Just a Teacher

Twilight Velvet strolled through the main hall of the Clover the Clever Arcane University, making her way back to her office after she finished a lecture on alteration magic. When she arrived in the corridor where the offices for the Institute of Alteration were located, she bumped into the astromagics professor Ms Northstar.

She found that strange enough. What would that pony want in her institute?

"There you are Twilight!" Ms Northstar called out "I was searching for you everywhere."

"Well, I had a lecture. But it seems you found me. Unless I'm just an illusion..."

Ms Northstar snickered, then waved a hoof.

"We're too far from the Institute of Illusion to encounter stray spells. And even then, the different institutes are warded off from each other."

The silly prof giggled again, then continued:

"But anyway, the archmage wants us in his office right now. So please come, as soon as possible."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and answered:

"It's a bit strange he wants to hold a meeting in his office, and right now on top of that."

"Oh no, Twilight. This won't be an official meeting. He wants to share a matter of great importance with us, and only with a few of us."

Twilight wanted to raise her eyebrow even higher at that, but restrained herself. She didn't feel high enough of a rank to be in an exclusive meeting with the archmage himself. That literally never happened before. But she would find out soon enough what this would be about, so she simply said:

"Right. I'll put down my stuff, and be there shortly."

Twilight opened the door to the archmage's office slowly, somewhat suspiciously. Then, she saw the archmage and rector of the school, Star Bound sitting at his great oaken desk, with his hooves put together in front of his face. Aside from him, three other staffmembers were in the room, all professors. They were already sitting, but there was one chair still empty.

"Please Ms Velvet, come in, take a seat!" Star Bound urged her.

Twilight Velvet closed the door behind herself, and sat down besides Ms Northstar. She looked around the office, and constated to herself that it was still as grandiose as she first saw it. The sight of ancient spell books and scrolls lining the wall shelves, along with the pictures of mages of old, including the revered Clover the Clever, the namesake of the university. It was glorious.

And, to say nothing of the smell! Twilight loved the smell of books so much. Every book had a different smell, but old books were special. They had that pleasantly damp odor that basically oozed history.

After the momentary distraction, Twilight refocused on Rector Bound, who began speaking.

"Thank you for coming, my esteemed colleagues. I'm sure you're curious why I bid you here. So without further ado, I will get right into it."

Star Bound cleared his throat, and continued:

"You may know our university is right there among the best when it comes to teaching all that is arcane. But nothing have ever beaten Celestia's School when it comes to prestige. Call me vain, but I want to rectify that. And of course, also give more prospects to our students."

Twilight, subconsciously, crossed her hooves in front of her chest. Despite saying so, the rector didn't get "right into it".

"Professor Spark Scroll here, as you might know, is the dean of our Institute of Arcane History." he pointed out with a hoof. The mare nodded in return "She recently discovered the existence of an old tome, written in an undecipherable language. It's probably a spell book, from the pre-unification era. It belonged to CSFGU for a long time, until several decades ago, it was sold at an auction. Why, I don't know. But getting that book back would be a great boon to us. Ms Scroll, please take over."

The older mare nodded again. Twilight and the others looked in her direction.

"We have made strides in deciphering obscure languages in the last few decades, thanks in no small part to the effort of our great university. And also, due to the increasingly good relations with the other races of the world, thanks to our noble Princess. We can make sense of languages and symbols that would have been impossible only a few decades ago. I actually believe that's the reason why the other school let go of that tome: they simply couldn't do anything with it back then. But now that we have the means, it should be us owning that tome!"

Ms Spark Scroll indicated with a smile that she had finished her enthusiastic explanation, and looked at the rector. So, he took back the reins of the conversation. Meanwhile, Twilight became suspicious what would come of this. Surely, there should be a twist to all this.

"Thank you, Ms Scroll!" said Star Bound, and put his hooves down on the table. "That's why this is so important to us. Although getting that book back will probably be... difficult. According to my original research, it came into the possession of a private collector, a resident of a distant little town called Hollow Shades. But that auction happened more than seventy years ago, so I doubt the poor fellow is alive anymore, and I've no idea who could have inherited the ownership of the book."

Star Bound let out a sigh, and looked over the ponies present. He continued speaking. Twilight's right ear flicked slightly. Here we go...

"And that's where you come into the picture. I don't trust private detectives, and the free-ranging adventurer-for-hire types are hard to come by in our peaceful times. But I have the utmost trust in you, and although I know I ask for a lot... I'd want one of you to volunteer to recover this tome."

Dead silence followed the rector's words. The stallion on Twilight's left, Professor Silverlight, cleared his throat silently, as if he was waiting for someone else to volunteer. Then he glanced left and right. Of course, no one fell out of their seats signing up for the adventure.

"O-kay." said Star Bound, raising a hoof to his chin "Ms Scroll, how about you? After all, your institute would be the most interested in this kind of thing."

"Oh, no no no!" Spark Scroll objected "I'm honored Mr Bound, but I'm too old for adventures like this. I get cramps in my hip from time to time. I'm afraid I have to turn you down."

And to emphasize her point, she even put a hoof there.

The rector looked at the next potential adventurer, but Prof Silverlight began even before he could be asked, in his pompous, somewhat nasally voice.

"I'm sorry Star, but you know how much I'm swarmed with projects right now. And to keep the schedules you imposed on me, well, why don't you just send Azuris to grab that tome of yours?"

Star Bound frowned at that attitude, but nevertheless, she asked the recommended pony:

"Well, Ms Northstar? Could you do this for us? The whole university would benefit from this greatly."

Azuris Northstar, the astromagics professor stared back at the rector like a deer caught in a horn light. Twilight knew if there was one pony most unfit for this, it would be Azuris.

"Well, you see Mr Bound, it's the Royal Orrery, and I a have job to do there, but also, I am afraid I just shouldn't..."

Ms Northstar mumbled on like this until Twilight put a hoof on her foreleg, interrupting the nervous pony. And although she knew she would regret it, she began:

"I will find that tome, Mr Bound. I will travel to Hollow Shades, and grab it for us."

A smile began to form on the rector's face. He sat back, and said:

"Are you sure about that, Ms Velvet? I mean, I can't force any of you to do this. It can get potentially dangerous. Hollow Shades isn't exactly a village inspiring confidence, or so I hear."

"T-that's true!" added Azuris, who calmed down somewhat in the meanwhile "Hollow Shades got rapidly depopulated in the last few years, and nopony knows why. It's basically a ghost town at this point!"

"Oh please!" reacted Professor Silverlight, rolling his eyes "That's simply the result of more and more ponies relocating to the bigger towns and cities, leaving dirt holes like this Hollow Shades behind. I seriously hope your superstitions stemming from astromagics didn't finally get to you."

Azuris turned to the opinionated prof, but before she could say anything, Twilight put up both hooves, as if trying to separate them, and said in a calm and confident voice:

"Professors, please! There is really no need to sneer at each other. I've already volunteered, so the issue is moot now."

She turned to the rector:

"And answering your inquiry, yes, I'm pretty sure about this, and I can pull this off. After all, I love going hiking with my family. So what if I have to wander a bit to find some dusty old book? Makes no difference to me."

Now Twilight sat back in her chair, to show some confidence. In reality, she wasn't sure at all how would she pull this off. This could mean serious detective work, something she wasn't really ready for. She could easily come back empty-hooved, disappointing everypony. But something, some obscure and unexplainable feeling in the back of her mind told her it would be for the best if she tried to find this book.

Star Bound leaned forward, and once again put his hooves together, partially obscuring his satisfied smile.

"If you're so confident, then I can only give my blessings, and thank you. If you accomplish this, you will make the whole university proud."