Spike walked over to the curtains that separated the group and shattered Crystal Heart from the harsh elements outside and took a peek. “Maybe somepony should do something about these ponies before the ‘frozen solid’ problem Rarity mentioned sets in… literally.”

Twilight looked at Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. “I don’t know how long it will take to find the right spell, but you should probably tell the crowd outside to get somewhere warm.”

Sunset piped up, “And maybe not mention the shattered Crystal Heart issue for the time being… Weird weather is going to have everypony spooked enough as it is.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Applejack replied with a smile. She looked over at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “C’mon girls!” The three ponies quickly made their way out of the curtained-off area.

Twilight looked over the remaining ponies and dragon in the area. “Well, I suppose that leaves the rest of us to look for books. With the size of the crystal library, I’m going to need all the help I can ge—”

‘POP!’

With a yellow flash, the baby suddenly appeared on Pinkie’s face, giggling mirthfully as it held tight to Pinkie’s muzzle. Cadance and Shining Armor quickly dashed towards the baby and Pinkie, galloping at a frantic pace to keep up with the infant alicorn. Pinkie reacted to this new development as well as anypony could expect of her. She shrieked and flailed her forelegs wildly, immediately pulled off the baby, and tossed it away from her.

The other ponies and Spike all put on panicked expressions as the baby fell to the ground. Shining Armor dove and extended his hooves mere moments before the baby teleported again, its happy tittering echoing off the crystal walls.

Cadance had her ears in the air immediately. “This way!” she shouted as she ran inside the castle. Shining quickly got back up to his hooves and followed.

The other ponies and one dragon present watched as the couple departed then turned back to each other.

Spike peered at Pinkie carefully as the pink pony breathed in and out heavily in an attempt to catch her breath. “What is it with that baby and Pinkie’s face?” Spike asked.

“I know, right!” Sunset replied. “So jelly!” she declared.

Everypony in the room turned to look at her.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You want Cadance and Shining Armor’s littler, erm, bundle of super-powered magical joy to grab ahold of your face?”

“Yes,” Sunset replied with a nod. “Yes I do.”

Pinkie tapped at her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe I should put on a mask to stop this from happening.”

Sunset looked at Pinkie in confusion. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Uh… Because the baby is super-duper powerful in a rather terrifrightening way?” Pinkie offered.

Sunset nodded. “True, but how does that answer my question?”

Rarity beamed happily as she stepped up to Pinkie. “Well, if you want a mask I’ve brought plenty of fetching masquerade ball masks just in case.”

Sunset stared at Rarity and blinked a couple times. “You just up and decided to bring a bunch of masquerade masks in case… In case someone needed a mask or there was a surprise masquerade ball that went on?”

Rarity turned towards Sunset. “Yes,” she replied with a nod. “Yes I did.”

Sunset stared upwards for a moment. “I don’t know why that should surprise me… Really it’s my fault asking for clarification.”

Pinkie smiled wide. “Thanks Rarity, but I have my own masks!” Pinkie reached into her mane and quickly donned a hockey goalie’s mask. “What does everypony think of this? I mean, I’m sure the Crystal Empire has a Crystal Lake, tee-hee.” Pinkie suddenly swapped out the mask for one the seemed more like a light-brown muzzle, her own muzzle covered save for a narrow, barred slit for her mouth and a couple holes for her nostrils while everything above her muzzle was left exposed. “Or how about this one?! I’m sure the baby will keep off my face from a natural fear of being eaten with fava beans and a nice Chianti!”

Mostly everypony looked at Pinkie in confusion. Sunset stared at her with a look of deep concern. “I have so many questions at the moment…” she uttered.

“Oooo, oooo!” Pinkie swapped out her mask again for something resembling an ensemble hat that covered her head entirely. The mask piece covered her eyes with black lenses and a triangular piece jutted out around her muzzle. A slightly domed helmet covered her mane, going all the way down to her shoulders. “Perhaps this will keep the child away,” Pinkie said, her voice suddenly much deeper and accompanied by the sound of rhythmic and raspy heavy breathing. “Or maybe this is the perfect mask for teaching the child how to best unleash her power!”

