//------------------------------// // Dusty Old Books // Story: My Dearest Princesses // by Chickenscratch //------------------------------// Princess Twilight shut the book and dropped it on her desk with a resounding thud. How many had she read now? Hundreds? Thousands? Or perhaps even more? She closed her burning eyes. She had lost count long ago. Here in the castle’s archives, time seemed to be nonexistent. She opened her eyes again, glancing at the stack of books and scrolls that had piled up around her on the desk and on the floor. Twilight hated to leave them there like that, but she could let the librarian take care of it. She was on a quest. A quest of knowledge, she told herself. She sighed, rising slowly from her chair to amble back to the shelves. All her limbs ached, and her mane was disheveled. Twilight’s head was pounding, and everything inside of her screamed for her to stop and rest, but she couldn’t. Not until she had finished her quest. She scanned the spines of the books on the shelves quickly, pulling some from their places and flipping through them before jamming them back in disappointment. Nothing seemed to have the information she had been looking for, not even the books she had read. Every time she thought she had the answer in her grasps, it seemed to dodge around her expertly, averting her probing gaze. She pulled another book from the shelf with her telekinesis, looking it over tiredly. On the cover in faded letters was printed ‘An Equestrian History: Three Kingdoms of Olden Days.’ Twilight sighed. She already knew everything about the Olden Kingdoms. She had even been in a play about it for pony’s sake. There was nothing for her here. As she went to put it back, she stopped. It wouldn’t hurt to look, would it? After all, her search had been fruitless so far. What would one more book do? Shrugging, she headed back to the desk, pushing other books out of the way to give this new and larger one room. Twilight flipped to the table of contents, skimming the titles with little interest. All topics she knew everything about. The original kingdoms, the reign of the Windigoes, none of these were new to her. She was about to shut the book when something caught her eye. It was very faded, and she had almost skimmed over it, but close to the bottom of the page was a section titled ‘Clover the Clever’s Prophecy & Princesses.’ Twilight flipped to the corresponding page and began reading aloud. “Clover the Clever, overseer of the late Princess Platinum, was one of them most powerful and recognized unicorns in Equestrian history. However, she is only known for her exploits in the foundations of early magical spells and the studying of the magical properties of friendship. A fact that she herself kept hidden away was that she was the caretaker and teacher to the first princesses of the country of Equestria.” Twilight’s heart jumped. She continued reading aloud, her voice growing louder in excitement. “She gave these princesses- Celestia and Luna- the basis of all their magical powers and-“ “-helped them achieve their princess-hood.” Twilight jumped at the sudden voice, throwing her hooves over the pages of the book and whirling around. Behind her stood Princess Celestia, dressed in her evening gown, smiling warmly. “P-princess!” Twilight stammered, dipping her head in respect quickly. Celestia did the same. “Sorry to have startled you, Twilight,” she said, picking her way through the books and scrolls on the floor to stand next to her. Twilight gulped, flipping the page quickly. “It’s alright,” she fumbled, pretending to be interested in a paragraph about the joining of the three kingdoms. “I wasn’t scared.” The book was suddenly pulled from under her hooves by a surge of Celestia’s magic, and the white alicorn flipped back to the page Twilight had previously been on. “Reading up about my past, are we?” she asked curiously. Twilight panicked. “Oh well uh I was just actually you know I was reading up on Clover the Clever and well uh you see princess I was just-“ “You could just have asked me, you know,” the elder princess replied. Twilight’s jaw dropped. So all of this work she could have done could have been spared if she had just asked? Celestia noticed her reaction and chuckled lightly. “Why were you so afraid to ask?” “Well you see,” Twilight said stupidly, her words seemingly tripping over her tongue, “I figured since you had never talked about it with me before it might have been a touchy subject or something and I…” Her voice trailed off in embarrassment. Celestia smiled, moving the documents on the floor aside and pulling up a chair for herself. “I could tell you everything you wanted to know right now if you’d like.” “Oh would you?” Twilight exclaimed, her face lighting up. “If you want to, I mean.” “Oh of course I do! Now, what do you want to know?” “Everything!” ********** Celestia yawned, her eyes flitting open to reveal sunlight filtering through the stained glass windows of the castle. In the bed beside her Luna stirred, mumbling something in her sleep. The older filly sat up, looking around the room for Clover the Clever. There had never been a morning that the elderly unicorn had been absent from their side when they awoke. She found Clover sitting in a corner of the room with a large dusty looking book, completely absorbed in its pages. “Clover!” she called, catching the unicorn’s attention. She dropped the book, trotting up to the bedside. Luna groaned, shoving her head beneath her pillow. “Thanks for waking me, Tia,” she grumbled, kicking at the blankets grumpily. “Good morning my little fillies!” Clover beamed, pulling the covers from the bed. “Are you girls ready for another exciting day of studies?” Celestia cheered, hopping on the bed. Luna groaned again. Celestia and Luna had lived here with Clover the Clever in Unicoria Castle for as long as they could remember. The two young unicorns had apparently turned up on the doorstep when they were just barely weaned, and Clover had taken them in to act as their guardian as a direct