Adventures of the Royal Equestrian Courier Service

"This one!"

Yellow magical glow enveloped a moderately thick volume standing on one of the middle lines of a bookshelf. It was lifted up and separated from its neighbours slowly, turned around and the pages gingerly parted before the eyes of Princess Celestia, who scanned the lines of writing and gave a satisfied nod. "Two-hundred years old, and still unmatched. No one's studied the old history of the griffons quite like dear old Dotted Heart. Not even the griffons."

She placed herself on her haunches and held up her front hooves to catch the book as her glow dissipated, weighing it with care. Her eyes wandered in thought. "Grend should still have my other copy in the embassy. There are several in the Royal Library if I'm not completely mistaken. So this should be fine."

The book rose into the air again under her guidance, as she stood up and walked a few steps over to the cart. It had a rectangular wooden base mounted on four free-turning wheels as well as two metal poles and a crossbar that served as the handle, and had been borrowed from the Royal Library itself, insomuch as Princess Celestia could be said to "borrow" anything. She had asked for it and intended to have it returned, at any rate, because her current location - her personal study - did not belong to the library compound. This was an exception, in more ways than one.

There were about a dozen books already resting on the cart, evenly spread across neatly stacked piles. Celestia placed Dotted Heart's De Historiis Gryphorum atop one of the stacks, and let her eyes wander across the shelves again. Occasionally, she pulled a book out halfway, glimpsed at the title, and put it back after a short pause.

She was about to turn towards another shelf closer to the entrance door, but caught herself. Her horn glowed again as she swiped across the top of the shelf she had just inspected, just under the ceiling. There was no trace of dust - the royal cleaning service had a reputation to uphold - but sure enough, there was a book up there, too. "Strange... When did I put that up there?"

It swiftly floated down in front of her, a brown tome with golden clasps, and a symbol of the sun on the cover - though instead of her own symbol, the yellow-white blazing sun that adorned flags all over the nation, it was equal parts yellow and red, mimicking the hues of an evening sky. And with sad eyes, Celestia remembered why she had put this book out of sight.

Her eyes wandered over to the cart, then back to the book hovering silently before her. Slowly, she let it hover to what would be the next spot on the pile, and paused. Then she shook her head, and the book was swiftly lifted over to her desk, on top of some papers she had previously decided were still good enough to sign the next day.

Volume after volume joined the haul on the library cart, one older and more immaculate than the next. Celestia had spent hours on her work by now, and started glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner. Twice her executive secretary had come by, twice the poor mare had been sent back with a hastily assembled note of apology regarding whatever appointment Celestia regretted to be unable to make. She didn't want to let it happen a third time. If she thought of more books to send, she could do so separately.

Then, of course, her eyes wandered over to her desk once more, to the book with the sunset emblem. After some deliberation, she trotted to the cushion behind her desk and sat down. With a glow of her horn, she lifted the book's cover a couple of inches, then stopped, staring at it. Shaking her head in annoyance, she flipped the cover all the way, letting it hit the desk with a faint thud, exposing the writing within.

She started reading. Tears filled her eyes as she did and with a swift flare of her magic, she slammed the book shut.

"I'm so glad you're alive," she whispered. "But it still hurts too much." She was silent for a while, letting the tears flow without an indication she noticed they were even there. "No, it's not that. I just can't. I lost you. That's why I can't."

She closed her eyes, dried them with two swift motions of a front hoof, and stood up again.

A tiny gong made of brass sat on a tiny wall-mounted shelf next to the entrance to her study. Celestia lifted its similarly tiny brass mallet and made it sound. Faintly, the deep and vibrating sound of a much more massive gong could be heard from outside the study. Within ten seconds, there was a knock on the door.

Celestia put on a smile. "Enter."

The door was opened with deliberation and care. A gray-coated, brown-maned earth pony stallion with a neatly trimmed full beard came in and took a bow. He bore a black postillon as a cutie mark. "At your service, Your Highness."

Celestia nodded towards the library cart, then caught herself and adopted a slightly sheepish expression. The foundation of the rather impressively sized pile of books remained neat and orderly, but as she had gone on, stretching the limits of her schedule, her handiwork had grown sloppier and sloppier. "I apologize for the delay, Sleet nor Hail. I'm afraid I was rather strapped for time, feel free to re-arrange the books as necessary."

"There is no need to apologize, Your Highness," Sleet nor Hail replied evenly, and walked briskly towards the cart. Celestia held in a breath as he placed his forelegs over the handlebar, and then proceeded to push the cart towards the door. Despite a slight swerving as the wheels aligned themselves, as if by magic, the books remained undisturbed. Somehow, under Sleet nor Hail's diligent guidance, the pile seemed more stable than ever before. Celestia almost felt silly to worry at all. "With your leave, I shall depart immediately."

Celestia nodded.

"Wait," she said, moments later. She lifted the sunset-emblazoned book from her desk. "One more. Thank you very much." Sleet nor Hail nodded dutifully, and the book slowly came to rest on top of the pile.

Once out the door, Sleet nor Hail continued to roll the cart down the palace hallway, past the Princess' personal guard detail, until he found the grand hall forming the center of the Palace. At the top of the stairs leading downwards, a dark wooden rectangular box with a set of straps attached had been set on the floor. From a pouch fastened to his neck, Sleet nor Hail produced a key, placed into a hard-to-spot keyhole just below the top of the box, turned it, and nudged the lid open. Then he methodically placed one book after another into the box, starting from the topmost book, and then moving on downwards. When there were several books in one layer, he started with the top left (from his point of view) and proceeded clockwise, until every book had found its place, and the cart was empty.

He gestured down the hall on the other side. Nothing happened. He rolled his eyes, put his hooves to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. A young unicorn stallion started up from a rather engrossing book and rushed to meet him, apologizing profusely. The box glowed in a blue shimmer, slowly rising up until it sat center on Sleet nor Hail's back. The young unicorn fastened the straps to Sleet nor Hail's body, then let his magic vanish, panting. Sleet nor Hail gave no sign that he even noticed the weight, gingerly tested the quality of the harness with some studied movements, then nodded in approval and started his walk down the stairs.

About half an hour later, Sleet nor Hail was standing on the platform of Canterlot Station. He approached a white mare with a black mane and a blue cap. She had a pencil in her mouth and closely watched two burly stallions carry a piano into a train wagon, waiting to make a checkmark on her clipboard.

Sleet nor Hail coughed to announce his presence. The mare turned towards him, glanced at the box on his back, and immediately shook her head, gesticulating towards the station clock. Sleet nor Hail reached into his pouch and produced a piece of paper, after which it didn't take long until the burly stallions wearing caps had unfastened his box and placed it into one of the cargo wagons. He earned some astonished looks as he followed them into the wagon and fit himself into the tiny space between his box and a stack of crates full of hygiene products, but there was no arguing with this particular piece of paper.

