//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Fat Stacks... of Books // by Justice3442 //------------------------------// Fat Stacks… of Books Chapter 4 After a basic teleportation lesson complete with a few successful trials and a quick perusal of a book on famous towers in Equestria, a new book structure was underway. This one was composed of four pillars that leaned diagonally towards each other forming a base that reached up past the bottom shelf. The base, in turn, served as both a foundation to a slimmer structure that was slowly tapering off to a point which nearly reached the zenith of the domed ceiling, and also as a relatively safe platform for Twilight to review a collection of books in front of her. Each book was either rejected and returned to its position on the library’s shelves, or accepted and added to the very top of the tower. Keeping watchful eyes on the small filly and only occasionally glancing upwards to admire her student’s progress, Celestia sat on the floor with a content smile on her face. “Princess Celestia?” Twilight called out. “This book looks like it has a hole in the front of it… Like it was impaled by a small… horn, maybe?” Celestia grimaced as a painful memory resurfaced from her mental filing cabinet. “Please put that one back and check the next book.” “Alright! …The next book also looks damaged… But this one looks like it has the imprint of a pony’s face? Uh… your face.” A very painful memory. “Thank you, Twilight. Please also return that book and try another.” “Okay!” came the enthusiastically compliant reply. Celestia continued to watch contently. At least until the massive double doors of the library swung open with the unmistakable force of a castle butler that was very upset and disappointed with the current proceedings. Celestia did not budge at all. She did not offer the slightest flinch at the sound of the doors, nor at the hooves which stomped across the library floor, or even the roar of “Princess Celestia!” “Kibitz,” Celestia said, not in the tone of a greeting, but in the tone of a gentle reprimand, “may I remind you this is a library? I’m sure you’re well aware of the proper decorum here.” “Decorum?!” Kibitz raged as he trotted up to the Princess, Raven following behind with slow, unsure steps. “I hardly think you’re in a position to remind me of decorum when you’re once again abusing your position of monarch to repurpose the library’s books for something very different from their intended purpose!” Kibitz cried as he waved a scroll suspended in a brilliant light-blue aura about. Celestia merely nodded. “I hear what you’re saying Kibitz, however I’ll have you know that not a single one of these books are older than myself, and therefore I have seniority.” “Seniority?!” “Furthermore, I myself am a central figure in just about every single book that’s been used to create this structure, so I believe that gives me more than ample claim to how they can be utilized.” “Uh… Princess Celestia?” Twilight called out. “Should I stop?” Celestia shook her head. “No, that’s quite alright, Twilight. Please, continue.” “Okay!” Kibitz let out a long, frustrated groan that he punctuated with a “Fine!” hissed out through clenched teeth. “Well, you’re already late for royal court. The nobles are beginning to get impatient.” “Busy,” Celestia said dismissively as she kept her eyes on Twilight. Kibitz grit his teeth further and glared up at Celestia. “Busy?! With this… this… playtime?!” Raven took a couple steps back as Kibitz seemingly tried to fire electricity out of his eyes at his ruler. Without looking away from Twilight’s enthusiastic ongoing construction, Celestia replied to Kibitz in a tone with just the barest hints of haughtiness. “While I admit this might look like ‘play’ to the untrained eye, I’ll have you know this is, in actuality, a complex and engaging way to help improve my student’s memory, teach her basic construction techniques, and also quash any fear of heights she may have!” “Princess Celestia!” Twilight called from the top of the tower. “I need something for the cylindrical top of the tower and books are the wrong shape!” “How about a scroll?!” Celestia shouted back as the blue aura around Kibitz’s scroll gave way to a canary-colored one and the scroll was floated up to Twilight. “Oh! Good idea!” Twilight exclaimed as she took the scroll in her purple aura. Raven’s eyes flew from the small filly, to her instructor, and finally to Princess Celestia, a look of trepidation constant regardless of which subject they rested on. Kibitz mashed fury and surprise into a clicking, gurgling sound before he regained the ability to speak. “That… that’s your itinerary for today!” “It’ll be much more useful up there,” Celestia insisted.  “You can’t be seriously thinking of shirking all your duties for this… this… this Tower of Babel!” Celestia’s eyes widened and she straightened her stance as if she had just been struck by a bolt of realization. For a moment, Raven looked at Celestia expectantly, as if the ruler would suddenly snap out of whatever bizarre bibliomania had come over her. “That’s a really good name for the book tower, Kibitz!” Celestia said, the usual grace and dignity of her voice having all but fled. “Good job!” Kibitz’s jaw dropped. “Don’t you care about your royal duties at all?!” Celestia turned from Twilight long enough to fire off an indignant “Of course I do!” before her gaze dutifully returned to her pupil.  “But unless any of the nobles are going to place themselves atop a large, rapidly erected tower of dubious structural integrity which may collapse and bring an untimely end to their lives, I think this has priority.” Celestia paused and added, “Please tell me if that’s the case.” “Well, what do you expect me to do?! Handle all the affairs of state myself?!” Celestia rolled her eyes so hard the sun wavered slightly in the sky. “I’m sure you’ve observed more than enough royal court to placate a few impatient nobles. Besides, you won’t be by yourself.” Celestia took a quick glance at the other pony standing nearby. “Raven will be there to assist you.” Raven’s entire body locked up as she stared at Celestia in terrified disbelief.   Kibitz simply stood in shocked silence for a moment. “You’re both empowered to make decisions on my behalf,” Celestia said with a wave of her forehoof. “I dub thee both… ‘Temporary Super Duke and Duchess’ for the day. You two can pick who is which.” With a grit of his teeth and a quaking of his head, Kibitz regained his composure enough to say, “But it’s Ms. Inkwell’s first day!” “Wow, then she just got the greatest promotion in all of Equestrian history,” Celestia said. “Please don’t let all that power go to your head, my little pony~!” Celestia sang out. “Remember who raises and lowers the sun and moon everyday~!” Raven only managed to stammer a few beginnings of sentences doomed to never be completed. “I…er… I’ll do my… Uh… That is…” With an irate sigh, Kibitz turned and headed for the library door, “Come along, Ms. Inkwell.” With one more lingering glance on Celestia and a fleeting look at the book tower, Raven turned and followed Kibitz out of the library doors which she gently closed behind her. “… Are you in trouble?” Though her eyes had mostly stayed on the purple pony, only now did Celestia fully refocus her attention on Twilight. The young filly had finished her tower quite a while before Kibitz and Raven had made their exit and was quietly observing the exchange between Celestia and her staff. The first thought that crossed Celestia’s mind was ‘Of course not! I’m the princess! I can do whatever I want!’ But as the words marched through her mind a rather relevant mental file full of memories of times where Celestia had similarly flaunted her position in front of another young filly came to mind, and Celestia couldn’t help but feel a small pang of guilt as she looked up at Twilight. “Twilight,” Celestia said in a gentle tone. “Please come down here.” Twilight cautiously walked to the edge of the platform she was on and looked down. Examining the ground carefully, she closed her eyes, sticking out her tongue as her horn glowed purple. With a soft ‘pop’ and a ‘pomff’ Twilight was safely on the ground. Smiling proudly to herself, she trotted up to Celestia. Celestia slowly lowered her head so it was once more on the same level as Twilight. “Twilight, no matter what privileges or positions you may hold in your life, I want you to remember that other ponies’ feelings are always important, and you should be mindful of putting others in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations.”  Twilight nodded. “Okay.” “Even if you think you deserve a break every once in awhile from the tiresome bickering of the aristocracy.” “Uh, okay.” “And even if one of those other ponies whose feelings you’re trying very hard to consider really needs to learn how to lighten up.” “… Okay.” Celestia raised her head back up and shifted her gaze to take in the structure Twilight had built. “It’s wonderful, Twilight. You should be proud of everything you’ve learned today.” Twilight beamed up at her teacher. “Thank you!” Twilight then looked up, up, and up the height of her handiwork. “I guess I should put this all back and we should finish my lessons for the day, huh?” Though she had steeled herself to agree with Twilight, her final ‘huh’ carried with it the slightest hints of disappointment and these hints began to tug lightly on Celestia’s heartstrings until they were suddenly composing a sorrowful melody. Celestia’s eyes slowly made their way downward as she attempted to regain the necessary emotional clout to confirm Twilight’s question, however she found them getting stuck on a particular book. A book by the title of The Collective Works of Eager Allanite Pony. Slowly, the corners of Celestia’s lips crawled upwards not unlike a spider leisurely making its way across its web. “Light bulb…” she muttered to herself.