//------------------------------// // 72. Your Faithful Librarian // Story: Azure Edge // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Rarity took a sip of cold cider and placed the cup on the stone bar in the nearly empty Hunter’s Haven. Her train had dropped her and Celestia off in the Sun District little over an hour ago, and as Celestia flew off to deal with whatever it was she did after every mission, Rarity decided to stop by Hunter’s Haven for a drink before returning to the library. Even putting aside Celestia’s outburst—which Rarity was desperate to do; she’d rather think about quite literally anything else—Rarity had a lot to think about. And, as it always seemed to be these days, whenever Rarity was having a hard time figuring out what to do, she thought of Twilight. Twilight was very smart, and Rarity wondered what she would do, were she a Slayer. She always seemed so organized too, though then again, Rarity also remembered the time she tried to schedule every second of every day so that she could see all of her friends an exactly equal amount of time, so perhaps she wasn’t always the best role model. Still, Rarity missed her, and she was stuck between wanting to rush back to the library and wanting to hide from it. She almost felt like she didn’t deserve to go back, like if she didn’t figure out the answer to this millennium old conundrum tonight, then she deserved to be alone and miserable until she did. But that wasn’t a terribly productive way to live her life. “Wow,” a familiar voice interrupted Rarity’s thoughts, though Rarity was more than happy to have them interrupted, “you look exactly like I’d expect someone to look after a mission with my sister.” “Princess Luna,” Rarity said with a warm smile as she turned around to see the beautiful blue alicorn standing behind her, “it’s lovely to see you, darling!” Rarity got up from her stool and immediately embraced the Princess in a warm hug, Luna patting her on the back for good measure as she laughed. While not as much of a mountain as her sister, and even in her more casual wear and not her armor, Luna was still an imposing presence. She was only a head taller than Rarity, and she had a much thinner frame than Celestia, though no less muscular. But what the Princess lacked in comparative size, she made of for in intensity and passion. “It’s been far too long, Princess!” Rarity said, holding Luna’s hands and smiling at her former mentor. While Rarity was always Celestia’s student first and foremost, she also trained under Luna during her childhood, and the two had become frightfully good friends. “Fancy a drink with me?” “Certainly,” Luna said with a grand smile, “I’ve got time. Though you seemed lost in thought when I saw you, I almost didn’t want to bother you.” “Oh, it’s no bother,” Rarity groaned as the two sat down and Luna ordered her drink. “Honestly, I was just running myself in circles anyway.” “You?” Luna scoffed and took a sip of her beer. “You would never!” “Harhar,” Rarity playfully rolled her eyes. “So what exactly are you running from?” Luna asked. “Perhaps I can assist.” Rarity took another sip of her cider and wished it was coffee as she considered Luna’s offer. Couldn’t hurt to ask one of her other favorite ponies about her conundrum. She had a much more casual relationship with Princess Luna, and she didn’t constantly fear losing the Princess’ respect the way she sort of did with Queen Celestia. And besides all that, Luna was a friend, and if she wanted to help, then Rarity wasn’t about to turn her down. “Luna,” Rarity took another sip of cider as she considered her thoughts, “do you have any idea how to balance your own life and personal aspirations with the duties of the Hunt?” “What life?” Luna laughed, and Rarity grimaced at her. That wasn’t exactly the answer she was looking for. “You know what they say, Rarity.” Rarity sighed and the two women said dully in unison, “There is no life outside the Hunt.” “But doesn’t that bother you?” Rarity griped. “It’s draining the life out of all of the Slayers, and it only seems to get worse with each generation!” “Of course it bothers me,” Luna said dryly, shooting Rarity a less friendly look of frustration, “it’s the worst. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. As long as my sister leads the Slayers the way that she does, the way that—as she’ll be quick to remind you—has served Equestria well for over a thousand years, then things will remain as they are. “Celestia controls the Slayers,” Luna continued. “She controls how they act, what they do, how they think, and what they believe. The Celestia Slayers will follow her into the mountains of decay and even death itself, and until she finds some recourse or purpose to course correct, the slow withering of Equestria’s protectors will only continue.” “It all starts and ends with her,” Rarity said. “That’s just the way that it is,” Luna said bitterly, taking another sip of beer. “The way it’s always been.” Luna took a deep breath and sighed that bitterness and irritation away. “So why do you ask, anyway? What is it that is splitting your attention from the Hunt?” “I have a crush,” Rarity admitted with mixed embarrassment and giddiness. Luna wasn’t going to judge her for having a silly crush, and it felt good to tell somepony, instead of them just figuring out because she was sighing and blushing a lot. “Do tell,” Luna said with a wry smirk, resting her chin on intertwined fingers. “She’s a librarian,” Rarity explained, “she just moved to Canterlot with her son about two months ago. I’ve been at her library nearly every day for the past few weeks, and the more time I spend with her, the more I simply want to spend all my time with her! “But I also know I have a duty and responsibility to the Slayers and to Equestria, and I honestly want to keep being a Slayer and protecting the ponies of our country! It’s just… I don’t know how to do that without burning myself out until there’s nothing left, and I fear I’m almost there already.” “I think the most important thing for you to do,” Luna said seriously, “is to listen to yourself and what your heart wants, not to what my sister says.” “Pardon?” Rarity asked confusedly. “What does Celestia have to do with all this?” “Everypony thinks that Celestia is oh-so wise and enlightened,” Luna said bitterly, as she tended to do when her sister was brought up in conversation, “that she’s infallible and can’t make any mistakes, but that simply is not the case. Nopony knows you like you know you, and you can’t let anyone else decide what is right for you.” Luna ended her rant with another sip of beer, finishing the can in one final chug before crushing the remains against her forehead, which left Rarity simultaneously aghast and impressed. Rarity wondered if Luna was right; if what she really needed to do was trust her own instincts, even when they conflicted with what Queen Celestia said, but that just didn’t seem right to her. Celestia was always right, and of course Luna would find fault in her sister’s words, she found fault in everything Celestia did! Still, Rarity couldn’t simply discard the words of her friend out of hand, so she elected to keep Luna’s concerns under advisement. Without warning, a violet flame erupted in front of Rarity, startling her and forcing her to jump back off her stool. Luna also watched the flame warily, but she didn’t seem terribly alarmed, which made Rarity feel a little bit safer about approaching the envelope that the flame transformed into. “A letter?” Luna asked. “Who’s it from?” “I don’t—” Rarity was about to say she had no idea, but after a second glance she recognized the lavender stationary as belonging to a certain librarian, and the warmth in her heart spread throughout her entire body as she took the envelope in her hands. “It’s from a very dear friend.” Rarity had learned not to question Twilight’s incredible feats of magic, so how she was sending Rarity a letter from wherever she was wasn’t on Rarity’s mind. She was more curious as to why Twilight was sending her a letter, and the thought briefly crossed her mind that something was horribly wrong or that Twilight was going to tell her to stay away from her and the library, but Rarity pushed those thoughts aside because she knew she was just playing tricks on herself now. Rarity took the folded parchment out of the envelope with trembling hands. She looked over to Luna, who nodded silently, and unfolded the letter, taking a deep breath to steady herself before she read it. “Dear Rarity, uhm… hi!” Rarity snorted and clutched the letter to her heart, and she took a moment to collect herself—letting her affection for her dear Twilight Sparkle wash over her like a tidal wave— before reading again. “I’m on the train back to Canterlot, and hopefully I’ll see you there? I know you’re busy with your mission and everything, but everyone assures me that puckwudgies won’t take you more than a day or two to deal with. You know I’ve never seen a puckwudgie before? I don’t suppose you took any notes did you? I could add them to my bestiary! Uh, anyway. It’s okay if you didn’t, I was just… thinking out loud? I guess?” Rarity rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face lit up the entire room. She almost wished she had taken notes on the puckwudgies now, but she knew she had neither the time nor the energy to have done so when she was there. “I met the spirit of the Everfree Forest. She seems nice? I don’t know. She’s weird, and she’s really intimidating, but she’s also very sweet. Honestly, she scares me more than anything, but… I do sort of feel a connection to her. I think we’re similar in a lot of ways. Uh, I’m not really sure how to explain it. I’ll try if you want, but I dunno.” The more Rarity read Twilight’s letter, the more endeared she was to the fact that Twilight seemed so fond of ‘uh’ and ellipses in her writing. It was