The Record of All Things - Part 1
Twilight Sparkle: Librarian
The Record of All Things - Part 2
By: Raryn
Twilight sat staring out the window of the train as it took her back to Ponyville. Next to her was an open book. On the page were intricate diagrams of symbols and circles for magics and spells that even Twilight had never seen before. This was no ordinary book. This was an introduction to the Hidden Stories, a secret order dedicated to protecting ponykind from the myths and legends that weren't quite such and to keeping those same myths and legends from falling into the hooves of those who would use them for ill. The secret organization that Twilight now found herself a part of.
Twilight sighed as she returned her gaze to the book. She looked over one of its many passages, this one detailing several secret signs that members of the order used to recognize each other when out in the field. Her horn glowed softly as she closed the book and went back to staring out the window at the passing scenery. She hadn't been back home in two weeks. Ever since her trip to Canterlot, she had been held up with the duties of her new position as head of the Grand Equestrian Library: supervising the last of the renovations and making sure everything was in order; sitting in on the prospective employee interviews to determine who would make the cut and who wouldn't; and, possibly most important of all, studying up on the Hidden Stories.
Twilight sighed again as she gazed down at the healed cut on her leg, the mark of her initiation . She was now an official member of the Hidden Stories. She was one of those who were charged with protecting ponykind. And she was not looking forward to going back to Ponyville. She had given an oath that her involvement in the Hidden Stories would be a secret, a myth in its own right. What was she going to tell her friends? She didn't like the prospect of having to lie to them, but she knew that it was for their safety that she had too.
She reached into her bag and pulled free her new journal. Aside from her cutie mark being emblazoned on the front cover, it looked like any normal book. “Ok journal, out of everything I’ve learned about the order, you are the only thing that I was not told about. What are you?” She stared at the thing, trying to divine why she had it.
Then, it started to shine. Twilight was taken aback by the sudden development, but after a moment, the glow faded and the journal returned to its former state. She reached out a hoof and carefully prodded at it. When it did nothing in response, she slowly opened the cover. There, on the first page, in crisp black ink, was text that had not been there before.
New job, new possibilities, and new troubles. I have inherited the Grand Equestrian Library and the post in the Hidden Stories that Book Worm had held. I have to say, I was surprised to learn so much more about him then I had known, but still, that knowledge does give me some unease. What had he meant by the words he had told Golden? And what exactly does this whole job entitle? And what’s the deal with the journal that I got? What am I supposed to do with it? Why the whole crazy magic ritual for it? Ugh, those questions can all be answered later, I’m finally back home and that is all that matters right now.
The train's whistle blew as it slowed down upon approach to the Ponyville train station pulling Twilight out of her journal. How had those words gotten in there? She definitely hadn’t written them. Maybe it had something to do with that light that had come from it. She pushed the journal back into her bag and waited for the train to stop.
Once it had, Twilight stepped off and back into the familiar town that had been her home for years. In truth, she had not known if her friends would do anything for her upon her return, but as she looked up and down the station terminal she saw none of them. Strange, she thought. I know I sent a letter back saying that I would be returning today.
"Twilight!" a familiar voice called out to her as she saw Spike running towards her. "You're back!" He wrapped his arms around her neck in a hug as he reached her. "I was worried that you’d decide to stay in Canterlot. I mean, you got offered the job running the library there and... and..."
“Spike, you know that I would never just do something like that,” Twilight said as she returned Spike’s hug.
“But your letter. All it said was that the Princess had offered you a job and that you’d be staying longer than you thought.”
“Yes, that was my fault. I didn’t have anytime to send more letters saying anything about it until yesterday. It won’t happen again.
“Promise?” Spike looked up at her with big eyes.
“Promise,” Twilight replied. “And I got you something from Canterlot.” She floated a small bag over. “Just like I said I would.”
Spike reached into the bag and pulled out a hoof sized rainbow colored gem.
“It’s called a prism diamond, the Princess gave it to me to give to you.”
“Thank you.” Spike again wrapped his arms around Twilight.
She returned it before freeing herself from Spike's embrace and lifted her bags with magic and set off into town towards the library and her home. "So, anything happen while I was gone?"
