"Oh my goodness!" Twilight cried. "Fluttershy, are you alright?"
She rushed to the side of the fallen pegasus. After prodding and finding her to be completely stiff, she turned to the surrounding ponies. "What happened?"
A dainty white hoof made its way into the air. "I may have something to do with that, darling. You see, I may have dragged her along for a bit of... dramatization, and you know how the poor dear reacts to performances," Rarity said as she gave a rather pathetic chuckle.
Twilight made a sound. It was mostly indiscernible, but if one were to analyze it, one would find that it was an interesting mix of a grunt, a sigh, and a stifled scream. She lit up her horn and picked poor Fluttershy up in her magic. She made for the kitchen, but just before she entered she faced Spike and said, "Keep them busy while I revive her."
The dragon's eyes widened as his mind went straight into emergency mode. His wide eyes then shifted to the crowd of ponies before him. A lump formed in his throat as some of them looked in his general direction. Beads of sweat started to make their way down his scales as he considered the options that he had been presented.
On the one claw, he could try small talk and stand-up. After all, who doesn't like a good joke?
On the other claw, he could also try relating his life story, but the poor ponies had been through enough with Twilight’s speech and even he wasn’t that cruel.
On the third claw, he could do that neat little fire trick he was practicing. The only problem was that it tended to cause quite a bit of an inferno, and considering that they were inside the library and surrounded by hundreds of books… yeah, no.
On the fourth claw, he could always make a break for it. But then, if he did that, that would disappoint Twilight, and that was definitely something he did not want to do.
On the fifth- wait... he only had four claws. As he came to the realization that he only had four claws, a pink blob moved around in the corner of his eye. As he shifted his attention, he realized it was Pinkie moving about and gathering a number of really thick books. To what end, he did not know.
Twilight prepared a spell as she stood over the collapsed pegasus. She readied herself and cast it. It went off without a hitch and she helped Fluttershy back on her hooves.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yes. Thank you, Twilight." Little did she know, though, that her eyes were still more than a little crossed.
"Uhhh, one sec." The unicorn's alicorn flashed one more time. When the light subsided, Fluttershy was back to normal.
“Oh, that feels much better. Thank you again, so much, Twilight.”
The purple pony smiled once again at her fluttery friend. “You want to go back to the party now?”
The look on her face, particularly the irises which practically disappeared into the corneas, was enough of an answer for Twilight.
“It’s okay, Fluttershy. You can stay here if you want. I’ll get you some tea.”
Thankfully, a pot had already been prepared by Spike and was left in piping hot condition on the stove. It was encased in an amethyst aura and began to float towards the table beside the two ponies. A nice, little, curvy teacup also made its way towards them from the cupboard. As the two met in the middle, they performed a tiny dance which allowed the pot to share its blessings with the cup.
Fluttershy gracefully accepted the steaming beverage and allowed herself a sip. It was delicious. Her lips curved in appreciation of the simple, yet wonderful, drink.
When Twilight was certain that her friend was alright, she stepped back out into the main hall and noticed that the some of the guests were staring at a particularly tall book pile. As she observed this pile, she noticed that it had an eerie resemblance to a wall. She scanned her memories to see if she and Spike had ever created such a fortification. The search came up empty.
Her smile turned upside down as she got a good idea of what was going on. “Pinkie…” she said, ready for just about anything at this point.
“Yes?” came the muffled, yet unmistakable voice of her friend.
Twilight was not amused. “What are you doing?”
“Protecting the treasure of literature. If you want it, you’ll have to take it from my warm, fuzzy hooves!” the pink pony declared.
Twilight made the sound again. Honestly, how could Pinkie possibly act this way in such a scenario? Here she was, diligently trying to share with other ponies the beauty of books and here Pinkie was, trying to turn a party into… well, a party! But the wrong kind of party. The book based bash was meant to be like a tea party, not a rave.
“Pinkie, come out of there, right now. You are hogging some of the best books in the library.” She really was. Some of the ‘bricks’ used in the wall were The History of Obscure Pony Scholars: Extended Edition, Proper Alicorn Care Throughout the Ages, Fourth Edition, Advanced Magic Theory with Modern Conjuration Techniques, and of course The Art and Practice of Listing Any and Everything. That last one was in her personal favorites.
“Oink, Oink, Oink,” was all the response she got.
Twilight stole a glance around and noticed that a few guests shared her feelings of frustration. Things were slipping through her hooves. If this kept up, then her sacrifices would have been all for naught. She could not let that happen and so, issued an ultimatum to her insolent friend.
“Pinkie, come out of there and take down this wall, or so help me, I will pull you out of there myself.” She was happy with how that came out. “And it won’t be fun,” she added to ensure her message was clear.
The first thing she heard from the other side was a slight humming sound. She perked her ears and realized just what Pinkie was doing. She glared at the wall and readied her magic. The moment her eyes caught sight of the load-bearing book, her magic enveloped it and pulled. It did not budge. It was worth remembering that Twilight Sparkle is capable of carrying an Ursa Minor in her magic.
Meanwhile, over on the other side of the wall, Pinkie noticed the quick color change in one of the books. She made for the tome and grabbed (bit) it before it could bring the whole structure down. She gave a low growl as she heard a few grunts of effort from the other side. The light around this book eventually faded right as a similarly shaded light started to take a different book. Her teeth found themselves to be quite active for the next five minutes as they jumped from book to book.
Back on the outside, sweat started to fall from Twilight’s face. She was moving from frustrated to irritated and quickly to just plain angry. She took several steps closer to one of the books she was pulling at with her magic. When even this one outright refused to move, she turned her whole body around and fired off her two hind legs. Books became airborne.
They burst like confetti from a party cannon and flew all across the room. It was a good thing that pony books are designed to resist physical abuse—two-thirds of the population do have to hold them with their teeth, after all—otherwise this would have been a gruesome, gory, sight for any self-respecting bibliophile.
One particular book hit one particular yellow earth stallion. The pony in question was Caramel and the book in question was 1001 Tips for Winning the Heart of a Pegasus (Metaphorically Of Course). He looked to his partner, Wind Whistler, as certain ideas began to blossom in his head. His hooves scrambled for the first chapter and he began to see what the book had to offer.
Wind Whistler, though, held her head in annoyance. The book she got was Dealing With Unwanted Stallions 101. It was thick and the impact, simply put, hurt. Several ponies in the room shared the sentiment as they themselves were on the receiving end of a lecture from some of Twilight’s other favorite books. Grunts and groans echoed throughout the hall.
With the wall down, the unicorn gave the earth pony a look that could have simply destroyed her had it been capable.
As this insanity went on, sixteen of the thirty guests already had their muzzles buried in books as their eyes ate up every morsel of the buffet of words provided by the chef that was literature in the five star restaurant that was Golden Oaks Library. Although, it would be nice if the waitress could let them finish their meals in peace and quiet.