The air was cold. Low enough to see your own breath in front of you. Lightning struck outside, giving a brief illumination of the thin hallway through the barred windows. No other light was present. Even if the moon had been full, the thick blanket of clouds stopped the smallest bit of light from peering through.
A weaker soul might’ve flinched at such intimidating conditions, but a lone unicorn stood brave and unphased. Reassuring herself that any quivering done was from the chill and not any fear present in her heart.
She was on a mission. She had already snuck past a hoard of sleeping beasts without awakening them. And she could only hope the noise of the rain pour masked her hoof steps enough to not alert anypony who happened to be up.
One step after the other. There wasn’t much in the hallway, but the unicorn didn’t want to risk tripping and falling flat on her face. It felt like this had gone on for an eternity. She knew the hallways here were long, but this felt abnormal. Doubt slowly began to worm its way into her mind.
“What if this was a bad idea…” she muttered to herself, barely able to even hear her own thoughts. She stopped for a moment, and turned back. A brief flash of lightning illuminating the hallway she’d traversed not moments ago. She could barely make out the door she came from before darkness once more engulfed the room.
With a deep, calming breath she turned around and reassured herself. “No turning back now” she said in a voice a bit louder than she would’ve liked. But the confidence boost was necessary over the quiet.
She doubled her pace. Forcing confidence in her glimpses from the lightning and her memory of this place. Step step, step step. Soon her pace reached beyond the flashes of light, relying near entirely on her own memory.
Such hubris never goes unpunished. And her confidence was met with its greatest foil. A stone pillar.
Thump! “OW!” Wumph! Onto her flank she went. Head on collisions were always worse for unicorns, the horn more than happy to make the pain worse. Like getting hit in the head with the tip of a bat. The poor sore unicorn would’ve sat and appreciated this pain for a minute more, had the echo of her pain and clatter of her glasses falling from her muzzle not reached her own ears.
Her hooves quickly shot up to her muzzle and prayed that that’d somehow dampen the sound. And there she waited, hoping for success and expecting failure…. Waiting…. Waiting…. Lightning flash…… Waiting….. Waiting….. Another one….
She felt safe enough to reach down for her glasses at his point. And by the third strike, her hopes were confirmed. She was in the clear! Forelegs flapping up and down in excitement, letting out all of that pent up energy and fear!
“Yes yes yes yes!” She cried silently, smart enough to not blow it a second time.
Once all the excitement had died down, she finally got a proper look at what nearly bombed the entire operation. A pillar, just as she felt. Squinting she could make out small swirls snaking their way up it. A spike of joy hit her beating heart, emboldened further by the next flash that lit up more than before.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw bookshelves reaching to the ceiling. Success! She reached her goal! The Library! In a fit of joy she couldn’t help but dance on her tippy hooves, and with a hint of smugness, finally strolled into the room of her desire.
Now that she was in here, her goals had shifted. Getting here was just one task to complete. Next was finding a light source. There was no way she’d read by random weather patterns. And given the opportunity she saw her way in.
A flash of gold hit her eyes, on top of a large table. Large for her at least. “That must be a candlestick!” She thought silently to herself. And made her way over, this time careful to feel out where she was going until she reached the leg of the table.
The chair under the table was way too heavy for her to move without noise. So she had to take a gamble. She hopped and climbed her way on top of a chair, being sure to be careful of the table inches above her head. She could feel it almost touching the tip of her horn. But she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
Luckily the chair was left out just enough to squeeze through the back of it and the side of the chair. With a bit of leverage from the arm of the chair, she finally made her way on top of the table and slowly over to the candlestick. On her way she felt something under her hooves, it felt like paper. Somepony must’ve left an open book here.
It was times like these she really wished she could use her magic. She may not be the best in the world, but she was smart enough to know a light spell. But she couldn’t, not in the rest of the building and certainly not here. So she’d have to make do.
And in a stroke of good luck, she found a match box next to the candlestick. Somepony must’ve been in a rush to leave this spot in such a mess. The unicorn pulled out the matches carefully and quickly took note of how many were in there. Seven. Seven tries. She’d need every one. Though she was best at moving things with her magic, it’d be a mistake to call her a slouch when it came to manipulating objects with her mouth.
But there was no way she’d hold an open flame too close to her face. A brief flash rushed through her mind of her mane catching fire. She’d rather get caught than have that happen.
That left one option for her. Her own two hooves. The only way she’d be able to do worse was if she tried with her hind hooves or tai.
With more care than a mother has with a new born baby, the unicorn plucked a single match from the box. And then... strike!... Strike!... STRIKE! It took ten more strikes against the side of the box before she realized she messed up and just rubbed off all the ignition powder on the edge of the stick. That’s one match wasted.
Another match, same problem. Frustration took hold, and she broke the next match while jostling her glasses on her face. Once more she somehow managed both at the same time. The fifth she just dropped like a clutz. This was starting to get to her.
So, she took a moment to calm her nerves. The pressure had been getting to her, and she had to find her center in this brief moment. “After this, it’ll be nothing but smooth sailing and reading.” With her focus sharpened, she readjusted her glasses and picked up the sixth matchstick. Then starred it down like that’d somehow convey to it that this was important.
