> Listen For a Sparkle
>  by Clarice
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> Chapter 1
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	Twilight sat idly behind her desk in the Golden Oak Library, gathering all her scrap notes from the planning of Winter Wrap-Up and magically whisking them off the desk, her aura on the slivers of parchment fading as they fell softly into a small wastebasket. She yawned weakly to herself, glancing up and out the window above to catch a quick glimpse of the sun on the early spring morning. For a moment, she leaned her forehooves onto the desk and began to think, briefly fading into a quick daydream.

A lot had changed since last spring. As seemed the norm by now, there had been plenty of lessons learned and experiences had, from the run-in with Queen Chrysalis and her changelings to the re-emergence of the Crystal Empire and her adventure to recover the crystal heart, from the challenges she faced in preparing for the Princess’ test to the art of writing her own magic. In many ways, it seemed like just another year in Ponyville, with everypony working to keep things running smoothly and the townsponies generally quite happy. In all reality, as far as Equestria as a whole was concerned, not much had changed. But for Twilight… for Twilight, everything seemed different now. Princess Celestia had told her that it was her destiny, sure, but… what did that all mean? She certainly felt like she same pony, thought like the same pony, even studied and read books like the same pony she always had been. But she was a Princess now. Princess Twilight Sparkle. Past the title, what would this all come to be? She had wings, sure, but what was her duty now that she was a princess? Was she simply to continue what she had always been doing, or was it her job to take charge and move on to something new?

Twilight sighed weakly, trotting away from her desk and across her Library’s main room. She picked up a feather duster from the table which lied at its center, making her way slowly over towards a shelf and dusting at the top of the books which sat neatly organized in their correct places there. Princess Celestia had given her no real direction as to what she was to do after the coronation festivities ended just a little over a month ago, so the best option appeared to be simply returning to where things had been before that entire ordeal had started. She’d have had trouble leaving her newfound friends, more than two years ago now, after getting their help recovering the Elements and defeating Nightmare Moon! With all she’d learned since then, all the memories she’d made, be it dreams, laughs, hugs, or even the occasional bout of crying, how could the Princess ever expect her to leave now? She wasn’t giving up the friendships she had and the memories she made, so Ponyville and the Golden Oak Library were here to stay… even if everypony thought she needed to be treated differently now. Eventually, she presumed, they’d all realize she can be treated just like everypony else, just like she used to be – not as a princess, but simply as a friend.

Twilight made her way back to the table in the center of the room, returning the feather duster to its typical resting spot and looking at the heavy wooden statue that sat perfectly symmetrical in the center of the round table. Surely it would just take a bit of time, some conversations with everypony in passing, and hopefully not too many awkward scenarios where ponies would bow to her in the street before the word got around that those types of formalities were unnecessary. Just some time… but how much?

A stray paper fell from the pile which sat atop the center table, flittering slowly to the floor without the faintest noise. Catching it out of the corner of her eye, Twilight snapped quickly out of her thoughts, honestly quite happy that something came up as a distraction from those questions that constantly plagued her. Winter Wrap-Up had done a good job distracting those thoughts as well, but that had finished two days ago. Now here she was, back in the grove with nothing special to do, no assignment to work on, and too worried to efficiently study independently. She levitated up the entire stack of paper on the table, placing the piece that had gone stray right on top, and tapped the sides of the stack on the corner of the table to align them all up again. With a weak smile, she gently dropped the neat stack back where it belonged and continued along, working through her morning chores.

Spike burst the Library door open with a force strong enough that it wouldn’t have been surprising if a gigantic flood of water rushed in behind the baby dragon. The freshly organized stack of paper on the center table immediately blew over, making a mess of parchment scraps all around the circular room. Twilight lazily rolled her eyes, turning around and going to pick up the papers once again, getting ready to scold her dragon before he cut her off. He was breathing hard enough that the flood water was sure to burst through the door at any moment.

“Twilight! TWILIGHT!” The little dragon gasped for a breath, leaning one of his tiny claws down to his knee while pulling out and holding up a scroll in the other. “I got… this special letter… from Princess Celestia! It said it… said it was urgent!” The dragon took a few steps away from the door and into the room, slowly calming down and beginning to breathe normally. “I got here as… as fast as I could!”

Twilight didn’t need to hear anything past ‘Princess Celestia’ before the mess of papers were left ignored. She practically dragged Spike across the room, pulling the scroll from his little claws with overwhelming excitement. Could it be a new assignment for her? Something in a far-off land that only the Elements of Harmony would be able to solve? Practically teeming with curiosity and desire for a new distraction, she pulled the seal off the scroll and levitated it in front of her muzzle, beginning to read.

My dearest Twilight,
With this coming of the new spring, Luna and I have come across a serious predicament that needs to be resolved. It would be best to explain this directly to you, so I shall refrain from doing so here. You are the most capable pony I could imagine for the task at hoof, though I shall warn you in advance – this will be different than any assignment you’ve ever had before. Consider it the beginning of the next level of your studies, my faithful student. Only you will be able to work towards completing the first portion of this task. Please come to Canterlot Castle as soon as possible to begin working at once.
Signed, P. Celestia

Twilight grinned and gave Spike a quick nod, her signal of determination that the baby dragon surely knew by now. “Spike? Fetch me my things, please… just a few quills and my saddlebags! It appears I’ll be travelling to Canterlot!” She rolled the scroll back up and held it by her side, dashing over behind her desk once more and making sure everything was where it would need to be, assuming she would be gone a few days.

“Here, Twilight!” Spike lifted the nearly empty saddlebags up as high as he could and gave them a small nudge, managing to successfully sling them across the purple alicorn’s back before taking a few steps away. Twilight lifted the flap on her left and gently placed the scroll inside, then pulling the strap of the bags taught and hurriedly making her way towards the door. “If I’m quick, I’ll be able to make the next train! But I must be going immediately.” She magically pulled the door open, giving a glance back to Spike while she trotted out the door. “Keep everything under control while I’m gone, okay, Spike? I’ll be back as soon as I can… but I’m not sure what the Princess needs. There’s some bits in the bottom-left drawer of my desk if you need to go buy more food. Don’t waste it!”

Spike gave Twilight a small wave, sad that she was going to be gone for a few days, but excited to have the big library all to himself. He smirked as the door quickly clicked shut and watched Twilight gallop down the street for a moment before turning around and heading to the kitchen for a tub of ice cream.

Twilight ran all the way across Ponyville as fast as her hooves could take her, still preferring the “normal” way of travel over that of the air. Luckily, most of the town was still resting from the grueling work to wrap up winter, and the streets were still relatively empty at this time of morning. She dashed up to the station platform and into the first train car, grabbing a seat and excitedly waiting for the train to Canterlot to depart, curious of what she would be tasked to do.
> Chapter 2
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	The wheels of the train squealed a high note against the track as the train left the station in Canterlot.  Twilight stepped off the platform and into the bustling midday streets of Equestria’s capital city and her former home. She looked up at the spires of the royal castle perched high atop the sprawling hills into which Canterlot was built, and once again gave herself a nod of determination. She sure had no idea what the Princess would have in store for her, but undoubtedly it would be better than the respite of nothing that she had left behind at the Library.

With a few carefully-placed steps into the bustle of the city streets, she crossed the main road in front of the train station, fading towards the side of the street and eventually trotting through a few alleys, taking an old shortcut she remembered back from when she was a filly. No more than a minute later, she stepped across the wooden bridge and into the castle, taking the familiar path down dark halls and up sets of marble stairs, looping around and around the building before she reached the hall to Canterlot Tower.

Princess Celestia immediately turned around as she heard the hoofsteps echo through the long hall, amplified as the steps on gleaming tile reverberated off the giant stained-glass windows. Spotting her teacher, Twilight impulsively dashed over, calling her name. “Princess Celestia!”, the curious bookworm exclaimed, reaching up to give a quick, affectionate hug to the Princess of the Sun. “I came as quick as I could… I’m not too late, am I? I know this was something urgent!”

Celestia chuckled weakly and shook her head, surprised that her student managed to get to Canterlot as quick as she did on such short notice. “No, no, Twilight… you’ve arrived at a perfect time. I was actually not expecting you until much later tonight, in fact. Princess Luna had wanted to be here for this, but she’s not going to be awake for hours…”

Twilight smirked sheepishly, somewhat confused how ‘urgent’ translated to arriving at a leisurely pace, but she wasn’t about to question the ruler of Equestria on something so trivial. “I… um, well…” Twilight folded her ears down and took a step backwards, softly sighing. “Princess… would you like me to… to… come back later? I’m sure I can just take the train back at some point this evening, if that’s what you wanted…”

“It’s perfectly alright, my student… that won’t be necessary. Luna can be filled in on what she wanted to know by myself later. I just don’t expect everypony to be quite as… precisely punctual as yourself.” Celestia turned around and slowly trotted over to her throne at the far end of the hall, giving another quick chuckle. “Come, Twilight, follow me, and pay close attention… this might sound like a strange plan, but I know it is nothing you can’t handle.”

Twilight obediently followed her trusted teacher, practically bursting with curiosity at this point. She diligently waited for the Princess to begin to explain, politely remaining quiet and refraining from the flood of questions which already plagued her mind regarding this new assignment.

“As you know, Twilight, it’s been over a thousand years since Luna and I have been raising the sun and moon. With this new spring, we’ve encountered a problem we knew would catch up with us someday… and until we can find a solution, we will never be able to control the storms of winter again. Unplanned, stray storm clouds will fill the winter skies, blocking out the sun and dumping snow wherever and whenever they desire. The Cloudsdale weather teams will have no control over this, and Winter Wrap-Up would need to be pushed back weeks.” Celestia sighed softly, “Bitterness and chaos. For the first hundred years my sister and I ruled Equestria, this is how winter always was. Ponies stayed inside, fearful that venturing out during the winter months would cause them to be caught in a dreadful storm. Harvests were late nearly every year, for the storms of these harsh winters refused to subside until a month into what is supposed to be spring. But one year, that all changed…” The Princess of the Sun turned around and looked at her faithful student with a smile, “Tell me, Twilight… did anypony ever tell you the tale of a little filly named Snowdrop?”

Twilight listened closely to the story of the past as the Princess reminisced, wondering what this would all mean to her while Celestia went on. Was she going to teach her how to control these clouds? Why would something that wouldn’t matter for nearly nine months be so urgent? Something didn’t quite make sense here… until her teacher asked a question at the end of her short speech.

“Erm… why, yes, Princess… I think I remember…” Twilight’s brow arched in uncertain curiosity as to why an old tale for foals would matter in such a situation. She thought back to her distant past hard, focusing as best she could, and slowly began to smile as more memories began to flood back into her mind.

