//------------------------------// // All Quiet on the Western Book Fort // Story: To be her Mother... // by Mayhew Cullen //------------------------------// Twilight slept contentedly, she had been up quite late gazing at Luna’s night sky and truly felt justified in sleeping in. Celestia’s most faithful student had been visiting her teacher and Princess Luna the previous evening and was allowed to stay the night in her old room. Now she was just happy that she had no princess duties and would be allowed to sleep as late as she wanted. Of course she had forgotten one small detail, a detail that was not in fact one of her princess duties but was more accurately a joyful reprieve from the affairs of state. That joyful reprieve came in the form of a little pink Pegasus filly with a black and purple mane and bluish green eyes. The filly of course had chosen to climb onto her Aunt Twilight's bed just after sunrise and wait for the alicorn to awaken. Still at her age Chrysie was quickly bored and began restlessly jumping up and down on the foot of the mattress. Crystal didn’t speak a word as Twilight had long since asked her not to yell while she was asleep, but with the sudden bouncing of her bed the groggy princess immediately regretted opening her tired eyes. “Auntie Twiwight, Auntie Twiwight! Mommy says we have to eat bweakfast, and then we can make a book fort and Uncle Spike can teach me to be a libwawian.” Crystal’s stationary bouncing quickly turned to a happy series of jumps that moved her in a circle around the empty space in the bed. The excited movement was enough to stir the lavender princess, but it was the muffled laughter of a young dragon that fully awakened the terror of a sleep deprived Twilight Sparkle. “SPIKE!” To the number one assistant it seemed that Luna’s lessons in using the royal Canterlot voice were paying off as he almost felt the full force of the alicorn’s voice on the other side off the door. Still he couldn’t quite stop laughing as he entered the room and replied, “Oh be nice, Chrysie was very polite. She knocked and asked if she could wait for you to wake up if she was quiet.” “Spike, she waited by very politely climbing onto my bed and quietly jumping on it!” It was then as Twilight sat up in bed that she saw the little filly still jumping circles across the mattress. With a sudden burst of telekinetic magic she took hold of Crystal and kept the Pegasus suspended in the air in front of her. This only provided fuel for the foal’s imagination as Chrysie’s eyes became like saucers. Stretching out her tiny wings from her sides she went on to move her forehooves directly forward and get her hind legs pointed back. She then exclaimed in a cheerful tone, “Wee! Quick Uncle Spike, tell Mommy I’m fwying! Wee!” Only a truly heartless pony would be able to resist such silliness and keep from smiling. Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle for example, was far from heartless and began laughing warmly and using her magic to move the airborne filly carefully around the room. Twilight even kept up the spell as she made herself ready for the day ahead. A quick brush of her mane and a drink of water while listening to the excited squeals of the filly above her were all she needed before making her way to the dining hall. Crystal of course followed suit as she was literally still being held in the alicorn’s magic and still happily telling anypony they passed that she was flying. Twilight’s spell continued even as the two entered the dining hall. The young princess even managed to telekinetically place the filly into the high chair beside Celestia without much fuss before taking her own seat on the other side of the sun princess. The filly of course immediately began telling her mother of the adventures she had while ‘flying’. Twilight on the other hoof was reminiscing on the events that had led up to her promise to teach the filly the proper structural qualities of a book fort. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With her horn aglow Twilight moved without hesitation. The advanced use of the levitation spell allowed her to write with a quill and scroll, while at the same time pulling books from the shelves around her only to replace them after reading the title and author. While it was true that she had a chance to practice some slightly more complex levitation, the dexterous princess found it rather irritating that she couldn't allow herself time to read the books. Princess Celestia had recently donated quite kindly to the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville and Twilight had been busying herself looking for titles to add to the public library’s collection. With that goal in mind the chronic bookworm had to force herself into not simply gathering a pile of tomes, finding a quiet corner, and reading for the rest of the day. In retrospect she might have added to the list, ‘building a stronghold of knowledge to protect her from the bothersome dragons who always sought to impair her reading’. Twilight had almost