“Good morning, Spike! Spike, get up! Today’s the day!”
Spike yelped as Twilight rudely pressed her face up against his own. Her elated grin completely disrupted his somnolence and the contentment he found therein.
“Don’t do that!” he protested, crawling away and covering his face with his blanket.
“What are you still doing in bed?” He could hear Twilight hopping around his room animatedly.
“It’s a great day for sleeping in,” he grumbled. The cavernous nature of the castle meant that when it rained, the sound permeated everything. The acoustics were better suited to sleeping in the rain than the library had ever been, and it had been months since the last decent rainfall. He’d hoped to get a little more enjoyment out of it before Twilight came barging in.
“You’re looking at this all wrong,” Twilight lectured him. “Think of the positives, not the negatives. After today, it’ll be so much easier to look after the library. And we have a whole day to remind ourselves how much there’s still to learn about the world!”
Spike shoved his head under his pillow. Twilight considered this for a moment. “And a whole day to be the number one assistant in the whole of Equestria,” she said sweetly.
Spike muttered something short and intelligible.
“A whole day to spend with our friends having a good time?” she tried.
Her only response was a muffled groan. Twilight snorted in exasperation and rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said irritably. “I do have something important to tell you as well.”
Spike lifted his pillow marginally, so that Twilight could see part of his face, and frowned at her expectantly.
“I’ll tell you, over breakfast,” Twilight said. But Spike just moaned again.
“Come on,” she said, turning to leave. “I’ll make pancakes.” That would surely do the trick.
Spike rubbed his eyes. He looked at the water running in rivulets down his bedroom window and sighed wistfully. However, he couldn’t turn down pancakes – although he could still express his displeasure by sulking. He hopped off his bed and followed the sound of her hooves, maintaining his scowl.
“What the—” he heard Twilight say.
Pinkie Pie cried, “Watch out!” and Spike looked up in time to be stopped short by a pancake hitting him in the face.
“Pinkie Pie?!” Twilight said incredulously. “What are you doing?”
“Making pancakes, duh!”
“I mean here?” Twilight amended quickly. “What are you doing here?”
“Still making pancakes, silly!”
“That’s not an answer!”
Spike finished eating the delicious pancake that had been delivered straight into his hungry mouth and entered the kitchen. Pinkie Pie was standing beside the stove, flipping pancakes across the kitchen onto a plate on the table. Clearly she had over-exuberantly flipped one right through the doorway. Twilight was staring at her with wide eyes.
Spike laughed. “Oh, come on, Twilight. It’s Pinkie Pie.” He cheerfully took a place at the table and helped himself to a third of the pancake stack. Pinkie had considerately put out a bowl of ruby slivers for him, as well as berries aimed at herself and Twilight.
“That’s still not an answer,” Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie giggled. “Everypony in Ponyville knows today is re-shelving day, Twilight. And I love re-shelving day because you love re-shelving day. The Cakes were happy to give me the day off to help. All hooves on deck!”
“Everypony in Ponyville?” Twilight repeated doubtfully.
“Yarrr,” Pinkie Pie growled in mimicry of a pirate.
“But I only decided it would be today, yesterday.”
“I told everypony.”
“How did you know?”
“Does it really matter?” Spike asked, arranging shards of ruby on his pancake. “Stop worrying, Twilight.”
Twilight huffed. “Was it your Pinkie sense?” she continued. “Is a book going to fall on my head?” she asked, resigned to her inevitable fate.
“You know my Pinkie sense is only for immediate events,” Pinkie Pie said, and flipped another pancake towards the table. Her tail vibrated suddenly. “Look out!” she cried, in vain, as the pancake had already hit Twilight and been skewered by her horn.
Twilight lifted the pancake off her face with her magic, revealing a fond smile. “I don’t suppose it really matters,” she relented, and took a bite. Spike’s standard morning-grumpiness hadn’t dampened her spirits for long. Neither had the rain, and neither could Pinkie Pie (loving her didn’t make her existence any less fascinating). Not on this day.
“Well,” said Pinkie Pie, “if you’d given me a chance, I would’ve told you that yesterday I saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo whispering together, like they were sharing a big secret, and I like secrets, as long as they aren’t hurting anypony, so I asked them if I could know, and Pinkie-promised on it, and they told me it wasn’t a secret and that you were having re-shelving day today and they were going to help you. I realised that I could help you too. And since it wasn’t really a secret I told everypony.”
Twilight looked at Spike. “Makes sense,” Spike said amiably. He spread his claws wide apart in an unconcerned shrugging gesture before helping himself to yet another pancake.
“So are other ponies going to come by to help us?” Twilight asked, with growing unease. The Crusaders’ help was welcome enough, since she’d had a chance to get used to the idea of their inefficient but admittedly fun method of shelving books according to Twilight’s categories. Pinkie’s vigour would speed the process along. But if the whole town came to the castle how would she ever be able to concentrate? There would be far too many distractions!
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Everypony’s probably already made plans. I only told them yesterday and this morning before I came here.”
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Spike said supportively. “We can keep any ponies who come by and cause a ruckus in line.”
How ironic, Twilight thought as Pinkie Pie flipped another pancake and Spike literally leapt out of his seat to catch it in his gaping jaws, much to Pinkie’s giggly amusement.
“You said you had something to talk to me about,” Spike tried to say despite his full mouthful.
“Seriously?” Twilight admonished.
Spike swallowed and repeated himself.