It had been a stormy summer night, the first time she had been told the tale as a little filly. Twilight remembered laying in her bed within her parent’s Canterlot home, tucked in up to her chin and with her forehooves holding the edge of the blanket to pull over her head to protect herself if any more loud bangs of thunder shook through the house. Her mother sat in a chair beside her, levitating a dim lantern above them both while she told the story to Twilight from memory. Snowdrop was a young filly from Cloudsdale… her mother claimed that she was no more than six years old – the same age as Twilight, at the time. Snowdrop had been forced to deal with being blind for her entire life, a fact which led to her being bullied in her class at school and never making many friends. Snowdrop’s teacher had given all the fillies and colts a big project that year, for the Princesses would be visiting Cloudsdale at the beginning of spring to see if the cloud city could offer weather services to Equestria. As it was the 100th anniversary of their rule, Snowdrop’s class was required to partner up and make something to show the Princesses that would display how Cloudsdale’s future workers would be able to manage the difficulty, often-unruly weather of the time. Just two days prior to the project being due, Snowdrop’s teacher came to realize that the blind filly had no partner, and probably no project either, though the embarrassed filly claimed she was working on something real special.

Snowdrop’s mother, Primrose, found her daughter sitting alone on a tiny cloud later that night, discouraged and unsure of herself. How could she possibly make something to show the Princesses when she couldn’t even see? Her mother knew that Snowdrop could offer something special, for the little filly had mastered her listening abilities to get around the cloud city independently. If she would just listen for the twinkle of a star, she could make a wish, like many ponies would when they saw these twinkles in the sky. But stars don’t make noise, so how could Snowdrop hear a twinkle? Primrose left her daughter alone to think, and Snowdrop began to cry. On the cool, late winter night, a single tear rolled off Snowdrop’s cheek, freezing to ice in the cold winter air and bouncing off her foreleg before stopping on the cloud. A small crystal sound caused Snowdrop’s ear to perk up, a new sound, a sound that she had never heard before… it must have been a twinkle! Her mother was right. But every star was unique, so how would she make sure her star was as well?

Snowdrop used a feather to etch a pattern in her “star”, a fantastic idea growing in her head the entire time as well. She could make more of these icy stars, with every one being unique, and they could be dropped all over Equestria for everypony to wish on. Shooting stars were the ones that could carry your wish to come true… so surely her falling ones could do the same. The following day, Snowdrop missed class, too busy working on her special project to come to school. She nearly missed the Princesses the day after that as well, though her mother made sure her daughter got there to make her presentation both safe and on time.

Snowdrop showed her idea to Celestia and Luna, nearly shivering in fear before what she assumed to be great and powerful ponies that could crush her with a single stomp of their hoof. Both the Princesses were stunned by the idea presented by the blind little filly, and agreed to let her work with that idea the following winter. Snowdrop’s “stars” eventually became known as “snowflakes”, the little wonders which blanketed Equestria’s skies in winter and offered a special wish to anypony who wanted it. The happiness everypony found in the snowflakes grew to combat the relentless storms, eventually making winter manageable for the pegasi weather teams. Every year from then until now, Snowdrop’s stars fell with each snowstorm, calling little fillies and colts outside to come and play, and even comforting them that it would be safe. Ponies began to enjoy the special change in climate that winter brought forth, venturing outside into the snowdrifts and enjoying the cool air.

Twilight looked back to her teacher, finding the Princess simply watching her student with a warm smile. After recalling the story from her fillyhood, Twilight’s own smile reflected back just the same. She giggled softly after a few seconds, “…okay, but what does that mean now? Snowdrop’s snowflakes are always falling over Equestria in the winter! Why would things ever become like they were before her again, Princess?”

Celestia returned a small nod, her smile falling to a more serious look as she explained further. “Luna and I had to release the final one of Snowdrop’s stars with the final storm this past year… she was only able to make so many, Twilight…” Celestia sighed weakly, saddened that the filly from all those years ago was no longer with her. She felt especially sorrowful for her own sister. Snowdrop had become one of Luna’s favorite ponies all those years ago, and was probably the closest thing that she has ever had to what Twilight was to herself. Luna used to claim that Snowdrop was the only pony who ever truly understood the night. “If we cannot devise some plan to create more of Snowdrop’s creations, Twilight, those horrible storms will surely return. This is where you come in, my faithful student. Are you ready for your assignment?” 

Twilight gave a quick nod, ready to finally find out why she truly had been summoned here. This seemed like a problem, no doubt… but how was she to possibly solve it? Figuring Celestia would have the answer, she waited for her teacher to proceed.

“I’m going to be sending you to Cloudsdale, back in that time all those years ago. Snowdrop will have already made her discovery, so everything you know from the old tale will have already happened. Your task is to find the home of her mother, Primrose, and explain everything I’ve just said to you.” Celestia smirked slightly, knowing the next part of the task seemed somewhat absurd, but confident that everything would work out. “Explain to Primrose that I have sent you from the future, and that Snowdrop is needed for a mission that would harm the fate of Equestria should she not come with you. You’ll then need to talk to Snowdrop herself, and keep her calm as best you can, my student. She’s only going to be seven years old, so please, be ready. She must return back to the present with you.”

Twilight sat down on her flank and blinked for a moment, her mouth hanging open in shock and disbelief. “P-Princess Celestia…” She chuckled sheepishly, “…is that even ethical?!? You want me to go back who knows how many years and return with a blind seven year-old filly?! How would any mother agree to that? What am I even supposed to do with her if I somehow manage to get her back?” She groaned under her breath. “Not to mention… how is that even possible? Going back in time like that… I know I’ve used time spells before, but nothing that powerful!

Celestia nodded again, looking down in thought and sorrow. “Twilight… I told you this task was going to be very different from anything you’ve ever done before. You’ve moved on to a whole new level of your studies, my student. You’re a princess now… I know you can handle it. And it’s not the best scenario we could have… but it’s the only way. The future fate of Equestria lies in this assignment, Twilight.” The Princess slowly trotted around the hall once again, looking up at the scenes depicted on the stained glass windows, continuing her explanation. “Don’t worry about the spell to get you there… I’ll be handling that myself. It’s the same one you used when trying to warn yourself not to worry, however much stronger. You won’t have a long time there, Twilight… so make sure you don’t get distracted. I’ll hold the spell as long as I can, but when I run out of magic, you need to make sure Snowdrop is with you.”

Twilight gave her teacher a blank stare, finding nothing but a loss of words at what she was going to do. After nearly a minute of silence, the lavender alicorn spoke up, repeating an unanswered portion of her question, “And once Snowdrop is here? Should I bring her to you and Princess Luna?”

“No,” Celestia quickly returned, answering the question before elaborating, “You’ve mastered friendship, Twilight Sparkle. It’s time you took a different role, and experience friendship on a different level. Snowdrop will be living with you in Ponyville. You’re going to need to watch over her, make sure she is safe, and teach her anything she might need to know. She’s going to be your responsibility… almost as a student, but learning is not the only thing she will need to do. Snowdrop is going to teach you, too, Twilight… in ways you’ve never before experienced… indirectly, of course. She’s just a filly.” Celestia finished her explanation with a quick chuckle. “Are you ready to begin, my student?”

Twilight paced in a small circle around the room a few times, murmuring nonsense to herself as she thought through everything she had just been told. It all seemed like some absurd dream, like something that never would even be possible. But Celestia was never incorrect in her assumptions. Never before, anyways. If becoming a princess was her destiny, than completing this task was hers as well. If everything went successful, at the very least, she would have something to do at the Library, right? With no other choice, Twilight looked up at her teacher and returned a determined nod. “Yes, Princess. I understand my assignment completely. I am ready to begin… as soon as you are.”

Celestia made her way over towards Twilight in the center of the hall, her long horn beginning to faintly glow with the golden aura of her magic. Celestia focused closely on her student, closing her eyes and recalling Cloudsdale all those years ago. She took a few deep breaths, the magic of her long horn increasing in intensity as it shot out and hit her student, creating a flash as bright as the sun she raised every morning. Celestia breathed out slowly, opening her eyes and looking around the room, once again finding herself alone. She weakly trotted over to her throne, taking a seat and making sure she could keep up the spell as long as possible. With a weak whisper, she closed her eyes once more to focus, calling out, “Good luck, my student. I know you’ll be able to do it…”
> Chapter 3
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	Twilight quickly shook her head and blinked a few times, the blinding flash of light slowly fading away as the world around her came into view. The sun was shining and the breeze was light yet crisp. Ponies trotted back and forth down the street around her, some engulfed in their own conversations, others giving the alicorn blank stares as if they were lost in a dream. Twilight took a few steps forward as thoughts raced through her head, everything the Princess had just instructed her to do being memorized for the time being. After about ten steps, she began to take closer note as to where exactly she was. The saddlebags upon her back still contained the quills and scroll she had carried along with her to Canterlot, but this was no time to take note of the scenery. The Princess herself was the only pony managing to keep her here, and as strong as she was, everypony needs to rest their magic eventually. Twilight took off down a smaller, less busy street, making mental observations as she went.

Cloudsdale, at least as she knew it, looked very different from this place. Nearly everything here was in shades of grey, from the houses and shops that lined the street to the tables sitting empty outside a small café. However, the clouds on which she walked felt similar to those she knew from past excursions to the cloud city – soft, puffy, and very weak. Much like trotting through fresh snow, it was hard to tell how far down each hoof would fall as you took every step. Everypony she passed was a Pegasus, so this place certainly was up in the sky. Twilight quickly glanced up and around in a circle, looking for the rainbow waterfall which fell from the highest point in the city, finding only a tall pillar of cloud rising upward with a few brightly-colored pegasi dashing around it. Could they still be building the weather factory here? Was this just some part of Cloudsdale she had never seen before? She’d only been here a few times; surely Rainbow Dash hadn’t given the tour of everything.

Twilight ducked her head back down and kept a steady pace down the street as she continued. In a city of only pegasi, her horn only helped to make her stick out even more than she did back home. At the very least, though, she no longer had to cast her cloud-walking spell! It was never a particularly difficult one, sure, but every little bit of saved energy was probably for the best. Twilight turned left at a crossing, finding herself on a street of only small homes now. Avoiding awkward eye contact with the occasional passerby, she tried to remember anything she had ever been told about the little filly or her story. Snowdrop’s tale, unfortunately, was never something that made its way into writing… everypony knew of it from their parents, but only as a mental recollection from the generation before them. As each retelling continued, more and more details were skewed or lost in time.

Celestia and Luna, of course, were probably the best to ask about the tale. They might have forgotten some details over all the years since, but at least they were there to observe things as they happened. The Princesses had been here! How long ago was this? Had Luna not been sent to the moon at this point in time? Twilight sighed and tried to think harder, focusing on what might be helpful for the situation. Luna, Luna… That’s it! Luna had told her once about the cloud where Snowdrop had come up with her idea about the stars. It was right by the filly’s house, she said… incredibly small, no larger than the size of two ponies. The house had been the last one on the street, and this cloud sat past it as a warning for anypony not paying attention that the edge of the city was right there. Many Cloudsdale streets had something of this nature, even today. Those trotting past would best have fairly good flying skills, because otherwise they’d be taking a quick fall back to the ground.

