More than a Storybook

by balletdivagirl

Unpleasent Surprises

The library was a tall building, three stories of books, newspapers, scrolls, and other texts. The main level held the public library, anything that an average pony might need or want. This level was a vast expanse of knowledge, accessible to everyone. The Second floor was part loft and part real floor. The second floor loft held books of magic, not powerful but specific spells for unicorns needing specific jobs.

The second floor held books that were rare, but not magical. First Editions, autographed copies, and the like. The third floor was for copies of ancient texts, and accessible only to Celestia’s students and others given special permission. Storybook knew exactly where all of these texts were at all times. Some were not allowed out of the library. Story had invested many hours, months even, of her life into finding, restoring and authenticating these. They were also some of the last projects she had worked on with her grandfather.

This was the library Story remembered, but it was not the library before her. The main floor was charred chaos. Everywhere Story turned were the remains of books, scattered pages, empty covers, and piles of ash on the shelves, themselves twisted and discolored. The attack had thankfully come after the library closed, avoiding any harm to ponies. The burns looked as if done by magic, focused blasts aimed at certain things. Story imagined only very powerful unicorns, or something else entirely, could have wreaked the damage seen here. The second floor loft had fallen onto the shelves below, now only a mess books, plaster and wood. The wall behind it charred. These books though, could be replaced. They were ordinary books, found in many libraries and bookstores and homes. Story reminded herself of this several times to avoid breaking down as they climbed the back stars to the second floor.

Upstairs fared little better, the rarer books torn to shreds, pages littering the floor and the shelves. Empty covers piled on shelves. Story had to take deep breaths to keep from fainting after seeing the collection of Daring Do ripped apart. So much for the only copies in Equestria signed by Daring Do and not AK Yearling. Still the knowledge and the stories were out there, and the books in this room might, might be repairable. Even though, Story hadn’t used that spell since… She brushed it aside and tried not to remember anything else even remotely unpleasant.

The third floor turned out to be Story’s worst nightmare. The room was empty. No damage, no burns or torn pages. At first it looked like all the texts had been stolen. Story took a step into the room, and didn’t feel the familiar marble beneath her hoof. She picked it up and there on the floor in a think layer of dust was her hoofprint. There were no other hoofprints or anything in it. This was not here when the attackers arrived, it was made by them. The dust was the texts. Destroyed, obliterated. So much magic lost, some texts left untranslated, few things in this room had ever been copied. There were the Wonderbolt Scrolls, found in the housing of the original Wonderbolts. And a scroll in translation that was shaping up to change the history of pony and dragon relations, and, and- This was more than Story could take. Stars appeared in her vision, and the colors all swirled together and-

Blaze caught Story before she hit the ground. Her life’s work had been destroyed. The books downstairs were important, but the ones on the third floor were Story’s true passion. She loved restoring old books; saving the knowledge and stories within. Now she was unconscious. A heat grew in Blaze’s chest; someone had- had done this to Story. Blaze knew that if he ever laid eyes on that –that scum, he couldn’t be held responsible for what he’d do. This was unforgivable. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that taking care of Story came first.

Blaze let Wind Chaser take Story. He could actually fly inside. Wind Chaser turned to the two Princesses. “Where should I take her?” Blaze wondered what was wrong with Story’s office, it was just down the hall.

“We should take her into the palace.” Princess Celestia was surprisingly calm, but she had seen all this before, and probably worse. Wind Chaser’s anger was just beneath the surface, and it was only staying there from years of training. He carefully flew through the third floor passage way that connected directly to the castle. The walkway had been constructed so Celestia’s students could easily get from their rooms at the school to the library. Soon Wind Chaser was far beyond the group. Celestia teleported herself to the palace for reasons unknown.

“Blazefinder, may I speak with you?” Princess Luna had come alongside him.

“Of course Princess.”

“Your anger over these events is obvious. I too am infuriated by the destruction of so much knowledge.” Luna’s eyes lit up in a scary way. Blaze made a mental note not to let her be mad at him.

“Yes, well, its more that…” Blaze trailed off. Luna’s face changed into an amused smile.

“Do not worry Blazefinder. I wish only to show you the message left for Storybook.” Princess Luna turned back in the direction of Story’s office. “You know of Story’s adoption-yes?”

