanted or needed which was anywhere that was not here. “Nothing’s wrong!”
“Then why are your wings flapping like that?” Moondancer pointed at her sides. She looked rather unimpressed. Which was wrong because she was in the Central Library of the Castle of Friendship! “I’m not blind , Twilight. Something’s bothering you.”
“Oh, probably just nerves. Princess or headmare stuff causing additional unconscious stress. Instead, we should be focusing on you! You’re the one who just arrived to your new home and your new job! Not that I’m worried about that of course!”
“No, I don’t think you’re worried about that at all,” Moondancer stepped a bit closer and Twilight studied her neat little black sweater, noting that the thread binding her second button was somewhat loose. She definitely didn’t study the fact that Moondancer’s blush was still there or she looked really worried or that she showed no interest in the books and instead studied her like she was some sort of crazy pony!
“Twilight, we’ve been friends for years. Yes, we had some time where we weren’t really friends. But that was a long time ago. So, be honest. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong! Just a teeny tiny tad overworked and overstressed and overloaded from… all the things. So, you should probably familiarize yourself with the manual on this section of the Library! You can find the manual over there at the new circulation desk! Which of course you know because you wrote like… half of it! So it’ll be an easy read!” Twilight pointed with a wing at the giant crystalline desk festooned with folders, files, parchment and records that would allow Moondancer to be an excellent librarian—besides her innate skills of course which went completely without mention. “I’ve updated some of the terminology and made a few modifications to the catalogue system after I reviewed the various codexes and bylaws of the RCA and sixteen city-wise library systems as a basis point to cover the Central, East, West, North, South, Upper and Lower libraries of the Castle of Friendship. And I know it’s a lot to take in, but I’ve found in something like this the best way is to jump right into things and not worry about anything Princess and/or Headmare-related that might be causing stress to an old friend, so with that I’ll let you get started and check on you later!”
Moondancer opened her mouth to say something, but thankfully, Twilight teleported away before she managed to speak.
Twilight arrived exactly where she intended to, namely, in her own private library, which was nice and safe as part of her suite of quarters in the Castle behind a few dozen shields and wards that would alert her if anypony—or anycreature—tried to come in.
She also arrived in a ball on the floor . That was off-target. Simply inexcusable. She’d missed the pillow she’d been aiming for. However, a second teleport fixed that and she mentally committed to a new morning regimen of precision teleports every morning after dawn for the next six weeks to make sure it never happened again.
Then she was comfortably huddled on the pillow on the floor, away from anypony who could see her. Or interrupt her. Or bother her. Or—
“Hey, Twi.”
“Gak!” Twilight immediately tried to teleport to Sonambula—the town, not the pony. However, a magic nearly as strong as hers snapped into place, locking her to her present dimensional plane and preventing her from escaping. It was rather rude, really. Who did that? With that escape plan foiled, she continued to hide in her ball, hoping the pony who had invaded her special place would take the hint and leave post-haste.
She could run or fly, but then she’d have to interact with other ponies even more . That was not an option.
“So, you’re going to just stay curled up in that ball?” said a familiar—and unwanted—voice. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, your wings are nice and all, but I really prefer seeing the pony . I don’t get to see her as a pony as often as I’d like, you know.”
“Go away,” Twilight mumbled, trying to curl up a little further and covering her head with her feathers.
“Yeah, we both know that’s not going to happen, Twi.”
“I’m not entertaining guests at the moment,” she mumbled and then realized she needed to preen a little better. Rainbow Dash would be furious at the current state of her feathers. Problems for another time. When ponies weren’t harassing her for absolutely no reason! “Please leave a message at the… honk?”
“It’s beep, Twi.”
“Beep, then! I knew that. Of course I knew that! BEEEEEEEEEP!”
Then, unsurprisingly, she was completely silent. Just to annoy Twilight, obviously.
Of course. Offer Sunset Shimmer a chance to actually explain the reason she’s bothering the Princess of Friendship in her private library and she wouldn’t take it because it just wasn’t her style.
Typical. Just typical.
“You done being dramatic?”