Peeking up once more, Twilight found nopony in front of her, nor anypony approaching. In fact, she didn’t find a whole lot in terms of the street in front of her either… there was a small cloud floating just above and over the edge of the street itself, no more than seven or eight steps in front of her. Everything still seemed quite grey here… when did Cloudsdale’s clouds become white? No matter. This had to have been the place she was looking for. With a turn to her right, Twilight approached the small, single-level cloud home which sat right before the edge of the city, reaching a hoof up to the door and knocking lightly upon the wood a few times, hoping somepony would be home.

Primrose pulled the door to her home open after a surprise knock, not expecting anypony to be coming by today. She peeked her head out curiously, spotting a unic-- no, wait, she had wings too… an alicorn standing before her? As far as she knew, only the Princesses were alicorns, and this lavender-colored pony sure didn’t appear to be either of them. “Hello…” Primrose gave a cordial smile to the mare, trying as best she could to hide the questions she was nearly ready to blurt out. This might have been a princess from somewhere far away, and it would be best to be respectful. “…Can I help you, miss..? I’m Primrose.”

Twilight’s ears perked up at the mention of the name, recalling it from the tale she had been told so long ago. She smiled sheepishly, giggling under her own breath before replying, “Good afternoon.” Was it afternoon? Hopefully. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and if you’re Primrose… it appears I’ve found the correct place!” Her giggle rose up for a moment, quite noticeable. “I’m here regarding your daughter, Snowdrop. Do you have a few minutes?”

Primrose nodded, really unsure what exactly this pony was doing here now. It wasn’t just some lost passerby, and the horn sure made it seem like this mare was here for something important. “Snowdrop, yes… my daughter. She’s at school right now, but she should be getting back here shortly. Would it be best if you came inside?” Primrose took a step back from the door, motioning towards the inside of her small home with a welcoming hoof.

Twilight took a few steps inside, quickly looking around the small home before being motioned to a cloud chair by the mare that lived here. “I, erm… I apologize for the lack of notice, this… this is quite a peculiar situation. This is all going to sound quite absurd, but the fate of Equestria is dependent on what we need to discuss. I’ve been sent by Princess Celestia… on this assignment, my… my first as a princess… from the future…”

Half convinced this pony was telling some kind of absurd joke and half convinced this was some truth she just didn’t understand, Primrose nodded again and gave a small bow. Regardless of what the mare was saying, the fact that she was an alicorn and claiming to be a princess did make sense. “Can I get you anything, Princess? Some tea, or a hay sandwich? I’m sorry, it’s all I have…” She looked away, hoping the royal figure wouldn’t be angry at the lack of offerings.

With a sheepish chuckle and shake of her head, Twilight sat up in the chair, returning a friendly smile. “Please, Primrose, don’t worry about such things. ‘Princess’ is simply a title! Don’t spend your time treating me like royalty… I can't say how long I have here, and this is far too important. Like I said earlier when I introduced myself, I’m just... Twilight Sparkle!” She sighed lightly, finding even the ponies here wanting to treat her differently. There was no time for lengthy explanations about how such things were silly, inefficient wastes of time. “Aaannyway, as I was saying… Princess Celestia sent me here because of a serious problem being faced in the future. As you know, your daughter’s creation of her special ‘stars’ are something that the Princesses find highly useful. Where I’ve been sent from… we’ve run out, and Equestria’s winters risk going to an uncontrolled state once again. Snowdrop is the only pony who can make those stars… and…” Twilight’s words faded away quickly, knowing the next portion of what she would need to say was going to be difficult.

Primrose took a deep breath, listening closely to the words of this future princess and taking a seat of her own. She did happily find herself feeling slightly less on edge as she was instructed as to not act as if the alicorn was royalty, and even managed to smile upon hearing that Snowdrop’s unique talent was important enough to require somepony coming to talk with her. “Okay, Prin-er, Twilight, this sounds like an issue, no doubt. I might be insane, but I can actually believe your story. Snowdrop… Snowdrop is something special.” The prideful mother beamed for a moment. “She could certainly make you a few of her stars when she arrives home from school. It should be any minute now.”

Twilight gave a deep sigh, looking up at the ceiling of the small cloud home and beginning to speak once more. “That’s just it… the problem is, she can only make so many. The Princess’ magic is the only thing keeping me here talking to you, Primrose, and I don’t know how long that will last. I might disappear at any moment… I just don’t know.” Twilight looked across the room at the mother, doing her best to tread lightly over the topic which undoubtedly change the entire mood. “Princess Celestia has tasked me with getting Snowdrop… and bringing her back with me. To the future. I don’t know how long she’ll be gone, Primrose… but I’m going to be honest… Snowdrop might never come back. The Princesses know that she is crucial to the ongoing fate of Equestria, and I don’t feel comfortable making any promises.”

Blinking quickly in a hope that she was going to wake up from some sort of horrific dream, Primrose began to shake lightly side to side. Snowdrop was all she had. The little filly was her pride and joy, and caring for her encompassed a large portion of her own time. Imagining what could happen here was too much to handle, and tears began to well in her eyes as she softly spoke, “I… Snowdrop… my… my baby Snowdrop…” Primrose sniffled weakly and tried to think a few clear thoughts through the rising emotions. She was stuck, helpless, in a scenario that seemed nothing but surreal. No loving mother would ever willingly give up their daughter, especially without knowing what their future might hold. But the mare before her said that the fate of Equestria relied on this being allowed to happen. How could she live with herself if she denied this, knowing that it would be her own doing that one day might topple the future of the wonderful place where she lived? Primrose sniffled again before speaking up. “…C-can you at least tell me what Snowdrop’s life will be..? I… I need to be strong, for Equestria… but sh-she’s all I’ve got. Do you at least know she will be safe, happy, and loved? P-Please…”

Twilight nodded once, knowing this point in the conversation was bound to happen at some point. The Princess was right so far, at least… she was learning something here. Primrose, a loving mother, sat across the room from her, being told that the pony closest to her heart was being essentially taken away, with no promise of return. Twilight tried her best to imagine this scenario, but she had never been a mother, and the closest thing imaginable was still quite far off. Loss. She herself began to feel a few tears welling up in empathy, yet managed a weak, gentle smile. “Yes. Snowdrop will be living with me, in my Library. It’s in a town called Ponyville… which probably doesn’t exist yet... but it’s a small town near the end of the hills atop which Canterlot is built.” Twilight sighed somewhat remorsefully, “But I can certainly know Snowdrop will be safe. I will make her my top priority, Primrose… and do my best to keep her happy. Anything she wants or needs to learn, questions she asks, any experiences she should have at her age… everything… She will be a pony that will always make you proud, Primrose. I promise that to you.” Twilight looked back at the mother across from her, quite obviously and undoubtedly conflicted.

Primrose only nodded in return, unable to say much else. She muttered weakly through her sobs, “Th-tha… Thank y-you…” At that moment, the latch on the door clicked open. A small breeze of the cool spring air wisped through the room while the door opened partway. A little filly stepped into the small room, nudging the door shut behind her.

Snowdrop let her coat fall onto the floor after she closed the door, arriving home from school just like nearly any other day. She listened for the noise of pots and pans from the kitchen, but heard nothing of the sort. “M-mommy? Where are you?” The soft-spoken filly called out for her mother, staying in her spot right near the door and waiting for a response. Primrose hopped up immediately from her chair as her filly called her name, flying over to her daughter and scooping her up in her forehooves, nuzzling the young mare’s cheek lovingly. Snowdrop stayed silent for a minute, returning the affectionate nuzzle and reaching up her small hooves for a hug, but noticing something peculiar. “Mommy..? Have you… h-have you been crying? Y-your cheek… it’s wet…”

Primrose sniffled weakly, holding her daughter close and taking a deep breath. The filly might have not been able to see, but she wasn’t one to miss even the most minute of details. It couldn’t have taken her more than ten seconds after closing the door to notice that her mother had been crying. She leaned her head forward and talked in her daughter’s ear just above a whisper, “Y-yes, Snowdrop… there’s somepony here for you. She’s a Princess… and she needs you to help her. I’ve always told you that you were something special, my Snowdrop…”

The unknowing filly grinned at the mention of the Princesses, and nearly flew out of her mother’s grasp with excitement. Since her presentation last year, she had discovered that they were both nice ponies, especially the one that liked to talk about the stars at night. “Princess!? Which one, mommy? It is Princess Luna?”

Twilight stayed silent through this entire period, knowing it would be better for the filly’s mother to explain this to her. She watched closely as they spoke, noting certain signs of affection and love, determined to stay true to her word later on. It was clear that Primrose wanted only the best for her daughter, as any mother understandably would, and Twilight was determined to make that the case for Snowdrop.

Primrose replied softly, shaking her head while rubbing her chin against Snowdrop’s mane so she would feel the body-language answer. “It’s not a princess you know, Snowdrop… but she knows both of the Princesses you do. She was sent here by one of them, too. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. But, maybe, if you ask nicely, she’ll let you go visit Princess Luna sometime.” Primrose took a deep breath, honestly surprised she was handling the news to her daughter as well as she was. Twilight’s promise was comforting in a way far stronger than she was expecting. “Twilight needs to take you with her for a while, Snowdrop. She needs to take you back where she came from, so you can help her… and Equestria. Everypony knows your special talent is something unique, Snowdrop, and only you can help them.”

Twilight got up from her chair and slowly trotted over to where the mother and daughter hovered in mid-air. She decided to speak up as Primrose finished explaining everything to the filly, making sure to stay quiet and attempting to be calm. “Snowdrop?” The loving mother slowly placed her daughter back on the ground next to her coat. Twilight responded to this by leaning down on her forehooves until her belly touched the soft cloud floor, remaining quiet and trying her best to appear friendly to the young, presumably confused filly she was looking at. “I’m Twilight Sparkle…”

The blind filly blinked a weak tear from her own eye, not understanding much of the situation. She was confused, and expectedly scared… but her mother always told her she was something special. The Princess that had just said her name sounded like a nice pony, at least… and Snowdrop was proud of what she had presented last year at the Spring Sunrise. When it had given her her very own cutie mark, her mother’s words seemed true. If a real princess had come to her house, just for her, she must have really been something special. Twilight Sparkle’s words were pretty loud… she must have been close by. Snowdrop stepped forward only two tiny steps, reaching out her neck and feeling the soft warmth of what unknowingly was Twilight’s horn. She smiled softly and rubbed her cheek against it in an attempt to determine how friendly this pony truly was.

Primrose watched as her daughter made her own type of introduction, her sniffles slowly subsiding as the scene played out before her. From what she had seen of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the mare seemed very trustworthy and determined to keep her words. Hopefully, she thought, this pony also knew fairly well what it was going to take to care for a young filly.

