The Should-Have-Been King

by defender2222

Recovery Efforts

“As centuries of dictators have known, an illiterate crowd is the easiest to rule; since the craft of reading cannot be untaught once it has been acquired, the second-best recourse is to limit its scope.”

― Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading

---

Ponyville

“Where should this one go?” Spike asked, holding up a book for Twilight to see.

But rather than actually look at what Spike was holding up all she did was ask, “What is it?” She made no move to glance up, her nose half-buried in a ledger that sat sprawled out on her desk.

The dragon rolled his eyes. It was nice that Twilight didn’t micromanage him so much (there was a time where she would have stood beside him and told him how to actually put the book on the shelf, fearful he would ‘bruise it’, as if that were possible) he found her being so flippant when he did need help to be nearly as annoying. He tried to remind himself that she both had a lot on her mind and trusted him greatly but still he wished Trixie or Faith or even Iron Will was around to give her a bop on the head and remind her to be nice. “The complete works of Ink Pot the playwright, 5^th addition.”

“Put it on the fictional plays crate,” Twilight said, turning a page in the ledger.

“But he based a lot of his tales on actual history,” Spike argued. “Shouldn’t it be on the historical play crate?” Asking why they even had historical and fictional play crates was simply a non starter so Spike didn’t even try and argue that. Sometimes, when it came to Twilight, the only way to win the game was not to play at all.

“First off good point,” Twilight said. “Howevert he only BASED them on history and he tended to pick and choose what he liked best. That makes them more fiction than non-fiction so go with the fictional play crate.” She paused, her horn glowing as she brought over an ink well and quill and a scroll. “Who donated that one?”

“Uh… a Mr. Piles.” He should have figured as much; the librarian from Canterlot had been one of the biggest aides in their current task.

Twilight quickly made a note of that on the scroll she’d brought over. “That’s… twenty from him so far. He’s in the lead.”

Spike cast a look at her. “You make it sound like a contest.”

“Not a contest, merely a running total.” Under her breath she muttered with a glower, “and he’s winning…”

“Twilight,” Spike scolded. “You can’t blame ponies for being cautious.”

“I don’t, Spike,” Twilight said, finally setting down the scroll she’d been rereading and trotting around the crates that littered the library floor. They would have looked at home in any warehouse if it weren’t for the runes craved into the boards, written in archaic languages long dead to all save scholars and mages. And even then there were few that would know one of them, let alone them all. ‘Of course it helps that I have several immortal beings who were around when the runes were first created to help me out,’ Twilight thought with a smirk. Neatly printed above the runes were words like ‘880s romance’, ‘folk tale humor’, and ‘instructional-life and living’. “But I do blame them for allowing their emotions to get in the way of the good of Equestria.”

The little dragon narrowed his eyes, placing his hands on his hips. “And it’s Queenly talk like that which makes it hard for us to get more ponies to help out!”

“Which is just ridiculous!” Twilight complained, looking over the books Spike was still sorting. “First off, it’s been three years! We’ve forgiven a lot of things a lot sooner than this.”

“Those things were minor compared to placing Equestria under fanatical rule,” Spike pointed out.

Twilight refused to aknowledge that; after all, the ones that had done that were Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity (while Pinkie had been innocent of it all most ponies still remembered Laughter pretending to be her and now saw the new Spirit of Generosity as being just as guilty even though she’d spent almost the entire war in a trance tied to a bed). “Second, everyone is just so jumpy. So I can’t say ‘for the good of Equestria’ because it might sound like something one of the Queens may have said? That’s just silly.”

“But it is how ponies feel, Twilight.”

“Well they are wrong. I get that the Abstracts and the Queens caused harm but to reject everything that comes with harmony just because some took it to the extreme is being foolish. In that case we shouldn’t have candles because some pony was once an arsonist!”

Spike held up his hands. “Hey, I’m with you all the way. Just pointing out how ponies feel.”

Twilight sighed, head drooping. “I know, Spike, I know. And I shouldn’t snap at you. I just hate that we’re having so many problems because a few bad acorns are spoiling the whole bunch.” She picked up a book and looked it over. “A novel by Letrotski?”

“Crate’s up there. I’ll take it.” Spike grabbed the book and focused, willing himself to grow taller until he towered over Twilight, able to reach the second level of their home without even needing to go up the stairs.

“Was that really necessary?” Twilight asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“No but its fun!” Spike said as he shrank back down. “Been too long since I’ve been able to stretch out.”