order of their sector’s ruler, Prince Diamondruff. His much older betrothed, Princess Platinum, had died not long before the fillies’ arrival at the castle from a terrible influenza outbreak. Since they could read letters on a page, Clover the Clever had taught them everything she could about magic. “What are learning about today, Clover?” Celestia said, hopping off the bed with a thud. “Well you know how we finished our review over the early Earth Pony kingdom yesterday?” she replied, using her magic to tear Luna away from the bed. “Yeah?” she asked eagerly, bouncing up and down. “Tell me, tell me!” Clover chuckled warmly. “Hold your hooves, my little pony, you will learn in due time.” Clover let out an audible groan as Luna clawed back into bed, whining and causing quite a commotion as she was removed a second time. Clover finally used her magic to levitate her high into the air and began walking away, Luna hovering behind her as she kicked and screamed. Celestia followed, trying not to make direct eye contact with her little sister. The two of them headed down the main hallway of the castle to Clover’s study, where Luna was finally released and told to be quiet unless she wanted a time out. The blue unicorn filly sulked under a desk. Clover let out a deep sigh, removing a book from the shelves lining the walls of the room. “Today,” she said proudly, placing the book on the desk before her, “we will learn about the Pegasus kingdom.” “Are we gunna visit Pegasopolis, Clover?” Celestia asked. “For that, Tia, you would need wings,” she replied flatly, flipping the book open. “Can’t we just use magic to give ourselves wings or something,” Luna piped up from beneath the desk. Clover cast a sideways glance towards Luna, pulling her from beneath the desk with her magic and dropping her in a nearby chair. “Magic like that is complicated and delicate, it wouldn’t be worth the effort, not even counting how dangerous it is to cast the spell,” she explained, seating the two fillies at the desk with the open book. “So there is a way,” Luna said, glancing at the book with little interest. Celestia had already finished the first paragraph, tuned out of her sister’s speaking. “In a word,” Clover said, presenting Luna with a different book, “yes. Now get to reading, my little ponies, we will have much to discuss over this topic.” Luna groaned and opened the book with a hoof, casting a grumpy glance at her already entranced sister before beginning her reading. ~ Celestia closed the book with a heavy sigh, glancing over at the magical clock in the corner. It seemed to have stopped working at 10 that morning, and the minute hand was stuck in place, trying to click forward only to be pushed back by some unseen force. Celestia looked at her younger sister. Her face was buried in the open pages of the book as she snored lightly. Celestia smiled and slid off her chair, looking around. She had spent many years in this study, and truth be told, not much about it had changed. The walls of the small room were completely covered in shelves of books. The floor space had been taken up with several old desks and chairs, and the floor was graced with a single antique rug that covered its entire surface. From the ceiling hung lanterns that flickered on with a pale orange glow, washing the entire room in their flaming color. Celestia trotted over to the door and opened it quietly, peering out into the main hall. The tall stained glass windows of the castle had washed the entire corridor in burning colors. The young unicorn squinted in the sheer brightness, and stepped outside, closing the door behind her quietly as to not disturb Luna. She headed down the hall, the colors washing over her in their magnificent patterns and shapes, and Celestia closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the sun burn in her pelt. She had always felt most at home here, with the windows. It seemed strange, but she knew there was just something about it that made her heart race and her mind swirl. Something soothing and comforting, in the warmth they brought, in their beauty. She reached the end of the hallway, where it split off into two paths. The one on the left set off towards the servant’s rooms, where she and her sister slept. The one on the right was a spiraling staircase leading to the ground floor of the castle. Celestia turned right, trotting down the stairs quietly. When she reached their end she was in a wide open room, and at the front of this room was a large, wooden gate. The room had a small amount of commotion, with castle ponies and commoners alike trotting around. Celestia had always found it strange, the fact that they were all almost always Unicorns. Once in a while she would see a Pegasus that was a Mail Mare or something, but never one that was a citizen. Unicornia was a very Unicorn dominated city, she had learned, and it had always been that way. Celestia trotted down towards the gate, dodging under the hoof steps of the larger ponies around her expertly. When she neared the gate, she trotted over to the guard, pawing at his uniform. He glanced down sharply, and eased himself when he saw the little white filly. “Mister,” she said, “can I please go outside, just for one minute?” He frowned. “I dunno, seems like you could get lost or something…” “Then could you come with me, oh please? It’s just a minute; I want to see the time.” The guard shrugged, grinning. “Well, OK, why not. I need a break from just standing around here anyways.” He pulled a lever to his right, and the gate slowly creaked open. With it came a flash of bright orange light that colored the entire room like a sheet. Celestia dashed outside, closely followed by the guard. The filly stopped a few yards from the castle, gazing in awe at the sun, which was setting behind the city in a bright orange. The sky around it had turned a brilliant pink and yellow color, staining the clouds with its hues. Even the buildings of the city had taken on the colors, if only for a short time. Celestia sighed. It was absolutely