//------------------------------//
// S2 — Candle Light 
// Story: Where Only Silver Shines 
// by Etyco Filly 
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My bed was unusually comfortable. It made me wonder why my shoulder ached, despite this wonderful, wonderful mattress. The last time I’d slept on a bed this soft was when I’d managed to get my hooves on a clean cloud. Too bad it eventually got dirty and started making me sick whenever I napped on it.

Wait! Did I fall asleep on a cloud? My eyes shot open. Even in the near-complete darkness, my bed looked like regular textile. Okay, good. I closed my eyes again, sighing.

According to Mum, it was a miracle I’d even survived that. She’d been inconsolable when she learned that I’d been sleeping on a cloud. And… well, I couldn’t blame her. She thought I might die, and I certainly felt like it. I shifted on my side.

I must have really slept wrong on my shoulder, because this bloody hurt. I rolled on my back to try and massage it, only to find it covered with a bandage.

Oh, right. I was injured in the fight with that bat creature. I groaned as I shifted to inspect the bandage, and found it dry and snug. Definitely better than the makeshift one I had before.

Oh right. I’d gotten injured in that place. Thank the Stars that whole thing was over. And here Halterdawn had been all panicky because he thought he was stuck there. What an idiot. Well, I guess it was possible for him to still be in that dreadful place. I was probably in a guest room at the Hockney manor, and I couldn’t care less about what happened to that weirdo.

Anyway, that was all behind me. I had no idea what the future had in store for me, but I knew the present had a very comfortable mattress. I adjusted my position on the bed, careful not to strain my injured shoulder. Then, I drifted back off to sleep.

Or so I hoped. My bladder had other plans. It wasn’t urgent, but I definitely wouldn’t be able to relax like this. I rolled out of bed, but when my hooves touched the ground, I winced and decided I would be flying instead of walking. That stupid bat had really messed up the muscles at the base of my neck, hadn’t it? Well, I’d rather fly everywhere than walk with a limp. But first, I needed to find my uniform.

The room was barely lit by a nearly burnt-out candle standing on a table in the corner opposite me. Looking around, I quickly spotted my uniform, neatly folded on top of a chest near my bed. Well, that was perhaps an overstatement. As damaged and bloodied as the cloth was, “neat” was not a good way to describe it.

I put it on in a swift, practised move, only to realise that it would reflect poorly on House Hockney to wear this. I’d never climb the ranks if the officers thought I couldn’t even be trusted with proper wardrobe choices. I’d need to request a new one, which hopefully wouldn’t make me seem incompetent. I did lose it in a fierce battle, didn’t I? If anything, they should shave a few years off my training for my heroics. Maybe even promote me immediately.

Walking around naked in such a high-profile place would be rude, too, if only slightly. I could always check out the closet; maybe they had some kind of suitable replacement? 

After a few minutes of haphazard rummaging, I concluded they didn’t. Everything here was way too fancy. There were suits like those guards and we trainees wore on formal occasions, but there were also dresses with different levels of frills. There were some slightly more casual sets, but even they were too fancy to wear for daily life.

Not to mention, most of the clothes in here were too large for me. Oh, the joys of being an average-sized pegasus. Although… that one suit seemed really nice and would probably look great on me. Would they notice if this went missing after I left? All to avoid reflecting poorly on the House, of course.

I ignored the temptation and closed the closet. All of these clothes were way too formal for a trip to the toilet, anyway. I turned to leave the room, but spotted something on the table that I hadn’t noticed before. It was a small basket with a piece of parchment lying in front of it, and half a dozen buns inside. I picked one up as I unfolded the note.

Oh sweet Sun, it was cursive. Printed letters had given me a lot of trouble at first, but I’d eventually overcome them. I couldn’t say the same about hoofwriting, especially messy hoofwriting. I vaguely remembered the shape of letters and could recognise a good half of them, but the other half escaped me entirely. Whatever, it could wait until I was bored enough. Then, I might be able to throw myself at it until I somehow deciphered it.

The bun was surprisingly soft and still warm. Definitely better than the stuff Mom used to make, but it had a weird, slightly bitter aftertaste. I took another bite as I left the room and stepped into a white corridor, lit by small chandeliers hanging from the ceiling at regular intervals. To my left and right, it stretched on for the longest distance I’d ever seen inside a building. This wasn’t just a manor, it was a bloody castle! On a whim, I turned left.

