//------------------------------//
// Disciples of Friendship 
// Story: That Book from the Movie 
// by Glimmerglaze 
//------------------------------//

	"You know, for a moment there, I thought Sunset Shimmer was going to talk about how harmony is an important concept in music, so the Elements of Harmony and music are one of a kind, sort of like two branches of the same tree," Pinkie pondered aloud.

Applejack turned. "Come again?"

"When she was talking about Elements of Harmony. I think that's what she wanted to say, before she remembered that really important thing."

"I guess that's possible."

"Hey, what do you think is the thing?"

"The thing, huh." Applejacked furrowed her brows, scratched her chin, and pondered. "Let me see..."

Pinkie stared at her expectantly.

"I'd say Sunset's sitting at home wonderin' right now why it is that Pinkamena Pie is lazing around mindin' other people's business instead of sweeping the barn like she said she would."

Pinkie looked down at the broom handle she had been leaning on while daydreaming, then grinned sheepishly and got back to work, thoroughly spurred on by the heat emitted by Applejack's seething glare.


~


There were not many things in the multiverse that could leave Princess Celestia stumped.

She had seen empires rise and fall, kept track of generations of scientific progress by the most inventive minds in history (and contributed to some of it), personally studied and experienced hundreds of distinct cultures all over the world and in other dimensions besides. There was barely a stone left unturned, a thought left unthought, or an experience generally left unhad within her lifetime.

Yet somehow, every year anew, somepony working in a quiet room somewhere in the back of her administrative office would turn up some form or another spoken of in the most arcane regulations, which would be impenetrable in both meaning and purpose but still somehow require her diligent review and signature. Celestia had forgotten the meaning of more words than even were listed in the dictionary, and yet by the third reading of these documents ... she could still find no better word to describe her predicament than 'stumped'. She briefly considered 'bamboozled', but the word had a whimsical quality to it that made it entirely unsuitable.

What she wouldn't give for a distraction. And that was a problem in itself; distractions were not hard to come up with in the busy life of an Equestrian diarch. These particular documents had been on her desk for a while. This morning however, she had been informed that her dallying was to blame for a halt in railroad construction and a moratorium on the release of petting zoo permits all over Equestria—with the as yet unexplained exception of the municipality of Vanhoover, where railroad construction and petting zoo proliferation continued unperturbed, but toilet paper was now illegal.

So it was that when there was a knock on the door, she was struck with an odd mixture of relief and apprehension. On one hand, it was the distraction she had so longed for, on the other, bad news tended to be followed by more bad news.

"Come in!"

One of her servants opened the door, poked his neck in and gave a quick bow. "A visitor for you, your Highness. Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Celestia beamed. "Excellent! Show her in straight away, please!"

Seconds later Twilight Sparkle entered, as usual for her wearing none of the regalia that would have given away her position as Equestria's freshly crowned Princess of Friendship, but instead a set of saddlebags much like the ones she used to wear on trips to the library and back, a long time ago. She could barely close the door before Celestia had walked up and thrown her wings around her. "I was going to apologize for showing up without an appointment, but you don't seem to be very upset," came Twilight's muffled voice through the feathers.

"I am always glad to see you, Twilight!" said Celestia, releasing Twilight from her embrace. "Appointment or not. That is a given." She paused for a second, then shot Twilight a sorrowful look. "Spike is alright, isn't he?"

Twilight's eyes went wide. She hurriedly shook her head. "Of course! He's out with Rarity digging for gems. He's been looking forward to it all week, so I didn't want to drag him away just to send a message. I kind of assumed... well..." she trailed off, and adopted a guilty expression.

Celestia raised her forehoof and gave Twilight's muzzle a playful nudge. "No more of that. I wouldn't want to do anything to ruin Spike's afternoon either. You were absolutely right to assume. You're always welcome." She shot the documents on her desk a disapproving look. "Formalities can be so tiresome, can't they?"

Twilight Sparkle shot a glance at her left saddlebag, which held a copy of that day's meticulously planned schedule—all twenty-one pages of it. "I guess so?" she said warily.

Celestia sat herself down behind her desk again. "Now, I am given to understand that you had another run-in with the humans of Canterlot High, as well as a villainous trio of sirens. I'd love to hear all about it."

"Where do I start? It's not like I did all that much. I pretty much just spent a lot of time trying to write a musical counterspell that didn't end up working. If it wasn't for Sunset Shimmer, I might not even be standing here right now."

"How is she?" asked Celestia quietly.

"I think she's just fine. I'm pretty sure, actually. Which leads into why I'm here." Twilight smiled as she sat down herself. "Did Spike's letter tell you exactly how I made it to the human world?"

