Princess Celestia led Twilight through the remnants of the Royal Archives, though to the lavender unicorn, everything was new to her. She marveled at the tomes and tried to pick one up with her magic aura before the Alicorn chided her gently.
"Please, Twilight, those tomes are extremely fragile -- I have been meaning to transcribe them on new paper stock, though I must admit to a level of fatigue," she noted and allowed a sigh to escape her lips.
"Princess, I would like to do that for you! I am extremely fascinated by all the tomes and scrolls in this room and I would be honored to have the task of transcribing everything -- it will give me an opportunity to study all the materials here as well!"
"I would be pleased to give you that task, my faithful student!" the Alicorn nearly chirped as the memories of her long-departed counterpart came flooding back to her. She fell to her haunches as those memories continued to wash over her like a tsunami, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks. The lavender unicorn noticed this and trotted over to her, nuzzling her softly on her neck.
"Princess Celestia, I am so sorry! I will stay with you for as long as I can -- I had no idea my presence would remind you so much of the pony I was copied from," she said softly as she continued to nuzzle the Alicorn's neck.
"Oh, Twilight! I have missed you so much!" the Princess nearly wailed as she wrapped her wings around the unicorn, returning the nuzzle with great affection. Tears continued to stream down her face as she did this. The two held the embrace for a long time -- neither one wanted to break the embrace, so deep was their affection for each other. The lavender unicorn seemed to be recalling long-forgotten memories herself, ones which had been transferred from the Alicorn as the two had rubbed horns together. It was only when Twilight's sense of duty made itself known that she broke the embrace first.
"Princess, there is so much work to do! I will need a great deal of parchment and ink, not to mention an even larger number of quills!"
"Twilight, we have new ways of doing the transcribing," Celestia noted, teleporting stacks of paper and ink pens into the room. "Many advancements have been made during your absence."
"Do you have a computer, Princess? Tasavir had me working one when I was with him -- he showed me how to fashion my magic aura into human hands with fingers so I could work a keyboard -- he trained me until I was capable of typing more than a hundred words per minute," the unicorn mused, causing her mentor's eyes to widen.
"Um, no, Twilight, we haven't made those advancements -- at least, not to my knowledge."
"I'll have to check with Harmony to see if she knows about computers," she mused. Focusing on her descendant's magic signature, Twilight teleported back to where the others were still holding their party, then located the prismatic purple pony.
"Mellifluous Harmony! What do you know about computers?"
A big grin came across the mare's face as she flew over to meet her forebear. "Ah, I was wondering when you might ask about that! We have been using them for more than a century! Come with me, I'll show you my own," she offered, lifting the unicorn before she had a chance to answer, then flying off to her apartment. Twilight had to hang on tightly as the mare flew quite fast -- not as fast as Rainbow, but fast enough to cause great unease.
"Can you slow down a little? I don't like heights all that much," Twilight shouted above the rush of air blowing past her. The mare carrying her laughed as she made a few twists and turns before flying through a window into her apartment, coming to a graceful landing.
"Wow, I wonder if I'll ever be able to do that," Twilight mused aloud before taking in the sight of the apartment. The furnishings dazzled with a faint luminescence which seemed to permeate the entirety of the apartment.
"Unless you can transform into an alicorn or craft a spell to grant you flight, I don't know. Welcome to my apartment, Twilight! What do you think?"
"I've never seen anything like this! Tasavir's home has nothing to compare to this!" she exclaimed in wonderment as she trotted around, inspecting everything, gingerly touching a hoof to shiny surfaces, only to watch in amazement as whatever she touched seemed to glow even brighter.
"If I may be so bold as to ask, Twilight, what's his place like?"
"Well -- I spent quite a few years trotting around his castle -- and it has his favorite items in it. He chose to decorate it with lots of paintings he himself has painted over the past several centuries, sculptures he himself had crafted with his hooves and his magic. His furnishings seem -- ordinary compared to these. I wonder if he visited your place or not," Twilight mused as she continued to examine everything. "Um, do you have any books?"
Mellifluous Harmony laughed out loud initially, then took a moment to regain her composure. "Sorry about that, Twilight -- all of our books are now on computers, except for those Princess Celestia might be retaining. I suppose that any of those books would be centuries old and very fragile."
"The Princess told me this -- I was hoping you would have modern books -- but if they're on computer, then please show me what I'm missing!" she chirped excitedly. Her excitement was quite infectious, eliciting a big grin on the other's face.
"Hang on a second, I'll turn it on now," she noted as she used her magic to illuminate the wall behind Twilight. "Turn around, the wall behind you serves as the monitor. Simply use your magic to search for what you want."
Twilight tried to do this and experienced some degree of frustration as she was unable to find anything -- it appeared her magic didn't seem to work with this computer. After a few more moments of trying, she asked a question which made her feel somewhat less intelligent. "Um, how does this work? I've never tried using anything like this," she said, her uncertainty showing.
"I'm sorry, Twilight, I should have taken that into account -- I keep forgetting you're from a different world, and this technology is way more advanced than you're used to. I'll help you along," Harmony offered and began flicking through directories. Quite a few selections were under ancient magic, which piqued the librarian's interest.
"Oooh, that one looks good! Let me see that, please!" she exclaimed excitedly, practically bouncing on her tip-hooves. Harmony giggled at the mare's excitement and opened the file. The language which flashed on the wall was considered by modern ponies to be archaic -- and Twilight seemed to be at a loss. "Um, I can't read it," she noted dejectedly.
"Oh, that's right -- sorry, Twilight, let me fix it for you," she offered as she ran through a selection of translation programs. As the words flickered with each successive program, Harmony would ask her forebear if what she saw was legible. They went through about a dozen different programs before Twilight shouted a command to stop, eliciting a gasp of surprise from the other. "Interesting -- this translation program is one of the oldest known in Equestria! You truly are from the past!"
"Well -- not really -- I'm 29 years old, but -- Tasavir told me I was the 65th mare to carry the name of Twilight Sparkle. I think he never changed the language we learn to read, write, and speak, even though so many centuries have passed since he began his ... experiment," she noted. "Thanks for thinking so highly of me."
"I definitely want to take some time to figure this out -- I find it quite fascinating!" Harmony beamed.
"I'm just hoping we can find a way to get rid of Nightmare Moon in his world -- I want him back," Twilight remarked. "The sooner we can get started with that, the better as far as I'm concerned. After that, I'd be happy to teach you what I know."
Harmony deflated somewhat, her mood dampened by Twilight's impatience. She continued to show the librarian more books, the searches becoming more tangential as more and more interesting bits of information flashed on the wall. Twilight continued to be amazed by everything she was learning, her excitement once again rejuvenating her descendant's mood.
"Wow, it looks like I might be able to re-create the Elements of Harmony! I need to meet with Princess Celestia again! Um, is there some way I can get a copy of this and take it with me?"
"No problem, Twilight -- here, let me use this," Harmony answered as she used a crystal to copy the information from the computer. "Okay, you can use your magic to display the information on a wall. I'll take you back to meet the Princess."
The words weren't even out of the mare's mouth when she was shocked by Twilight's teleport. So sudden was her departure that it took Harmony a good two minutes to figure out what had happened.
"I would have liked to join your audience," she called out in exasperation before teleporting after the librarian. "How much did he teach you?" she asked rhetorically as she materialized a few meters away from the lavender unicorn.
"Everything I know," she replied with a giggle.