The day began unlike any other as Twilight moved around her library, grabbing books and sorting them into alphabetical bins.

She went about this task, taking her time as she sorted the library. After about an hour

of this, she found herself drifting off. As she began to lose focus, she dropped a giant tome onto the floor with a loud *THUD*. She quickly snapped awake as the library settled again from the noise.

"Ugh," she muttered to herself, "that was loud; how is Spike still sleeping after that?" Not long after she spoke, the little dragon appeared on the staircase, shooting her a half-angry, half-concerned look.

"Uhh.....Twilight," he spoke slowly and in a dull tone, "w-why.....*yawn*.....are you....still....up?" She smile and blushed softly, thinking to herself, "Ooh, only four thirty! I'm actually making good time."

"S-sorry...Spike, I....um...lost track of time; I will be up in a minute." She slightly nodded, nearly napping, as he disappeared up the stairs.

She looked back to the book that had fallen. It was a great tome; well-worn, old, and made of leather. It read in giant red letters gilded in gold, "Great, Magical, Mythical Beasts and Where to Find Them".

"Ohhhh," Twilight smiled, "this is my ancient bestiary." Her eyes lit up. "My mother bought this for me. It was the first book I ever got!" She dusted off the book and placed it on her table.

She smiled and sat at the table, opening the old book and sliding the pages apart as the old leaves cracked and were somewhat withered.

"This book is so old; maybe twenty years or more since I got it and a few hundred since it was touched before me."

She looked and smiled at the fond memories flooding her mind of her mother buying her the book, and of her reading it at a very young age whilst understanding it all.

"This was when we found out I was a gifted filly; that was what my mom had called it." She then slid past a few pages and looked at a few beasts written on the pages.

"Hmmm...Ant Lions...Basilisks...Centaurs...aha...Changelings...hmm." She scanned along the page while looking over it, making sure not to miss a word.

"This common creature can cause mass chaos as they feed of the love and affection of others, making them stronger. They are only matched by the love they feed on......they are found in Equestria, though little is known of their own nation and capital." She looked up, worried, thinking back to about a week ago when she had received the news that had shocked her more than even Nightmare Moon's return.

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"These are very fierce fighters and will kill tooth and nail to win battles, this I know." She muttered to herself, remembering Celestia's blackened horn and shuttering. She looked out her window, remembering the whole encounter.

"Celestia had called me to a special meeting in Canterlot, I stayed at the royal spa with her, which sounded amazing, but it had played out much differently."

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As the great metal train whirled to a stop, smoke fluffed into the air as Twilight stepped off the train and onto the deck of the train station loading bay. Many ponies loaded and unloaded luggage and others got off the train in a hurry.

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"My good goddesses, there were so many ponies at that station," Twilight recalled.

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She then squeezed her way off the overcrowded platform. Right before getting off, she tripped on a piece of luggage expertly laid out in the most hazardous fashion. She laid there sprawled out angrily for a moment before standing and blowing the hair from in front of her eyes.

She thought to herself, "I hate traffic; it's just so annoying. Gee, I must sound like Rarity right now..." After standing and walking off the platform, she looked out and brushed herself off. Her eye twitched as she stared at the traffic in front of the streets. Ponies crowded the walkways.

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She sat at her table, looking out her window. "I thought the platform was bad, the streets were ten times worse than that."

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She watched as the street's hussle and bussle didn't die down. "I need a shortcut," she thought, annoyed. Taking a turn, she walked the lesser taken of two roads, the back roads of Canterlot. These roads were mostly untraveled, cracked, cobblestone paved roads, untouched by the newer 'faster' travel roads.

She serenely thought to herself, "It is quiet here; these roads are underdeveloped, as when they were built, the city was young, so when the new roads came in, there was no reason to use the old ones. Suppose they became chipped away and are unused and unrepaired."

She walked on as the road cracked below her, and she split her hoof

on the rocky sidewalk.

"AHAA, SON OF A FRIENDSHIP!!!" she blurted she looked around and rubbed her hoof slowly, like a cat licking it's wounds"Glad nopony heard that." She smiled and walked on as her hooves began to ache from walking and walking on a jagged surface."Gah...How did ponies do this before the new road came along?" She whined and marched on till she eventually reached the main gate to Canterlot Castle. Two guards in their signature golden armor stopped her and pulled her off to the side by the gate: one stallion and one mare.

