Author's Note

This Chapter takes place roughly two weeks before 1. Prologue and the title is quite literal. This chapter isn't necessary, but it is story plot about how Twilight found out about Astral. I figured that while I'm replaying Bloodborne (again) to figure out the exact path our MCs will follow, I'd write two or three "before Prologue" chapters that provide insight into each canon character's mentality and personality going into this story.

So for people who are reading this after the "Extra Reading" chapters are finished, feel free to read ahead.

2a. Extra Reading

This was an exciting opportunity for Twilight. It wasn't often she was allowed into the Canterlot Royal Library before her coronation, and she hadn't exactly had much opportunity to visit after, either. One thing or another had kept her busy, and so far she'd had far less time alone with all those books than she'd liked.

"Too bad I'm here specifically to find literature on Friendship," Twilight thought glumly, "and double too bad they don't let me take these books home." The Library had a strict policy for no take-outs, as many of the books in the Library were one-of-a-kind. Twilight understood the need for care, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel consternation at that particular rule.

So befitting the personal student of Princess Celestia, Twilight kept to her word, and continued perusing and occasionally lifting a book from the "Theoretical Magic/Magic Theory" section in the Library to add to the slowly growing pile floating beside her. Unfortunately for Twilight, the section was huge and many of the books had no cover reference to Friendship whatsoever, forcing her to file through them by hoof. Even the librarians and archivists couldn't help, as many of the books hadn't been read, only sorted and filed into their correct positions.

Her only saving grace was a woefully inadequate catelog of the books within the section, last compiled roughly 400 years ago by a particularly bored librarian. It was obviously incomplete, even in it's time, as a fair number of the titles 400 years and older Twilight encountered hadn't been recorded at all.

"Hmm? What's this?" Twilight thought, pulling what appeared to be an unfinished book from the shelf. "It doesn't look like the others. No title," – Twilight flipped the book open – "no title page, and inside there's... Notes, on magical theory?"

Flipping the book closed, Twilight eyed the outside of the book. "It's old, badly bound, and is obviously a first edition. This shouldn't be on a shelf, but probably in preservation somewhere." So, Twilight put the book on her pile, and continued through the rest of the shelves, not exactly hopeful for a drastic breakthrough in her search.

-#-#-

Hours later, Twilight felt glad she hadn't hoped. Now she only felt a little depressed at the complete lack of relevant information or theories on Friendship that hadn't yet been proven or disproven. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like she was the first person in nearly five hundred years to take a serious look at Friendship and how it affected ponies. As it stood, she and her friends were not only the best suited, but also the best equipped to research the phenomenon. Twilight tried to feel happy about researching a heretofore poorly understood force, but as far as she'd read, Friendship wasn't even quantifiable outside of the effects it had on ponies.

"Actually, now that I think about it, that makes things a lot easier," Twilight realized, a book pausing in its flight to the "return" pile, "passive experimentation instead of active. Awesome!"

Out of the corner of her eye, the only book she hadn't read sat alone on the far side of her table. It wasn't in Twilight's nature to leave a book she'd picked unread, and it technically was in Twilight's specified study area. "A quick glance, that's all. Probably nothing new in there anyways."

-#-#-

A few short hours later, Twilight left the library under cover of night doing something she'd never done before.

She was stealing a book.

Not just any book, though, but possibly one of the most interesting books she'd read in her life. The book she had secured under her wing was a theorists notebook. The first few pages had been typeset, Celestia knows why, but the rest was entirely hoofwritten, scores of ideas and theories about magic crammed into its heavily yellowed pages. Notes about experiments and correlations, diagrams of magical forces and their effects often dominated several pages at a time.

Yet something bothered Twilight. While many of these theories had already been proven (or disproven), there were a select few that, as far as Twilight could tell, hadn't ever been publicized. Even worse, all of them had simply stopped mid-sentence.

"Maybe the researcher died? Maybe this book never saw the light of day because its author passed it off to another researcher, who finished the theories and experiments?" Twilight mused in her head. "Either way, this pony was obviously a genius in her day. I wonder if Princess Celestia knows anything else about Astral Blossom?"

"Oh," Twilight stilled, her heart feeezing in her chest as she suddenly remembered a very important detail, "the Princess is going to be capital M mad when she realizes I stole a book. Maybe I should –" Twilight levitated the book in front of her, debating the pros and cons of keeping it, "– no, whatever the consequences, I want to know all about this pony's work. Tonight, I'll read what I can of this book, and tomorrow I'll ask Princess Celestia about Astral Blossom."

So once more tucking the book under her wing, Twilight continued her trot towards her old tower by the castle, eager to spend her night reading the inauspicious book she'd daringly snuck from the Royal Library.