And with one swift FLICK! “Canterlot, we have ignition!” She couldn’t help but mutter happily to herself. She really did it! But she wasn’t going to waste any time and quickly lit the candle. Slowly as the flame grew and illuminated a small area around her, a calm washed over the unicorn.
She could finally see the floor again. It didn’t feel so much farther down in the light. And a nearby bookshelf finally gave up the sight of her favorite things in the world! Books! All her work was finally paying off! She quickly put the spent matches back in their container. Not like she wanted to leave a mess.
But she paused on the final unused match. The pony who left these here were probably going to get a new pack of matches anyway. And she could think up at least ten uses for a single match. Only seven of which involved starting a fire. That was enough justification for her, so she swiped the remaining match and hid it behind her ear in her mane.
She climbed back down the way she came, extra careful this time due to her burning cargo. In hindsight, it would’ve probably been better to light the candle before climbing down. But hindsight is 20/20. And with a small fall, she finally reached the floor.
Finally the unicorn was able to let loose a bit. She had her vision, and her passion with her. It was a considerable amount of effort for her to not run at full speed down the rows of bookshelves.
Ponies were always so nice to donate books to add to the library. It was one of the few nice things this place had.
In an effort to not get dizzy from the choices she had. It would be a few hours until she’d need to sneak back out. And until then this whole place was all her own! She was so overwhelmed it was hard to decide where to start! The geology section? It’d been a while since she learned about different types of crystal formations. Perhaps the religious section, and get a refresher on all the interesting deities throughout the world? Or even the magic-fiction section! For a more fun and light hearted read!
Then inspiration struck! The unfiltered section! That’s where all the new books were sent before the librarian put them in the proper sections! And she had heard of a new mass donation made. The selection there would be great! With no hesitation, the eager unicorn made her way to the back corner of the library.
Along her way, the star struck bookworm couldn’t help but marvel at row upon row of books that passed her by as she made her way to the back. She never really understood why ponies seemed so eager to give away their books. It’s hard enough to put them back in the library. Maybe ponies just kept buying two copies of books without noticing? That made a lot more sense to her than somepony just giving them away.
And at the end of her journey, there she saw a sight that made her tear up. Tons and tons of books unsorted, haphazardly shoved onto shelves, with a huge pile reaching up nearly three times her height. A true sight to behold!
“Hhhnnnn, why can’t I ever be the one to sort it out!” She whined to herself. Life was so unfair. But, after moping a bit, the thought of a fresh and unread book brought her spirits up. The candle lit up enough of the corner to see the entire area, minus the spots covered by the book pile. And a bit at the top where the light fell off.
“Let’s see…. History of corn, pass. Alien conspiracies and you, maybe. Astrology 101, ugh we already have thiiisss” And so it went on, for what felt like hours, but in reality was probably only a little under half an hour. Nothing caught her eye. And whatever did, she’d already read.
It was starting to feel hopeless. Was this venture into the unknown all for naught? The exhausted bookworm flopped backwards onto the pile in frustration. Staring at the ceiling and letting the shapes her mind made up in the dark distract her. Perhaps that corn book wouldn’t be so bad, if there truly was nothing else.
Then her eye twitched, and flickered over to the side. It was hard to make out, but that feature made it stand out more than anything. A significantly darker portion of the bookshelf, no label to be seen, wide as a dictionary. She sat up against the book pile, something about that book she saw. It caught her interest. Every other book in the library was labeled. What kind of book wasn’t? She’d never heard of such a thing before.
She couldn’t wait another moment. She had to read it! She scanned the bookshelf, and plotted out her route. Climbing directly up would be the highest risk. A- a ton of books took up space on the shelf, meaning she wouldn’t be able to get a hoofhold.
Then her eyes descended upon the book pile. It reached about halfway up the bookshelf. If she moved diagonally from near the top, she’d have a straight path to it!
Wasting no time, her climb began. Carefully testing the structural integrity of every book in front of her hoof, one after the other. Just like out in the hallway. Midway up though, she misjudged where her hindhoof went, and some books started to side down under her. She kept herself from falling, but a couple of books started making their way down the pile.
She flinched and hoped they wouldn’t make much sound. Down down down, they kept picking up speed. Oh no… Then… they slowly hit a curve and just slid across the stone floor. The ever eager bookworm took little time to feel relief, minus a long sigh, then continued her ascent.
She finally reached the top and saw it closer than before. Only four shelves to climb, and maybe six feet from where she was hanging. Once her full weight was on the shelves, she could feel gravity pulling on her back. She let her head lean back a bit and saw a non-insignificant drop below her. Maybe six or so shelves.
She was so close though. She could almost taste the book! The imagined smell of the pages wafted up into her nose, and gave her extra determination. She HAD to know what was in that book! And she came too far to stop now!
Small little shuffles was all it’d take. One hoof in front of the other. Making sure she had a tight grip. Then, knowing how bad this would turn out if she hesitated, she hopped straight up, latched one hoof onto the next level of shelves and scrambled to get the others into a solid spot.
She finally settled, legs aching from tensing up too much, heart beat racing from the sudden shot of adrenalin. Four feet, three shelves. Not that much farther. Her journey continued. Shuffling a bit faster, now that she got a bit of a rhythm to it.
