//------------------------------// // Chapter 10- Pegasus in Library // Story: Trade Wind: Royal Tutor // by BlackBonitaCherry //------------------------------// “They could not have warned us?” Zephyr asked in irritation, using his magic to create a cloud umbrella over the library, “Forbidden Forest or not if they are going to create storm they should’ve at least given a heads up,” they still had not finished with the roof for the castle and many of their supplies were scattered around, so having them rained on was not ideal. “It’s fine if we direct the rain towards the underground river beneath the castle,” Trade Wind told him, his question of ‘there’s an underground river’ going unanswered as a dragon wing shaped out of wind formed over the castle, the edge of it drilling into the ground to create a direct hole to the river. “Please tell me you mean the sewer,” Zephyr pleaded, following her to the large desk in the middle of the room where Moondancer was arranging the books and putting new covers over them to help with the new filing system.  “Oh no, the sewer is on a different level that does not go anywhere because of the enchantments originally meant to deal with the waste. The underground river is below the sewer,” the green pegasus frowned. “How exactly do you know this? This was not on the original plans you gave us,” Trade Wind blinked at him. “Do you really want me to tell you?” well that ominous, Zephyr’s ears flattened. “Never mind,” he could see the glint in her eyes and wanted no part of it. It was bad enough she dodged the interrogation about Garble and managed to escape, leaving Zephyr to be questioned by his sister and the others. The only thing he could tell them was that the two had broken up, right before graduation. He did not know the reason, despite being Garble’s roommate throughout University and a witness to the two dancing around one another before finally confessing and dating at the start of their third year. Yet, for some strange reason, at the beginning of their fourth year, he noticed a strange tension between the two that escalated in their senior year and ended up with the two breaking up. He had tried asking Garble about it but nearly got his head ripped off for being nosey. Trade Wind appeared unaffected by it, but when it came to showing her emotions there were only a few individuals she showed them to. But if she does not think it is worth talking about she would push it away somewhere and ‘deem’ it unimportant. Zephyr just wished she decided to tell them everything instead of dodging the question. Did she really think saying, “Garble and I had a mutual break-up,” before hightailing out of there was a good idea? “So how is Frost doing?” coming back to awareness, he picked up one of the finished books, seeing the spine and setting it on a pile with similar markings as he thought about how to answer her question. “Alright, I’m glad he and Spike hit it off, though that is probably because both of them are comic book and board game geeks,” he saw her raised eyebrow and grinned, “I say that in the nicest way of course,” she rolled her eyes, “He is kind of nervous about attending this new school but it helps that his cousins and Spike would be there as well, better than not knowing anyone,” and the crackdown on bullying was even more strict in Nocturne Schools so he did not have to worry about that either. Frost did not deal with bullies well. And that was before they found out he was actually a griffin cub and not a pony. “They’re having a sleepover right?” Zephyr nodded, “Yeah, Fluttershy has them in the soundproof basement so he doesn’t get spooked by the storm clouds, Frost wanted to try out some games that he hasn’t been able to, and Harry is staying down there as their third player along with Manny,” yes he did think it was strange animals could play games. But they were Fluttershy’s animals, so he ignored it. “That’s good, oh hold on there,” she stopped Moondancer reaching for one of the untouched books, taking it into one wing and using the other to poke at the spine. Before they could ask what she was doing, there was a screech as a glowing worm shot out of the spine, revealing needle-like teeth as it opened wide to bite her muzzle off. It stopped in midair, motionless for a moment, before falling to the floor split in half. “Bookworm,” she offered when they stared at her, “Would not have reacted well with the new enchantments,” and she set the book back down, the cover itself going from a tan color back to its black one, “I’m going to go see how the underground river is doing,” and she walked out. Zephyr stared up at the wing still covering the castle, back towards the disappearing pegasus, and sighed. “I want to be jealous, but considering how difficult she had in controlling it in the first place I’m not,” he had his sword anyways. Moondancer put the new cover on that book and picked up a sheet on the table. “She gave me these runes to look at for installing onto the shelves, but I am concerned about how they might mash with the spells on the spine. I’ve never seen these before,” she sounded aggravated about that and ooh, this was a familiar subject. “If you want to know the mechanics behind the runes, you can ask any of the Carousel Boutique trio, they’re well versed in runes. You could ask Trade Wind, but her understanding of runes lies in reading them and listening to them,” she blinked at him. “Listening?” Zephyr nodded, keeping the serious