The calling of birds echoed over the horizon, as the wind sang with the life of the forest. The calmness of the world was so palpable at that very moment, that the universe itself could vanish, and very little would change.

Suddenly as if the very personification of Yin had spawned; there came a brash cadence of tips and taps from a nearby dirt trail. A young mare, coated in green with a mane seemingly brushed almond brown; rushed along the path. Her purple and white scarf carrying on into the wind flowing elegantly behind her, in contrast: her breath hung hoarse and unsteady as she ran. The sun casted itself brightly on her brilliant horn, tipped in a white color; almost like a snow capped moutain. the hillside shown vibrantly as she hurried along, stopping only briefly to avoid the rocks, sticks, and the occasional puddle on the path.

On the horizon appeared what held the look of a small town; populated more by Mother nature than by actual civilization. As Butter Crème approached the apparent ghost town; she slowed down. Strutting her way toward one of the remaining buildings, that unlike most the other ones, held its ridged structures, and almost glowed amongst the sad excuse for a town square, that had once held some kind of precedence to the livelihood of the old town.

Now slowing even more as the mare approached: Butter Crème raised her horn, casting a beam of magic, that had then caught the handle of the building's door, twisting it, and pushing it forward. Surprisingly her muzzle had met the door with an abrupt slam. At first she had assumed the door to be locked, but upon further inspection she found the door handle had snapped when she spun it.

With a panicked look in her eyes she fought to put the knob back on, to no avail. A rustling came from the other side of the door, which made her panic stronger: not too sure what to do; she threw the broken knob into a local bush, preparing to greet the face behind the door.

The door opened slowly to reveal an older stallion: he slowly adjusted his eyes to the mares shadow, he then opened his mouth with a sigh and dryly stated "Damn, Butter Crème, you had me hopes up: I thought the reaper was finally here for me" as he turned around presumably leading Butter Crème inside the still standing building.

Hesitating slightly, before choosing to ignore the door handle she had just tossed into the bush, Butter Crème eagerly took the opportunity to go inside; as it had been an uncomfortably boiling day. Gazing around the inside of the building as she walked; she captured the aroma of mildew and a fresh cooked stew.

Now realizing her thoughtless silence Butter Crème mustered up her voice and inquisitivly asked "any business as of late Mr.Eremie"?

To which he jokingly responded "aye, but I don't commonly talk about me trips to the washroom" almost boasting his laughter towards the end of his sentence.

Butter Crème let out a comforting laugh out of sentiment for the old stallion. Stepping through a door; she found herself inside a room with thousands of books in shelves that stretched up to the heavens, alas she had seen this room almost everyday in her life; it never ceased to amaze her.

Butter Crème stood for a moment before Mr.Eremie called her to sit down in the center of a room, where there had been a table layered in a mixture of individual papers, books, and pencils. She quickly took his offer to which he said "I joke with ya lassie, business is slow as usual, save for a yellow pegasus that had wrecked me place for a bit" with a slight irritation in his voice he continued "atleast ya clean up after yahself, I've never seen a more rude lass".

Butter Crème interjected "You actually get customers?" The look of confusion on her face clearly being seen.

Mr.Eremie looked at her and further explained, burrowing a bit of irritation "aye, it's not unusual for a stray pegasus to stop by me shop during the day; this one was a strange lass however, kept asking me bout some information on this "Castle of North Balibon"; some kind of prank that tis".

Slightly puzzled, Butter Crème questioned "how would that be a prank?"

Mr.Eremie Rolled his eyes towards the curious mare that was now carefully moving books around the table to see him better he let out a sigh "There be no North Balibon, tis just an old tale from our ancestors 'bunch of fools' I'd rather call them" he said, now locking eyes with Butter Crème as he altered his tone "I ain't got room for nonsense in me library; now I believe you've had enough of a break, dearie, time to cut the lollygagging and get to lolly-workin" laughing slightly at his half-pun.

Butter Crème nodded her head in agreement and hurried from her seat, knocking over a few of the books she had just carefully organized.

A few hours had passed since Mr.Eremie had set off for home, and Butter Crème had settled in a chair: behind the counter of the arid library. half asleep she rocked back and forth while listening to the pattering of a downpour that was happening outside presumably fighting the grasp of the Sand Stallion: she drowsily muttered to herself "I should have brought a book to read, if I knew it was gonna be this boring" taking a half-second to realize the obliviousness of the sentence she had just said; she was glad no pony was in the library to have heard it.