Later that day, with his cargo once more safely attached, Sleet nor Hail stepped briskly towards the rest of Ponyville. He was swiftly apprehended, however, by two oddly misshapen ponies clad in trenchcoats and black wide-brimmed hats.

"Halt!" one of them cried out, somewhat high-pitched, but confident.

Sleet nor Hail halted.

"What is your destination?" said the same pony.

"The castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, that's easy!" said the other pony, similarly high-pitched and a bit muffled, though oddly enough the voice didn't seem to originate from anywhere close to what was under the hat. "Ya can see it from anywhere! Should be a cinch to find it!" There was a sharp sound akin to 'shush'.

"What my advocate was trying to say is that it's a long and perilous road from here to there, and it would be a shame if you were to face an... unfortunate accident on the way," said the first pony.

"'Long and perilous'?" came a murmur from the second, this time from under the hat, quickly followed by another shushing.

The very misshapen ponies with apparently extraordinary talent in ventriloquism were then quiet, apparently expecting a reaction. Sleet nor Hail coughed. "I certainly agree. An accident would be quite the shame." He waited for a couple of seconds. "Well then, good day. I'll be off."

"Wait!" yelled the second pony, now affecting a very fillylike voice. There was extended murmuring, then he - or at this point, more likely at least partially she, Sleet nor Hail surmised - spoke up again, with a deeper tone this time. "What my associate was trying to say is that we would be causing that accident if our demands aren't met."

"Ah." Sleet nor Hail coughed. "Well then, with your permission I would like to express my confusion on two points. Point One, I believe if the, as you call it, unfortunate accident were to be intentionally caused by either of you, or the two of you working in unison, be it according to your client-advocate relationship or as associates in the same cause, it could no longer be termed an 'accident', as it were. It might be more accurate to term it an incident. Point Two, unless I have suffered a temporary lapse in my auditory faculties, I believe you have yet to state any kind of demands. Though of course I cannot rule out the possibility that you have stated demands to someone of similar appearance to me, in which case I bear you no ill will for the mistake, though would regrettably quite prefer to be on my way, your permission pending."

A very long pause followed.

Finally, there was some agitated murmuring going on under the hat and trenchcoat of the second pony. "What do you have in that box?" she finally asked.

"I cannot tell you."

"A-HA!" yelled out the second pony. "I put it to you that you can, you're just not allowed to! Like my parents telling me I can't have more than one cookie after dinner, but I can totally eat two!"

Sleet nor Hail blinked, then nodded. "Keenly argued. You are quite right in this particular case; I do know the contents of the box. I will not, however, share that information with you, nor anyone, under no circumstances. I am duty-bound."

"I'm Sweetie Belle. Nice to meet y-" the second pony abruptly stopped talking. There was some shaking, and ruffling, and visually rather disconcerting rearranging of the second pony's misshapen form, until it mostly matched what it had looked like at the beginning, though Sleet nor Hail suspected a significant change had occured nevertheless.

The first pony raised its voice again, annoyed. "Look, we're highway robbers, okay? Just tell us something you have so we can rob you."

"Well then," said Sleet nor Hail, "I have within me the strength and endurance to withstand all manner of elements so I can deliver whatever missive entrusted to me, no matter what."

"I don't think that's something we can rob."

"In that case," said Sleet nor Hail, "I also possess dignity and decorum as befit any of those who enter in service to the crown."

There was more hushed chatter. "I think we can't rob that either, and anyway it doesn't sound that valuable."

"You got any bits?" said the second pony. "We take cash or credit."

The first pony shrugged, or at the very least made a movement that vaguely resembled one. "Sure, that works."

"I am, in fact, in possession of a modest sum. Though if your intention is criminal in nature, I regret to inform you I shall be quite resistant."

"What?" said the first pony.

"I think he said he doesn't wanna." said the second, somewhat uncertain. "Are you sure?" she asked, "We were gonna give it back anyway."

"What? Why?" yelled out the first pony, again quite filly-like.

"'Cause stealin' is mean!"

"We've been over this! If we're going to take being highway robbers seriously, we're going to have to actually rob people! It's not robbing if we give it back!"

"But that's stealin'!"

"No! It's robbing! There's a difference! I think! Look, we'll get to that!"

"If I may interject," said Sleet nor Hail, "I do apologize for the intrusion, but in what way does our current location constitute a highway?"

There was a tense silence.

"It's a way," replied the first pony after a while, defensive.

"We tried up in the hills near town," said the second pony, "but we didn't find anypony to rob. Those would've been pretty high ways."

"Girls, forget it," came another voice, also from the direction of the second pony. "We're not gonna get the hang of this. Let's just give up and move on."

The first pony made an exasperated sigh. "And I had a really good feeling about this one."

"Why?" asked the second pony sharply, improving on its previously displayed ventriloquism skills by briefly sounding like two voices at once. "You said that about the other things we tried! We've got kind of a big list, you know, and Babs is only gonna be visiting for so long!"

"My shoulders hurt," said a previously unheard voice from within the trenchcoat of the first pony.

"Well, it was on the list of things we need four ponies for. We wouldn't have put it on the list if it wasn't a pretty good guess, would we?"

"It was the same as all the other lists. One of us said something and we wrote it down. I don't think we ever really think about how good our guesses are."

"Well, maybe we should put 'Cutie Mark Crusader Annoying Nitpickers' on the list. That sounds like a really good guess to me right about now."

"Don't make me come over there! You wouldn't like me if I came over there!"

"Who says I like you where you are now?!"

"I am terribly sorry," interjected Sleet nor Hail firmly. "I fear I have been beset by a sudden loss of my sense of orientation."

There was a short period of silence.

"Come again?" said the second pony.

"I do not know where I am, or where I need to go." He coughed. "You would not, by any chance, know of a group of four expertly skilled travel guides with knowledge of the local town layout? I must get to a certain address in Ponyville. If, indeed, this town I am standing in is Ponyville, which due to my aforementioned absolute loss of sense of orientation I cannot say."

"Why'dya need four?" asked the second pony sharply.

"Safety reasons. In case there is disagreement over the correct direction to choose, I would prefer to be able to consult a second opinion, as well as a third and fourth. It pays to be safe, after all."

The two misshapen ponies started shambling towards each other. Once they stood chest-to-chest, they proceeded to deliberate in hushed voices.

"Very well!" exclaimed one of them. "Me and my arbalests have decided that we will take on this task for a modest fee!"

"What's a fee?" asked another hushed voice, which Sleet nor Hail believed had belonged to the second pony before the two had come together in a way that made it quite difficult to judge where one pony began and the other ended.

"I dunno, read it somewhere."

"It means 'payment'," said the other voice from the second pony helpfully.

"Really? Sweet!"

"What? But he'll be lost if we don't help! We can't ask for money! That'd be just as mean as stealin'!"