Her next stop to the next shelf was met with a few books stacked on their side. This allowed the unicorn to easily step up to the next shelf. Less hassle than before. Her shuffling journey soon ended after that, seeing the book above her. It felt like she was ascending into the void, with the candle light slowly leaving her behind. Reaching out for this dark book. If she was less focused on not falling, she might think it was absorbing light.
Now all she needed to do was climb straight up. Her body weight pushed against the shelves, triple checking they could handle what was about to come. Then in a swift motion she launched herself up to the next level, going a bit too high and touching the underside of the shelf the book was on.
This was it, it was so close to her. One more level, and she’d have her prize! It was so big, she might have to take it with her! She could read it in bed! The overeager bookworm’s mind raced with joyful thoughts of reading that book so much, her next jump was flawed. Much shorter than the last, her hooves just barely managed to catch the edge of the shelf the book was on.
Her hind legs dangled from the edge, too panicked to find purchase on the shelves below her. It was so close! She pulled herself up ever so slightly, reaching out a hoof to grab it. Just… one… quick… GRAB!
And just like that, the book slid out from it’s spot. Almost like it was covered in grease. Too much weight was put on it, and the poor unicorn was sent plummeting. Book and all. The fall was so sudden and terrifying, brief images of her life suddenly came up in her mind. Her first day at magic school, the day she wanted to learn magic, her first book, endless days of boredom. There was so much she regretted not doing.
Such regretful thoughts were put to a halt, as her fall was broken by one of the books that had slid down from her journey up book mountain. A shame she couldn’t feel any relief. The book she so desperately wanted was falling straight for her head.
There was no time to think. No other option to take. It was this, or get a concussion. Or worse! In a flash, her horn finally lit up. Radiating purple light bright enough to make her eyes close from more than just exhaustion.
When darkness didn’t fully take her, she felt safe enough to open her eyes. Above her, the book laid bare open. Some random page in the middle. Now the unicorn's mind raced. Somepony would be here any minute now that she’s used her magic. She needed to leave fast. Or find some place to hide.
Her thoughts ground to a halt, as her eyes began to focus on the book pages themself. Words began to light up, letters and words slowly began appearing in the corner of her vision. The world darkened around her. She’d been sucked into a book before, but this was feeling a bit too literal for her taste.
Then a shrill voice broke her out of her trance. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” She felt like jumping out of her own skin in fear as she stood up. Her head darted around, blinking out the words and darkness that came to her. Nopony was near yet, that was good. But loud, angry hoofsteps gave her no relief.
She couldn’t be caught with this book! She had to hide it! In a split second decision, she slid the open book under the bookshelf she got it from. “What do you think you’re doing young filly?!” Twilight’s ears folded back onto her head, pained from the yelling happening only inches from her. She looked up to see an angry, scowling cream mare, with a dark red mane done up in curlers.
“H-hi there, Miss Holly Fic.” Her hooves nervously fiddled around, trying to find anything to do to keep her anxiety under control in this situation. It only seemed to serve in making Miss Fic even angrier.
“Don’t you give me that! What are you doing in the library at four thirteen in the morning?!” Her breathing became more ragged with each word, if Twilight didn’t know any better, she’d say a blood vessel was about to pop. That vein bulging out of her slightly wrinkled forehead didn’t give her much hope.
“I-I was just… I couldn’t sleep so I figured there wouldn’t be much harm in reading?” Twilight knew this excuse wouldn’t work. But she knew even better that Miss Fic would make up an even worse excuse just to punish her if she said nothing.
Thankfully, that somehow made her look slightly less upset. Enough to pause for a moment and lower her tone. But only a little. “You know you’re supposed to be in bed by 10PM.” She wasn’t shouting, but with how forceful her words are they stung all the same.
Twilight couldn’t find any more energy to argue. “Yes ma’am.”
“Honestly Twilight, this is the eighth rule violation this month. At this rate you’ll never graduate.” Holly paused and thought for a moment. Thinking on how to punish Twilight. Once the thought finally reached her, she felt slightly embarrassed by how long it took her to think up such a simple idea. “I’m afraid I’m banning you from the library for a month.”
“WHAT?!?!” Twilight snapped back, eyes now watering.
“LOWER YOUR TONE!” Miss Fic shouted, seemingly more upset Twilight talked back than the idea of waking anypony else. “If I hear anymore complaints it’s going to be two months, understand!?”
Twilight did her best not to cry, choking back her wails of agony as best she could. Tears streamed down her face freely, the heat from her worked up face fogging up her glasses.
“Now come along, you’ve been up far too late. You have an etiquette class in the morning.” Miss Fic began walking without waiting for Twilight. “And I don’t want you falling behind because of this.” Twilight could only follow.
The walk back to her room was much less eventful. Miss Fic lit the way with her horn, making the risk of tripping or running into anything impossible. At least, impossible for anypony who wasn’t crying her eyes out.
Twilight wasn’t so lucky, and ended up tripping on several jutting stones in the floor, earning her brief glares from Miss Fic. Demanding she keep up regardless of her sore hooves.
Finally they reached the group bedroom. Twilight had the door open for her, and Miss Fic quietly stared at her the whole way. Passing by several beds to the near back where hers was, and slowly slumped her way into bed. Without even looking back to see Miss Fic shut the door.
