For the next hour the only sound near Twilight was that of the pages in the book turning, and her own breathing. No sound was heard from the outside, the enchantments on the room were making it sound proof as well, she assumed.
In that hour she had journeyed into the relationship between Clover and Star Swirl the Bearded. She learned about the ancient unicorn’s thirst for knowledge that equalled Twilight’s own. She’d read about what Clover had learned, how she was taught, and so on.
Twilight sighed and closed the book, resting one hoof on top of it as her eyes trailed towards the ceiling. Tracing the invisible pattern of blue flames hovering in the air.
“Well… that book gave me nothing to work with.” She looked down again and pushed the old book away, glancing over the other tomes and scrolls she had collected. “Maybe…” her gaze turned to the thin brown book, the smallest of the bunch. Curiosity driving her, she lit her horn and carefully levitated it over in front of her.
“Let’s see if this one holds the answers.”
She could almost feel the creaking of the its spine as the age-old book was opened for the first time in centuries, if not millennia. Dust from the book swirled around as it was blown away by Twilight’s exhalation.
Looking at the first page her minds grinded to a halt, all information processing stopped, jumped out the window, and signed off for the day. Her eyes widened as the sound of her large breath getting sucked in filled the room.
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock
Time passes and only after an entire minute of her staring at the first page does her brain manage to kickstart itself again. The processing reluctantly signing in for yet another day’s worth of working.
“You… have got to be kidding me,” she whispered, running a hoof across the dried ink on the page as it to see if it was real. It was. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, in an attempt to properly articulate herself. Twilight eventually had to accept that no words she said could explain how incredible it was that this exact book was present in this collection. Vast as it was. This should have been lost to time long before the castle of Royal Pony Sisters was built.
She glanced up to see if Discord were anywhere to be seen: he might’ve played a prank on her. There was no one there. She looked down again and re-read the single sentence written upon the first page.
”This diary belongs to Clover The Clever. May none but I open this book.”
A violent shake of her head later and Twilight was able to function properly again. Or function as much as she could given what she had just found.
“If I didn’t know better I’d think somepony was pulling a prank on me,” she murmured, about to turn the page, but a sudden thought struck her. “Wouldn’t it be an intrusion of privacy? …Who am I kidding, she died thousands of years ago… but still.” Groaning, she flipped the page and began reading. Clover had been dead for millennia; she probably wouldn’t even mind if she did somehow find out that her diary was being read...
“Titanian year - 724, Tenth moon. Titania’s Day.
Dear Diary,
I spent the day advising our dear Princess Platinum. A great many of the lower castes came to her regarding disputes about property and from which regions they were allowed to collect food from.
Magister Sparkle and Magister Lulamoon were the two unicorns causing the largest ruckus today. Both of them claimed to be allowed to “harvest”, as they so kindly put it, the north-western region. Section 7-3-1 to be precise. It took us some time, but we eventually found the logbooks which determined that aforementioned region was under the ownership of Magister Lulamoon.
Next was a complaint from the Sun’s Guild. They were dissatisfied with lowering the sun as early as they had to. They commented on the lower temperatures, and how it shouldn’t be quite as cold as it is now. They wanted to give the sun more hours to hopefully increase the Earth Ponies food production. They’re right, though, and they were allowed half an hour longer. They argued for more, but we couldn’t give it to them for fear of throwing the season’s out of balance.
On a final note, I’ve been working on a spell that my mentor handed me a few days past. He didn’t explain much save that it was a spell of such magnitude that it held the power to alter one’s destiny. Mentor Star Swirl told me that he couldn’t figure out the spell, but that perhaps I could. I do not know if I can live up to his expectations, but I will try.
Signed,
Clover the Clever.
For the next several hours, Twilight continued to leaf through the journal and read entry after entry. She was surprised; it seemed like diary had far more pages in it than was possible for such a small size. She just chalked it up to being a high-level spell by the high-level unicorn.
She was so sucked into it that she barely registered the flow of time; the grumbling of her stomach all but ignored, even though it sounded as if its rumbling could shake the very castle she was in.
One entry, made the day after the Windigo Winter ended, centered about a day spent primarily with Smart Cookie and Private Pansy. It was a day between friends where they shared stories from their tribes. Later on, it wrote, they theorised about what had drawn the windigos to them. Was it truly just their previous hatred for each other, or was something else? They never reached a conclusion, as far as Twilight could read, and just settled for it being the hatred they felt for each other back then.
Other entries detailed days spent studying, finding use of the exotic flora found in the nearby forests surrounding their settlement. While alchemy was something she often tried her hoof at, it was clear that most days studying were spent studying magic of one kind of another. She especially showed interest in Star Swirl’s newest spell, one that made one capable of travelling through time, albeit, only a brief period.