stunning. If only it could stay a little bit longer, she thought. She focused on that thought, staring at the scene before her, completely unaware of the magic that was coursing through her. Was it just her, or was the sun beginning to raise itself back up into the sky? Suddenly her thoughts were broken by a loud yelling. “Celestia! What do you think you’re doing?” She gasped and whirled around to see Clover the Clever trotting towards her. “Why aren’t you in the study young filly?” “No Clover I finished the book you gave me and-” “Why did you think it was OK to just walk off like that? You had me and Luna both worried sick about you!” Celestia cringed. “I just wanted to see the sun,” she whispered, hanging her head. Clover gasped softly, as if surprised by her statement. She shook her head, muttering something under her breath. “It’s alright, Tia,” she said quietly, trotting up beside the younger pony and nuzzling her gently. “Let’s just go back upstairs, there’s food for you now. Good job reading the book I gave you.” Celestia threw her hooves up around Clover’s neck and started to cry. “I’m so sorry!” she wailed, clinging to Clover’s pale green pelt. The older unicorn did her best to calm her, using a hoof to boost Celestia up onto her back. “It’s going to be ok, Tia,” she said, leaning back to look at the sobbing foal. “Hey, why don’t you braid my mane? I’ve wanted you to do that again for a while.” Celestia nodded, wiping her face with a hoof. Clover smiled, giving a curt nod to the guard before heading back inside. Celestia focused on making one long braid out of the back part of Clover’s mane. Her thick, dark brown hair was a little difficult for her to work, but she managed best she could. “If you want you can do my tail after dinner,” Clover piped up as they ascended the staircase. Celestia nodded noiselessly, still focused on her braiding. She had just finished when they entered their room, and she was startled by a sudden shout from her sister. “Tia!!” Luna shrieked, jumping off the bed and dashing towards the two of them. Celestia jumped off of Clover’s back and was bowled over by her younger sister, who had a tight grip around her neck. “I was so worried about you!” she cried, pulling her older sister tighter. “I’m so sorry Luna,” she replied, putting her hooves around her sister. “I promise I won’t do it again.” Clover the Clever cleared her throat, and the two fillies broke apart. “I have dinner for the two of you,” she said. “Why don’t you two go have a seat at the table and I’ll get it for you?” They dashed over to the table, clambering awkwardly into their chairs. Luna had to sit on a small stack of cushions to reach the tabletop comfortably, though she still sat on her haunches to appear taller than her sister. Luna looked down on the older filly with a stern glare, causing Celestia to giggle. In a moment, Clover arrived with dishes of apples, carrots and corn. The two fillies’ mouths watered at the bright, fresh produce. The corn looked to have been steamed and was lathered generously with a thick butter. “Sugar cubes for dessert,” Clover whispered, evoking an excited gasp from the fillies. “Now, don’t let that thought spoil your appetites, girls. Eat up!” The three of them ate by candlelight, carrying on mild discussion about their studies and what Clover had been up to through the day. Apparently someone had come down with the Cutie Pox and Clover had to make a special trip to the outskirts of town to cure it. This was one of the earliest recorded cases of the strange disease and nobody knew if it was contagious or anything, so Prince Diamondruff had made it very strict and precise to keep it contained when it surfaced. Luna complained more about the amount of reading material they were given, as usual, and was met by the regular knowledge and excellence lecture from Clover. Celestia was unusually quiet this meal, chewing thoughtfully on a carrot. “Tia?” Clover asked, helping herself to another corn cob. “Is something the matter?” The young unicorn nodded. “Clover, when will me and Luna get our Talent Brands?” she blurted through a mouthful of carrot. Clover blinked in surprise, wiping a bit of vegetable from her coat that had splattered from the fillie’s mouth. “You’ll get the Brand when the time is right,” she replied. “Does it hurt?” Luna chimed in. Celestia rolled her eyes. “Not at all,” Clover said, glancing down at her mark. On her flank was a picture of a tattered old book with a four leaved clover between the pages, like a bookmark. “I remember feeling something when I got it, though I don’t quite remember what. It was such a long time ago that my Talent Brand appeared I can hardly remember, but I do know there was no sort of pain involved.” Luna nodded slowly, chewing a mouthful of apple. Celestia giggled slightly at her sister’s overdramatic and serious expression. “Don’t you two worry,” Clover said, smiling. “Your Brands will come when they are most needed.” Celestia sighed. She thought she would never need her Brand. She was already good at so much; there couldn’t possibly be something that she excelled at. Maybe she would get a studying Brand. That was just about all she did anyways. “All done!” Luna said, pushing her plate away. Clover looked at Celestia. “Tia, are you finished, too?” The foal nodded. “Alright then,” Clover said, grinning, “how about some sugar cubes before bed?” Luna cheered. Her sister was still deep in thought. The three of them ate a few cubes, Luna sneaking several more every few minutes. Celestia knew that Clover noticed it every time, but let it slip by. Soon the two fillies were tucked into bed, and Clover kissed the both of them goodnight. “Goodnight my little ponies,” she cooed, nuzzling them both before blowing out the candles and trotting from the room. Luna turned and whispered to her sister, “Why does she keep calling us ‘my little ponies’? It’s kinda creepy.” Celestia giggled. “I dunno,” she replied softly, “I kinda like it.” Luna shrugged, and soon the two of them drifted off into a sound sleep.