“Yes.”

“My sister told me of it only yesterday, but I am certain that the ponies who did this are connected to Story’s past.” Princess Luna looked very determined, but not angry anymore.

“That’s what I’m afraid of Princess, but who else would do this?” Blaze didn’t want to see the message, but they were at the door of Story’s office.

“Oh, I forgot you are a Pegasus.” Luna looked down. “I will need to cast a spell on your eyes so you can see the message. It will only last a few minutes.”

“Alight. We are doing this so Story doesn’t have to see it, right?” Blaze saw Luna’s horn glow blue then his whole field of vision gained a blue tint.

“Yes.” Princess Luna opened the door, and Blaze stepped inside the small space. The office was surprisingly undamaged. Except for the black letters seemingly carved into the wall, it looked as it always had. Story’s desk was littered with the paperwork she hated, her personal bookshelves in contrast were very neat, and the pictures of her family in frames on top of the shelves. The black letters marred the otherwise peaceful look of the office. In Blaze’s blue vision, the letters seemed to waver and looked like they were written on the air in front of the wall. They were not any letters he could read, they were far too ancient for that.

“These are ancient unicorn runes” Blaze now understood why Luna had needed to cast a spell on his eyes. And just below the black letters, was the same symbol found on the tapestry. Two unicorn horns, surrounded by a wavy line of magic, casting a spell on a big, black circle. Crap. There was no denying it now. The ponies after Storybook were the same ones who had lived in the caves beyond the mines. It was all connected.

“Indeed, how did you identify them?” Luna sounded surprised.

“I’ve found a few priceless treasures with Unicorn runes on them, but I can’t read them” Blaze thought he might be able to identify a few, but not enough that the writing made sense.

“I will translate. These runes were still in use by some ponies when I was young.” Princess Luna took a deep breath.

“Return to us Lost One. Heed not the lies. We are hidden from all. Find your way to us or see the destruction of all else you love.”

Luna’s voice deepened with gravity as she read. Blaze took a few steps out of the office. The destruction of the library was just a warning. And whoever it was knew where Story’s office was, and that she would be gone, and how much she cared for those texts. They knew Story. If it wasn’t someone she actually knew- then someone had been watching her. Her whole life. Blaze reeled at the thoug
ht of Story learning all of this. Was there some way not to tell her? Could this secret be erased?

“This is bad.” Blaze took off running towards the castle. He had to talk to Princess Celestia and Wind Chaser before Story woke up. They might know what to do. All at once the world became completely blue and the Blaze found himself staring at Princess Celestia.

“Luna, next time warn ponies before you teleport them” Princess Celestia chided her sister gently.

“It was urgent, but I do apologize Blazefinder.” Princess Luna did look apologetic.
“It’s ok-“ Blaze shook off the shock, “and just Blaze is fine, Princess” Then Blaze looked around him. Story was already awake, sitting on a cushion, and staring at a glass of water. Wind Chaser was standing next to her overprotectively. Blaze walked across the small sitting and sat next to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, I guess.” Story didn’t sound convinced. “What actually happened? There was so much damage. Didn’t anyone notice what was going on?”

Princess Celestia answered “Yes, but the worst of the damage was done first. By the time the royal guards arrived, they were in the midst of destroying the first floor. We had no idea what else was damaged until later.”

“Was anypony arrested, were they even ponies?” Story tried not to think of the damage, but it did not seem like ponies could be malevolent enough to do it.

“They were unfortunately.” Wind Chaser answered. “The guards only saw three ponies, all unicorns.” Wind Chaser shuddered. There was something he was not revealing.

“Only three? That’s impossible. They’d have needed nearly the magic ability of alicorns to do the damage they did.” Story took a few deep breaths. “It’s not as if the library is unprotected from magic. To undo all the wards and do all that damage, they’d have been exhausted halfway through”

“The guards only saw three. There were probably more.” Wind Chaser hung his head. “We were trying to stop them when a massive magic swirl made them disappear. That is what really concerns me, because it wasn’t done by any of the unicorns we were dealing with.”

