//------------------------------// // Chapter 42 // Story: Responsibilities // by Hiver //------------------------------// So, there we were, scrambling through the library for anything to repair that stupid trinket while Luna and Celestia did their best to hold of the quickly encroaching winter. Now, they are both hot, one of them more literal than the other, but there was simply no way they would be able to hold of the snowstorm for long, especially as the snowstorm seemed to be have its non-existent mind on making up for lost time. “Fucking damn it! I’m an author! The Alicorn of fucking Stories! How can I not find a book in a library!?” I exclaimed and threw a book on farming to the side, “To the dungeon with the librarian! What sort of fucked up organizing system is this!?” Sunset ducked out of the way of the flying book, “Stop that!” “…Sorry,” I sighed before ducking out of the way as the Baby of Doom flied past, chased by Pinkie Pie, “At least bring her out of here before she burns the place down!” “I’m trying!” Pinkie yelled in response before scrambling out of view, taking the corner. “Aaah!” Crash! Pop! The Baby of Doom teleported in and I turned towards her, “Okay, that’s it you little terror. Naptime.” Before she could fly away, I tapped my horn against hers and caught her in my magic as she fell asleep, dropping towards the floor. Letting out a sigh, I pulled her closer, “It’s a wonder how something this cute can be that dangerous,” I commented and rubbed my eyes, “Keep looking, Sunny. I’ll see if I can’t find Cadance and we can put her to bed or something.” Sunset nodded, “We’ll find a way to fix this.” “Yeah, hopefully. Or we have to evacuate the Crystal Empire before the tracks freeze over,” I said and looked over at her, “Let’s not have it come to that.” She nodded in turn, looking determined, “It won’t.” The Baby of Doom wouldn’t be waking up for quite a while, but I still put a bubble of silence around her as I made my way towards the reading area in search for her mother. Last thing we needed would be for somepony to wake her up right now and wreck the place. I glanced down at her and sighed, shaking my head, “If you are this bad as a baby, I wouldn’t want to be your parents when you get to being a teenager,” I told her quietly before rounding the corner. Spotting Cadence and Twilight by the table, flipping through books I walked up to them, “I think you lost this?” I told Cadence and floated her baby over to her, “She’s asleep in a sound barrier. Just… put her to bed or something?” Cadence looked up from her book before she smiled and took her in her magic, “You caught her.” “Yep.” Getting up, Cadence cooed at the little terror, “I’ll go put her to bed as we get everything ready.” As she left, I looked over at Twilight, “Any luck?” “No,” she sighed and turned the next page before she gasped, “Yes!... wait, no. No, nothing yet. What if there isn’t anything here!” I shook my head and pulled the closest book closer and opened it, “No idea. I sure hope not. But if we don’t find it soon, we have to start the evacuation or it’ll be too late.” Twilights ears flattened against her head before she nodded and kept looking, moving around the table to move back among the shelves. Okay. Okay. We can figure this out. Or rather, Twilight should be able to figure this thing out. Alicorn of magic and all that. “Twilight?” I asked as she returned with another section of books, “Can’t you just… kind of magic it together?” “Huh?” she asked as she put the books down, “We are looking for a spell for it.” I shook my head, “No, I mean… alicorn of magic. Shouldn’t you be able to just… tell magic what you want it to do?” She shook her head and sat back down, “Don’t work like that, I could explain it but it would take more time than we have. In short, that’s what spells do and while I in theory could make one for it, just like any other unicorn, it would likely be months or more likely years of work for something this complex.” “…Makes sense, thanks,” I sighed and returned to my book. It was about magical artifacts and archeology so at least there was a chance there would be something in this one. But even so, things just felt very… hopeless. Turning the page, I froze as a horrible idea hit me. The Crystal Heart had not only been keeping the Crystal Empire safe, it had also been feeding the changelings. Without it, they would have a deficit of love again. Shit, shit, shit! That’s all kinds of bad! If they had to choose between going back to feeding on ponies large scale or starving to death, I know which I would have picked if I were they! This was all kinds of fucking bad! Who knew what other horrible consequences that could come from this too that I just couldn’t see right now. That’s it, we had to fix this thing, there simply wasn’t another option. “I got it! This is it!” Twilight exclaimed and jumped from her seat, holding a rather ornate looking book, “This might work!” Yes! The purple alicorn looked surprised and almost dropped the book when I hugged her tight.