Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest

Prompt #228: Late Nights

“Where is she?” sighed Princess Celestia, as she stood at the entrance to the Canterlot Library.

“She’s in the ancient history section, Princess. Again. Though she did make a stop in the Starswirl Wing,” replied the librarian.

“I see,” said Princess Celestia, “Go home, my little pony. Take the night off. I’ll make sure that she cleans up after herself.”

“But...Princess, there always has to be a librarian on duty and...” the librarian trailed off, before she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Princess. I’ll be going now.” With that, she dashed out of the library door faster than Celestia could manage a blink. Celestia allowed herself a smile, and then headed deeper into the book shelves.

It was not terribly hard to find her-she liked to talk to herself while reading. All Celestia had to do was follow the sound of muttering and the occasional thud of a book being thrown to the floor.

“Now now, did the book really deserve that, Cadence?” asked Celestia, just after another tome on ancient history impacted against the marble floor. “I will admit I’m not entirely fond of Broken Quill’s presentation of the Griffon-Equestria war, but surely you can forgive his lack of references.” Celestia reached out with her magic, and levitated the book back onto the desk, placing it on top of a book titled ‘Myths and Legends of the Frozen North’.

The younger alicorn sighed.

“Hello, Celestia. Did the librarians complain about me?”

“They are concerned about you. I am concerned about you. You’re barely sleeping, Cadence. You spend every waking hour in here.”

“You would too, if Equestria suddenly vanished,” spat Cadence, turning back to her books. Celestia said nothing, content to wait out Cadence’s self-imposed silence. A sob broke the silence. Then a second, and soon the Alicorn of Love was crying outright. Celestia floated a kerchief over and wiped under Cadence’s eyes, before wrapping her in a hug.

“It – it just hurts so much, Auntie,” sobbed Cadence, “it’s like somepony has torn part of my heart out. But what hurts most is that I can’t do anything for them. They’re trapped, outside of anywhere I can sense. Nothing can help me help them, bring them back. Nothing even comes close to even mentioning spells of this size. Whatever Sombra did, it’s basically permanent.”

“I know, Cadence. I regret that we did not see the trouble brewing in the north until it was too late.”

“I’ve tried everything, auntie. Every time spell is either too powerful for me, or doesn’t last long enough, or can’t take me back far enough.”

“And what of the dark magic books?” asked Celestia, motioning to the two bound and chained tomes on the table, leaking darkness into the air.

“I...I couldn’t. I can’t stoop to his level.”

Celestia nodded, while Cadence continued to cry into her shoulder.

“There is one more method, Cadence, that you might consider trying.”

“What?” said Cadence, looking up into Celestia’s serene and smiling face, “What is it?”

“Patience. In my experience, very few things are absolutely ‘permanent’. It is clear that you are tied to the Empire’s existence. As long as it exists, so do you, and presumeably, vice versa. Eventually, whatever spell Sombra cast will weaken and fail, bringing it back into existance. It is simply a matter of time.”

*****Time****

“Thanks, auntie. I’ll give it a shot. I’ll try waiting.”

“That’s good to hear. Now, maybe you’ll stop scaring the librarians at night, hmm?”

Cadence had the decency to blush, and began to clear up her mess.

“But tell me, Cadence, how do you feel about teaching?” asked Celestia, as she slotted two books back into the shelves, “we need something to occupy your time while you wait, and the School for Gifted Unicorns could use a new illusion teacher.”

“It’ll be better than sitting around doing nothing, Auntie.”

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #228: “A For Effort”
The prompt: You’ve gotta get up and try try try.

Not bad, I think.

Comments

[Themaskedferret]

Interesting, though again, feels rushed. I'd like to see more of Cadance's emotional transitions.

[Malandy]

Huh... this is nice.

is this.... well now I really shouldn't call it the Destruction Twilight Verse.... the largest verse in Ponywatching? Or is that the Just Friends Verse?

Hmm... I wonder if there's enough of them to make separate stories here on FimFic...