I finished my food as I flew down the corridor, hoping to bump into somepony to ask about a restroom. My odds of finding one on my own were pretty slim, given how samey everything looked. On either side of me, the same door seemed to repeat forever. They weren’t actually the same, since the text engraved on the plate above each looked different. Not that I could be bothered to stop and read every one of them. The only other things breaking up the monotony of these apparently endless marble walls were bells mounted at pony height, between every other door.

Thankfully, as long as I headed in only one direction, I couldn’t really get lost, no matter how far I went. My eyebrows furrowed almost on their own… How would I recognise my room? Whatever, that was a problem for Future Silver.

Finally, I reached a fork in the hallway and looked both ways. Neither direction had any obvious clues, so I turned around. This place was starting to feel like a maze, and I refused to take the risk of getting lost. Not even I was that stupid. 

Besides, I hadn’t really wondered if there was a pot in my room. After nearly two years as a guard trainee, I couldn’t blame myself for losing old habits; of course I’d assume this place was fancy enough to have running water.

Huh, on the topic of running water: I was clean. I very much appreciated that whoever had taken care of my wound had also had the decency to wash me. Even my mane was properly fluffy and light, a feeling I was not used to in the slightest. I had to admit, this was amongst my favourite feelings overall, only beaten by the truly amazing things. Like sleeping on a nice, soft cloud.

It didn’t take long for me to realise that I was completely and utterly lost. I soon found myself staring at the bells in pure curiosity. Of course I knew their purpose; nobles and their guests would ring them to call a servant, maid or otherwise.

While I had been given a guest room instead of a lousy bed in the barracks, I still didn’t see myself as anything more than a rookie guard. Those bells weren’t for somepony like me. I continued onward, unable to get the tempting idea out of my mind.

Ringing one of them would fix my problems, wouldn’t it? Plus the servants would for sure understand. I’d never been here before, and I hadn’t been given a tour or anything. Fine. I approached one of the bells, grabbed the line with both front hooves, and rang.

I watched the rooms before me, wondering if anypony would come running out of them. Given how empty this wing of the castle was, I doubted it. Then again, maybe everypony was asleep. How late was it, anyway?

When I turned towards the other side, I came face to face with a pony wearing a white ceramic mask. Of course, I let out a not-at-all-cowardly yelp and recoiled out of instinct. The rash movement made my injury hurt like Hades, reminding me of its existence.

“Ya rang?” he droned in a monotone, low voice while I massaged my shoulder. Now that I was a decent bit further away, I had a good look at him. He was a stallion of average height and build, wearing a black dress suit. Other than the mask, he was nothing out of the ordinary. Just a butler going about his job.

I let out an embarrassed chuckle and rubbed the back of my head with my good hoof. “I was looking for the restroom and kind of got lost.”

“Follow me.” Without missing a beat, he walked past me.

After the few seconds it took me to catch up to him, I asked, “And, if it’s not too much of a pain, would you mind leading me back to my room? I don’t really know where it is.”

He nodded. At least I was pretty sure he did, but it could have been his gait.





I was back in my room, and I was bored. I’d deciphered enough of the note to understand that, apparently, those buns contained some kind of healing magic. Also, the pony who’d written the note, Aurora, wanted to meet me when I was well enough to move. Well, he or she should come and find me, then, because moving really wasn’t all that difficult. Painful, yes, if I wasn’t careful about how I moved my neck. Difficult, no.

I found myself staring at the bell sitting on my table. In the dark, I’d completely missed it, but now that Haste—the butler—had lit the main lights at my request, it was more than visible.

Perhaps ‘lit’ wasn’t the best word. The crystal held against the wall wasn’t exactly burning. Was that magic? Had to be, but Moon did I know little about magic. A pegasus didn’t have to understand that stuff, he only needed to use it. 

I stared at the light for a few more minutes, wondering how I could even put it out. Damn it, I should have paid more attention!

Unfortunately, not even that could keep boredom at bay for long, and I soon found myself wanting to leave my room and explore the rest of the mansion. It wouldn’t be proper for a guest to walk around their host’s home without at least some kind of fancier-than-normal clothing.

