//------------------------------//
// Interlude 1 
// Story: Harmony's Guardians 
// by Blank Scroll 
//------------------------------//

"TWILIGHT!"

"AHH!" The previously mentioned mare screamed, as she fell from her chair. Groaning, she rubbed her rump, turning towards the source of the voice. She spotted her number one assistant, a small purple dragon with green spines in a mohawk, running from his head to his tail which ended in a flat spade shape. "Spike, I was in the middle of studying."

"Well I wouldn't have to yell if you answered one of the other twelve times." Spike said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "Anyway, you have a guest downstairs."

"What! Somepony's here? I'll be right there." Twilight said, walking to the door.

"Twilight."

"What now, Spike?" She inquired, turning around, placing a hand on her hip. Spike gestured downward. Twilight glanced down at herself, dressed in a pale lavender tank top and yellow sweats with pink polka dots. Her face heated with embarrassment, as she walked to her closet. "I'll, um, be down in a moment."

Spike slapped his claw to his face, before turning and walking out the door. Upon arriving back in the library part of the Castle of Friendship, he called out to the visitor. "Twilight will be down in a moment. Sorry about the wait."

A tall blue Pegasus was sitting near a window, casually reading a book. He looked up when he heard the dragon call to him. "It's no trouble at all, Spike. Did you know that Sea Ponies are actually Hippogriffs? It's fascinating what you can learn from books."

"Uh, yeah I did. I visited Seaquestria with Twilight and her friends. You know, to save Canterlot from an invasion?" Spike deadpanned.

"Really? I must've missed it. Sounds like a rough time. If it was recently, I was in Neighpon on vacation." The stallion said, taking off his reading glasses. "Ah, Princess. So good to see you. Though I think your bed still misses you."

Twilight walked in and looked at the Pegasus, puzzled. "Huh?" She said, looking at Spike. He raised an eyebrow and pointed to the left side of his head. Twilight immediately called upon her magic, summoning a brush. "Oh my gosh, sorry about that, Blank Scroll."

Blank Scroll just laughed, setting his book down on the table. "Don't worry about it, I'm no stranger to bedmane. Anyway, since you're here, I heard you got a new shipment of books from Canterlot. I was wondering what was new to read."

Twilight perked up instantly. "Oh, yes! I got an order of 174 books in just yesterday. Actually, I was just reading one last night. Though it looks more like an old diary."

"Celestia sent you a diary?" Scroll said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "If it's old, it could go to the history museum in Canterlot. Whose was it?"

Twilight scratched her cheek with a finger. "It's a bit worn and I can't really make out the name on the front of it. And I can't read any of the names in the diary either. Which is weird, since the rest of it is written in Old Ponish."

Scroll looked thoughtful as he replied, "Do you think it's in a language that's unknown, or maybe the names don't translate? Can you recall what one of the words was?"

"Sure! One moment." Twilight said, while looking for a roll of parchment. Spike huffed, walking over to a desk and pulled out a quill and parchment, handing it to her. "Thank you, Spike. Now, it kind of looked like this."

She wrote down a couple words and handed it over to Scroll. But when he looked down at the parchment, he suddenly started laughing. "I've never seen symbols like that before, and I used to be an archeologist. But maybe you could let me borrow that diary sometime. I'd love to study it. Now, those other new books you got."

"Oh. We got a new trilogy of Daring Do books, since I know you own the entire collection." She responded, walking to a shelf a couple aisles away. "Ah, here they are." Twilight grabbed the books and walked back, setting them on the table.

"Thank you, Princess. You know exactly what I like. Though, if I'm honest, Daring's partner in that last book sounded familiar. Not many rainbow-maned Pegasi out there." The stallion said, picking up the books. "I'll bring these back in a couple weeks. Thanks again, Twilight."

Twilight and Spike watched Scroll walk to the door and leave the castle. "He likes books, huh?" Spike stated.

"Yeah, he does. He's been coming to the library since I moved here. I heard he used to be the old librarian."

"I wonder why he retired." Spike retorted. "He went on another vacation. Over to Neighpon this time."

"Well that explains why he wasn't among the prisoners during the invasion." Twilight replied, walking back to her room to resume reading the diary.





Blank Scroll walked towards his home, but he was deep in thought. After all these years, I guess Twilight has it now. He looked down at the names on the parchment that the princess wrote down. Right there in plain sight, but unknown to all but a small handful of ponies. Blank Scroll and Shimmering Aura.