"Nope. Aside from the new books for the library coming in." Spike stopped for a moment as he remembered something. "Oh, and you got another package. A small one, wrapped in paper and tied held with string. Though, it had no sender or markings on it beside your name."
"Oh really? Nothing at all?" Twilight said. She was certain that that package had to deal with her new job. "So that's everything then?"
"Yes... wait, no. There's a 'Welcome Back' party for you at Sugarcube Corner later."
"So that's where everypony is. Spike, you go and tell them that I'll be there soon. I'm just going to drop off my bags at the library."
"Got it." Spike ran off in the direction of the bakery as Twilight pondered over that unmarked package he had told her about. She quickly made her way through the town to her home and as she entered the old Ponyville library, Twilight stood still and took the whole place in. It was good to be back. She had enjoyed her trip to Canterlot, all the crazy bureaucratic library work and secret organization inductions aside. She spied the boxes of new books and made a mental note to go through them once she had some free time as she carried her bags to her room on the upper floor. After dumping her bags on her bed, she spotted the package that Spike had told her about: small, wrapped in brown paper, and tied up with string. And as Spike had said there was only the address for the library on it. Twilight grabbed the thing with her magic suddenly dropped it as she felt a shock go through her body. The package fell to the floor and the string keeping it closed untied itself, causing the paper to unfold revealing an old book with a picture of an open book on its cover. As Twilight stared at the book on her floor, a small piece of paper flowed out from beneath it and suddenly a familiar voice sounded.
"Ms. Twilight Sparkle," Written Word's voice said. "We apologize about that shock you got from the package, that was a detection spell to verify that it was you who were handling the package. The Hidden Stories is entrusting you with one of our most important texts to you as there are none that are currently available to provide you with adequate training. Read it, learn from it; soon you will make your own ways in our hidden world. We hope to see great things from you." The piece of paper suddenly caught fire, quickly reducing it to ashes.
Twilight remained where she sat, staring at the book. Her horn glowed softly as she pulled a similar book from her bags and set it next to the one on the floor. Then, as she looked at her book and saw her cutie mark on it, it hit her. The book that she had been sent was none other than the journal of the previous elder of the Hidden Stories and the pony who was idolized by them, it was Book Worm’s journal. Twilight couldn’t help herself as she opened up the cover and began to read the tales of the old librarian.
Some time later, Twilight heard the door to the library open and Spike’s voice shouted up from the first floor. “Twilight! What’s taking you so long? I thought you said that you were just gonna drop your bags back here?”
“Huh, what?” She said as she was pulled out of her reading. She rose and walked over to the stairs and shouted down. “Sorry, I’ll be down in just a moment.” She looked back down to the journal that she had barely scratched and let out a sigh. She’d go over it more later, catching up with her friends was more important now. She floated hers and Book Worm’s journals to her desk and made her way downstairs.
As Twilight left the library with Spike en route to Sugarcube Corner and the party her friends had set for her, neither noticed the cloaked and hatted figure that stood in the shadows of an alley, watching as she left.
As Twilight vanished into the distance on her way to Sugarcube Corner, a single cloaked pony slowly emerged from the shadows of an alley just across the way from the library.
"Clear," the pony said to themselves as they gazed about the street. Upon seeing that there were no other ponies hanging about, they quickly made their way across and jumped into a bush just beneath one of the library's windows.
"Still clear." The cloaked pony gazed around the street again to assure that they were still alone as a faint glow surrounded the window. As it slowly opened, the intruder quickly pulled themselves up to its ledge and gazed into the library. Stacks of books lay all over and the cloaked figure set a hoof on one near the window and tested its stability. Satisfied with what they believed to be a sturdy platform, they placed another hoof onto the stack of books and fell ungracefully to the floor as it tipped over under their weight. As they pulled themselves free from the books, the hood of the cloak fell, revealing a bright azure blue unicorn mare with a mane of a very pale silver-blue.
"Stupid books," the mare groaned. "I can't believe that I have been reduced to such a thing. The Great and Powerful Trixie, breaking into a library to steal a book." Trixie gazed about the library and came to a startling realization about the task at hoof. She was looking for a book, in a library.
“Like looking for a tree in a forest,” Trixie groaned as she began to wander through the aisles of book shelves. After an hour or so with no progress, she pulled the note she had received a few days earlier out from beneath her cloak and re-read it.
