• Published 17th Dec 2016
  • 7,464 Views, 153 Comments

Fat Stacks... of Books - Justice3442



Celestia prepares for another routine day at the castle with the recent addition of teaching her new, young student. However, an impromptu structure made from books causes a slight change of plans.

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Chapter 2

Fat Stacks… of Books

Chapter 2


Twilight began to rapid fire responses, “Oh! How about transmogrification? Long distance scrying? Object mending!”

Celestia smiled and allowed Twilight to continue. This was oddly routine for Celestia who had experience with an excited unicorn filly rattling off topics of interest until Celestia stopped her and picked one that sounded safe, easy, and appropriate for a small unicorn to practice without supervision. In fact, this was something Celestia used to do with her previous personal student. A key difference being Twilight usually listed off pretty harmless topics for the most part, whilst her predecessor seemed to home in on things a little filly should probably not know.

“…Image projection, emotion project, energy projection… Facial Hair creation!

Celestia couldn’t help but tilt her head ever so slightly. “Facial hair creation?”

Twilight smiled widely. “Facial hair creation!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Celestia mulled over the oddity of the suggestion briefly. Perhaps there was some practicality to having the ability to magically summon a mustache or beard for disguise purposes? It wasn’t likely Twilight was going to find it particularly useful anytime soon… Still, the idea of the tiny filly running around with a full beard and mustache in some ill-thought-out attempt to pilfer cookies from the kitchen or some other adorable scheme tickled Celestia to no end. “Alright Twilight, we’ll begin your studies in ‘facial hair creation’.” Celestia turned to scan her shelves of books. “Now, where’s Bushy Beards’ Big Book of Bristle Spells?” she inquired to herself.

Celestia hadn't turned her back on her newly minted faithful student for more than a few seconds before she heard the tinkle of magic and the ‘thump-thump-thump’ of multiple, hefty and extremely expensive books being haphazardly stacked one on top of another.

Just as she was about to turn around, the peppy prepubescent voice of her student rang out "Found it!"

The tower of tomes was well over her head. Celestia didn't know whether to be impressed at the speed of the telekinetic sort or terrified that she was about to have a small purple filly with a broken neck on her hooves. Wouldn't that be a fun conversation?

"Oh, greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle. Your daughter? Well, you see there was an incident with a bibliographic avalanche..."

Plastering a smile on her face before the terror seeped in, Celestia calmly addressed her pupil, "Thank you very much Twilight, now, would you please come down?"

Twilight beamed down at her in triumph that quickly turned into sheepish terror. "Um, I can't..."

Celestia couldn’t help but smile to herself despite the young unicorn’s plight. Pursing her lips slightly, Celestia thought for a moment. “Given current events, perhaps we should focus on short-range teleportation or self-telekinesis for now?” she suggested.

“S-sure…” Twilight looked at her teacher then down to the floor which must have seemed far, far away from the small filly. “C-can we begin lessons on the ground?” she asked.

A mirthful burst of laughter erupted from Celestia. “Of course, Twilight.” With a yellow glow of Celestia’s horn, Twilight was soon airborne and gently approaching the ground. Celestia turned back towards the center of the room as she guided her student downward, placing the small unicorn in front of her.

For a moment, Celestia considered letting Twilight’s stacking of the books go without comment, however a mental file marked ‘things you’ve let another little filly get away with that you probably, maybe, most definitely shouldn’t have’ was suddenly thrown onto her mental desk, spilling pages and pages of precocious, but seemly harmless stunts that Celestia had all but encouraged until they had become routine.

Celestia took a small moment to clear her head and gave Twilight a maternal smile. “Now Twilight, I know you’re excited to learn, but…”

Twilight’s eyes shot open wide in alarm and fright, which seemed a little extreme to Celestia considering the gentle tone she was taking. However, Celestia felt the lightest of touches against her flowing mane as Twilight’s horn blazed purple, the little filly contorting her face as she put forth great mental effort.

Celestia turned and this time caught the impressive feat of magic with her eye rather than see its aftermath. Twilight had telekentically caught the lofty stack of massive books with her magic and immediately began to reshelve them. Celestia followed the books with her eyes, noting that Twilight was rapidly returning each to its previous perch before their use as an impromptu ladder.

With the final book returned, Celestia herd the dim hum of Twilight’s horn cease followed by a frantic, “I’m-sorry-I’m-sorry! Please-don’t-put-me-into-time-out-in-the-dungeon!”

Celestia turned and looked down to see Twilight cowering on the ground, her forelegs covering her face. Slowly, Celestia lowered herself onto her knees and gently lifted Twilight’s chin with a foreleg. With a smile she asked, “Twilight, how did you know where to put all those books away after you pulled them down?”

“Oh… I um, I memorized all that.”

Celestia blinked a couple times. “I… beg your pardon? You memorized the placement of all those books?”

Twilight nodded and stood up. “Yep! I came up with a few quick mnemonic devices! The bottom books I memorized with ‘Twilight’s Mom Likes To Serve Icky Peas’! See, Tide Rider’s Water Manipulation Guide starts with a ‘T’, while Moonlight Dancer’s Tome of Shadow Sliding starts with an ‘M’, and—”

Celestia smiled and raised a hoof. “I understand, my little pony,” she said gently. She looked around the room. “How many books do you think you can do that with?”

Twilight looked around the room. “I don’t know… I’ve never tried to figure that out.”

Celestia’s smile crept upwards as hints of mischief stealthily made their way into the dark corners of her face. “Well then, perhaps a different lesson is in order.” She looked about. “We’re going to need more space…” Her smile grew. “…and books.”