Spike and all the ponies minus Sunset took a couple steps away from Pinkie. Sunset just shook her head. “I’m not sure how much good any of those masks are going to do if the baby’s first reaction is blast them and take your face off with it.”

Pinkie’s body tensed as she quickly removed the mask and helmet she was wearing. She grinned at Sunset sheepishly. “Point taken.”

Twilight let out a disgruntled sigh. “Can we all focus, please? If we don’t find a spell to fix the Crystal Heart soon, that storm is going to overrun the entire Crystal Empire.”

Sunset couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Yes, we all remember the past few minutes, Twilight…”

Twilight scowled at Sunset.

“Er… But you’re right…” Sunset turned towards the curtain. “We should get going to the library.”

Twilight nodded and began heading towards the castle entrance.

Sunset paused as she watched Twilight. “Uh… I thought the library was outside the castle? At least that’s what it sounded like from Twilight’s letter about when the Crystal Empire first reappeared.”

“It was!” Pinkie said cheerfully as she bounced past Sunset on all fours. “But now it’s not!”

“… Oh… uh… okay?” Sunset replied as she turned and followed Spike and the other ponies inside the castle. “Why is the library… which Twilight told me was massive by the way, now inside the castle?”

Pinkie paused long enough to stroke her chin. “I don’t know! Guess it was just more convenient to have the library inside the Crystal Castle this time around!”

Sunset sighed heavily. “Guess that’s the best answer I can expect…”

Sunset put on an unamused expression the baby flew in front of her face, the infant alicorn soon followed by Shining Armor who galloped as fast as he could to keep up with it.

“This isn’t convenient at all!” Sunset exclaimed as she tracked the pair with her eyes. Her turquoise peepers were soon headed the other direction as the baby flew by once more, this time with Pinkie bouncing after her.

“It’s not convenient for us, silly!” Pinkie said she pronked past Sunset. She wore a distressed face in contrast to her usual cheerfulness. “It’s convenient for those that want us to suffer for the sake of dramatic tension and others’ twisted amusement at our problems!”

“That answer was also weird,” Sunset said. “But somehow makes a fair amount of sense given how today has gone.” Sunset cast her eyes over the large, open space of the library. It was four stories of books on crystal shelves with staircases leading up and down with the crystal structures effectively mirrored down the center. A large skylight and several arched windows provided light into the massive book collection. She took a quick glance to the walkway across from her where Cadance flew up to one of a shelf several ponies high and looked over the books on it with a stressful expression and three books in a baby-blue glow floating next to her.

‘PHOOOOOM! PHOOOOOM! PHOOOOOM!’

Bright yellow lances of energy fired from the baby’s horn, destroying books, crystal walls, and anything they came into contact with.

Sunset stared at a few of the new ‘windows’ in the library. I really hope that got some of the people outside to seek cover. She sighed and shook her head. But part of me somehow feels they just think it’s fireworks and are still waiting out there… “The good news is there’s less books we need to check!” Sunset called out. “The bad news is we might have needed those!”

“I KNOW!” Twilight yelled back at Sunset. “Somepony keep that baby from destroying the books! A piece of me DIES every time that happens!”

“Look on the bright side, Twilight!” Pinkie said cheerfully as she bounded after the baby. “If it DOES destroy the book we need, then all of you will die!” Pinkie paused as if considering her own words. “Gee, that sounded a lot less depressing in my head.”

Sunset shook her head. “I feel that last line of yours might make a good epitaph for you.”

‘PHOOOM!’

Sunset grimaced. “Let’s hope you won’t need it soon.” Sunset looked up at the rows of books which towered above her even before the ceiling of the floor she was on blocked her view. The librarian who had let them in and galloped off screaming once the baby let off a few rounds from its magic horn was a female earth pony. How she managed to find or reshelf anything but the first two shelves of each level was anypony’s guess…

On the floor below Sunset, the baby continued to giggle and fly about chased by Shining Armor as Spike carried over a pile of books to a crystal desk occupied by Twilight Sparkle. Twilight had two piles of books on either side of her. She quickly looked over a book from the pile to her left and on by one read each title before depositing the books in the pile to her right. “Bridle Buck's Boat Chants, Hayhoof's Intonements, Mystic Maps and Mazes...” Twilight let out a frustrated groan and looked up. “Anything up there?”

