The Tale of a Tome

by Necro Atom

First published

A simple collection of tales.

A mare by the name of Neckroa Atomics comes across a large tome in her local library, curious about it she starts to read it and notices it's a collection of short stories, varying in length, theme, and setting.

[1.] The Tome of Tales

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One day in the Grandeous City of Canterlot a young unicorn mare around the rough age of 16 was trotting through the streets. Her coat was a dark amethyst, the outside of her mane was a dull purple-ish grey and the inside was a much darker purple-ish grey.

This mare was a Highschool Student in Canterlot, a reserved one. She kept to herself and rarely spoke. She had a small friend group of 2 other unicorns and a zebra. This mare's name was Neckroa Atomics, or Necro Atom for short. She was not a bad student in school but she wasn't the best. Neckroa was very interested in one thing, how ever. Books!

She loved to read books, not books of science or even of mythology or the likes. Well, sometimes Mythology. She was a fan of Fantasy, Fairy Tales.

One day Neckroa trotted into the local Canterlot Library, the Library held an extensive collection of books ranging from Philosophy to Poems and was a great place to find books which cater to your liking. Neckroa waved at the Librarian as she trotted past her. The Librarian smiled and waved back. Neckroa wasted no time trotting to the Fantasy section as she had memorized it's location.

Lucky for her there were so many books so she hasn't had the chance to read all of them, she would even catalog which books she wanted to read next. She had turned the books she had lastnight through the book chute since she had to study for school and was not able to get to the library on time.

As her eyes wandered over the bookshelf something caught her eye that she has not seen before, a rather large boo, there were no words on it's spine. She took the old, dusty book off of the shelf and laid it on the table. The cover was tanned leather, golden letters in a fancy font labelled what the book held quite simply, "Tales".

Neckroa was interested in that since she'd never seen this book before, and it's not hard to miss being quite... Thick. She opened the cover of the book and covered her mouth, looking to the side and coughing a bit from the dust. She looked back at the book, she had opened it to the Index. Instead of holding the names of chapters it held the names of multiple different stories.

  1. The Meeting
  2. It Never Changes.
  3. The Owslander Courier
  4. A Deadman's World
  5. Broken Dream Boulevard

Were the first five, and Neckroa was intrigued. She glanced at the clock, she was supposed to meet her friends at the coffee shop later so she'd need to keep and eye on that. She then turned her gaze back down to the boom and smiled, flipping to the first story and starting to read.

The Meeting

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Once upon a time, in a mystical land known as Equestria, tragedy struck. There were once two rulers, until one was overcome by the jealousy of her sister. She was banished, and thought evil by the country. Her son, Prince Moonlit Trot, went into hiding. Until tragedy once again befell the Kingdom of Equestria. Celestia herself was kidnapped. In a letter pertaining to the ransom, a place and time of meeting was proposed…


The wind streaked across the Barrens, clouds of dust flying over the land. In the inhospitable place sat an army, an army of creatures. Bi-pedal creatures called Owslanders. Ahead of the army sat a creature that resembled that of a cat, the general. The army faced the rising sun.


Through the sun, 3 equine figures were approaching. The army stood at attention as the figures slowly drew near. As they neared the shapes of the three equines came into more clarity, the one in front was a pony, a stallion clad in a duster with a cowpony’s hat pulled over his eyes. On either side stood white equines with black stripes streaking their bodies. One a mare and one a stallion. Zebras. They wore nothing other than bandanas to keep the sand out of their muzzles. The General showed a sliver of surprise at the fact the ambassador of Equestria was walking with not one, but two zebras.

“Ah, so you must be Prince Moonlit Trot, I presume?” The General gave a malicious smile. As far as he was aware, this Prince was the only ruler of Equestria. “How delighted I am to finally make your acquaintance.” The galaxy blue eyes of the Prince turned from the sand to the eyes of the General. The General expected emotions, anger, resentment. Even anxiety or fear. He didn’t expect the cold stare he got in turn. Both zebras showed equally stern glares. Though they were roaming the army of Owslanders and not focused on the General’s eyes.

