The gentle stirring of life outside Celestias wooden cubby bed woke the sleeping alicorn, smells of freshly made breakfast circled around her, putting a pleasant smile upon her face. She gently opened her eyes, then checked under her wing for the other smaller sleeping form. Thankfully, luna was fed yesterday, so celestia didn’t worry about her sister starving any time soon.

Due to the darkness and her own panicked impatience, celestia hadn’t noticed the intricate details of the room she was in. The cubbies ceiling, that shed incidentally dented a little with her horn, was not some masterpiece of art. It had black paint that shifted in hue to resemble a faint nebula of sorts, with tiny magical crystals that gave off a soft white glow- the whole thing resembled deep space, rather than night or day.

It was small but not cramped, and the far end of the cubby had a window shed missed before due to the lack of illumination. That would’ve normally been a safety hazard, but the young princess could sense the magical defenses set in place to prevent any tragic mornings. There was a storm outside, with the distant sounds of thunder reverberated across the barren ice wasteland. Celestia would’ve normally worried that they were living in a tree of all things during a storm, but twilight had assured her yesterday that there were plenty of safety wards. She also chuckled and said something about magical crystals and their hazards in flammable structures.

The actual room itself was quite large. It looked to be a semi-master bedroom, painted with neutral brown colors with accents of gold and the occasional blue and starry night sky painting. How twilight managed to fit several floors, rooms, an entire wing for a library within a tree was beyond her. Sure the tree was big, but there was no way it could fit even the room she was in right now. It also looked like it lacked any leaves, the dead branches outside being ample proof of that, and yet even celestias young inexperienced magical senses could tell the tree was alive. It was less like a tangible force and more like something you could just feel, like when somebody is always watching you. It was a little creepy, but celestia wouldn’t dare complain about such trivial things.

The fledgling alicorn quietly stepped off the bed, and slipped out of the room, making sure to leave the door slightly ajar in case luna woke up. As soon as she was out, the smell of dates and freshly cooked dough wafted up to her nose. Quickly deciding to head to the kitchen, the filly click-clacked her way from the small personal library which still had odd trinkets and items lining the floor, walls, and shelves despite the cleanup from twilight. Finally reaching the door to the stairs leading to the kitchen, the alabaster filly opened her wings and glided down the stairwell into the middle of the kitchen. It would’ve been a perfectly landing, had she not crashed face-first into the old mares rump. Reminder to not fly down any stairwells for the foreseeable future, noted the filly.

The mare, for her part, was pushed forward but only squeed in surprise and quickly looked back to see the little pony regain her composure. Deciding to ignore the little incident all-together, twilight smiled down at the filly. “good, you’re here. Help me set the table.” and so she did, helping the elderly mare set up the assortment of items made for their breakfast enjoyment.

Celestia fumbled a little over her own hooves before she finally got to sit on a chair in the dinner table, which was far too tall for her tastes. She wasn’t as tall as twilight, it didn’t seem very fair.

Regardless of Celestias shortness, Twilight already had everything prepared.

Grilled breadfruit, a small salad with chamoy-covered fruits, a large daisy sandwich for the main course, and finally almond stuffed dates for dessert, along with a large cup of purified ice water. Celestia licked her lips and began to dig in. She knew ponies usually ate meat with their food, but shed always preferred to be a vegetarian. She tried to ignore the mare sitting across from her biting into her own daisy sandwich with grilled beetles and dates. She had a lesser selection of food, but she was an old mare and didn’t need to eat as much. She knew some powerful unicorns were omnivores, but the reason why eluded her.

As the mares sat across from each other, they both admired the soft storm-light flooding in through the nearby window above the sink.

“so how come you’re eating beetles?”

twilight looked up and raised her eyebrow

“if that was meant to be an ice breaker, t’was a poor one.” she claimed. Celestia wasn’t all that curious to be fair, but shed rather not just sit in silence. The old mare always answered her questions cryptically or directly, this deflection was a first. Celestia cleared her throat and shifted her wings uncomfortably, setting down her food to look at the elderly mage.

“sorry for the sudden question, but id still like to know” she said sincerely. Twilights eyes scanned over the smaller pony, and after a moment it looks like she finally found what she was looking for. The mare nodded and straightened her back, looking like shes about to give the filly a lesson.