“I found an interesting tome on adhesives!” Sunset shouted back.

“… Magic adhesives?” Twilight asked in a hopeful tone.

“… That depends on your feelings regarding peanuts!” Sunset replied.

Twilight sighed and shook her head.

Cadance continued to look through her own shelf. “I’m not even sure how these are organized!” Cadance exclaimed.

“It’s a library in your own house basically!” Sunset replied indignantly. “Maybe you should pay a little more attention to that?” she suggested. “Or hire an assistant to your earth pony librarian who can’t fly or use magic?”

Cadance turned and shot Sunset a dirty look. “I’ve been kind of busy ruling an empire and dealing with a baby, Sunset!” Cadance grimaced as she finished her sentence. “Sorry…” she said sheepishly.

Sunset just grinned in response. “Hey, you finally back-sassed me!” she said happily. “See, we’re getting along better already!”

Cadance couldn’t help but giggle.

“Still,” Sunset continued, “you’ve been princess or empress for a while now and, again, the library is in your big crystal house! I figure you’d at least step in to learn a little about how the books are ordered. I mean, why’d move the library inside if you were going to mostly ignore it?”

Cadance’s cheeks flushed slightly as turned back to the books she was looking through.

The baby suddenly flew by Sunset followed still by Shining Armor. “Cadance demanded the library be moved inside the castle during some weird pregnancy fugue state!” Shining informed hastily.

“Pffft… Oh, really?” Sunset said as she turned and grinned wryly at Cadance.

Holding a pile of books, Spike glanced upwards nervously as the baby flew overhead. He quickly placed his back against a bookshelf as Shining Armor followed. “Cadance had the entire four story library, including its architecture, moved inside the castle?!”

Pinkie bounced by Spike. “Four stories?! More like a million, amIright?!”

“I get it!” Spike declared as he brought over the stack of books.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes… the library has lots of books or stories.”

“OoooH!” Spike said as he placed the stack of books next to Twilight. “Now I get it.”

“Ugh!” Twilight exclaimed in frustration. “Rarity?!” She called out. “Anything?”

“I’ve got it!” Rarity called back.

The searching alicorns and Spike turned towards the voice in interest.

“Yes?” Twilight called out with smile. “You’ve found a spell that can repair the crystal heart?!”

“No!” Rarity replied. “I’ve finally found a book on Crystal Empire fashion!”

Those also looking through the books let out long, continuous groans.

“Sure it’s over a millennium old, but I bet these, admittedly simple, frocks will appeal to somepony!”

“Oooo! Oooo!” Pinkie’s excited voice called out. “I bet Maud would love one of those!”

Twilight’s right eye twitched in irritation as she looked towards the sources of the voices as if to call out.

“Hey!” Sunset exclaimed. “Baby duty or crystal heart fixing duty! Pick one! We can have a research fashion party after we’re not dead from the weather or magic baby blasts!”

Rarity let out a sigh. “Fine, fine…”

“Whoops! Sorry!” Pinkie said as she bolted out from an aisle and began chasing the baby once more.

Twilight smiled out up Sunset. “Thank you, Sunset.”

“No problem!” Sunset said with a smile. She looked over at Cadance. “Besides, I want to hear more about the entire library being moved!”

Cadance’s body tensed and she turned back towards the books.

Twilight grit her teeth. “Can’t that wait!?”

“No!” Sunset insisted. “If I die before hearing how this came about, I will certainly regret it and come back as a ghost to haunt the empire!”

Twilight let out a defeated sigh and went back to looking through the piles on her desk.

“It was during Cadance’s crazy food craving phase!” Shining called out as he weaved through aisles, following the flying/teleporting baby. “Cadance ate a pint of mint ice cream with a dill pickle topping then demanded the library be brought inside because—” Shining raised the pitch of his voice, doing his best to imitate Cadance’s voice –“‘knowledge is power and who knows what the crystal ponies will do with access to all those books!’”

Sunset’s face lit up, a mixture of joy with a touch of disbelief. She turned to Cadance as if looking for confirmation that what she just heard was accurate.