“We’re only here for two weeks Spike and then we’ll be back on the Abundance,” Twilight said, floating her record scroll over to her so she could note the book Spike had put away and who had given it to them. “I know it was a short visit the last time but we need to get this done.”

Spike frowned as he waddled around the pile. “I still think we should have just done this on the airship. A lot more hands and hooves around to help out.”

“There are things an airship is good for and things a library is good for.”

“…you’re just afraid that Clockwork will get hold of a book, aren’t you?”

Twilight grimaced, hugging another book to her chest. “He’s in the gumming phase. I’ve seen him eyeing up my collection of Prancy Drew stories!” She shook herself free of that terrible vision. “Besides, you’re the one preaching caution and understanding. The Abundance is Trixie and Faith’s and…”

“…and Abstracts aren’t exactly trusted either,” Spike finished.

“As much as I hate to say that,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Ponies don’t trust me because I’m still friends with the girls. Ponies don’t trust Faith and Trixie because they are Abstracts. Never mind that we fought to stop the Queens… we’re tainted by association.”

“That’s just the way things are, Twilight,” Spike said, patting her foreleg. “Give them time.”

“I am,” Twilight said with a bitter laugh. “I could give them all the time in the world and that would never fix anything.”

“…for some, yeah,” Spike admitted.

“And meanwhile Equestria pays the price.” Twilight selected a filled crate and grasped it with her magic, lifting it and having it float behind her as she trotted down to her lab in the basement.

The machines that she’d used for her magical research were gone, packed away and put into storage so that the large open space could be used for her latest project. Stacked up against one wall were almost a hundred of similar crates to the one Twilight held, though the runes on them were each different and incomplete. They were lined up in organized towers, with the name of a different library, college, or institution inscribed on them, one for each tower she had set up. Twilight had already set up twenty empty crates in the center of the lab, which waited for her to begin.

Setting the crate filled with books (the works of Sir Artful Detection, which were semi-autobiographical tellings of his work with the Trottingham police) in the center of the room before turning her attention to the empty ones that surrounded it. Glancing at the rune cluster on the filled crate Twilight copied a particular grouping onto each empty crate before selecting a lid, it too inscribed with mystical writing, and lowered it down into place on the full crate. In the center of the lid was a cork, like one would find in a wine bottle, and Twilight carefully removed this before bringing over a beaker filled with shimmering water. Even now it went against everything she stood for to drop liquid onto a book but she forced her magic to hold steady and she applied two drops into the hole before sealing it shut with the cork once again. A buzz of magic filled the air and she watched as, slowly, swirling magic began to fill each of the awaiting and lidless crates. Over the next hour and a half the empty crates would fill as the runes, combined with the waters of the legendary Mirror Pool, created perfect duplicates of each book in the crate. Then it would only be a matter of packaging the duplicates up and shipping them off to their new homes.

'Knowledge is power,' Celestia had once told her during one of their early lessons. 'And he who controls knowledge has the greatest power of them all.' The Queens had obviously realized this and, taking a page out of every dictator and despot's playbook, hurried to cement their rule by destroying all that they viewed as 'offensive to the harmony of Equestria'. Any book with a hint of controversy had been burned in the name of unity. It didn't matter what the sin was, to not be 'pure' was to see it eliminated. Old novels that used slurs now known to be cruel and hurtful? Destroyed. History books that discussed violence? Destroyed. Plays of romance where there was a conflict and confusion? Destroyed. So much had been lost in their misguided attempt to create paradise.

But it was not all dark. Her own library had been untouched, as her friends, in their own twisted logic during those dark days of their corruption, and thought that burning it to the ground would be a bonding experience between all of them after Twilight joined them in their ‘glorious’ rule. But hers wasn’t the only safe bastion for the written word. Twilight had learned early on in her quest to repair the country that some had managed to protect books, scrolls, and parchment from the cleansing fires. She had put the word out, begging those that had a collection, no matter if it was a hidden library or just a book tucked under a bed when the enforcers had arrived, to keep them secure and be ready for when she called.

As much as Twilight had wanted to rush about the country colleting all the books and working to get them copied and redistributed she'd understood that there were more important things that had to be done to repair Equestria. A dozen cities had been left destroyed. Entire villages wiped out. Canterlot Castle had been left in ruins after Faith's final battle with Doubt (Celestia had said his use of her throne as a bludgeoning device was the best use of it yet) and Manehattan's parks had become refugee camps. While no one would starve (the Queens had, at the very least, wanted to care for their subjects and Honesty had revealed the hidden location of warehouses full of food that were quickly given out for free) no one wanted to spend the winter outdoors and thus housing the ponies who'd lost their homes became the biggest issue for the first year.

