//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Prisoner // by Silent Breeze //------------------------------// "Good morning, sister. I hope it was a pleasant night for you." "As always." "Good. Then, shall we start?" "Mm...Perhaps....Could we discuss something first?" "Oh? Why yes, what is on your mind?" "Twilight Sparkle." "My faithful student?" "Yes. Thy student hath been looking for a specific book just yesterday." "I don't see th-" "This book. It contains hints of his existence." "..." "Yes, his. All we could gather was a spellbook referencing him." "Hm..." "...Thou plan on telling her?" ".....Eventually...Of all the others...She deserves to know, and perhaps the only one he'd accept talking to..." "Then we shalt not halt her progress. Or would thou want us to help her?" "Hm..... Perhaps...Perhaps, yes...... But not too much..." "We understand. We shall not push her, simply show the right direction. But we have procrastinated for long enough, shall we begin?" --- Twilight woke up with the first morning rays of light, stretching in her bed and looking out the window. She felt refreshed, even with the short nap she had. Everyone needed to wake up early, since their train would arrive in two hours or so, as much as the unicorn would like to stay in the castle and talk with her mentor. After a few more seconds of laying in her warm and soft bed she stood up, using her magic to fix the sheets and start packing a few books she brought along. Though, after a few minutes fussing with her books, she remembered about last night, slowly stopping everything she was doing to think. She didn't know when she would visit again, and it was impossible to take the books from the archives even a step outside of the castle as well. She knew that book would be haunting her. Since the rest of the girls were still asleep, or at least she thought they were, she should ask if there was a second copy of the history book. The unicorn left her room, nodding to the patrolling guards who returned it silently, and was going to turn into the hallway that led to the library before noticing Princess Luna just passing it, going towards her direction. "Good morning, Twilight Sparkle. We hope thy sleep was not restless." The alicorn spoke, stopping close to Twilight. The unicorn had a feeling that Luna had something to tell her, judging by her behavior. "Good morning, Princess Luna. It was relaxing. Did you want to talk about something?" The royal alicorn smiled lightly at the forwardness of the young girl. "Indeed. We had a talk with our sister, and we thought we could aid thou in thine studies." "Oh, thank you. But honestly, since yesterday, all I been thinking about was that history book. I never seen spells referencing other books before, why did that tradition die out?" She asked the moon princess. "We.... art not sure.... Our absence hath been...... quite lengthy....." She replied with a sigh. "Oh..... um, right.... Well-l-l, maybe when I next visit I'll check it out?" The unicorn said with a sheepish smile, remembering that Luna was on a moon vacation for a while. "Mm... Perhaps that would be for the best. Winter is only a couple of months away, thou art welcome to visit us in our castle then." She said, eager to change the subject it seemed. "And... about thine book...." She added after a few minutes of thought. "We..... Might know more about the creator..... But we need more time to study..." She said, looking at the confused unicorn. "Oh, you don't really have to, princess. It would be very nice of you though." Twilight replied. "From what I read, only fire spells were referencing the creator. Maybe she studied in the pyrokinetic field of magic?" "We wilt take that into consideration." The lunar princess replied, nodding lightly. "Well, it has been nice talking with you, Princess Luna. I should go wake up the girls, we still need a train to catch." "Then we shalt not hold thou any longer. We hope thou have an eventful month ahead." The princess said, smiling lightly to the unicorn, and continued to go down to her section of the castle, most likely to get to her bedroom. Twilight turned back towards the rooms her friends were staying in. To think, Princess Luna herself would be helping her look into this mystery! Then again, she probably could ask her mentor about the book, but it was more interesting this way. Speaking of which, after the girls, she should go see the princess one last time before departing. Hmm.... What was that last thing Luna said..... Eventful month? Heh, Ponyville was a fairly quiet and peaceful town. Nothing could really go wrong there, could it? --- Twilight groaned as her head fell on the pillow of her bunk bed. Why did she remember that thought of all things? It was like a kick to the gut. The train was moving pretty fast, leaving the snow covered Ponyville half an hour ago with Twilight recollecting her experiences and adventures with her friends. First there was Applejack acting incredibly stubborn, refusing any help during Applebuck Season; the visit of Rainbow Dash's old friend Gilda; the showmare Trixie arriving to town; their climb up a mountain to face off a dragon; her first ever slumber party with Rarity and Applejack; learning about