The voice that had spoken for the first pony let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, fine. Hey, Dictionary, do you also know a word for when you don't want your fee after all 'cause you're dumb, I mean, nice like that?"

"Waive."

"Huh? Why? Do you see Rainbow Dash? Is Rainbow Dash flying a trick right now?" Suddenly one of the hats was lifted up and pushed to the side as an excited orange filly with a purple mane stuck out her head, searching the skies.

"No, the fee. You waive the fee. There's an 'i' in it."

"Oh." The orange filly quickly grabbed the brim of the hat with her teeth and vanished under it once more. "Right. I knew that." she mumbled and coughed far louder than any healthy, or indeed sick, pony would. "My assortments and I have graciously decided to waive our fee. With an 'i' in it."

Sleet nor Hail nodded. "That is most kind." He coughed. "Now, I believe it would be best if you were to fetch your two... colleagues right away, as I would quite like to avoid any further delay. Ah!" He exclaimed, lifting a foreleg over his eyes. "The afternoon sun does sting so terribly. My mood is lightened by the comforting hope that once I have rested these sore, hurting eyes enough and open them to daylight once more, I shall be guided to my target by four of the most experienced travel guides of this town, whatever it may be."

He patiently listened, and released his eyes once the rustling had ceased. "Now, with whom do I have the honor?"

The four fillies bowed, three of them simultaneously, the fourth hurrying after. The milky-white one with the pink-and-purple mane raised her voice. "Mr. Dutybound, my name is Sweetie Belle. Me and my colleagues will be honored to be your Cutie Mark Crusader Travel Guides for today!"

"Yay!" added the brown-coated one with the pink mane. A fairly awkward silence ensued. "Don't we usually do the 'yay'? I'm confused." she asked in a hushed tone.

"We do," a yellow filly with red mane and bow mumbled through her teeth.

"She didn't do the pause and ruined it. Just act natural," whispered the orange filly Sleet nor Hail recognized as the Rainbow Dash enthusiast.

"I just wanted to be a little professional about it, is all," mumbled Sweetie Belle, audibly hurt. "You don't see Mr. Dutybound going 'yay' after telling us what he does, do you? That's 'cause he's a professional."

"He didn't tell us what he does. For all we know he is just some guy with a box."

"You think ponies carry boxes like that for fun? Hold on." The filly that had introduced herself as Sweetie Belle spoke up. "What do you do, Mr. Dutybound?"

Sleet nor Hail cleared his throat. "If you must know, I am, as the documents I have in my pouch will certify, a royal courier of the Royal Equestrian Courier Service."

"See? Professional through and through," whispered Sweetie Belle, ducking her head back into the gaggle the four of them had formed.

"Yay," Sleet nor Hail added.

The four fillies looked up and turned to him, confused. "Did you say something?" asked the orange one.

Sleet nor Hail coughed. "I don't believe I did."

The filly eyed him suspiciously. "Anyway, we should probably get going. You want to get to Twilight's castle, don't you?"

"That is correct."

"Alright, girls. Line up! Two walk in front of him, and two behind. Hop to it! One! Two!"

"Hold on, hold on," said the yellow one. "What're ya talking about?"

"Got to protect him from lowway robbers and stuff. Just go with it. We've wasted enough of his time by now."

Sleet nor Hail lifted an appreciative eyebrow.

"One! Two! Go!"

And onwards they marched.

"Oh, so your name isn't Dutybound after all?" asked Sweetie Belle, surprised.

"Indeed not. It is, in fact, Sleet nor Hail."

"Why 'Sleet nor Hail'?" asked the filly that had introduced herself as Apple Bloom in the meantime.

"Rain and the gloom of night aren't worth mentioning, and I quite dislike snow."

"What?"

"At any rate, it appears we've arrived," said Sleet nor Hail, now that they stood just in front of the entrance doors to Twilight's castle. "And I have you to thank, Cutie Mark Crusader Travel Guides."

"Yay!" the four of them yelled in unison.

"While you have graciously waived your fee, I do wish to offer you a reward for your trusty service." He opened the pouch hanging around his neck and produced a tiny metal box. He nudged open the lid and held it out. "Within this box I keep a supply of genuine royal courier mints, specifically made for members of my organization. Their enduring and intense flavor grants us additional fortitude during rough sections of travel, and keeps our breaths minty fresh for when we arrive at our target location without having had the opportunity to brush our teeth." He coughed. "Which I must stress you still have to do, even if you eat one of these."

"Whoooa," said the fillies in unison, as Sweetie Belle gingerly used her magic to lift four green mints out of the box, placing one each in her friends' waiting hooves. "Thanks, Mr. Hail!" they said.

"My pleasure, sisters," said Sleet nor Hail, neatly tucking the box back into the pouch.

"Sisters?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Out on the open road, all travelers are brothers in spirit. Or sisters. As the case may be." Sleet nor Hail bowed. "Farewell," he said, and nudged open the castle door.

After the door shut behind him and Sleet nor Hail heard the excited chatter slowly dying down as the fillies moved down the road, he gave a relieved sigh.

He cracked a smile. "I love my job," he said to himself aloud, and went immediately serious again. This was to be the most egregious transgression of his code of conduct for the entire year.

His keen eyes spotted a two-story library cart. As he moved over, a voice called out from further down the hall. "Ho there! What have you got?"

Sleet nor Hail gave a quick bow. "I am Sleet nor Hail, a courier sent by Celestia with a delivery."

"More books, right?", replied the voice belonging to a swiftly approaching pony in a blue workman's suit. "Just a guess. It's most of what she gets. You keep wondering whether she might need a kitchen built, or some plumbing done, or some extra beds to fill all those rooms, but she's all about the books, that one."

Sleet nor Hail coughed. "Might I request use of this cart?"

"Knew it was gonna be books. That's what it's for, go on! I'll wait and take 'em up for ya right away. Do I sign anything?"

Sleet nor Hail examined one of his pieces of paper. "Am I talking to Handy Mane?"

"That's me!"

"Overseer of Her Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle renovation and improvement effort, listed here. Well, that seems to be in order. I will ask you to sign in a moment. Could you assist me with the parcel?"

"You got it!" said Handy Mane and swiftly moved to undo the straps that tied the wooden box to Sleet nor Mane's back. Quickly and with professional care, they lowered it to the ground. Sleet nor Hail then produced the key and unlocked it.

He inspected the multitude of books inside. "This may take a while." Handy Mane nodded, and Sleet nor Hail began his work.

First, he placed about a dozen books on the cart, evenly spread across neatly stacked piles, starting with the book to the right of the upper left-most space and proceeding counter-clockwise. As he continued placing them, the stacking became progressively sloppier, until one had to start to wonder if anything would slip and fall on the floor. It didn't, of course. Finally, he took the last book from the box, and carefully balanced it on the stack that sat center atop the pile.

