Later that evening, Bloodthirst was tucked in for the night. Right after dinner he was arranged to sleep with Orion Galaxy.
“I hope you won’t mind being here, since sometimes Melody Aurora can be strict on her own privacy,” Twilight Sparkle told him. She had arranged a mattress complete with a pillow and a blanket, and placed it beside Orion’s bed.
“I won’t,” replied Bloodthirst. “As long as I feel comfortable with Orion.”
“Well then, good luck, you two. I’ll be calling you both by midnight!” ended Twilight as she closed the door.
“So is this your first time staying here?” Orion asked him.
“I… think so. I’ve never been to a sleepover or a slumber party before, I actually wanted to get a taste of myself.”
“Pepper Flake and her family sometimes throw slumber parties. You can actually go join with us. We’re usually all invited.”
“Well, I’ll try.” He suddenly remembered about what Melody and her mother told him about Orion. He hardly asked him while they were gathering at Sugarcube Corner. “Err, can I ask a question?”
“What is it? I’d love to answer my subjects’ questions, especially when they get to know me,” Orion smiled.
“Is your life hard, as a royal guard?”
“Well, definitely. You know, getting up early, physical exercise, marching practice, and be on guard at one station. It’s kinda like being in military. But thanks to Princess Celestia, I can get to visit my family and friends often. You can go visit my uncle Shining Armor and Auntie Cadance in the Crystal Empire. They’ve kept my late father’s journal, detailing his royal guard life.”
“Do you miss your father?”
“I do, and everypony does. I would think of my father every day, and I even wished he was on my side. Everypony agreed that what he did was heroic, even if it means giving up his life to save his family, though there are some who don’t really like him.”
“Are you good with your sister?”
“Definitely, yes! I love her well. She hails me as her BBBFF, her Big Brother Best Friend Forever. That’s what my mom used to refer to Uncle Shining Armor.”
“I was wondering, how is your relationship with umm, Honey Drops?”
“Yeah, it’s been going well,” he chuckled. “You have to know, I know her since I was a baby. Mom would definitely take me out to meet her friends and also their children. That’s when I came to know Honey Drops. She was by dearest and best friend at that time. She enrolled herself to be a royal guard three years ago, and after one incident which threatened the princesses, I confessed my love to her. I just wanted to make a proposal to her, my dear sweetheart…”
“Wow…”
“Which reminds me, my sister wrote to me about you and Platinum Royale. Are you going well with her?”
“She’s a caring pony. She knows what my troubles were, and she would help me,” he blushed.
“Well, that’s just the beginning,” smiled Orion. “It’ll take a long time until your relationship has blossomed. You’ll meet hardships along the way, but don’t worry, everything will turn out well in the end. That’s what Auntie Cadance told me. When the right time comes, confess your love to her.”
“I’ll try, but right now, it seems too early for me.”
“That’s a good stallion.”
The stallions talked until midnight, when Twilight called to them.
“Alright boys,” she whispered to them. “It’s time we get to the library to find the culprit behind the mess! Keep your steps quiet.”
Using her lit horn as a torch, Twilight led the group down through the stairs and all the way to the library. Twilight opened the library door. It was deafening silent.
“No noise,” reminded Melody. “We don’t want to disturb the culprit.”
“Right,” said Orion.
“Got it,” followed Bloodthirst.
The group immediately separated and patrolled silently. For thirty minutes, there was nothing unusual. Twilight and her children had their horns dimly-lit to prevent themselves from being busted.
Melody and Orion had just navigated through a bookshelf when they heard the sound of a book being thrown.
“Did you hear that?” Melody asked him.
“Yeah, we should get over there to see what’s going on,” agreed Orion.
Both brother and sister crept quietly behind the bookshelves where the noise came from, and Melody nearly screamed out of shock…
… to find a spirit resembling a young unicorn mare taking out a book and read it, then threw it aside as she found it dull, then took out another one, and threw it, again and again.
“So that must be the culprit!” she whispered.
“Pretty amazed that she can appear and read them,” said Orion. “Though it’s not Nightmare Night. Time to give her some surprise.”
Marching forward, Orion shouted,
“What do you think you’re doing?!!”
“Dah!” the ghost screamed at the sight of two Alicorn ponies, and both of them gave chase.
“Kids! What’s going on!?” Twilight called as she heard their hoofsteps. She immediately went to their direction, only to encounter face to face with the ghost, who just came out of the bookshelf.
“So you’re the culprit! Get back here!” snarled Twilight. The ghost quickly went into another bookshelf, and met Spike who was hurrying over to Twilight. He tried to grab her, but she simply went into another bookshelf, causing him to bang onto it.
