The Professor and the Student

The Professor and the Student

“This is horrible!” Twilight cried as she read the paper. “Whitetail Woods suffered a major fire last night.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s terrible. Now let’s finish up this studyin’ ok? So I can, you know, prevent the world from being destroyed,” D replied with great disinterest. “You take that pile of books over there, and I’ll take this pile.”

“But almost half of the forest is gone,” Twilight protested. “The weirdest part is that the investigators can’t figure out how it got started. All they could find were parts of a smashed guitar and an upside down oak tree.”

“Yeah, well, it’s gone now and unless you want the rest of the world to end up like that forest, I suggest that we get started,” D responded as he made himself comfortable in a chair near the center of the room. He picked up a gallon jug of water off of the floor and set it on the table next to him.

“That’s an awful lot of water D,” Twilight commented as she nodded at D’s jug.

“Yeah, I know but I’ve just been getting thirstier and thirstier since last night. It’s really been buggin’ me, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have to drink for years on end.” He shrugged and took a giant glug from his bottle, taking almost a quarter in just one go. “My thirst aside, we should get these books read, compare notes, then figure everything out from there.” He drank another quarter of water. “Got any empty milk jugs you can get Spike to fill up for me?” D asked Twilight, then drained the rest of his jug. “Cuz I’m, like, dyin’ over here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry D, but I don’t think I have anything like that,” Twilight said. “But is there anything else I could get you?”

“Nah,” D replied. “The only thing I’ve drank so far was tea and water. I don’t want to risk overloading my senses by introducing a whole bunch of other stuff just yet.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense,” Twilight commented. “But what are you going to do?”

“Hmm.” D thought for a minute before answering. “You got a garden hose outside?”

“I’m not trailing a filthy hose through my library just so you can have something to drink,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Well what am I supposed to do then?” D rasped. “I’m already drying out.”

“I think I might have an idea.” Twilight smiled.
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D sat in his chair, surrounded by a dozen identical water jugs, each with a long straw leading up to D’s mouth.

“Thanks Twilight, the straws were a nice touch,” D said with a nod. He took a sip and opened the first book in his pile. “Now that I’m all set up, we can plow through these books no problem.”

“You, do know what studying means. Right D?” Twilight asked skeptically. “You can’t just read these books. We have to take notes, re-read, and take more notes.”

“Yeah, yeah, I gotcha.’” D waved Twilight’s words aside. “Besides, I have a great memory. Now let’s get readin’.”

“Ok,” Twilight sighed, “we’ll get started.” She walked over the the couch across from D and sat down, picking up a book off the top of her own pile.

“Now that’s more like it.” D smiled. “We’ll get through this in no time.”
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Three Hours Later

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“This is unbelievable,” D roared. “These books are totally useless to me. I’ve read almost every single history book, novel, text, and magazine in this whole library, and I haven't found anything that’s even remotely related.” He tossed the last book into the stack of rejects at his side. “At this rate we’ll never find anything good.” D crossed his arms over his chest and took a drink from his many water bottles.

“Are you sure you haven’t found anything of use Little D?” Twilight asked. “I find it hard to believe that we went through this entire library and haven't found a single thing that could help.”

“Actually, I remember getting feeling a moment of clarity the other day when I thought about warriors better than the Hawk-Men armies.” D shrugged. “And I haven’t felt anything else since then.”

“You know...” Twilight mused, “we could probably check the historical section of the Canterlot Archives.” D bolted upright in his chair, almost knocking over his water jugs in the process.

“Yeah,” D grinned widely. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great idea. We can go into the castle, say ‘hi’ to the princesses, check out the books, then be one step closer to preventing the apocalypse.”

“Alright then,” Twilight smiled. “We can leave this afternoon.”
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“What do you mean I can’t go to canterlot with you guys?” Pinkie asked hotly. “Is there some kind of secret party the princesses are planning? ‘Cuz you know that nobody parties or plans parties like me.” She stopped Little D and Twilight a few blocks away from the train station.

“Pinkie, it isn’t like that at all,” Twilight answered uneasily. “Little D and I need to get to the Canterlot Archives so we can find something that will click in D’s memory.”

“Hmm, a likely story,” Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “But something doesn’t add up here.” she pulled a calculator out of her hair and started muttering to herself. “Now let’s see, If today is Tuesday, and there are one thousand fifty two people living in Ponyvill, and Little D is six foot two....” she punched in numbers then smiled. “Oh wait! My mistake. It adds up perfectly. Lookie!” she held up the calculator to Twilight and D and, much to their surprise, it spelled out ‘seem legit’.

“Hey Pinks, believe me. If there was going to be a party, you’d be the first we’d tell,” D said with an honest smile.

“You promise?” Pinkie asked.

“Promise,” Little D confirmed.

“Hmm, we better make that a Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie mused.

“Fine by me,” D said and stuck out his pinkie. Twilight and Pinkie gave him an odd look.