The book glew pink and vibrated. Sleet nor Hail blinked twice, which was his equivalent, speaking in terms of degrees of surprise, of a glass-shattering girlish yell.

"That supposed to happen?" asked Handy Mane.

"I don't believe so. I have not been informed it might, at any rate," Sleet nor Hail answered evenly. "I think it would be wise to deliver these books to Princess Twilight Sparkle at the earliest convenience, and call attention to the strange behavior."

"Right you are," said Handy Mane.

"Do you require assistance?" asked Sleet nor Hail. "I suspect you have a magical lift set up."

"We sure do. Gonna build in a permanent one later this week. And thanks for the offer, but I got it from here. Good job, man. That box looked heavy as all get out."

"All in a day's work." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pouch, and held up a pen. Handy Mane swiftly used his mouth to sign his name, and both paper and pen disappeared where they came from. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Handy Mane."

"Safe road ahead, Sleet nor Hail."

The rocal courier nodded in appreciation, then pulled open the door and walked down the road to town.

Handy Mane, meanwhile, pushed the cart over to the magical lift, critically eyeing the vibrating and glowing book, wondering about the correct way to report an occurence of this kind to his superiors, deciding that, like the many times before, it'd come to him in the moment.

Music in our Hearts

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"So," said Rarity cheerily, "how did you learn to play the guitar anyway?"

Sunset Shimmer plucked at her guitar strings, smiling faintly. Then she seemed to register something had been said and looked up. The group had sat down on the floor of Applejack's barn for a break from band practice, most of them leaning against the haystacks and not doing much of anything. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were playing some manner of card game in a corner. "Huh?"

"Been kinda wonderin', too," Applejack added. "I mean, bein' a pony and all. Can't be easy to play instruments with fingers if you ain't used to it."

"What kind of instruments do you have?" asked Fluttershy. "Are they like ours?"

"Oh, we have instruments very much like yours," said Sunset. "We have pianos, and tambourines. Drums, too. And all sorts of strings. Violins, cellos." She plucked a couple of chords. "Guitars, too. We use magic in place of electricity, but we do have records and turntables and amps. Unicorns use magic to hold and play instruments, too, but it's not as common as you'd think. We've got pretty dextrous hooves. Everything's eerily similar once you stop to think about it, but I guess that's par for the course for parallel universes as close as ours." She squinted for a moment. "I wouldn't know how similar it is, though, because I never played music as a pony."

"Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash and, in turn, Pinkie Pie looked up from their cards. "No way! You're too good!"

Sunset went a slight shade of pink and smiled. "No, I'm telling you. When I was little, it was all learning and magic and," she hesitated, looking for words, "basically, becoming like Celestia. I mean, as a kid, she was just... Celestia. I don't even know what to compare it to."

"Like a favorite teacher?" said Fluttershy.

"The world's most famous pop star?" suggested Rarity.

"Or athlete!" added Rainbow Dash.

"The president?" said Applejack after short deliberation.

"Santa!", yelled Pinkie.

"Yes!" Sunset chuckled. "All of that! And more. I mean, she makes the sun move! Literally! She's been around for a thousand years and more! And I got picked to be her personal student and protegé. Oh, I loved that. I loved every second of that. I was the happiest little filly you could imagine. You'd think someone like that would be stingy with praise, but no. Every time we met, she'd compliment me on what I had learnt and all that. I didn't even like hitting the books all that much. Before I got to her school, I never did any work. But when it was for her, it was the easiest thing in the world." Her expression darkened. "Of course, then I had to go and ruin everything."

The group, even Pinkie, exchanged some guilty looks. "We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to," Rarity said, accompanied by supportive nods.

Sunset met their sorrowful looks, blushed and broke out in stifled laughter. "It's called foreshadowing, guys. You're my friends, it's fine! Lighten up! If I wasn't going to finish my story, you think I'd even start?" She smiled and spread her arms. "You know this story has a happy ending. I mean, you are the happy ending. You can sit through some doom and gloom with me."

"Hell yeah!"

"Doom and gloom! Woo!"

Laughter spread through the barn, shining like rainbows.

"Here's the thing. Everything was about Celestia. About getting praised by her, about getting to meet her, about doing the things she wanted me to do, so she would be happy. But that meant nothing else mattered. Nobody else mattered. Why would I care about the other kids? Or the teachers? I was special, after all! I was better than everyone! Oh, I was unbearable. You can probably imagine."

"We can," said Rarity and Applejack in unison. Fluttershy stifled a snicker with her hand. Rainbow just rolled her eyes.

Pinkie Pie pondered. "Oh, like Rainbow Dash! She's kind of like that sometimes! But still a really good person, once you get to know her!"

"Thank you, Pinkie," said Rainbow in a deadpan tone devoid of thankfulness.

"You're welcome!"

When Sunset Shimmer managed to stop giggling, she continued. "Eventually, I got scolded for the first time. I'd started giving lip to teachers and other students, and of course the teachers eventually told Celestia about it, and she started telling me about humility and, well, in so many words, that I should stop being such a little brat." She pondered for a little while. "It's hard to imagine her being that blunt, but if she had been, that might have worked. But all I understood is that all the others were jealous of me, and jealous of my relationship with Celestia, so they were trying to put me down. And that was easy to deal with. I just had to pretend. Kind of like you play pretend with little kids. Just play nice so everyone does what you want." She shuddered. "I got pretty good at it. Of course, I was still mean to the other students, but only when I could get away with it. I started playing them against each other for fun. I'm pretty sure you can imagine that."

There were some sheepish smiles, but everyone nodded their heads.

"At some point, I started wondering what I would grow up to be. When I was really little, I always wanted to be Celestia. When I realized that was impossible, I started thinking I might want to be a really famous scholar, or magician. Someone who would get asked by Celestia to complete important tasks, or do important research, and who would meet with her all the time and all that. But at some point, while I was reading about history, I found out that there had been ponies - regular ponies, unicorns, like me - who had become like Celestia. Who had become a prince, or princess. I couldn't just be close to Celestia. I could actually be just like Celestia. From that point onwards, it was all I could think about. It was all I cared about. And from that it really grew out of control. I got into a huge fight with Celestia over it, and that eventually brought me here, and you know the rest. How did we get into all of that?" Sunset stared at the ceiling, eyes squinted. "Yeah. No music. I never even thought about music while I was in Equestria."

Applejack scratched her head. "Huh. That's right. Me and Rarity wanted to know how you learned to play the guitar, didn't we?"

"Though we certainly don't mind!" said Rarity. "It's so touching to see you open up to us like that. I don't know what to say." She sniffed loudly and blew her nose into a kerchief she'd pulled from her school bag halfway through Sunset's story.

Sunset smiled and shook her head. "No, I had a reason for going into all of that. I kind of forgot halfway through, but I think I remember." She scratched her chin, pondering. "You know I was with Flash for a while?"

"Sure," said Applejack.