Cadence answered Sunset’s expression with embarrassed silence as she stared at the row of books in front of her.

Sunset suddenly erupted into laughter as she fell to the floor, her legs and wings sticking out in all direction. “Oh my gosh! It’s true! Ahahahahahaha! That’s the best thing I’ve heard in years!”

Cadance turned to glare at her husband. “Snitches get stitches, darling!”

“Sorry, dear!” Shining called back as he continued to chase the baby around the library.

“COULD EVERYPONY CONCENTRATE A BIT, PLEASE!” Twilight said. “IT’S STARTING TO GET COLD IN HERE!”

“Sorry, Twilight!” Cadance called out. She reached for another book. “I’ll keep—”

With a ‘pop!’ the baby suddenly appeared on the shelf Cadance was pursuing. Cadance reached out for the baby, but with a sneeze, the baby fired off yet another magical blast as it flew back into the shelves, sending books and bits of crystal everywhere before it reappeared on the lower floor and began flying around once again.

“Shining Armor!” Cadance called out as Shining once again gave chase. “I thought you were taking care of the baby!”

“I’m TRYING!” Shining replied as he chased the baby down an aisle.

Sunset got up to her hooves, snickered once, then cleared her throat. “The baby has blasted several holes in the castle and even shot itself into a solid crystal book shelf right before it teleported itself again and kept on its happy-infant reign of terror, Cadance… I think you can afford to cut your husband some slack.”

The baby suddenly teleported behind Shining Armor dove down a different aisle of books. It let out an excited “Woo! Woo! Woo!” before its mirth took a quick pause as Rarity jumped in front of it with a butterfly net.

“Gotcha!” Rarity declared holding the net in front of the baby before it teleported past the net and continued flying.

“Why do you have a net?!”Sunset shouted down as she leaned her head over the side of her level.

Rarity looked up a furrowed brow and a wrinkled nose. “Well, to catch the baby, clearly!”

“The baby can teleport and has wings that are bigger than your head! Plus, it can shoot magic and blast itself into crystal shelves without hurting itself! How was a net going to work!?”

Rarity’s cheeks turned red as Rarity puffed them out. “Well what do you propose I do then?!”

“See if you can figure out what happened to the parts of the castle that were here before the library!”

Rarity looked up at Sunset in confusion. “Wait… How is that going to help any of our predicaments?”

“It won’t!” Sunset shouted back. “But I’m really curious about it!”

Twilight let out a long, continuous groan of frustration and buried her head in her forelegs as Spike brought over another stack of books. “Just use those books to make a little coffin for me Spike… At least I’ll die surrounded by my loved ones…”

Spike’s brow tightened. “You mean your friends and family?”

“No,” Twilight replied simply.

“BEHOLD!” Starlight’s voice suddenly boomed out. “I’VE BROUGHT A WIZARD TO SOLVE THE WEATHER PROBLEM!”

Twilight looked up. “Somehow I am filled with equal parts joy and dread.”

Starlight stood in the open doorway of the library, a forehoof held high and a smile on her face as Sunburst cowered behind her. Starlight turned and looked at Sunburst. “That’s your cue!”

Sunburst covered his eyes with a foreleg. “I am uncomfortable about all the things right now…”

The baby suddenly flew by Starlight as Pinkie chased it. Starlight watched them go by before a yellow bolt of magic tore through the air followed by Shining Armor with a smoking horn as the baby chased him. Starlight then looked upwards to see Cadance scanning the shelves as she added several books to the piles by Twilight who tossed her the odd glance or two in between pouring through page after page. Starlight then watched as the baby and Pinkie ran downstairs, Pinkie’s hooves suddenly sliding on the crystal floor before she slammed ‘smack’ into a bookshelf. This was followed by the baby and Pinkie ran by once more before another yellow bolt of magic sent Starlight diving for the ground.

“Wait… What is going on!?” Starlight asked.

“Do you want the long or the short version?” Pinkie asked as the baby alicorn dragged her backwards as it gripped one of Pinkie’s back legs tightly.

“Short?” Starlight replied.

Pinkie rapid fired a response as the baby continued to drag her backwards down the crystal floor. “The baby accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadance are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow.”