“Catch me if you can…!” the ghost giggled.
Bloodthirst had been patrolling around the corner when he heard their shouts. He quickly galloped to where they are. He encountered face to face with the ghost.
“Just where do you think you’re going!??” he growled at her.
Seeing his red eyes, his sharp fangs and his bat wings, the ghost froze with horror, for meeting an extraordinary pony. She turned to run away, but as she tried to move, she felt herself frozen.
“Got you at last!” Twilight and everyone else managed to catch up and used magic to prevent the ghost from moving.
“P-please, don’t bust me, don’t vanish me,” pleaded the ghost. “I-I can explain, I won’t run away…”
“Are you sure?” demanded Orion.
“We’ll question her properly,” suggested Bloodthirst. “I saw her scared after seeing me. So maybe some questioning will learn some truth.”
The group led her to the reading area.
“What’s your name?” asked Twilight.
“Um, I’m… Silent… Reader, you can just call me Silent,” replied the ghost.
“So tell us, Silent, why are you sneaking into our library in the middle of the night and left the books lying around?” inquired Melody.
“Well, you have to know, I lived around one thousand years ago, which was before Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon.”
“One thousand years ago?” asked Spike, rather surprised.
“I liked reading when I was a filly, and I loved to frequent the bookshops and libraries at that time. I got word that the castle library has many of the most stunning books that I wanted to read. I tried to get in all the while but there was no way I could get in, because all the while I thought only high-class ponies could enter…”
“So how did you get in?” asked Twilight.
“One night,” Silent Reader resumed. “I suddenly found out a way to the library. I saw some places where I can climb easily, and I was able to hop into the nearest window. It was closed, and nopony was in there. I was able to explore the whole place quietly and when I found a book, I set it down to read. It was thick, but I was determined to finish it up, so I read and read and I didn’t realize that I fell asleep.
“The next thing I opened my eyes, I saw Princess Celestia in front of me. I jumped in horror, because I was afraid that I would be sent out of the library, but she didn’t… she just smiled, and told me that since I loved reading, I would be welcome to read them. So I did, and almost every week I would visit the library, and read her books. But, you know, sometimes I would be so into reading that I would forget to return the books back to the bookshelf.”
“So that’s how you had that habit…?” Spike asked, with an annoyed face.
“Uh, yeah,” she giggled in her ghostly voice. “But little did I know, because of my long-time reading, and reading up to midnight, I began to fall ill often, and on that day, I was reading my book as usual, despite my illness, when suddenly, I felt drowsy, so I snooze on the book, and then… I never woke up.”
“You died… just like that?” asked Bloodthirst.
“It was a quiet death. Peaceful but sad, isn’t it?” she said miserably. “But still, I would revisit the place, only at night time, because nopony’s there, and I can read them. But sometimes, there are some which I found boring or those I’ve read a lot already, and I would leave them, and by the time daylight comes and I’ve returned to my own grave, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t even returned the books! Even when Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, and Princess Celestia relocated herself to Canterlot, I would still haunt the abandoned place, and read the books there…
“But then, these years I notice that some of the books are missing, and I found out that they’ve been relocated here. So I would go here and continue reading the books, even the new ones I never see them before! But still, there are some I found that I read them a lot already, and some boring…”
“So does that explain the mess you made in my library?” asked Melody.
“Yes, I did,” she replied. “Now that I told you everything, what can I do to express my, um… apologies?” She looked at them with teary eyes.
“You have told us the truth, that is the good thing,” replied Twilight. “From now on, you shall be the night guard of this library!”
“Really, really!??” cried Silent Reader, shaking Twilight from the shoulders.
“Well, this is something I’m giving you so that you can read the books here as long as you want!”
“Thank you, thank you…!” Silent Reader hugged Twilight.
“One condition: You must remember to put back the books from where they are taken. This is a role example for a library caretaker,” Twilight told her.
“I will, I will!” said the ghost. “Thank you for understanding me. You guys actually made up my night. I’ve never felt sooo lively in one thousand years! See you guys later!”
The ghost vanished completely.
“Phew!” yawned Spike. “That was one mystery solved!” He fell to the floor and slept, much to everyone’s amusement.
The next day, Bloodthirst joined everyone in seeing Orion off to Canterlot.
“That was one fun adventure we had,” Melody told him.
“Yeah, it couldn’t have been more thrilling,” he replied.
“Help send my regards to Princess Celestia,” Bloodthirst said.
“I will, young man,” said Orion as he boarded the train. “Just remember my words, and your relationship will blossom well!”
Bloodthirst watched as the train left, with his desires of wanting to have a short stay at Canterlot again one day…