Celestia shook her head. "I've been wondering about that. Spike did mention you responded to a call for help of some sort. I assumed you may have brought over one of the communication devices you told me about. Mobile phones, I believe? One of those might have served as a tethering point to construct another portal."

"From what I understand, mobile phones wouldn't work in our world because we do not have the towers that project the waves they use to communicate with each other. Also, they would eventually run out of electricity. Anyway, no. That wasn't it." Twilight set her horn alight with magic and lifted an object out of her saddlebag: a book with a sunset emblem, resisting her childish urge to go "Ta-daaa" all the while.

Celestia's eyes widened.

Twilight carefully set the book down on Celestia's desk, turning it around so it lay in front of her. "You had it basically right. I used this."

"So she did keep it," whispered Celestia.

"You didn't know?"

"When her quarters were searched, her book didn't turn up. So I always hoped. But when you told me she had resented me for most of her time in the human world, I assumed she had eventually gotten rid of it." Celestia sighed. Her horn shone yellow as the book slowly edged towards Twilight's side of the desk. "Please continue."

Twilight looked at the book, lying only inches removed from leaning over the edge of the desk and falling into her lap, then up at Celestia again. A moment of silence came and went, noted but not acknowledged. Then Twilight recounted her experiences, starting with her research of the sirens, hesitantly at first, but quickly losing herself in the details and the excitement of freshly made memories.


~


"And then Sunset threw off her jacket, just like that," Twilight made an odd sort of twirl and flourish with her hooves, then shot them an annoyed look, "Well, done with hands it looked pretty cool, anyway, and she picked up that microphone and just went for it. She was amazing. I wonder if I can remember the words." She pondered for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure if I can make it sound the way she sang it anyway."

"Try me," said Celestia, smiling.

Twilight smiled back, closed her eyes, and sang.

"You're never gonna bring me down
You're never gonna break this part of me"

She paused, and opened her eyes again, to find Celestia no longer smiling. She continued, less certain of herself.

"My friends are here to bring me 'round
Not singing just for popularity..."

Twilight stopped again. "Prin—" she shook her head, "Celestia?"

"I am fine. Keep going."

"We're here to let you know
that we won't," Twilight's eyes narrowed. She threw a hoof down on Celestia's desk, producing a soft thudding noise. "I'm sorry, I can't let this go." She glanced down at her hoof to find it had connected with Sunset's letter book, explaining why the sound hadn't been one of a hoof connecting with oak. "I know there's something. Why did you send me this book?"

"Given your recent contact with Sunset Shimmer, I felt it would likely be of more use to you than me," answered Celestia evenly.

"Well, it did turn out to be useful, but didn't you think Sunset Shimmer might write you again?"

Celestia blinked twice at that. "She did?"

"I didn't tell you?" Twilight looked down at the book again. "Right, because I wanted to show you," she pushed the book towards Celestia, who inched back slightly, staring at it. Twilight didn't notice, since she had her eyes set on the book, flipping through the pages with her magic until she had found what she was looking for.

"Twilight, this really isn't necessary," said Celestia, but her eyes met the page anyway.

Dear Princess Celestia,

The words themselves, she recognized. The hoofwriting, however, was new, and different in an odd way, like it was not even hoofwriting. There was no avoiding it.

Twilight anxiously watched Celestia's eyes flick over the page in a hurried manner. Slowly, the young princess felt reassured; she hadn't been imagining things after all. Something was not right.

"I see. Well, it's a good thing she reached you right away. I remember I wasn't in my study most of the time for the rest of that day. I might not have noticed," said Celestia finally. Both horn and book began to glow in yellow light.

"There's more," said Twilight, placing a hoof gently on the open book. Some moments went buy until the yellow glow around the book dissipated, and without hesitation Twilight used her own magic to turn the page.

Celestia sighed, then began reading. Moments later, she met Twilight's expectant eyes, smiling. "That is wonderful."

"There's more."

Another page was flipped. Celestia looked at it briefly, still smiling, but shook her head. "It's lovely you and Sunset are keeping in touch, but do you really think it's fine for me to—"

"Yes, it is," said Twilight.

Stunned silence filled the room.

Then Celestia laughed. "I can't remember the last time I was interrupted."

Twilight swallowed hard. "You did say formalities can be tiresome," she said, weighing each word carefully and wishing she had done the same just a moment ago.

Celestia just looked at her, as if Twilight's words were as slow to reach her ears as they had been said. Then she nodded, smiling, and continued reading. She turned the page once more , and still kept reading. And ever so slowly, right in front of Twilight's eyes, her smile vanished. Finally she shook her head and looked up again. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I... I feel like I'm intruding. I'm glad Sunset is doing well, I really am, and thank you for showing me. But these aren't for me to read."

