Fat Stacks… of Books
Chapter 1
Looking downwards at the bespectacled off-white Earth Pony, whose brown mane and tail were each wrapped in a tightly knit bun, Celestia reflexively met the awe and anxiety-filled expression the young mare was giving her with a gentle, reassuring smile. As she had been the head ruler of her ponies for almost a millennium, Celestia was quite used to seeing that look and her facial muscles instinctively moved on their own at this point. Though, after all these centuries, Celestia still couldn’t help but wonder if the look had less to do with her royal position and more to do with the fact she was two to three times taller than almost all her subjects and also the fact that her sparkling, pastel-colored mane and tail of green, pink, purple, and teal waved about regardless of the wind conditions, outdoors or in.
“Hello, Raven Inkwell,” Celestia greeted in a placid tone. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Raven lowered her head into a small, nearly perfect bow, as if the mare had actually repeatedly practiced for this moment. An event which Celestia had no doubt actually transpired. The idea caused the slightest of ticks of Celestia’s eyelids as she quashed the urge to roll her eyes. This was also something she was quite used to seeing, though she had wished her subjects would not put forth quite so much effort to make a good first impression.
“Please rise, my little pony,” Celestia said. As Raven rose back up to her hooves, Celestia turned towards a stallion standing next to Raven, a light-tan unicorn, which had both his greying brown tail and mane tied up in ponytails . Like Raven, he wore glasses, but they were small and sat halfway down his muzzle. Additionally, he wore a red coat and sported a gray cravat with a small gold chain attacked that led into a gold-trimmed pocket on his coat. Celestia knew the chain led to a golden watch. A watch, while of likely great use to the unicorn, had rendered most timekeeping tools superfluous to the ruler as she could now track time based on when the unicorn removed the watch to squint at it through his small glasses.
The unicorn spoke in an somewhat-aged and very dignified tone, “As you know, Ms. Inkwell shall accompany me over the next few weeks as I explain her potential royal duties and train her so she can fulfill the duties of your previous assistant.”
Celestia nodded. “Of course, Kibitz.”
Raven looked up at Celestia once more and opened her mouth, a tiny, slightly frightened squeak escaping before Raven closed her mouth as her cheeks went red, and opened it in an attempt to try her hoof at speaking once more. “I…I promise I won’t let you down, Princess Celestia.”
Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle gently to herself at Raven’s demeanor. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Celestia said. “If you’ve gotten this far, you have nothing to worry about.” Celestia glanced at Kibitz. “Kibitz, no doubt, put you through a very thorough and rigorous interview process before allowing you to see me, and no pony has ever been rejected during the brief intern period.”
Raven’s body seemed to relax visibly as Kibitz gave Celestia a look that was a slight mix of pride and annoyance. Pride, no doubt, at Celestia’s comments regarding how he conducted his interviews. Annoyance, no doubt, at Celestia informing Raven that she was basically a shoe-in at this point. The idea that they could be dismissed likely kept her potential assistants focused, but it also kept them rather tense and maybe just a tad paranoid over the trial period. Truth be told, Celestia would feel much better if her new assistant would learn to relax around her sooner rather than later. Besides, If Kibitz has decided he’s going to conduct himself as a pony with a stick perpetually lodged in his hind-quarters, that’s his business. I won’t have him shoving sticks up other ponies behinds… Metaphorically speaking, of course.
She mentally filed Kibitz’s expression under ‘things to ignore and not think about ever again’, a mental file filled with hundreds of years’ worth of disapproving looks from castle butlers and personal assistance, banal complaints from aristocratic ponies, and last week’s several hour-long filibuster regarding why ponies of noble birth should be given a ‘tax’ break based on their natural born superiority.
… Celestia mentally grimaced to herself and refiled that last one in the ‘things I’m still trying to forget’ file.
With a change that hit like clockwork, Kibitz paused and his horn glowed a brilliant light-blue as he pulled his pocket watch from his coat pocket, floated it in front of his face, and opened it. Squinting through his glasses he looked at the time.
Celestia felt her smile grow slightly. Her next appointment was likely to be the highlight of her day before it gave way to predictably tedious and aggravating royal court proceedings of listening to nobles whine.
“Well Princess, we must be off to continue Ms. Inkwell’s training,” Kibitz said as the pocket watch floated back into place.
Celestia simple nodded. “Of course, please send Twilight Sparkle in as you leave.”
Kibitz nodded.
Raven looked at Kibitz then up at Celestia with an inquisitive expression.
“Twilight is my new personal student,” Celestia explained as if Raven’s expression was a verbally phrased question. “She possesses great magical talent.”
“I see,” Raven said with a nod. “I think that little filly has been at your door for a while, now… She was sitting next to a pile of books almost stacked as high as herself, and muzzle deep in a book that looked… well… rather advanced for a pony her age.”
Celestia met the comment with a nod. “Good. I’ve told Twilight she could no longer bring stacks of books that towered at a height above the point of her horn, and it’s nice to hear she’s no longer attempting to circumvent my wish by bringing multiple stacks.”
“I… um… see…” Raven replied.
Kibitz pulled out his watch again and looked at it impatiently.
Celestia carried on, ignoring Kibitz’s attempt to cut the conversation short with his body language, “Twilight is a voracious reader and the most punctual pony I have ever met. She would likely sleep in front of my quarters the nights before our sessions if her parents let her.” Celestia turned towards Kibitz and smiled. “Why, she’s even more attentive to timelines than Kibitz here.”
Kibitz raised his gaze slightly and lowered his eyelids not so slightly to shoot Celestia a dirty look. He opened his mouth as if to protest, but Celestia caught the briefest expressions of realization and perhaps acceptance come across his face.
Celestia smiled internally. Kibitz cannot hope to defeat Twilight Sparkle in a punctuality-off. She is simply the best there is.
Raven tittered lightly to herself as Kibitz loudly cleared his throat. “Princess,” he said with a slight bow as his horn glowed brilliant light-blue again and one of a pair of large white doors that bore Celestia’s cutie mark swung open.
With a smile and her own small nod, Raven followed Kibitz out of the room. With a brief word from Kibitz, a small-purple unicorn filly practically bounded inside the room, a stack of books nearly as tall as herself floating behind her in a purple aura that matched the glow of her horn.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said excitedly as the heavy stack of books was dropped with a heavy ‘thump!’
Celestia’s worried eyes drifted to the stack of books which managed to remain upright, then down to the small filly who had launched herself against Celestia’s foreleg and was enthusiastically nuzzling it affectionately. Celestia’s concerns evaporated in a cloud of adorable purple smoke and she lowered her head down to return the nuzzle. “Good morning, Twilight,” Celestia said in a nearly musical tone. She raised her head and shut the door behind Twilight with a yellow glow of her long alabaster horn. She then began trotting towards a doorway, leading Twilight past a collection of comfortable-looking wooden furniture and into a large study with a big wooden desk in the center and high walls filled with shelves that were in turn filled with heavy, hardbound books.
Twilight let out a small squeak of pure joy as she looked up at the collection of books in awe, an expression Celestia filed under ‘things to treasure forever no matter how many times I’ve seen them’ with all the similar moments she had shared with Twilight and next to a substantial number of moments involving an orange unicorn filly. The latter thought pricked Celestia’s heart as she made a quick escape from her mental filing system and back to reality.
“Now then,” Celestia said as she scanned shelf after shelf, “what do you want to learn today?”