The grounds around Golden Oaks Library had been turned into a park area with benches and hedges. Most of the grass and flowers had been eaten by the hungry, leaving it muddy. Trash blew here and there. A pegasus flew about trying to gather up all the litter. She was a familiar pony. Indeed, Yards had spent a great deal of time with her while researching Twilight Sparkle's notes.
Her name was Toffee Chips. She had a tan body with a white and black striped mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a book with a quill writing. Her tail had been pulled into a tight bun and her mane was triple braided. She was the historian in charge of the Library.
“I'm sorry, but we're going to be closing soon-Oh, Yards! It's good to see you again.” Her attitude changed quickly as she fluttered over to them.
“I was hoping that we could get a look at some of those papers Armor dropped off.”
“Well...sure.” She turned and led them back to the library. They walked by the Fountain. It was a beautiful marble work. There were six pillars for the six elements. Three were empty, for the three Elementals still alive, or so everypony was lead to believe.
No pony had seen Fluttershy in the 10 years since the riots that had destroyed Ponyville. She'd disappeared into the Everfree Forest, where no pony could get a confirmed sighting of her existence. There was some debate on if her statue shouldn't be mounted as no pony could survive that long there. Pinky was in the Veteran’s hospital in Canterlot. Diabetes had taken her hind legs but not her smile.
Rhu stopped and looked at the statue of her third cousin. “That's Applejack?”
“Yes, she was the Element of Honesty. Isn't that your family?”
“Yeah.”
“She was a very brave pony. There were several ponies whose lives were saved thanks to her efforts to restore order during the riots.”
“What happened?”
The historian paused, considering her charge. “How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“Ah, so you weren't alive when it started. Well, let me give you the grand tour.” She walked over to a path. Along the path were stations with pictures, statues, and stories. The first station had three wide ply-board signs. The tops were arched and the sides routered to friendly smoothness. The left board was pictures of the royal wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.
"It all started when the changelings attacked. Their queen, Chrysalis, ponynapped Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, imprisoned her in an abandoned mine, and took her place. She used her changeling magic to take the mind of Shining Armor and feed on his power.”
The next board was of Twilight and the Elements fighting off the changelings. “Twilight Sparkle managed to rescue Princess Cadence and with the other Elementals fought against the changeling invasion. They weren't strong enough and were defeated.
The third board showed Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, a huge bubble around Canterlot, and the wedding of the two.
“Princess Cadence and Shining Armor managed to banish the evil monsters using the Power of Love. They were then married and a great celebration was held.
They walked down the path to a small scale city. There were dead ponies and mini fires. The board behind the city told the tale of the Darkness. “Then started a period known as The Darkness. See, the changelings almost took Canterlot, and a lot of people fled from the initial wave. They fled into the rural areas and panic spread out into the land. Tales of shapeshifting monsters that could take over ponies minds and who even beat Celestia herself spread like wildfires. Panic and fear spread, and lots of twins and innocents died in the mass panic.
Celestia had no way of rapidly distributing a message to all of the kingdom so the tales of terror spread faster than the truth. She had to do something to calm everypony so she announced an Inquisition to seek out the changelings that had infiltrated society and banish them far away.”
The next panel on the slowly spiraling path was an Inquisitor holding court. Unfortunately, Inquisitor was going to be a stain on unicorn history. Since it required magic to preform, all the early Inquisitors were unicorns.
“When a pony was charged with being a changeling, they would use powerful magics. Those that weren't changelings were sent home, free of charges. Changelings were then shipped to Canterlot for further testing to make certain before being banished.”
“Hauw did they know?”
Toffee pointed to a horseshoe on the display. “Eventually the Inquisitor Trixie created the charm that forced changelings into their true form, making detection infallible and completely harmless.”
Yards had been watching Delta closely, her face through most of the presentation was a stony mask. The last statement finally provoked a reaction.
She snorted, which she quickly covered with a coughing fit. “Sorry.” She dropped back to walk beside Yards. “Yeah, don't see anything about all the changelings that died in the fires from angry mobs,” she whispered.
“Of course not,” he answered.
They came to the next station. There was a picture of the first battle between the Lunari and the Loyalists. “Then, for the second time in her life, Luna betrayed her sister.”
The filly looked on confused. “Why would she do that?”
Toffee gave a sad shake of her head. “She let her emotions get the better of her. She felt sorry for the monsters. She herself had been banished and knew the pain it caused. She begged for leniency.