“The Feeling. It’s not mutual. I shall cut to the chase as to not waste time. I want Celestia. You want money. We brought the money. You give us the Princess.” Off of the stallion’s back slid a case. The Prince took it and sat it down infront of him, popping it open to reveal that it’s full of pure gold bits. Over 20,000,000 in value. This made the General smile.

“You must of known that it wasn’t going to be this easy, Prince Trot. It is respectable of you to hold out your side of the deal. How ever.. You are now the leader of Equestria. What ever is stopping me from killing you and your stripped friends and walking right into Canterlot. Even with a bribe of 20 Million. In gold.” The General chuckles. Moonlit’s eyes roamed over the general, coming to rest on the sword mounted on his hip. To the eyes of the Owslanders, these stupid ponies came unarmed.

“Nothing is stopping you. Besides me and my friends. These are Zane, and Zen. They’re siblings. They’re also my personal guard. The entirety of the Royal Guard offered to come with me to this meeting. Don’t make me show you why I turned down the offer.” That made the General laugh more, he could of brought an army and decided to bring two damned stripes? How silly, The General thought. Taking over Equestria will be easier than he even anticipated!

“I admit, Prince Trot, you have balls. Balls of Iron i’d even say. But they won’t save you and they won’t stop this little conquer. I’ll spare the lives of one of your Guards. But you have to choose which one.” The General gave a ballsy smile. Moonlit glanced to the stallion, Zen, who shook his head gently. Then to the mare, Zane. Who also shook her head with an equal amount of subtlety. He returned his gaze to the General.

“No deal. But, i’m offering to make an alternative.” The General’s eyebrow raised and a smile grew on his face. A smile that told Moonlit to share. “How about you shove it.” The duster flew up as a jet black wing flew out of it, a switchblade like system activating as the chrome blade of Starmetal is stained with blood as it is thrusted through the General’s abdomen. Shock grew on his face and it took moments for the army to even notice, yet they could do nothing but stare in shock.

“B-bu-but… Th-that’s impossible..” The General grunted out as he stared at the hat that covered the stallion’s eyes. When the stallion met the General’s gaze the anger was finally prevalent. “A-all of my… All of my reports said y-you were an Earthpony… N-no wings.. N-no magic.. J-just a boring old e-earthpony…” The General fell to his knees, still clutching the blade near his wound. He whimpered a bit as Prince Moonlit Trot dragged the blade out.

“I never take off my jacket.” The General fell onto his side, bleeding out in the sand. He looked up as the Prince of the Night stepped over him. “We’re going to go get our Princess back.” The General didn’t have enough strength to move but he could hear the combat behind him. Darkness slowly over took his vision as he felt tired. His last breath caught in his throat as his vision went dark and his life dissipated.

It never changes.

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“War, war never does change, does it? Thou art a cruel mistress with the blood thou doth spill. Blood which doth wash ‘way the lives of those held dear.”

-Prince Lavernious Church




The Skies over The Feather Flight Plains

May 4th 2000

0100 Hours


The sun made its way across the sky, the zeppelin known as The Winged Chariot. The largest Zeppelin in the Griffin Armada. Two, smaller Zeppelins followed in the wake of the Chariot. The Castaway and the Wry Feather. The Chariot had 6 fighters that could be stored in it’s hangers. The Wry Feather and the Castaway each had 4 fighters on them. The Winged Chariot was silver with a golden trimmed fuselage with the symbol of the Griffin Kingdom embroidered on the blimp.

Explosions ravaged the sky as gun fire spread across the plains below. Every shot was aimed up at the 3 Zeppelins. It took not long for the Captains figure out what the hell was happening. Zebra. Zebra weaponry were not as advanced as the Griffins but their stealth was unmatched. They had captured weaponry. The Griffin’s own artillery was being used against them! One of the short fuse shells exploded right next to the cabin of the Chariot, causing the entire craft to shake. Hanger doors opened as Bi-planes were dropped from the flying fortresses.

