"This is it, Spike. My life is over! I'll be thrown into the deepest darkest dungeon in all of Equestria, or frozen in stone like Discord!" A panic stricken voice screamed throughout the Ponyville library at a volume loud enough to topple the building. That is, if it wasn't a tree to begin with.
"Come on! Pull yourself together, Twilight!" Responded a much more masculine voice at an equal volume. A small wingless purple dragon sprinted up the stairs to the resident librarians room. Bursting through the door in an over-dramatic show of panting and gasping for breath. The baby dragons eyes suddenly widened in horror at the sight he came across.
There on the ground beside a queen-sized bed laid Twilight Sparkle. The purple unicorns' mane was in a frazzle as if it hadn't been combed for weeks or months. Lips parted to bare her teeth that were constantly chattering away while the poor unicorn rocked back and forth in a fetal position. Spike hadn't seen Twilight in such a terrible condition sense the time she believed she was tardy, and he had hoped he'd never have to deal with it again. He knew this time however things were worse, much more worse in fact. He couldn't ask the Princess for help this time.
Twilight Sparkle looked up and shot Spike a half-glare through red and puffy eyes. "It's hopeless Spike, there's nothing to do now. Nothing nothing nothing! They're ALL destroyed. Every last one of them!" Twilight managed to yell out before breaking down into a another fit of sobs.
Spike let out a quiet sigh at this. He knew it was true, but there had to be something they could do to fix this. There always was something. Carefully the young dragon peeked out the door of the room to the main lobby of the library below. There among the many shelves of books was a considerably huge pile of ash. He wished this was some horrible dream or that a phoenix would jump out of the ashes and fix everything. That wasn't about to happen. Quickly slamming the door and turning around he rushed back to Twilight's side.
"Come on, Twilight, you're the most amazing and powerful unicorn I know. Isn't there ANY spell at all you can do to fix this?"
The only response Spike got for the next minute was a continuing of sobs and incoherent muttering. Spike could make out something about how she ruined the world and would be banished not to the moon, but the sun to burn just as the books did.
Books? Spike let out another deep sigh as he considered his options. Books, this was what everything was about. Twilight had been practicing a spell to bring objects to her from an extremely long distance via teleportation, namely a guide on every beast, animal, and otherwise inhabitant of Equestria. The basic premise of the spell was clear and simple: Focus your mind on the object you want and where it is. Focus your magic as one would to teleport yourself on this object instead. Tap into the ley-lines to bring said object to you.
"Things just had to go wrong when I show up" Spike began to think to himself as he recalled the rest of the situation.
~~~~
Spike had come back at just the wrong time followed by three young fillies who screamed at the top of their lungs something about becoming "Cutie Mark Crusader dragon breeders YAY!" The thought made Spike shiver to his bones. He would've gone somewhere else, like to Rarity's boutique, if he had only noticed the closed sign on the front door reading "Do not bother under no circumstance." Instead though he burst into the door screaming at the top of his lungs for Twilight to save him from becoming a slave to the young fillies. The interruption had caused Twilight Sparkle to be surprised. Sending a burst of magic into her spell that connected to the essence and image of every book she was originally attempting to summon. At least Spike thought it went something like that, it was magical enough and it could happen.
Spike wasn't too sure what happened after that. The next thing he knew he was staring at a massive ball of energy that was forming in the middle of the library. The Cutie Mark Crusaders slipped off at this time, hoping to keep it a secret that they probably caused this. A bright blinding light that was only matched by Twilight's own horn that blazed with uncontrollable magical power. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as Twilight was apparently conscious of what was happening, and feeling crushed emotionally over the fact she had no power to stop it.
Spike admitted to himself that he was stunned at this point. His mind drifting between that he should do something to stop this, and being scared to death that the apocalypse was upon him and he hadn't done anything important in his life. The floating ball of energy began to darken as rectangular figures began to appear inside of it. The books were forming in insane numbers, but something wasn't right. As soon as each book would take form within the ball of magic it would begin to lose its' form as if it were slipping away into sand.