Closing the book with a sigh she glanced up at the flickering flames, and let everything that she just read flow through her mind, organizing it. What was startling, she realised, was that some of the entries seemed vaguely familiar to her. As if she had read them before. One entry, one about a campfire and a game of something similar to truth and dare, was frighteningly similar to a dream she remembered having a couple weeks back.
“Turns out the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant is fairly accurate,” she spoke out loud. Glancing down at the diary, she continued. “They really did hate each other, but the chance meeting of the respective leaders and their advisors changed it all in a single night. I can’t believe it.”
Grrrrgggg
“Who’s there!?” Twilight sprung to her hooves, her head spinning from side to side in an attempt to catch sight of whoever had made the growling sound.
Grrrrgggg
“I think it is your stomach, Twilight,” a female voice said, from behind Twilight.
Twilight whirled around and stood face to face with Princess Luna, surprised that she had not heard the princess enter. A sigh of relief escaped her as she sat down heavily on her rump, her empty belly growling yet again.
“I think you may be right, Princess, but how did you get in here? I didn’t hear you?”
The alicorn smiled and motioned at the door with a small tilt of her head. “Tis Tia and I who built this place and enchanted it. Getting in and out is no challenge for either of us. After all, did we not give you a way to enter?”
At that exact moment Twilight tried to calculate how much it would hurt to bang her head against the door a fifty or so times. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry, Princess, but I guess all the reading has taken its toll on me.”
“Tis no reason to apologise, Twilight, just follow me and I’ll have some dinner served for you,” a light chuckle escaped her, “I suspect you are hungry.”
“Famished,” she admitted, then paused. “May I take a book with me? I want to show one to Celestia and possibly ask her a question… if you don’t mind.”
Luna tapped a shod hoof against her chin, looking at the almost pleading face of Twilight, then at the small brown book lying just in front of the cushion. By the way the unicorn glanced to it from time to time, when not looking at her pleadingly, she assumed that this was the book she mentioned.
“I suppose there is no harm in it,” she replied with a small shrug. “Just be careful that it is not damaged. Everything in here, from the largest tome to the smallest scroll, is the original work. Nothing is a copy.”
Twilight grinned widely up at the princess, carefully grabbing the book in her telekinesis and bringing it towards her. “I’ll make sure to be careful, Luna!” And with that, she followed Luna out.
The princess touched the door’s handle with a hoof and disappeared. Twilight followed suit and soon stood on the other side of the door, book still held on her aura, and the princess by her side.
“If you’d follow me, Twilight, let’s get some food.”
The large oaken doors were enveloped in a dark blue light and pushed open by Princess Luna as she and Twilight Sparkle came trotting down the hallway and through the double doors.
The room was as large as Twilight remembered it, the size of it roughly matching the entire floor area of the tower in the castle she used to live in. Despite having been here before, she still marvelled at, not only the size, but also the way it was built. One longtable stood in the middle of the room, one high chair on each end of it and a large number of sizable cushions on either side of the table, meant for guests and such to sit on. It was lit from above by three chandeliers as well as a number of large candles spaced out evenly on both wall.
At the far end of the table sat Celestia, a smile gracing her lips as she noticed how her student and sister approached.
“Luna, Twilight, I’m glad to see you both joining me for dinner!” Celestia said, standing up the meet them halfway. She gave them each a brief nuzzle before returning to her seat, Luna taking the chair to her right and Twilight the one to her left.
“We wouldn’t miss dinner for the world,” Luna replied, turning her head to nod at the servants, thus signalling that they could bring in the food.
Several carts were brought in, each of them carrying trays of various kinds of food. Soups, salads, cooked vegetables, and more. The servants pushing them, all unicorns, lit their horns almost simultaneously and levitated the trays onto the table, placing an assortment of dishes in front of each of the three ponies.
While food such as this, both in quantity and quality, were commonplace for the two princesses, it definitely wasn’t for the young unicorn. She sat almost agape at the sheer amount that was placed in front of her. Glancing to the side, she saw both Celestia and Luna eating peacefully, neither of them seeming shocked by the amounts.
There’s got to be enough for at least three ponies here! she exclaimed internally, slowly reaching out with her telekinesis for a waldorf salad. She placed the book, which she had been holding in her magic since entering, on the table. A fork was enveloped in her magenta aura, pierced a piece of celery and put it in her mouth. It tasted divine!
“So, Twilight,” Celestia said, having stopped eating and was instead looking at her student. “I refrained from asking when you came in, but I was wondering, what is that book?”
Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Luna. “A book from the ‘Six Wings’. I allowed her to take it with he as she said she had a question for you regarding it.” Her turquoise gaze shifted to Twilight, silently telling her that now was probably the time for the question.
Celestia watched curiously as the unicorn grabbed the book, stood up and trotted carefully over to her, holding the book in front of her. Tugging at the pages with her magic, she flipped it open to one of the entries she had read.
“Please read this,” she told Celestia, letting the alicorn take the book in her own magic. A minute went past as Twilight watched Celestia read, trying to spot any change in her expression. Even the slightest. There were none, however.