Poison Joke the hard way while meeting Zecora, and, the most embarrassing one, the parasprite attack, during a Royal Visit. Quiet and peaceful. Well, horsefeathers to that theory. It's not to say she didn't have any fun though, it definitely was very exciting, and she felt like she was growing closer to her friends each day, even if a little. The unicorn also overheard that winter wrap-up would be in a week or so, she could try helping everypony. She looked up from her pillow, noticing the outside of the window changing from the plains and forests of white to the rocky cliffside. The train was finally going up to mountain to Canterlot. It wouldn't be long until she would finally reach her destination, so she began to think about her oncoming studies and, hopefully, answers. Twilight studied any and every book she could lay her hoofs on about pyrokinetic magic and was very disappointed to find so few mentions of it. The effects of that field of magic hardly brought any good, and most were based on combat and offence. Only a couple of magicians in all of Equestria truly studies it at this day and age, and basic fire magic was only taught to the royal unicorn guards in Canterlot. However, some of her history books she found on the matter pointed out that at some point fire magic was banned completely, although the reason wasn't mentioned. Still, the subject intrigued the unicorn enough to learn something more about pyrokinetic magic. She was being extra careful though, since living in a tree house, that had a large amount of books, was probably a bad place to toy around with fire. So her studies on the magic itself were relatively slow. Only thing she learned for certain was how to create a very small flame and how to keep it levitating in the air. She thought that, after winter was over, she would go out into the plains, far from the village, and practice there instead. She felt the train stop, surprising and jolting her from the thought. She looked back into the window and saw that is was the station, the train had arrived. Was she really that preoccupied by her thoughts? She shook her head and got up. No time to think, she needed to get to the castle. Getting off the train was fairly simple, following the main road that lead towards the castle. There weren't many ponies on the streets, the cold weather keeping most of the high society indoors or at gatherings. There were exceptions of course, but not much. In about half an hour she was approaching the castle, the guards nodding to her and letting her pass. They didn't look very thrilled to stand around the cold weather, Twilight noted. She entered the castle and was about to walk towards the throne room before noticing a maid passing by. She was a green pegasus, and Twilight couldn't recall seeing her before, so she must have been new here. "Excuse me." Twilight said, gaining the maid's attention. She seemed quite surprised to see Twilight. "Um, yes, miss? Were you granted permission to come in?" She asked carefully, not wanting to botch up and being polite to this new stranger. "Actually, I'm always allowed to come inside. You see, I'm princess Celestia's personal student. My name is Twilight Sparkle." The lavender unicorn replied confidently. That seemed to spark an interest in the maid, as if she heard the name before. "Oh, my apologies miss Sparkle." She lightly bowed. "But, please excuse me for my curiosity, but weren't you the mare who defeated Nightmare Moon?" At that, Twilight lightly blushed at her 'claimed victory', looking away a bit "Well, I wouldn't say I did it on my own. It was a team effort after all." She finally said, calming down after saying it. She could see the pegasus' wings slightly unfurl, and the great amount of concentration she did to keep her wings from opening up completely, even if her voice betrayed lightly her excitement. "Oh! So it was you! And to top it, her Majesty's personal student!" She did shake her head lightly, gathering herself up. "But excuse me, my name is Ness, I am fairly new at working at the castle." She bowed lightly again. "It's alright. Ness, could you tell me where my mentor is right now?" At that, the pegasus looked a little worried. "Oh, well, her Majesty is holding a royal meeting currently, and she asked all of the staff not to disturb her." The unicorn frowned a bit and thought for a few seconds. If the princess was busy, it probably would be best to just go study at the moment. Unless.... "Hmm... Well, what about Princess Luna?" A curious look appeared on Ness's face when she mentioned the princess, which gave a hint that maybe she would have more luck there. "It's... funny you should ask, her Royal Highness, princess Luna, woke up about twenty minutes ago and headed for the library." Twilight mentally cheered at her success, smiling on the outside instead. "Thank you, Ness. I will go talk to her then. Sorry for holding you up." "Oh! It was no trouble at all, Miss Sparkle." The pegasus lightly bowed, again. "Just call me Twilight." The pegasus stood back up and nodded with a light smile and continued to trot down the hallway. Twilight glances at her flank before she was too far, noticing a cup and a silver tray. "Hmm, must be good at serving tea.