quite adorable, honestly. “Pinkie Pie’s been an absolute treasure during this trip, by the way. We stopped at this place called Sugarcube Corner on the way back to the train station; did you visit there during your trip to Ponyville? The couple that runs it were almost as sweet as their confectionaries, huehe!” Rarity giggled and held the letter close to her again, and she could practically hear the undignified snort Twilight must have made when she wrote that part. “But anyway, Pinkie Pie. She’s really fun, and nice! I’m glad I met her, and I’m glad I took this trip with her. Does she seem sad to you though? I always get this feeling that she’s trying to be happy, maybe happier than she is? I dunno, maybe I’m projecting? What do you think? I guess I’ll ask you when I see you, so hopefully one of us will remember!” Rarity smiled and made a mental note to remind Twilight about Pinkie Pie. Rarity understood where Pinkie was coming from; she knew Pinkie’s cheerful attitude wasn’t an act, it was her genuine self, but Twilight also wasn’t wrong about her being sad. Depression can really do a number on you, and sometimes it’s easier than not just to hide it. “I do want to talk to you when we see each other again, about some important stuff. I haven’t totally wrapped my head around it yet, hopefully I will by the time I see you, but I want your opinion. You’re smart, and I trust you. It’s nothing like, HUGE huge! I don’t want you to worry or anything! Just some things I’ve sort of been thinking about for a while, and Fluttershy really brought them to the forefront. “I miss you. I, uhm, I hope that’s okay to say? Because I do. Miss you, I mean. Uh, yeah. That’s dumb, I should probably take that part out, but I uh, I don’t, uh, really want to? I hope you… miss me too? It’s okay if you don’t! yikes, this is becoming a real mess, uh… I’ll take this part out. just give me a” Rarity tilted her head and wondered what happened that made Twilight forget to take that part out, or what caused her to stop writing so suddenly. There was a little bit more to the letter, so it’s not like anything dreadful happened to Twilight, but it still struck Rarity as very odd. “I really need to finish this up, otherwise you’ll be reading it for a million years, haha! Uhm, so is there anything else? Yeah, I guess there is. “Thank you, Rarity. For coming to the library, and for being my friend. I love your company, and it means the world to me that you value my friendship as well (geez, that’s not too sappy, is it?)” Rarity giggled at her poor librarian’s lack of self-confidence. If only she knew just how much Rarity valued their friendship. “Your faithful librarian, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity held the letter close to her heart and smile so wide her cheeks almost got sore. Her faithful librarian indeed. She felt a pang in her heart and she simply couldn’t wait to see Twilight again and tell her how much Twilight meant to her, and how much she enjoyed Twilight’s letter. “Rarity,” Luna said, oddly seriously, and Rarity gave Luna her full attention. “Remember, you need to listen to your heart, and what it wants you to do. Not what you think you’re ‘supposed’ to do. Okay? Your first priority should be making sure that the life you’re living is worth living, and if you’re being drained into nothing by your every day, that isn’t much of a life at all, is it?” Rarity took a deep breath. Luna’s words were like being splashed with cold water right after departing a hot shower. She wasn’t wrong, but… “By the way,” Luna cracked a wry smirk, “how long is that letter?” “She’s verbose,” Rarity laughed, and felt her cheeks heat up immensely. Rarity would take Luna’s words into consideration, but some other time. Right now, all she wanted to think about was Twilight. Perhaps, when Twilight asked her important things that she needed to talk about, Rarity could convince Twilight to listen to her rambles as well. Rarity’s ears perked up and she intently scanned the letter in her hands, affecting a frantic expression as she read a certain line over again. “She’s on the train back home!” Rarity shouted. “And?” “I have to—I want to be at the train station!” Rarity said desperately. “I want to be there for her when she arrives, but I’ll never make it in time!” “If only you had a friend who could fly,” Luna said, outstretching her wings. “You would… carry me?” Rarity asked. “Back to the Moon District?” “You don’t have any time to waste, correct?” Luna smirked. “Besides,” Luna stood up and stretched her arms over her head, “it will be good exercise.” Rarity mulled it over for a moment; of course she would accept the offer, she wasn’t going to turn down Luna’s generosity, but she also thought about how jealous Rainbow Dash would be if Rarity made a grand entrance on the back of a Princess. “Luna?” Rarity grinned. “Will you take me back to the Moon District, please?” Luna bowed graciously. “It would be my pleasure.”