Trailing along the bookshelf, I checked the titles before I picked one from the shelf. “Dangerous Equestrian Beasts and how to avoid them.” I read from the title before quickly flipping through it.
Pictures, texts... this one will be interesting. Nodding to myself, I closed the book and continued on, floating it next to me as I looked for anything else that seemed interesting.
Five minutes or so later, I returned to the corner of the library and dropped a couple of books on the small table before sitting down on the pillow, looking at the books.
One on monsters and one on trade agreements between Maretonia and Equestria.
Hmm, which will I start with?
Heh, like it was ever an actual choice. Dropping the one on trade treaties back on the table, I started to flip through the one on monsters.
Chimeras, huh?
Those are real? I'm not sure why I'm even surprised anymore. You would think that after over two years in Equestria I would be used to this kind of thing.
Chimeras did seem like something a Bond-style villain would keep as a pet, though so I made a note on my parchment before starting to read about them.
“Good evening, Lord Page.” a soft voice said and tore me from my book as I looked up in surprise at the Princess of the Sun.
“Oh... good evening, Princess.” I answered and did a small bow before I sighed. “And I wish you wouldn't call me that.”
She smiled at that. “You earned that title. Without your actions a lot of ponies might have died.” She glanced around and moved closer, lowering her voice. “That's more than the majority of the nobility can say.”
Sighing, I nodded. “It just feels... pretentious. Lord, lord of what? I don't even have any land to be lord over.”
Celestia moved up next to me and peered at the book I was reading with a faint smirk. “That could be easily arranged.”
When will I learn to watch my damn mouth!?
“...Forget I said anything...”
“What are you reading?” the Princess asked as her horn ignited and she started to look through the books I had gathered on the table.
Shrugging, I flipped the book on dangerous equestrian beasts over so she could rear the title. “Just doing some research. Right now, I'm basically picking anything that sounds like it might be interesting and might cause some inspiration. My plan is to write a spy novel, but I quickly realized that I don't know enough about Equestria and the other countries to be able to pull it off. So... research into basically everything. But even so, I might just... not make it about Equestria or one of the other countries and just do a bunch of worldbuilding.”
“Spy?”
I nodded. “Secret agent, beat the bad guy, get the mare, look amazing in a suit while doing it. Not realistic, but it should be a fun read. But trying to write it revealed exactly how little I know about my new world. So I'm researching the hell out of it.”
Celestia earflicked and nodded slowly. “I see.” she noted before she got up and disappeared into the stacks.
I spent a moment looking after her, debating whether to follow her or not before deciding against it and returning to my book.
It didn't take more than a couple of minutes before the Princess returned. “I believe these would interest you.” she said with a smile, putting a pair of books on the table. “One is a autobiography of Steel Heart, one of the generals during the last war with the griffins, some two hundred years ago.” she explained and continued; “It is... somewhat true, but I would take the contents with a grain of salt. The good general had a tendency to exaggerate. But even so, the major events really happened even if his own involvement might have been less than he wrote down.”
Picking it up in my magic, I nodded and turned it over to check the title. “Iron Struck.” I read before I nodded. “Thank you, Princess.”
“The second one is a travel guide.” she continued, giving the thinner but wider book a poke with her hoof. “It is reasonably factual and includes all lands around Equestria as well as all parts of Equestria itself, though being almost fifty years old some part may be out of date. However, if I were you I would skip the chapter on the zebra lands, her writings and opinions in that section were strongly colored by a bad experience she had there.”
“Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for!”
Celestia smiled and shifted her wings. “I know this library better than anypony but the librarians and possibly my student. It comes with old age and sleepless nights.”
...That made sense. How could it possibly have been to do this alone? Raise the sun and moon, every night raising the moon, looking at the image of her sister which she had been forced to banish? Every night?
As bad as it was for Luna... I think Celestia might actually have had it worse. She felt the entire passage of time, Luna didn't remember much about the time on her moon.
Celestia felt every year and lived with the guilt of what had happened.
I would have problems sleeping too.
I nodded and flicked my ears. “I see. Guess you would know where all the best books are.”
Celestia nodded and sat down across from me. “How is my sister?”
Blinking in slight surprise, I shrugged. “She is well. Excited for the Winter Solstice.”
“Mmm, I gathered the same. What do you think of it?”
Shrugging again, I smiled. “It sounds like it will be rather nice. I'll help where I can, but it's a lot of stuff that needs to be done. At times I do feel a bit in a way, but I think it's good for Luna to have a celebration that's not aimed at running away from her.”
Celestia sighed. “Nightmare Night. After... the banishment of Nightmare Moon, I went into seclusion for a few hundred years. When I returned, I found that the ponies had made a holiday of her banishment. I debated banning it, but it was already integrated into our culture.”
“I see. Two hundred years... yeah, that would be difficult to change.”
“I managed to moderate it, at the very least. The version eight hundred years ago was quite a bit... darker than the fun holiday of candy and games for children. Even so, it is not my favorite holiday.”
...Fully understandable.