History is Written by the Victors

Prologue: The Royal Archives

Twilight shifted in her seat in the train. It had been a long journey and she had just woken up from the gentle vibrations of the carriage. Looking out from her window, dawn was breaking, Celestia’s sun peeking over the horizon, its rays stretching over the land as if the sun itself was crawling up from the sky. She smiled dreamily at the beautiful landscape, and thought about what a good view it would have been had she stayed in Ponyville.

Just then, something shifted against her side. Twilight turned to see Spike opening his mouth so wide she could see every tooth (‘and boy, does he need to brush,’ she thought as she wrinkled her nose and added a new item in her mental to-do checklist-get Spike to brush his teeth) in a rather large yawn.

“Morning Spike.”

“Morning Twilight, what time is it?”

“Well, it seems to be just after daybreak-“

“I’m going back to sleep.” With that, the baby dragon flopped over to his side again, content to remain in his comfortable position. Within moments, he was snoring lightly, floating by in his dreams of juicy gems and saving Rarity from many a dangerous situation. Twilight chuckled to herself as she watched her assistant smile in his sleep, drool starting to form at one corner of his mouth. Looking out the window again, Canterlot slowly shifted into view, its tall white spires standing proudly in the red sunlight, the colours of Celestia and Luna hanging high declaring the peaceful reign of the royal sisters. Unmoving, the great city remained in its place atop the mountain, overlooking the land of Equestria. It truly was a magnificient sight.

Twilight closed her eyes again. It was still going to be some time before the train reached the station at Canterlot.

“Hey Twilight, why exactly are we here again? And when can we get some grub? I’m starving!” An irate purple dragon inquired a purple mare as they moved through the streets of Canterlot, which was teeming with the upper-class ponies. A few cast their gaze on the strange duo, both in curiosity and disgust over their appearance. It never lasted more than a few seconds before they deemed them as a waste of their precious time before continuing their ‘important’ business.

“First, we’re here to pay a visit to Princess Celestia. Second we need to use the Royal Archives to conduct some research on one of the new spells I’m trying to create. Third, if you hadn’t decided to keep on sleeping when they offered refreshments on the train, you wouldn’t be complaining now. So, you’ve just got to wait until we’re done before we can ‘grab some grub’.”

“Oh-“ Spike groaned, only to hold his stomach in obvious discomfort as the latter decided to declare loudly that it had to be filled with many tasty delights. But with Twilight so determined to get to the castle quickly that she was oblivious to the aroma of delicious food wafting through the air, and the fact that he had no bits with him, Spike had no choice but to swallow his overflowing saliva and totter after the mare, hoping to get a bite in the castle.

The meet up with Princess Celestia had gone by without a hitch, with both the princess and Twilight swapping stories with each other in one of the pavilions in the castle located in the backyard that overlooked the grassy plains of Equestria. The occasional funny story would pop up, and both parties would laugh over the matter, be it one of Pinkie Pie’s many outrageous pranks or a slip up in the day court. Tea and refreshments had been served and while both Celestia and Twilight sipped lightly at their steaming cups of tea, Spike saw fit to stuff himself with the treats laid across the small round table, the consequence being a sharp reprimand from Twilight.

“But Twilight, I was so hungry I couldn’t help myself-“

“Spike! We’re in front of the princess!” Twilight hissed through clenched teeth at Spike, whose mouth bulged with sponge cake and hands greedily grasping more of the pastry. Spike pulled a pleading face, unwilling to relinquish his hold on his prized possessions.

Princess Celestia silenced the two of them with a gentle laugh. “Oh Spike, I am grateful that you appreciate the Royal Kitchen’s food. But do please continue at a more controlled pace so you do not accidentally choke yourself.” Spike swallowed the contents of his mouth in a large gulp and mumbled an incoherent response, before resuming eating his food at a significantly slower speed. Twilight, content with the response, turned back toward the Princess.

