Rise of the Elements Epidode 0: Silent over Time

by Dream Volt

Luna's Library

"This is amazing."

I simply nodded to Twilight beside me. The Shadow Library had been built in a huge vault that might have once held grain or other foodstuffs. But it was hard to tell. The book shelves, walls, walkways, and bridges were all custom made, as if molten stone had been poured into a single giant seamless mold. I had a feeling that is exactly how they had been made, the mold either being teleported away, or simply a massive magical barrier of immense scale and complexity. The library was countless stories tall, bridges linking the walkways at various reasonable intervals, and stairs curving up in certain key locations. On the ground floor were elegant rugs with expensive wooden tables. It was a designed to be used, but only ever had been by a tiny number guarding it.

Yet the most striking thing was the darkness. There were lights, and sometimes we even bothered to turn them on. But our helmets did many things, and our eyes not only gave us good night vision, but somehow made ink appear to glow in the dark. At least most ink. At least one newspaper used one that didn't, and so did some modern book publishers and many other things, but it worked with everything here. Well unless it had color, but mostly that was just the maps. But there was some light. The bookshelves were covered in glowing blue runes. Small ones lined every shelf and larger ones ran along the supports and shelf ends. Amazing didn't do it justice. I felt it should be one of the wonders of Equestria.

"There are so many. I mean how could you possibly organize them?"

"That is why we asked for your help Miss Sparkle. You see, this library, while quite grand, has never been sorted."

I cringed. "Uh, that isn't, quite true."

"What does thou mean?"

"I'm not sure if it's a little joke Celestia is playing on you or…"

"Joke?" Twilight shook her head. "I'm sure the Princess…"

Luna sighed. "We are sure she would. We are also surprised we have to tell you this."

"The other possibility is somehow she isn't aware. I'm not sure a report was ever actually filed about creating the catalog. Though I would think it's implied by the organization of the books. That project was very slow going until captain Dew came along but…"

"Captain Dew." Twilight once gain was invading my personal space "You don't mean Maple Dew, do you? The pony that created the Dew Decimal system?"

I nodded. "Yes, she was. She only became a guard because she decided it would be the easiest way to get into various restricted libraries. She actually created the system here out of necessity simply because there are so many books."

"But she said in her autobiography that she got the idea…"

"That is possible, and the initial idea that even is the truth, but there is actually one more thing archived here. The diaries of all the Moon Guard captains. It's clear that she had some ideas coming in, but only when Celestia transferred her here did she figure out how to put all her ideas together into the current system."

"In point of fact the current system is a version…"

"That has be altered from her original design is several small and important ways, but at it's core it remains the same. I have been guarding a library a long time miss Sparkle. You need not lecture me on such things."

She smiled brightly, and looked to my left.

"We feel it best to mention that Twilight cannot see that well as she lacks your helmet, or my natural abilities in the darkness."

I suddenly blinked. "Wait, what helmet."

"Oh, yes. Hmmm, we suppose the night vision spell migrated before altering the shape of your eyes. Truly a stroke of luck."

"Yes, luck." I really hoped they couldn't see me briefly pout.

"You didn't know until just now?" said Twilight

"Well I don't usually take it off so I never really thought about it. Besides, with the new armor the chance of such spell leakage is non-existent so let me see if I can find one of the girls around here to get you a helmet. You look like you're a standard size."

"We think we have a better idea."

The golden orb that appeared wasn't what I expected. I also didn't expect Luna to just let it drop. Then it touched Twilight's horn, and splattered like it was made of water or ink. Except it began to form into something, creating a thin gold swirl following the contour of her horn. It also formed into a pair of glasses connected to this swirl, but very thin. Then there was a shimmer and faint glowing light was in place of glass. They looked a bit odd, but pretty.

"OOO, that's nice, but why did it cover my horn too?"

"Because it is not meant to be removed. It will restrict your magic somewhat, but we believe long term it will be good for you."

Twilight went wide eyed. "You weakened my magic?"

Luna shook her head. "No, you shall simply be limited to how much stronger you can become. If Celestia is right you may not even reach that point for years. If I am right it could be a matter of days."

"Oh. But what if I need more power? What if I have to remove it and…"

"If you truly must, it will come off on it's own. It has a few other tricks like the glasses as well, but I leave that for you to discover on your own."

"Uh…" Twilight briefly went cross eyed trying to get a good look at her horn. "It's a little flashy though don't you think?"

"We do not think so, though if it truly isn't to taste one of the other tricks I mentioned can fix that. Also the glasses do retract."

"Okay, if you think it's best I'll wear it."

Luna clapped her hooves together, now off the ground. "Excellent. Now my captain, explain more of what you've done."