There was some pride in my decision to dress up, but I mostly did it for the sake of House Hockney. Obviously.

I spent maybe half an hour looking through the closet again. With the light on, there were so many more options, so many suits I’d previously overlooked.

Eventually, I settled on the suit I’d spotted earlier. Putting it on wasn’t exactly pleasant, considering my wound, but I managed. To my delight, it even had wing cutouts.

And so, I finally left my room again. After finishing all the buns, that is. For their healing magic, of course. It wasn’t like they were the best thing I’d eaten in months; no, not at all.

Stepping out, I took a moment to read the engraved sign by my room. I was surprised to find that it held my own name. Them knowing my name was one thing, but to think they would go out of their way like this…? Now that was hospitality. I made sure to take a look at the other signs around, but nothing caught my eye. I set out for real.

I headed left again, curious where either of those two hallways would lead. Surprisingly, I arrived at the fork much quicker than last time; had to be my mind playing tricks on me. What was that big word that one of the officers liked to use? Something-phrenia. Had to be that.

I turned right, and started my way down a corridor. Unlike the residential part, this one had barren walls. Maybe ten metres away, there was a nook in the wall. Once I got close, I realised that it was a large recessed door. Beside it, a sign read “Ballroom”, though given the dust on the handle, it hadn’t been used in years.

I shrugged and continued on. After another five minutes of walking past similar—though cleaner—doors, I found a particularly large and fancy one. I took a look at the text engraved on the wall next to it. “Library”.

That was enough to truly spark interest in me. I’d never been to a library before. Without putting any more thought into it, I pushed the heavy wooden door open and entered a gigantic room. The wall on the other side was covered in dozens of rows of books, while bookshelves easily six or seven times as tall as me occupied the centre. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought this room was designed with flyers in mind. Lamps glowed all around, illuminating the entire room in a dim, cold and ghostly light.

Too bored for my own damn good, I shut the door and flew between the bookshelves and towards the centre of the library. The main alley was wide enough to comfortably fit twice my wingspan, though the passages between bookshelves would force me to fly sideways.

Everywhere around me, books kept catching my attention: a particularly fancy golden trim, a title not even close to readable, a volume so thick it could probably kill somepony just by falling.

Before the urge to touch everything could overwhelm me, I reminded myself to be a good guest. I might be in trouble if I took out a book and didn’t know where to return it.

Instead, I continued to the very centre of the library. Amidst the forest of giant bookshelves was a clearing with comparatively tiny tables, most as clean as they were empty.

All of them save for one: a single open book lay on top, with a few closed ones neatly piled up next to it. Looming over them stood a tall, unlit lamp.

I looked at the open book and hesitated. Well, I had the time, and I could certainly use the practice, couldn’t I? As long as I left everything like I’d found it, nopony would mind, right?

After I sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the table, I picked up the open book, stared at the page number until it was burnt into my memory. It would be rude to mess up the page number, after all. I flipped it back to the first page.

As much as I wanted to get better at reading, my daily routine didn’t allow me to spend all that much time on it. Once a week, I was even allowed to join a class of fillies and colts in their lessons. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to save up enough of my allowance to buy myself a book yet, but one day I would.

I turned my attention back to the book in front of me, and it took a while for my eyes to get used to the dark. I only had a vague idea how to light the lamp, and I didn’t want to risk breaking it.

Letters came together to form words, words came together to form sentences. Sentence by sentence, I slowly made my way down the page. The author was talking directly to the audience and was using a lot of fancy words that I’d never heard or seen before. Or maybe I’d heard them but didn’t recognise them. He was writing about how much this work meant to him now that he was in his later years, and I found myself wondering if perhaps the stallion was already dead.

The sound of a door creaking open snapped me out of my train of thought. Thankfully, I managed to keep myself from jumping out of my chair. Still, I suddenly realised just how out of place I was. What had I been thinking? I was in so much trouble, wasn’t I?

Much too soon for my liking, a tiny and cute pink mare walked around the corner, staring at one of the bookshelves. Her long black mane was tied into a neat little bun, and she was wearing a thick grey sweater that hung loosely off her form. Thin, round glasses sat on her muzzle.