"You were just using him to become popular, I believe you said," added Rarity helpfully.

"Because you wanted all of the school to become your personal army so you could overthrow Celestia and replace her so you could be Equestria's one and only princess, like you've always wanted!" added Pinkie, the epitome of helpfulness, proud to have connected the dots. "What? You're always telling me to pay attention! Did I get that wrong?"

"No, you're pretty spot on, Pinkie," Sunset said with a smile, watching her friends slowly recover. "Of course, Flash had other things in mind."

Rainbow got a gleam in her eyes and broke out into a dirty grin. Applejack bonked her on the head before she could say anything.

"Did he take you on dates?" asked Rarity.

"Sure."

"Long walks?" asked Fluttershy.

"That, too."

"Did he play sweet, sweet music for you?" asked Rainbow Dash, earning another knock on the head, pinning it to the ground. "So worth it," she pressed through her teeth.

Sunset breathed in and out deeply, and smiled. "He did."

She said it very quietly, almost whispering, but the resulting silence was absolute. Not one of the others risked a word, or even particularly noisy breathing, while they waited for Sunset to continue.

"You understand, I never was really interested in him. Nothing to do with him being human and me technically not, mind you. Not sure why; you'd think that would be a problem, but I guess that's part of the change." She held up her hands and looked at them. "These were a bit of an issue for a couple of weeks, but they're so useful, you kind of get used to it pretty fast." She slowly lowered her hands into her lap, slowly following them along with her eyes. "I think he noticed from the beginning I wasn't really wild about him. I mean, I was pretending, as best as I could, and it was enough to reel him in. But he noticed. And I guess he thought it meant he had to try harder." She lifted her knees and held them, shrinking into herself. "I was the worst."

"Keep going," said Rarity, as encouragingly as she could.

"Doom and gloom," whispered Pinkie Pie.

"With you all the way."

Sunset had tears in her eyes. But she smiled, and sat up again. "It wouldn't have been so bad if he had just tried to go over the top with it. Tried to impress me. If he had just played my game. Gone fake. But he didn't. He just genuinely wanted to be closer to me, to get that distance to go away. To him, that meant playing me the guitar. Sometimes we sat in the park, sometimes we sat in his room. And he played, and sang. And I didn't outright hate it. I mean, what I wanted was to be known as the girlfriend of the most popular guy in school. Everything else I just faked my way through so he would stay with me. The music, I kind of liked. Eventually, he started teaching me to play. Just basic stuff. And I kind of liked that, too. And I know what you're thinking."

"We're not thinking anything," said Rainbow, grinning.

"Nope."

"Nothing whatsoever."

"What would we even be thinking about?" asked Pinkie, incredulous. "Him brushing up to you, his hands touching your hands to show you the right positions and grips? Or maybe how he's just behind you, your bodies touching, his head peeking over your shoulder, his breath tickling your neck, his voice entering your ears loud and clear even though you can't see from where, because he's just so agonizingly present, and somehow, even though he is so close, so intimately close, you're still supposed to listen, and even though his hands are so warm, so firm, yet still so gentle, you're supposed to concentrate on how they're holding the strings instead of all the other things he could do with them?" She looked at the others. "What? You keep staring at me."

Rarity's glare quickly broke down. "Pinkie, you don't happen to do any writing in your spare time? I'd love to have a look."

"Don't encourage her," grumbled Rainbow.

"You have your priorities, I'll have mine."

Sunset clapped her hands twice. "I'll correct myself. I think I knew what the rest of you were thinking. I will never again, for as long as I live, claim to know what Pinkie is thinking."

Pinkie giggled. The others nodded in solemn agreement.

"What I remember from those moments isn't Flash, or what he did, or how he did it. Somehow, the guitar lessons stuck with me. I started humming tunes to myself, songs Flash played, or that I would pick up elsewhere. It went on for a while. Eventually Flash broke up with me. You might remember I didn't take it too well."

"Oh, you were a nightmare!" said Rarity. "Fluttershy didn't come to school for days. She was just too terrified."

Sunset winced. "Really? Damn. I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I don't even remember half the stuff I did."

Fluttershy smiled. "Don't worry. But if you didn't like-like him, why were you so angry?"

"I still thought I had wrapped him around my little finger, you see? He messed up my plans. I couldn't have that. And I guess the rejection itself stung. It was a little like getting rejected by Celestia all over again. I was just furious. And then I decided if I couldn't be the girlfriend of the school's best guitarist, I would simply replace him. And so I bought a guitar, and records, and books about playing guitar, and spent every second of free time I had with it." She picked up the guitar again and played some basic chords. "Once I got good enough, my plan was to break up his band and then snatch up his former bandmates to form my own." She blushed. "Man, actually saying it out loud is even worse than remembering it. I sound like a movie villain."

"A bad movie villain," mumbled Rainbow Dash. She was thoroughly shushed. "Sue me for having an opinion," she muttered under her breath.

"So, what happened?" asked Applejack. "At school we just thought you'd kinda mellowed out, and just leading up to the Fall Formal you turned into a nightmare again."

"I think I can show you what happened." Sunset closed her eyes and started playing.

At first, she repeated the basic chords from before, slowly escalating in speed and variations; then she started playing proper tunes. First, fairly straightforward ones, but quickly escalating in complexity. She started playing recognizable melodies from songs the others knew from the radio or albums, and some they didn't recognize. Eventually, it was all stuff they had never heard before. It sounded angry, haunting, powerful. Then, on occasion, it grew wistful, and from there, melancholy. When it stopped, everyone was startled, and looked in Sunset's direction.

She rubbed tears out of her eyes and took a deep breath. "Eventually, I had forgotten all about Flash, and his band, and my plan. I was just playing because I felt like it. Because I liked it." She started playing again, bolder than before, almost happy. "And then I realized what was happening." She stopped.

And then she took off the strap and sat the guitar down against a haystack next to her. "The more I played, the less sure I became that overthrowing Celestia and taking her place was worth it. Whether or not I was missing something. It was making me think in ways that I hadn't thought before. It was starting to reach me, right here." She put a hand on her chest. "And I couldn't have that. So I put the guitar away and dedicated myself once more to being a horrible person."

There was a short pause.

"And that's it?" said Rainbow Dash.

"That's it. You know the rest."

"Aw," mumbled Pinkie. "And here I thought the power of music was going to fix everything."

Rainbow Dash blinked, and gave her an incredulous look. "Pinkie, you remember what actually happened, right? How did you think this story was going to go?"

Sunset giggled. "If it helps, Pinkie - Remember what the magical elements were called that you used to help me?"

"Huh? Oh, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity and whatzit?" Pinkie scratched her chin in thought. "Elements of Friendship? Elements of Pony Magic Stuff?"

"Harmony!" exclaimed Fluttershy. She shrunk a little as the others looked at her. "Twilight called the crown her Element of Harmony."