An eager young soldier rushed to his bunk and grabbed his repeating rifle and goggles, he put the brown strap around the back of his head and fitted the gold frame goggles around his eyes. He then put his cap on his head and his rifle around his body. He ran along the halls of the ship to one of the exits. A superior didn’t even spare him a second glance as he ordered him to jump. Private Ranger J. Dowatta did with energy, an actual battle? Awesome!

The air rushed past Dowatta’s feathers as he dive bombed toward Equus. Explosions batted at the sky and bullets ripped past. He grabbed his rifle and pulled the hammer back, his eyes stared at the ground as it quickly neared, the wind weaving its way past each feather. He watched the ground nearing rapidly then spread his wings, pulling up. The wind caught his wings and changed his path of flight, his fore and rear legs barely brushed the ground as he soared across the planet. His eyes set on a zebra that manned an artillery cannon. He had a lot of momentum behind him right now and he was aiming himself right at that zebra.

The soon to be victim to Dowatta’s attack noticed the griffin approaching him unnervingly fast and reached for his side arm, but it was too late, Dowatta swung himself around and put all his momentum into a kick right into the side of the zebra, which launched it into a stack of artillery shells. That’ll give you some internal bleeding. How ever it does take more than one to man an artillery battery. Dowatta wasn’t thinking that far ahead as he fangirled a bit over how fucking cool this is before a bullet hit him in the hip. He yelped in pain and turned his attention to the attacking assailant. He lifted his rifle at the zebra who had a griffin pistol held in his mouth.

They both fired at the same time and there were two yelps of pain in the battlefield of death, Dowatta fell to the ground, as did the zebra who fell on his side. The Zebra’s shot went through Dowatta’s stomach. Dowatta’s shot went through the zebra’s neck. Dowatta grunted as he used his rifle as a crutch to get back to his hooves. He glanced up in enough time to dodge to the side as a zebra’s sword tinged off the barrel of Dowatta’s rifle. Dowatta, however, did not think to keep hold of his rifle and ended up dropping it. He was limping a little bit thanks to his bleeding hip. The Sword Wielder looked at Dowatta and rushed at him, Dowatta ducked back and tripped over… Something, falling on his ass and almost getting his head cut off. Luckly the sword just barely knicked Dowatta’s beak and put a small scratch on it. Dowatta however planned on doing much more damage.

He glanced down to what he tripped over quickly, his eyes widened and he glanced up, using his good leg to kick the zebra in the chest and push him back, he reached down with his foreleg and grabbed the pistol of the first Artillery gunner. He lifted it up and tried to pull the trigger as the Zebra got back up but nothing happened. The Zebra smiled and muttered around the hilt.

“Haimar ke aage dambaas~” He then lunged forward at Dowatta, who covered his face. There was a rifle blast and he felt the faintest scratch on his foreleg, removing his face cover he saw another griffin standing there with a double-barrel shotgun. The zebra laid on his side bleeding out from the buckshot. He turned his attention to the Griffin, who smiled.

“Guten Tag Private. Zu’re going to let zes damned Stripes get za better of zu? C’mon let’s see if ve can’t get zis Artillery Gun used ‘gainst zes bastards.” He offered a talon to Dowatta. “Zi’m Sergeant Sarge.” Dowatta smiled and took Sarge’s talon as he nodded. Sarge walked over to Dowatta’s rifle and tossed it to him. “Zu should pull ze hammer back on zat pistol, Private.” Dowatta’s eyes widened a bit as he looked at the revolver. He blushed softly as he realized why the pistol didn’t fire earlier. And probably what that zebra said. He pulled the hammer back then trotted over to Sgt. Sarge who was in the process of aiming the cannon.