giggled at the thought of building a book fort at her age until her thoughts were suddenly brought to a single point. Across the library came a sudden cacophony of books falling in great numbers to the carpeted floor below them. Ponyville’s resident princess slash librarian felt her right eye twitch slightly as she realized the direction from which the sound had come. “The early readers’ section.” It was little more than a whisper punctuated by a sudden burst of magic. A flash of light indicated the teleportation spell Twilight used to reach the part of the library where she had left her niece. Quickly scanning from left to right the young princess searched for any evidence of the tiny filly and the crash of books from only a moment before. Despite her hawk like gaze Twilight heard Crystal before she saw her. The already tiny voice only further muffled by the pile of books Twilight would soon find her under, “Hewp Auntie Twiwight! I’m twapped under these bears.” With a speed that would make Rainbow dash proud she moved toward the voice. Twilight breathed a heavy sigh of relief seeing a tiny hoof and a miniscule wing twitching from under a rather large pile of children’s books. The alicorn smiled as she used her telekinesis to lift a copy of ‘Goldimane and the Three Bears’ from on top of a rather silly filly who was quite tangled up in the mess around her. When she finally had the mess cleared up for the most part Twilight sat her niece down at a small table before finally speaking, “So, I suppose I can theorize that you weren’t reading.” Crystal jumped in her seat and wearing toothy grin she replied without hesitation, “I made a book fort! Uncle Spike said you wike them and it was more fun than weading.” Twilight’s right eye twitched as memories of Fortenheit Four Fifty-one echoed through her mind. It was the first, and thankfully last, time Spike had set one of her book forts on fire. Certainly he had burned books on accident after that, but at least he had not destroyed another entire fort… with fire at least. Now it seemed that instead of destroying knowledge directly he was espousing the unacceptable ideal that the construction of a stronghold of literacy did not go hoof in hoof with reading. As any proper architect of literature knew, anypony building a book fort should read every piece of construction material before it could be used as an effective foundation or supporting wall. After all, reading them post-construction meant dismantling the protective structure then rebuilding it after the book was retrieved. Then the comment fully hit her. How could her lovely niece dislike reading? Crystal always seemed so happy when she was teaching the filly to read. Though the filly's aunt was not above reproach as her somewhat literal mind had quickly jumped to that overly hasty conclusion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “She’s five Twilight.” Celestia spoke in a matter of fact tone at dinner later that evening. Her comment was only cemented more when the filly next to her happily spoke between bites of steamed carrots. “I’m five!” So, Crystal and Celestia were teaming up on the young alicorn princess. Twilight almost grinned knowing that she had a surefire response. “But Princess, I was reading at an age twelve level when I was four.” Celestia however simply smiled before both praising her student and admonishing her, “and it is due to your excellent tutelage that Crystal is an exceptional reader herself. On the other hoof she is also not you and while you enjoyed books and learning at her age, my little Chrysie prefers racing with rabbits and chasing butterflies, but it’s not as if you don’t share some interests. You enjoy reading and she enjoys listening to you read. The subject doesn’t matter because she enjoys simply spending time with you. She has asked me on many occasions to change her into a unicorn so she can learn magic just like her Auntie Twilight. Last but certainly not least if you truly think she does not share at least some of your love of books, she told me that when she grows up she wants to be a librarian.” Celestia's tone softened as she spoke until finally, "She adores all her aunts and uncles Twilight, but you are the pony she wants to grow up and be like most of all." It suddenly made sense to the still growing alicorn princess. Crystal hadn't spent her afternoon building a book fort because she disliked reading. She had only heard Spike mention that her Auntie Twilight enjoyed building them so her actions were merely an attempt at emulating somepony she loved and wanted to model herself after. With a curt look at Chrysie, Twilight finally smiled as she saw the happy Pegasus filly joyously enjoying her meal to the extent that there would be a significant mess to clean up under her seat. In a far more gentle tone she almost whispered, speaking just loud enough for Celestia to hear, “She always has so much fun when I take her stargazing.” Then another thought came to her mind and she excitedly spoke, still so only the princess of the sun could hear her, “Princess, I know you wanted me to foalsit here tomorrow, but would it be alright if I looked after Crystal in Ponyville? It would be a much better location for me to teach her the inner workings of a proper book fort.” Twilight finished with a pleading smile directed at her teacher. Celestia allowed herself a warm chuckle before she replied warmly, “Of course Twilight, I’m sure she would love to see your friends there as well.