Twilight giggled and gave a small smile towards Primrose while she gently nuzzled the filly’s cheek back, weakly blushing. For just a moment, she made her horn glow its typical magenta aura, figuring that the young one would surely feel the soft warmth which radiated off of it. Snowdrop was young, and Twilight knew that she had a lot in store for herself, but starting off like that somehow made things seem exponentially easier. She took a calm breath before speaking once more, “Hi, Snowdrop! Looks like you found me pretty quick!” She went to quickly giggle, hoping that her response wasn’t something too out of the ordinary, but froze after spotting something on her own hoof. Her entire body began to occasionally spark in yellow magical scatter. The spell was breaking up. It was time. Twilight looked up at Primrose and pulled Snowdrop close to her own side with a hoof, returning a nod and a supportive smile as best she could to the young filly’s mother.

Primrose immediately knew what the nod was intended to mean. She landed back on the ground and dashed over to her daughter as fast as she could, giving the blind filly one final hug and a soft kiss. She didn’t know if her daughter was ever going to come back to her, and the only thought on her mind was remaining strong. The situation for Snowdrop was something incomprehensible – the young mind of the filly probably had no clue what was going on, but Twilight was going to need to explain it to her soon enough. She wasn’t going to be there to support her own daughter. The tears began to well up at the bottom of her eyes once more, and with misty vision, she placed Snowdrop down at Twilight’s side once more, noticing the golden surges rapidly becoming more frequent.

Snowdrop remained silent, comforted by her mother and calm, knowing that the princess that had come for her was pretty nice. She had even managed a light giggle upon feeling the warmth that the princess somehow made grow stronger, but faded back to a confused state once her mother suddenly grabbed her and gave her another hug. She was crying again, and Snowdrop still had no understanding as to why. Before she could ask even a single question, she was placed back at the side of the princess. Confused, Snowdrop started to softly cry as well. She tried to be supportive to her mother as the older mare had always been to her, and weakly called out, “I… I love you, mommy…”

Twilight was focusing at this point on making sure Snowdrop remained at her side until the spell broke completely. The fact that she had to hold a confused seven year-old away from her crying mother was not one she particularly enjoyed, and the understanding that it was her who was splitting up the two that were so close to one another only made it worse. She tried her best to comfort the filly by tucking her under her wing, but she could only look down and try to hold back tears of her own otherwise. She wished that the spell would just break, now, because every second seemed a lifetime.

Primrose watched as the lavender alicorn held her daughter under her wing, unable to do anything in the way of holding back tears any longer. She knew she couldn’t be too close to the others when the spell broke, and struggled to keep herself from diving between them to pull her special filly away. She whispered back between sobs, “I love you too, Snowdrop… Show everypony how special you truly are…” A blinding flash of light shot through the small house. Primrose wiped her tears with a hoof and looked around the room. Twilight and Snowdrop were gone.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight found herself blinking once again, the flashes of light difficult to clear from her eyes after the second time. She took a moment to look around the room, finding herself back within the hall to Canterlot Tower, within the castle, her belly on the velvety red rug which ran down the middle of the long room. The Princess lay in her throne at the far end of the room, slumped over and weak from holding the spell as long as she could. Twilight glanced to her side and slowly wiped away what was left of the tears in her own eyes, spotting a small, lightly colored pony still tucked carefully under her wing. She was back in the present, Snowdrop by her side, safe and sound.

A small sliver of silver moonlight shone across the room, skewed slightly by the tall windows which adorned both sides. Snowdrop knew she was no longer within her mother’s small Cloudsdale home. The floor here felt firm and cold under her small hooves, and even the sound of silence seemed to echo off the walls. Confused and scared, she remained completely still under the soft feathers of a wing – a wing that seemed a bit heavier than that of her own mother’s, but warm and comforting just the same. Its warmth felt close to that of the pony she had just rubbed her cheek against a few moments prior, but the filly was too frightened about whatever it was that had just happened to ask. Her eyes still stung slightly with a familiar tear, and she occasionally slipped out a soft whimper despite her best efforts to remain completely silent.

The Princess looked sick from overexertion. Luna must’ve been awake by now, it was certainly the moon which shone through the windows… but she was nowhere to be found. Twilight’s immediate reaction to dash over and help her teacher was quickly halted by a single wave of Celestia’s hoof, for it was at this moment the true beginning of her assignment became clear. The Princess could use her help, sure, but Celestia was going to be okay for sure. Twilight’s ear caught the weak sound of the small filly’s scared whimper, and remembered what she had been told. Snowdrop was her responsibility. She had just made a promise… well, a promise technically made over a thousand years ago, but it seemed to have been no more than five minutes. Promises were forever. Snowdrop would be happy, safe, and loved. Now was a time to make that true.

Twilight took a deep breath before looking to her side once more and back down at the small filly, afraid to speak but knowing it was the right thing to do. “Snowdrop?” Twilight leaned her head down and touched the tip of her horn to the whimpering pony’s little cheek, feeling the cool dampness of tears against the warm horn almost immediately. “Ssssshhhh… it’s me, Twilight Sparkle… you’re okay, Snowdrop…”

The pony talking to her sure sounded like the same one she had just been introduced to by her own mother, and the warmth by her cheek felt nearly the same too. She claimed to be the same pony. Needing to reach a final decision, Snowdrop weakly nudged towards the warmth near her cheek once more, finding the feeling exactly the same. She sniffled a few times, barely managing a whisper in her confused fear, “T-Tw… Twilight..? Wh-wher… whe… where a-are we?”

Twilight sighed softly, wishing somepony was by her side to help in the difficult scenario. She had barely said more than a sentence or two to the blind pegasus before the Princess’ magic had forced them both back here. “We’re in Canterlot, Snowdrop. Princess Celestia’s spell brought us both back here… but everypony’s alright.” Twilight folded her wing back to her side, slowly breathing out with the knowledge that the most difficult part of the task was done. This wasn’t exactly the exciting excursion she had imagined the Princess sending her on during the train ride this morning. “Do you remember what your m- erm, Mommy was telling you about helping me? …About why I was there?”

Snowdrop blinked twice, her small wings shivering in the cool air of the large room now that Twilight’s feathers no longer covered her. The strong little filly somehow mustered a tiny smile, sniffling only once before returning a nod. She didn’t know how it was that she had gotten here, or really even where this place was, but her mother did explain that Twilight needed her help. She was here to show everypony that she was something special. “Y-yes. Mommy said that you needed to take me for a while, b-because… because, umm…” Snowdrop looked down as her soft voice faded away to silence, unable to remember exactly why it was that the princess she had never heard of needed her help.

Pulling her head back slightly in surprise, the lavender alicorn giggled for a brief moment. The blind filly by her side was only seven years old, and somehow she seemed to be able to calm down faster than most fully-grown ponies would ever be capable of after such a confusing and scary scenario. Twilight found herself immediately less worried when she saw Snowdrop’s little smile. “That’s right!” Twilight couldn’t help but grin, some feeling of normalcy coming back after everything that had just occurred. Explaining the rest of this would be easy. “I need you to help me, because nopony else here knows how to make those special stars out of snow like you do, Snowdrop. But before we can do anything like that… I think we should go home. I don’t know about you, but this rug doesn’t seem like a very comfortable place to sleep!”

Hearing a happy giggle caused Snowdrop’s ears to perk up slightly. She reflected the cheerful sound by smiling a bit more, no longer afraid that Princess Twilight wasn’t a nice pony in any way. The mare wasn’t wrong, for sure – this rug and the room it was in were cold. “Y-you need my help making stars?” Snowdrop giggled back, happy to work on making more of the special flakes that had gotten her a cutie mark. Her mother had explained it as a flower with a blue stem and white petals that matched her mane. She had even found a similar-looking flower for Snowdrop to hold last summer, but the filly sometimes still wondered what it really looked like. She was curious about a lot of things, and the adventure she suddenly was just dragged into was no exception. “Where’s that, Princess Twilight? Is it in a big castle?”

Twilight laughed again, getting up and back on her hooves. She had a lot more studying to do on raising fillies and colts, but everything was going to be just fine. Her experiences and observations both from the past and of Primrose with her daughter had been enough to get past the first of what was certain to be many struggles. “No… it’s in a town called Ponyville. It’s a big tree… so big that somepony was able to build an entire library inside!” The architecture of the Golden Oak Library was somewhat remarkable; especially considering it was still a living tree. She ended her quick description with excitement, imagining the pony who worked to carve out the inside some time before she had moved there. It must have taken years and yea- wait… that wasn’t important right now… “Ponyville is too far to walk to or fly from here, Snowdrop. We’ll need to take the train! Have you ever been on a train before?”

The filly thought for a moment, remembering hearing about trains once in school. Of course, there were none in Cloudsdale, but her teacher had explained that ponies in cities on the ground could use them to get to other cities quickly. Snowdrop had never left the cloud city she called her home, and therefore had never been on one of these trains, though a few of her classmates had. “Are they fun? Where do we get on the train, Princess Twilight? I’ve never gotten to go on a train!” She took a few steps forward on the carpet, knowing better than to venture too far without any real idea what it was she might be headed towards.

Talking to Snowdrop didn’t seem much different than talking to those three fillies that would occasionally pop in to her library asking about cutie marks and trying to get Twilight to test some ‘spell’ they had made up on them. Much like them, it appeared that this little pony’s mind moved on from question to question and idea to idea without much care as to the answer. Some books explained this as being distracted by excitement, which feasibly could make sense, at least in some scenarios. Twilight quickly trotted past Snowdrop and gently nudged her to the side with her left forehoof, following the long rug to the end of the room, making sure to look over and check that Snowdrop was still close by every ten steps or so. She increased her pace to a quick canter after turning back into the other halls of Canterlot Castle, taking the reverse path of what she had this morning. “The next train leaves in ten minutes… we’ll make it if we hurry!” The book’s explanation of being distracted by excitement didn’t only apply to young ponies – Twilight herself didn’t even realize she and Snowdrop had left the Princess alone in her throne until they were nearly outside and back into the streets of Canterlot.

Snowdrop made sure to listen closely for the hoofsteps on the hard floor, using them to follow Twilight as they made their way around the big building. It wasn’t particularly difficult for her to do, at least not compared to attempting to hear hoofsteps on clouds. These ones echoed every which way off the walls and floor. Helping Princess Twilight was going to be fun… she just got here, and already was going to get to ride a train! The excited filly remained quiet to ensure she wouldn’t miss a step, but any fears or sadness, at least for the moment, were gone.

Twilight stopped outside the front of the castle, remarkably surprised that Snowdrop managed to do the same before she even had to say anything or reach out to catch her with a hoof. The filly sure did seem to be incredibly aware of her environment. “Okay, we’re almost there, but now there’s going to be too many ponies to run like that. I know a shortcut we can take, though I have another idea of how to make this faster… be ready to hold on!”