Dowatta looked at the pile of shells that he kicked his first victim into. He smiled and grabbed it, shoving it into the cannon and looking at Sarge. He gave an evil smile and nodded. Dowatta returned the smile.

“FEUER IM LOCH!"

The Owslander Courier

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The Owslander Courier

A town sat at the edge of Equestria, the town sits on the only large road out of Equestria and into the Southern Badlands. Few travellers come from the Southern Badlands. Those who do, come seeking trouble as they were banished from their own little Kingdoms across the Badlands.

One day the guards in the towers of Terminus see a figure appear on the horizon. A bi-pedal figure shrouded in a cloak. Slowly walking towards the town. Of course, they do not open fire as they do not know if they mean any harm. 30 minutes pass before the cloaked figure arrives. They turn their heads up to the figures in the towers, they speak out in a female voice with an accent the guards cannot quite place.

“I wish to enter the borders of Equestria. I hear Terminus is the town to do it. May I enter?” The guards look at each other. The Foreigners do not normally ask permission. One of the guards clear his throat and yells down at the figure.


“Yes, you may enter the town. We just hope you aren’t here to cause trouble.”

“I do not intend it. Is there a leader of the town?”

“Yeah, the Mayor. He’s in the big building in the middle of the Traffic circle.”

“Thank you” The figure looks straight again and strides into the town. Continuing along her slow walk. Heading straight down the road toward the large building in the middle. She walks up the steps, raising her arm the sleeve falls back to reveal a shockingly white, furred hand. She turns the handle and enters the building, walking to the pony behind the counter. “Hello ma’am. I am looking to meet the Mayor.” The pony looks at the figure. Inable to see under the hood.

“Do you err… Have an appointment?” The secretary doubted they did but she is payed to ask so she did. The creature within the cloak shakes her head. “Ah, yes I assumed so. Go and take a seat and i’ll contact him and see if he’s open.” The pony motions to a seat with a polite smile. The creature nods and turns on her heel, walking over to a seat and sitting down in it. The secretary sends a note up a magical shoot to the Mayor’s office asking if he was free. A few minutes later a note returns, the mare reads it then looks over at the creature sitting patiently in her seat. “Ma’am, the Mayor is free to see you.”

“Thank you.” The creature rises up and walks up the stairs on either side of the the Secretary’s Desk. The building has two entrances, one facing towards Equestria and one facing towards the Southern Badlands. To the right when entering from the Southern Badlands side is the Secretary’s desk with stairs on each side. To the left is just areas to sit. Up top is interior balconies looking down into the main area of the Town Hall. There are multiple doors up stairs for the offices and double doors directly across from where the stairs go up, The double doors is the entrance to the Mayor’s office.

The creature grabs the handles and opens one door, walking in. The Mayor is sitting behind his desk, reading some documents. He looks up and smiles at the Foreigner as if he was seeing an old friend.

“Ah yes! Hello hello! Good to see you! What’re you here for?” The foreigner smiles beneath her hood, which she reaches up and removes. The slim snout of a fox is the first thing the Mayor sees. She foreigner fully removes her hood to show that she is a snow fox. She smiles at the Mayor as she sits down. He fur is fluffy and really clean. The tips of her ears black.

“Hello there sir. My name is Xeea. I am a Courier from Cascadia.” Due to the Mayor’s confused look the fox, Xeea, elaborates. “Cascadia is the dominant Kingdom on the other side of No-one’s Realm. I believe you Equestrians call the desert the Southern Badlands.”

“Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Xeea. I am Mayor Sandstone. Is your species considered… Cascadians?”

“No, Cascadia is just the name of the Kingdom. The name of my species, the inhabitants of Cascadia, are Owslanders. That is what we are called.”

“Well that is good to know for those who do the books. What is your Business in Equestria?”

“I am here bearing a message for the eyes of your Princess only. Princess Celeste I believe?”