“Oh yes your Highness. I’d like to request permission to use the Royal Archives for research purposes. I was hoping I could use it today and be done with it quickly.”

The Princess smiled warmly. “Of course you may, Twilight Sparkle. In fact, I was wondering when was the next time you were going to ask to visit it.”

“Thank you so much your Highness!” Turning to go, Twilight trotted back toward the castle, before realising that her assistant was still busy scoffing himself at the table. She grunted in annoyance, before pulling a protesting Spike away with her magic, leaving Princess Celestia to chuckle quietly to herself.

Levitating a lantern in front of her, Twilight made her way down the steps to the royal archives, with Spike tailing her. The familiar smell of old books filled the air as the two of them reached the end of the spiraling stairway. Twilight’s horn flashed in a spell and all the torches in the Archives lit up in a single action, revealing large shelves neatly arrange side by side, perfectly parallel with each other, arranged by their topics in alphabetical order of the author’s name as per the large labels on each shelf. Despite the long periods of disuse, not a single cobweb could be seen in the old room and dust did not hang freely in the air. It was a bookworm’s haven.

Squealing with delight, Twilight made her way to a single study table at the very front of these great shelves where parchment paper, ink bottles and quills were already present. Immediately, an ink bottle was unscrewed, a quill dipped in it, and a piece of paper was scribbled upon. Inside was instructions which Twilight handed over to Spike, who upon seeing the large amounts written inside, sighed loudly. It was going to be a long day.

193 books later, Twilight was still scribbling furiously on the paper amidst towers of books. Spike had ran up and down to get fresh supplies of parchment and ink as well as the occasional quill to replace the ones Twilight had accidentally broke. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he was about to sit down on a stool to rest when Twilight called him. “Spike, would you mind if you run down the shelves to help me grab a few more books? I promise I’ll be done soon!”

Spike, despite his fatigue, simply shrugged and grunted something that sounded like “I’m so tired and I really want to rest, but I’ll do it because it doesn’t seem I have a choice right?” This prompted the mare to thrust a list that almost enveloped Spike’s face, and said encouragingly “Don’t worry Spike, after this, we’ll be done!” Spike rolled his eyes. “You’ve said that Celestia knows how many times already…” Spike muttered under his breath as he tucked the list under his arm and grabbed the Archive’s only ladder with his other arm. For a baby dragon, he displayed rather great physical strength as he maneuvered around the tight spaces with a long ladder.

The first three books were particularly easy to find as they were on shelves he had passed by frequently. Not to mention they within easy reach too. However, the last book…

“…almost at the corner of the Archive itself.” Spike muttered to himself, tucking the list and the books under one arm and retrieving the ladder off the ground as he expertly made his way through the maze of bookshelves. As he neared his destination, he realised that the lights were somehow dimmer and that the bookshelves themselves were quite devoid of books. Spike felt a shiver run through his scales as he assessed the change in the atmosphere. But, being Twilight’s faithful assistant, he continued on until he reached his goal.

The book that was to be retrieved was sitting on the top shelf of a shelf that only contained only a few books and some bound manuscripts, of which some lay flat on the shelf instead of standing upright like it was supposed to. Spike carefully placed the ladder on the shelf, before scrambling up. He grabbed the book and realised to his chagrin that it was somehow stuck in place. He tugged on it.

And again.

And again.

CRASH!

Spike was on the floor, seeing the world around him swimming around in circles. His head felt like his brain was pounding hard against his skull, and he resisted the urge to puke. The ladder lay flat on the ground, thankfully unbroken, but some of the books had fallen off the shelf. It was a mess.

“Spike! What happened?!”

Uh-oh, thought Spike, as he picked himself up and started to clean up the mess. Acting on impulse, just as he would back in the Ponyville library, he quickly placed the books back in place on the shelf, grabbed the ladder and ran back to the study table.

All without realising he had taken the wrong book from the mess.