"Exactly!" said Sunset happily. She opened her mouth to say something else, then grew ponderous.

When she spoke up again, it was slowly, trying to weigh each word. "Here's the thing. The Elements of Harmony kind of... take everything inside you that's jumbled up and wrong and twisted and put it right. They clear away all the dust you've been kicking up to hide the things that you don't want to see. In my case, it's that I never understood why being close to Celestia made me happy. It wasn't because being Celestia was the greatest thing you could possibly be, and just being close to her made some of that greatness shine onto you and make you special. No, no. It was because Celestia comforted me when I was feeling down, because we could laugh together, because I could ask her anything and she would teach me, because she always kept her word, because I could trust her with anything, forever. It was because Celestia was my friend."

"That's all the Elements of Harmony did. Let me see my one mistake for what it was. That changed everything. And I felt it, right here." And she smiled, and put her hand on her chest. "Just like I did when I was playing the guitar back then. When I felt I was missing something. So, maybe the power of music didn't fix everything, but I'd say it put up a good fight. And then you came and made certain its valiant effort was not in vain. Or something like that."

Pinkie made a thoughtful expression. "Yeah, I can live with that." she finally decided, smiling. "That makes a good story, too."

Everyone chuckled, only Sunset stayed silent, hand still resting just above her heart. "Um, would you mind if I leave band practice early?" she asked.

Applejack laughed. "Band practice was over half an hour ago."

"You go do what you need to do," added Rarity. "It seems important."

Sunset nodded. "It kind of is." She got up and grabbed her guitar, carried it to her case resting on one of the haystacks, and put it away.

When she turned around, she found the others had gotten up as well, and were in a small gaggle right in front of her. No one said a word. Fluttershy moved first, throwing her arms around a somewhat startled Sunset Shimmer, followed by Applejack embracing them both, then Rarity joining in, followed by the others.

Something unrecognizable came out of Sunset Shimmer's mouth, distorted by sobs and snot, and muffled by the gaggle of friends holding her tight. They understood her anyway.

Disciples of Friendship

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"You know, for a moment there, I thought Sunset Shimmer was going to talk about how harmony is an important concept in music, so the Elements of Harmony and music are one of a kind, sort of like two branches of the same tree," Pinkie pondered aloud.

Applejack turned. "Come again?"

"When she was talking about Elements of Harmony. I think that's what she wanted to say, before she remembered that really important thing."

"I guess that's possible."

"Hey, what do you think is the thing?"

"The thing, huh." Applejacked furrowed her brows, scratched her chin, and pondered. "Let me see..."

Pinkie stared at her expectantly.

"I'd say Sunset's sitting at home wonderin' right now why it is that Pinkamena Pie is lazing around mindin' other people's business instead of sweeping the barn like she said she would."

Pinkie looked down at the broom handle she had been leaning on while daydreaming, then grinned sheepishly and got back to work, thoroughly spurred on by the heat emitted by Applejack's seething glare.

There were not many things in the multiverse that could leave Princess Celestia stumped.

She had seen empires rise and fall, kept track of generations of scientific progress by the most inventive minds in history (and contributed to some of it), personally studied and experienced hundreds of distinct cultures all over the world and in other dimensions besides. There was barely a stone left unturned, a thought left unthought, or an experience generally left unhad within her lifetime.

Yet somehow, every year anew, somepony working in a quiet room somewhere in the back of her administrative office would turn up some form or another spoken of in the most arcane regulations, which would be impenetrable in both meaning and purpose but still somehow require her diligent review and signature. Celestia had forgotten the meaning of more words than even were listed in the dictionary, and yet by the third reading of these documents ... she could still find no better word to describe her predicament than 'stumped'. She briefly considered 'bamboozled', but the word had a whimsical quality to it that made it entirely unsuitable.

What she wouldn't give for a distraction. And that was a problem in itself; distractions were not hard to come up with in the busy life of an Equestrian diarch. These particular documents had been on her desk for a while. This morning however, she had been informed that her dallying was to blame for a halt in railroad construction and a moratorium on the release of petting zoo permits all over Equestria—with the as yet unexplained exception of the municipality of Vanhoover, where railroad construction and petting zoo proliferation continued unperturbed, but toilet paper was now illegal.

So it was that when there was a knock on the door, she was struck with an odd mixture of relief and apprehension. On one hand, it was the distraction she had so longed for, on the other, bad news tended to be followed by more bad news.

"Come in!"

One of her servants opened the door, poked his neck in and gave a quick bow. "A visitor for you, your Highness. Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Celestia beamed. "Excellent! Show her in straight away, please!"

Seconds later Twilight Sparkle entered, as usual for her wearing none of the regalia that would have given away her position as Equestria's freshly crowned Princess of Friendship, but instead a set of saddlebags much like the ones she used to wear on trips to the library and back, a long time ago. She could barely close the door before Celestia had walked up and thrown her wings around her. "I was going to apologize for showing up without an appointment, but you don't seem to be very upset," came Twilight's muffled voice through the feathers.

"I am always glad to see you, Twilight!" said Celestia, releasing Twilight from her embrace. "Appointment or not. That is a given." She paused for a second, then shot Twilight a sorrowful look. "Spike is alright, isn't he?"

Twilight's eyes went wide. She hurriedly shook her head. "Of course! He's out with Rarity digging for gems. He's been looking forward to it all week, so I didn't want to drag him away just to send a message. I kind of assumed... well..." she trailed off, and adopted a guilty expression.

Celestia raised her forehoof and gave Twilight's muzzle a playful nudge. "No more of that. I wouldn't want to do anything to ruin Spike's afternoon either. You were absolutely right to assume. You're always welcome." She shot the documents on her desk a disapproving look. "Formalities can be so tiresome, can't they?"

Twilight Sparkle shot a glance at her left saddlebag, which held a copy of that day's meticulously planned schedule—all twenty-one pages of it. "I guess so?" she said warily.

Celestia sat herself down behind her desk again. "Now, I am given to understand that you had another run-in with the humans of Canterlot High, as well as a villainous trio of sirens. I'd love to hear all about it."

"Where do I start? It's not like I did all that much. I pretty much just spent a lot of time trying to write a musical counterspell that didn't end up working. If it wasn't for Sunset Shimmer, I might not even be standing here right now."

"How is she?" asked Celestia quietly.

"I think she's just fine. I'm pretty sure, actually. Which leads into why I'm here." Twilight smiled as she sat down herself. "Did Spike's letter tell you exactly how I made it to the human world?"

Celestia shook her head. "I've been wondering about that. Spike did mention you responded to a call for help of some sort. I assumed you may have brought over one of the communication devices you told me about. Mobile phones, I believe? One of those might have served as a tethering point to construct another portal."

