Alone in the largest library she had ever seen, and probably the largest period, Twilight sat daunted for a time, simply basking in the aura of the library. It was a feeling that she had felt once before when being introduced to the Starswirl the Bearded wing early under Celestia's tutelage, but this feeling here was just so much more encompassing. It was a fair bit of time before a mix of excitement and duty broke her meditation.
She shook her head to focus herself.
First thing first, rising up she took wing, scanning the upper shelves and pulling a few before dropping a little lower for comparison.
Her once over of the shelves initially left her discouraged by the lack of order, but only for as long as it took her to sample a few more books from other locations and notice that the publication dates rose as the shelves did.
While she knew it was an unfit system of organization, it at least managed to provide some order.
...or it did until she found anomalies that revealed that someone, or multiple someones, had attempted to undertake the task of organizing sections of the library. Rather than help though, the attempts only introduced more disorder.
A more intent look around revealed sporadically clustered books that were grouped according to seemingly random organizational schemes, alphabetically-by-title she could understand if not appreciate, but the few more recent shelves that followed this system paled in comparison to the obscene clusters of books apparently organized by the color of their spines. Systems like subject and series, seemed to be largely ignored in favor of patterns of book size or even cover material. It just about made her want to cry.
There was still the faint hope though, the gaps between these "organized" sections seemed to follow the overall pattern of time though, with older books being towards the bottom, and newer books appearing closer to the top. It appeared as if the library was simply stocked from bottom to top, with newly added books being added to the open upper shelves, and the books nearing the bottom slowly growing worse and worse in condition.
Her flight to the ground floor also solved another mystery, for when she brushed by the indoor treetops she suddenly began to fall from the air. She managed a hasty landing in the oddly soft soil, but when she recovered and looked up, she then fell to her knees.
Cent. The grove was Cent. She could actually feel it now. Dense living cent. The entire grove was almost overwhelmingly silent, both physically and magically.
She had never before felt such stillness. The currents of magic that typically moved like air around the body were disturbingly absent, giving the grove an alien feeling.
Curiously, she attempted a simple illumination spell. After a second of focusing, her eyes grew wide.
She had experienced being without her magic before, when she had been subjected to supervised burnout training, and later when she had actually burned herself out and needed to wear an inhibitor ring while she recovered. Having experience with the feeling made it no less alien or disturbing though, and it took her a few preventative repetitions of Cadence's breathing technique before she was ready to continue on.
Focusing on getting out of the forest, she trotted ahead.
Despite her crash landing, she kept her bearings enough to know the direction of the nearest shelved wall. The trip to the edge did not take long, and the break in the trees between the copse and the shelf granted her the ability to once again see up the wall of books, having the effect of calming her further.
Knowing the general scheme of the library, she made her way to the edge of the grove, finding that the books on the bottom shelves were nearly decaying away.
Gently, she pulled one of the sturdier looking books from a higher level, finding, to her mixed excitement and disappointment that it was written in Old-Griffish. While Old-Griffish was technically rare, and could even be readily usable as a translation method existed for it, a small part of her had hoped it would have been in the scratchy line-based Chirp. Ostensibly the same language, Old Griffish writing used the common alphabet while Chirp was an early Griffon-specific written dialect.
The transition from one to the other was a mystery among scholars, none of whom could agree why or even when the transition from one to the other had occurred. What did not help resolve the conundrum was the fact that while remaining examples of Old-Griffish were rare, surviving examples of Chirp (at least ones in Equestria) were effectively non-existent.
Still, the book was clearly old, and no doubt a fine example of Old-Griffish, it was just not as old as she would have hoped... especially considering the supposed age of the library.
Returning it to the shelf, she lowered her examination to the books closer to eye level. Finding one of relative suitability, she pulled it from the shelf and cracked the cover to find, after a double-take, the erratic glyphs of talon-drawn Chirp. A page turn revealed much the same, accompanied by a similarly talon-drawn illustration of a mountain range.
It was hard not to get excited, the prospect of finding a full book of text presented the possibility of enough material to actually build a cypher to translate Chirp. Not something she really had the time for now (or for the foreseeable future) but certainly a project for once this was all sorted out.
