• Published 1st Dec 2012
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The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian - Georg



Twilight believes the new unicorn magic school teacher is a pretentious royal jerk. Green Grass thinks the town’s librarian is an interfering, arrogant brat. Can they teach each other differently before somepony gets killed, or worse, married

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Ch. 35 - Saying Goodnight

The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian
Saying Goodnight


The prison corridor of Canterlot General Hospital was so infrequently used that most of the cells had been converted to cleaning supply storage and a location to store blank forms that had become outdated but were still too new to throw away⁽*⁾. A rather bedraggled unicorn stallion lay uncomfortably strapped to an observation bed in one of the rooms, the low light inside showing a narrow path between towering stacks of ‘PM-427b Stethoscope Sterilization Reports’ and the tips of his hooves. It had been several hours since he had been escorted to the facility and administered a magical purgative to remove the last remnants of his backfired spell, and nopony had shown one tiny bit of sympathy to his calls for assistance since. With the hefty magical suppression ring bolted to his horn, he could not even loosen the uncomfortably tight straps that bound his hooves.
(*) No joke.

At long last, a set of hoofsteps sounded in the hallway. They could only be headed for his room, and Euripides carefully went over the list of excuses and alibis he had prepared over the last few hours, until the wearer of those shoes opened the door and his mouth went bone-dry.

“Good evening, Lord Euripides,” said Princess Celestia tonelessly. “Did you enjoy the party?”

A frog in the desert would have been able to make more noise than the blonde-maned stallion, sitting there with his mouth soundlessly opening and closing. The Princess’ horn lit up, and the straps began to withdraw from his hooves, but he remained as rooted in place as if he had been glued to the table.

“We shall make this visit short. You displease me. You assaulted Twilight Sparkle. In a week’s time, you will be faced with a magistrate of our courts, who will judge your guilt and assign thy punishment.” The violet eyes of the Princess bored into his own with such excruciating intensity it felt as if her gaze were reflecting off the back of his skull. “Do you wish a degree of clemency to be applied to your case?”

Helplessly, he nodded.

“Good. It occurs to me that your attempted actions against the young Miss Sparkle may not have been from malice or avarice. Perhaps you were simply unable to comprehend the magnitude of your misdeed. Would that be a possibility?” The Princess looked emotionlessly at him as she lit her horn.

“Yes,” he croaked painfully, nodding at the same time.

“Wouldst thou be willing to accept a few hours of education in order to lessen thy punishment?” The lights in the room began to dim as the darkness rolled in like inky smoke, slowly swirling around the base of the boxes and climbing up his bed as if it were drawn to him. Euripides was nearly unable to speak. His attention was completely riveted to Princess Celestia looming over him and the small pool of golden light surrounding them while the darkness coiled hungrily outside its protective glow.

“Yes,” he managed to squeak.

“Very well.” The golden light from Princess Celestia’s horn wrapped around him in a warm embrace, much like dropping into a hot tub. The world seemed to grow slightly, and a pink tinge raced over his coat while the horn restraint fell to the ground with a clatter. Groping at his head, he found his horn vanishing into his forehead, as well as the bizarre sensation of something else near and dear to him at the other end vanishing too.

“What are you doing?” asked a high-pitched and very feminine voice that he realized with a jolt came out of his own mouth. Clutching a pair of delicate hooves to his face, or more correctly her face as she suddenly realized, Euripides let out a shrill girlish shriek.

“Now, now, young lady,” purred Celestia as the scream suddenly cut off. “You are simply going to learn a small lesson on how the other half lives. Have fun at the party.” A wave of darkness swept up around the young mare, and in the blink of an eye, she found herself in the middle of a scene she had been in many times as a stallion in college: a fraternity party, with dozens of well-dressed stallions all staring with hungry eyes at the delicate little pink earth pony who had dropped into their midst.

* * *

Princess Luna trotted quietly down the hospital corridor, stopping before the Royal Guard who stood stoically in front of an unlabeled hospital door.

“Sergeant Sweets, is the prisoner still asleep?” Luna peeked through the observation window to see the handsome unicorn stallion still strapped firmly to the table, tossing and turning as if in the grip of a powerful dream.

“Yes, Your Highness. The nurses said the medication would keep him out for a few more hours.”

“Well, the civil service has much to do tomorrow, and many of them will be spending additional time with their families. Allow the prisoner to sleep until noon before you begin processing. They all could use the additional sleep.”

The Royal Guard saluted crisply. “Of course, Your Highness. Thank you.”

The Princess of the Night took one last look at the sleeping prisoner before turning to leave. “Keep up the good work. Goodnight Sergeant. Sweet dreams, Lord Euripides.”