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Oh my, then what happened?” Celestia wore a tone of playful concern as Crystal continued to tell her about flying. Chrysie on the other hoof only continued, excitedly unaware of her mother’s patronization, “then I wanted to fwy over the woof, but Auntie Twiwight said it was too danjoo… dangee… dangly-us.” Luna, having just walked in snickered at her niece’s mispronunciation as she made her way to the chair on the opposite side of Chrysie from her sister. Celestia however turned to her daughter and gently corrected her, “You mean Dangerous?” “Thas what I said Mommy, dangly-us!” Celestia turned and glared at Luna knowing that it had been her little sister who had been sabotaging her daughter’s vocal development with immature foal talk and grandiose praise for every distorted word. Twilight only smiled as she magically lifted Crystal from her chair and excused herself, “Well it was nice seeing you Princess Luna, but Chrysie and I have to pack for the flight to Ponyville.” The princess of the moon was disheartened and when Twilight and Crystal were both gone from sight she put on a pair of puppy dog eyes and whined gently, “Why don’t you ever let us foalsit for you?” Celestia raised her eyebrow as if her sister’s question had to be a joke before replying, “Surely you can’t be serious.” “We are dead serious, and don’t call us Shirley.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “And now do you see how larger books with hard covers make much better supporting walls?” The young Crystal had not paid any attention to her Aunt Twilight’s words after the foalsitter had relented and allowed her to use books without reading them and instead spent her energy pushing heavy books into place. Then like a house of cards, one wrong move sent the structure toppling to the ground yet again… harmlessly on top of a giggling filly. Spike had just entered the library proper with a tray of tea and cookies for Twilight to share with her niece when Crystal pushed herself up from the haphazard pile of books wearing one of the smaller tomes like a hat shouting, “Wook Auntie Twiwight! I’m a libwawy!” Spike was about to reply when he noticed a glare from Twilight that was easily translated as, ‘if you tell her that the books need to be inside a library. You get to clean up the mess and tell princess Celestia why her daughter needed her stomach pumped.’ Unfortunately for him he was bad at understanding communication in the form of irritated stares. “You know Chrysie; a library needs to have books inside them before they’re a proper library.” The aforementioned filly stuck her tongue out to blow a raspberry before pushing the book off her head and trotting toward the dragon held snack tray. Her playful tone somewhat diminished as she attempted to sound very much like her mother when she was scolding Crystal for misbehaving, “Don’t be Siwwy Uncle Spike. Auntie Twiwight would be vewy sad if I ate her books.” Twilight let out a bout of laughter at the somewhat dumbfounded dragon. Stifling her laughs down to minor giggles she spoke aloud this time, “Yes Uncle Spike, it would also give Chrysie a terrible tummy ache.” Crystal of course was at that point only paying attention to the cookies and happily bounced when she found the one she wanted, “Yay, chocowate chips!” This sent her aunt into another fit of laughter at how quickly the filly could leap from one thought to another. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few hours, a few visits from some of her many aunts and uncles, and a few more failed book forts later Chrysie lay sleeping soundly within the walls of her first success. It was a fairly simple structure, but the foundation was sound and the walls were strong. Nothing short of a dragon attack would disturb the Bastion of Tomes. Twilight was laying a good distance from the harmonious pile of books but still kept the filly within her line of sight. She rested happily with a book supported by her front hooves, pages turning occasionally with the aid of magic. It was only shortly after nightfall and she was expecting Celestia any time now. However taking a moment to glance out the window that during the day looked out toward Canterlot, she noticed the warm green hue of a star she had come to know quite well. Her tone was somber as she looked back to Chrysie for a moment before returning her gaze to the star, “Hello Chrysalis, you seem well. I just wanted to thank you. Your little filly has changed Celestia’s life. She seemed so distant the year after your attack on my brother’s wedding, but