“normally, id build off what you already knew about the subject, but since i’m not sure how educated you are, ill start from scratch.” twilight picked up a butter knife and bent it, twisting this way and that before restoring it to its proper form.

“what I did just now. Do you know what it was?” celestia was at a loss for words. It felt like a trick question, so she just shook her head no.

Twilight took the answer in stride and continued. “I used levitation and increased then decreased its strength and the direction the magic was going. Most untrained unicorns know only how to pick some things up, but only the most refined mages have the dexterity needed for this level of control. If some random pony had tried this, they would’ve burned off all their magic to brute force the spoon to bend. Of course, It would’ve simply either bent irreparably or exploded or even melted from the amount of magic being forced into it.”

celestia nodded along, then spoke up. “but what does this have to do with eating beetles?”

twilight smiled and replied, “nothing. They taste good and are healthy for a mare my age.”

the filly slumped in her chair and let out a long-suffering sigh, shooting a glare at the chuckling older mare. With the lull in conversation, they dug back into their meals. Celestia knew that twilight didnt just give her a lecture about magic for no reason, there had to be some hidden meaning. She did seem like the type to be cryptic and indirect, giving her just enough puzzle pieces to piece something together- overall going for a more “figure it out yourself” approach

celestia bit into the soft, buttery flower sandwich. She swallowed then spoke, looking at the other mare that had already finished her much smaller meal.

“twilight, I need you to teach me how to raise the sun on my own,” she claimed, looking into the mages eyes. “I cant do it on my own. My mother or father had helped me every time using a celestial machine, but none of those things are available. The machine is broken, and my parents..” her voice cracked, and she struggled against the tears that the conversation brought up.

Twilight frowned, she wanted to comfort the filly but knew better than to step into a parental figure in her life. She needed a teacher, not a replacement mother. But despite what her head told her, the heart won out and she got up and hugged the filly comfortingly.

“ill try my best, sweetie. But I cant promise anything, you’ll largely have to do this on your own.” she answered and pulled away, getting back into her seat after the little girl stopped crying and hiccuping.

and at that, celestias puffy eyes drifted down to her plate, and soon the thoughts came rushing. itd probably take a while to repair the celestial mechanism back to even half of its strength if she did it purely based off memory. while it was possible to simply brute force the sun to rise with enough magic, she was afraid of screwing up by bringing it too close to the earth. many things could go wrong, so extreme care was warranted. she had to get research material on the subject. books, scrolls, parchment, and quill sprung up in her mind, but something else took precedence- she remembered something her mother had told her. something about a library in the frozen north, where all the worlds forbidden knowledge was stored and kept safe by the Librarian. shed already tread halfway across equestria, and the task of returning so soon through the wasteland which was already growing colder was an impossible task. she excused herself from the table after a moment, and picked up her trey to bring to the sink. she almost planted face first into said trey on accident, her hoof hitting a stack of books that were inexplicably laying there. she shot a confused look to the mare who was trying not to laugh at the slip up, then scowled and moved over the books. her eyes shot wide open as she glanced back at the books. library, in the frozen north? protected by a librarian? she shot another look at the mare who was moving next to her with her own trey of empty plates. "twilight, can i ask you a question?" she started

"id say you already did but that joke is played out like tartarus." came the swift response.

celestia ignored her mentors strange antics and followed up, "do you know of the frozen north library? the one with all the world knowledge?"

at that, twilight raised an eyebrow. "i mean, unless there is another library i didn’t know about, then you’re standing in it right now."

she said airily while washing the dishes. celestia left her own and brought the other mare eye to eye to her, or as close as she possibly could considering the height difference.

“why didn’t you tell me!?” accused the filly

“well, I thought you already knew. You know I allowed you to find me on behalf of your mother, the knowledge contained in my library could destroy the world- many have sought it out over the years, your mother personally entrusted this task to me.” replied the mare, gently nudging the filly away from her.

Celestia circled around herself, huffing in anxiety. She stopped then looked at twilight.
“Okay, im sorry about before- but can you show me to the library? I really need to find a few books.” she pleaded, giving the older mare puppy eyes.