“No. Rarity’s been giving me lessons and I have at least twenty-two other techniques before I move into her advanced material!”
“Sure she has.” Sunset actually let out a little sigh. “Okay, we’ll do this the hard way.”
Before Twilight could get a ward up, Sunset teleported her onto one of the library’s many comfy sofas. At least she was nice enough to do so with a pillow—sadly smaller than her floor pillow—which Twilight immediately grabbed and clutched in front of her like an ancient shield. Without much choice—due to the smaller pillow—Twilight decided to peek out from behind her shield and upon the pony who had so rudely intruded into her life.
Sunset Shimmer had changed her mane a little. The fiery wash of hair now waterfalled more to the right than the left. Twilight’s right, not Sunset’s. The amber unicorn had curled up on the other side of the long couch, smiling a strange little smile that was half motherly and half impish. Her eyes danced as she watched Twilight as calmly as Princess Celestia once had whenever Twilight had a exceedingly rare incident of becoming slightly overwhelmed.
“Who sent for you?”
“Starlight.”
“I’m going to fire her in about ten minutes.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Ugh, fine, no I’m not!”
Sunset’s smile grew.
“What did she say?” Twilight demanded, her ears flat and her voice gruff.
“Let’s see, Dash is off on tour in Griffonstone. Pinkie’s still on her honeymoon with Skystar, Spike’s helping Rarity do Fashion Week in Canterlot, Fluttershy is hosting an animal care seminar at her sanctuary and Applejack’s preparing for the Zap Apple Harvest. Busy week for everypony really. And a little weird to go to two Pinkie Pie weddings in one week, but hey, it was pretty wild. I like this one better, though. The fins were fun.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow and glowered at her.
Sunset continued without missing a beat. “Starlight and Trixie are holding down the fort during the extended school weekend. And you haven’t told anypony else—including your best friends—about what’s been freaking you out. The only reason they haven’t figured it out is because they’re all crazy busy, otherwise, they would have beat me to this. Starlight tried and you promptly vanished from your office. So, she called in reinforcements rather than chasing you down herself. You should be proud of her. Good instincts.”
“I’m surrounded by traitors to the crown.”’
“Would you like me to get out your crown so I can kneel properly before you?” Sunset smirked. “I could use a stretch.”
“No!”
“Yeah, didn’t think so. Anyway, kneeling to you would be just… weird.”
“Starlight really told you all that?” Twilight demanded, still staying as hidden as she could be behind her pillowy-shield. “Why would she tell you all that?”
“Because usually one of your Ponyville friends normally gets you to chill before reach this level of freakout. Since they were busy and you wouldn’t listen to her… it was either me or Celestia. We both agreed you’d become a lot worse if we involved Celestia.”
“That’s completely untrue!”
“Starlight found out about the Smarty-Pants Incident.”
“You’re sure I can’t fire her? Maybe just banish?”
“Nope.”
“You’re all evil.” Twilight groaned and buried her head in her pillow. She tried again. “Go away?”
“Not happening,” Sunset replied in a song-song voice.
“How’d you even know to come here?” Twilight mumbled.
“I saw you coming into the castle with… Moondancer, right? Then I just waited for a wild teleport spell. Since you’re giving up control over most of your books… I knew you’d end up here . Also, that’s the third time you’ve asked for explanations about me being here instead of talking to me about why you’re here.”
“I really hate my life.”
“No, you don’t.”
“No, I don’t!” Twilight screamed and flung the pillow at Sunset, who caught it in her magic without even a blink. “But I do want to be left alone right now!”
Sunset tossed the pillow aside and scooted closer until she could wrap a foreleg around Twilight. Too exhausted to fight back, Twilight let the annoying unicorn pull her against Sunset’s chest. A few moments later, Twilight could hear Sunset’s annoyingly calm breathing and equally-annoying steady heartbeat.
Despite every instinct in her body, Twilight found herself relaxing. She wasn’t sure how long they sat there, as Twilight had closed her eyes to prevent herself from watching the clock, because clocks—while important—often caused anxiety in lavender Princesses. Well-known scientific fact. One that had been gleefully proven by one Starlight Glimmer—with the assistance of most of Ponyville, her friends and students included.