It seemed like hours before the spell finally came to a halt, but in reality it was only a minute at most. Twilight Sparkle's horns' glow faded completely, leaving only the defeated and unconscious form of a pitiful unicorn. Her cheeks were tear stricken and her color dulled ever-so-slightly. The large ball of energy was undergoing a similar effect to Twilight. The magic orb slowly fading away as ash began to fall out of the bottom like the sands of an hourglass. A mountain of ash appearing in the middle of the library.
The small dragon had done all he could without enlisting help from anyone else. No one could know what happened, not yet at the very least. He rummaged through Twilight's potions until he found one that seemed like it had healing properties. He brought Twilight upstairs. Fixed her mane, and even went out of his way to make her seem serene and comfortable. Then she awoke.
That's what he remembered about the whole thing anyways.
~~~~
Twilight Sparkle was only now beginning to calm herself as her logical mind began to work furiously for a solution to the problem. The rocking stopped as she spoke to herself in a dark tone.
"Okay Twilight, focus Twilight. All of those books, PROBABLY every single one in Equestria. So many. No, it HAS to be every single one in Equestria just got vaporized by me. Solutions? Go back in time and stop myself from doing that. No! That doesn't even make sense. Okay come on, I need to focus here before I get sent to the sun to burn. Would I get sent to the sun to burn? Of course I would get sent to the sun to burn! I just RUINED everyone's wonderful education!" Suddenly she was halted by a purple claw covering her muzzle and forcing her to be quiet. Leaving her to stare at the dragon before her.
"You need to calm down, Twilight, and let's think of a solution like we always do. Alright?" Spike spoke in a reassuring voice. Hoping to calm the poor unicorn before she completely snapped from listing off her worries. "Books were turned into ash, we can't repair them, right?"
Twilight nodded as she was unable to speak. Looking at Spike as if she was threatening to break into another fit of tears soon.
"Good, so from what I see we have a few choices: One, and I know you aren't gonna like this. We talk to the Princess and see what we can do." Spike stopped and held up a finger to Twilight as she tried to openly scream at such an idea. Letting him continue. "Two: We try and find a DIFFERENT reference guide and advertise it to make it overcome the popularity of that one you just made explode. Or three: You're really smart Twilight, why don't you just re-write the book and then somehow send them back to where they belong?" Finally Spike took his claw off her muzzle.
Twilight was left speechless for a moment, sense when did Spike come up with plans like that? Oh, wait, nearly all the time. His figure as a baby dragon always made her surprised when he acted much more mature. There were flaws in all of those plans however. Twilight takes a moment to collect herself before responding in a much more calm manner.
"Spike, the advertising wouldn't work because then they would know something happened to the other. Thus all the blame would fall on me. Although that does have me wondering if there even are other reference guides still in this plane of existence. I'd rather not have the thought of trying to cross dimensions to go off of nothing..." Twilight pauses for a moment as she looks up in thought before realizing the last choice Spike had shown. Eventually she sighed and shook her head. "It wouldn't work, Spike... Not even I know every single species, or probably even close to half!"
This caused Spike to sigh and sit back on his rear directly next to Twilight. A claw thoughtfully tapped at his chin as he began to think once more. "Well..." He started but then stopped. A frown coming to his lips as he stared intently at Twilight who seemed to be doing the exact same as himself.
With a snap of his claws Spike grew a big grin, feeling very proud of himself for coming up with such an amazing idea.
Twilight stared up at the peaceful looking cottage in front of her. The entire thing looked like it was much too attuned with nature to be a house, but more of a tree that's strangely large and box-like. A small creek with a bridge was only a few steps down the path leading from the home. Around the back a chicken coop and fence could be seen. The fact that nature singed beautifully like a sunset over the ocean only added to the calming effect the place had. It matched the only pony occupant perfectly.
"Come on Twilight, you know as well as I do that Fluttershy is probably the pony that knows the most animals if not having them live right by her to document anyways!" Spike said with an eagerness to his voice. The plan would be simple, ask Fluttershy to write down as many facts about as many animals as possible. They'd have the replacement books done by sundown! No one really needs them today anyways right?
That's what they originally thought at least. Suddenly both Spike and Twilight found themselves sitting across from a very nervous yellow Pegasus. The two leaned back into a couch with their hooves (or claws) covering their faces as the pink-maned friend of theirs shook near uncontrollably in a chair a few feet from them. A small gentle fire crackled on the other side of the apparent living-room of a certain trembling pegasus while a few curious animal onlookers peered at Twilight with their heads tilted from above.