Butter Crème stepped up from her chair taking a second to catch herself from the grasp of sleepiness' hold: she walked out from behind the counter towards a door located in the back of the room. Walking over stacks of books; she haphazardly made her way along.

Stepping through the door Butter Crème found herself stepping into an old styled kitchen: she took a walked towards a cabinet grabbing the handle with her magic, and then a tea bag with her mouth. Looking around the room she locked her eyes onto a gas stove, with a collection of pots and pans amassed on it; stepping up to it she carefully grabbed a pot from the top of the stack, and spun around finding the sink.

Walking up to the sink Butter Crème turned the handle to which it generously responded with a dreadful "scree-"; water rushed from the tap to which she brought the pan, humming a careful tune in the process. After reaching a satisfing level of water she carefully floated the pan back to the stove, simultaneously clicking it to life and gently placing the pan on an open stove eye.

While carefully tending to the pot, Butter Crème heard a muffled knocking sound in the next room, assuming it to be nothing but the wind: she turned the tap off and turned back to the stove. As she watched the water she observed her surroundings: the sounds of the world around her flourished: the sound of rain pittering, wind howling, and flames wailing out into the quietness of the night, and yet standing out in the banausic noise; the knocking persisted.

Looking to her right Butter Crème casted her gaze towards a window covered by a pair of diminished blinds; settling to step away from the stove she started towards the window duly noting the uncertainty of the nights contents: at that moment she heard the knocking again; this time the knocking struck her different. The wrapping came at a different pace, as if it were in great hurry, as if it were so very alive it could knock a hole into her soul.

Butter Crème stumbled back from the window, realizing the location of the sound was in fact behind her. She shook with ferocious terror at how real everything felt at that moment. She felt trapped where she stood, every chance movement she tried to make: her body fought back against. Finally forcing her legs to move, she quietly spun towards the kitchen's door: stepping closer she slowly opened it, priming her magic. she found the library as devoid of life as the rest of the town.

settling her breath, and her horn. Butter Crème reasoned with herself that it was some part of her imagination overacting in the presence of sleep deprivation; she began to turn around when she heard the knock once more, this time being pinpointed at the front door of the library where she had broken the handle. Now noting the reality; that the knock had been real and not imagination: she found it hard to ease her fear as she began towards the front door.

The knocking echoed, filling the room with each rapid yet gentle bang; Butter Crème couldn't help but feel an immense dread as the knocking danced inside her head: carrying with it every unpleasant horror ever thought of in the dark of night. Her hooves moved on their own, shaking thoroughly enough to make sneaking hard. Could this be a killer after a lonely innocent mare in the dead of night: a kidnapper hoping to take her and use her magic for their own good, maybe perhaps a hungry dragon that had skipped dinner; Butter Crème's imagination grabbed at her with a strangling hold.

Butter Crème stepped up to the door, and carefully looked into the cracked peephole on the door: there stood a purple mare soaked from head to hoof shivering with her head down. Suddenly a bolt of lightning crashed to the ground carrying with it a loud boom, causing Butter Crème to let out a loud yelp and to fall backwards bringing out an even louder thud with it.

A voice casted from behind the door "Hello, I promise I'm not here to hurt you. please, I'm really scared".

Remembering that she had broken the door knob off, Butter Crème shot up and opened the door as quick as she could.

Now making eye contact with the mysterious mare. Butter Crème frantically apologized for not answering the door sooner.

After around a minute the purple mare quietly interrupted her, to question "if she could please step out of the rain".

Butter Crème stepped to the side suddenly realizing the absent minded rudeness of blocking the door. Noting the mare's lack of a horn Butter Crème began to ask "what's an earthpony doing out here?", before stopping halfway as the purple mare had stepped inside. Slowly embracing the library's warm light: Butter Crème had found it hard not to recognize that the stranger was indeed a pegasus: for anypony else this might not be out of ordinary but Butter Crème had never seen a pegasus outside of her stories: She found herself so awestruck at the sight of the mare's gentle violet wings: she failed to notice the pegasus speaking directly to her.

The now, slightly annoyed purple mare waved her hoof at Butter Crème who had been staring at her for an uncomfortably long amount of time: eventually the mare conceited to turn away: letting out a deep breath and stepping towards a local fireplace, instead deciding to warm herself up.

In response to the sudden movement Butter Crème came back to reality simply stating in a tone akin to what you'd hear from a child at the local zoo "you're a pegasus"!

