> A Home Restored
>  by James Pwyll
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Home Restored
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Huh...so this is where she lived." Seeing Starlight nose-deep in a book was nothing new, but a photo album was definitely an unexpected sight. But these were not her own past images she was looking at, but those of her mentor, Twilight. Moments of happiness and fun in the years before their first meeting. Starlight smiled at the joyous pictures, but her eyes always came back to one thing time and again. One location that featured in a great many of those photos. A tree. Or, to be more specific, a house carved out of a tree. The Golden Oak Library, once a staple of Ponyville, but now completely gone from the town. Starlight had never seen it, and mostly she'd just heard about it from others, yet here she was now, seeing that old tree in these photos. She looked to Twilight, back during her days as a unicorn, smiling alongside her friends by that home of hers, and sighed. "Wonder what it was like for her?"

"Oh, she had such a grand old time there," a surprise second voice answered.

Though initially startled, Starlight calmed down when she looked to the side to see who had suddenly popped in from nowhere. "Oh, hey, Discord."

Naturally, the ancient draconequus was a little disappointed at Starlight not being shocked or irritated by his sudden arrival onto the scene. "Ugh! Honestly, what's the point of zapping in unannounced if nopony's gonna act like it's a big deal anymore?!"

Starlight giggled. "Guess we're all just used to you now."

Discord frowned. "That's no fun."

Looking down to the photos, Starlight gently placed her hoof upon one right in the middle, featuring Twilight and all of her friends standing in front of the Golden Oak. "So this was her home? Before she met me?"

Glancing around in a nonchalant way, Discord nodded. "I know, right? Living in a library? How cliché could a bookworm get?"

Starlight arched an eyebrow to him. "I think it's sweet. Where else would a mare like her want to live?"

Discord chortled loudly. "No argument there! I suppose there is a certain nostalgia to the place. It's no grand castle, but it had its charms. Why, I recall the time I pretended to be sick so Twilight and Cadance could look after me..."

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Is this story gonna end in a silly way?"

Discord folded his arms. "No!" Then, after a brief pause, he shrugged. "...Okay, maybe."

A shake of the head from Starlight, but then she paused herself, glancing down to the happy image of Twilight. "She seemed so content there. Did she like it? The Library?"

Looking down to the picture himself, Discord nodded. "It was her home. We all have fond memories of home, tree-shaped though some of them they may be."

Starlight considered that. "She never talks about it though. I mean, she mentioned once that the roots above the Cutie Map were from the Library, but besides that it's like she doesn't want to bring it up."

Discord grimaced here, but made sure not to look at Starlight while he did so, lest he see him do it. "Well...it's kinda what happens, you know? When something you care about gets taken away, it's hard not to feel bad about it. She accepted it and moved on of course, but it's still gonna be hard to think back on it."

Silence passed between the two former foes of the mare they now talked about, and as Starlight pondered all of this, one thought continued to pester her, until she could keep silent about it no longer. "It would have been interesting, seeing it myself." She didn't notice Discord looking down to her as she continued. "In all the time I've known Twilight, this palace has been, well, her place. Having her live in something as humble as a tree just never really clicked in my mind, you know?" She glanced to the side. "Wish I had more than just photos and some old roots to go on."

Slowly, a smile crept onto Discord's lips. "You know, not to brag or anything, but you are sitting next to somecreature with near limitless reality-shaping powers. If you like, I could...well..."

Looking back to him, Starlight seemed surprised by the offer. "What, you mean...send me to the past? I kinda did that already, Discord. Didn't turn out that well."

A loud laugh from the spirit of chaos. "Oh my, no! I'm thinking something much more substantial than a trip down memory lane, my dear Starlight!" With a snap of his fingers, the draconequus engulfed them both in a flash of light, which indicated his teleportation ability. And sure enough, when Starlight opened her eyes again, she was out in the middle of Ponyville, to an especially large open space dead-centre in the place. She looked to him with confusion, prompting an eye-roll on Discord's part. "Patience, my little pony!" He cracked his knuckles, did a few stretches, and then snapped his fingers even louder than before.

Starlight looked on, amazed at what now happened after the second expected flash of light. There, standing tall and proud before her, was the Golden Oak Library itself. Uncertainty took her, as well as nervousness, and she took a few steps towards it, with Discord accompanying her. Once at the door, she slowly reached out, then placed her hoof upon it. It was real, she thought to herself. No mirage or illusion, but something solid. Taking a deep breath, she opened it, taking a step inside. She'd seen photos of the interior, but seeing it, for lack of a better term, "in the flesh" was something else entirely. The sound of the occasional creaking bit of wood, the smell of dusty books on the shelf. This was a real place, a real home, and now she was here, seeing and experiencing it for the first time. It was a thought that brought a smile to her face. "This is...amazing."

Discord puffed out his chest a little, looking understandably smug at the remark. "Well, I do try to do good work."

Starlight didn't look to him, instead continuing to wander about. She'd place her hoof onto the table at the centre, walk up the stairs, see the bedroom her mentor would have slept in, along with the adorable basket by the side that Spike would have slept in once upon a time. "It's all so...nice," Starlight remarked.

Discord nodded, looking around with a rather nostalgic expression himself. "Yes, it rather was, wasn't it?"