“Princess Celestia… Who is it from? Why does she need to see it?”

“It is from the Master Artisan of Cascadia, or who you would call our King. I do not know the contents of the Letter, I am just the Courier. I would like to rest in this town, my trek of No-one’s Realm was a tiring one.”

“Of course, the inn will be happy to house you. I will even write you a note so they will not charge you.” He takes out a piece of paper, writing down on it and giving his permission to not charge the Owslander, he signs it and gives it to Xeea. “I hope you have a good stay in Terminus, Ms. Xeea.” Xeea smiles at him.

“Thank you, for your hospitality and other wise.” She stands up, walking out of the office. She heads down the stairs, waving at the secretary as she heads out of the office. She starts walking to the town Inn, lifting her hood and recovering her head.

A Dead Man's World

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May 4th, Year of the Sun 2019

I continue to right the letters yet I know that it is useless, I know you’re dead. I know that dad is dead. Fuck, I know that I should be dead. Yet here the fuck I am. Alive, I got out. I survived that damn war. But I can’t even tell anyone. This damned throat injury. I’ve been stuck in this damned Zebra Prison for years. 15 to be exact. Breathing is getting hard thanks to that fucker that shot me in the lungs. The doc’s are trying to get me fixed, making me a healing tonic. I met a bird, I named him Nilz after my father. He kinda looks like a pinecone. It’s adorable. I don’t even know where to send this message. I have a lot of letters.. I think i’m near the border to the badlands. Still a badlands and an Equestria away from the Gryphon Kingdom. This is a military establishment. I’ll send it to a nearby town. Why am I writing this? Hmm.. Well. Fuck it.

--SSG R. J. Dowatta



The weary stallion rolled up the letter and tied it together with a small string. He pulled himself over to a barred window, whistling sharply which left him in a coughing fit from his punctured lung. By the time he looked back at the window a small bird was standing there which resembled a pinecone. He gave the letter to no one to the bird. Nilz chirped softly and took the note, bouncing away from the window then taking off to find the nearest town. Ranger slumped down on his cot, laying his head down in sighing, suppressing another coughing fit.

Not long after Ranger laid his head down the door to his cell started to open. He looked over as a female zebra trotted in, holding a tonic in her mouth. She placed it down on the floor as Ranger sat up in his chair looking at her.

“Hello Staff Sergeant, please drink this. It should heal your lungs and throat.” The nicest zebra he’s met so far smiled at him and sat down. A guard watched from the door. Ranger narrowed his eyes a bit at the guard then leaned down, picking up the bottle. He glanced over the two zebra then took out the cork and drank down the tonic. He gulped down as much of the tonic as he could. His wounds starting to slowly mend themselves. The Doctor took the bottle back and smiled at the grumpy Gryphon Pony, “I’ll come to check on you later Mr. Dowatta.” She then deftly turned and left, her escort closing the cell behind her then following. Ranger laid his head down once more and dozed off.

Ranger woke to the sound of the cell door opening. He noted that he felt incredibly better. His breathing was better and his throat didn’t hurt. He hummed softly to test his vocal cords. They work. Wunderbar. He looked over to see the Doc has returned, once again her escort stood behind her.

“How do you feel Staff Sergeant?” She asked softly, smiling down at him.

“Zi feel vunderbar. Also..” He looked her in the eyes and she could see what he was planning. “Sorry Fraulein.” He then shoved her backwards into the Guard behind her, knocking them both over. He got up, a bit shakily, then went over to the guard, grabbing his head and twisting it hard, breaking his neck. He took the musket that became the normal service weapon for zebra during the Border War. The one Ranger “died” in. Ranger then pushed the doctor into the cell and closed it. “Zi am truly sorry Fraulein. But zive been here too long.” She nodded a bit in understanding though clearly still shocked of what just happened.