“I only know of one spell that can teleport more than two ponies other than the caster.” Princess Luna thought for a moment, “but that spell should be locked away in-“

“THE VAULT!” Story jumped to her feet and bolted for the door. Blaze caught her and made her sit back down. “You don’t understand, if they did to the vault what they did to the-“

“Luna and I personally checked on the vault after the attack.” Celestia said calmly, and Storybook let out a sigh of relief. “Everything in it is accounted for.” Blaze didn’t know what the vault was, but he let that go for now. If it was important, someone would explain.

“Well, then why does everyone think they are after me?” Story almost didn’t want to know the answer. She couldn’t think of a reason anyone would want to get to her like this.

Blaze let the two princesses explain the message in the office. He wished they didn’t have to. Story looked as if in shock. Then she laughed, nearly giving everyone else a heart attack.

“They must have me mixed up with someone else. I can’t possibly be the ‘lost one.’” Story looked from face to face in the room. Everyone but Celestia avoided her gaze, and even the princess wore a hidden look. “Right?”

“Th-that’s not really important.” Blaze stammered, “Whether you are or not, they think you are, and have threatened to come after you again.” That was as logical an explanation as he could manage.

“Couldn’t it be one of the other librarians?” Story desperately wanted this to be someone else’s problem, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t. Only someone who knew her very well, or really, really hated books would destroy the third floor collection. It was literally priceless as a whole and some of the pieces were priceless on their own. Any thief would just take them, any ordinary vandal wouldn’t have gotten past the charms.

“The message was in your office.” Blaze didn’t want to scare Story, but she needed to realize that she was in danger. There was someone after her.

“It could have been a mistake, I was supposed to change offices a week ago, -“

“Story” Wind Chaser said softly.

“-Couldn’t the vandals think it was-“ Story didn’t hear her father’s voice, and she sounded panicked. “-Just everyone’s office or know that all the librarians would see it there. Shouldn’t the lost one realize he or she is lost? It can’t be me. It can’t.” Story leaned on Blaze. He opened a wing and put it over her. She felt a little safer underneath it. No matter how she looked at it, they were right. The message was for her, and worse, who ever had done this was willing to take everything she loved. They’d already taken her books. Next could only be her…

“Story, your mother is on her way here. There’s something we need to tell you.” Wind Chaser smiled at Story with tears in his eyes. “But I want you to know that we love you. I’ll do anything I need to in order to keep you safe.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Story smiled up at him. It felt a little fake. It was never good news when somepony told you they loved you right after they told you they had something to tell you.

It was only a few minutes later that Cloud Dancer arrived. Story momentarily left Blaze’s side so her mother could cry all over her, and apologize that she couldn’t be at the library a thousand times. Story would have been glad to have her mother’s support, but Mom probably would have fainted after seeing the first floor. After Wind Chaser calmed his wife down, they all sat near the princesses and Wind Chaser took a deep breath.

“Oh, I really hoped I’d never, ever have to tell you this, Story.” He was tearing up. Cloud Dancer nuzzled him for support, but she was already crying. “We-we aren’t your birth parents.”

“WHAT?” Story stood, out of sheer surprise. Her heart was going so fast, she worried it would run out of steam, “but-but you- and you never- I-“ She took a deep breath, “but you’ve told me the story of the day I was born. You lived in Cloudsdale and realized as soon as I was born that you’d have to move, because I was a unicorn and we can’t-“

“We made it up, sweety.” Cloud Dancer spoke with tears on her face. “It was important that you never felt you didn’t belong with us.”
Story felt like crying, but nothing happened. Her tears had been used up. They weren’t her parents? She was adopted? “But- I- why?” Story sat back down next to Blaze. Confusing emotions whirled around in Story’s head. Betrayal, loss, even relief. They all settled to manageable levels as blaze put his large wing back over her.

“That is quite the tale.” Wind Chaser, Cloud Dancer and even Princess Celestia began explaining Story’s adoption. Story, Blaze and Princess Luna listened intently.