However, the time did come to a close when Sunset gently pulled away from her. For a moment, she found herself missing Sunset’s warmth, but she managed to sit up instead of whining. Well, whining much. After all, if she wasn’t against Sunset, she’d have to deal with the thing that made her freak out. Eventually.
“How are you doing, Twi?” Sunset asked, her voice even and calm, though Twilight suspected she sensed a tiny bit of worry in Sunset’s tone.
Great. Now she was upsetting her friends. And now she had guilt! Better than panic, she supposed.
“I’m… better,” Twilight mumbled, having to fight the desire to sulk. “Thanks.”
Sunset nodded, apparently having no desire to rub it in. Not that she would… usually… but Twilight probably would deserve it. Instead, Twilight just looked at Sunset, watching her eyes.
“You know the rest of the girls aren’t all out of town, don’t you?” Twilight said with a defeated sigh as she stared at her hooves.
“I did think it was a bit too convenient for Fashion Week, the Zap Apple Harvest and a Griffonstone Wonderbolts Show to all happen at the same time. As far as I could tell, the only one missing is Pinkie, of course.”
“Starlight should be a better liar,” Twilight growled to nopony.
“I guess you reformed her too well, so that’s your fault,” Sunset replied with a smirk.
“Har, har.”
“So, real question: why are you avoiding all of your friends? Starlight was telling the truth when she said they’re the ones who usually get you to relax.” She chuckled. “Half of the time with a song.”
Twilight flopped back on the couch and cuddled another pillow on her chest, squeezing it as hard as she could. She lay like that for a little while before the words finally demanded to be said. At least some of them. Sunset didn’t get to know all of them.
“There’s… well… it’s complicated.” Twilight groaned. “Ever know someone so well that you know what they’re going to say without asking?”
Sunset snorted lightly. “Yeah. I know a few girls like that.”
Twilight waved her hooves in the air, then went back to trying to strangle her pillow. “It’s… that. I know what they’re all going to say. And the words just… drive me crazy! I’ve heard it all before! And… well… I’m… not sure what to do about it.”
Sunset waited, probably hoping that Twilight would say something else. “Do you want me to guess?” she finally asked.
“No.” Twilight sighed, rubbing her eyes. “No, I don’t.”
Sunset stood up and walked over so she could peer down at Twilight.
“I’ve got at least three,” Sunset offered. “I could—”
“Don’t.” Twilight stared up at her friend, letting a little bit of pleading slip into her voice. That’s all. She wasn’t… about to… actually…
She blinked a few times and swallowed. “Please?”
Sunset relented, but only a little. Which was about what Twilight had expected. It would have to do.
“Then you have to tell me why you had a total meltdown.”
Twilight closed her eyes and covered her head with her pillow. “Probably because all three of your guesses are right.”
Silence.
Silence was… unproductive! She didn’t need silence! She needed… well, she didn’t know what she needed, but it wasn’t silence. So, she peeked out again.
Her answer had seemed to take Sunset back a little. Literally. She’d climbed onto the couch again and now she was leaning back against it now, studying Twilight with a piercing gaze only an empath could have. Sunset had long ago developed an innate skill for reading both ponies and people after so much exposure to—and practice with—the Empathy Gem. A gem she noticed Sunset wasn’t wearing this time.
Something about that fact sent a wave of soothing down Twilight’s spine. Enough to relax her a little physically, though her mind still raced at its somewhat above-average pace.
Then, Sunset leaned forward, smiled warmly and asked, “Can I help?”
“I’ll tell you one of the three,” Twilight said slowly. “But only one. And then… I’ll go back to… back to Moondancer.”
“Does she know?”
“She might suspect them,” Twilight muttered. “She’s not the Moondancer I knew.”
“And you’re not the Twilight she knew,” Sunset pointed out, putting a hoof on hers. “Now, why don’t you tell me a story?”
