The Ponyville library was being mobbed on the first ever ‘Read a Book’ day. A day dedicated strictly towards reading
“I could so come up with a better name than that, but no, it was take it or leave it” Twilight complained, trying to keep her voice down as she passed another sign.
Other than the name, Twilight couldn’t be more happy with the turn out. The tree library was so packed, it took her five minutes to get from one side of the library to the other, and the line outside was getting longer by the minute.
“Sorry, I just lent the last copy of Flying 101 to Pipsqueak, he said something about flying off to see his favorite princess, even though he has no wings” Twilight told Scootaloo, who was getting desperate in her attempts to learn how to fly.
Twilight had fought for months, trying to convince Mayor Mare to give her her holiday, and now it was all hers.
“Awww, that’s not fair” she said, getting ready to give up
“Hey I know how you feel Scootaloo, so here’s what I’ll do” Twilight lit her horn, levitating a quill and paper “When Pip figures out that he’s not a Pegasus, I’ll bring the book straight to you. Just tell me where you live.”
Scootaloo had no home, her parents died in a house fire, but what made it horrible was that her home was made of clouds, not something that burns easily
“Um, that’s okay Twilight; I’ll just come back tomorrow, it’s sure to be back by then” the little orange Pegasus frantically said as she bolted out the door
“What a strange little filly” Twilight said to herself just before she was dragged to help someone else.
Luna hid under her covers, something was amiss and it frightened her.
“Wait, we are the princess of the night, why should we fear something in the dark? We made the dark” Luna bounced out, ready to face her intruder
‘CREEEEEEK’
“Epp” Luna, the big bad princess of the night, rushed back to the safety of her covers. Poking her head out, Luna looked in the direction of her door “Who goes there?”
‘creeeek”
“We’re warning thee, we are masters of the dark arts”
“Luuuuuna” An eerie voice said.
Luna flinched at the voice.
The door creaked open further, reviling a set of opal eyes and a glistening smile, but that’s all Luna could see.
“Luna… I have a surprise for you”
Suddenly, all the lights turned on. “Gah!” Luna screamed hiding from the lights.
Celestia slowly crept towards the mound on her sister’s bed. Getting up, close and personal, she moved her muzzle mere inches from what she assumed was Luna’s head.
“Gotcha”
Twilight was helping Tootsie flute with a book on music, when a loud shriek shook the library.
“What the?” Twilight turned back to Tootsie realizing that the little filly had rushed to her mother’s side, afraid of the loud noise
After her shout, Luna lost it.
“Sister! What is the meaning of this!?”
Celestia was on the floor laughing. “Sorry Lulu, I couldn’t resist”
Regaining her composure, Celestia wiped one last tear from her eye before getting serious.
“Okay” she started, magically blocking the pillow Luna threw at her “Lulu, you’re going on a trip”
“What!?” Luna said dropping Celestia. ”But sister, you know I am nocturnal and I sleep during the day, can’t this wait?”
Celestia floated on her wings “No, you need to make some friends, I’m starting to get sick of you complaining that you’re bored all of the time”
The day was hectic, but to Twilight, everything was all going to plan.
“Okay, almost everypony has found a book and I can take a break in… about an hour.
“Spike are you finished with lunch yet?” Twilight shouted, ignoring the weird faces some of the new ponies gave her.
There was no response and Twilight trotted into the kitchen where she found her number one assistant passed out on the ground; somehow he blew up the daisy sandwiches, splattering the kitchen with green goop.
“Spike, what have you done!” Twilight yelled “Oh, this wasn’t supposed to happen, oh no no no no”
She lit her horn to try and clean the mess up fast when there was a belch. Spike had unconsciously delivered a letter from the princess. “Really Celestia, now. Oh why can’t things just go to plan, why does someone always want to make my life hard”
Twilight levitated the letter and removed the green goop that clung to the paper before reading it.
To my most faithful student
I am sending you somepony that needs to learn about friendship
She’ll be there in twenty five minutes
Signed Princess Celestia
Twilight stared at the letter, reading it over and over again to make sure she read it right.
“What, a test on friendship, now!” she said, panic welling in her chest “What do I do, there is still a lobby full of ponies waiting to check out their books, I can’t just leave them.”
She began to walk in circles, trying to think of a solution to her problem
“Spike, wake up, please”
She tried to shake her assistant and wake him up, but he slept like a rock
“Sparkle, we’re waiting to check out our books” a stallion shouted
Twilight began to hyperventilate, this was not supposed to happen. “Oh why didn’t I accept my friends help!?”