expression on his face and after a moment she sighed, “Alright, I’ll go find Rarity then,” another boom of thunder reminded them of the situation and she sat back in her seat, “After I finish putting the new covers on.” Zephyr would offer his help, but dealing with Enchanted objects was not his thing. “Right, I’m going to go deal with the room of doom that we opened behind that one panel,” she waved him off, and he went to the scary-looking archway leading to steps that went towards the middle of the room. They should probably ask what Princess Luna wanted to do with it, but he wanted to make sure there were no surprises. Whistling out loud, he felt the connection to his sword light up as it flew to him from where it had been resting on a smooth stone after he polished it. The symbols on it glowed as he walked in, ready to strike at any monsters or traps that Zephyr would encounter. At least Moondancer hadn’t pushed about seeing Rarity, it would mean the unicorn running into Twilight, and he knows she did not want to do with that. He did not begrudge the fashionista talking to the magical prodigy, because it definitely could not be Fluttershy or PInkie. ----------------- Of the three of them who liked Trade Wind, Rarity knew she was the wisest choice in talking with Twilight. Pinkie did not reveal it often but her temper ran deep into the vindictive side when it came to those close to her, and Fluttershy already stated she would talk to Rainbow Dash. Technically that left Applejack to talk to, but Rarity definitely was not going to be the one to do it. Entering the Golden Oaks library, Rarity made sure that Titanium Rose was nestled comfortably in his stroller, spotting Twilight reading some papers with hair springing up from her mane. “Darling,” the unicorn jumped, dropping the papers and looking up at her. “Oh Rarity! Is something wrong?” Rarity set her son down and helped pick up the pictures, Twilight going silent as she did so. “Are you here to scold me as well?” a boom of thunder had her jumping but Rarity took out some runes from her bag and placed them in a small formation around the room, rendering the eroom silent. “There, while I can’t perform a silence bubble, these runes do come in handy, and I’m not here to scold you. Princess Celestia already has, I just want to make sure this does not repeat itself if another situation were to come up,” lying down on the floor, she gestured for the mare to join her which she did, reluctantly, “Has Spike settled into his new room?” Twilight’s ears flattened. “Yes, and I get it, I’m a horrible pony to him,” “That’s not what I was saying,” Rarity stated, raising an eyebrow and the unicorn shut her mouth, looking a bit sullen, “Darling, I can understand you are the type to have a routine and that some things might have seemed okay to you but to others are not. When we saw Spike with you, I’m afraid to say we assumed he was your adopted brother, and made some hasty assumptions. While I am surprised Lord Po himself overlooked a dragon in indentured service, if it went on this long-” Twilight was pale. “Spike isn’t an indentured servant!” she protested, “He was my assistant, and my adopted brother?” she trailed off uncertainly, Rarity sighed. “When did you start having him write your letters?” “When he could hold a quill, but he insisted on doing it, he said he wanted to make himself useful-” “And why would a 9, 10 year old dragon need to do that? If he was a foal would you have treated him the same?” she wanted the unicorn to understand. “But my letters to the princess, he’s the onl-” “We can set up an instant-mailbox connecting to the Princess’ personal chambers,” Rarity informed her, “You can write the letter yourself and put it in, and if the princess needs to contact you she’ll send the letters straight through and you will receive it,” “Oh, and everyone got upset about him not attending school-” “Which is what puzzles me, Twilight, you are one who highly values schooling, is there any reason you believe Spike does not deserve it?” they ended up talking for several hours, mostly about Spike and Twilight not knowing what she was going to do with him gone. Apparently she had just found the papers left behind by the librarian and was trying to figure out the spells used for the books. “What are the spells for? Wear and tear, mold?” Rarity giggled, taking out half a row of books, setting them on the floor, then pressed a rune on the side. The shelf and books glowed before returning to their previous spots on the shelf. “It also works on late books, though rather sparingly as we discovered books do not like being summoned through the wall,” Twilight was gaping at the shelf. ‘Why doesn’t the Canterlot Library have something like this?” she asked, Rarity cleared her throat, feeling a bit awkward. She really did not want to have to say it out loud. “Well, the spellwork itself hasn’t been approved of by the Guild, even though there are libraries throughout Equestria that have the system,” ‘mostly Nocturne’ ones but she did not say it out loud, “And the one that did most of the work on it was a non-unicorn so it would not be approved,” it was a stupid reason. “Oh, but runes are magic?” Rarity gave Twilight a deadpan stare. “Runes and Enchantment were created by non-ponies and have different branches, we’re not the only species that has magic you know,” she got a nervous giggle and groaned. This was going to be yet another long conversation, wasn’t it?