The feeling of floating off the ground combined with a soft warmth all around her was strange. She wasn’t flapping her wings, so it wasn’t her flying, but her hooves definitely weren’t on the ground. Not a moment later, Snowdrop found her belly on soft fur, and brushed the tips of her forehooves on feathery wings. She had ridden on her mother’s back before too, of course, but not without her first having to either fly up or climb on. How Twilight had managed to make her float up and onto hers seemed odd. Regardless, Snowdrop knew what to do now, and gladly nudged herself forward until she could wrap her forelegs around Twilight’s neck. She was glad to have a little rest… galloping down the castle’s stairs was hard work! There weren’t a lot of those to practice on back in Cloudsdale. “Ready!” The excited filly held on tight as Twilight weaved her way through the alleys of her old shortcut, back towards the train station.

As they reached the train station, Twilight quickly trotted up onto the platform, slowing down before stepping into the waiting train. The two had made good timing, and she was happy to find a fully empty seat once stepping inside the second car. She finally came to a stop in front of the seat, glancing back over her shoulder with a quiet giggle once more. “Okay,” she whispered softly, “time to get our seats!” Twilight used the same simple levitation spell to lift Snowdrop off her back and place her in the seat closer to the window, then sitting down herself in the seat more towards the inside of the train. She looked out the window for a moment, spotting the moon not too high overhead. They would probably make it back to the Library before midnight. “The train should be leaving in just a minute..!”

Snowdrop finally caught her breath from the running through the castle after laying down on her side to  get comfortable in her train seat, yawning once. She wasn’t sure exactly what time it was, but it had to have been past her bedtime. Princess Twilight was pretty awesome… letting her ride on a train and stay up past her bedtime?! She waited excitedly for the train to leave, hearing the muffled squeaks of rubbing metal outside a moment before feeling a gentle rocking motion as the train began to move. There was a squeak of a whistle for a second before the moving got faster, the squeaking from the wheels now just a soft pattern of taps every so often. She yawned again, stretching out her hindlegs and pushing against the side of her seat, lightly bonking her head off Twilight’s side before she could stretch out fully. Princess Twilight’s fur was soft and warm. With her eyelids growing heavy, she yawned one final time before curling up against her newfound pillow, the patter of the train’s wheels slowly fading into the silence of sleep.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The train rocked as it came to a stop at the station in Ponyville, ponies immediately springing up from their seats and trying to dash out the door only to find themselves stuck waiting to trot out one-by-one through the small door. Twilight sat uncomfortably stiff in her seat while she waited for the majority of the crowd to shuffle out before slowly sliding down onto her hooves. Thank Celestia that wasn’t a very long train ride! She couldn’t have remained in the same position much longer and might have risked waking the sleeping filly up.

Snowdrop was still sound asleep in the seat, curled up and oblivious to the happenings of the world around her, lightly snoring through her nose with a tiny smile on her muzzle. Twilight stretched her stiff forelegs for a moment before she carefully levitated the filly onto her back once more, balancing her weight evenly on each side to make sure she wouldn’t fall off. Treading her hooves as lightly as possible, the lavender alicorn stepped out of the train car and began slowly trotting home.

It would have been helpful if she had asked Primrose for some sort of schedule for her daughter, if only to know what would work to keep the filly’s days as normal as possible. Then again, that schedule would probably have differed greatly from the schedule that Twilight would need to develop for them both. The Princess had said it was her job to teach Snowdrop anything she might need to know. On top of that, sending the blind filly to a new school would not have been a good idea – Miss Cheerilee wouldn’t be expecting a new student, and apparently, some of the fillies in the class there were known to be bullies. That would risk breaking the promise to keep Snowdrop happy. But how set to a schedule was the mind of a young pony, anyway? Would changing her schedule be something that could be done immediately, or would she need to slowly ease into the transition? What exactly would this schedule be, anyways?

Twilight assumed that something similar to her own schedule would probably be the best one to adapt the filly to. With Snowdrop no longer needing to get up early for school, she could go to bed later. This would give Twilight time in the morning to work on her daily chores or anything else that might need to get done while the young pegasus was still asleep. The old tale of the pony now on her own back had said that she originally come up with her special idea after listening for the twinkles of stars. She seemed excited at the thought of seeing Princess Luna back when Primrose had mentioned there was a Princess that needed her help. Did Snowdrop enjoy the night more than the day? Signs sure seemed to point there.

Twilight’s thoughts diverted for a moment to think about the wonders she had studied of the nighttime sky. The princess in charge of raising the sun might have been her teacher, but there were wondrous things that could only be observed under the cover of darkness and dim moonlight. Astronomy was a fascinating science, and she hoped Snowdrop would find something of it interesting as well. She wouldn’t be able to teach the pegasus much of the magic that was her specialty, but there were plenty of other things she most certainly could! Already, Twilight had a long list of questions she would need to write down and slowly hint at to try and discover some of Snowdrop’s interests.

The moon was almost directly above them now. It must have been nearly midnight, and quickly the massive tree at the end of the street came into view. Twilight excitedly began to trot faster as the Library grew near, speeding up faster, faster… wait, was that..? With a glance back over her shoulder, she folded her ears down, hearing the filly yawning. Oops. How could she have forgotten so quickly!? Twilight immediately slowed herself down and stopped for a moment, hearing Snowdrop mumble something inaudible and go back to her soft snores. That was close… she was lucky she didn’t wake the little filly up in her moment of distraction. Snowdrop needed her rest, as all fillies and colts do, and there was no doubt this initial period of transition would be easier if it began on a good night’s sleep.

Trotting up to the door of the Golden Oak Library, Twilight used her magic to gently push the door open and make her way inside as quietly as possible. She immediately made her way across the main room to where a few of the comfortable reading chairs sat, lifting the tired pony from her back one last time and plopping her small, sleeping figure in the center of a chair with the most gentle magic she could. This would need to do as Snowdrop’s bed for the time being – the small room at the back of the Library had to be cleaned and have the books stored there moved before it would be a safe place for the blind filly to call her own.

Unlike Snowdrop’s restful slumber, Twilight wasn’t going to be getting any sleep tonight. A glance around her library quickly proved that this was no place for a pony that was both generally unfamiliar with the surroundings and wouldn’t be able to see where anything was. That statue on the center table weighed more than three or four ponies combined… what if Snowdrop accidently knocked it over and it fell on her? That was far too risky to leave where it currently was. The staircase which wrapped around the outside of the room, passing behind the chair where the filly currently lay asleep and up towards Twilight’s room, the kitchen, and the top observatory deck had no railing. The stairs themselves were uneven in length, and getting Snowdrop used to them was going to take some time. There was a telescope that hung down somewhat from an upper window, but that shouldn’t ever be too much of a problem. It’d probably just be best if Twilight set the prescient for Snowdrop that she followed herself as well – no flying in the Library. There were too many things to hit or accidently knock over with a gust of wind from the flap of wings. She should start looking for books and studying up on some of the developmental facts for ponies around Snowdrop’s age and develop a list of important events that should not be missed. The faster she could start all of this, the better, but… where to start first? What was the highest priority? How long was she going to have until Snowdrop woke up, anyway?

Twilight looked over at the sleeping filly for a moment and sighed weakly, smiling as she realized exactly what the highest priority was at the present time. It wasn’t any of those things... something much more important was right in front of her! Making her way up the stairs to her room as silently as possible, Twilight tugged a blanket off her bed, neatly folding it into a thick square and magically holding it by her side. She slowly trotted her way back down the stairs once more, taking the descent slow so that her hooves wouldn’t make noise when landing on each lower step. Unfolding the blanket partially so that it remained doubled over, Twilight lowered the big piece of old, pilled fabric on top of Snowdrop, watching blanket touch the filly’s little wings before releasing her magical grip over it, breathing another sigh of relief as the rest fell lightly around Snowdrop and draped most of the big chair. Now the young filly looked more comfortable in her sleepy dreams. One concern checked off.

Making the Library a little bit safer was probably the next most important thing to do. The rest of Twilight’s initial preparations would be okay to do while Snowdrop was awake, though some would certainly be easier if she didn’t have to keep her eye on the young pegasus. That statue needed to go somewhere that it couldn’t topple over… or maybe she should just get rid of it. Rarity was always going off about how the Library was in serious need of some remodeling. But that was an antique! It had been here before she was, and anypony’s guess would be as good as hers in terms of figuring out who it belonged to. Perhaps the basement would be the best place to put it?

Twilight gulped as that thought quickly went through her head. The basement. Her makeshift lab was full of all sorts of sensitive pieces of equipment and dangerous things that nopony unfamiliar with them should be around, let alone a blind filly. The basement, luckily, had a door to the stairs heading down, but… who was to say Snowdrop wouldn’t ever mistake it for the door outside? Twilight knew should’ve put a lock on this door before now anyways, though the lavender alicorn wasn’t much of a handy pony in that sense. Applejack would probably be able to help her at some point, but in the meantime… a perfect idea!  Taking a moment to focus on the heavy piece of carved wood and slowly exhaling a few deep breaths, Twilight surrounded the statue in her magenta magical aura, holding her breath before pulling it up and into the air. The heavy carving reluctantly parted with the table upon which it sat, wobbling shakily above for a few seconds before slowly drifting across the room. Still holding her breath and keeping her eyes carefully fixed upon the object she levitated, Twilight trotted alongside until the door to the basement was in front of her. She lowered the statue down and placed it directly in front of the stairs, dropping it against the old wooden floor with a small thud and nudging it into the door that now blocked them. Perfect! With Snowdrop here, there probably wasn’t going to be much time for experiments anyway.

With the statue moved and basement no longer a risk, Twilight took another glance around the room. The lack of a railing on the staircase was just going to be a risk they would have to take. Hopefully, Snowdrop would get used to the oddly-shaped stairs in time, and she would know to not venture too close to the edge. Stay on the right when going up, and stay on the left when going down. That way, she’d always be near the wall. Twilight took a few paces around the room and over to her desk, fumbling around for a fresh scroll and a quill. Pulling both out and setting them atop the writing surface, she began scribbling down various notes and ideas to refer back to later. Right up, left down. That was about all she could do for those issues, at least until Snowdrop was awake.

That extra book closet in the back of the Library had to have been pretty dusty. Spike used it on occasion as a place to store books that ponies returned if he thought they needed to be rebound, but otherwise the room lay dormant. Twilight grabbed the feather duster off its spot on the center table to go and take a look. The Library seemed bigger without that statue sitting on there… interesting.  The door to the small room creaked open only partway before being stopped by a pile of books. Stepping inside, Twilight rolled her eyes. It wasn’t as dusty as she had expected, luckily, but it was long overdue to check the books that Spike thought needed repair. That dragon really needed to tell her when it was starting to get like this… the Crystal Empire probably hadn’t reappeared last time she ventured in here. Quickly running the duster across the piles of titles, Twilight began sliding books out through the door and restacking them behind her in the main room.