With another step, she continued towards me, but it took her a few moments to spot me in the relative dark. She froze as her eyes met mine. “W-what are you doing here?” she stammered.

Something about her seemed off, but I hardly had the time to think about it. I answered her worried look with a sheepish smile. “I am, uh, reading? Am I not allowed here?” Play it cool, Silver, play it cool. Thankfully, the stress kicked me into proper speech. I’d have to thank my officers for that.

That seemed to only make her even more nervous. “I… uh… I do not know. N-normally we do not let guests access the p-private library.” She broke eye contact as she took a single step forward. Why was she more anxious than me?

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I will leave right now.” Sweet Sun, I was screwed. Absolutely, completely, and utterly doomed. “I just thought it would be alright since the door was unlocked. N-not that that is an excuse for my mistake.”

“I… it’s… uh… I think it is a-acceptable if you stay here? At least when I am also around. Th-that way you will not stumble upon any cursed books or anything forbidden.” I had to admit, her shyness was pretty adorable, especially with that posh way she spoke.

Wait a second, what? “C-cursed books?” My eyes went wide. “Please tell me this isn’t one of them…” I muttered, pointing at the book in front of me, trying to keep my eyes off it, as if it would change anything.

Worry spread on her face, and she cantered over to the table. It only took her one glance to calm down and sigh. “All these books are safe. I do not think anypony would leave anything dangerous open, let alone read it.”

I let out a breath I’d been holding and relaxed. She sat down, but once again refused to meet my gaze, once again as nervous as before. She reached for a book atop the pile, opened it at the marker’s page, and hunched over it.

She was pretty… I found myself staring. Her mane was unkempt and slightly greasy, and her cheek’s fur messy and possibly stained with drool. Normally I wouldn’t pay attention to such small details, but I wasn’t used to somepony looking less tidy than me, unless they were a peasant as well. Even our outfits were on two completely different levels.

Despite all that, she radiated an air of sophistication quite unlike anything I’d witnessed. Even in her current state, there was something about her I couldn’t quite put into words. Or maybe that was just because she was so bloody pretty, her face so delicate?

Before she could catch me staring, I asked, “I take it, you're the librarian?”

She briefly looked up from her book and let out a quiet “Hmm?” before blinking. “Oh, uh, yes, I am.” She ran a hoof through her mane.

I gave her a small smile, “What’s your name? I’m Silverstring, by the way.” Even if she was too shy to talk, I would be rude if I didn’t at least try to strike up a conversation.

“I am…” She mumbled something too quiet for me to understand.

My smile only grew at that. “Come again? I didn’t catch that.”

She took a deep breath, steeling. “My name is Book K-Keeper.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Keeper.”

She nodded and mumbled something that vaguely sounded like a “likewise”.

After a short moment of silence, she turned back to her book. She frowned, then touched the base of the lamp. After a few seconds, the crystal inside started emitting light. It was really that simple, huh. I stared at it in awe for a few seconds, but then focused on my own book.

It took a lot of focus not to steal glimpses at Keeper. I had to admit, I was really curious about her. The desire to chat her up and figure out what kind of pony she was burned bright and was hard to resist. Only her shy silence kept me from making a complete fool of myself. If I pushed it, I might come across as annoying, or worse, rude.

Paying me no mind, she stood up her book, practically hiding behind it. Finally free of distractions, I managed to return to the proper mindset for reading, though my thoughts did occasionally wander. Eventually, I grew more and more tired. I didn’t even know what time it was, but I knew I wanted to find my bed and practise playing dead for a few hours.

Still, I kept reading until a yawn made my eyes tear up. I cleared my throat and asked, “Hey, can I check this out?” It wasn’t the most entertaining book—then again, I’d only read a hoofful of page—but I’d started it, and I needed to practise.

“Uh-huh,” was all she answered from behind her book.

I hesitated for a moment then added, “Do… Do you need me to write down my name somewhere?”

“No, just bring it back when you’re done,” she replied with a wave of her hoof, and I left her to it.

As I picked up my book, I knew I was forgetting something. Oh well, it couldn't be important.

The way back to my room was surprisingly quick, given that I had no idea where I was heading and still managed to luck my way into finding the right door.

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep once my head hit the ever-so-soft pillow.