Daughters, Part 2
Before leaving the castle, Rose was told where to find the library. She wondered why the directions were so detailed, but once she left the castle gates she realized it was because it would be easy to get lost in such a large city. It was just as beautiful as she remembered. A good sign, she thought. On her way, she noticed several familiar landmarks. She had to follow the directions closely, however; she had lived in Ponyville for most of her life, so she didn't know very much about Canterlot. The warm summer breeze was incredibly comforting. In her cell in the castle, she had feared she would never feel it again, that she would be confined for the rest of her life. An unlikely punishment, she had reasoned, but she wasn't even sure what she would be punished for. When she arrived at the library, she wasn't sure if she should knock before entering. She decided she'd rather be safe than sorry.
A few seconds after knocking, one of the large doors swung open. It didn't appear to Rose that anyone had opened it.
"Oh, you must be the pony the Princess was sending over!"
Rose was startled when she heard the voice, then she looked down and saw that it had come from the small dragon standing directly in front of her.
"Um... yes." she said, "You're the... um... her student, right?"
"What? Oh. No," the dragon said, confused. "You're thinking of Twilight."
Rose felt uncomfortable. The dragon silently staring at her didn't help. "Is this... Twilight... here right now?" She asked.
"Yep." the dragon replied. "You can come in if you want."
"Thanks..." Rose said, annoyed.
As she entered the library, she was amazed at how beatiful the architecture was. The high ceilings, the spiral stairway, the large window giving a spectacular view of Canterlot... she wondered why someone would put so much effort into a place for old books to gather dust. Of course, as far as she could see, there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere. Someone was really fond of these books. Rose looked down at the little dragon, who was just closing the door behind her.
"What was your name again?" She asked.
"Me? Oh, I'm Spike. I don't think you said your's." He said, though it didn't seem like he was asking.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Rose said, "My name is... well, Rose. At least I think it is."
Spike looked confused at first, and then appeared to understand. "Oh yeah," Spike began, "the Princess's letter said you had... amoeba... or something like that. Anyway, I'll see if I can find Twilight. Wait right here." Rose started to ask how they had recieved Celestia's letter so quickly when she was interrupted by Spike's shouting.
"TWILIGHT! THE FELON... oh, sorry" He said, looking over at Rose. "THE NICE PONY FROM THE CASTLE IS HERE!" It echoed loudly. Rose was sure his volume was unnecessary.
"Spike!" A voiced called from from the balcony above, "That's no way to behave in front of guests!" Rose looked up to see a very clean-kept unicorn overlooking them. As she began down the spiral staircase, she seemed to be examining the room, as if she was looking for any imperfections to fix before she engaged in any further conversation. This must be the student the Princess spoke so highly of.
Rose hated her already.
As she walked slowly down the spiral staircase, Twilight Sparkle told of Celestia's letter explaining the events of that morning: The loss of memory, the pony from the dungeon, the strange cutie mark, etc. All of which Rose was acutely aware. She was, after all, present at the time.
"May I see the mark?" Twilight asked, not all that politely.
"Um... Sure, I guess." Rose responded.
As she turned to show her flank, Rose noticed a clock on the wall reading just past noon. She knew that she would most likely be spending the rest of the day in this library, attempting to search the hundreds of books within for clues as to what her mark was. Her company, as it seemed, was a small bad-mannered talking dragon and a unicorn whose title had clearly given her a case of the holier-than-thou's.
"Doesn't look familiar," Twilight said after a moment. "A broken dinner plate, perhaps? Maybe you're good at breaking things."
"I haven't broken anything since last night," Rose said quickly, almost hiding her aggravation. "Since at least last night." She added.
"Well then," Twilight said, "We aren't going to find out anything by standing around. You remember reading, right?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I know how to read." Rose replied.
They collected dozens of books and placed them in piles beside their desks. Twilight used her magic to neatly arrange stacks of books by category. Of course she did. The dragon sat in a chair not quite next to Twilight, but close. He was mostly quiet. Rose fought to stay focused on the books, looking for anything that resembled what was pictured on her flank, but it was a losing battle. By late afternoon, she was fighting to simply stay awake.
It was dark. Rose could see the sun, but a sky full of stars surrounded it. Someone was watching her, and someone else was telling her something. Something important. It was her. It is her. It will be, but not forever. Rose couldn't see who was speaking, but she wasn't sure anyone was. It felt like she was revealing memories to herself, but she couldn't understand them. She felt like she needed to be somewhere.
"Here it is!"
Rose awoke to the sound of Twilight's voice. It wasn't very loud by itself, but it echoed easily throughout the library.
"What? What's it... here?" Rose said drowsily.
"You're mark, obviously."
"Oh, yeah. What does it say?"
Twilight looked back at the book, then a look of embarrassment crossed her face.
