The Linktomes

It's quiet. Then again, in a gated off section of a royal library inside of a castle it tends to be. Thin beams of light stream in through the windows, catching the dust that hangs in the stale air. The room itself is circular, and goes up three floors. The bookshelves are carved out of stone, and run the entirety of the walls of all three floors. Even more tall wooden bookshelves sit in the center of the room along with a few chairs and desks. On the third floor, a black leather bound book begins to shake of it's own accord. The noise echos and fills the room until it manages to wiggle it's way through the other books and fall onto the wooden pathway with a thud. The tome flips itself open, pages of parchment old and worn turn as if being blown by the wind until it gets about half way. An eerie green light fills the room as the book begins to glow with powerful magic, until a large mass is thrown out of it, sending it over the railing to fall three stories down. "Aahhh!" The Prince screams as he finds himself falling to the floor, managing to stop himself barely before hitting the stone floor. He heaves a sigh and lets himself down, using his magic to retrieve the book and bring it with him. He really needs to put this in a safer location. He puts it in his satchel and dusts himself off with his hooves. Exiting the library he passes a couple of guards who don't really pay him any mind. They've learned not to speak with him unless addressed first. "Where is my mother?" He asks, his bright violet eyes gazing at the soldiers as he addresses them. "My Prince, you have returned. Your mother is in the garden last I heard. Would you like an escort?" One of them offers. He seems earnest and friendly enough, but it isn't as if he needs escorting in his own home. He's been gone for a couple of days so they probably just want to confirm he's alright, but still he figures he's going to get an earful from his mother and Fionn as it is. "No, that will be all." The Prince nods and walks passed them. He makes his way outside, thankfully it isn't too far. He passes several more guards who are just patrolling the castle before he makes his way down a couple flights of stairs and through the kitchens. There is a side door to the garden from the kitchens, and nopony except the staff usually use this route making it less crowded than the rest of the castle. He likes taking the less traveled roads. The warm summer sun brushes his face as he makes his way out into the sizable gardens. Rows of hedges and flowers line the grounds all around the castle, but if his mother is anywhere he knows exactly where she'll be. It's another bit of a walk but his mother likes to relax on the north side of the castle, that is to say directly behind it. She has a private garden growing there and often goes there to unwind or relax. As he follows the cobblestone path that direction, he begins to hear humming. It's a sweet, cheerful tune if a bit slow and comforting. His mother's voice carries quite a bit. He's spotted by a grey Pegasus with a sky blue mane wearing armor, who dips his head in a bow as he approaches. "Your Majesty." The Pegasus turns around and the humming stops. "Sainglend has returned home." He announces. Hurried hoofsteps are heard as his mother rounds the corner to see him. She's very tall, even by their nation's standards but Alicorns seem to be a bit taller than most pony species anyway. "Sainglend Mac Medb!" She calls sternly, stomping a hoof and narrowing her bright emerald eyes down at him. The Prince flinches as she uses his full name. "You disappear for two days without letting anypony know, least of all your mother. I've never known you to do something like this, I've been worried sick about you. Normally I would not care where you went or what you did, however it was very uncharacteristic of you." She's really letting him have it. She steps forward slowly until she's right in front of him, looking down with a glare only a worried and angry mother could give. "How could I not be worried? After what happened with Liath... I just couldn't bare it if something happened to you." Her voice trails off sadly, even though it turned out her other son was alright it was still a traumatic experience. The whole country thought him dead for a couple of years after all. The faint breeze rustles the leaves of the trees and the flowers as a silence falls between them. She's waiting for a response. Ah there it is. The guilt. He feels terrible for making his mother worry. "I can explain. I can." He does have proof after all. "I found this in the library." He retrieves the book out of the satchel to hold it in front of him to present to his mother. "It's magic, really powerful magic. We had it this whole time and never knew. It goes to different places. I've figured out there's copies of these that are linked together and allows whoever uses them to quickly travel between them. I ended up in Equestria. The Ponyville library specifically." He explains. There is one other location he discovered, but he chose to leave that one out for now. His mother looks... actually surprised. "These were supposed to be all lost, it was just on a shelf in the library?" It seems unlikely that it wouldn't be catalogued with everything else that they had but... if somepony was trying to hide it or keep it from them then it's certainly possible they just never noticed. The book looks quite old and worn, and the Queen has no clue what her predecessors knew about this. "Why didn't you come back and tell me right away?" She asks, quirking an eyebrow. "I uh... I wanted to look around a little first." He admits honestly. "I had to make sure it was safe." The queen heaves a sigh. "Well, at least you're all right. Still, this is quite the discovery this means we can go to and from Equestria whenever we wish. This book must be kept in a safe space, and it's sister in Equestria will have to be made known there as well. Princes Artemis and Solaris will be interested to know of it's existence." She begins pacing back and forth, rattling off all these plans. "It will have to be guarded carefully, I don't know how I feel about having it in the castle. I'll have to find a more suitable place for it. We can't have anypony we don't want getting their hooves on these things. What if there are more?" She's thinking aloud, almost excitedly. "Sainglend?" She turns her attention back to the Prince. "Yes, Mathair?" "I want you to help me secure these books and take care of them. Will you help me do that?" She asks seriously. She was asking him to perform a duty, usually she left him alone to do whatever but she hasn't had anything for him to do since she returned from Equestria apart from helping her organize her schedule every day. Sainglend nods. It could mean a lot of going back and forth to Equestria or even some other places. It was a lot to ask, and his mother's tone made it sound like she knew that. It was a big job, but fortunately for her he likes books and this kind of opportunity was right up his area of expertise. "Yes." He replies. His mother beams brightly, the sun catches her mane and reflects off of it, her dark mane looking a little greyer in the sunlight. "Excellent. We'll find a place to set this book up, and we'll both go to Equestria and secure it's sister. We'll have to ask the Princes where they would like to have the Equestrian book. Speaking of we'll have to think of a clever name for them." "Linktomes." Replies Sainglend rather quickly. He'd already been thinking about it. They may have some ancient older names but this would do for now, since the books were linked together magically through some spell it seemed only natural. "That'll do. No time like the present to get started then." Proclaims the Queen.