To the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon:
After much deliberation and thought, it has been decided that you are just the type of pony that we need to complete a number of very important tasks. Now, to answer a question that I am sure that you have: no, you do not know us, but we know you, and we know what you are capable of.
Enclosed with this note is your first payment, a thousand bits seems a fair offer. As for your first task, we require you to acquire a book. A very special book that shall soon be finding its way into the hooves of one Twilight Sparkle residing at the Ponyville library. It’s an old book with an emblem of an open book on its cover.
Get in, find the book, and get out before anypony finds you. Once you have the book in your possession we will send another note detailing your next assignment as well as your compensation for it.
~A
Trixie stared at the note for a moment longer before placing it back beneath her cloak. An old book. Where would she put something like that? “Hum, if I were Twilight and if I had come into possession of a special old book, I would probably put it somewhere safe... my room.” Trixie let out a short laugh as she slowly weaved through the bookshelves and made her way up the stairs to the second floor of the library.
“There it is.” Trixie spied the book she had been searching for sitting on a bedside table. Though as she approached it to snatch it, she realized a small snag in her plan. “Two books, no pony said anything about two books.” Trixie grabbed the two of them with her magic and brought them close to her. Both looked old, and as she spun one around she saw that it had an emblem on the front: a six pointed star with five smaller stars surrounding it.
“That looks familiar... ah, I see now,” she said as she recognized the emblem on it. “They have the cutie marks on the covers. Well, it’s not this one.” Trixie returned the book with the star on its cover to the side table and brought the other book closer, this one had an emblem of an open book on its cover. “An open book, this should be the one then.” She quickly stashed Book Worm’s journal into her bag and quietly made her way back down into the library and to the window she had opened. As she was getting ready to pull herself up, she heard voices at the front door.
“So anyways, Spike, there’s something I really have to look into and I’d rather not be disturbed. So can you just make sure that the library is all closed up for the day?”
“I guess I can do it, Twilight. But what about all the new books?”
“Oh, just leave them in the boxes, I’ll get too those soon enough.”
Trixie froze against the wall and looked around for a place to hide. As she heard the door opening, she dove under a pile of books and hoped it would be enough.
“Ugh, it’s such a mess here. I guess we’ll have to clean up before we get to setting out those new books.”
The sound of hooves headed away and up the stairs. Trixie freed herself from her hiding spot and quickly pulled herself up to the window ledge. Once she landed on the ground outside of the library, she heard a loud scream fill the air. She took that as her cue to flee the scene.
The party that Pinkie had organized for Twilight's return had begun to die down as Twilight excused herself, saying that she needed to get some rest after the trip home and the party. As Twilight left, the nagging feeling of dishonesty at not telling her friends the exact reason she had been so long in Canterlot rose up before it was replaced by a giddy feeling of happiness. She thought on that and concluded that it was probably more due to all her friends actually being there rather than the hard cider that Applejack had brought.
She was glad to have seen her friends after her time away. Over the years, they had all gone their separate ways. Rarity had traveled around to some of the bigger cities in Equestria and managed to open a few more boutiques in them and since had spent most of her time traveling between each store to make sure everything was in working order. So when Twilight had talked about how much of a hassle it was to sit through interviews and go over applications for employees, she had offered her sympathy, saying she knew exactly what she was talking about.
Applejack had taken over all of Sweet Apple Acres once Granny Smith had passed away, and with the help of Applebloom, they had managed to renovate all of the buildings as well as bring in some new technology that helped to make the apple harvests faster.
As for their brother, Big Mac still helped his sisters out when they needed him. But over the years, he and Fluttershy had fallen in love, eventually gotten married, and now lived a quiet, peaceful life caring for the animals of ponyville and offering assistance to those in need.
Pinkie Pie had taken over Sugarcube Corner from the Cakes when they decided to set up another bakery in Manehatten. Though they were missed, Pinkie had upheld the quality and goodness that the ponies of Ponyville had come to expect from the local bakery. How she managed to keep up with her party duty with all the bakery work she had baffled Twilight as much as every other pony.