Slowly, the small disaster area cleared into a room that one could trot in easily. The magically held feather duster whisked away months of ignored or otherwise skipped cleanings as Twilight continued further inside. Both ironically and conveniently, the book closet was actually designed to be a bedroom for somepony, at some point in time. Perhaps the ponies that carved out the tree and built the Library thought there would be such an avid reader that they would need a place to sleep after staying up too late to go home? Twilight laughed quietly at this thought… that pony would be her, if she hadn’t already been living there! A puffy bed sat atop a portion of floor higher than the rest, creating a remarkably comfortable-looking place to sleep without needing to take up any additional space. One side of the carved platform stretched out wider than the other, and here, on the opposite wall from the head of the bed, there sat a small desk. Like nearly every other room in the Library, the wall above this desk had been cut into, making a two-shelf bookcase that looked to fit perhaps ten books at most. The side of the room that only had enough space between the bed and the wall for a pony to trot forward or back in, such as they would when getting in or out of the bed, sported a small, circular window. The silver light of Luna’s moon creeped partway up the windowsill here. Twilight’s immediately put down the duster and trotted over to the window, worried that Snowdrop might somehow fall or fly out of it and hurt herself. The window was no more than a pony’s height off the ground, and it looked too small for anypony to even make it through without some real effort. Happy there was nothing to worry about there, she gave herself a nod of approval, figuring the room clean and usable now. Snowdrop would need a few things before she could call it her own, but at least tomorrow night the filly would have a bed to sleep in.

With that matter completed as best she could without Snowdrop’s own help, the preparations looked to be done. Twilight carried the piles she had made from the books in the spare room back behind her desk, leaving them pushed up against the wall for the time being. It must have been past four in the morning by now, and this was no time to be considering the task of flipping through each of those books, marking down pages where the paper pulled away from the binding and going through again to fix them. Just the idea of doing that made Twilight yawn… but she couldn't give in to being tired! She needed to keep going and keep working!

Levitating her scroll of scribbled notes off her desk, Twilight made her way around the Library in search of a certain section. The bookworm came to a stop in front of a wall of books, scanning over spines filled with text far too long to belong in the title itself. The letters looked as if they had needed to be squished to even fit there… and that was the book she needed. That one, right there! She slid the book out from its organized resting place on the shelf, carrying it over with the scroll towards where Snowdrop lay asleep, yawning again. Equestrian Adolescences, Fifth Ed. – A Comprehensive Analysis… surely this would be a good place to start her research. Twilight remembered portions of this book from reading thoroughly through it a while ago. The author had devoted large sections to differences between growth and development in pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies… certainly something that would prove helpful here. With a slight hop up, Twilight pulled herself into the other reading chair and began to get comfortable, laying the book out in front of her and preparing to write more on her scroll of notes.

Snowdrop’s soft snores were quite obvious once Twilight stopped moving about the Library. Glancing up from her book after no more than three minutes after sitting down, the lavender alicorn found the filly with her head hanging on the edge of the chair, her body still curled up under the big blanket. One forehoof lay on top of the folded piece of heavy fabric, and it looked as if Snowdrop had pulled her covers up to her chin at some point in the past few hours. Twilight smiled warmly at the sight of the filly that the Princess was holding her accountable for, pleased that everything so far seemed perfectly alright. Tomorrow, hopefully, she would be able to say the same.

Yawning once more, Twilight took her body’s sign of needing sleep as a reminder to focus on the task at hoof. By staying in this chair, not only would she know when Snowdrop woke up, but she would be able to rest sitting down while taking notes. Sleep? She didn’t need sleep! Just taking a load off her hooves was surely enough!  But this sure was a lot of work, so far… was this what Cadence felt like when she was Twilight’s own foalsitter? Was Princess Celestia giving her this assignment so she would see what it was like to foalsit? Maybe. Twilight rested her head down in the binding of the open book in front of her to think, recalling some of the memories of her days with Cadence. Those were things she could try with Snowdrop, too! Something to write down… but in a minute or two. It felt nice to put her head down, and close her eyes… and thinking about all the stories from her days as a filly… and… and… Twilight’s body finally gave in to its own need for rest, drifting the mare’s thoughts unknowingly into dreams while her breathing slowly faded to that of sleep like that of Snowdrop’s tiny snores.

> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The morning sun slowly peeked rays of golden light through the windows of the Library, covering the chair slowly in its radiant heat as it rose higher in the sky over Ponyville. Snowdrop groggily stretched out in her seat, hearing the chirping song of a bird or two outside and figuring it was time to get up. Something seemed strange. The light beat of the train’s wheels no longer seemed to be happening, and it didn’t particularly feel as if she was moving, either. It seemed hot here. The filly slid herself onto her side, rubbing her head against the arm of the chair on which it now lay. That didn’t feel like Princess Twilight… where was she?

Snowdrop weakly flailed her hooves for a moment, bundling the heavy, somewhat slippery fabric somepony must have had put over her before it tipped too close to the edge of the chair and fell to the floor with a silent bounce. This place still seemed hot. But it had been chilly outside when she fell asleep… how far away was this place? Where was Princess Twilight? What happened? Unsure what exactly was going on, Snowdrop moved a hoof around herself looking for anything different. The soft thing on which she lay, whatever it was, seemed to go around in a half-circle before stopping at an edge. The filly nudged herself closer to this point, reaching over with her hoof and trying to see how far the drop was. Little closer… liiiitle closer… too close, too close, aahhh – oh. Pfew! It seemed like she had fallen just a tiny bit, onto the slippery fabric that was previously covering her. Good thing that wasn’t like the edge of the street by her house in Cloudsdale… Mommy always warned that falling from there would be very bad.

Snowdrop resumed her search after a moment, figuring whatever this fabric was held by wouldn’t break with her on it as well. All around the fabric was another different sort of floor. This was wasn’t soft like clouds, but it wasn’t cold like the one in Canterlot, either. It felt like there was some sort of pattern in it, too… straight lines meeting other straight lines at certain points, and sometimes a weird bump or rough spot that usually seemed to be circular. The straight lines seemed to go on as long as she could reach, so whatever kind of place this was, it seemed fairly big. Snowdrop stood up on the fabric and slowly put a hoof completely onto the odd floor, leaning her weight on it and ensuring it was safe. Deciding that the straight lines would continue for as long as the floor, she eventually made her way completely off the slippery fabric and took a step fully onto the different floor.

Stepping out of the ray of sun that had blanketed the chair and its immediate surroundings in its heat, Snowdrop slowly followed the straight lines of the floor around, still trying to figure out what this place was. The smell here was odd, though somewhat familiar. It smelled like school on the days Mrs. Windith made the other ponies practice “writing”… though she never had to. As her teacher explained it, the idea was to make certain shapes by drawing on “paper” with a quill. One colt in her class had been crying the first time they were working on it – apparently he accidentally bit himself trying to pull out a feather from his wing to write with. Those days were always boring. Mrs. Windith made her sit at her desk with nothing to do while the rest of the ponies practiced something she couldn’t see. Was Princess Twilight going to make her sit and be bored like that? Was she even here?

Not finding anything but more straight lines in the floor as she continued, the blind filly began to get a little worried. Snowdrop tried to remember what Princess Twilight had told her about where she lived. Some place with a library, in a town that was far away. A library… that smell… Snowdrop smiled and stopped moving around the room, keeping one hoof on a straight line in the floor so she wouldn’t get lost. The stuff Mrs. Windith said was called “paper” had the same sort of smell, though it was much stronger here. Mommy had one heavy thing made of this same paper she always kept in the kitchen, which had directions written in it for different foods to make... a “cookbook”, she called it. Snowdrop always wished she could see what was in that special cookbook. Whatever it was, the things smelled and tasted awesome when she made them! It was always exciting to wait and see what was for dinner when she got home from school and the paper in the cookbook made a weird noise as her mother flipped them and looked through it. This had to have been Princess Twilight’s library. Libraries were places with lots of books. But if there were so many papers and books here, why couldn’t she hear anypony making that same noise as the cookbook did?

Listening closely for anypony flipping those papers and making that noise, Snowdrop perked her ears up as another noise grew loud for a quick moment before fading back to near silence. It sounded like a pony snoring! Was that Twilight? The filly curiously waited another few moments for the snore to rise up, taking a few steps towards the sound before waiting for another sleepy beacon.

The soft portions of the sleeping pony’s snore grew louder as Snowdrop got closer to them. She continued heading towards the sound with one hoof still following the lines of the floor as the sound grew louder and louder, all the while becoming easier and easier to follow. She eventually was forced to stop, rather abruptly, and took a single step back as her nose bonked into some sort of wall in front of her. At least the wall wasn’t hard like the floor… it seemed pretty close to whatever she had been laying on before. Somepony had certainly fallen asleep above this wall. Was this where Princess Twilight was? It seemed like a strange place, but then again, she had never been here. Snowdrop propped her forehooves onto the soft wall and tried to reach her head over the top of the wall, searching for any clue of who this pony was.

Twilight mumbled weakly into the binding of her book, awoken by some sort of tickling on her horn. With a groggy yawn, she opened her eyes, squinting and nearly shutting them again in the bright morning sun. Taking a moment to stretch, she grumbled under her breath, “Eughh… w-what time is it..?” A blurry look around through eyes still unadjusted to the sunlight which shone through the windows found no timekeeping device in sight, only a small pony seemingly perched up on the chair she must have fallen aslee—Snowdrop! Oh no, ohnonon… Twilight nearly jumped up from the chair, the feeling of morning grogginess disappearing while she scanned the room. Nothing seemed out of place, except for a blanket left crumpled up on the floor near the other chair.

With a soft sigh of relief, Twilight cleared her throat and ended the filly’s searching by quietly calling out, “Good morning, Snowdrop!” Pulling the book which had unknowingly served as her pillow from beneath her forehooves, Twilight levitated the old guide onto the small table which sat between the two chairs. “I see you’ve found you’re way around the Library already!” Twilight nudged herself closer towards the side of the chair, quickly pulling Snowdrop up beside her before the filly had gotten back down from leaning up on the side of the seat beforehand.

Snowdrop stood quietly for a moment in thought, standing with her hooves on the seat and trying to feel the surface of whatever she had just been lifted onto. Recalling the familiar feeling here to that of the chair she had been in a few minutes ago, she sat down, questions forming in her curious mind. She leaned towards her left in the seat, against the side of the chair, before accidentally brushing a hoof against some feathers and quickly repositioning herself the other way round to lean against Twilight. “I… I didn’t even know this place was t-the Library… is this where you live, Princess Twilight..?”

Giggling gently, Twilight nodded and looked around the room once more, still surprised the blind filly had managed to find her without accidentally running into anything in the unfamiliar place. “It is. Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library, in Ponyville!” She looked down at Snowdrop against her side with a warm smile, subtly nudging herself back towards the middle of the chair and closer to the filly. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I was going to read until you woke up, but… it looks like my body had other plans…” She yawned once, “… kind of like you on that train! It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes after we left Canterlot that you were sleeping!” With another soft laugh, Twilight’s mind changed gears, spawning a thought of curiosity. “How did you know I was in this chair, anyways?”