when she brought Crystal home with her I saw a look in her eyes I haven’t seen since I was a filly myself. She was always so tired, but when Chrysie came into her life she seemed so much brighter and happier.” Twilight thought back to the first time she laid her own eyes on the little pink Pegasus. It was true she had been apprehensive about the foal’s origins, but when she saw the love in Celestia’s eyes she knew that nothing would keep her teacher and Crystal apart. Twilight felt a smile creep across her face as she realized that she was talking to a star, but caught herself before breaking into laughter that would awaken the resting filly. An equally stealthy dragon tiptoed down the stairs carrying a scroll. Stifling a yawn the fatigued dragon nearly threw the scroll at Twilight before speaking quietly, “You really gotta talk to the princess about these late night letters. Be careful, this one tasted a bit odd.” After watching her assistant enter the kitchen the young alicorn unrolled the scroll revealing that the ‘scroll’ was in fact a slightly stained napkin covered with barely legible writing and smelling of hard liquor. Still for an experienced librarian such as herself, the repair of any form of literature was only a simple restoration spell away.. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hey Twilight Sparkle! This is LuluLuna by the way. We figured we should get that out of the way. We told Tia that she wasn’t fit to fly after tonight, but she is headed your way. Even after a thousand years my big sis still can’t hold her liquor. So a bit of explanation, Tia had to deal with some really stupid bree foreign dignititties dignitaries today and so we(we both of us, not we me, in case it wasn’t clear) decided to get a couple of drinks to unwind. Discord offered to take us to this place he knows, Milliways. The food is a bit unusual, but the bartender knows how to make a bucking awesome tequila sunset. Anyway… oh yeah, don’t let Tia fly off with Chrysie, she’s had too much to drink to be trusted flying home with a filly. Tia doesn’t have the best sense of direction when she’s drunk so she probably won’t make it unless Discor… Oh what the buck? Okay I guess Discord went after Tia… and we(we me not we as in more than one of us… perhaps you and Tia were correct when you told us to stop using the royal we. Or at least we should not use it when writing…) Anyway we are stuck somewhere near the far side of the universe. So… send help, we’ll be here waiting… Oh somepony bought us another drink, huzzah! Signed, Lulu The slightly inebriated Goddess of the Moon, Alicorn Princess Luna, Custodian of Dreams ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ As she finished reading the napkin Twilight heard the unmistakable sound of pair of claws snapping. Discord stood smiling at his handiwork. Twilight followed his line of sight expecting some horrible prank to have been played on her. Instead she saw that Crystal’s book fort had been greatly increased in size to allow an unconscious alicorn princess to sleep beside her daughter under the cover of the now gargantuan tomes without fear of collapse. Another snap of the draconequus' claws materialized a blanket over Celestia to keep her from catching a chill in the night. “It’s rather awful how adorable they are, isn’t it?” Discord spoke offhandedly and waited patiently for Twilight’s reply. “They are quite cute. Oh, Princess Luna sent me a letter just now about the three of you going out for drinks.” Before the amateur princess could truly finish her thoughts on the subject she was interrupted by the spirit of chaos, “Oh don’t fret Miss Sparkle, I’ve taken the liberty of sobering our dear princess mother enough to prevent her from vomiting. She’s still quite drunk and will have one doozy of a hangover in the morning, but at least pretty little Tia won’t ruin your precious books while lying in a puddle of her own sick.” Twilight was about to explain Luna’s situation when Discord simply vanished with another snap of his claws. So instead of being able to help directly she spoke a discreet prayer, “Oh benevolent Faust, creator of Equestria and first alicorn, please watch over Princess Luna until she can find a way home.” Then with a sidelong glance she noticed the flickering of a rather impertinent green star which she had no choice but to chastise for her childish manners, “Oh shush you. Everypony needs a night off to relax every century or so.” The librarian might have gone on after her rather unfunny joke but was interrupted by the soft mutterings coming from her beloved teacher, “Look at her Discord, she’s so beautiful… I love you so much.” Twilight’s head jerked as she looked to see Celestia still sleeping soundly. However this did not last long as her dreams shifted and the princess shuddered lightly. After a short silence Celestia began muttering again allowing tears to begin flowing from her still sleeping eyes, “Why Discord? Why? I hate you so much, I hate you... I hate you... ... I hate you... ... ... I hate you…”