“A story?” Just those two words were enough to get her wings to unruffle. “I think I can do that...”
Author's Note
For some reason, writing neurotic Twilight comes easily to me. I can't fathom why that's the case, but here we are. If you've got a skill, I guess you should use it?
Also, can you imagine? Two SkyPie weddings?! How awesome must that have been?!
If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!
With a brilliant flash of raspberry magic, Twilight teleported back into the Central Library. She appeared right in front of the circulation desk. She didn’t look or feel awkward. At all.
Moondancer looked up from the eight-inches-thick Manual of the Library of the Castle of Friendship, Volume 1. Then, she calmly put the book down, adjusted her glasses and looked at Twilight expectantly, which might have made Twilight feel awkward… and then extremely awkward.
Twilight withered under the gaze. “I guess I deserve that, huh?”
“Well, a little,” Moondancer said, her voice surprisingly even. “You just popped away without letting me get a real word in, Twilight. Not exactly friendly .”
The evenness vanished as she stressed that last word, her ears folding down a little in what was probably annoyance.
After a few moments, the expression of annoyance faded, only to transform into one of gentle sympathy, a look that seemed somewhat odd on her face, though it did bring out the color in her eyes. The faint blush also reappeared.
“But ,” Moondancer continued, her ears flicking to the sides of her head. “I’m not the pony you pulled out of a run-down shack. It’s been years since that . These days, I’ve got a pretty good idea when you’re freaking out about something.”
Twilight held up a hoof to get a word in, but Moondancer’s lapse into silence reminded her a great deal of walking up stairs, expecting another stair at the top, only to realize one had misjudged the stairs and there was actually no additional stair.
In other words, there was awkwardness.
“Uh.”
Moondancer smiled behind her new desk. It was so strange how well it suited her. Even if Twilight had never liked the crystals everywhere motif , Moondancer looked like she belonged here , which was madness since Moondancer had never had a chance to come and visit her in the Castle of Friendship and frankly Twilight much preferred the trip to Canterlot since Canterlot’s castle actually made sense so she had to wonder what had caused the creatio—
“Twilight, you’re spinning.”
“How do you know that!?” Twilight cried as she exited her spin. “I mean, yes, I’ve interviewed you for this position and we’ve spent loads of time together in the last couple of months and we practically wrote that manual together by visiting a few dozen different libraries… but… how can you know that?!”
Now, Moondancer giggled. She actually giggled . The nerve of the mare! Giggling at the Princess of Friendship in her own Castle! In her own Castle Library!
Except… now it wasn’t.
Her wings drooped just a hair.
“You know one of my favorite things about you, Twilight?” Moondancer said, leaning back in her chair a little, showing a magnitude of confidence that would have been downright disturbing had she not witnessed the growth of said confidence in the last several years. “You… haven’t really changed all that much.”
“What.” Twilight’s wings shot upright, almost as if they wanted to leapt off her body to go slap the other mare. “What.”
Moondancer lifted her hooves in an attempt to calm Twilight down before her wings could slap her silly. A wise move, really.
“No, not like that . You’re a better friend, a better pony, more skilled, more talented, more… well, almost more everything .” She eyed Twilight’s outstretched wings and blushed quite a bit harder. It was extremely noticeable against her pale coat. Twilight tried not to notice just how noticeable it was. “And then some.”
“And?” Twilight demanded, pushing away thoughts of blushes she’d been seeing for years and focusing on the matter at hoof. She had changed a lot since leaving Canterlot! Changed in so many ways!
“You still spiral! You did that when we were fillies, Twilight. You still get obsessed. It’s…” Moondancer licked her lips and blushed even deeper, which was… just… just… annoying . Or something. “Cute. Maybe… a little endearing. And… a reminder of old times, even if you were oblivious most of those old times.”
There were a few words in there her mind decided to skip, as she needed to set the record straight on very important matters that had nothing to do with avoiding things.
“I was not obli—”
Moondancer raised a single eyebrow.
“I was completely oblivious,” Twilight amended with a sigh.