"From what I understand, mobile phones wouldn't work in our world because we do not have the towers that project the waves they use to communicate with each other. Also, they would eventually run out of electricity. Anyway, no. That wasn't it." Twilight set her horn alight with magic and lifted an object out of her saddlebag: a book with a sunset emblem, resisting her childish urge to go "Ta-daaa" all the while.

Celestia's eyes widened.

Twilight carefully set the book down on Celestia's desk, turning it around so it lay in front of her. "You had it basically right. I used this."

"So she did keep it," whispered Celestia.

"You didn't know?"

"When her quarters were searched, her book didn't turn up. So I always hoped. But when you told me she had resented me for most of her time in the human world, I assumed she had eventually gotten rid of it." Celestia sighed. Her horn shone yellow as the book slowly edged towards Twilight's side of the desk. "Please continue."

Twilight looked at the book, lying only inches removed from leaning over the edge of the desk and falling into her lap, then up at Celestia again. A moment of silence came and went, noted but not acknowledged. Then Twilight recounted her experiences, starting with her research of the sirens, hesitantly at first, but quickly losing herself in the details and the excitement of freshly made memories.

"And then Sunset threw off her jacket, just like that," Twilight made an odd sort of twirl and flourish with her hooves, then shot them an annoyed look, "Well, done with hands it looked pretty cool, anyway, and she picked up that microphone and just went for it. She was amazing. I wonder if I can remember the words." She pondered for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure if I can make it sound the way she sang it anyway."

"Try me," said Celestia, smiling.

Twilight smiled back, closed her eyes, and sang.

"You're never gonna bring me down

You're never gonna break this part of me"

She paused, and opened her eyes again, to find Celestia no longer smiling. She continued, less certain of herself.

"My friends are here to bring me 'round

Not singing just for popularity..."

Twilight stopped again. "Prin—" she shook her head, "Celestia?"

"I am fine. Keep going."

"We're here to let you know

that we won't," Twilight's eyes narrowed. She threw a hoof down on Celestia's desk, producing a soft thudding noise. "I'm sorry, I can't let this go." She glanced down at her hoof to find it had connected with Sunset's letter book, explaining why the sound hadn't been one of a hoof connecting with oak. "I know there's something. Why did you send me this book?"

"Given your recent contact with Sunset Shimmer, I felt it would likely be of more use to you than me," answered Celestia evenly.

"Well, it did turn out to be useful, but didn't you think Sunset Shimmer might write you again?"

Celestia blinked twice at that. "She did?"

"I didn't tell you?" Twilight looked down at the book again. "Right, because I wanted to show you," she pushed the book towards Celestia, who inched back slightly, staring at it. Twilight didn't notice, since she had her eyes set on the book, flipping through the pages with her magic until she had found what she was looking for.

"Twilight, this really isn't necessary," said Celestia, but her eyes met the page anyway.

Dear Princess Celestia,

The words themselves, she recognized. The hoofwriting, however, was new, and different in an odd way, like it was not even hoofwriting. There was no avoiding it.

Twilight anxiously watched Celestia's eyes flick over the page in a hurried manner. Slowly, the young princess felt reassured; she hadn't been imagining things after all. Something was not right.

"I see. Well, it's a good thing she reached you right away. I remember I wasn't in my study most of the time for the rest of that day. I might not have noticed," said Celestia finally. Both horn and book began to glow in yellow light.

"There's more," said Twilight, placing a hoof gently on the open book. Some moments went buy until the yellow glow around the book dissipated, and without hesitation Twilight used her own magic to turn the page.

Celestia sighed, then began reading. Moments later, she met Twilight's expectant eyes, smiling. "That is wonderful."

"There's more."

Another page was flipped. Celestia looked at it briefly, still smiling, but shook her head. "It's lovely you and Sunset are keeping in touch, but do you really think it's fine for me to—"

"Yes, it is," said Twilight.

Stunned silence filled the room.

Then Celestia laughed. "I can't remember the last time I was interrupted."

Twilight swallowed hard. "You did say formalities can be tiresome," she said, weighing each word carefully and wishing she had done the same just a moment ago.

Celestia just looked at her, as if Twilight's words were as slow to reach her ears as they had been said. Then she nodded, smiling, and continued reading. She turned the page once more , and still kept reading. And ever so slowly, right in front of Twilight's eyes, her smile vanished. Finally she shook her head and looked up again. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I... I feel like I'm intruding. I'm glad Sunset is doing well, I really am, and thank you for showing me. But these aren't for me to read."

Twilight opened her mouth, trying to find something to say and failing. Then she nodded. "All right. I understand."

Celestia smiled in return, visibly relieved.

Twilight's horn flared up again, and another two pages were turned.

"Twilight, please—" Celestia began. But then she looked closer.

Dear Princess Celestia,

it's me, Sunset Shimmer. Last time I wrote to you, it was because the human world needed help, and it was the only way. This time, I don't have an excuse.

I can't ask you to hear me out. So often you've listened to the things I had to say, and I never once returned the favor. Nothing I could say can make up for that. So I'll keep writing just in case you're still there, and still listening.

I'm sorry.

I've said those words to a lot of people these last few weeks. They were hard to get out. Not because I didn't mean them, but because I didn't think they would help. After what I did to all these people, why would they care? But Tw my friends told me saying sorry may not be enough, but if you mean it, it can't hurt, and it's a start. And everything has to start somewhere.

But after all I did to you, all I tried to do to you, "I'm sorry" sounded so empty. It's the truth, but so little of it. What am I sorry for? So many things. Plotting your downfall. Ignoring your advice. Abusing the privileges you granted me every chance I got. Being two-faced and cruel to the other students under your protection. I could keep naming things and I wouldn't be done for years. That's why it took so long for me to write you. With all the others, I could say "I'm sorry" and I mostly knew what it meant. With you, there was just too much. I couldn't get a handle on it. I didn't fully understand what I was sorry for. Until today.

You were the first, and best friend I ever had. But I wasn't your friend. I've never been. You gave me happy memories, so, so many, and I threw them all away. You tried to teach me laughter, kindness, generosity, honesty and loyalty, and I didn't listen. You offered me friendship, and I slapped it out of your hands and laughed in your face.

I'm sorry.

Sunset

Celestia stared down at the book.

Teardrops fell on the pages. She kept staring for what seemed like minutes, then her eyes moved to she side, to the inkwell and quill that she had readied to sign the documents she had long since forgotten about again.

Twilight coughed, breaking a long silence, and smiled once she had gotten Celestia's attention. "I have some things I want to look up in the library. I'll leave you to it!" she said happily, turning around.

"What should I write?" Celestia whispered.

Twilight stopped in her tracks. "Come again?"

"What should I write? What do I say to her?" Celestia, who had made no effort to hide or wipe away the tears anymore, gave the younger princess a faint smile. "Is it so unusual for me to ask you for advice?"