"A-a test? Oh I don't think... I really... Don't know. I, uhm..." Fluttershy managed to squeak out before hiding behind her pink mane.
Twilight eventually both couldn't stand to see her close friend in this condition, nor believed she was going to be of any help unless she finally gave the entire story. "No, Fluttershy, this isn't a test. Please just calm down and listen for a bit on what we need from you... And WHATEVER you do don't tell anypony else, especially anyone that could relate back to the Princess!"
Fluttershy was soothed by those words, the situation changed for her now. No longer was it a test to see what she could remember about animals, but this was a friend in need! Her expression turned a bit more serious as she adjusted herself in the chair to listen.
"Alright, Twilight, I promise I won't tell anyone." She paused for a moment before beginning a few familiar motions with her hooves. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
The unicorn seemed content with this answer as she quickly began to retell the entire story of what had happened until now.
Fluttershy sat in a stunned silence as she stared intently at Twilight. Even though it was Spike that had done the retelling of events because Twilight was unconscious for a brief period of time, and she felt that not giving the full story would be somehow cheating Fluttershy out of some sort of information. Eventually Fluttershy spoke.
"Oh this is absolutely terrible, Twilight... But... Why did you come to me? I can't do any sort of magic, I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy gave Twilight an apologetic and heartbreaking look afterwards.
"Because, Fluttershy, you know the most about organisms than anyone else in Ponyville. My original plan was that you'd be able to tell us everything about every creature in Equestria. I hope that's not an unreasonable request? I mean, if you can't do it then I'm most definitely going to be banished to the sun to burn for al-" Twilight suddenly stopped as once again her muzzle was forced shut by a small purple claw.
"Enough, Twilight." Spike sighed before giving Fluttershy an apologetic glance. "What she's trying to say is that she hoped that with your knowledge we could possibly recreate one of the most well-known... Er... Books, on... What did you say? Organyizms?"
Before Twilight could correct Spike, Fluttershy began to talk with a small shake of her head. "I'm really sorry Twilight, but even if I might know... A lot about um, wildlife and plants... I don't know everything... N-not an entire encyclopedia or books full of information anyways. I mean that's a... A lot. Height, age expectancy, physical descriptions and a little bit about their nature..." Fluttershy hung her head afterwards.
Twilight quickly reached out and put a hoof onto Fluttershy's shoulder. "It's okay Fluttershy, I shouldn't have thought that you could know everything. There is a lot of creatures out there in Equestria, and knowing both their names, facts, and mentalities of each is nearly impossible. But what can, or should, we do Spike? Before I'm banished preferably."
This time however before Spike could even speak up Fluttershy slowly began to speak. The speed and volume increasing as she slowly gained confidence from her friends expressions. "I may not know everything right now, but um, I do know a good variety of creatures by name... Well... Most, but what if I were to go and learn them for you, and then... Tell you about what I find?" Fluttershy looked between Spike and Twilight as she voiced the only thought she had, and although honestly she felt worried and concerned about the idea the more she thought about it. She'd do anything for her friend.
"I don't know, Fluttershy, that is quite a risk, and there are many monsters out there too that could harm you. Not to mention who would look over your home and animals? Well, I guess Spike could while I handle the library actually. Although it would raise other complications such as people wondering where you went, and what would we tell everyone else? Not to mention just how hard it would be to both document them in a way that I could use to... Re-create? No, now that I think about it I don't remember every single word, but then again I don't think anyone else does either. At least I hope not, I really do hope that no one else remembers it word by word, because if I can get close that would be go-" Once more Twilight was silenced by Spike. Feeling that she was getting way too off topic and was beginning to let her worries get the best of her.
Fluttershy crossed her front hooves, slowly rubbing at her left leg with her right hoof. "We could just tell our friends, I mean, they are our friends... They wouldn't think badly of you Twilight, but after that I think it's one of the best solutions, and um... Honestly... I would like to go out and learn about different animals then I'm used to. To maybe learn how to help better..?"
"Well..." Twilight began to speak as she felt her muzzle free of the little claw keeping it shut, but stopped as she realized that even though she didn't like this plan at all it was probably the best solution. Her friends had always been there for her. So why would they quit on her now even if she may have committed a crime or accident?
Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder as she turned her head to come face-to-face with Fluttershy; once more she found Fluttershy giving her one of those gentle smiles.
"I'll be safe Twilight, I promise, I'll even bring Angel with me to help. I'm sure he'd absolutely love to come along, although it's his nap time right now so I'll tell him about it later. For now let's focus on one thing at a time. Talking to our friends to get their advice and help, alright?"
Twilight opened her mouth as if to speak, but found nothing to come out once more. Instead she just nods and gives her an incredibly grateful smile before quickly embracing the pegasus across from her. Drawing a small squeak of surprise from Fluttershy while Spike turns away with his arms crossed to hide from such affection.
"Alright, thank you so much Fluttershy. You're really one of the best friends a pony could have, and I feel much more confident about getting through this now."
"Good, I don't want any of my friends to have to worry. So let me just feed my other friends and then we can get going..."
It was already sunset by the time the word had gotten around to the other four about an "urgent elements meeting" at none other than Twilight's own residence. Twilight and Fluttershy sat side by side in front of a roaring fire while the others among them sat (or hovered) in a half-circle around them. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and finally Rainbow Dash watched with curiosity as Twilight cleared her throat.
"Girls, I've called you all here today to talk about a serious problem. No doubt you noticed the huge pile of ash a-"
"Yeah Twilight, what's up with that? Not the coolest thing to have your house filled with that." Rainbow Dash interrupted with an appraising look at Twilight.
"It really isn't the most... Most clean thing I've come to expect from you Twilight dear." Rarity added with a frown of her own directed at the now sighing Unicorn.
"Well, if you'd let me finish Dash, Rarity, I could tell you, and everyone else. The quick story is this: I was practicing a spell that would've allowed me to teleport objects to me from far distances, but it went wrong when I was rudely interrupted by a certain baby dragon. Long story short, things went bad, and I ended up destroying every... Book, on the animals of Equestria, and if I can't remake this book and send them back to well... Everywhere in Equestria, then I'm going to be banished to the sun to burn just like those books did." Twilight ended by burying her face in her hooves. Muttering under her breath about how doomed she probably was.
This left stunned expressions on everypony's face, except Fluttershy's as she nodded along with Twilight's story. The first to recover was Applejack.
"Now hold up there Twi, don't be feelin' so bad just yet or worryin' over nothin' ya' hear? Just lemme get this straight, you were doin' some sort of fancy magic and it went haywire. Leadin' to this big mishap and now you gotta remake all these books, and just how do you suppose yer goin' to be doin' that? I know yer smart Twi', but this is a big job, and trust me I know about how tough handlin' a big load can be."
The others were now recovering but they simply listened intently on Twilight as they wanted to know as well. Even Pinkie Pie was strangely silent, but Twilight nodded to Applejack.
"Well... Yes, Applejack, that is what happened basically. And no, Applejack. I won't be doing this alone because Fluttershy has so gratefully offered to help me."
Suddenly all attention was on the cowering pegasus. Fluttershy hiding once more behind her pink mane as her eyes were focused downwards. Averting the gaze of everypony until she takes in a deep breath to steady herself.
"Y-yes, I'll be venturing out into the... The wilderness. To find different animals to make reports on for Twilight to make her book. I really don't think I'll be gone too long... I hope. I mean, if I take too long something bad will happen for sure."
This time it was Rainbow's turn to speak. Concern obviously spread across her face for her closest friend.
"Oh no you don't Fluttershy, if you think you'll be going out THERE alone, then something's really messed up in your head. Do you know how dangerous it is? You could easily be trapped or worse, and then who would come save you from that, huh? No, if you're going then I will too!" At the end of her little speech Rainbow Dash hovered straight up to Fluttershy and crossed her front hooves.
"I'm afraid I must agree with Rainbow Dash on this one dear, it will be rather dangerous. Imagine if those Diamond Dogs found you or some other worse creature. This is simply a risk that we, as good friends, don't want you take." Rarity moved over to stand by Rainbow Dash. Giving Fluttershy a worried smile. "We can't stop having our spa visits after all."