"I have done very little. In fact the job was almost done when I took the post. It's not quite done, but as you can see it's quite clean, and there are only a few hard to organize sections left. Mostly your research notes and similar material."

"Does thou mean the books are done?"

"Yes. Honestly the major job right now is the safety analysis. We've cleared all the fiction, historical, and science texts, but the magic volumes are very tricky."

"And my personal spell books?"

"Separate vault. I've been meaning to ask you about moving them, but this is the first time you've brought them up."

"Yes, I haven't had much use for them. I still have a lot to catch up on."

I then noticed Twilight was drooling. She had begun walking down a row, and clearly liked what she saw. I wondered how much of the conversation she had actually heard. Then she suddenly started. I guess she was paying some attention.

"Oh, sorry it's just. I mean some of these are long whispered about lost volumes of work. I'd be lucky to see even one, but they're all right her on one shelf. And the ones I don't recognize sound even more interesting."

"So Sky, my library was well taken care of, and at some rate over a thousand years mostly organized, not, as Sunny said, the books just put on the shelves as they would best fit in any order?"

"The early Moon Guard journals suggest that was the case, but it's been fixed."

Luna smiled, but was also crying. "Truly my guard never lost their loyalty. Even if they could no longer serve me as they were tasked, they found a way. We are very pleased."

Then in an instant she wiped the tears away and still smiling flew upward even higher nearly reaching the ceiling. She then dropped back down.

"So only must some of the smaller vaults scattered about the room or otherwise secure the dangerous books and we will be ready?"

"Well a decision about what to do about the Nightshade vaults will also be required. I trust I don’t' need to explain what they contain or why we cannot allow them to be seen by the public at large."

Luna nodded. "Yes, very. They should be moved to the basement of the palace and properly secured. If a proper space isn't available I will make one."

I nodded. "I should note anything known to be dangerous magic is already sealed away. We simply haven't gone over all of it yet. Some of the academy staff could surely make short work of that, though my girls are doing a good job sorting it themselves."

"Hmm, we think we shall pull them off as many of their other duties as possible and get them to work on this full time. Or do you object?"

"We live to serve your…" She glared at me. "Luna."

"Good. Then with that out of the way, I shall tour this wonderful library with my new student and…"

"What?"

Luna then caught Twilight, who somehow had managed to fall over the railing. Twilight was soon back on solid ground and Luna chuckled.

"Yes, we suppose we forgot that part. As I have said, my sister is far more powerful than and I has many other skills I lack, but I am the better mage. Naturally she wishes me to take over your magic education."

"Take over, but…"

"You are still her student as well, and friendship is one thing I still have much to learn about. History and Science I am still behind on, but magic seems to have not only slowed to a crawl, but much knowledge has been lost."

"But your majesty surely you don't plan to make Twilight…"

"Move? Of course not. We also are not sure how much of our time we shall have to devote to your studies, as you know we already have one very needy student, but we are sure we can make more time than Celestia."

"She is very busy, but can't you help her with that?"

Luna frowned "We have tried Twilight Sparkle. Many times. We lack her skill in many things and Sunny often tries to take too much upon herself or she feels terribly guilty."

"Oh."

"We shall not stop trying, but for now we need to adjust to this era more. Also Sunny has had a thousand years to become set in her ways. She even still begins to raise or lower the moon on occasion if I am not right next to her."

Twilight blinked. "Oh, I never really thought about it that way."

"Hmm, mine captain, you look bored. We think we are done with you for now, and you should return to…"

"NO." I then looked down. "Sorry your majesty."

"Luna. You need not apologize. You have yet to interrupt us without good reason."

"Blossomforth is the mare most responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly, and I am sure she is on duty. If you really wish to open the vault to the public as a library as soon as possible, I suggest we seek her out."

"Can I still help?" asked Twilight

"I have little doubt of that. Also as I said our greatest trouble is properly classifying the safety of various magical works. I'm sure if nothing else you could help with that. There may be some other details I'm forgetting that you also might be ideal for."

"Yes, but we do not wish to take thee away from Ponyville for too long a time. Perhaps we could add a small vault to thine library for the purposes of sorting."

"Oh, that won't be necessary. I still don't know why but the library is heavily enchanted. It's far bigger on the inside than the outside, and there are a large number of hidden rooms, many of which can be secured very easily."

"Hmm, we will have to look into that we think. But we do not doubt thee. Excellent, this will be easier than expected."

"Come on, the shadow library is big and finding any one pony can be tricky at times."

"Ah yes, lead on Sky."

I took to the air, but stayed close to the railing so Twilight could follow along. The office would be the obvious option, but by no means was there always a pony there. The doors would be guarded, but they also would be unlikely to know of any pony's movements. I would check the office to see if Blossom gave herself door duty, or the far more likely patrol duty.