“So was I,” Moondancer said softly. “And that’s okay . Because we’re both still the same ponies. I’m not a horrible antisocial recluse who lives in a tiny house that’s falling apart. You’re not somepony so obsessed with their studies that she forgets their friends even exist.” She giggled to soften the words. “Now? You’re Princess of Friendship. You’ve saved the world a good dozen times with your friends. You run the School of Friendship that’s reaching out to all races across the world. Ponies who were once your personal nemeses are now your closest confidants!”
“I… uh…”
“And me?” Moondancer leaned forward and smiled up at Twilight, her ears up and perky with pride. “I’ve received about three dozen awards for my research into… well, everything . I’m an Honorary Master Archivist of the RCA. I have four honorary doctorates. I have some of the best friends anypony could ask for and I just got asked by the Princess of Friendship to personally manage her castle’s library for an entire town.”
This time, Twilight didn’t manage to repress the twitch in time. And apparently, this time, Moondancer noticed. Twilight could see the realization dawn in the mare’s eyes. However, Moondancer didn’t move. She stayed completely still, as if Twilight were some sort of skittish animal. Which was an apt analogy as that’s very much what she felt like at present.
“Please don’t teleport away,” Moondancer whispered.
“I’m… I’m… trying,” Twilight said in all honesty. If she did, Sunset and/or Starlight would probably track her down in minutes. She had more raw power, but they had grown to have the same level of skill. She couldn’t use… Sunset said she couldn’t do that anymore. And she knew Sunset was right , but she wanted to run so badly right now. She didn’t want to deal with this. Why not just let Moondancer get settled in and then one day maybe fifty years in the future they could go over just what this was actually doing to Twilight on the inside and then just laugh about it until the pa—
“Sunset said that I wasn’t the pony you know,” Twilight whispered, shoving out the words before another spiral took her completely. “She told me you’re not the Moondancer I knew. But you just said we’re still the same… and I can’t get that out of my head.”
“Oh, so that was Sunset Shimmer I saw spying on us.” Moondancer giggled softly. “I’ve never even met the new her and I like the new her already.”
“She’s… wiser than I deserve.”
Moondancer sighed and slowly got out of her chair, but remained on her side of the circulation desk. “You deserve your friends, Twilight. And they deserve you. We’re both right.”
“They’re opposing facts!” Twilight protested, frowning. “They can’t both be true!”
“Like a pony can’t be deeply influenced by an event in their past they once believed they had conquered and still have trouble when things remind them of that event?” Moondancer asked quietly.
Twilight flinched backward and found herself again fighting the need to teleport away.
“Twilight?” Moondancer’s voice was soft and quiet, the perfect timbre for a library conversation. “It’s been around ten years since you fought so hard to fix things between us. Since you pried me out of my shell and let me see the ponies around me for the second time. Since then, you’ve taken your time to see me at least once a month. And… in the last few years, you’ve spent even more time with me.”
She paused for a moment, blushed again, and smiled. “And… well… at this point I’m pretty sure you—”
A strange buzzing filled Twilight’s ears, centered somewhere in her chest as she wondered if—
Moondancer cut herself off and shook her head. “Not… not the right time, sorry.”
Twilight’s wings remained outstretched, though she couldn’t figure out why. Her mane was starting to frizz with the effort of not getting out of here. Her entire body shook as she fought her stupid biological flight or fight response—which served no purpose here and now in her own Castle!
Despite Twilight’s obvious discomfort, Moondancer slowly walked around the crystal circulation desk and stepped up in front of Twilight. She bit her lip, looked Twilight up and down, adjusted her glasses, then finally put a hoof on Twilight’s chest.
“A long time ago, you showed me that friends let their other friends in. Will you let me in?”
Twilight finally closed her eyes. With her vision gone, the only sensations were the scent of the books, the delicate peach blossom perfume of Moondancer, the touch of the crystal floor and the roiling maelstrom inside of her. And of course, Moondancer’s hoof on her chest.
“As long as we don’t have to do it here,” Twilight said in a voice so small she wasn’t even sure Moondancer could hear it.