Fluttershy squeaked in fear at her friends near outburst, and not to mention she was afraid she had angered Dash. However she also knew her friends well, and the job that she was going to do would've been much too boring for the energetic pegasus. She had another reason for not wanting the others to come along also though. After taking a moment to collect herself she responded while the others watched. Twilight smiled softly to her.
"I won't be alone, I'll be bringing Angel with me, he'll be helping and keeping me company so don't worry. And... No offence, none at all, please don't take this wrong way because I really don't mean for that to happen, it's really nothing against you or anypony else. So please don't feel bad or take it against yourself by any means, because then I would feel horrible sense I don't mean any offence to any of you... But I... I think this is something I'll need to do alone for various reasons."
Twilight smiled brighter at Fluttershy, both proud and happy of her. Twilight closed her eyes in focus, bringing all of the attention to her now, as her horn began to glow with her familiar aura of magic. From behind herself suddenly floated up a necklace with golden chains eventually coming together at the bottom to show a pendant that was suspiciously close to Twilight's own cutie mark. White star-cut gems surrounding a larger purple six-pointed star. Using her magic Twilight attached it around Fluttershy's neck before she began to explain.
"This is something I've crafted, or rather I should say, enchanted with a little power so that whenever you want to get in touch with me, just concentrate your thoughts on doing just that. In return I can also make contact with you through it, and when I do it will start to glow until you will the connection to complete. It's really simple actually so you'll see in time. The necklace isn't really... That important to this, but I thought it would be fitting to give you a personal heirloom of mine sense you're doing this all for me. Now however you won't REALLY be alone, because you'll always be able to contact us, or at least me."
Everypony but Fluttershy gave Twilight an approving look. Rainbow dash landing back on her haunches to do so while Rarity gave Twilight the largest smile, if she didn't know better she could pin Twilight as the holder of generosity for this moment. Fluttershy on the other hand was already allowing her modesty to get the better of her.
"Oh Twilight, I can't take this if it's that important to you, an heirloom is something you always keep. Isn't there... Anything else you can use? Something a bit less close?" Fluttershy gave Twilight a pleading look, but it was only returned with a shake of the head.
"Oh nonsense Fluttershy, this is really the best way to keep in touch, and it looks great on you so don't worry about it at all."
"O-okay... Thank you a lot Twilight." Came Fluttershy's quiet response, but she too was now smiling brightly at her.
However the other occupants of the room still seemed a tad disapproving of this idea of Fluttershy going on alone, but they said nothing more at this point. Understanding her want to do this as after all, perhaps it was time for Fluttershy to learn to be assertive herself.
"And with that, I declare this urgent meeting closed! So despite that I may be banished by tomorrow morning if the Princess' find out about this. I'll pack everything you need Fluttershy, I've read many books on outdoor survival just in case anything would ever happen sense I've moved to Ponyville that required it."
As she ended her eyes darted upon the other ponies. Especially the one that had been very quiet this entire time, and being who it was, it concerned her that Pinkie Pie had been silent. Twilight couldn't really tell but it almost seemed like her mane was a bit more straight and limp, and she wondered to herself how she didn't notice Pinkie Pie sooner.
"Pinkie Pie, is something the matter? You've been silent this entire time."
Pinkie Pie looked about in consideration as if she was choosing to respond or not before she thought it be best to.
"Well I'm really worried about Fluttershy, but I guess we all are. But how can we have a super-duper-awesome-six-friend party without the sixth friend! Unless I mean, five people is still a party! But it won't be super-duper if something happened to Fluttershy and we could never-ever-ever have that six person party ever again or anything like that. We can't even replace her because it's Fluttershy! Like duh, how do you replace her?"
The attention seemed to snap Pinkie Pie back to a more regular state as far as her explanations go, but worry was still sketched across her face. Dash, having witnessed first hand what could possibly happen if nopony shows up for her parties, and the mention of replacing, make her slowly walk over to Pinkie Pie's side. Wrapping a hoof around her shoulder.
"Now come on Pinks, sure it's going to be lonely without 'shy around, but be confident in her. If she really wants to do this, then who are we to say no to her? And anyways, no one needs replacing. She'll be back in ten seconds flat, even if she isn't the fastest flier like me." Dash nodded to herself, feeling accomplished at being able to both use a cool term and boost her own ego at the same time.