Well I know it's in good hands with Twilight. He thought, as he reached his home. "Aura, I'm back. And you wouldn't believe what I found."

A purple Unicorn called from the kitchen, "Is it a new book? Or did you find something actually shocking this time?"

Scroll walked into the kitchen looking hurt, his ears lowered. "Ouch, hun. Right in the pride. But no, Twilight had the next trilogy of Daring Do."

Aura's ears perked, hearing that. She finished pouring some tea and set the cups on the table. "Oh, really? I wonder if your brother still speaks with her."

"Oh, right. Twilight apparently has my diary." Scroll replied, taking a sip from his cup, and passing over the parchment he received from Twilight.

Aura nearly choked on her tea before placing the cup down and glancing at the two words before her. "I'm sorry, but I clearly misheard you. That diary?" At Scroll's nod, she exclaimed, "I thought we gave it to Celestia when we moved to help build Ponyville!"

"Exactly. I'll let you talk to her." Scroll responded, taking another sip. "And thanks for the Moon Lily tea. It's still my favorite after 1,700 years."





In the Canterlot throne room, Princess Celestia sneezed.





Later that night, Luna was raising the moon, when suddenly stars started appearing without her influence. She felt a familiar presence and turned with a smile. "How long has it been since you helped me with the night?"

"Oh, around a millennia I suppose." Blank Scroll responded with a smirk.

"And what do I owe this honor?" Luna said, laughing. "Business or personal visit."

"Hmm. That's a tough one. My visit is personal, Aura's visit… not so much." Scroll answered, a hand rubbing his neck. "You've grown nicely, Luna.

"Thank you. Although, I've never been able to create a masterpiece of stars like you can. But let us talk. It's been far too long." Luna said, walking forward and hugging the stallion. "I've missed you. Write more." Poking him in the chest, growling.

"Yes, princess." Scroll replied, with a chuckle.





Aura approached Princess Celestia's room, noticing a couple guards outside. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but the Princess has retired for the evening." One of the guards said, holding out one of his hands.

"Hmm? I assure you that I'm allowed inside. Announce Shimmering Aura." She told the guards.

The guards looked to each other before the second guard knocked on the door. "Sorry for the disturbance, Princess. There's a Shimmering Aura here to see you."

A crash was heard in the room, followed by a yelp. Then silence. The guards turned to the Unicorn, to find her giggling. "I thought she grew out of being surprised by me."

As the first guard was about to say something, there was the sound of the door opening. "Gra- uh. Missus Aura, please, come in. Guards, no one is allowed inside this room. Understood?"

The guards looked at each other, confused. They'd never heard Princess Celestia sound so serious before. "Yes, Princess." The two guards said, saluting and returning to their positions.

Aura walked past them and entered Celestia's room. Once she was inside and Celestia closed the door, she turned around. She saw that the princess was dressed in a bright yellow nightgown. "Did I interrupt your bedtime?" Aura asked, raising an eyebrow. "We would've come earlier if my husband wasn't such a procrastinator."

"We? You're both here?" Celestia said, walking to one of the chairs by the balcony. "The stars look amazing, so I guess he's with Luna."

Aura smiled. "You know, he never truly gave up the night after retirement. But, to why I'm here." She sat next to Celestia.

Hearing that tone, Celestia's ears drooped. "Am I in trouble for something? I've been a bit busy with a few things lately."

"Oh, no. At least, not exactly. I heard about the invasion from the paper when we returned from Neighpon. It must've been horrible."

The Princess sighed, leaning back in her chair, gazing up at the night sky. "I missed most of it. Time is distorted when you're a stone statue. I feel I must apologize to someone for that."

"He deserves no sympathy. If he has a problem with it, you can send him to me. Now, I only have one question. How did Twilight come into possession of Scroll's diary?" Aura said, interlocking her fingers and laying her chin on them, her elbows resting on her knees.

Celestia's ears shot up and she looked over at Aura. "How did you find out?"

"Well, you know Scroll loves to read. And I suppose Twilight told him about it." Aura sighed. Leaning back, she glanced over to the Princess. "I'm sure you have a reason for it. But enough about that, I got my answer. Now come here, Tia." She opened her arms while standing up, inviting Celestia into an embrace.

Princess Celestia stood, hugging the unicorn. "I'm sorry for giving her the diary. But the names are impossible to decipher without an actual Alicorn manuscript to translate from."

Aura looked Celestia in the eyes and spoke. "And you're lucky that all the Alicorn scripts belong to Scroll's family."

"I know, and thanks for understanding… Grandmother."