The mare turned to her slightly puzzled and quietly stated "yes... and you're a unicorn".

Butter Crème had noticed the bluntness of the statement and elaborated "No, I mean like 'you're a pegasus!' I've never seen a pegasus before, you look so cool" her excitement seeping into her tone, and coming out into a slight giggle.

The mare looked towards the now overzealous Butter Crème, brushing some of her tyrian purple mane out of her face and continuing with a worrisome look "Right... thank you, my name's Moonlight Breeze, but most ponies call me Breeze; what's your name"?

Butter Crème gathered herself "oh yes, my name's Butter Crème, sorry. say, would you like some tea? I've got some water boiling in the next room" her eyes widened as she quickly shouted "shoot" and took off in the direction of the Kitchen, that she had left not too long prior to Breeze's arrival.

Breeze watched as Butter Crème scurried away, but found herself enthralled by her surroundings stepping towards a nearby bookshelf; she pulled off a book and began skimming through it, half noting the amount of dust that had came from the shelf with a sniffle.

Time passed slowly, as Breeze fought off the comforting warmness of the library. Tens of minutes passed by as Breeze waited on Butter Crème: consequently she found herself drifting off to sleep, when a gentle shaking had stirred her; opening her eyes she looked towards the direction to see Butter Crème holding a silver tray with a tea set and a jar of sugar.

Butter Crème gently floated the tea platter to a nearby table and greeted Breeze again; with uncertainty the purple mare stood up and cantered towards the tea preparing herself a cup along side Butter Crème.

"So what brings you out here?" Butter Crème said with a benevolent curiosity.

"I was just making my way home, then this storm came" Breeze said while avoiding eye contact and locking her gaze to the rippling tea.

"Well you're welcome to stay here for another 3 or so hours, after that I have to close the library up; if the rain's still bad by that point you're welcome to stay at my house for a bit, it's not too far from here" Butter Crème said while carefully stirring some sugar into her tea.

"That would be lovely" Breeze said with a subtle embarrassment in her tone.

As the hour passed, Breeze found herself enthralled by a decrepit looking book that she had caught a glimpse earlier of on the shelf.

Butter Crème sat sipping her tea eagerly asking questions like "what's a pegasus' favorite food", "what do clouds taste like", and "do you have a cloud library". But her words didn't reach Breeze's ears.

As Breeze read the ancient book, the outside world ceased its existence. the concept of light and darkness felt as stygian as the ink that scarred the pages left to time. The meanings of the words ment nothing to her: they seemed more like a foreign language and yet they enthralled her.

Butter Crème stopped and looked at her: noting that her answers were no longer fitting to the questions she asked. She began to speak casting her gaze at what held Breeze's attention, but froze before uttering another word: seeing a soft glow rising from the book. The glow danced up above her like a serpent spooling itself around Breeze's head, and leading down to her neck. In a panic, Butter Crème quickly grabbed the book with her magic, as soon as her magic came in contact with the serpent like glow, it exploded into a brilliant golden light: brighter than any fire or star the night sky ever embraced.

The shockwave that followed had been enough to knock, both Breeze and Butter Crème to the ground, sending the book across the room and nearly landing it in the still lit fireplace.

Butter Crème shot up and shouted in a breaking voice "Breeze, are you okay!?"

Breeze rose her head and gazed around the room, everything seeming more or less: a mess of colorful blurs, She pardoned herself for a moment while she tried to get a grasp of the situation. The room became clearer, but she still felt "altered". She turned to Butter Crème and confusingly asked "what happened"?

Butter Crème looked at her stammering out of confusion "the book, it had a light monster; it tried to grab you."

Breeze looked at her with a concerned look; had it not been for her lacking of memory, and the shockwave she felt: she would have never believed a word of what Butter Crème spoke. Still it was possible she just used some kind of Unicorn spell, but Butter Crème didn't seem like the kind who would. She settled into trusting Butter Crème; at first hesitantly, but she reasoned that she had been nice enough so far. Gathering herself and getting back to her hooves: she began walking over to where the book had landed.

Butter Crème watched with a childlike worry; levitating a vase in front of her in a protective manner.

Breeze leered down at the book; not entirely believing that a book could by itself use magic, but being cautious nonetheless. Taking a careful seat, she rose the book in front of her: flinching softly, she slowly opened the cover. Breeze carefully opened her eyes and looked at the book: the book appeared to be a normal novel. The pages were worn out, but the words mostly remained: skimming through it, it seemed to detail an ancient kingdom.