* * *

The walk home with Twilight Sparkle took on a magical air under the moonlight and scattered blowing snowflakes that continued to fall⁽¹⁾. What should have been a few minutes stroll along the snowy streets of nighttime Canterlot turned into a wandering of epic proportions, through the sleeping city, past the closed ice skating ponds, and along the icicle-encrusted waterfalls glittering like jewels in the moonlight. It seemed as if each block had a tiny park or Hearth’s Warming decoration that needed to be admired, every wide spot in the street an excuse to look up into the sky and gaze at a different star. They could have walked all night, if not for the quiet sniffling of their chilly guards growing louder as the night progressed, but after delaying as much as they could, they eventually turned their hooves for home.
(1) The Night Guard pegasi on their protective detail kept bumping the clouds they were using for cover.

To both of their surprise, as they approached House Twinkle, a stallion lurched out of a nearby snowbank in a burst of snow and stumbled in their direction. If Twilight had not recognized the device he held as a tape recorder, things could have gotten extremely uncomfortable, but she merely watched in amusement as he stumbled up to Green Grass, shoved the microphone under his nose, and blurted out through chattering teeth “Haare you zlleephing with Vrrincesss Seelestia’s dottoher?”

“Another reporter?” Green Grass shot an annoyed look at Twilight Sparkle, who was simply glowing with happiness. “What’s this make, four tonight?”

“Five.” A violet glow surrounded the shivering stallion, and the snow began to steam off his coat. In moments, he had quit shivering and even looked a little flushed with bright red cheeks. A small newspaper floated in a magical grip over to Green Grass, who tucked it inside the reporter’s toasty-warm jacket and gave it a pat.

“There you go. One exclusive interview with what I consider the most important newspaper in Equestria. I think you will find all your questions answered quite well. Sun Glimmer was extremely detailed and did an excellent job on my interview, if I do say so myself⁽²⁾. Thank you very much, and please remember to take a deep breath.”
(2) Somepony else must have thought so also. She received two offers of full-ride scholarships when various newspapers ran reprints of her article, and one college offered her a transfer. Her father turned them down, explaining that she probably should finish elementary school first.

Magic swirled around the reporter, and with a sharp ‘pop,’ he vanished.

* * *

“Yaa

aah

hhhh

hhhh!”

The soft ‘plop’ of Blotter’s impact in the snow echoed around the castle guard annex, drawing the attention of two ponies. The off-duty Royal Guard⁽³⁾ turned slightly to watch the reporter come crawling out of the giant sculpted pile of snow marked with concentric circles, then carefully checked and logged the time, as well as the impact point. “Two-fifty-seven A.M. The first one just shy of the 8 ring; she must be getting tired.” He carefully examined the betting pool book and made another notation. “Two o’clock pool goes to Captain Shining Armor. Again.”
(3) The actual entrance had been bricked up internally during renovations three centuries earlier, but the respective changes in the duty schedule for outside guards was still working its way through committee. It made for a relaxing duty position, but sometimes the on-duty guard liked to have somepony to talk with.

“I still think we should exclude him from the pool,” groused the on-duty guard next to him.

* * *

Green Grass fell in step with Twilight again as they strolled down the path to her home. As it turned out, sneaking into the house was a lost cause, as Rainbow Dash greeted them at the door with a giant bowl of popcorn and a devious grin. “Hey Twilight, I’m glad you made it home. Hi Greenie, Night Light is about ready to start the home movies, so grab some popcorn and settle in.

“Home movies?” asked Twilight with a twitch. “I’d love to, but I need to see Green Grass home. He wouldn’t want to stick around for some boring home—”

“I’d be delighted,” said Green Grass with a bow and a smirk, dragging the star of the show behind him to the den where the projector had been set up.

The Twinkle household had a long family tradition of staying up all night during Hearth’s Warming, or at least as long as the children were able. Despite some interesting footage of Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor’s early years involving solid food and bathtimes, the long walk around town had seemingly drained the two young lovers of their energy. They slipped out of the home movies around the first day of school⁽⁴⁾ and vanished behind a closed door into a familiar small bedroom that felt much smaller than she remembered with the two of them inside. An infectious giggle rose in Twilight Sparkle’s chest and leaked out all over her companion as she got a good look at her carefully made up bed, with two pillows instead of one, and a special surprise on top.
(4) Coincidentally missing the section of ‘Twilight Sparkle: The Documentary’ where the young filly had been caught bribing her brother into helping bring back twice her own body weight in books from the school library on her first day in school.

“Look at what mom left on our pillow.”

Green Grass blushed fiercely, and tried not to look. “There’s a whole box of them. What does she think we’re going to be doing all night?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Twilight leaned up against his neck and batted her eyelashes. “I think we could make a good start on them tonight, and finish them up tomorrow. Think of it as a reward for your good behavior.”