Snowdrop’s muzzle flashed a quick grin for a second, turning her head to look up towards where Twilight’s voice was coming from next to her. “It was easy… I just listened for a minute or two… you’re a loud snorer!” The filly let out a quick giggle, her uncertain worries about this place all but forgotten knowing that Princess Twilight was here. 

Twilight looked down at the filly with a sheepish smile, unsure how to respond to that. Was she snoring loudly? Nopony had ever said she did before… though nopony had been around her sleeping much at all since her days at home in Canterlot. But if it worked to allow Snowdrop to find her, that means it was a good thing, right? “Well, umm… that’s… that’s good! I’m glad you were able to find me!” Twilight laughed once more, trying to come up with something good she could use to change the subject. “I think we’ve got a lot of work to do today, Snowdrop. The best thing to start with would probably be showing you around the Library. Does that sound good?”

The filly gave a small shrug of her shoulders. It certainly wasn’t too exciting, but it would make it much easier to get around rather than having to keep her hoof on those lines in the floor. “Mmhm!” With a tiny nod, Snowdrop stood back up in the chair and took a step forward, hopping back down onto the ground with the lines below. 

Following the filly’s lead, Twilight slid herself out of the chair and stretched once more, feeling a bit sore after having slept with her head in a book and body curled up in a chair. This wasn’t a new feeling, though – it had to have happened at least once a month. Suppose that’s the risk you take when you try to do any form of studying late at night! She scanned the room for a starting place rapidly, her eyes stopping as they caught the door to what would become Snowdrop’s room. The filly would be by herself most often starting there, so it would only make sense to lead from that point in the Library. “Okay. Just follow me, like you did yesterday! I’ll explain things as we go… and don’t be afraid to ask questions!” Twilight began heading towards the door near the back of the room, making sure Snowdrop was following.

As they stepped through the door and into the small room near the back of the Library, Snowdrop moved her head around curiously, scanning the room for any sounds or other clues as to what it might be. She took a few steps forward, leaning down with her head near the floor before quickly pulling it back up with a squeaky sneeze. She sniffled once, noticing the sounds here echoed much faster than in the other room. It must’ve been smaller. “What’s this room?”

Twilight looked at the floor after Snowdrop sneezed, still finding spots of dust present there after her cleaning from the night before. Nothing that can’t be cleaned later… there’s more important things on the agenda right now. “I used to use this room as a place to keep books I need to fix, but the ponies who built the Library designed it as a bedroom. You’ll have to help me pick out some blankets and things for in here at some point later today… this is going to be your room!” She took a step back, “If you take a few more steps forward, you’ll walk right into the end of the bed. There’s a window on the left side of the room from where you’re standing right now, too! If you turn around and come back towards me, there will be a small desk on your left, and going straight will take you back into the main room of the Library, where we were before. Am I explaining this okay?”

Snowdrop silently trotted forward, reaching out a hoof to touch the bed. She then turned around, going back the way she had come and using her left forehoof to feel for anything that might be the desk Twilight had mentioned. After seven steps, she found some object that felt much like the floor going upward, taller than her, but eventually becoming flat on the top. It didn’t feel quite like her old desk in Mrs. Windith’s classroom in Canterlot, but it was about the same size. They were both flat like that on the top, too. She turned once more and counted her steps, this time only needing to take six before she felt the puffy bed on against her hoof and turning around once more. “Okay… I think I’ll remember that…” With a satisfied grin, she made her way back the seven steps to the desk, standing next to Twilight once more.

Pleased but somewhat surprised, Twilight turned around and stepped back into the main room. “Very good! We’ll be done in no time if you’re able to remember everything like that!” She giggled cheerily, continuing to her right and around the large circular room and talking as she went. “This is the main room of the Library, where most of the books are. It’s shaped like a circle… can you tell?” Taking a quick look back towards the door as the two circled the room, Twilight continued, “If you were to go straight out of your room and across the middle, you’d end up at the door to go outside. But you always need to go in a circle like we are now. There’s a heavy wooden table in the middle of the room that doesn’t feel very good to hit your horn- erm… I mean, head... on. Trust me. About fifteen degrees past that door is the main desk for the Library. Another… perhaps thirty degrees past that is the st—“ Twilight stopped as Snowdrop suddenly spoke up, pausing her explanation to answer the filly’s question.

“How come you’re talking about the temperature, Twilight? I know it’s not fifteen degrees in here… it feels warmer than that…” Snowdrop looked up in front of her, towards the lavender alicorn whose hoofsteps he had been following as they stopped making noise against the warm, hard floor.

Twilight arched a brow for a moment in confusion. The temperature? She hadn’t mentioned anything about the temperature… just that is was fifteen degrees from the main door to the desk, but that wasn’t temperature, that was… oh! She smirked for a moment at her own silliness, remembering the age of the filly she was busy explaining this all to. There’s no way she would have been taught arc angles yet… that type of advanced geometry probably wasn’t even taught to all ponies. Perhaps it was something she could teach Snowdrop later. “Those degrees don’t mean the temperature, Snowdrop, but… let’s just count in steps. We’re right near the door that goes outside now… count how many it is until I say we’re at the desk!”

Snowdrop smirked, the step count already in her head from before being instructed to do so. It was often the easiest way to remember how to go back the way she had come, if she ever got lost anywhere. Counting steps had become a habit after years of following her mother around. “It’s been fifty-four steps for me from the door we started at to here! I was already counting!” She giggled happily, taking the short amount of steps from this door to the library desk, stopping once more as Twilight’s hooves grew silent. “Umm… I think that was either four or five steps. Let’s say five!”

Giggling in reply, Twilight continued her trek around the room. “You’re good at this… I thought we were going to need to take notes on how to get around the Library, but you’re doing it for the first time and already keeping track. Have you done this before?” She stopped once more, the stairs up towards her room now at her right, and turned around to look at the filly following behind her. “What’s the count on that one, Snowdrop?”

Without any hesitation, the blind pegasus replied confidently, “Nine! Nine steps!” The filly smiled, “What is it that’s here, Twilight?”

“The circle of the room gets a little bigger here, and there’s some stairs going up if you take a step or two to the right. We’re going to go up them, but he careful… the steps aren’t even in length! You can go slow… just make sure you don’t trip.” Twilight began trotting up the stairs backwards, going very slowly to make sure she herself didn’t fall, and watching Snowdrop just in case. “When you’re going up these stairs, remember to always stay on the right. If you’re going down them, however, stay to the left.” The lavender alicorn smirked to herself, reciting the rule idea she had thought up to keep the filly away from the open edge of the staircase.

Snowdrop carefully felt out for the next step in front of her with her hoof, making sure she didn’t bump into the next small hop upward and fall over her own hooves. As she was instructed to do so, she took a sideways step, brushing her right wing up against a wall before continuing further. After eleven steps, she stopped once more, waiting for Princess Twilight’s next explanation.

“There’s a door here on the right that goes to my room. If you ever can’t find me for some reason, and I’m not calling back to you if you say my name, knock here. I’m going to try my hardest to not fall asleep on accident again, but… I can’t make any promises.” She giggled sheepishly, heading further up the staircase after a moment.

With a little practice knock on the door, Snowdrop started counting the steps once more and going up further, following Twilight’s lead. After just another five steps up, the hoofsteps she was following grew faster, and the floor appeared to be flat once more. She stopped once more, awaiting the description of this place as well.

Twilight looked quickly in the pantry for what she had in regards to food, finding very little stored away. Admittedly, she wasn’t exactly one to cook often, preferring the ease and speed of going out to get a meal the majority of the time. In some ways, that might need to change now… though only time will really tell. What did fillies like to eat, anyways? It was too long ago for her to remember now. Would they have had the same things all those years ago? “This is the kitchen. I don’t think you’ll need to worry too much about actually making food, but if you’re ever hungry, this is the place to come. It looks like we’ll need to go shopping for that too… but you can pick out whatever you’d like to get when we do! Anything… but it can’t all be sugar.” She shivered for a split second, the thought of Snowdrop on a sugar rush and acting something like Pinkie passing through her head. That would certainly be something to avoid.

Snowdrop nodded slowly, relatively uninterested in the kitchen area. After all, she didn’t really know how to cook anything, so it’s not like whatever was around would matter much to her. Finding snacks was easy enough to do anyways… just pick whatever was around that smelled the sweetest! Those choices tended to be delicious. “What’s next..?”

Giving a glance around the kitchen, Twilight shrugged, knowing the rest of the Library wasn’t places Snowdrop would be able to get by herself. There was the upper observatory deck, but that had a ladder going up to it which had rungs too large for a filly’s hooves, and the basement, previously barred shut by the heavy statue. “Unless I’m forgetting something… that should be everything! Would you like to go through it again, to practice?”

Another moment of silence was followed by a shake of the filly’s head, accompanied by a small “Mm-mmm” signifying no. “It’s fifty-four steps across the big library to the door outside, five steps from the door to the desk, and nine..? N-nine steps to the stairs from the desk.” She grinned happily, “Then the stairs are eleven to your room, and five from your room to here. And I need to always stay on the right when going up, and always stay to the left when going down!” Snowdrop took a few steps on the flat floor of the kitchen over towards Twilight, “Did I forget one?”

Twilight had to think to herself for a moment, recalling the path taken around the Library’s main rooms. “I… I don’t think so. I should note that there might be ponies in the main room downstairs during the day, so make sure you always go right when you come out of your room, and continue right all the way around the room. That way, you shouldn’t need to worry about accidently hitting anypony or anything!” She took a deep breath, surprised at how simple that process had been. “Of course, if it’s fifty-four steps to get across the main room of the Library by staying near the wall, it’s one hundred eight all the way around, in a full circle. By staying to the right, every door and the staircase will always be on your right as well.” Thinking if there was anything she was forgetting, the final rule popped into her head, nearly forgotten due to how naturally obvious it seemed to her. “Ah! No flying inside… there’s too many things to accidently knock over with the gusts of wind produced by wings! I don’t ever fly inside either.”

Snowdrop nodded once more, the instructions starting to blend together as Princess Twilight began to get more and more specific. Some of them seemed unimportant… it really wasn’t that hard to get around just by listening and feeling for certain objects, anyways. The longer she was here, the easier it would become – just like it did walking home from school every day, too. After two years of that, she didn’t even have to worry about getting lost if there was construction and a street was closed! It was easy. Flying inside wasn’t allowed, but it was harder to hear and nearly impossible to feel anything and determine where you were going mid-flight. That wouldn’t be an issue at all. “C-can we do something fun now, Princess Twilight?”