Ranger grabbed the horn shaped pouch of which the magic powder for the musket is stored, he then grabbed some of the steel ammunition spheres used as projectiles. He knew the Musket was loaded so he didn’t bother trying to. He also didn’t want a musket. He wanted the pistol the warden had. It was still a black powder weapon but it had a revolving cylinder. However Ranger knew it’d be stupid to try and get it. He had to get out first. He crouched low as he put the musket on his back and snuck over to a door leading out of the cell block. Glancing through a window in the door he could see he was in some sort of a military base. The building he was in was located right on the edge. His wings haven’t been clipped in a while so he could probably get some propultian out of them.

The Staff Sergeant wasted no time. As soon as he saw a patrol pas on the wall he opened the door, climbing up it then onto the roof of his building. He jumped from the building of the roof and flapped his kinda useless wings, using them to get him an extra few inches to be able to grab hold of the top of the wall, He was trying to pull himself up when he heard a crack, then a small steel sphere impacted the wall next to him, some of the stone getting in his side. He simply grunted as he clambered the rest of the way onto the wall. He took the musket off of his back and aimed at the alerted Guard on the wall. He pulled the trigger, the black powder in the barrel igniting and putting a hole in the zebra’s chest. Ranger quickly reloaded and grabbed some more ammo off of his 2nd kill in years.

He jumped from the wall and opened his wings, gliding to the ground. Almost tripping when he landed. He looked back towards the fort and heard a horn get blown. He was in some sort of safari. Nilz flew out of no where and landed on his shoulder, chirping and pointing in a direction with his wing. Ranger glanced at his closest friend then nodded softly, taking off in said direction. A few bullets hitting the ground near his hooves as he ran.

Broken Dream Boulevard

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Along the side of the road sat a female gryphon. She was white with black stripes, resembling that of a Zebra, she had a black beak and talons, a black mane and tail. She wore a gun holster and brown cowpony hat, strumming a guitar. On the road there were the sounds of hoofs hitting pavement. She looked over, 10 raiders were trotting along the road, wearing heavy armor and carrying an assortment of powerful guns. One spared her a sideways glance. She stopped playing her eyes widened. She turned to run and got shot in the back by a 12.7mm pistol, falling forward and landing on the floor, her hat sliding off as she slowly started to bleed out. The Raiders didn’t even bother to stop and loot her as they continued to walk.

The Griffin slowly started to push herself up, groaning in pain. Blood dripped down into her blood pool. She was panting a bit. She looked over down the road and frowned. She grabbed her hat and put it back on her head then grabbed her guitar, slinging it over her, getting some blood on it as it slid over her wound. She then grabbed her gun from behind the rock she was sitting on. She lifted up the Remington 1877, dusting it off. It was solid silver with a pearl grip. She pushed her hat down over eyes and slid the gun into her holster. She started to walk down the road after her assialents.

It took a while for her to catch up to the Raiders, she must of been laying there longer than she thought. It was getting hard to breathe and she was getting a bit dizzy, but her targets were in sight. She reached onto her 2nd holster and pulled out a cigarette carton and a lighter, she took out one of the cigarettes and put it in her mouth, lighting it. She replaced the two objects. By now one of the Raiders had noticed her, her eyes were closed as she took a pull of the cig. He turned to call to his friends as she grabbed the neck of guitar, he heard the slight strum of her talons running along the strings when she grabbed it and looked forward in time to see the instrument coming around in an arch, hitting him hard enough in the temple to knock him out and give him a concussion.

The others looked at her, standing on her rear legs, panting holding her guitar and still dripping blood. They almost didn’t believe what they saw. They were all standing in front a cave entrance to the Garden of Shadows. They all raised their guns to fire and she ran forward with a scream, swinging the guitar again into the face of another raider, who ducked in time to dodge the psudo-weapon but it still knocked the rifle out of the magical grasp of another raider, she let go of the guitar and got her talon into the strap so it swung onto her back as she grabbed her revolver.

