//------------------------------//
// Doing Her Research 
// Story: Revenge 
// by LeonardRodriquez 
//------------------------------//

I trudge through the front door of the library and I had to keep shaking my head in confusion over and over again like someone had set my neck on oscillate. Twilight is by a writing desk penning something. When I walk in she looks up from her writing.

“Where were you!?” she exclaims. She trots towards me, “I went looking all over Ponyville for you but I couldn’t find you anywhere!” 

I looked around the room to find some kind of excuse to get me out of this situation, when no such solution made itself apparent, I decided to just answer her question.

“Uh… well I flew to the library and hid in the leaves for a bit, but then Pinkamena came-”

“What do you mean Pinkie came?” Twilight demanded.

“Uh, she somehow climbed the trunk of the tree, and I panicked and flew off…”

“So you were running from Pinkie for two hours?” she asked, unbelieving. I looked out the window to see that the sun was starting to set.

“…Well I tried to fly really far away, but somehow she managed to keep up with me… or teleport… I really don’t know which to be honest.”

“You know what? With Pinkie, I’m not surprised.” Twilight said as she held a hoof up to her nose.

“So, anyway, I tried to hide in Rainbow Dash’s house, but she had this helicopter thing…” I sigh, “I’m tired.”

“Well I set up your bed upstairs. Just tell me if you need anything.” She politely informs me.

“Right…” I mumble, and then head towards the stairs. I doubt she’d be able to help me figure out why all the mares in this town are crazy. Wait… maybe she can.

I spin around at the foot of the stairs “Do you have any books on local social customs?” 

“Are you looking for a history of Ponyvillian social customs? Or are you looking for something specific like modern etiquette?” the librarian Pony asked.

“Uh… both?” I reply, uncertain.

The unicorn looked though the bookshelves. I sat there and waited impatiently. Eventually she levitated out two different books and placed them on my back.

“There,” she said, “That should get you started, if you want anything more specific don’t be afraid to ask.”

I gave a firm nod before continuing my trek up the stairs. The top floor of the library had even more shelves of books as well. I know this mare loves books, but really, this is getting ridiculous.  I spot a set of stairs leading up to a couple of beds placed end to end and make my way carefully over to them, using my wings to help balance the books further.

I stood at the top of the stairs and tried to figure out which bed was supposed to be mine, there was a bed with a pink blanket and a relatively plain frame. Then there was the one with the intricate frame that had star and moon covered bed sheets that just screamed ‘I’m a total geek’.

So I slide my books off onto the plain looking bed. So what did she get me? “Basic Etiquette for Foals”… I feel insulted just by the title. I nudge the top book to the far side of the bed. Let’s see, “Cultural History Across Equestria”. This seems perfect! Well one out of two isn’t bad, I’m still not happy that I’ve barely had independent thought for a whole day and already someone is insulting my thinking capabilities. She’ll pay for that slight later.

I nose open the cover and look at the table of contents. Let’s see, History of Customs in Ponyville- page 54. Since I don’t feel like spending forever trying to get to page 54 by flipping the pages one by one, I stuck the tip of my hoof in a place that I thought would be close to that number. I was off by about ten pages. Huh, I never knew there was a village called Trotsilvania… says here that they wear garlic around their necks to ward off evil spirits, weird. I turn back page by page till I get to Ponyville. 

Let’s see, social customs… kissing… nothing… nothing on kissing. Why did they do it then? It’s just plain odd!  Were those two from another city perhaps…?

I turn back to the table of contents. Hmm… Cloudsdale, that sounds like a place that has a lot of pegasi. I flip to the Cloudsdale entry and scan the page for any information that could help me.

Well they use to give a kiss on either cheek as a greeting way back when… two hundred years ago… and between ponies they know extremely well…  This explains nothing! I grab the book in my mouth and drop it on the ground beside me.
I might as well check the other book too. I doubt it would have anything in it however.


Twenty minutes later


While I was right about it not having anything on kissing and behavioral habits, I did learn, in a surprising amount of detail, more than I ever wanted to know about properly setting a table. Well at least now I know my intelligence wasn’t insulted when Twilight suggested this book, but this does not solve my problem!

I decide that the best thing to do is to start planning my revenge. I had to do this systematically. I’m not so confident as to think that my newly formed thought processes are advanced enough that I can produce mass scale revenge. No, I will pick them off, one by one. I know who I will start with too, the white one… Rarity I believe they called her. I will ruin her first for running into me like an inconsiderate witch!

I yawned, my eyes were beginning to feel agitated and the sun was already down. I might as well save the details of the plan for tomorrow.

I place the book on the bed next to the one already on the floor. I noticed that the other book was lying on the ground with its spine in the air. I decided that since I didn’t want to incur the librarian’s wrath while I’m sleeping in her house that I should probably fix that. I placed that book on top of the other one. 

I lift the side of the blanket with my teeth and gain entry into the warm covers. I fell myself slowly drifting off, with thoughts of sabotage and oddly enough pink and yellow fairies dancing through my head.