Sunburst uncovered his eyes. “None of what I am hearing or seeing is making me any less uncomfortable…”

“Oh…” Starlight replied. Her face lit up again. “It’s okay, though I brought someone who can help!” she said as she stood aside and motioned to Sunburst.

“Meep…” Sunburst uttered in a slightly distressed tone.

Shining Armor made a jump for the baby, but missed and collided with Pinkie leaving both adult ponies dazed and disoriented.

Starlight gasped as she looked over the two ponies on the floor, her eyes paying close attention to Pinkie’s oddly blank flank. “Gha! Wasn’t me! Wasn’t me!” Starlight cried in a panicked expression.

“Huh?” Pinkie replied. She traced Starlight’s eyes to where her cutie mark should be. “Whoops!” she said as she reached into her mane, pulled out what appeared to be her cutie mark, licked it, and slapped it where the missing mark once was.

Starlight furrowed her brow at the scene. “Okay, I’ve either drank too much or not nearly enough to put up with this…”

With a burst of turquoise light, Sunset suddenly teleported down and stood in front of Starlight and Sunburst. “Uh… Starlight?” Sunset said. “As happy as I am that you’ve apparently passed your friendship chore—”

“Hey!” Twilight protested.

“Oh,” Sunset said. “Twilight’s happy, too.”

“That’s not—grrrrrrrrrr!”

Sunset continued, “Just… What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m righting a wizard wrong!” Starlight declared as she pointed to Sunburst. “And that wizard wrong is that Sunburst here is not a wizard, and that’s just not right!”

“Okay… Wizards still not a thing anymore,” Sunset said.

Starlight grit her teeth and thrust her face right in front of Sunset. “Well, then a princess here better make it a thing!” she said in a vaguely threatening sounding tone.

Sunset took a couple steps back, narrowed her eyes slightly, and waved a forehoof in front of her muzzle. “Have you been drinking?”

“Only a little!” Starlight declared.

Sunset glanced past Starlight and raised an eyebrow at Sunburst.

Sunburst shook his head.

Sunset trained her gaze back on Starlight giving her an unamused look.

“Okay! How much I have or haven’t drank or how many ponies I screamed at and children I terrified on my way here isn’t important!”

Sunset looked past Starlight again with a slightly concerned look this time.

Sunburst grimaced. “It was a lot on all counts…”

Starlight turned, her gaze angry and her teeth grit. “Quiet! I’m trying to help you here!”

Sunset shook her head. “Still not exactly clear on what that help is supposed to entail…”

Cadance suddenly gasped as she looked over the books. With a baby blue glow she pulled out a black tome with golden inlays and a lock on the front. “What about this?” She asked as she floated down to Twilight and placed the book in front of her. “Trotter’s Tome of Reliquary?”

Twilight quickly turned the pages, scanning each one as a frown began to set on her face. She suddenly smiled widely. “I think this is it!” she said as she turned the open book to face Cadance.

“‘Spell of Relic Reconstitution’!” Cadance exclaimed as her wings unfurled in excitement. “I can't believe we found it!”

“It’s a good thing, too!” Twilight said as she floated the book back over to her. “Without this, I don’t know what we’d do!”

Sunset’s eyes shot open wide. “Sweet mother of mine!” Sunset broke into a mad gallop towards Twilight. “Twilight why did you say that?!”

“Wha—” Twilight began.

The baby suddenly popped next to Twilight knocking over the nearby books as Twilight floated the tome closer to her. This was followed by Pinkie bouncing onto the table before pressing off and landing on the baby. Pinkie smiled satisfactorily as she rose up, baby in her forelegs. The baby suddenly sneezed, firing off a blast of magic that flew out towards Rarity. Rarity raised a large handled mirror in front of her, grimacing and pulling her face back as the mirror redirected the blast upwards. The blast suddenly headed for Shining Armor who quickly put up a purple shield in front of him which redirected the blast again. Sunset could feel the heat of the magical energy as it barely missed her face and flew off behind her. Starlight closed her eyes and put up a barrier just in time to redirect the blast once more, this time directly towards the book in front of Twilight.

Sunset Shimmer dove in front of the book.