Pinkie Pie stared downwards for a moment more before suddenly jumping to her hooves, sending Rainbow Dash flying off by the sheer force to crash onto her back.
"You're right Dashie! She'll be back in no time and then everything will be a-okay, and when she comes back..." Pinkie Pie gasps loudly before throwing her hooves up into the air. "We'll have the bestest-awesomest-Fluttershy-saved-Twilight party eevvverr!"
This brought a small giggle from Fluttershy while a sigh escaped from Twilight, having been reminded of the fate that may await her.
"Well girls, I'm glad you could all understand this situation and what's going on. Again as I've said, Fluttershy will be leaving either tomorrow or the day after. So if there's anything small you can think to attribute to this then please do, but nothing excessive, alright Rarity?" Twilight gave Rarity a side-long glance in which she responded to with a sigh.
"Twilight, I know when the situation calls to 'pack lightly'."
Rainbow Dash couldn't help it but burst into laughter at hearing this, remembering Rarity's methods of 'packing lightly'."Oh man, Rarity, packing LIGHTLY? A thousand pounds of clothes and beauty products isn't packing lightly!"
Rarity simply shot Dash a glare before returning to look at Twilight.
"Well... Yes, just hold off a bit on all the care products. Anyways though, with that I declare this meeting over! Now why don't we all spend a night together before heading to bed? Oh I know!" Twilight grinned widely, thoughts of being banished escaping her mind as new fun possibilities entered. Her horn began to glow with a gentle aura as she floated a terribly familiar book to in front of her. The others gathering around and looking under to get a view of the title. Slumber 101. "Let's have a slumber party!"
Applejack groaned at this but kept still, tonight was going to be a stressful night.
Far off in the city of Canterlot, inside the main palace, the princess herself was walking down a long hallway with a tan-coated earth pony at her side. Celestia smiled down at him before speaking.
"It's most peculiar that you say all of your books have gone missing from your classroom. This isn't the first report I've had today about this, but do not fear as this will be resolved in a short time. Until then you're welcome to have a copy of the book you're looking for to use for your class."
The Princess gave the smaller earth pony an apologetic smile before a large brown oaken door loomed above the two. Gently pushing open the door with a hoof the Princess first stepped into the room followed by the earth pony. The sight they met with was most certainly a resort for Twilight Sparkle. There would've been enough books in that library to allow someone to study their entire life while inside not a book fort, but a book castle.
Bookcase after bookcase loomed up into a spire above the two while on the actual ground was a rather comfortable looking rug on a wooden floor. A gently crackling fireplace nearby and not too far away on the large rug was a rather large red couch, a red love seat, and a red rocking chair. The earth pony's mouth hung open in surprise at the sight while the Princess stepped towards one of the bookcases off to the side, lowering her head as she began to read off the titles to herself. Muttering under her breath before her expression creased into a frown.
"Now that's odd, it doesn't seem like it's here..." Celestia shot an apologetic look to the other pony present. "It seems that the problem has spread to not only the classrooms, but libraries as well. If you do not mind my quick leave, I believe this warrants a letter to the Ponyville library to get an assessment of the situation. You're more than welcome to stay in one of our fine suites. Just tell the receptionist that I'm doing you a 'special favor', she'll know what I mean."
Celestia couldn't help but smirk at her own joke, but there was something more important at the moment. With a quick flash the Princess was gone, having teleported to her own private room. Directly onto the very large and white bed.
But the Princess didn't have time to enjoy in the luxury that was her very fine room, beautifully painted designs coating each wall of the magnificent sunrise, sundown, and the clouds. Using her magic Celestia's horn began to glow as paper and a bottle of ink appeared next to her.
My faithful student,
It has came to my attention that by some unknown means all of the books relating back to the explanation of our wonderful creatures of Equestria has gone missing. It has also come to my attention that this probably has you worried. But do not fret. This situation will be taken care of easily enough. While I recognize your current project on reporting the magic of friendship. Any aid you could lend to this mysterious search would be greatly appreciated. If this is the job of a thief then the I'm sure you'll want to help capture and punish the one who is halting the learning of everypony. At least I'm sure that's what you'd say.
~Be safe.
Celestia