Flashlight Week

by Banshee531

Fairy Tale

Author's Note:

Welcome to my first attempt at a Flashlight Week story. Just so you know, I don't intend for any of these stories to be related. If they are, I'll mention it in the AN. Hope you enjoy.

A long time ago, in a kingdom far far away, there lived a young girl who worked as a librarian.

For most of her life, she would spend her days within the library reading the many books that adorned the shelves. She had such a hunger for knowledge, she would constantly read whatever new book she could find. Eventually, the young librarian made friends with other girls that lived in the town. They helped her bring out her more adventurous side, making her realise all the knowledge in the world was useless if it was not used to help those around her.

She and her friends went on many adventures together, the young librarian using the vast knowledge she had obtained to save them many a time. Eventually, their exploits caught the attention of the kingdoms ruler. That ruler brought each of the girls to her and gave them each a position in the royal castle that suited them well.

One became the captain of the kingdom's pegasus knights, leading them into many a battle and keeping the kingdom safe. Another became the royal animal master, for her amazing ability to communicate with any beast allowed her to help them in any way, shape or form. Another became the kingdom's main agricultural expert, having grown up on a farm and knowing the best ways to grow enough food so the citizens never starved. One became the ruler's personal dress maker, creating masterpieces for that ruler and all the other nobles that needed them. And another became the castle's head chef, creating delicious but also nutritious meals for all those that lived in it.

Meanwhile, the young librarian was given the most highest of honours. Not only was she made the castle's librarian, but she was also made the ruler's personal student. The ruler taught her everything she knew and in time, the librarian chose to spread her knowledge by becoming a teacher.

For many more years, the librarian lived her life with her friends and went on many more adventures. But over time, each of her friends found someone to spend their lives with and the librarian found she didn't get to spend as much time with them as she liked. She longed for her own special somebody to spend her life with, but nobody seemed interested in a mousy little girl who liked to read instead of spend her time making herself look pretty.

Then one day, the librarian was walking through the capital enjoying a new book she had found. She was so distracted that she didn't notice she was stepping out into the road, at least until she found a horse drawn carraige rushing towards her too fast to stop.

She thought she was going to die, but at the last moment someone pushed her out of the way.

That someone was a man her age, who she soon discovered was a squire training to become a knight of the kingdom. The squire pulled her up to her feet and told her to be more observant of her surroundings, the librarian nodding as the squire picked up her book and handed it back to her. When he saw what it was, he told her it was a good book and he enjoyed reading it as well.

This event led to the two meeting almost every day, talking about the different books they had both read. As time went on, the librarian began showing the squire books on ancient and powerful forms of sword combat. The squire used this knowledge and mastered the sword style, allowing him to earn the title of knight.

Time passed and the two continued to meet, eventually choosing to officially court one another. But before their love could truly blossom, war broke out. The knight was forced to go to battle, leaving the librarian behind.

The war lasted for many years, causing the knight to stay away longer and longer. In that time, the librarian continued to live her simple life. She never courted another, knowing only her knight could ever truly win her heart. But things changed when the ruler chose to make the librarian her heir, the ruler being unable to bare their own child. In the blink of an eye, the librarian was made into a princess and began to learn the many lessons she would need to rule the kingdom.

Though the princess was honoured to be entrusted with such a role, she also feared she would be made to marry the prince of the kingdom they were at war with to end that war. And as time passed and the war went on, that possibility slowly became more and more likely. The princess came to realise that this might be for the best, no matter how much she hated it.

And as the ruler began to prepare to make negotiations for a wedding, news of a great victory reached their ear. The prince of the warring kingdom had been slain in battle, which caused the opposing side's troops to become uncoordinated. Almost overnight, the war's outcome shifted in the kingdom's favour. The opposing kingdom eventually surrendered, the king having remorse for losing his son in a war he started.

Peace came to the kingdom and soon the knights returned, including the one who slayed the prince.

The princess was shocked and amazed to discover her knight was the one who defeated her future husband, the knight also becoming shocked to see his love was now a princess.

With the war over, the princess was free to choose whoever she wanted to become her husband. And of course, she chose her knight. They were married and years later, both took the throne. They ruled justly for many years, having many children together and bringing about years of peace of prosperity to all those who lived under their rule.

---

"The end," Twilight finished telling her five year old niece.

Flurry smiled at the end of the story, loving every moment of it. "Wow," she whispered, "that's such a great story."

"It sure is." Twilight turned to the doorway. There the twenty one year old smiled when she saw her boyfriend, who had joined her in babysitting Flurry. "Kinda sounds familiar, at least the first part about the librarian."

"I may have taken inspiration from another librarian turned human with a group of friends," Twilight smiled. She turned back to her niece and gave her a kiss on the forehead, Flurry smiling at this. "Now you go to sleep."

"Okay," she nodded as Twilight got up. "Aunt Twilight?" She turned back to her, "will I ever get to meet a knight like the one you talked about?"

Twilight smiled, "I'm sure you will." With that, the pair left the room and carefully closed the door. They then headed downstairs and sat one the couch, Twilight leaning against her boyfriend.

"So if the librarian was meant to be your pony counterpart, who was the knight meant to be?"

Twilight smiled at this, "I don't know. Probably someone brave...kind and into books."

"Huh," Flash smirked, "I like to think I'm brave. I try to be kind, and I like the right kind of books. Are you trying to ship me with your pony self?" Twilight laughed and moved to sit on Flash's lap.

"Not a chance," she told him as she pushed her glasses back up. "You're all mine." The pair began to make out, though they made sure that was as far as it went. Twilight couldn't help but be happy about how her life had turned out. She was practically living her own fairy tale story, with her very own knight in shining armor.

Comments

[Godslittleprincess]

Okay, this is pretty different from your usual work. The actual story felt a little too simplistic at first, but once that framing device showed up, the simplicity made sense.

[Myzor king of war]

was interesting to see them like this hope to see ore

[SuperSonicHeroes]

This is pretty adorable. The fairy tale itself was a bit basic at first, retelling the tale of the Mane 6 but in a bit more of a fantasy setting like most fairy tales, but even though we didn't get a lot of details it was cute to see the "librarian and squire" become a "princess and knight" and finally get together after a war kept them apart.

What really sold it though was the ending scene when it was revealed that it was a fairy tale that Twilight was telling Flurry Heart as a bedtime story. That was not only cute, it helped turn the fairy tale into a framing device instead of needing to rely on its own, which I fell helped it a lot. I am looking forward to what you come up with for the other chapters!

[Darth Redbeard]

interesting. The way you began it, you could tell that it was more of a bedtime story, but I thought that Twilight was telling that to her own kids. Flurry was a nice little surprise there.

[Foxhelm]

Not bad. But the actual story felt more like something a monarch would have composed to inform the youngest of the young of their rise and less of a tale a collection of townspeople would tell to explain certain natural phenomena and give a means to teach how someone is to behave especially when dealing with the biazzard residences of the twilight and just off the edge of civilization. Also wouldn't Sci-Twi be the one to leave, because it's usually the adult that is the one going to and from the nursery, or wherever the child sleeps, when it comes to telling stories to young children.
Also the story could have just started with the 'librarian' in the capital as the ruler's protege and the five other could have been cut out all together. Also in a fairy tale, why would a monarch pick a random subject to be their hier, the story as Sci-Twi tells it kibd of stretches the verisimilitude of a fairy tale.
Again not bad, but doesn't quite fits in the field of stories we call fairy tales, it's close but not just a little off.