"I'm not exactly sure." She said.
Rose paused at this. "And here you were questioning my reading skills." She said, just loud enough for the unicorn to hear.
"It's not that I can't read it!" Twilight said, in the only tone of emotion Rose had heard from her all day. "It's just, well... I can't. Not very good, at least. It's in a some old language. Really old, I'd say."
"Really old like my great-grandmother old?" Rose said.
Twilight looked briefly annoyed, then shook her mane away from her face. "No. Really old like the founding of Equestria old."
"Oh."
Twilight looked around to find the dragon sleeping in the chair. She shouted him awake, and told him to write a letter to Princess Celestia. He found a paper and quill and stood at the ready.
"'Dear Princess Celestia," She began, "'After hours of study, I believe I have found an ancient text that speaks of the cutie mark the young pony has somehow acquired.'"
Young. This Twilight couldn't have been more than two years older than Rose, yet she said it as if Rose was a filly.
Twilight continued, "'The book is written in what appears to be the language used by the Pegasi in the time before the tribes were joined, but the condition of it says it may have been written more recently.' Spike, are you keeping up?"
Spike was repeating the words as he wrote them. "'The... book... is... written...' Oh, sorry Twilight, what was that second line again?"
This went on for a few moments.
"As I was saying," Twilight said, impatiently, "'What I could decipher was that the book spoke of some sort of Great Reign coming to an end, and something about a 'Third Born'. Since you know a great deal more about the Old World, I humbly request your help in further deciphering the information. With your royal consent, we will set out for Canterlot castle before nightfall. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.'"
After a moment, Spike finished writing with a triumphant "Done!". Rose was wishing Twilight had informed her of what she had been able to read before making it official via letter, but she wasn't surprised.
Spike opened his mouth and held the letter over it as if he was about to swallow it whole, then stopped, looking very confused.
"Wait a minute, Twilight," He said, "How can this pony have something to do with ending a Great Reign if she doesn't have wings?"
Twilight thought about this, but still didn't appear to understand. "What do you mean, doesn't have wings?"
"Well," He replied, "Aren't the pegasuses..."
"Pegasi." Rose said.
"...Pegasi the ones who control the weather?"
Twilight looked at Spike blankly. "Spike, did you spell reign R-A-I-N?"
Spike returned the stare. "Is there some other way to spell it?"
Twilight dropped her face to her desk, defeated. "START OVER."
He rewrote the letter. Then he swallowed it whole.
Rose was so shocked by what she had just witnessed that she was still standing, mouth agape, when the reply letter arrived a few moments later. This time, Spike seemed to simply belch the rolled parchment into existence.
Mail service fit for royalty, Rose thought to herself. Though her face stayed motionless.
Spike handed the letter over to Twilight(he seemed surprised when she asked him to do so), then she adjusted her glasses and began to read aloud.
"'Dear Apprentice Twilight, what you and Miss Rose have found has confirmed my suspicions. Ancient forces are at work, ones that could plunge all of Equestria into chaos. It seems the time has come to'..." Twilight stopped.
"To what?" Rose asked.
Twilght looked up at her. "To show you your true purpose" She said. "My true purpose."
"What does that mean?"
Twilight looked back at the letter. "It says we have to find five special ponies. Ponies who represent something called the 'Elements of Harmony, a power not even they are aware of'."
"Wow, that sounds easy as pie." Rose said, sarcastically. "How are we supposed to find five specific ponies without knowing anything about them? They could be anywhere in Equestria! And if they don't even--"
Twilight cut her off with a glare, and continued reading, silently. After a moment, a look of confusion crossed her face. "It doesn't give any kind of directions..." She began, "But it does give instructions for some kind of spell. Sort of like a... a mind reading spell, by the looks of it."
Spike had been sitting on the floor listening. "Wait, how does that help?" He said. "I mean, whose mind are we going to read?"
"Well," Twilight said, "It's not exactly a mind reading spell. The instructions just resemble one. I think we're supposed to use it on Rose here. To help her remember."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rose said quickly, "is that safe?"
Twilght hesitated. "Well, of course we all heard the stories back in magic school about how spells like this seem to go wrong more often than not," She said, "But this is for Princess Celestia. That's good enough for me to trust." A boldness filled her voice as she said it. Clearly, she wanted very much to impress the Princess. That, or she was excited to use magic for something other than dusting for once.
"Maybe for you, Unicorn," Rose said, "but I'm not big on the magic. Find some other way."
Twilight sighed. "I'm not sure there is any other way." She said, obviously frustrated. "And besides: It's the Princess. She knows what she's doing, Rose." Her voice got a bit softer. "I promise."
Rose looked down at her hooves. That morning, Celestia had put her faith in Rose. Rose figured she should do the same for her.
"Alright," she said, "lets get this over with."