And as for Rainbow Dash, she'd finally managed to make her dreams come true when she became a member of the Wonderbolts. With the ability to create a sonic rainboom at will, she had made the Wonderbolts even more popular than before. Though, because of that, her time back home had vastly diminished.
That they had all been there when she returned meant a lot to her, but as she and Spike walked back to the library something else began to dominate her thoughts. It was the book that she had been sent: Book Worms' journal. From the little that she had read, the book was filled with tales that were even grander than the likes of Jack Hoofdon or J.R.R. Coltien, because they had actually happened. And she was eager to get her hooves back on it and let the world pass her by as she dove into the depths of its knowledge.
“So that was some party, Twilight,” Spike said as the two of them approached the library.
“Yes it was. It was great that everypony was there. We haven't really had a get together like that in a long time.” Twilight's horn flared briefly as she floated the keys to the library's front door over to it, but failed to get them to go into the lock. “Confound these keys.”
“Here, let me get that." Spike pulled the keys from Twilight's magic and went to unlock the door.
“So anyways, Spike, there’s something I really have to look into and I’d rather not be disturbed. So can you just make sure that the library is all closed up for the day?”
“I guess I can do it, Twilight. But what about all the new books?”
“Oh just leave them in the boxes, I’ll get too those soon enough.”
Spike opened the door and the two of them walked into the library. As she walked among the aisles towards the back staircase, Twilight gazed around at all the books strewn about the floor. She stopped when she saw a particularly large pile lying beneath an open window.
“Ugh, it’s such a mess here,” she said as she turned away. “I guess we’ll have to clean up before we get to setting out those new books.” She made her way to the stair, leaving Spike to lock up. She stumbled once or twice as she slowly made her way up them and into her room. As she closed her door, she reached out with her magic to pick up the two books she had placed on her bedside table. As they came towards her, she realized something odd. She only had one book wrangled with her magic, and it was her journal. Where had Book Worms' gone? She had made sure to lock the door when she had left. Then she remembered, the open window and the large pile of books by it. Somepony had snuck into the library, into her home, and stolen a very, very important book that she had been entrusted with. The scream rose from her lips before she knew what was happening.
“Twilight!" Spike shouted as he threw open the door. "What happened!? Are you ok!? Why are you screaming!?”
“It's gone!”
“What's gone?”
“The book!”
“What book?”
“The book that came in that package that had no sender!”
“Oh, so it was a book. I was right.”
“This is not the time for that Spike!" All traces of the effects of alcohol had vanished from Twilight. "It was stolen!”
“You sure of that?”
“Yes, there was an open window downstairs and there was a very large pile of books which I think before we left were standing up in stacks. Oh, this is such a horrible thing to have happened!”
As Twilight agonized over the loss of the book, she failed to notice what was happening to hers. Spike nudged Twilight to get her attention.
“Hey, Twilight, your fancy book is doing something.”
“Huh?” She turned towards her journal as it softly pulsed with a familiar white light. After a few moments, the light faded away and Twilight approached it. She flipped it open to see what the thing had written now. She skipped over the details that had been written about her time at the party with her friends and found the last paragraph which she was sure would hold some information on what had happened to Book Worm’s journal.
Ugh, a day after returning home and coming into possession of a fabled book of unknown wealth, ‘The Journal of Book Worm’, it was stolen from my home, the very place I felt that it would be safest. How could this have happened!? I was sure that everything was locked up properly. But there will be time for lamenting the loss later, there is something that is in danger of falling into the wrong hooves. Something that holds power untold: ‘The Record of All Things’. It is up to me to stop this from happening. But what is this Record? Looks like it’s time for research, and there is only one place suited for that. Seems it’s back to Canterlot for me, and right after I just got back home.
“The Record of All Things,” Twilight said as she finished reading the new words in her journal.
“What's it mean?” Spike asked as he peered over her shoulder at the book.
“It looks like I need to go back to Canterlot, and right after I just got back home.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.545 seconds
Total duration
1,044 users online
1,872,400 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Loved the chapter!
1204550
And changed.
Thanks for catching that. I try to catch those as I write, but writing late at night has me miss those sometimes.
1204827
Glad you liked it.
Oh Trixie, you're working for some bad people.
I wonder why that book is so important to them or really what they need it for?