That night, she cried herself to sleep. The thought of having her one refuge from this terrible place taken from her crushed her heart. And yet, despite it all one thought lingered in her mind. An unexpected thought.
How would she read that book she found?
-End
There were few other comforts Twilight could say that helped shield her from having to face an awful day. One of them WAS going to the library. The thought alone of having to go a whole month without it made her never want to leave the other comfort of her life. Sleeping.
“Alright everypony, it’s time to start the day!” Miss Holly Fic shouted, eager to take away the last comfort in Twilight’s life. Her eyes grinded open, wincing at the sudden intake of light. Waking up normally was a chore for a sleepy head like her, but with so little to look forward to, it was like asking her to move a mountain.
Perhaps, she thought, if she didn’t move a muscle she wouldn’t have to get up. She could just hide in bed. It didn’t matter to her if she’d get in trouble later. She already had the most severe punishment she could think of. Not like it could get much worse.
Twilight tried to look around for something to distract her. She saw some ponies moving past her. One or two might’ve taken a glance at her. It took Twilight a few seconds to discern why she couldn’t actually see the ponies clearly.
Then it clicked. Her glasses. She fell asleep with them! All the sleep in her eyes faded away as her eyelids snapped wide open! Despite the blurriness, she managed to locate them teetering off the edge of her bed.
“Shoot!” She whispered sharply under her breath. Of all the things. Twilight tried to reach for her glasses in a panic, but her foreleg was snagged under the covers and only served to jostle the bed and send her glasses careening over.
With something so vital on the line, Twilight had no choice. She reached out with her magic in a flash as the glasses finally fell out of sight. Her fears were calmed as she saw a black blob enveloped in a magenta aura float up and onto her face.
Her victory was cut short however, “Twilight Sparkle, that especially means you too!!” She felt the glare of her teacher nearly burn a hole in her back. The sound of angry hoofsteps approaching her cleared any remaining drowsiness as she shot up with a single hoof raised in a panicked defense
“I’m up! I’m up!” Her breath was caught in her throat at the sight of Miss Fic standing angrily in the middle of the room with a look that could kill.
“Well don’t just sit there!” Miss Fic said angrily while turning to leave the room, “I expect you to be in the classroom on time!” And before she could even catch her breath, Twilight watched Miss Fic quickly trot her way out of there.
Twilight realized soon after what Miss fic meant, and stubbled her way out of bed. “Shoot, shoot, shoot!” Not wanting to take her time, she grabbed her uniform-a simple plain black dress with white frills-and rushed out of the dorm room.
“Ch’mon yuh shtuphid sheeve!” Twilight growed through the dress as she attempted to fit her hoof through the sleeve by just jamming it into the dress and hoping for the best. Not made easier by the fact that she was running on three legs.
“Stupid Holly, stupid rules.” This time her grievances were voiced at a normal volume, since she was confident everypony would be in the classrooms by now. “It’ll be toooo dangerous to just let you rascals use magic whilly nilly! Only with adult supervision!” She said in a shrill, mocking tone. And putting on the silliest of faces, complete with cross eyes and her tongue sticking out.
Sadly, Twilight finally reached the classroom and steeled her expression to one of a dull, neutral state. Devoid of the small bits of happiness she gained from making fun of the pony she now drew the attention of.
In fact, the whole class seemed to take Miss Fic’s stare as a cue to turn their eyes towards Twilight’s entrance. The attention just made her anxious-which was probably the intention from Holly now that she thought about it-and forced her gaze down to the floor. The room was dead silent regardless, up until she reached her seat and stared down at the table.
“Twilight Sparkle?” She heard Miss Fic call out with as much disdain she could muster into two words.
“Here.” Twilight limply raised her hoof with the exhaustion of the morning and the run in here rapidly catching up to her while the adrenalin from an angry Miss Fic wore off. An uneasy silence hung in the air as Holly paused on Twilight’s name.
Were she in any better condition, Twilight might’ve speculated on what it was that seemed to have Miss Fic’s goat. It’d take her less than a second to figure out that she was angry about last night. But for now she was more interested in the texture of the cloth laid out on the table she was sat at.
Her slight curiosity overtook her low mood and inspected the table she was sat at. Every class they had a new set up. Sometimes it was simple desks and chairs, but most others it was these set of six identical medium sized tables.
This class they were all pressed against each other long ways, like some kind of fancy dinner table. The old white cloth draped across it, with piles of unset silverware and plates off to the side on a different table gave her an idea of what today's class was going to be.
Twilight’s attention was ripped away from her inner thoughts by Miss Fic's shrill voice cutting through her mental monologue like a hot knife through butter. “Before we begin for today, we have a new student joining us.” She gestured towards the filly standing next to her with a dumbfounded look. A brief moment passed before Miss Fic nudged the filly with her hoof, “introduce yourself.”
Twilight’s eyes were locked onto the filly, as were the rest of the class. Inspecting the dirty orange fur, a description Twilight thought was quite literal, and messy blonde mane. Despite being a unicorn like the rest of them, it was as if this pony had played in dirt every day of her life.