She continued her frantic pacing, wracking her brain for a solution.
“SPARKLE”
“C-Coming”
Exiting the kitchen, Twilight found that everyone was waiting in line to check out their book
Great, it will take me a half an hour to get through this line
“Come on Sparkle, I have somewhere to be today”
Twilight pushed and shoved, even levitating some ponies to get to the check out desk. When she finally clawed her way behind her desk, Twilight took a few precious seconds to catch her breath before popping up.
“Alright, I’m here”
The line was going rather smooth for the first ten minutes, that was until Granny Smith limped up.
Come on, come on there’s only nine minutes, thirty five seconds until the pony comes
Granny took two minutes to place her book on the counter.
“Hurry up please, there are a lot of ponies that I need to help” Twilight said, trying to keep her voice even.
“Why you little wiper snapper, have respect for your elders, I can only move so fast” Granny snapped
Oh, come on there’s only seven minutes and forty seven seconds till the pony arrives
Granny was reaching for her card when a royal chariot landed outside her library
“Oh no, it’s five minutes and twenty five seconds early, what do I do, what do I do!”
“Come on I don’t got all day” Granny snapped again
“Oh, r-right” Twilight’s mane was frizzing up from all of the sudden stress “S-so you wanted apple bucking for elders right… here you go”
Twilight finished with Granny before rushing to the door to try and greet the mystery pony.
“Really Sparkle, if I don’t clock in in time to make tonight’s rain storm Rainbow dash is going to kill me” the Pegasus stallion complained, but his words fell on deaf ears.
Twilight opened the door only to find the ponyville mailmare
“Derpy, you’re the pony I have to teach friendship!?”
Derpy Hooves was the town’s only mailmare; she had a grayish blue coat, her vibrant yellow eyes were always looking in two different directions. Her gray feathery wings wrapped Twilight in a quick ‘greeting’ hug before settling back at her side.
“Oh hi Twilight” her bubbly personality really showed in her voice. “I’m just here to get my little muffin Dinky a book”
Twilight looked down at the little unicorn besides Derpy.
Dinky was bouncing happily in place, her yellow mane and tail following suit. Her amber eyes over flowed with jubilance as she impatiently waited to get her light purple hooves on a book.
“Yeah, I want to read up on magic so I can be as good as you, oh maybe the princess would teach me!” Eager innocence bounded in the young foal’s voice, and despite her stress, Twilight couldn’t hold back a smile.
“Oh Twilight” Derpy said “Princess Luna arrived; she said something about meeting you for some reason I forget”
“Oh, well I shouldn’t keep the-“ Twilight stopped “P-princess, Derpy did you say princess Luna wants to see me!?”
The walled eyed mare nodded and led her daughter to the magic section.
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE, IT IS GREAT TO SEE THOU AGAIN…I mean it’s great to see you again Twilight”
Once Derpy go out of the way, Twilight saw Princess Luna. She had her hoof close to her mouth and was blushing. Her astral mane floated around her body with a whim of its own. Luna soon got over her embarrassment and rushed Twilight, pulling her into a bone crunching hug. “Oh hi Princess…” All Twilight could see was Luna’s midnight blue coat.
Luna returned Twilight to the ground where she gasped for air. “Are you alright Twilight?” Luna asked, vibrant teal eyes looked at the purple unicorn as if they were trying to seduce her.
“Princess Luna is who I have to teach friendship to” Twilight said
Twilight looked into Luna’s eyes, blissful ignorance was proudly on display. Looking deeper, she saw a hurt soul, someone who just wanted to be appreciated, not feared.
“Yes Twilight, sister says that I need to make friends, so she sent me here so I could learn the ways of the friendship”
Twilight didn’t acknowledge Luna’s statement as her world was turning gray. “I… have… to teach” everything started spinning “Princess” Twilight fell “Luna”. She blacked out.
“Great, now I’m going to be late for work, it’s all y-y-y PRINCESS, everypony, bow the princess is here” The same stallion yelled as he bowed. Everyone followed suit, but what they didn’t realize is that their princess was getting nervous
“Please, stop, I don’t deserve your worship” she said, trying in vain to get the ponies to stop but they kept bowing, waiting for Luna to allow them to get up
“Stop, please, stop, I SAID STOP BOWING!”
They all got up and ran out of the library, taking their books with them wither they were checked out or not.
“Oh, what have I done” Luna said to an empty library