“Uh, Little D? What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Pinkie promising,” he answered. “Why?”

“Oh no, no, no, no,” Pinkie chuckled. “You Pinkie promise like this: Cross my heart,” she crossed a finger over her heart and D mimicked the motion. “Hope to fly.” She flapped her arms at her sides like a bird, D followed, only he briefly revealed his wings and flapped them twice before making them disappear again. “Stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie jabbed her thumb at her eye and Little D did the same.

“Okie dokie then!” Pinkie said cheerily. “You guys check out but you better hurry if you wanna make your train on time.”

“We will Pinkie, see you later,” D said. He grabbed Twilight by the hand and ran her the last few blocks to the train station, right up to the ticket booth. “Excuse me sir,” D said politely. “Could we get two tickets to Canterlot?”

“You betcha,” the man behind the bars of the booth smiled. “That’ll be thirty bits.” D pulled his bit bag off of his belt loop and dug out the money.

“That’s pretty pricy,” D muttered to Twilight as the man turned around to get the tickets. “I remember a month or two ago it was, like, four bits for two tickets.”

“D, what are you talking about?” Twilight whispered back. “It hasn’t been that cheap since it opened when Ponyvill was founded a hundred years ago.”

“What? No way. It wasn’t that long ago,” D rasped.

“Here you two go,” the ticket salesman said as he pushed two tickets through a little opening. “You two enjoy the trip.”

“We will,” Twilight smiled as she dragged D to the train.

“At these prices we better,” D grumbled in return as he was pulled aboard. “Seriously, I could have sworn tickets were cheaper.”

“You know, I would have been more than happy to buy the tickets myself, Little D,” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, well, it’s already done.” D shrugged. “It doesn’t matter that much. It just caught me by surprise is all.”

“Well alright,” Twilight said and looked out the window. “Have you been to the castle before?”

“Yeah I’ve been there a whole bunch over the years.” D smiled. “But it’s been awhile since I’ve paid a visit to my favorite princess.”

“So you know Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked amazed.

“Luna too,” he interjected. “Seriously, people always forget about her. It’s been too long since she’s gotten some proper recognition for her hard work.”

“Well it’s just that Celestia is older and more mature than Luna,” Twilight said formally, but frowned when D snorted a laugh.

“Mature? Celly? Oh my dear Twilight if you only knew,” D chuckled.

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked insulted. “What would you know about Princess Celestia?”

“Well Twi’, we have just enough time for me to tell you some stories about your beloved princess.” And so Little D spent the next half hour telling Twilight Sparkle embarrassing stories about Equestria’s elder monarch. By the time that they were pulling into Canterlot station D was finishing his eighth story. “And that’s why you can never trust Princess Celestia with stove-top popcorn. Ever.”

“It just doesn’t seem possible,” Twilight muttered in disbelief as she and Little D exited the train. “How can one kernel cause so much damage?”

“Yeah, we’re still trying to figure that out.” D smiled. “But luckily there were a few rain clouds around that I used to put out the fire.”

“And Princess Celestia really did that?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yeah, it totally happened.” D grinned as he lead her out of Canterlot Station and towards the castle. “Just ask some of the senior guards around town. They were called in to help with the whole mess.”

“How long ago was this?” Twilight asked. D scratched his head and sighed.

“Now let’s see, it wasn’t too long ago. I think it was around thirty years or so ago.” D decided with a nod. “Yeah, Celestia and Luna were hungry one night and they didn’t want to disturb the kitchen staff so late so Celly decided to make some popcorn and, well, now you know how poorly that went.”

“I just still can’t believe it.” Twilight grumbled. “It sounds like she was a child.”

“Well she never cooked before so I guess some mishaps were to be expected, but yeah, no one saw the garden fire coming.” D smiled again. “You should ask her about it when we see her. We’re almost to the castle right now.” Twilight and Little D made their way to through the streets of Canterlot and towards the high white walls of Canterlot Castle. A set of enormous golden gates set between two high turrets greeted the pair of students as they approached. Two guards clad in golden armor wielded spears stood watch in front of the gates.

“Halt!” the one on the left cried as he brandished his weapon.

“Who goes there!” demanded the other with an oddly similar voice to his companion.

“Don’t worry Twilight,” D whispered to her. “I got this.” He walked past her and towards the guards. “Hey guys!” he shouted and waved. “Yo Hops! Stuck on gate duty again I see.”

“Stay where you are. The palace is off limits to civilians,” barked the guard on the left, Hops apparently.

“Ah come on man. Don’t you remember me? I was here, like, two months ago.” D sounded hurt.

“I’ve never seen you before in my life. And my name isn’t Hops. It’s Skipper,” Skipper said gruffly. “Now get out of here.”

“Dude seriously? I was here talking with you about Celestia’s parents and--”

“Don’t you dare talk about the King and Queen,” the guard on the right bit angrily.