“Uhhh…” The messy unicorn finally spoke! Twilight could see anxiety flash through her eyes as the reality of introducing herself to the whole class of roughly 30 unicorns sank in. “Ah’m… Applejack… It’s uhh, nice to meet y’all. Ah hope we… get along?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Miss Fic roll her eyes as Applejack finished her introductions. Not letting any chance for another awkward silence to sink in “We’ll have to work on that dreadful accent.” Said Holly without a care for anypony who could hear her. “Go sit next to Twilight Sparkle over there.” She gestured one hoof in Twilight’s general direction while maintaining eye contact with Applejack. “She’s the purple trouble maker by the end of the table there.”
A faint growl could be heard by a few ponies near Twilight. If their attention wasn’t so focused on Miss Fic, for fear of being called out as inattentive, they would’ve seen the growing scowl on the lavender filly's face.
“Twilight” Miss Fic finally locked eyes with her in the disinterested way she could muster. Completely ignoring the rage setting into Twilight’s face. “As extra punishment for breaking into the library last night you get to catch… eugh, Applejack up on our classes.” Miss Fic made no effort to hide her growing distaste of Applejack and Twilight as she turned back to the chalkboard hung up against the wall and began writing on it.
The whole class’s gaze seemed to follow Applejack, who’s own insecurities slowly ramped up her speed until she quickly and loudly sat down next to Twilight with an awkward grin, staring at the rest of the class as if they were all going to try to bite her head off.
Thankfully for her, everypony’s curiosity about Applejack was outweighed by the fear of seeming like a slacker to Miss Fic, and they all turned their attention back to her.
All except of course, for Twilight Sparkle. Who’s eyes were locked onto the tablecloth below her. She might’ve looked even more angry than she already did, had she not needed to repeatedly push up her glasses back up and stop them from falling off.
An awkward silence grew between the two fillies. Applejack sat there, waiting for Twilight to notice her. While Twilight was content to stay in her own little world of anger.
Unwilling to wait a second longer, the new pony gave Twilight a firm tap on her shoulder. “Excuse me-”
“AAH!” In an instant the hatred for all the world's problems directed at the table shifted into a fight or flight response pointed right in Applejack’s direction!
Applejack couldn’t help but flinch and lean away from the monster she had created. A slight snarl escaped it’s mouth as it inspected the offending party. “Who is it?” It thought, “Is it a guard come to take me away? One of the teachers to punish me!? A bully!? Is it Suns-Oh” Her posture relaxed. The truth had become clear. “It’s just that new girl.”
The tension quickly dissolved from there, and said new girl found the courage to address the filly who had just moments ago looked ready to hurt her. “Y-yer Twilight Sparkle, right? Weren’t you gonna help me?” Her words sounded like they were going to get caught up in her throat at any moment.
It took a hot moment for Twilight to remember what her teacher had told her minutes ago. Her mind was so poisoned by the sudden call out in front of everypony, the fact she was tasked with helping this new girl.
“Uhuh. Right, right, right, right, right. Applejack, right?” She said with a semi-forced smile.
From that point, the new girl seemed to perk up a bit at the first friendly interaction she was about to get. “Yup! That’s me!” She seemed somewhat proud of the fact that that was her name for some reason.
“So today we’re probably going to be learning about dining etiquette, judging by the tabe and the plates over there.” Twilight turned around and looked over the back of her chair, a considerable task due to the height advantage these chairs had. She had to be on her tippy hooves to see her target.
“Over there is where we’ll be getting our supplies for today. Most of the students here are bigger than us, so we’ll need to wait our turn until most of them have already got their supplies.” Applejack’s focus was now entirely on Twilight. She had expected a boring lecture, not a tactical plan to even start the lesson.
“Why can’t we just go when everypony else does?”
“Because if we do we’ll probably get shoved and stepped on.” Twilight’s response was very much a matter of fact. With a few select ponies crossing her mind.
Applejack’s expression soured a bit upon realizing the situation she was in. “Oh….” She took in the surrounding ponies to get a complete sense of things. Twilight was probably one of the shortest ponies here. Everypony else was either slightly taller than her, or was significantly bigger. The biggest was probably a yellow and red unicorn she saw sitting on the other end of the table, closer to the teacher.
And Applejack was smaller than all of them, even Twilight.
Eventually, after droning on for another ten minutes, Miss Fic finally set the fillies and colts in the room loose on the tableware. Applejack watched as her unexpected tutor’s predictions came true. A few brave and smaller ponies tried to worm their way in fast, but only ended up pushed around and had their supplies stolen from them. One was even literally walked over.
“What kind of a horrible place is this?” Asked Applejack, horrified by the conduct of her fellow classmates.
“Princess Luna’s School For Wayward Unicorns.” Twilight's expression never changed throughout this event. She had seen this hundreds if not thousands of times. The poor filly was even on the receiving end of this treatment more than once.
Seeing it again didn’t phase her. It only reminded her of what she had to do to avoid it all. “Come on, things have died down enough.” Twilight grabbed the new girl by the shoulder, and firmly led her over to the table with noticeably less tableware.
Applejack wasn’t eager to waste any time. So she quickly tried to lift a plate and roll of silverware in her magic, only to be swiftly thwacked on the horn by her tutor. “Ow!” Her vision blurred lightly, her focus was completely disrupted.
Made only worse by Twilight hissing at her “SHHHHH are you crazy?!” She turned her head, on the lookout for any angry teachers coming to punish them. The smallest bit of relaxation fell over her as she confirmed nopony had noticed, and turned back to her ignorant friend.