Lowering the book to her back, she opened her wings to take off, and angled herself in a way that gave the trees (and their magic stealing branches) wide berth. She bent her legs for a push off, but then hesitated.
Looking back to the shelves, she straightened her legs, looking around before cautiously returning the book from her back to the shelf.
Looking back the shelves between the two books she examined, she began trotting alongside the shelf, deep in concentration, doing her best to make out the markings on the deteriorating spines.
After making her way a significant distance from where she began, she stopped, pulling another book from a shelf between the ones she had pulled books from, excitedly finding it too to be in chirp.
She returned it to the shelf, pulling the next to find it similarly in chirp. The next was also in Chirp, as the next, but the one after that was once again in Old Griffish.
With a smile of excitement and nod of satisfaction, this one too was returned it to the shelf. She continued on down the shelf, now specifically pulling books of better condition and glancing briefly at a few pages. After a couple dozen or so of these examinations, she began to become discouraged.
"It would make sense that the transition between writing systems wouldn't be overnight, right?" She asked herself aloud, "So if there is a period of books being published in either language, it would also make sense that some would have been published in both, right? I just need to find one of those and a translation will be a breeze." She sighed, "That would be too easy, wouldn't it."
Deciding to check one more book, she moved on, not feeling any of those around her to be what she needed. All of a sudden one book caught her eye.
The quality of the book was far below what she would have considered acceptable for handling back in Canterlot, and she even hesitated before pulling it, debating simply moving on to the superior specimen a few to the right.
Something compelling told her to go for it though, and so she did, cracking open to a random page to find very dense Old Griffish text on one page, and to her excitement, Chirp on the other.
Hurriedly turning the page, she was again met with the same sight. One more and she had seen all she needed to confirm that this book was indeed a dual publication in both Old Griffish and Chirp.
While a full text of Chirp could be used to make a translation in only months or even weeks, having a direct translation to a known writing system in hoof could reduce that to days or even hours.
With luck and perseverance she could even have a full translation by morning! -er, well, maybe soon... after the immediate court and offerings issues were done. Even still!
With a giddy spring in her step, she pranced her running start, launching herself into the air, the book alongside her in her magical grasp.
Landing once again on the balcony, her little excursion over, she reluctantly deposited her prize to the safety of the balcony, far back by the door where she wouldn't forget it, and it would not get mixed into the piles her next venture would inevitably create.
She gave it one last longing look before she returned to her search for information on how her court was going to, or at least supposed to, go.
Hours of flying and searching, digging through records, and frustratedly returning them had resulted in next to nothing, serving only to confirm her predictions that it would be a long night. Even after figuring out the basics of the Library's "organizational system", she was still far from where she hoped to be.
Frustrated, she once again glared at the current book, hoping that it would be frightened into revealing its secrets, but just as last time, it was not impressed, sitting before her just as unhelpfully as ever.
She had managed to learn a precious little though, namely that it seemed never before had the ransoming occurred in such a structured way, and therefore the process had often taken many months to conclude. The downside was that this also meant many months’ worth of very poor documentation, as she was finding out. The only relevant record she could find so far was a ledger of notes kept by a royal scribe, who only had anything because he had felt the need to record everything. For every note of an offering payment, there were a hundred pages of daily goings-on of the Emperor and the imperial estate.
And so far, after hours of scanning this one immensely dense text, she had only found mention of four offerings. Three of which had been paid simply in gold, all in similar amounts, and the last was combination of gold and crops, which together she managed to calculate to be about the value of the previous offerings.
Her 'success' was not heartening though, and seeing the thousand-some-odd pages left in the ledger, the sparse amount she had learned from it so far, and the height of the moon overhead, she decided to switch to a secondary topic of research.
Placing the ledger aside, she turned to another stack of books neatly tucked nearby and brought them over for inspection with her magic.
Floating before her now were, five books of varying sizes and levels of wear. She inspected the titles she had found while digging around:
The first was a pamphlet-sized softcover "Before the Emperor: a Manual of Etiquette for Imperial Interactions" with a self-explanatory purpose that she hoped would clue her in on what to expect the next later that day.
Next was a smaller, yet thicker book she had pulled due to its title, "A Mate's Duty: To Love a Soldier" which she had hoped would shed some light on pertinent griffon spousal obligations but now upon see the cover depicting a pair of artistic griffon silhouettes touching beaks, she now suspected this "manual" to be a romance novel. She kept it around just in case.