“Everybody just calm down!” Twilight yelled. She stepped in front of D defensively in attempt to ease the tension. “I’m very sorry sirs, my friend here sometimes has trouble keeping his mouth shut.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Skipper grunted. “But if he’s with you, Miss Sparkle, then you two can go on in if you want.”

“Thank you. Come on D.” She smiled apologetically to the guards and guided D inside the gates.

“You were cooler when I thought you were Hops,” D grumbled to Skipper as he walked behind Twilight.

“What was that all about?” Twilight demanded when the gate closed behind them. “You do realize that, as Princess Celestia’s personal protege, I have full access to the castle at any reasonable hour of the day.”

“Hey, I thought he was a guy I knew.” Little D shrugged. “He looked exactly like Hopper. Must be his brother or something.” He strolled past her and continued up the path to the main doors of the castle. “I’ll apologize to him later, but right now we have a couple princesses to say hello to.” Twilight rolled her eyes, but followed Little D up the stairs and into the palace.

“Now let’s see,” Twilight thought aloud, “It’s 12:45 now so the princesses should be up on the balcony finishing up lunch.”

“Sounds good.” D smiled. “It’s up that way right?” he asked and pointed up the tall staircase in front of them, but stopped when they heard something fall. They saw a man in a grey professor’s jacket struggling with a stack of books as he hobbled his way up the stairs as he swore under his breath.

“We should probably help him,” Twilight said. “Excuse me, sir!” she called out, surprising the man and making him lose his balance. Twilight covered her mouth as she watched in shock as the man tipped backwards and tumbled down the stairs. Little D however, snorted a laugh. Twilight frowned at D and went over to the man. “Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

“Ugh, I don’t wanna teach today, mum. Those kids are terrible,” the man grumbled.

“Great. You broke him.” D grinned, but his smile was erased when he saw a complete lack of humor on Twilight’s face. “Ok fine. Wake up dude!” he bent down and slapped the stranger across the face.

“What’s eh?” the man grunted. “What happened? One minute I’m on my way to teach a class, and the next I’m at the bottom of a staircase.” He rubbed his eyes. “Am I dead?” he asked.

“What makes you say that?” Twilight asked bemusedly.

“Because I’m looking at an angel,” the man said with a soft smile, making Twilight blush. “Also,” he pointed to Little D, “Death looms over me.”

“Nah man. Death’s my uncle.” Little D smiled. “But, as it stands right now, you’re fine.” He reached out his hand. “What’s your name, also where are you from? I can’t place your accent.”

“My name is Nook,” the man said as he grabbed D’s hand and hoisted himself off the ground. “Well, actually it’s Professor Nook Reader, but you can just call me Nook. Also, I’m from Canterlot. Well, Shetland is where I was born, but I moved here when I was offered a job as a professor.”

“‘Professor?’ What do you teach?” Twilight asked.

“Currently, astronomy. Stars, planets, you now, that sort of thing.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his light brown hair. He got down on his knees and started picking up his many books. “I was just on my way to the Royal Observatory. Princess Celestia has allowed me to carry on my research here.”

“What are you researching?” Twilight asked as she got down with Nook and began helping him with his books.

“Well, I may have exaggerated a tad. I’m more of an assistant right now. I’m working with Dr. Alnitak. He’s the one who’s doing the major research.”

“Wait. Did you say ‘Dr. Alnitak?’ Dr. Barnard Alnitak?” Twilight asked in awe. “You’re working with the greatest astronomer in all of Equestria?”

“Yes I am. It’s quite an honor, but not as large as being Princess Celestia’s personal protege, Miss. Sparkle.” Nook said kindly. “I’ve had the pleasure of reading though one or two of your friendship reports. No offense, but they do seem a bit juvenile, however when you take into consideration that you are a host for one of the Elements of Harmony, it makes a bit more sense.”

“Juvenile?” Twilight asked insulted.

“Oh, um, juvenile really isn’t the best word. Um, childish maybe?” he stammered. “I mean, not childish, perhaps not very wordy.”

“Not very wordy?” Twilight asked skeptically.

“Well, for example, in many of your reports you are concise and very to-the-point just barely taking up a full page.” Professor Nook said nervously. “But what do I know right? I just stare into space. You’re the celebrity that everyone loves.”

“I’m a celebrity?” Twilight asked, completely forgetting her problem with the professor. “I never knew that.”

“How could you not?” Nook asked shocked. “You became Princess Celestia’s personal student at a very young age, realized you were the Element of Magic, and saved the world three times. You are amazing.” He beamed, but faltered. “I mean, you’re very respectable,” he added quickly. He coughed softly, turned around, and started up the stairs. “I should go now,” he said over his shoulder. “You two should stop by the observatory sometime. There’s always something going on. Bye.” He reached the top of the stairs, turned left, then ran off down the hallway.

“I think he likes you.” D chuckled to Twilight and ascended the stairs.

Author's Note

Don't forget to check your cash reserve before buying a sixty dollar game.