“What’s your problem!?”
“My problem?” Twilight asked, offended at the question. “My problem is you trying to get us in trouble. Don’t you know magic isn’t allowed without direct supervision?!”
“No???” Applejack said with a dumbfounded look. “Why would that be a rule? Isn’t one of the points of this place to learn magic?”
Twilight gave Applejack her tableware, a plate and a bundle of silverware wrapped in a towl, in a hurry, and went to pick up new ones. “Of course, but Miss Fic doesn’t trust us to use magic on our own.” She said while making their way back to their seats. Just in time, as one of the remaining larger ponies to not get their supplies bumped into them on their way back.
After returning, Twilight began to explain the lesson to Applejack. She had already read a ton of books on various forms of setting the table “properly” while casually and quickly setting and resetting her own part.
“First the soup spoon goes closest to the plate, as most often a light soup is served before the main course. On the farthest side is your tea spoon, in the event you were served tea. Most adults prefer wine though, so it’s just there for show. Meanwhile you have to keep the salad fork ready for when, well, salad is served.”
Applejack missed probably half of it while still looking for the soup spoon. “Uhhh… uhhh…” In the end she figured any spoon would be better picked than no spoon, and chose the one she figured would be best. The largest one she had.
Which earned her Twilight’s brief ire. “What? No, that’s your serving spoon. You use it to pour sauces on your main dish.” She grabbed the slightly smaller spoon from the confused filly and replaced the first spoon with a smile as wide as a mile. “There, all better!”
She stared for a good solid minute while Twilight continued to ramble on in spite of her not paying attention. But Applejack could keep it in no longer. “Consarnit! I don’t get this one bit” She chucked her remaining silverware down onto her plate and crossed her arms with a solid huff.
“What’s wrong? Do you want me to explain it to you again?”
“No!” She grabbed Twilight’s shoulder, stopping short of shoving her hoof in her mouth.”That’s fine. Jus’, none of this makes sense. Are we gonna learn anythin’ less fussy, maybe a bit, I dunno….” She paused, and looked around to be sure nopony else was listening “.... useful?”
Meanwhile, Twilight was briefly distracted by the hoof on her shoulder. Initially she froze in reaction from being bullied so much. Then once she was sure she wasn’t going to be hurt, confusion set in. Nopony had touched her like this before. At least, not that she could remember.
That confusion had to be put on hold, when Applejack shook Twilight to knock her out of her stupor. “Huh? Oh! Uhh, no.”
“Fer real!?”
“Well, no. Not really.” She blinked a few times and re-centered her mind. “We do learn magic from time to time, but that’s really rare. And some of this etiquette stuff is actually useful to get along with some ponies in canterlot, but….” She looked away from Applejack and ran her hoof over her set silverware, shuffling them around slightly. Her voice was barely above a whisper, “yeah it’s kinda useless.”
But, Twilight quickly perked herself up. Even going so far as to pap herself on the cheeks until a smile returned to her face. “But! We still gotta do it. Or else we’ll never get outta here.” Despite perking herself up a moment ago, Twilight quickly deflated as she said that sentence.
The smile remained, but something was visibly different about Twilight. Which, in conjunction with what she said, gave Applejack even more confusion than she already was at the fussiness of the silverware. “Uhh, can’t y’all just leave?”
That smile quivered and threatened to fall with each word Twilight spoke, “no. Most of us can’t. We get sent here by either our parents, or on the order of the guard after a magical incident. They say kids with so much magical potential are dangerous without discipline and training.”
Applejack watched Twilight’s forced mood drop every second. Until a somber silence fell between them with her last word. One that even the loud hustle and bustle of the class couldn’t penetrate through.
Eventually enough was enough, and she forced the first thing she could think of out of her mouth. “Ah actually came here cuz of a magical incident. But, that was mah own choice.” She shuffled around her hooves anxiously. “Granny didn’t want me to, but ah thought I was just more harm than good back home if ah couldn’t control this.”
“So ah just packed mah things and shipped myself down here to Canterlot and left ‘em a note. Ah hope they ain’t worried about me...” The mood became uncomfortable for Applejack. Thinking about the reactions of her family back home when they saw she was gone started to eat at her. “So! W-why are you here?” She asked, desperate for any excuse to change the subject.
Sadly, this caused Twilight’s already sour mood to degrade further. She looked down towards her cutiemark, a single magenta star with small white highlights marked her flank. Reminding her of that fateful day, when her own destiny was torn from her hooves.
“I’d rather not talk about it.” She turned back to her silverware and began to reset them for probably the tenth time to take her mind off of it. “Let’s just get back to the lesson.”
Applejack didn’t argue. Or even say a word after that. She just quietly listened to Twilight’s instructions as best she could.
At the end of the class Miss Fic gave her a “compliment” saying she “Did better than she expected for someone of your background.”
It didn’t feel much like a complement to Applejack or Twilight.
After class had ended the students were given some spare time to wander about the building on their own. Miss Fic would’ve gladly kept them in line between classes, but she needed time between to set up the next one. Even with help from other teachers. So it was easier in the end to just let the children wander around and fix any problems.