Twilight opened her mouth, trying to find something to say and failing. Then she nodded. "All right. I understand."

Celestia smiled in return, visibly relieved.

Twilight's horn flared up again, and another two pages were turned.

"Twilight, please—" Celestia began. But then she looked closer.

Dear Princess Celestia,

it's me, Sunset Shimmer. Last time I wrote to you, it was because the human world needed help, and it was the only way. This time, I don't have an excuse. 

I can't ask you to hear me out. So often you've listened to the things I had to say, and I never once returned the favor. Nothing I could say can make up for that. So I'll keep writing just in case you're still there, and still listening.

I'm sorry.

I've said those words to a lot of people these last few weeks. They were hard to get out. Not because I didn't mean them, but because I didn't think they would help. After what I did to all these people, why would they care? But Tw my friends told me saying sorry may not be enough, but if you mean it, it can't hurt, and it's a start. And everything has to start somewhere.

But after all I did to you, all I tried to do to you, "I'm sorry" sounded so empty. It's the truth, but so little of it. What am I sorry for? So many things. Plotting your downfall. Ignoring your advice. Abusing the privileges you granted me every chance I got. Being two-faced and cruel to the other students under your protection. I could keep naming things and I wouldn't be done for years. That's why it took so long for me to write you. With all the others, I could say "I'm sorry" and I mostly knew what it meant. With you, there was just too much. I couldn't get a handle on it. I didn't fully understand what I was sorry for. Until today.

You were the first, and best friend I ever had. But I wasn't your friend. I've never been. You gave me happy memories, so, so many, and I threw them all away. You tried to teach me laughter, kindness, generosity, honesty and loyalty, and I didn't listen. You offered me friendship, and I slapped it out of your hands and laughed in your face.

I'm sorry.

Sunset

Celestia stared down at the book.

Teardrops fell on the pages. She kept staring for what seemed like minutes, then her eyes moved to she side, to the inkwell and quill that she had readied to sign the documents she had long since forgotten about again.

Twilight coughed, breaking a long silence, and smiled once she had gotten Celestia's attention. "I have some things I want to look up in the library. I'll leave you to it!" she said happily, turning around.

"What should I write?" Celestia whispered.

Twilight stopped in her tracks. "Come again?"

"What should I write? What do I say to her?" Celestia, who had made no effort to hide or wipe away the tears anymore, gave the younger princess a faint smile. "Is it so unusual for me to ask you for advice?"

"Well, uh." Twilight stared. "Kind of. I didn't, I. Uhm." She swallowed. Then she walked back to the desk, and sat on her haunches, looking up at Celestia towering over her on the other side. She swallowed again. "I'll try. I mean, I can't tell you what to write. That's not for me to do."

"Of course."

"It's just-" Twilight paused, and thought hard. "I don't know a better way to say this. You're Celestia. You're Princess Celestia. It's hard for me to imagine that you could have trouble with anything, let alone a letter."

"Weren't you there when I was defeated in battle by the changeling queen?"

Twilight sighed. "Yeah."

"Whose disguise, I might add, you saw through while I did not?"

"Not for the right reasons."

"I did not fight Tirek to a standstill..."

"I had your powers. And Luna's and Cadance's. That wasn't just me. It was never just me."

Celestia chuckled. "I did not even think it might be possible to fight him that way. Nor did Luna, or Cadance. No one, we believed, could possibly control that much power all at once without weeks or months of practice, time we didn't have. But you managed it."

"All right!"

"And , of course, in one thousand years, I did not find a way to free my sister from her imprisonment without the Elements of Harmony, nor manage to regain my connection to them. Would I have had you and your friends go through all that danger if I could have averted it?"

"I know! I know!" Twilight exclaimed, leaving behind an almost deafening silence. "I do know. It's just hard to wrap my head around. Haven't you written hundreds of thousands of letters?"

"There is a limit to how much knowledge the mind can absorb, Twilight." Celestia pointed at her desk, then at the shelves around her. "Equestria is a place full of life, full of new thoughts and new minds and ideas, day after day. I try to hold on to the things that are important and true, but many things escape or just slip out of my mind entirely. And some of my mistakes I don't notice until it is too late." She looked sadly down at the open book with Sunset's letter on the left page, and free space on the right. "I lost her, Twilight. You found her again. Thanks to you, she has friends again, and a home. That's why I sent you the book. Because I trust you to teach Sunset better than I could."

Twilight said nothing for a while, and seemed utterly lost in thought. Celestia felt the impulse to wave a hoof in front of her former student's face, partly out of concern and partly out of an unexpected urge to tease her student a little... but she resisted. Time and time again, little Twilight had stumped Celestia with an unexpected question, but she had always waited quietly and patiently for the answer. It was only right to return the favor.