Celestia closed the book and looked back up at Twilight, the shadow of a confused frown present on her otherwise immaculate face. “This doesn’t tell much more than Clover spending a day with Private Pansy and Smart Cookie,” she said. “Why are you showing me this, Twilight?”
The unicorn almost cringed. The tone and, in her mind, demeaning look her mentor gave her was almost enough to get her to just pretend as if nothing had happened and all, and just take the book back to the library. However, she had to ask; the question had been plaguing her ever since she read the entry.
“A few weeks back I had a dream that was almost identical to this one. I dreamed that I sat around a campfire in a clearing that was exactly as described in the diary. It was mid fall and the leaves were red and brown. I even dreamt that-”
“Twilight, I’m sorry, but I fail to see how this is of any importance in regards to your search,” Luna cut in, bearing a perplexed frown on her brow. “I allowed you to take that book from the library because I thought you had an important question, but-”
Twilight raised a hoof to halt the princess mid-speech, effectively silencing her. “The dream wasn’t very detailed on anything aside from the scenery, but I dreamt that I was sitting together with a pegasus on my left, and an earth pony on my left. Exactly as the diary depicts.” She tapped the item in question for emphasis, looking at Luna. “I think there’s a connection, but I don’t know what it is.” Her gaze went back to Celestia. “I wanted to ask if you know why this dream is identical to this entry, and why I dream of ponies I’ve never even seen. You can’t dream of ponies you’ve never seen before so there has to be something going on.” She ended her short tirade with shooting a small apologetic glance at Luna. The princess didn’t seem offended by being interrupted, so no harm done, she assumed.
Celestia, for her part, had watched the small exchange quietly with a cup of tea held in a golden aura by her lips. As Twilight looked back at her she let the china cup down on the small sauce. “Tell me, Twilight, have you ever heard the myths that each of the six founders possessed a special ability?”
Twilight’s brow furrowed in confusion but she nodded nonetheless. “I do. It’s said that Commander Hurricane possessed the ability to instill fear directly in the hearts of her opponents. It isn’t much different from Fluttershy’s ’stare’, but the essence is that she could somehow take whatever small fear her opponents held for her and magnify it. Princess Platinum was said to be able to force ponies to speak the truth. No spell can do that. Stories claim that Smart Cookie couldn’t get lost. She always knew where north was, and where she was. Private Pansy couldn’t feel any pain, and could completely erase pain from others. Puddinghead, or Levelhead as the plaque says, is said to have been able to stay alive for up to two weeks without food and water, and still work normally.”
Celestia nodded, smiling a small proud smile. “And Clover?”
“Clover…” The unicorn’s face scrunched up in thought as she attempted to dig out the small piece of information. She was fairly certain she’d heard about it, but she couldn’t recall any obvious answers. “I’m afraid I can’t remember, Princess.”
Celestia chuckled lightly, putting up a hoof when she saw Twilight’s ears splaying back on her head, and her head dropping. “My apologies, Twilight, I wasn’t making fun of you.” That got a relieved smile out of the unicorn. “I would not expect you to remember, as it is only mentioned in passing. In the Hearth’s Warming Pageant, to be precise. Remember what Clover, or you, asked ‘Princess Platinum’ when she came back to unicornia?”
“Clover asked her if the other two tribes had seen reason.” Celestia waved her hoof, signalling for the unicorn to continue. “As… she predicted?” One of Twilight’s eyebrows rose skeptically at her own words and the insinuation of it all.
“That is exactly what it is, Twilight,” Celestia responded, having easily spotted the skepticism in her student’s face. “According to myths, Clover had the gift of something similar to premonition, or scrying. It is possible that you have this gift as well, and you scry back into the past; watching the past unfold bit after bit through the eyes of Clover the Clever. Even I know very little of such abilities, all I know is that your description of your dreams matches what I know. Such scryings are always blurry and difficult to interpret, very much like your dreams.”
If Discord had been present at this very moment it would only need a snap of his talons for Twilight’s jaw to literally hit the floor. Every now and then there were ponies that claimed to have a sort of special power. Only in the rarest of rare cases was there ever a single grain of truth to the claim, the only instance of such an ability being true, to Twilight’s knowledge, was Fluttershy. Some might argue that Applejack had an ability similar to Princess Platinum’s, but spending some time with her revealed that she was just very perceptive and could see almost the smallest of tells, whereas Platinum could sense a lie even with her back turned. Supposedly.
“You… can’t be serious. How could I possibly have the same ability as Clover!? Such abilities are dubious at best, we don’t even know if the founders really had those abilities!” Stopping herself before she got out of hoof, she inhaled and, stretching one hoof out in front of her from her chest, exhaled again. She started again, this time much calmer. “Princess. If you’re right then that means I’m…”
“Yes, Twilight. I believe that you are a ‘Seer’.”