The mare cleared her throat and spoke, "Sorry, Miss, we have been given strict orders that no one enters or exits the castle." The stallion boomed behind, " Yeah, we have the castle under watch, and no one is to get in unless directly ordered by Celestia herself."

They looked to her angrily and both shouted, "NOW SCRAM!!!" the new recruit said in a mean and louder voice

She give them a snoody look. "I was given special permission by her royal highness!"

Both looked back and giggled as the mare said, "You know how many times I have heard that TODAY?!?! Listen, kid, the point is, unless Celestia poofs in behind me..." The stallion quivers, "...and gives ya permission, you ain't going in, and that is as rare as the sun is hot."

A familiar voice says from behind her, "Who? Somepony like me?" Celestia chimed.

She screams and blushes as she dips into a bow, "Mhm, sorry, my queen, just wanted to be sure she was safe to enter for you."

"oh it is fine, sorry Twilight these are the new recruits and they can take my direct orders very seriously sometimes."

She smiles, bowing again. "yeah sorry again, miss Twilight I believe, we have just been on high alert as of recent, forgive our being so uncompassionate."

"Oh, it is fine, just keep an eye out for a real threat next time." She said with a smile to the guard as she stepped into the brightly lit corridor.

"Wow Celestia, the castle is so bright today! It looks amazing." Looking around in her usual ever-present wonder.

In this moment Celestia saw a spark in her student's eye as she was reminded of why she was her student in the first place. That spark...that natural enthusiasm and want for wonder and knowledge that was never quite quenched... It reminded her of Luna and herself when they were younger.

"Why, thank you, Twilight, but I must say, you're here for something more interesting than sunlight. You're here to do a little work, and you're also going to spend the day with me after."

Celestia smiled as Twilight had her notepad ready to take notes. She stood by her much taller teacher.

"Now I need you to go and assist my librarian in reorganizing the library, as I know how good you are at organizing things in your own home. Also, I need you to make sure the vault is secure and undisturbed, then we can begin our week of relaxation." Twilight nodded along, scribbling hard into her little notepad.

"That will do princess, that will do." she began to walk off to the Canterlot Royal Library. As she arrived she saw the senile, old librarian tending to the books slowly, but with steady patience.

"Oh, you must be Celestia's student and princess! I'm sorry, my memory is bad. What was your name, Miss?" She looked at Twilight with a withered smile on her face.

"Oh, I am Twilight, but who might you be?" Twilight stated back with much happiness and cheer, and some politeness.

"Oh, I am Gilded Quill, Canterlot Librarian and proud historian." She smiled back and looked to Twilight. "So are we to begin organizing, child?" She smiled and showed several stacks of scrolls and books strewn across the table as if in mid research.

"Who was working here?" Twilight looked to the librarian with much curiosity on her face as the librarian chimed in.

"I think it was Luna; she seemed upset about something last night, and well...she produced this mess before leaving in a huff." She looked to Twilight, her face the embodiment of concern as she said this.

"I don't know why she would have done so; she has always cleaned up in here before leaving, even when she was just a filly, so whatever it might have been could be bad." Twilight looked up in shock from the scrolls and tomes.

"Oh, that is a problem, but whatever she was looking for, it obviously was not in these." She said to the librarian in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, we should begin to fix them into their places, and talk after." As the librarian rattled on, Twilight sat there looking over what Luna had scattered on the table. She saw a map that covered the table with many markings and scribbles on it, a concealment scroll and a bestiary, along with many other things of lore and magic.

She whispered to herself, "What was Luna doing in here that required all this research and planning?"

"Miss, are you coming?" Gilded Quill looked to her assistant for the time.

"Oh...sorry, I was a bit distracted by this puzzling scene of research, if you can call it that. Why would Luna need all this to study?" Twilight looked curiously.

"It puzzles me."

Twilight glimpsed. She turned to the librarian and grabbed several scrolls and, without help, she pushed each into its appropriate place.

The librarian smiled, knowing that the princess would know how to organize this with ease as she knew the library better than even herself. "Are you going to help me organize, Miss Gilded?" She smiled and giggled, going back to organizing.

"Oh yes, sure." Gilded Quill gathered the books, stacked them, and handed them to Twilight.

"Thank you, Miss, I am glad to help you. You shouldn't have to do this all alone." Twilight said with a smile after shelving a book.

