Dusty Old Tomes

Canterlot was filled with so many wonderful things to see and experience, visitors and tourists seldom knew where to start. The romantic allure of the western wall or the majesty of Castle Canterlot were clear favourites, Trixie could not deny that. But her favourite place was an entirely different cup of tea.

Calm and secluded, the only sounds carried through the air were the distant clop of hooves and rustling of pages. Bookshelves and scroll cases stretched as far as the eye could see on several floors. Filled with untold amounts of knowledge, the archive left a special kind of impression on a curious visitor. All these pages, just waiting to be searched for answers. Finding useful information after hours of searching was the second best feeling in the world. The first was, of course, the cheer of a crowd after a performance.

She could easily understand why her companion loved it so much. The showpony walked forward, levitating a small stack of books next to her. Her pearlescent mane, usually expertly styled, was tied into a hasty ponytail. Few ponies ventured into the restricted part of the Canterlot Archive, so she had not bothered. She glanced quickly at one of the many clocks in the area. She would have to help tend to the flock before too long.

Sighing, she finally reached the table they had chosen some hours ago. A princess sat there, her horn flashing in candlelight as she turned page after page of a tome bigger than her head. Twilight looked up as the Trixie approached and asked:
"Find anything new?"
Trixie added her books to their already intimidating pile and said:
"Two potential leads. 'Amazing Adventures into the Astounding Aether'," she took a breath, "by Leon Sakul and 'Curious Beasties of Saddle Arabia' by Camelio Vargas. I feel the latter will be less infuriating to read."
"Heheh, I think you might be right. Well, dig in, I still have a hundred or so pages in this one."

Trixie sat down and carefully opened the tome with her magic. Ooooh, pretty illustrations, how nice. She skimmed through the index. Of course the section about deities was in the very back of the book. She started turning pages, slowly and carefully, so as not to damage the ancient paper, and commented:
"Who knew two seemingly important entities were so inadequately researched?"
"I wouldn't say that," the two met gazes, "every other book seems to have a snippet about them."
"Yes, and each snippet contradicts at least two others. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if we found Ebon and Equinox under cake recipes."

The princess chuckled and gazed into space for a moment:
"What would go into an Equinox cupcake?"
Grinning, the showpony had an answer ready:
"One cup research, two tea spoons conflicting information and a pinch of false hopes."
"Fitting, I suppose."

They giggled and returned to their reading material. Trixie flicked from one page to the next, giving the depicted creatures a cursory glance at most, though she took in the details. Her brain was already busy creating a Saddle Arabian adventure for her show. One with the proper ingredients. Love, drama and a pinch of obscure bestiary. The audience always loved seeing something new.
As she turned another page, something spilled onto the table:
"What the hay?"
"What's wrong?"
She looked over the substance, spread across the table in many grains:
"This page had sand on it."
"Sand?" asked with an incredulous tone.
"Yes, sand, I'm dead serious."

There was enough of it to obscure most of the page. How in the hay had nobody noticed it before? With an annoyed grunt, she brushed some of it aside to at least read the page's title. As her brain processed the words, her eyes noticed something peculiar. The sand was moving on its own accord. Her brain finally caught up and she gasped:
"Dune Devil?!"

The sand swirled above the book into a distinct shape. The creature was tiny, possessing no legs of any sort. It did however have a round torso complete with two almost freakishly long, thin arms. It looked around, despite seemingly not having any actual eyes. The two ponies returned its gaze and it emitted a high-pitched screech, before darting off the table. Twilight and Trixie locked gazes and shouted in unison:
"After it!"

The devil was tiny, swift and, worst of all, mischievous. It used its elongated appendages to pull and knock books out of their shelves, much to Twilight's dismay. The alicorn mobilized her magic, just in time to prevent any harm to the innocent literary artefacts, while Trixie continued the chase.

The creature continued to evade her, dashing through nooks and crannies whenever she tried to grab it using her magic. A different approach would be necessary. Trixie concentrated as her horn started glowing.

Her target kept rushing ahead, certain that it was safe from any counterattack. Another swift turn and it would be out of sight once more, free to cause additional mischief. It was most surprising, then, when its form slammed forcefully against an empty hallway between bookshelves. The sand spilled onto the ground and started reforming, but it was too late by then. A magical field enveloped the devil's shattered form and lifted it up.

Her horn stopped glowing and the hallway revealed its true form, a sturdy wall. Twilight finally caught up, gasping as a legion of books levitated around her:
"Did you, hah, get it?"
"Indeed," the creature slashed at its arcane prison to no avail, "feisty little thing, isn't it?"
"Sure is," she took another breath and looked at her mobile library, "we need to clean this place up. Let's drop our friend over at the guard post, shall we?"

******

Vadimus, Valencio, Vanhoof... Vargas! She hovered the tome into place, now freed of its unwelcome tenant, then looked around. The archive looked pristine, or well, as pristine as a collection of crumbling scrolls could be. A satisfied sigh could be heard and Trixie turned to her companion:
"Nice and tidy."
"That it is," Twilight re-checked the ordering for the third time and was finally done. Then, however, an annoyed grunt escaped her lips, "but this dune devil cost us a lot of time."
"Yup," she closed the distance between them, smiling, "but I don't think we'll find anything other than more conflicting information. I propose that Plan B be put into action."
"I guess you're right. And we haven't been to Sugarville in a while... alright. Trixie, you may commence Plan B!"

The showpony clopped her hooves with excitement:
"Excellent! I bet he'll be happy to see us!"
"Based on what Pinkie has told me, he will. Unless he's died of heart attack from her cakes."
"I mean, if we've learned anything, dragons are tough. A cake couldn't possibly fell him, could it?"
"You clearly lack thorough experience with Pinkie's culinary deviance."

They both chuckled on the way out of the archive, then on the way to Trixie's quarters within Canterlot. Two friends bathed in moonlight.

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