It'd been eventually decided to move them to warmer areas, such as Appleloosa, Neigh Orleans, Las Pegasus, and Tampa Neigh. Such a massive exodus, even with the aid of The Abundance, had been an undertaking the likes of which Equestria had never seen; not helped that while most saw Trixie and her crew has saviors there were some that looked upon her and Faith’s metallic coats put two and two together, and realized they were also Abstracts. Still, they'd managed to get everyone moved and settled for the winter and in the spring had begun the long task of rebuilding. New Cloudsdale, Manehattan, Winniepeg, and of course Canterlot had all been their first focuses but it seemed that every day Twilight learned of something new that needed to be fixed or altered.

But finally, after three long years of work, she'd been able to return once more to the issue of the books. She watched, smiling as the magic spell slowly recreated each book, one atom at a time. This project had also seen its share of set backs and issues. While some collectors had been willing to help her out others refused. A bit of it had been fear that this was all some sort of trick but, sadly, much had been out of greed. Collectors saw that what had once been a common tome was now a one-of-a-kind and didn't want to take what was suddenly valuable and make it worthless again. Others had books that truly had been the only ones in existence before the 5 Months War and didn't want to have their collection ruined by duplicating their prized possessions. Twilight had heard false claims that copying a book would damage it, would lower its worth, would destroy it. That her process was untested and unfounded. One collector had even had the nerve to put out his own notice offering money for books that were supposed to go to Twilight; he'd promised wealth to rebuild for just a few books.

It had taken some firm words from Celestia to get the stallion to see the error of his ways.

Still, it was a struggle to get what she needed. Twilight was making headway but it didn’t feel like enough to her and every time she sent out a new shipment of books she wished that there were simply more. It drove her mad that so many were using the darkness from three years prior as an excuse for their petty and greedy ways.

She let out a sigh. Nothing that could be done about it now.

“Well, a decent enough haul for today,” Spike said as Twilight finally emerged from the basement, placing the last book in the right crate. “Until the next shipment arrives we can kick back and relax!”

“We still have to move the duplicate books, get them mailed out, and organize the rewards for those that have helped us,” Twilight reminded him. “Of course we need to figure out WHAT to give them.”

“Yeah, must be hard when book pony can’t give out books,” Spike said with a snort. Twilight shot him a dry look and Spike blanched. “Uh… hehe… no offense?”

“no taken,” Twilight said dryly before perking up. "As for not giving out books, I don't know about that!" Twilight said with a grin. "I'm thinking maybe give them first pick of some of the books I've ordered from Saddle Arabia and Prance. There is supposed to be a wonderful scroll that recounts the discussion between Deep Thought and Articulate concerning the morality of morality. Hasn’t been read in Equestria in ages and I’m having to trade 20 crates of duplicated books to get it but-"

"Sounds...yawn... gripping," Spike said, shaking his head. "Personally I'd like some nice rubies or sapphires."

"Spike, what kind of being would want precious stones as a gift?" The baby dragon opened his mouth to point out that he would but never got to say a word as there was a steady rapping on the door that cut off his comment. "You expecting anypony?"

"Nope," Spike said. "You?"

"No..." Twilight said, her horn glowing as she walked towards the door, wings flared out. She focused and her eyes went black as light and dark magic began to swirl around her. The last three years had taught her to be careful when it came to unexpected guests; she'd had to already fight off ponies on five separate occasions who had tried to attack her for dethroning 'the glorious queens' and ending 'Equestria's New Golden Age'. Faith's warning of them not being seen as saviors by some had proven prophetic. Moving to stand beside the wood door she nodded to Spike who moved out of the entry way's eyeline before swelling to nearly 7 feet of rock hard muscle. He cracked his neck before flashing a dark smile. "Who is it?"

"Chief Miranda, ma'am," the voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Oh!" Twilight said, eyes returning to normal, and quickly opening the door (though not letting her guard drop... just in case). "Come in!" The gray-blue unicorn stallion nodded, his bushy black mustache bobbing on his upper lip as he trotted in. He was wearing a standard issue police hat and shirt, his badge proudly shined up for all to see. While Ponyville had once prided itself on being able to monitor and police itself they had seen that such practices could no longer exist and, sadly, a form of law and order was needed. It hadn't been, much to Twilight's surprise, the 5 Months War or its aftermath that had led to this decision but rather a traveling band of thieves from Little Percheron who thought Ponyville would be a good place to commit some B&E. Chief Miranda had come to Ponyville the year before and helped ease the fears of the townsfolk.