The next was a thick tome with a plain cover and an equally unimpressive name "Imperial Law: volume 236", which she found randomly amongst the red (with gold lettering) books. This one only taken as a reference for possibly finding the preceding two hundred and thirty five at a later time.
The last, unlike the first four whose condition she would rate somewhere between "mint" and "fair", was firmly within the realm of "damaged". It was a large and well-worn "Griffon Body Language" recovered from about halfway down the chamber.
Deciding the rest could wait, she pulled the etiquette and body language books to herself, stacking the others off to the side. For now she would take any information she could get, and publications from within the empire on griffon topics were worth at least a quick perusal.
Cracking the cover on the body language book, she dove in.
"To know yourself is to know what can be used against you. Before you can know your enemy, you must first know yourself..."
Written more as a guide of what to consciously conceal, the book did no less to reveal much on the psychology and physiology of griffon actions.
All throughout there were minor details of how certain actions and inactions were meant to convey different things. Such as in certain social settings, the angle of the head indicates social rank, and that flying indoors was generally frowned upon. Furthermore wing position, claw and talon retraction and placement, feather ruffle, tail motion, and even the movement of one's eyes all carry intricate meaning. Displays of power, challenges, and even mating rituals were faintly addressed.
Before she knew it, her cursory glance had turned into an in-depth reading of the massive tome. So caught up in her reading, she was totally blind to the passage of the moon through the sky, even the rising light of the sun did not break her from the book until the great doors opened behind her.
"Wha? Spi-" She was about to ask before she caught herself, turning to see the former Emperor returned, "Oh..." she looked up to the crystalline sky light finding the sky already light.
He closed the door and proceeded to close the short distance to her. "Your majesty, your court starts soon; I will aid you with your preparations." He said as he nodded to her in a half-bow.
"Oh, preparations? Uh, alright." She said distractedly as she straightened up her books, "Can I just leave these here?" She nodded toward the pile near the railing.
"Of course, that would be best." He said with another little bow, "When you are ready we can make our way to the throne room."
"So what kind of preparations are we talking about?" Twilight asked as she rose, proceeding up to the door, horn lit.
"Not much on your part, precisely, but-" THUMP
He stopped as Twilight once again fell victim to the door's magically inert properties.
A proper gentlegriffon, the former Emperor averted his eyes, pretending not to have seen his Empress ram nose first into the same door for a second time.
"Allow me your majesty."
As Twilight nursed her hurt nose and pride, she spied the spoils of the previous night's ground adventure tucked by the door and levitated it to her back. The others could stay, but this one was coming with her.
Passing through the held door, she missed the widening eyes of the Emperor as she passed, particularly what they were focused on.
"Your majesty, you cannot-!"
Twilight jumped at the sudden exclamation, feeling the book slip off her back.
She reached out a hoof to catch it, but as it impacted her hoof rather than a book, all she caught was ash.
"What!?!" She sputtered, staring at the pile that was once a book, "I just- It just- How did-" she looked up to the griffon for explanation.
"I am deeply sorry I did not warn you, your majesty." He said as he lowered his head to the ground, "Books cannot be removed from the library. Any that are meet such a fate."
Twilight returned, transfixed to the dust pile, a look of shock stuck on her face. Not only had a book just been destroyed before her, something she would mourn on any average occasion anyway, but this! That may well have been the only remaining of its type.
Even if she had the time right now to go looking for another on those low shelves, with how many books she checked and how narrow the band of books that could have what she wanted, there was no guarantee that another would exist.
She stared at the dust pile, hoping lamely for it to reform unscathed like Philomena from her ashes. It did not heed her desires though, remaining as inert as the pile of ash it was.
She had hoped to learn so much from that book, and though now she had learned something from the book, it was not quite the same. Its noble sacrifice would not be in vain though. She would have given the book a noble Minotaur Sailor’s boat-pyre funeral had it not already appeared to have been through one.
"Your majesty? Are you alright?" The on looking griffon asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
Thoroughly discouraged, Twilight nonetheless made sure that the noble ash pile would not be forgotten.
"Yeah, I- I guess... Could I a bag or something for this?" She said, nodding to the remains.