Eventually her forces took direct action against a transport carrying suspected changelings to be tried and banished. Though the fighting was fierce, few were actually hurt and only one pony died. Private Honey Drizzle was the first casualty of the Civil War.” A blonde and yellow pony was enshrined at the station. Her poofy hair was stuffed under a helmet, a goofy grin looked out into infinity.
The next stop was a photo of Twilight Sparkle. Beside her was Princess Cadence. Conspicuously cropped was Princess Luna, though you could still see her tail behind the other two.
“The Princess surrendered herself and the troops responsible. About this time Twilight Sparkle created the charms we all wear.” She held up her hoof to show her own charm. “With her is Princess Cadence, Alicorn of Love. The two sought a way of keeping everypony safe from the changelings without hurting anypony.” She looked over at the painting, a sad, wistful look on her face. “Then, when it looked like there could have been a peaceful resolution, somepony SHOT Twilight.”
Rhu looked horrified. Yards was envious. Oh, to be young and innocent again.
“Who did it?” asked Little Rhu.
Toffee shook her head. “Nopony knows. Some think it was the changelings for creating a magic that could block theirs. Some think it was the Lunari. When it happened, though, it scared everypony. They panicked and ran. Many ponies were hurt badly. Your relative jumped into the middle of it, trying to get everypony to calm down and to stop hurting each other. Unfortunately, the crowd panicked on her and she was trampled. She did manage to steer the mob away from the school grounds, saving all the little foals.”
Her tiny lip quivered with suppressed tears. There was no way she'd be able to take the rest of the tour, especially in a couple of years when her father would have been conscripted, then later on died. Yards caught Toffee's attention. “It's getting late, I'd hate to keep you any longer than we have.”
Realizing that he was right, Toffee agreed. “It is getting harder to see. Why don't we just skip to the library?”
Rhu Salad nodded, sucking in snot. They cut their way past the rest of the downward spiral of battles of the Civil War and straight to the library itself. The inside was similar to when Twilight had left it. Toffee actually lived in a small building just outside, so all the living space had been converted into a museum.
“You know, as big a fan as you are of Twilight's works, I'm surprised you weren't here when Shining Armor donated her papers.”
Sure, and have her brother recognize him, blow his cover and start another huge fight, destroying everything including the work he'd started. “Well, I was wanting to, but I got to working on a project and lost track of time.”
Toffee seemed to view Delta for the first time. “I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met. I'm Toffee Chips.”
“Hi, they call me Delta.”
“Ah, are you his sister?” The question was clearly loaded.
“No, I work with him.” Delta moved over closer to Yards, almost goading Toffee. The pegasus's face became stony.
“Well, the papers are this way.” She swished her rump as she folded her elegant wings. She did have nice wings, and it seemed she was the only pony with which he could have an intelligent conversation. She didn't have any foals, but she also wasn't really the motherly type. Kids apparently got in the way of her studies. It wasn't a concept that bothered Yards. He wasn't really ready to be a dad, but he also didn't really want to rule it out eventually.
Chips took them to Twilight's former bed chambers. Her actual sleeping area was in a high alcove, the papers were on a desk. It looked like she was in the process of binding them into books.
“Well, here they are,” she gestured with her hoof.
Yards opened up his saddlebags and levitated out supplies. A stack of papers, some ink and a quill.
“Well, I'll leave you here.” Toffee turned to leave.
“Oh this won't take long,” Yards told her. He shot the quill with a simple spell, awakening his enchantment. The quill floated over to the papers and began to copy them. Yards moved papers as the facsimiles were completed.
Delta began to make music. “Baum-ba-baum-bah-bauhbauhbauh-baum-bah-”
“Delta, didn't you want to get some books too?” Yards had to stop her. Why did she always sing that annoying song when he animated something?
She perked up. “Where's the romance section?”
Professionalism kicked in. “It's right over here,” answered Toffee. The three girls walked out of the room.
Ah, the copy quill. It's the spy's best friend. It made quick work of the three volumes worth of papers before he ran out of parchment. Well, that would do for how, or so he hoped. He neatly racked the sheets before putting it all back in his saddlebags.
“Well ladies, Apple should about have dinner ready by the time we get back.”
Little Rhu perked up. “Are we havin' fritters?”
“I don't know. We're going to have to go home to find out.”
The other girls began to put books into bags and walk to the door.
“Thanks, Toffee, I'll see you again soon.”
She perked up. “Sure, hey, we've got a modern agriculture meeting next weekend, maybe you could come talk about some of the things you've done to help Acres?”
“Sure.”
She smiled and waved a little overly enthusiastically as they walked out.