Story learned she was found inside a set of ruins built into the sides of the mountains about a day’s journey south of Stalliongrad. They were far older than the city. Celestia and Luna knew little about them, only that they were already abandoned when they arrived. Professor Emeritus had discovered evidence that ponies had been the ones to build them. On one of his expeditions, Professor Emeritus had discovered a chamber, deeper into the mountains, sealed with ancient unicorn magic. After spending at least a week figuring out how to open it, he discovered an infant Storybook inside. This was news to Story and Blaze. He’d had no idea where she came from, but he was beginning to understand why Princess Celestia hadn’t wanted to tell Story about the caves beyond the mines.

The next part was largely told by Wind Chaser. In reality, he and Cloud Dancer had moved to Canterlot because Wind Chaser had been promoted from his position as Commander of the Cloudsdale section of the Royal Guard, to the Captain of the Royal Guard. He had only been in Canterlot a few days when Story arrived. Princess Celestia had kept the new found foal in the palace, until permanent arrangements could be made. (Professor Emeritus was not good with children.) Wind Chaser had been inspecting the night guards, and he heard the foal crying. After a few minutes, he wondered why no pony had done anything. So he went to check. When he entered the room, he found Story’s caretaker unconscious and a unicorn holding a knife over Story’s crib.

“I shouted for him to halt, like an idiot, and found the knife flying at my head.” Wind Chaser gave a half smile, “He missed, and I rushed him. He fell and I pinned him under my hooves. He only muttered, ‘others will come,’ and then teleported out from under me.” The older Pegasus looked at his daughter. “You were still crying, and even though I should have been off looking for the perpetrator” he muttered the last word like he meant something else, “I checked to make sure your caretaker was ok, and then I made sure you were.” He smiled and they cleared his throat, obviously trying not to cry, “You were fine, upset, but fine. When I picked you up, you stopped crying right away, and you looked at me with those big eyes and…” He choked up and couldn’t keep going.

Cloud Dancer finished for him, “Your father and Celestia thought it was best if you were moved right away, and Windy brought you home that night.” Cloud Dancer smiled and patted her husband’s hoof. “I had been so worried, because your father was three hours later than he said, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when he finally did come home, carrying a baby. A few hours later, and I knew I wasn’t going to let anypony else raise you.”

Story had tears in her eyes now too. “I think I understand. I do wish I hadn’t found out today. I know you love me, and I trust you.” Blaze stood and let Story go to her parents.

He was slightly envious, though he was glad to be there for her during the tale, and whenever else she needed him. Blaze caught a nod from Celestia and followed her and Luna out of the room. This left Story to have a few moments with her parents.
Princess Celestia turned to Blaze once they were out of the room. “You wish to protect Storybook, don’t you?”

“Yes, Princess, I do.” Blaze looked up at them. They seemed to be reading his heart even better than the girls in Ponyville.

“Then I have something I wish to discuss with you.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If Storybook and Blazefinder were voiced, what would they sound like? I like to narrate the characters speaking in my head, you see.

[balletdivagirl]

5061549 That is an incredibly excellent question. To use characters we are familiar with, Story sounds a lot like what would happen if you combined Fluttershy's and Rarity's voices. Quiet and gentle, but sort of sophisticated. It comes from growing up in Canterlot but basically living in a library.
Blaze is a baritone and the closest to what I hear in my head would be the Mamoru/Tuxedo mask in the new dub of Sailor Moon. Its on Hulu if you want to hear it.
I hope this helps.

[Professor Tacitus]

Ahhhhhhh! All that knowledge, all that literature! GONE! It hurts! 31.media.tumblr.com/61803b03143186db7b17f4bf0458af33/tumblr_n9tromzPdo1tq4of6o1_500.gif
BTW, Stalliongrad, that is bloody brilliant! My curiosity has only been heightened. I eagerly await the next chapter my good friend.

[balletdivagirl]

5061839 Mine too. After this there should be much less destruction of books and libraries. (No promises with ruins though). And yes- Stalliongrad Coming soon!

PS Stalliongrad is not mine. It was a ridiculously convenient landmark on the map I'm using:.
http://balletdivagirl.deviantart.com/art/Equestria-and-beyond-rev-8-1-253465186

[Professor Tacitus]

5061886 What a fascinating map. Still brilliant on your part though. You made me smile when you said no more book destroying! Then you made me sad when you foreshadowed ruin destroying. Oh well, let the awesomeness that is Storybook continue!