She ducked forward and rolled along the ground, standing up in the middle of the raiders, grabbing one by the neck and squeezed while shooting another in the face. She pulled the first in front of her as the others got their minds straight and started shooting. All they hit was the body of their friend, she jumped back and mid-air bucked the body shield into the raiders, shooting the one that was rushing for the gun she knocked out of their magical grasp.

The fashion of which she landed on her back didn’t bode very well for her as some of the non-interrupted raiders took aim. She quickly rolled to the side and got to her rear legs, spinning and firing. She took out two more before getting hit by another bullet and stumbling back against the mountain. One of the raiders lifted to double-tap but she groaned and put a bloody talon on the wall and rushed forward, he put another bullet into her chest as she dropped her revolver and grabbed his gun, taking it from his levitation field and slamming it into the side of his head. She grabbed the grip with one talon and fell forward, using her free talon to keep her from falling.

She pushed herself back up, firing at the last 3 raiders, emptying her magazine in their general direction and killing them before running out. She shot the one she stole the rifle from with the last bullet. The Gryphon panted as she scooted herself back against the wall. Picking up her revolver and shooting the first raider in the head as he woke up from his introduction to her guitar. She laid back against the wall and panted, her revolver slowly slid from her grasp as she closed her eyes.

[2.] Closing Time

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Neckroa read late into the night, fixated on the book. A Librarian was closing up the library and squeaked softly in surprise when she saw Necro. Necro ignored the squeak as she read, finishing up on Broken Dream Boulevard. The Librarian walked over and gently tapped on her shoulder. Necro looked up, jumping in fright.

"Ma'am... The Library is closing. Would you like me to check out that book for you can you can take it home?" The Librarian asked gently. She's seen Neckroa here before but she normally leaves before closing time. Silent as ever, Neckroa just nods and stands up, using a flower that was in her mane as a book mark as she closed the large tome and levitated it up, following the Librarian to the front desk. She gives the Librarian her library card them hummed softly, looking around until the Librarian was done.

"Thank you." Neckroa whispered in an almost whisper as she levitated up the tome once more and trotted out of Library, heading through the narrow streets of Canterlot back to her house. Dodging the numerous, fancy clothed ponies. as she trotted along, not really paying attention to details, thinking about the stories she read. She looked up at her house and trotted up the foresteps. She lived in the same white tower with a purple cap like most ponies in Canterlot.

Opening the door she trotted in and closed it behind her. Her mother, a black pegasus mare with a purple mane, white muzzle and hooves looked at her and smiled when she saw the book.

"Only one today Neckora dear?" Her mother asked, Neckroa smiled softly and nodded. Her mother chuckled softly. "Well you got home a bit late so your father already went to bed. He had a busy day working on making a small extension to the castle." Neckroa had climbed into a seat to eat her cold dinner but paused at her mother's comment, looking over with mild surprise and for the second time this afternoon actually spoke a word.

"W-wait.. Extension to the castle? D-do you think he got to meet Princess Luna!?" Neckroa smiled happily, she always looked up to the Princess of the Night, and now was wondering if Prince Moonlit Trot was a real pony.

"Mhm. He went out of his way to say Hi to her, just for you. It's late sweetie so I think i'm going to go join your father in bed. You fill your bowl with water when you're done eating alright?" Neckroa smiled at her mother and nodded. Her mother kissed her softly on her forehead. "Goodnight Sweetie."

"Goodnight Mommy." Her mother trotted off into her room with her husband, Neckroa's Father. Neckroa herself quickly drank/ate her the veggie soup her mother made. It's Friday, she doesn't make elaborate meals on fridays. Neckroa grabbed the now empty bowl with her magic and slid off her chair, putting it in the sink and filling it with water. She grabbed the tome and ran up to her room. She put the book on her nightstand, giving it a sideways glance as she got out of her simple dress and slipped under the covers, closing her eyes.

"I'll read more tomorrow."