“Where do you want to go?” Moondancer cocked her head, her mane shifting slightly to the side.
“Ponyville proper,” Twilight said before her own fears could stop her.
“Would… you like to teleport?” she offered.
It was only then, when somepony offered her the choice between a teleport and any other form of transportation, was she able to realize that she didn’t want to teleport. She couldn’t teleport to this.
“I’d rather walk,” Twilight said.
“Okay,” Moondancer agreed readily. “But you’ll have to open your eyes if you’re going to lead the way. I mean… I don’t know where we’re going.”
Twilight opened her eyes and smiled, the maelstrom calming a little.
“I think I might be able to do that. Because I have a story to tell you.” She turned and opened the library doors.
“You know me and stories,” Moondancer snorted. “I’m afraid it keeps getting worse with age.”
Twilight… well, despite her pain, despite everything else running in her crazy head… she actually managed to giggle . It felt wonderful.
“Well, you’re in good company,” Twilight replied as they started to walk out the doors toward the main hall. “This particular one is about a surprise my friends did for me one day, not long after this Castle appeared…”
As Twilight got into the story, she glanced up on the second level of the entrance hall of the Castle of Friendship, and spied a particular amber unicorn looking down on them and smiling.
She made sure to smile back, then returned her attention to Moondancer, just as Sunset Shimmer had told her to.
Author's Note
In the years since Amending Fences , Twilight did really fulfill her promise to Moondancer. And Moondancer replied in kind. Both grew up a lot out of that, but I suspect Moondancer got the better end of that deal. She did have a lot more ground to make up.
If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!
The tree sitting before them still seemed small even now. She’d been assured within a few months it would begin to soar skyward, the product of ancient magics of several races with an additional boon from both Princess Celestia and the Tree of Harmony itself. The earth around it was green with thick grass and the occasional flower.
At the moment, it seemed nothing special. Just a sapling planted at an oddly empty area on the outskirts of Ponyville. And considering how many trees Ponyville had in it, most ponies—ponies who didn’t know—wouldn’t think twice about yet another tree. In fact, newcomers to the town often had to be explained why this particular plot of land hadn’t been used for a house or some other building.
The ponies of Ponyville tended to be a little subtle when talking to ponies like that, usually with a hoof pointed at the innocuous sign posted nearby.
Future Site of Shining Oaks Library.
“They went all over Equestria for this?” Moondancer asked, tears running down her cheeks. She made no move to wipe them away. “You just… woke up a few weeks after they’d installed the roots over the Map and… they never said a word?”
Twilight shook her head, her own teardrops spilling into the soft grass at their hooves. A few droplets landed on Moondancer, but she didn’t say anything.
“They never needed to,” Moondancer whispered, her voice cracking again. “I… a special dispensation from Princess Celestia? Fireflies? S’mores? Even a new Smarty-Pants?”
“My old Smarty-Pants was fine. It was… well, that’s another story.” Twilight shrugged, still staring at the tiny tree. “I have the new one in my study, still unopened. He’ll go to the new librarian of the Shining Oaks library… him and a really long story on why, probably.”
She giggled softly, the sound laced with quiet sobs.
For a time, there was only silence between them, interrupted by birdsong and the strangely distant sounds of Ponyville. Even the chaos in Twilight’s mind had finally settled, likely buried from so much emotional shock. Or… soothed by her friends, both in memory and the one present right now. She remembered what the girls had done for her that day… they’d contacted so many, just… well, as the Princess’s letter that had accompanied the dispensation had said… they’d done all that just to make her smile.
And she had smiled. It hadn’t been big or flashy or anything like that. But had been genuine. As genuine as a pony could smile while she sobbed her eyes out. Partially from the pain of loss, but mostly for the love of her friends.
“This is why you’ve been so…” Moondancer broke off, obviously unsure how to fill that particular gap. “You’re… giving it up again.”
Twilight ran a hoof along the grass. Despite it being years ago, she could feel where the major southwestern root had once been. Another few tears fell in remembrance of that root… and what it represented.