"Well, uh." Twilight stared. "Kind of. I didn't, I. Uhm." She swallowed. Then she walked back to the desk, and sat on her haunches, looking up at Celestia towering over her on the other side. She swallowed again. "I'll try. I mean, I can't tell you what to write. That's not for me to do."

"Of course."

"It's just-" Twilight paused, and thought hard. "I don't know a better way to say this. You're Celestia. You're Princess Celestia. It's hard for me to imagine that you could have trouble with anything, let alone a letter."

"Weren't you there when I was defeated in battle by the changeling queen?"

Twilight sighed. "Yeah."

"Whose disguise, I might add, you saw through while I did not?"

"Not for the right reasons."

"I did not fight Tirek to a standstill..."

"I had your powers. And Luna's and Cadance's. That wasn't just me. It was never just me."

Celestia chuckled. "I did not even think it might be possible to fight him that way. Nor did Luna, or Cadance. No one, we believed, could possibly control that much power all at once without weeks or months of practice, time we didn't have. But you managed it."

"All right!"

"And , of course, in one thousand years, I did not find a way to free my sister from her imprisonment without the Elements of Harmony, nor manage to regain my connection to them. Would I have had you and your friends go through all that danger if I could have averted it?"

"I know! I know!" Twilight exclaimed, leaving behind an almost deafening silence. "I do know. It's just hard to wrap my head around. Haven't you written hundreds of thousands of letters?"

"There is a limit to how much knowledge the mind can absorb, Twilight." Celestia pointed at her desk, then at the shelves around her. "Equestria is a place full of life, full of new thoughts and new minds and ideas, day after day. I try to hold on to the things that are important and true, but many things escape or just slip out of my mind entirely. And some of my mistakes I don't notice until it is too late." She looked sadly down at the open book with Sunset's letter on the left page, and free space on the right. "I lost her, Twilight. You found her again. Thanks to you, she has friends again, and a home. That's why I sent you the book. Because I trust you to teach Sunset better than I could."

Twilight said nothing for a while, and seemed utterly lost in thought. Celestia felt the impulse to wave a hoof in front of her former student's face, partly out of concern and partly out of an unexpected urge to tease her student a little... but she resisted. Time and time again, little Twilight had stumped Celestia with an unexpected question, but she had always waited quietly and patiently for the answer. It was only right to return the favor.

Finally, Twilight nodded to herself, smiled, and spoke. "When I was studying the plant-growth spell way back in second semester for a test and couldn't get it right, remember what you told me?"

Celestia squinted while she searched her mind. "'Failure is the wellspring of all learning?'"

Twilight smiled and nodded eagerly.

Celestia didn't have the heart to mention that she hadn't remembered so much as randomly picked one of the bits of wisdom she usually had on hand for such occasions. "Well, it's true enough. You had become so used to succeeding at every spell you had learned from a book on the first try that you had to learn how to press on even if you fail. It's an important lesson, and you learnt it well," she said, smiling that familiar smile of a teacher's pride.

Then she stopped to think, looked at her former student, and found her pride amplified with amazement.

Completely oblivious to Celestia's thoughts and visibly growing nervous at the silence, Twilight resumed talking. "I mean, I really don't see how I did all that much. It never felt to me like Sunset Shimmer didn't understand friendship. She just didn't understand that it was important. You did get through to her. The way I see it, you planted the seeds of friendship, and despite wind and drought and storm, they were finally able to sprout, take root, and grow strong, because you planted them deep enough. I just... helped calm the storm. And watered them. It. The friendship plant. I think I just overstretched that metaphor a teeny tinesy bit." Twilight hesitantly looked up at Celestia again. "I hope I'm not talking complete nonsense," she mumbled, mortified.

Celestia solemnly shook her head. "Not at all. It was an important lesson, and you taught it well."

Twilight went bright red and mute.

Celestia looked at Sunset's letter in the letter-book again. The feather in the inkwell was surrounded by her magical light, lifted up, and hovered over the paper, and finally the tip connected.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

I'm sorry, too.

She stopped.

Twilight, whose eyes had fixated completely on the feathertip the moment it had started scratching paper, swallowed visibly.

Celestia chuckled. "I am not nearly finished, don't worry. I don't mind you watching me write the rest of it, but it might take a while."

"Oh!" Twilight let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Take all of the time! I mean, take as much time as you want to. I'll be, erm, around. At the library. And such." She turned to leave, but stopped herself. "Actually, no. That's a stupid idea. What am I blathering about?" She looked at Celestia again, this time with a warm, earnest smile. "You'll want to wait for Sunset's reply, and then you'll want to write to her again, and so on, and so forth, until you've caught up with each other. And I'll get kicked out of the library, like the last time I slept in there three nights in a row."

Celestia laughed. "You think so?"

"Oh, definitely. The chief librarian has kicked me out for that exact same reason many times, and I doubt she'll care that I'm a princess now. I guess now she'd be like: 'Go home, your highness'." Twilight giggled.

"No, I mean... You think that's how it'll go?" asked Celestia. "I wouldn't mind, but I don't know if she'll have that much to say to me."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "Yes. Yes, I absolutely think so." The earnestness of her expression slowly washed away the doubt in Celestia's head. "And one more thing. This book doesn't belong to me. Or you, for that matter. It belongs to the three of us." She smiled. "We'll just have to share, as friends do."

Celestia nodded. "A bit of a logistical challenge, but that's what the courier service is for."

"Exactly. I'll be on my way back to Ponyville, then. I'm sure you two will be just fine!"

"Twilight?"

Twilight was already in the doorframe. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

Once Celestia, alone again, had finished writing her letter, her eyes turned towards the overdue documents. She sighed, and took a longing look around her room.

Bookshelf after bookshelf, lined with the knowledge of centuries, provided by the brightest minds she had known. All infinitely more interesting than the thing she was supposed to be working on at the moment. Though there was quite a bit of empty space, now that she had passed on some of the books to her former student. It would be filled again one day, Celestia knew.

Twilight Sparkle herself would be a major contributor. That was for certain. The young mare had several volumes on fundamental magical theory in her head just waiting to break out, though knowing her, Celestia suspected it would probably happen purely by accident. One day Twilight would develop an interest in one of these fiddly little problems that very few mages even understood and no one knew how to solve, and in finding the answer she would turn the world of magical science topsy-turvy in her wake.

Celestia had, in fact, already freed half a row's worth of space between Tusselmane's seminal work on mathematics and the books of travel reports compiled by a Twoflower. Then a thought came to her, and her eyes moved upwards by another two shelves, until they came to rest on the backs of the many works of her former mentor Starswirl the Bearded, and slowly progressed to the right.

Her horn was set aglow as some books at the end of the shelf were moved to the one just below, and others were rearranged, to create a gap where there hadn't been one in a long while.

Something started to glow on her desk, and made a sound.

That Book from the Movie

by Glimmerglaze

Adventures of the Royal Equestrian Courier Service

Music in our Hearts

Disciples of Friendship