In this span of time Twilight would normally be rushing down to the library and filling her entire spare time with reading, as there was nothing better to do. Sometimes she’d even take a few interesting ones into the yard and read under the apple tree outside.
And with that out of the picture, Twilight wasn’t entirely sure what to do with herself. There wasn’t much else to do at the school between classes if you didn’t have friends. An option not regularly available for Twilight.
So, she just wandered the halls. Going wherever her hooves took her. Applejack decided to tag along during her wandering. Twilight was unsure why. She was done catching up with class. “Maybe she doesn’t know what else to do with herself” Twilight thought.
Applejack then shocked her out of her inner thoughts and moping by speaking up. “So, anythin’ y’all do ‘round here ‘sides learn and walk?”
“Well, we mostly just make some fun for ourselves. I’d spend most of my time… in the library….”
“Oh, y’all mean this one?” Applejack knocked her new friend out of her sad state into one of surprise as she saw where she had arrived. Front entryway of the library.
Twilight felt a bit embarrassed, walking all the way down to the library without even thinking about it. Was this so normal for her that it was like an instinct? A home beacon for a bookworm? Or did she subconsciously desire the comfort of it all?
A faint whiff of books and the plain wax candles used in there hit her nose, calming her body to a noticeable degree. The comfort gained from just being here would definitely keep her going through the rest of the day.
“Yeah…” she said in a semi-hazy state.
Applejack picked up on the change in tone, and capitalized on it fast. “Shoot sugarcube! Why don’t we go in and pick some books out together!?” She took the lead and trotted inside. Finally happy she could do something with Twilight.
But when she noticed the distinct lack of a filly talking her ear off she stopped and turned to see Twilight standing at the entrance fiddling with her hooves. Applejack stopped, and turned back to Twilight, slowly walking over to her. “Uhh, sugarcube? Y’all alright.”
Twilight shook her head, “no, I got banned from the library last night.” Her voice was choked. Holding back herself from breaking down right then and there.
Applejack returned to her depressed friend, and gave her a firm pat on the back. “Don’t worry none, Ah’m sure y’all can figure out somethin’ to do ‘t pass the time.”
Wiping away a tear forming in her eye, Twilight looked up to Applejack and did her best to take what she was saying to heart. “Y-yeah. You’re right! It’s only for a month, I’m sure I can last that long! Especially with y-”
“Applejack!” Twilight snapped her head in the direction of the call out, having been conditioned to fear it by this point. Applejack meanwhile, frantically looked around for a few seconds until Twilight helped by pointing in the direction of Miss Fic, standing down the hallway.
“Oh! Hi there teach! Did y’all need somethin’?”
“Yes,” she said with what Twilight noted was more revulsion than she had for most other students, even her trouble making self. “I’ll be giving you special classes until we fix that dreadful problem of yours.” And without hesitation, Miss Fic turned and began walking away. “Come along now, there’s much to do.”
Applejack stood there confused on what to do before rushing after her teacher. Being sure to slow down just enough to say goodbye to Twilight, and promise to catch up later. Twilight waved goodbye and put on a smile until her friend was just out of view. Then the smile quickly gave way to a frown.
She turned back to the library to stare for a bit. Think about the sections she could see. Astrology. Culinary. History. The unsorted section, which got her into this mess to begin with. And at that point, Twilight’s thoughts began to drift back towards the night before. She still really really wanted to read that book she worked so hard to get last night.
She tried to remember the few pages she saw when it was hanging over her face threatening to knock her out. But every time she thought on the matter, her thoughts fuzzied. Blurred away. Like something was keeping her from remembering it. Her curiosity peaked even more. Of all the books she had read in her life, nothing had stuck in her mind as much as this one book.
She sat against the pillars of the library's entrance, and thought to herself. Waiting out the month didn’t feel like an option for her. It wasn’t even half way through the day, and a tingle ran up her spine every time she thought of going another minute without that book.
Even if she were able to wait that long, what if somepony borrowed it before she could get to it?! Vivid fantasies of the book being lost, or torn, or burnt, or gotten dirty in her absence! A shudder ran from her hind hooves to her horn. She shook the thoughts violently out of her head. Thinking about that made her feel like she was about to have a panic attack.
It took a minute or two for Twilight to calm down, and keep her hyperventilating under control. Waiting was 100% out of the question. She needed that as soon as possible. Tomorrow was organizing day, meaning this was the last day she’d have a chance to sneak out the book.
The fact that she was thinking of this as a permanent thievery instead of just prematurely borrowing never fully crossed her mind. She was too busy considering how she could get the book out.
There were windows all around the library. She could try and sneak the book out of one of those. But it’s so big, if she used magic she’d alert one of the teachers. And if she took too much time carrying such a heavy book she might be spotted and get in even more trouble.
She’d need a distraction. Something to keep eyes off of her while she got the book out. And as that consideration crossed her mind, she felt something slide out from her mane and tap the frame of her glasses.
The leftover match from last night was still there. And upon laying eyes on it, an idea sprung into Twilight’s mind. “... I’m getting that book back…”
A calm breeze blew through the open yard. Twilight took a singular, brief moment to enjoy it before her mission returned to her mind.
The building of the school had two rooms connected to the yard outside. The cafeteria, which was next to the hall leading outside, and a part of the building that jutted out which held the library. Two of the library walls were in the yard, the third was outside of the fence.