“Despite this… despite the beautiful chandelier hanging over the map…” Twilight whispered as she traced the minute variations in the grass with a hoof. “There are days where I would give almost anything to be back here, in my tiny tree.” Only now did Twilight wipe her eyes, though the tears continued all the same. “Moondancer, I’m so—”
She was cut off by Moondancer’s gentle but insistent hoof on her side. It was enough to make her look at her friend for the first time since they’d sat down. Moondancer was a mess, her eyes red with tears, her glasses streaked with water and even her mane and coat looking a little disheveled. Moondancer swallowed hard, as if searching for her voice, then opened her mouth to speak. She still had to try a few times before words would come out.
“No, Twilight,” Moondancer said, her voice thick. “If anypony gets it other than your closest friends, I do. I know how important books are to you. We’re practically the same pony when it comes to obsessing about books.”
She smiled thinly and Twilight did her best to match it, though she was pretty sure it was a miserable attempt. Even though Twilight knew Moondancer was right.
“You know it’s different this time, right?” Moondancer asked, gently pulling her hoof back. Then, she softly stroked Twilight’s cheek.
The touch surprised Twilight a little, but she found needed the physical contact. She knew she could have her friends here in an instant. They understood what the Golden Oaks Library had meant to her. It had been her home. They’d had thousands of memories there.
But… Moondancer understood it on a different level. A level that she’d… she’d avoided facing until she had to. The books had been her friends, too. They’d watched over them. They’d been there on Spike’s birthday when they’d all learned about dragon greed. They’d been there when they’d struggled to find answers to Poison Joke. They’d even been there when she’d… when she’d ascended. And they’d been there for the citizens of Ponyville time and time again. A library wasn’t just a building or a place. It was a home to knowledge, wisdom and intelligence. A place to brighten a pony’s mind and spirit.
There was something indefinable about a large repository of knowledge.
And Twilight had lived in one .
They’d spent six months researching to create the manual for the Castle of Friendship’s Library. In that time, she—and Moondancer—had done field research in every major Equestrian town or city. In all of those, Twilight had only met a hoofful who knew what it was like to live in a library. None had lost their home, but she could always tell when another ponyknew what it was like. Who had lived it. Who had known that sort of life.
When Twilight looked behind Moondancer’s tear-stained glasses, she saw another pony who understood it, too. What made her special was that she hadn’t truly lived in a library, and she still understood.
It took a very special kind of pony to understand that bond without having lived it herself.
So, she finally nodded in answer to Moondancer’s question. “Yes. I know it’s different. The Castle’s library will still be there. I can still go whenever I want or need to. And one of my best friends will be running it for me.”
“That… sounds rehearsed.”
“Three months.”
“Then there’s…” Moondancer’s eyes went wide. “It’s… not just that. You’re…”
When she burst into giggles, Twilight felt annoyance creeping over the rest of the heavy weights in her chest.
“I’m so sorry, I just got the title, ‘The Librarian of Friendship’ stuck in my head,” she giggled again, but this time, Twilight couldn’t help but join her.
Still, the giggles didn’t last very long.
“You can always—” Moondancer began.
Twilight shook her head slowly. “There always needs to be somepony in charge, deciding on the catalog organization, the on-the-spot rules, the due dates… either I’m going to be in charge or you are.”
“And you really think I can replace you as a librarian?” Moondancer asked incredulously.
Twilight flinched at the word ‘replace,’ but she nodded anyway. “Sometimes, a pony needs to decide what has to come first. And when something… when you can’t give something the love it deserves, sometimes, you need to give it to somepony who can give it that love.”
Moondancer just stared at her, her mouth slightly open. “I… I don’t know what to say…”
“You already said yes. That’s all I ever wanted,” she mumbled and turned her attention back to the tiny tree. “It’ll be a beautiful library someday. Maybe you’ll take over here.”
“I doubt it,” Moondancer whispered.
“Why not?” Twilight asked, still staring at the growing replacement to the Golden Oaks Library.
She caught a hint of movement beside her. Close movement. But why…?