Green Grass tried to blush more, lowering his head and mumbling, “Your father already slipped me a box tonight, when your mother wasn’t watching.”

“Ooo, what flavor?” Twilight craned her neck to look at the small package the stallion was trying to hide behind his back.

“I didn’t check. I was too embarrassed.” He shuffled around and peeked inside the box with a sigh. “Cherry.”

“Yes! My favorite! Trade?” Twilight draped herself across his back and leaned over to nuzzle him on one ear. “Pweeeeeze?”

“Well, I suppose, since you asked nice— Hey, those are cherry too. What if I don’t like cherry?”

“I’ll take ‘em!” Twilight popped a sugary chocolate into her mouth with a groan of orgasmatic pleasure. “Mmmmmm.”

“Hey! I didn’t say you could have my cherry!” There was a thump outside the door as if an older pony walking past stumbled, and Green Grass quickly added, “It’s a candy! Honest!” The sound of receding giggling in the hallway died out as the stallion collapsed onto the bed with a heavy sigh.

“Depressed?” Twilight Sparkle cuddled down tightly next to him as not to fall out of the narrow bed and popped a matching chocolate into his open mouth.

“No. Yes. Most definitely not.” He opened his mouth and accepted being fed another chocolate. “I’ve got so many emotions smashing around inside of me I think I’m about ready to pop. So many things left unsaid and undone.”

Twilight wriggled around delightfully while pulling up the covers, tucking in under one male foreleg as if she were sculpted to fit. “Well, I can think of one thing I’ve been waiting to do forever, and since it sounds like you can’t sleep, tonight’s the night!”

* * *

Later that evening, or more correctly, early in the morning, in bed.


“I can’t believe we put this off for so long.”

Green Grass chuckled in a distracted fashion while trying to concentrate on his activity. “Self-control. Very important. Makes this so much better with you.”

Twilight Sparkle harrumphed. “Well, I’m sorry for pushing so hard. You were right. It is better since we waited. Now hurry up.”

“Hey, you’re getting ahead of me!”

“Well, yes. A little.”

“Take your time and treasure the moment.” He jumped as she lightly bit down on his ear.

“I know. I’m impatient. Hurry up, or I start tickling. I know where all your ticklish spots are.”

“Unfair! That’s incentive for me to slow down.”

“You want to get to the end just as much as I do.” Twilight bit lightly and breathed down his ear. “Now turn the page, or I’ll make you yell so loud, all my friends will hear.”

With a sigh of regret, Green Grass turned the last page of Don Rocinante. “It always makes me a little sad to finish a book.”

Twilight leaned back with a sigh. “It makes me happy. Once you’re done, you get to start another one.”

“And another, and another, and—” Green Grass broke off when Twilight blew a puff of air into one sensitive ear and grinned as he squirmed to scratch the resulting itch.

“Hold on for a moment, lovercolt. I’ve got something else I want you to read.” Twilight crawled out of the covers, leaning over the edge of the bed and rummaging around in her bags on the floor. Green Grass weighed the relative downside of being caught watching her rump when she eventually did finally turn around versus the upside of actually watching her rump. The decision was easy, and he watched the interesting wiggles and twitches until she emerged with the paper she was looking for.

“Found it! I had it in the bottom of my bag so it wouldn’t get lost⁽⁵⁾.”
(5) Or read by anypony else.

She turned around, to Green Grass’ momentary regret at the loss of scenery, made up for by a much better view of the beautiful unicorn. Not looking away from his gaze for a moment, she gave him a piece of carefully folded paper that looked strangely familiar. He unfolded it, blushing nearly crimson as he recognized the ‘Permission Request’ from his memorable first night in the library bedroom. It smelled ever so faintly of smoke and was lightly speckled with dark spots as if the reader had a mouthful of tea when the letter was first read.

Then he read the addition at the bottom, written in an extremely tidy and royal form.

My dearest student,

As much as you may wish to seek understanding by analyzing and examining the ways of love, you will find them as great a mystery as anything I have ever seen in my long life.

Where logic fails, always trust your heart. In the end, what the heart truly desires can be brought to fruition no matter the obstacles that stand in its way.

In this regard, I trust you both to make a decision together that is the best for the two of you.

Princess Celestia

P.S. Don’t let him get away. The position of Royal Consort (Day or Night shift) is still open.

Green Grass looked up to see Twilight smiling so broadly it seemed as if she were glowing. “Does this mean—“ he started before Twilight Sparkle placed a hoof on his lips.

“Shh. I’m treasuring the moment,” she said, before turning out the light.

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