For once it seemed luck was in Twilight’s favor. The window right next to the fence was also next to the unfiltered section. Twilight rushed up to it to test if it was locked or not. Then the first big obstacle of her plans.
The windows were really high up. For an adult, they would probably need to stand up on their hind legs to get a view inside. But for an filly Twilight’s size, which she insists is AVERAGE to anypony who talks about it, she’d be lucky if she could hop high enough to see the roof.
Thankfully, she didn’t need to reach the window at the moment. All she needed was to test it. Outside of the school building, magic was allowed. Not by choice, mind you. If Miss Fic could, she’d probably set her magical alarms around the world. But enchanting the outside was miles more difficult than a bunch of rooms.
Twilight searched around, making sure nopony was looking at her while she tried this in the most unsuspicious way possible. Then used her magic to test if the window was open. The distance and weight of the window made it a struggle, but that worked in her favor. As she didn’t want to entirely open it.
Perfect! The window was unlocked just like she had hoped! And since nopony came to this section, it would stay unlocked until her plans were set in motion.
She hopped away from the window in a fit of joy, prancing across the yard over to the only tree in it. It was a huge tree, the trunk was bigger than an adult. So for Twilight, it was like staring up at a monolith.
This was the final step of her plan. Twilight used her magic and SNAPPED off a big branch from the tree with little effort. The fall was setting in and the tree was withering away for the winter. This makeshift tool she got would be the key to keeping the book safe when her plan ended. She couldn’t just keep the thing under her bed. It was too big for that.
So she went hard at work, digging a hole at the base of the tree. Between the fence and away from the school. Here she could read in peace and nopony would see her hidden stash.
Not like anypony ever paid attention to her in the first place. She could probably read in the center of the yard and it’d take an hour or two for her to get into trouble. But this was too important to gamble on her own un-noticeability.
After a good half hour whittling away at the base of the tree, it was finally time for Twilight’s next class. It wasn’t perfect, which made her shift around uncomfortably before rushing off to join the rest of her class. Sadly imperfect would have to be good enough. Time was running out.
And to be completely honest. She couldn’t stand waiting a minute longer to check out that book.
Dusty Bookmark flopped against a bookshelf, and slid down with a sigh of relief. She had spent all day re-organizing the entire Library. You wouldn’t expect such a relatively small library would take much organization, but kids are never keen on putting books back in their proper place.
Except for that one girl. Twilight Sparkle. Dusty always appreciated her. She was always very careful with the book she took out, and never once did she see one put out of place by her. “There aren’t enough kids like that Sparkle girl.” she said with a smile
Bookmark though for a moment. She heard that Twilight was banned from the Library, though she wasn’t told why. Surely it couldn’t’ve been that bad. Holly was kind of harsh, so she wouldn’t put it past her to over exaggerate whatever she did. It’s not like Twilight could have done anything seriously awful. ESPECIALLY not to the library.
While Dusty pondered what the little filly could’ve done, a window on the other end of the was slowly slid open by a magenta aura. The only sound it made was a singular squeak, causing it to briefly halt before continuing all the way up.
Soon after, a lit match was thrown through the window onto the romantic fiction section. One that would be missed by many, but not the culprit. A faint sound of tiny hooves could be heard galloping away as the flames took hold of the precious books. A horrid sacrifice, but one that had to be made.
Dusty’s musings on the crimes of Twilight Sparkle were cut off. The smoke had finally reached her muzzle. A faint scent that stung in her nose. Her first instinct was to inspect the book shelf she was at. Searching for anything out of the ordinary.
“FIRE!” A filly shouted behind her. Dusty spun around and saw a cream filly pointing to a corner of the library by an open window, where a fire had become well acquainted with the old books.
Her heart felt like it tried to jump right out of her throat. She rushed over to the fire to get a better look at it. Yep, definitely a fire. Not just imagining it. She could feel the heat growing in intensity on her fur. “Everypony please leave the library, we have a fire!” Dusty shouted at the top of her lungs.
The first to leave was the original filly who called out the fire. Bookmark wondered if she felt like she had to get permission to panic. Soon after, more foals peaked their heads out from their places of reading and saw the smoke, even one of the other teachers were browsing when the fire started. None of them stuck around.
But Dusty couldn’t focus on that. She had to act fast before the whole building went up in smoke. The rug from the center of the room was lifted into the air by her magic, and haphazardly dropped it onto the flames.
A sigh of relief left Dusty’s mouth, thinking the problem was dealt with. The fire now roaring through the rug, and up to the ceiling squashed any relaxation in her body. She took a step backwards to avoid the flames licking her body.
This was getting out of hand. The only way she could get this under control is if she had magi-....
Oh right.
In a snap, the fire was snuffed out. Unfortunately, Dusty wasn’t able to save the section of books the fire was loose in. Which was a shame, the rom-com section was her favorite.
While Dusty mourned the loss of books before her, in the back of the library, in the unfiltered section, a mischievous little scamp leapt out of the window and into the yard. She used the book as a cushion. As much as she loved the thing, she wasn’t ready to break its fall.
“Finally-FINALLY!” She shouted to herself. She rushed across the yard over to her hiding place. The original plan was to hide it immediately, but maybe…. Maybe she could squeeze in a few pages!