Then… something very strange happened. Something… not entirely unexpected, while also being completely unexpected. An inevitability, really, at least if she was truthful with herself. She hadn’t been doing a very good job at that lately.
Maybe it was about time that changed.
Twilight’s hoof went up to the spot where Moondancer had just kissed her cheek. Then she turned to stare at the unicorn, who was blushing so bright Twilight was somewhat concerned she might catch fire. She was also staring at the Future Site of the Shining Oaks Library.
“I… just wanted you to know,” Moondancer whispered. “I mean… it’s… well, I’ve… I’ve thought about it since before you left for Ponyville and all this time over the last few years, it’s the one act of confidence I couldn’t do until now and just so you know, I’m not expecting any reciprocation or equal reply but now… I… just had to show you because I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t tell you after you trusted me with all this and Celestia, now I’m rambling and you’ll—”
It was Twilight’s turn to press a hoof against Moondancer’s side, silencing her.
“I… figured it out a few months ago,” Twilight mumbled, unable to look at Moondancer’s face, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. “But it was the third reason I’ve been… a bit… erratic. I might be Princess of Friendship, but when it comes to stuff beyond that… I don’t exactly know what I’m doing. That’s one of the areas where I think books… aren’t going to help.” She snorted. “Friendship’s like that, too…”
She lowered her hoof and Moondancer laughed softly.
“I know, right? We have access to every subject of knowledge known to ponykind… and almost every trustworthy book on the subject recommends practical experience! You’d think something that happens every day around the world would be better researched!”
When they both laughed again, it was one of relieved tension, though from the sound of it, Moondancer’s relief was far greater than Twilight’s. They both knew there were plenty of books on subjects these days… and not a single one would ever be the same as experiencing it first-hoof.
“I understand if this isn’t the time or place…” Moondancer began, but Twilight cut her off in a very effective manner.
She wrapped her wing around the unicorn and pulled her close.
“Why don’t we just sit here for a little while?” Twilight asked. “If… if that’s okay?”
Moondancer nodded and shifted so she could press herself again Twilight. Twilight found herself rather surprised as to the softness of Moondancer’s fur. They’d hugged before. She knew empirically how soft Moondancer could be… but the sheer potential swirling around them seemed to distort the senses.
She found she rather liked the sensation.
So, Twilight decided to return the favor, and came in for a tiny kiss on the cheek to Moondancer.
Moondancer didn’t try to go for anything more. Nor did Twilight. Moondancer let out a tiny little sigh and Twilight gave her a tiny little smile. That was it. It seemed… so simple . Twilight had been a fool to miss it for so long. But between her ever-increasing responsibilities in Equestria and the management of the School of Friendship, she’d been forced to figure out what was really important beyond her duties to those around her.
Of course, her family and best friends were at the very top of that list.
Before this day, Twilight would have classified Moondancer as a close friend, one which she strongly suspected had harbored stronger feelings for her for a very long time. Only recently did she realize that she might actually reciprocate those feelings.
That seemed pretty important, too.
She might be giving up some times today, but she might just be getting something even better in return.
Only now did it seem like a fair trade.
Twilight snuggled Moondancer a little closer, and they sat and watched the former site of the Golden Oaks Library… and the future site of the Shining Oaks Library. And neither needed to say a single word.
Author's Note
While The Librarian's Torch doesn't have a true theme per se, La Da Dee is probably the closest thing to it, so I'm totally okay with posting that as the "song" for the story.
Well, here it is at long last! My first story since June. Namely, my first story I've written, edited and published since getting through The Quiet War
I won't go on and on here, since I did write up a short retrospective/commentary on the story you're welcome to read right here! It comes complete with an entire DELETED CHAPTER!
However, I will say one thing. You were all so patient with me as I put my mind back together (even if that's an ongoing process). Thank you for sticking around for so long. While you may not think it's a big deal to you, it's a big deal to me. I actually passed 1,000 followers while I was in treatment. That's pretty amazing, especially considering I hadn't published anything in a while when that happened.
So, thank you for reading my stories. I hope you love them just as much as I do.
-Amber
If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!