Finally, Twilight nodded to herself, smiled, and spoke. "When I was studying the plant-growth spell way back in second semester for a test and couldn't get it right, remember what you told me?"

Celestia squinted while she searched her mind. "'Failure is the wellspring of all learning?'"

Twilight smiled and nodded eagerly.

Celestia didn't have the heart to mention that she hadn't remembered so much as randomly picked one of the bits of wisdom she usually had on hand for such occasions. "Well, it's true enough. You had become so used to succeeding at every spell you had learned from a book on the first try that you had to learn how to press on even if you fail. It's an important lesson, and you learnt it well," she said, smiling that familiar smile of a teacher's pride.

Then she stopped to think, looked at her former student, and found her pride amplified with amazement.

Completely oblivious to Celestia's thoughts and visibly growing nervous at the silence, Twilight resumed talking. "I mean, I really don't see how I did all that much. It never felt to me like Sunset Shimmer didn't understand friendship. She just didn't understand that it was important. You did get through to her. The way I see it, you planted the seeds of friendship, and despite wind and drought and storm, they were finally able to sprout, take root, and grow strong, because you planted them deep enough. I just... helped calm the storm. And watered them. It. The friendship plant. I think I just overstretched that metaphor a teeny tinesy bit." Twilight hesitantly looked up at Celestia again. "I hope I'm not talking complete nonsense," she mumbled, mortified.

Celestia solemnly shook her head. "Not at all. It was an important lesson, and you taught it well."

Twilight went bright red and mute.

Celestia looked at Sunset's letter in the letter-book again. The feather in the inkwell was surrounded by her magical light, lifted up, and hovered over the paper, and finally the tip connected.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

I'm sorry, too.

She stopped.

Twilight, whose eyes had fixated completely on the feathertip the moment it had started scratching paper, swallowed visibly.

Celestia chuckled. "I am not nearly finished, don't worry. I don't mind you watching me write the rest of it, but it might take a while."

"Oh!" Twilight let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Take all of the time! I mean, take as much time as you want to. I'll be, erm, around. At the library. And such." She turned to leave, but stopped herself. "Actually, no. That's a stupid idea. What am I blathering about?" She looked at Celestia again, this time with a warm, earnest smile. "You'll want to wait for Sunset's reply, and then you'll want to write to her again, and so on, and so forth, until you've caught up with each other. And I'll get kicked out of the library, like the last time I slept in there three nights in a row."

Celestia laughed. "You think so?"

"Oh, definitely. The chief librarian has kicked me out for that exact same reason many times, and I doubt she'll care that I'm a princess now. I guess now she'd be like: 'Go home, your highness'." Twilight giggled.

"No, I mean... You think that's how it'll go?" asked Celestia. "I wouldn't mind, but I don't know if she'll have that much to say to me."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "Yes. Yes, I absolutely think so." The earnestness of her expression slowly washed away the doubt in Celestia's head. "And one more thing. This book doesn't belong to me. Or you, for that matter. It belongs to the three of us." She smiled. "We'll just have to share, as friends do."

Celestia nodded. "A bit of a logistical challenge, but that's what the courier service is for."

"Exactly. I'll be on my way back to Ponyville, then. I'm sure you two will be just fine!"

"Twilight?"

Twilight was already in the doorframe. "Yes?"

"Thank you."


~


Once Celestia, alone again, had finished writing her letter, her eyes turned towards the overdue documents. She sighed, and took a longing look around her room.

Bookshelf after bookshelf, lined with the knowledge of centuries, provided by the brightest minds she had known. All infinitely more interesting than the thing she was supposed to be working on at the moment. Though there was quite a bit of empty space, now that she had passed on some of the books to her former student. It would be filled again one day, Celestia knew.

Twilight Sparkle herself would be a major contributor. That was for certain. The young mare had several volumes on fundamental magical theory in her head just waiting to break out, though knowing her, Celestia suspected it would probably happen purely by accident. One day Twilight would develop an interest in one of these fiddly little problems that very few mages even understood and no one knew how to solve, and in finding the answer she would turn the world of magical science topsy-turvy in her wake.

Celestia had, in fact, already freed half a row's worth of space between Tusselmane's seminal work on mathematics and the books of travel reports compiled by a Twoflower. Then a thought came to her, and her eyes moved upwards by another two shelves, until they came to rest on the backs of the many works of her former mentor Starswirl the Bearded, and slowly progressed to the right.

Her horn was set aglow as some books at the end of the shelf were moved to the one just below, and others were rearranged, to create a gap where there hadn't been one in a long while.

Something started to glow on her desk, and made a sound.