Twilight had, sadly, been forced to interact more with the stallion than she'd have wished due to the death threats and harassment sent her and the girls' way from both those that blamed the Queens for everything under Celestia's sun and those who longed for their reign to return. Miranda had been stern but fair, chasing off most of the loudmouths and getting a bit more physical for those that couldn't take a hint. Twilight had tried not to bother him, knowing he had enough on his plate, but he was a handy ally to have.

Miranda looked over at Spike and nodded in approval. "Good lad, good lad." His own horn glowed and he pulled his cap off, wiping his brow. "Sorry to come unannounced like this, Miss Sparkle, but something's come up that you need to know about."

"What's that?" Twilight asked, tapping down the urge to offer him some tea. Her mother had raised her to be polite but she could tell the police officer was here on business.

"Did you send a crate of books by Pony Express yesterday?"

"I did..." Twilight said slowly. "It was a standard delivery. Why?"

"I'm going to need you and Spike to come with me."

"Chief... what's going on?" Twilight asked, making no move to head outside. "What happened?"

Chief Miranda studied her for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Normally I wouldn't tell you so I didn't have to deal with you panicking the whole way there but you and your dragon friend have pretty good heads on your shoulders and I think you can handle it. This morning a Miss Zecora, who says she knows you, stumbled upon the remains of the Pony Express wagon. There... there was some kind of attack. You need to see it for yourself to be honest. Miss Zecora contacted me as soon as she saw it... shook that zebra right up."

"Is Zecora okay?" Twilight asked.

"Disturbed by what she saw and I don't blame her but otherwise fine. I called in for backup from Green Hay and they are staying with her and the survivor... a Miss Dinky Hooves… until her parents can come and collect her."

"Dinky was involved?" Spike asked, staring down at the officer.

Twilight shook her head. "Wait... survivor?"

Miranda let out a shuddering breath. "Miss Sparkle... the rest of the Pony Express team you hired... they're dead. Some...thing...well…”

“What?”

“Something burned them alive."

Comments

[defender2222]

A bit of a slower chapter but one needed to catch us up. We see non-princess Twilight Sparkle, still an alicorn after Faith and Doubt but now the Alicorn of the Stars who is a master of both light and dark magic. We remeet Spike, now in full control of his Growth Spurt powers, able to shape shift basically into any dragon form that suits him. We are reminded of how far Equestria fell and how it has fought to return to a sense of normalcy. We are reminded of Faith's warning to Twilight and Shining Armor: They will not be seen as heroes to all and now, hearing that Twilight has received death threats for saving her friends, see that this has come to pass.

And we have our first hint of the danger coming. Tydal warning that the foe held sway over the fires of hell... and now several ponies have been burnt alive with only a teenage Dinky managing to escape (but, before anyone panics who missed the line, Derpy was NOT with her at the time and is okay)

Next Time: We shift to The Abundance where the former prisoners turned war heroes continue their new task of being Equestria's guardians. But all is not well as Trixie, true to her new Abstract Nature, feels doubt over several things...

[Comickook]

Again, splendid job on the info in this chapter. I loved the exchange between Twilight and Spike. Revealed just enough info to give us a good glimpse of what's been happening WITHOUT revealing TOO MUCH. I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this, but will also be quite willing to be patient.

[Starcat5]

Just great. Something is reenacting Fahrenheit 451, with some light Holocaust to anypony who gets in the way. ...I need a hug.

[Leftover of Saikano]

There are a lot of factor that make something collectionable. I'm sure if Feral Imp was as rare as Blue-Eyes White Dragon, it would not be as wanted. Books would be the same, I suppose. I would not fight for the last physical copy of My Immortal.
I would not pay more than a couple dollars for a 1986 Cliffjumper, but would pay tens of dollars for a 1996 Dinobot.
I will stop before rambling goes too off topic, it's just that I feel very annoyed by those who want to keep knowledge to themselves.

[Linkonpark100]

Holy crap! Good start, I guess!

I'd like to see more bludgeoning at this point.

[Mister Morden]

And so it begins...

I am looking forward to more, good establishing chapter to see where our characters have ended up.

[Forestfire34720]

If dead [ponies] are coming back to life... then will Loyalty and Laughter return? Or are they in a different plane of existence/death, since they're abstracts? And if they do, will they be the fallen versions, or Loyalty and Laughter as they should've been? Oh, and Generosity. Will she be coming back too?
Really looking forward to the next chapter!
Poor Dinky. She shouldn't have had to witness that. I'm glad Derpy isn't dead.