It was a half-melancholy tone of voice that Starlight was honestly surprised to hear from him, but she didn't tease him on it, instead continuing her trip through the library. Eventually, she came upon a door that, once opened, led her to a balcony outside. Taking a few steps out, she placed her hooves onto the railing at the side, looking out at the view of Ponyville this vantage point gave her. A gentle breeze blew at this moment, moving her mane slightly, and she smiled to this experience. "I can see why Twilight would want to keep the memory of this place. It's so...comforting."

Discord walked beside her, and even though he was probably the last creature anypony would expect to get sentimental, even he seemed to be taken in by the experience. "It was. Twilight certainly felt that way about it."

"I did indeed."

Instantly, both of the others looked on with some concern as the Princess of Friendship herself now arrived unexpectedly, flying in from the side and landing on the balcony beside them both. And she wasn't alone here, as Spike too had flow in with her, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at them, but never saying anything. At first, Twilight herself seemed to be looking at them seriously, leading to some nervousness on their part. "Oh! Twilight! I was, er, just giving Starlight a tour of the old place!" Discord confessed immediately.

Surprised by his willingness to admit his own part in this, Starlight stepped forward. "No! It was my fault! He wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been talking about it!"

But Twilight, contrary to what they might have been expecting, did not seem in anyway upset by the unplanned arrival of her old home. Instead, she smiled to them both. "It's alright. I'm not angry. Surprised, but not angry."

Relieved, Starlight walked towards her, though only by a step or two. "I hope you don't mind me saying so, Twilight, but...this seems like it was a wonderful place to live. I bet it's pretty weird seeing it again."

Twilight nodded, glancing around. She said nothing, at least for a time, and instead wandered over to the door that led inside, with her number one assistant close behind, as always. Like the other two, she looked around, though they knew that, for her, it was a far more important experience than it would have been for either of them. She smiled at familiar sights, smells and sounds, and once she had reached the ground floor, she took a deep breath before exhaling. "Weird? Yes, it is weird seeing it again. But...I'm also grateful." Slowly, she looked back to them, and to Discord specifically. "Thank you, Discord. It never occurred to me to have you bring this place back, but...I'm glad you did."

Discord, of course, was shocked that this was her response, and after a moment of fumbling, he smiled to her. "You're quite welcome, Twilight."

Spike, still standing beside Twilight, chuckled. "Well, we always knew he had a heart of gold under all that snark, eh?"

Discord frowned to him. "One more remark like that and it'd be five goblin armies I send after you in our next Ogres and Oubliettes game!"

Spike shrugged. "Meh, worth it."

Twilight giggled, shaking her head to all that, before again turning her attention to her old home. Starlight could see her thoughtfulness, and walked up beside her. "You know...if you wanted, you could probably live here again, since Discord brought it back and all. I'm sure nopony would blame you for wanting your old home back."

All fell silent, and all three pairs of eyes from her friends were on Twilight. The Princess thought long and hard on the offer, taking another deep breath, before smiling to her apprentice. "A part of me will always want that...but no, Starlight." She looked to the rest of the room. "This part of my life, however good it was, is behind me now." A sigh escaped her. "You can undo it now, Discord."

The request was met with some sombreness from the others, Spike especially, and after Discord hesitated, he once more snapped his fingers. A blinding flash, and when it died down the four of them were yet again out in the open, with the Golden Oak no longer there. The quiet dominated the moment, and Spike walked up to Twilight, the mare taking him close and giving him a hug over seeing their old home gone for a second time. Discord and Starlight looked at one another, clearly feeling guilty about having put them through this, and it wasn't long before the latter too walked over. "Twilight, I'm...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

But Twilight instead smiled to her. "You needn't apologise, Starlight. My memories of that wonderful place will always endure. And more than that..." She walked over, stretching out her hoof to her student. "That old tree will be here again for Ponyville one day."

Starlight looked down, seeing a small object in Twilight's hoof. After just a moment, she recognised it as an acorn, and immediately she understood. "From...the Golden Oak?"

Twilight nodded, turning around. "I took it from the Library when I still lived there. I always planned to take it as a keepsake if I ever moved away from Ponyville again. But now...I think it has a different purpose." Getting to her knees, she reached out and started scraping at the ground where the original oak had once stood. Her friends watched, seeing her carefully plant that acorn, that seed, into the earth, before sweeping soil back onto it. "One day, there will be a new oak here. Ponyville will have its tree back, and whether or not it'll be made into a home like the last one, it will just...be here." Sighing, she got back up, looking to the other three. "I failed the first tree, but I promise you, I'll be here for this one."

There was good feeling all around, even for Discord, who placed his hands upon his hips. "Well, guess this went a bit better than I thought it would."

Twilight walked over to him, looking up and smiling. "Thank you, Discord. You gave me one last chance to see it. And for that, I'm grateful."

Taken aback, Discord blushed, scratching the side of his head. "Oh...I...er...okay, that's it, I'm getting out of here! This is way to saccharine for me!"

Another snap of his fingers, and he was gone, with Spike shaking his head at his friend's disappearance. "Way to spoil the mood, Discord."

Twilight giggled, glancing over her shoulder one last time before speaking to the others. "Well...anypony else in the mood for some tea?"