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                        The Cultist                        
                   -by Barrobroadcaster-                   
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                     Remembering Back                      
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Remembering Back
It was a quiet day in Ponyville and Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike were doing some light cleaning around the house. Still early in the morning and nothing planned for later, it was days like these that exemplified how truly tranquil it was in Ponyville. Of course, there was always something you could find to do, even in peaceful towns at peaceful times. It was just that Twilight and Spike had decided to relax and not go looking.
Spike put his claws to his small hips as he finished dusting Twilight's books. "That looks to be as clean as the shelves are going to get," he remarked. "It's nice to have some free time to get around to dusting this place."
"Mm-hmm," Twilight agreed. "You almost forget how quiet Ponyville is when we're out doing something." She was using her magic to clean the spaces around her cabinets and tabletops, a purple rag levitating around to brush up and shine the surfaces of her things.
"Yeah..." Spike said, thinking. He put the duster down on the shelf and walked to the center of the room. "You remember what it was like when we first moved in here?"
Twilight nodded. "Of course! Meeting all our friends, finding the Elements of Harmony and defeating Nightmare Moon! It so exciting and even scary at times but I knew we would be able to pull through!"
Spike shook his head. "No, I wasn't talking about fighting Nightmare Moon, just after that. Like when we actually first moved in and started getting used to living here instead of Canterlot," he clarified.
"Oh," Twilight thought. To be honest, she didn't remember much about her first days in Ponyville. Moving in had taken a lot out of them and she had been very eager to begin her new role about studying the magic of friendship. Her friends had helped out a lot and she had spent time getting to know each one, that she remembered. But as for Ponyville itself... she remembered something specific about it, something that was going on in the town after the Summer Sun Celebration. She just couldn't put her hoof on it.
"I guess I was more focused on just getting settled in. I don't think I learned much about the actual town until some time later," Twilight recalled, entering the living room herself. Spike took a seat on the recliner while Twilight curled up on the couch.
"I was doing a lot of stuff around the library, fixing things up and making sure your books were organized," Spike said with an amount of pride in his tone. "It's only the duty of your number-one assistant."
Twilight smiled. "Of course, Spike. And you do a great job."
"Yes," he said, putting a claw to his chin. "But I did remember a few things those times when you were out with the others, a few things I had always wondered about Ponyville."
"Like what?" Twilight asked, curious.
"Well, when we first got here, every once in a while late at night I would occasionally see ponies outside our house. I'm not sure why exactly but those first few days, it seemed like there were ponies that met up under the tree or something after sundown."
Twilight looked over to her assistant. "Why didn't you ever tell me this, Spike?"
Spike rose his arms in a 'I don't know' stance. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I thought they were just visitors at first or something but none of them ever knocked on the door. After a few days, they just stopped showing up. I didn't think too much about it at the time."
Twilight thought. Her home had been and still was the Ponyville Library although it wasn't often used. There weren't too many other ponies interested in books, at least not as much as Twilight. But she knew that not everypony used libraries for just books; sometimes clubs and groups held meetings at quiet locations to plan things, coordinate their efforts and organize.
"Do you think maybe a group of ponies used to meet here after dark?" Twilight asked.
Spike shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure. If I can remember back correctly, it did seem like the same ones did keep showing up every night for about a week. Then, they just stopped and I never really noticed them showing up again."
"Hmmm," Twilight thought. "Maybe it would be a good idea to learn more about what the library was like before we moved in, before we got to Ponyville."
"Who do you think would know?"
Twilight got up from her seat, suddenly filled with purpose. "We could look in the directory down at Town Hall. Maybe somepony there knows. I'm sure there's some sort of listing of the librarians who used to work here. It's the best place to start."
Spike pushed himself off the chair, stretched and stood. "I guess so. And here I thought today was going to be a quiet day around the house."
Twilight giggled. "There will be plenty of time to relax later, Spike. Let's go see if we can find out more about the library from somepony in the town hall."
"Right behind you, Twilight," Spike replied. When Twilight was focused on doing something, she didn't stop until it was done.
The two of them left the quiet library behind them, a subtle stillness filling the air as the door closed. Yes, Ponyville was quite a quiet little town when you really did sit down to notice it. There's a lot of things you can miss if you're too busy to notice anything else. But often, there's a story hidden behind that silence that one must really listen to.
In retrospect, Twilight and Spike would have preferred to just have let things be. Sometimes, it's easier if things just stay quiet. Of all the books in the library, all the unspoken words in Twilight's combined collection of knowledge, neither she nor Spike read what was written on the walls. The silence told its own story.