"What do you think of this?" The librarian looked at the book that Twilight handed her and she read the title aloud.

"'The History Of Old Equestria: Tales of War, Divide, and Sorrow'. Hmm...I have no idea where she found this...it doesn't belong in here. She must have brought it from the vault." She stared at the title as if she were rereading it for certainty.

"What is wrong, Miss G?" Twilight said with a growing curiosity for this table of "research".

"That belongs in the vault, why did she bring it out of there, no matter I need to get this back there." She picks the book up and slides it into her saddle bag to remind her. "But it also reminds me of a story, wanna hear it?" She looks down to Twilight with a soft smile.

Twilight nods quickly eager, figuring she might learn something new, with that they set at the table and listened.

"Oh I know this book, the time of it, too. It was roughly sixty years ago, and it was the critical time in our history. The time we call, 'The Black Years,' and well...we were plagued by two major pests: disease and Changelings." Twilight listened and nodded along.

"Now, long before friendship was magic, we had many things that are no longer here. For example, we once had a sort of magic. Powerful but unstable, it was known as arcane magic, and it allowed those without horns to hone magical abilities, but the instability that came with it made it a dangerous alternative to normal low level magic."

"So many libraries were used to store arcane knowledge and were guarded by many soldiers, because the changelings wanted this magic, but we would not allow it to them."

"Well, after many years, the knowledge was hidden and the libraries destroyed to cover the tracks. The reason this was a bad thing was, you see, many ponies used it and out of it sprang a clan of great smelters."

"The clan of blacksmiths, among it were six houses of blacksmiths and each house was made up of one great clan who had many sub clans so it became a house. The houses were as follows: Steele Forgers, Anvil Hearts, Great Helms, Red Irons, Golden Crests, and Silver Beards. But before a great event began, a seventh arose after buying out smaller clans, Hammer Hooves. This clan slowly became the most prominent and was led by Helm Hammerhooves."

"Soon, Equestria became fully involved in the Changeling war openly. Soon enough, though, its soldiers began to slowly lose their ground and become less numerous. Celestia began to worry the newly reunited kingdom would lose the battle and their land."

"This made her begin to turn to other means. As she decided to call the blacksmith clans to fight in the war in exchange for weapons and fighters, she offered gold. They accepted and joined into the war. It was the Silver Beards who led them into battle. Hammerhooves sent in the most soldiers to fight and got the most money immediately but it was the Silver Beards who made the most as a whole."

"You see, they offered Celestia soldiers and a weapon contract to produce fine quality weapons for Canterlot's soldiers. She agreed, and they went into battle. It only took a few months for them to win almost all the battles they marched into. Before they knew it the final battle was beginning: The 'Last Great Changeling-Equestrian Battle'."

"It took place in a fort and around on Equestria's western border, and it is also where we draw 'The Great Divide', a military line that the changelings should never cross unless they want a war. The battle that was fought there was on an island between a river where two fjords met with the island. On the island, a glorious multi-level fort stood, towering above everything else."

Twilight looked to her with great surprise and responded with saying "Why tell me all of this miss guild?"

"Because......that was where they clashed and where the war ended......But also where the real story begins." Twilight looked at her with a surprised expression.

"My goddesses, t-that is horrible." She shook out of her insane state as she imagined the clashing on the now burning, blood stained island.

"Yes." She put the last bit of books up on the shelves and finished her work. "My, My...I hated when I got news that my husband would be going to war, but I lost it after...well..."

Twilight looked beyond her books. "W-What...had happen to him? ...I-If I may ask y-you..." She looked to her librarian friend with a curious look.

"H-H-He fell." tears swelled in her now red eyes as she hid her face on the table.

"N-No, shh, don't cry...I am so sorry..." She patted her back and fixed the mare's mane.

"T-Thank you, you're very kind. He was very nice and tried to help, but in the end, h-he fell on the island." She sat up with a soft, unbroken look on her withered face.

"I must go now...I am sorry, I will stop by later, Miss." Twilight nodded off to the librarian and walked off to the royal spa room with a hop in her trots as she said quietly, "That was a very interesting conversation, but now I am wondering what happened to Luna. She had a lot of weird things laid out that she seemed to be researching." Twilight thought silently.

She had made a decision as she turned in the hall to the stairs to the upper tower. She was going to see Princess Luna...