Twilight looked down at Snowdrop and tried to prioritize their day, wishing she’d had the time to write a checklist earlier. “Well, as long as it’s also at least semi-productive, sure. We’ve still got a lot to do today! How about…” She thought quickly, having a hard time finding a solution, considering she really didn’t know all that much about what Snowdrop liked to do. Would she want to just go to the park? Go shopping? Get something at Sugarcube Corner? Shopping would probably be a good idea to do next. “How about we go get that food and those blankets and things we need? I’ll need your help picking things out!”

The blind filly trotted right up by Twilight’s side, reaching upward and tugging gently on the tip of a feather, wanting to ride on the Princess’ back again if they were leaving. Shopping isn’t very fun… but I want to be able to pick my blankets! Do you think they have something really warm?”

Caught by surprise, Twilight stood confused as Snowdrop pulled at her wing for a moment before realizing what the signal meant and leaning down until her belly touched the floor, waiting until the filly grabbed on. With two little forelegs wrapped weakly around her neck, Twilight got back up and proceeded down the stairs, heading for the door to go outside on the sunny spring morning. “I think we’ll just have to wait and see! You never know what we might find if we look hard enough!”

Snowdrop shivered in the chilly air as they left the warmth inside the Library, hearing the sounds of birds chirping and the occasional pony passing by. Some would say hello to Twilight, others seemed to just remain quiet as they passed, with the exception of their hooves. The filly pulled herself closer and held Twilight’s neck tighter in her forelegs, cuddling herself in the back of the Princess’ mane to keep warm as they made their way towards their destination.

> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The market was bustling with the mid-day rush of ponies either out to make a few bits or spend them, and over all the chatter the scent of baked goods reigned strongest. Snowdrop held onto Twilight as they weaved through this area, sometimes seeming as if she was about to fall off from an unexpectedly quick maneuver. The filly still wasn’t exactly sure where they’d be going, but she was confident the pony on whose back she sat did.

Twilight turned right after going through the main portion of the outdoor market, following around the outside of the large open street on which it sat to the few outlying buildings. Applejack and many of the other ponies that grew or made things simply set up stands in the area through which she had just passed, but others had managed to make enough that they could rent one of the shops along the outside. The quill and sofa shop seemed to be closed as they passed… good thing the Library got their orders automatically filled! Twilight was probably their best customer. Two buildings down from there was the place she had come to visit – the fabric shop. Rarity would’ve gone off on a rant about the inferior quality of Ponyville’s fabric to that of Canterlot’s if she had seen Twilight making her way inside, but to the less-trained eye, there seemed to be little difference.

With the soft jingle of a bell on the door, the air grew warmer and the scent became musty. Snowdrop remained quiet on Twilight’s back, waiting for somepony to say or do something before her. Was this even where they were supposed to be going? It seemed like it, based on the much slower pace at which they now moved.

After a quick turn to the left and a few bumps up and down from the suddenly silent step of hooves, the lavender alicorn came to a stop. “Fabric throws, fabric rolls, loose fabric… bedding!” Twilight took a moment after quietly locating the section she needed to glance up and down the shelves to make sure this is what she had been looking for, then quickly kneeled down and glanced back, waiting for the filly to hop off.

Snowdrop’s hooves touched down gently onto the soft, carpeted floor of the shop, a gentle smile growing on her muzzle from finding the ground nearly as warm as the shop itself. “Wha-what is this place, Twilight?” She reached to her left with her cheek to find the leg of the pony in the know, not entirely comfortable with yet another new setting. “Do they sell blankets here? Can I try them?”

Twilight smiled at the filly against her as she levitated down different strips of heavy, pre-sewn fabric that the shopkeeper had made into the various blankets they sold, being sure to place them on the ground as opposed to levitating them in front of Snowdrop, knowing the magic wouldn’t truthfully represent how warm they were. After a moment she nodded to herself, then nudged the first of the samples in front of the filly. “Of course! Reach forward and feel… this one.”

Rarity immediately froze and tensed up at the sound of that voice… it was one she knew well, obviously. She slipped behind a stack of uncut, coiled fabric bolts on a display table and did her best to hide behind them, trying to collect herself. Rarity, you knew you were bound to run into somepony in this establishment one day! She pushed aside two of the fabric bolts with her aquamarine magic and peeked a single, well-styled eye between them, to confirm and assess the situation. A light purple horn, flat-cut tail of a dark indigo… she was right, it was Twilight. But who was the pony she wa-- Rarity, your magic is going to give you away! You simply must be more careful… stop that at once. The mare stared at the fabric in front of her for a few seconds, trying to play the part, pretending to be interested. How hideous these designs were… patterned brown? That style was not fit for a mule, let alone a pony. No more, it’s too distasteful for even just her eyes to be forced upon! She kneeled down and peeked below the table, watching for a moment as what appeared to be a small filly brushed her chin against a vile green puff.

Snowdrop sighed, slowly growing discouraged after the fourth try came back much like the first three. “It’s… it’s not soft enough… don’t they have clouds to use here? I used to use a cloud as a blanket sometimes, but it wasn’t very warm either…” With a step back and another to the right, she tried the fifth supposed blanket Twilight nudged in front of her. “This one’s too slippery…”

Was that blob of green intended to be somepony’s blanket? It looked like something to be found at the edge of a swamp, amongst the scaly toads. Twilight should know better than to consider such inferior styles! And why was she with a filly? It was much too quick for anything of that nature... and surely Twilight would have confided in her friends about such things. Rarity sighed, tucking away the few rolls of fabric she managed to find that weren’t three seasons out of style, hoping nopony would notice the hidden gems that kept her coming here under the table of horrendous patterns. You truly cannot let your very own friends make mistakes of this nature, Rarity. It would be nothing less than criminal! The unicorn quickly cleared her throat and stepped back out from behind her shelter, looking side to side and casually trotting towards the alicorn, idly quaffing up her mane with a hoof.

Twilight silently glanced over at the next few shelves as she desperately searched for more options. Spotting a purple mane bobbing towards her, she took a step back and waited for the pony to pass before continuing her search. Wait… purple mane? Not just any purple mane, either… that purple mane. “…Rarity?” It was her. But… she despised this shop, what was she doing here? 

Waiting for more samples, Snowdrop remained close to Twilight’s side, nudging into her after a minute or two without a test, somewhat confused. “W-what’s a rarity? Did you find something special, Princess Twilight? Can I feel it?” She tilted her head up and waited excitedly, hoping this would be the one.

“Yes, darling?” Rarity tried to reply as nonchalantly as possible, hoping it wouldn’t seem like she knew Twilight had been there and certainly not like she had been spying on the mare. “What brings you to a fabric shop, dear? I didn’t know you were one to consider purchasing these sorts of things at all!” She looked down at the filly for a moment, not questioning anything aloud, but certainly curious. The little one’s coat matched beautifully with her mane, the combination reminiscent of the sky and clouds, but… her eyes seemed to be under a sort of fog. Somewhat peculiar.

Twilight giggled weakly to herself, giving Rarity a quick smile before leaning down on her forehooves to be level with Snowdrop, replying first to the curious filly. “Rarity is certainly an interesting noun to use in that way, Snowdrop, but in this case, the ‘rarity’ is not a what, but a who!” With another quick chuckle, she continued, “Rarity is one of my best friends here. Maybe she can help us with what we’re looking for? She certainly knows how to make wonderful things with fabric, why don’t you tell her what you’re looking for!”

Rarity curiously jutted out her bottom lip as she waited quietly, still watching the young pegasus with a certain sense of interest. Snowdrop… that name seemed familiar from somewhere, though it certainly didn’t belong to anypony she’d known personally. It almost seemed like something heard in passing, perhaps something somepony had brought up at one point? Winter Wrap-Up was a passing thought in her mind, but it still seemed odd. She was usually good with names.

Snowdrop smiled weakly, yet leaned back and nudged herself closer to Twilight mostly as an unconscious reaction. Princess Twilight’s friends might be as nice as Princess Twilight, and this one supposedly could help find a perfect blanket! “Um, well… I- I wanted… something warm, a blanket… could you make a soft, warm blanket that doesn’t want to fall off?”

Rarity pondered the filly’s question for a moment, grinning at the fact she had intervened in what might have been a pitiful mishap, and nodded. “I’m sure we could whip something lovely together back at my workshop. I think I know the perfect combination of fabrics and fillings for what you’re trying to find…” The fashionista glanced at the shelf begrudgingly, hoping to hold up her original claims of this shop being inferior. “…but you’ll never find them here.” The unicorn kneeled down to the filly’s height much like she had just witnessed Twilight doing, and gave a warm smile. “I take it you’re Snowdrop, dear? My name is, as Twilight has just explained, Rarity.”

With a hopeful grin, the blind filly hopped forward a step and accidently bumped into the side of somepony’s mane. From the sound of a mare’s voice a moment ago in this direction, it must have been Rarity. Her mane didn’t feel quite like Twilight’s or really anypony else’s, and it definitely had a bit of a scent that wasn’t familiar. It was almost like a fruit, but it made her want to sneeze. She blinked and stepped back after a moment, “Oops… s-sorry… I couldn’t tell exactly where you were…” She took another step back, finding the safety of Princess Twilight’s foreleg once more. “But, you can… you can make blankets!? Would you do that? Or, well…” Snowdrop peeked her head up to Twilight, “…it’s okay if, um… Rarity helps us, right?”

Twilight reached her foreleg up and around Snowdrop, taking a second to wait for Rarity to confirm that would be okay. “It sounds like a plan to me! Would it be okay if we followed you back to Carousel Boutique now, Rarity?” She smiled weakly, “Unless we can find something for Snowdrop by the end of the day, she’s not going to have any blankets to sleep under, and… you know how cold the Library gets sometimes.”

Rarity blinked a few times after nearly having her mane trampled and took a moment to check for damage before standing back up on her hooves, but figured it’d be best to not make a scene and ask questions later. Most ponies didn’t greet each other by trotting up close enough to bump into one another. Perhaps that was why the filly’s eyes seemed hazy? Though, how would that explain her being with Twilight and, apparently, staying with her at the Library? It didn’t matter, really. Regardless of all that, the small pegasus had something about her that reminded Rarity of her own sister when she had been a little bit younger, before she got obsessed with figuring out her cutie mark. “I think I’ve got just the style in mind! It might even compliment your coat quite fittingly, if we’re lucky.” She looked over to Twilight, gesturing towards the door with her head, “Well, shall we? This establishment, of course, has nothing worth even a slight investment on.”

Hearing those words, Snowdrop waited only a second before Twilight instinctively kneeled down for the filly to hop on. After finding her spot once more upon the mare’s back, they were off, turning around and quickly going to the left before taking a few more steps straight, as the jingle of a small bell went off once again. A moment later the sound of hoofsteps returned, along with a chilly breeze that certainly felt like the early spring day it was, much different than the comfortable shop they had just been in. She leaned her head forward and found a warm spot in Twilight’s mane, trying to stay there while also keeping her balance and waiting for the next stop.