"I will take care of it your majesty, please proceed to the throne room, I think you will understand once you arrive." He said, nodding a bow before retreating off another way, leaving Twilight to head towards the throne room with one final glance at the once-book.
Though she had traveled the path only the previous day, she was still somewhat worried about getting lost as she plodded along. Nonetheless, she made it without incident, the empty halls echoing her hoof-falls in an eerie reminder that the massive complex was abandoned in a way she had never seen Canterlot castle. Even the long abandoned Castle of the Pony Sisters in the Everfree had the sounds of nature to soften the solidarity.
She did notice though, that this changed as she got closer and closer to the throne room, a mild breeze could be felt and the faintest sounds of voices becoming audible.
Depression swayed to anxiety as her focus shifted to the odd change. Now she was somewhat concerned at what might await her: had the petitioners already arrived? What was she supposed to do if they had? Would it be a mob all shouting for her attention? Were they even here for that?
An odd and sudden clarity came as she tried to imagine her reception by mentally reversing the situation.
If Celestia suddenly declared some random griffon to the throne, I can only imagine what the nobility would try to pull!
She shook her head, casting off the thought. They have been absolutely civil about everything so far. Besides, it hardly sounds like a mob, it's more like someone left a window open.
A window open...
She pushed open the door,
"Oh, right..."
An un-seen blush crossed Twilight's face as she looked at the now neat piles that were once the main doors and the empty portal where it once stood. The gaping entrance revealing a crowd of griffons, now silenced by her arrival and watching her like the sharp-eyed avians they partially were.
Trying to stay calm and in-control looking, she did not linger on the crowd too long, rather turning her gaze back to within the chamber.
Upon closer inspection the remnants of the doors, which were once scattered, were now in neat piles as if some griffons had been sweeping up the mess.
In the back of the room were smaller piles of splinters, but as the piles came closer to the door, the chunks became larger and larger. The largest chunks, nearest to the portal, reminded her of the rubble from the dam she helped...
Her eyes grew wide.
Her focus was immediately split as she simultaneously focused on magically reforming the door and meanwhile calculating the viability of translating the spells ability to reform the large into reforming the small.
It would be a challenge, she noted early, but as she continued her preliminary calculations she found nothing to say it was not possible.
Between her calculations and her spellcasting, she did not notice the door behind her open, admitting the throne's former owner.
"Quite impressive your majesty." He said, coming up beside her.
As she moved the final pieces into place, the cracks between them and the door melted away, leaving a pristine set of doors.
"The power of the alicorns is quite the sight to behold." He said, "I'm sure those who were gathering outside will be suitably awed by your casual reconstruction of the palace doors."
"Oh, uh... I hadn't really- Where's your wife?" Twilight asked, changing the subject away from her little unintentional display.
"She is preparing, she will be here soon."
"Preparing?"
"Indeed," the griffoness in question's voice answered as she entered the room from the same side hallway, "It's been quite a while since I've worn this, it took time to remember the tucks."
Horned and beaked head turned alike to the figure, revealing the former empress, though, true to her statement, now unexpectedly draped in swaths of light fabric accented with gold adornments.
Without further comment, the dressed griffoness sauntered up to the throne and draped herself across the bottom steps, revealing her garb in further detail to the alicorn.
"I hope I didn't keep you. Are we ready to proceed?"
Her words were slow to process though, as the addressed alicorn was busy processing the empress's appearance.
Though the manacle that remained around her fore-talon was a thick iron, now to accompany it were gold chains that snaked around much of her figure, also complemented by sheer shimmering silks, seemingly changing color in the light that worked their way around her body, finally ending at the thin veil that draped over her beak.
All-in-all she looked like she had fallen through the costume department of a poorly-researched, yet fantastically funded "Low-Rinse of Saddle-Arabia" play.
"Are you sure this is alright?" Twilight asked, climbing up the throne of the griffon empire, (her throne, she reminded herself) and looking to the two former imperials below.
Either the implication was lost or it was ignored, as both griffons simply nodded.
"Whenever you are ready your highness." The former Emperor directed.
One calming breath, and Twilight's horn lit, surrounding the reformed great doors, and swiftly opening them to the crowd outside.
Understanding the sign, the first supplicant entered.