Butter Crème carefully approached, her eyes fixated on the book. She stared at Breeze with a puzzled look; "what are you lookin at?" Butter Crème said still holding the previous confusion.

Breeze looked up from the book; catching Butter Crème's eyes. "I was reading the book?" Breeze said confusingly.

Butter Crème softly tilted her head towards the book and blatantly stated "The book's blank".

Breeze stared at Butter Crème in disbelief. "perhaps this unicorn had in fact casted a spell on her?" she thought in her head, battling the idea that this seemingly friendly mare would do such a thing, but after all Breeze's mind never truly played tricks on her, even during her most emotionally frail moments, she kept her grasp on reality. This time it felt different: her head felt clear, yet she felt as though she was on the edge of something, like some form of anxiety was building around her.

She glanced at Butter Crème's eyes; further examining them, it looked as though her eyes were watering. "Was she worried about me?" Breeze thought to herself a bit of her shock showing on her face: Looking past her eyes Butter Crème's whole demeanor seemed as if she was scared to some degree beyond normalcy, and yet there was a strange comfort in seeing the mare's concern.

Butter Crème shifted her tone softly asking "Breeze, you didn't hit your head or anything did you?" The worry almost personified itself.

Breeze didn't answer the question and instead offered a gentle smile of reassurance.

The currently feeble Butter Crème carefully sat next to Breeze, still watching her movements as if at any moment she could collapse. Butter Crème opened her mouth starting with a bit of doubt, and residue of worry "well... if the book does have writing in it; can you read some to me?"

Breeze carefully nodded and turned back to an earlier page beginning to read its contents in her head once more: surprisingly what was scribbles just moments ago, now was full sentences. Looking back to Butter Crème, she once again offered a comforting smile before relinquishing the silence "Many moons ago there was a kingdom not bound by clouds, sea, or land; it existed only to those worthy of it and damned those not. The kingdom was under two rulers: two stallions who's coats were pure like snow, and luster's were like a shining opal. For many a moon the kingdom lived prosperously, under the-" a sharp pain fixated in Breeze's mind stopping her immediately. In response Breeze put her hoof to her head rubbing it slightly "Had my head been hurting this whole time?" She wondered to herself.

Butter Crème looked up at Breeze with the worry seeping deep into her voice asking "what's wrong"?

Breeze didn't cast a smile at her this time instead just settling to speak "I'm alright, just got a headache for some reason"

Butter Crème looked at her dropping a bit of concern, but still holding the soft tone "Well is there anything I can do to help?" Butter Crème let out a slight smile while gently tilting her head trying to seem as comforting as possible.

"Thank you, but I'm alright" Breeze stated, while rubbing her still aching head.

Butter Crème caught what looked to be movement out of the corner of her eye; turning to it see it she passed her glance to a bead of light that danced upon the carpeted floor, she looked over at a local window: observing the still rising sun, peaking through dirty glass of the library, turning back to Breeze with a smile "It's daytime now and I believe the rain stopped, but if you would like you can still come rest at my house, until your headache clears?" She said, with a slight smile.

Breeze spoke with a shrill voice as the pain continued "I'd love to Butter Crème" Breeze recoiled as if the very action of speaking was wrenching.

Butter Crème stood up leaving a hoof behind to help Breeze up, while simultaneously chiming out "Come now, I'll lead the way~".

Breeze carefully took Butter Crème's hoof, and rose to stand in front of her. She carefully watched Butter Crème move back and forth across the Library: the unicorn grabbed at different odds and ends, finally turning to a coat rack by the door, grabbing her scarf and carefully wrapping it around her neck using her magic.

Butter Crème turned to Breeze with a giggly reaffirmance stating "okay, I'll lead the way!" Her childish excitement shown clearly on her face.

Breeze began taking careful steps forward before stopping and turning back, quickly grabbing the mysterious book up with her wings, and catching back up to Butter Crème who was already at the library's door.

As they stepped outside the door, Butter Crème locked it with a gentle "click" and closed it, before turning to look at Breeze.

Though Breeze's headache continued withering her mind, she found the strength to give Butter Crème a confirmation via a nod and grin.

Butter Crème smiled in return and lead the way forward through the town with Breeze carefully following her, trying to ignore the discomfort the sun casted into her head.