“Put those puppies away, Celestia. I was already planning on showing it to you today. But now is a good a time as ever, I suppose. Follow me.” stated the mare confidently, leading the filly away from the kitchen and down another stairwell that ended in a strange.. Room?

The area was yet another enigma, A rotunda with intricately carved runes etched into every single surface, Hidden pentagrams of magic celestias inexperienced magical senses couldn’t pick out. Crystals lined the floor, walls, and even ceiling that had the now-familiar scene of the void in space, with tiny crystal dots connecting in constellations.

The entire place hummed with magic so powerful the filly could feel it in her bones.

in the middle of the rotunda, floating atop a strange 6-pointed pentagram, was some sort of mirror. the surface swirled around in a light pink haze, and it was framed around the edges by some sort of strange material she couldn’t see in the dim light. by all means, it was a magical mirror in a circular room, nothing to see here folks!

careful not to step out of line in such a magically charged place, she followed closely behind twilight. "what is this place?" she asked her mentor, searching her eyes for any answers- not that eyes could answer anything mind you.

"this is the portal to the true library. the tree were in is merely its tether, like a-" twilight was cut off suddenly when the pink haze intensified, and ethereal strands of power grabbed the screaming filly and tossed her inside, cutting off any other noises.

twilight scowled at the magic, throwing a hard glare at it. "not funny." she said. Thinking quickly, she teleported lunas sleeping body to her and summoning a baby carrier and wrapping it around her barrel before jumping through the portal, unmolested by the strange magical tendrils that dissipated behind her.

twilight reached the other side only, landing gracefully only to find celestia planted face first into the ground, groaning in agony. twilight cringed in sympathy, using a quick healing spell on the filly lest she start complaining. With that done, twilight looked around the familiar landscape. Shelves lined with every kind of book imaginable lined massive columns, stretching beyond what even she could see. Several layers, structures, and many other such things were scattered across the landscape, ranging from simple comfortable reading alcoves to entire sections dedicated to the research and studying of a certain craft.

She always felt at home here. In this place, time went by far differently. Centuries could pass here but it’d be less than a milisecond in the physical world. You didn’t need to eat or sleep, just study forever and get lost in the books. Its where twilight had spent most of her time after her friends had passed, only coming back to the physical realm to maintain the library and keep the wards around it fresh. She looked down at the pained filly, struggling not to grin.

Celestia grunted and hefted herself up, and glanced back at twilight. “oh.” she said, “you look-” suddenly doing a double take, her eyes bulged and her mouth gaped.

Twilight was young again, her body barely above the age of 20. Her sagging face-skin and wrinkles faded entirely, returning back to a youthful splendor. Her coat glimmered slightly, the sparkle of the divine gracing her form. Even her cloak had changed, the dull blue turning vibrant and 6 pointed stars dotted its pristine surface.

Her mane went from an aged, frazzled grey to a deep blue that faded to a pale lavender at the ends, and even the streaks of color that lined her mane and tail regained their original saturated luminosity, faintly glowing in an ethereal light inside the mane without leaving it somehow.

Even twilights eyes changed, the normal black pupils had changed to twin pools of pink with white 6 pointed stars replacing the pupil entirely. She almost didn’t look equine, her beauty far too graceful to be natural.

“you-” started

“I know!” quipped twilight, her voice gaining a strange mystical quality to it, like listening to a voice within a dream that wasn’t your own.

“but how?” she asked incredulously, eyes the size of dinner plates, unbelieving of what was in front of her.

“being the librarian comes with many perks, one of them being the fact I take the form of what my SOUL looks like, rather than my real body. Ill return back to the aged mare you know and love.” she said in her strange new magical voice.

The “ground”, or what could pass for one considering they were standing on solid air, rumbled as a great beast landed behind twilight. The mare looked hardly surprised, she turned around to look at the dragon and a certain golden coated mare with locks of red and gold, smiling serenely.

“Hello, sunset. spike.”

Author's Note

really happy with how this one turned out. the last 2 chapters were kinda really sad and its just too tragic so i added some comedy to lighten this up a little bit- i hope yall enjoy :D