Corruption

Celestia's School for Gifted Mistakes

There was some rustling before Rose spoke again.

"There it is. Journal Eleven-" Rose then growled. "But...I can not give it to you. This book is the reason I can't give any of the books to anypony. Even you, Princess."

Bini peaked through the door and saw Rose holding the book under her wing and her body was lowered despite the towering Princess in front of her. Who was glaring down at the pony with annoyance, holding a box of books with her magic.

Celestia sighed after a tense moment and handed the box back to the Librarian.

"Alright. If these...Series of books are as dangerous as you claim. I will have some Royal Guards picked them up tomorrow and bring them back to the Chanterlot Archive. Where they will be locked away. I was hoping they would help with my research. I admit I haven't read most of Starswirl's journals. Only about five." Celestia explained. Rose scowled at the books and then gave the Princess a worried look.

"Princess. I don't exactly trust-"

"I am aware of your history with Miss. Filters, the current Librarian in the castle. But soon she will have a staff helping her so she will be well supervised. You have nothing to worry about. The books will be locked away with the proper supervision." She assured Rose.

Rose hesitantly nodded.

"For Equesria's sake. I hope you are right."

Bini rolled her eyes and trotted away from the door with haste. Bini always considered herself maybe a little bit overdramatic but Rose was the true Princess of that skill. Bini mumbled curses about Rose when she suddenly hit another pony. They both yelped in surprise and collapsed to the floor.

Bini opened her eyes once the chaos was over and saw that she was on Arone. Arone cautiously opened his own eyes and looked up at her with a small smile.

"Nice bumping into you, Filters." He joked. Bini growled and pulled herself up. She quickly rolled up the scrolls that had been scattered around the floor from their tumble and Arone helped her separate them into two groups. One was Bini's. One was Arone's.

"Very funny, pal." Bini sarcastically replied and placed her group back into her bag as Arone balanced his own on his back.

"What are you doing here? You hate it here." Arone said.

"I don't hate it here!" Bini protested as she followed him down the corridor. Back the way that she came. "I just hate a specific pony."

"Oh right. The 'arch enemy' of your nightmares!" He teased with a chuckle. Bini narrowed her eyes at him with annoyance.

"You really aren't helping." She snapped. Arone gave her an apologetic look.

"Sorry. I couldn't resist." He said.

"I have a good reason!" She defended. "She stole my dream job! Now I work in the castle, having to give tours and deal with nobels who are so stuffed up that I want to strangle them even if by some miracle they are being pleasant for a few seconds."

"Yeah but if you worked here, you would have to deal with stuck up students and parents." Arone said. Before he could continue Bini reared up and pressed her hoofs into his chest and stopped him in his tracks.

"I don't think you have ever dealt with a nobel before, do the change-"

Arone pushed her off and covered her mouth with his hoof.

"Shhh! No pony is supposed to know about that, remember!?" He hissed. Bini pushed herself up from the ground and stretched her legs.

"Right, right. Sorry."

---

Celestia's mind raced as she exited the library. She was running out of books to read on what could possibly be in her mind. She wasn't completely convinced that it was created by dark magic but it was a start. She had stepped up her research since Discord's second defeat. She had been in the Chnaterlot Archive's earlier and had noticed that Starswirl's personal journals were missing. The books with his most detailed research, experiments, and events on pre-Equestria, and events up until he went missing.

She turned a corner and nodded a greeting to the passing students and teachers. Then halted when she saw Bini and Arone talking near the front entrance. The corridor's cleared as classes started and she trotted towards them. Suddenly she saw Bini pressed her hoofs against Arone and he pushed her down and hissed something back at her. She pushed herself back up and looked apologetic.

"Bini?"

She had, of course, expected Arone to be in the school, he was her personal assistant after all. But based on Bini's history with Rose, she certainly didn't see that coming. Bini's eyes grew wide and she stumbled backwards into Arone as she realised who was there.

"P-Princess! Lovely to see you here! Well, of course, you would be here. It's y-your school after all!" Bini nervously ranted.

"Good to see you too, Bini. May I ask why you are here?" She said. Bini opened her bag and floated over a bunch of scrolls.

"I was ordering some new books for the Library and there are some books that need your personal signature to be ordered. They are very old and detail the history of Equestria in the early days and some information on the outside nations. I think they will be a real benefit to the education of the scholars who use the Library as their main source of information." Bini explained. Celestia made a quill and ink appear and quickly signed the forms.

"Of course, Bini. How is your progress going with hiring the new staff?"

"It will probably take me a few more days, actually." Bini admitted.

"Oh, before I forget, I should probably tell you is that tomorrow night you will be getting a shipment of Starswirl's journals with a guard to watch over them as you place them back in the archive. It isn't that I don't trust you it is just that I am worried about the contents of the book might be dangerous to Equestria."

Bini nodded. Trying to hide her unease.

"Yes, Princess. I understand." She said. Then her face froze to behind Celestia. Arone and Celestia turned to see Rose trotting down the hall with a stack of books and stopped to talk with a teacher monitoring the halls. They looked back to see Bini walking backwards with a fake smile.

"W-Well, while you look at the time! I have to go now. Bye!"

Then she quickly galloped off.

---

Bini stood near the gate in the Library where the Archive was under lock and key. She opened it with her personal master key and allowed the guard to handle the books. She watched with curiosity as the books were delicately placed in their place in the Archive.

She locked it up once the guard left and nodded her thanks before looking past the gate and stared at the books. She looked around briefly and then trotted away. She, then, paused and looked back at the book.

"No, no, no. This is wrong." Bini mumbled out loud before carefully stepping back towards the books. She had never really liked reading Starswirl the bearded books but she couldn't deny the fact that her curiosity was peaked. "Oh, this is a very bad idea."

She used her key to open the gate and quickly grabbed the first five books before closing it back up. Deciding to start from the beginning. She kept cursing herself as she set them down on the nearest table and moving away from the resumes she received.

She opened the first page and began a long night of reading.

---End of Chapter Eleven---