“Apple Bloom read a couple of my musings about Starlight Glimmer yesterday in the Journal of Friendship,” Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie’s outrageous gasp interrupted her. Twilight calmly shoved her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth to silence her - she didn’t question how Pinkie had appeared within hoof’s reach of Twilight without apparently moving. Pinkie began to tremble. Spike licked his claws and gesticulated that Twilight should continue.
“She didn’t have the chance to read very much, but it was enough for her to ask questions,” said Twilight. “Applejack doesn’t want her to find out that Starlight removed our cutie marks by force.”
She released Pinkie, concerned by the startling shade of cobalt that her coat had turned to. Pinkie Pie rapidly returned to her normal colouration. However, she didn’t speak.
“How did—? Nggh, never mind. We need to hide the Journal of Friendship from the Cutie Mark Crusaders today, and I want to schedule a meeting with everypony to talk about how to handle the situation. I don’t like the idea of hiding things from the fillies, but I agreed to until we’ve established what we should do. I’m sure they’ll want to know more. They’ll be looking for that journal. So you two should be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”
“Like a cat?” Pinkie asked in such a reasonable voice that Twilight actually looked around before getting a grip.
“Suspicious behaviour,” Twilight corrected.
Pinkie Pie blinked at her.
“Yes, like a cat,” Twilight said circumspectly, trying to decipher the hidden genius in Pinkie’s words.
“Casting an invisibility spell on the journal would make it pretty hard to find until you reverse the spell,” Spike said, feeling as Twilight did. “I’ll find a book with one in after breakfast.”
“No need, Spike; I know where to find a spell like that,” Pinkie answered. “You enjoy your breakfast.” She bounced out of the kitchen, humming to herself.
“Ah-ha!” Twilight exclaimed. “Like a cat! Because curiosity—” Twilight realised that Pinkie was gone and Spike was more interested in food than in her successful decryption. She groaned peevishly.
The rain had started very late the previous evening - an interesting choice of time for a pony as interested in sleeping as Rainbow Dash - and fell constantly overnight. Applejack wasn’t bothered by rain - or mud - in the least. In fact she welcomed this storm, the first big downpour of the spring. The ground needed a good dousing to get the growing season underway. Still, there were benefits to wearing galoshes when working in a storm. They were almost instantly covered in thick, gloopy mud once she stepped off the cobbled paths around the farm. She didn’t want to track excessive mud into the farmhouse by dint of simply walking. Why make work when there was no need?
She and Big Mac were carrying a ladder from the barn to the farmhouse in order to fix an overflowing gutter they’d spotted when Apple Bloom came outside, ready to meet Scootaloo and go to Twilight’s castle, via Sweetie Belle’s house.
“What in tarnation are you wearing?” Applejack exclaimed rhetorically, for it was quite obvious.
“One of Pinkie’s umbrella hats,” Apple Bloom said happily. Her mane was completely dry.
Pinkie Pie brought colour to one’s life purely by being part of it. That was undoubtedly her intention. “I can see that,” Applejack laughed. “Just surprised to see it on you is all.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.
“Seems it does the job though.” Applejack could feel the brim of her own hat sagging with moisture. This was the third one she’d worn so far and it wasn’t even mid-morning. Thankfully they’d transferred enough firewood into the house during the previous day that they would be able to keep a fire burning in the hearth all day for drying purposes.
“Off to the castle?” she asked Apple Bloom.
“Eeyup,” Apple Bloom said solemnly. Big Mac chuckled.
“I reckon I’ll be able to come by later to see how y’all are getting along,” Applejack told her. Big Mac could handle any chores leftover by lunchtime. “You let Twilight know, okay sugarcube? Have a good time.”
She pensively watched Apple Bloom scarper. Though she stayed on the paths the motion of her trotting kicked up mud that splattered on her blank hindquarters. Applejack suspected she’d be given a bath at the castle before the day was over.
“You don’t have to worry about Apple Bloom,” her brother commented.
“I… it was obvious, huh?”
“Eeyup.”
“It just comes natural, I guess.”
“I know, but there’s no need,” Big Mac said. He tapped his hoof against the ladder pointedly.
The familiar rhythm of hard work dispelled some of Applejack’s anxiety. Still, part of her remained fixated on Apple Bloom and Starlight Glimmer, her fears and her memories playing repeatedly in the back of her mind.
As it happened, Apple Bloom didn’t receive a bath at the castle.
“Stop right there!” Rarity shrieked. “Don’t you move one muscle, Apple Bloom!”
Apple Bloom froze, one hoof raised off the floor. A droplet of mud trembled on the edge of her hoof. Scootaloo pointed at it with an expression of comic horror.
Rarity moved like lightning, flinging an excessive number of cloths at Apple Bloom with her magic, completely covering the filly. Thankfully her rapid response averted disaster, saving the boutique’s floor from an onslaught by ick and yuck alike.
With a cough, Apple Bloom tossed her head and re-emerged into daylight. She looked at Scootaloo, who was snickering, and then at Rarity, the epitome of elegance and cleanliness. Rarity didn’t ask if Apple Bloom had been raised in a barn, but the sentiment was obvious in her eyes.
“Um…” Apple Bloom started nervously.
“I’ll run a bath for you,” Rarity announced, turning on her hooves.
As soon as she was gone Scootaloo fell onto on her back, clutching her belly as she convulsed with laughter. “Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom reprimanded.
“Did you see her face?” Even though Apple Bloom was the only other pony in the room Scootaloo spoke to the world at large. “That was priceless.”
“Scootaloo!”
“Oh! Right.” Scootaloo got a grip and stood up. “I’m gonna go find Sweetie Belle.” She trotted off. A stifled giggle reached Apple Bloom’s ears.
Rarity returned and carried Apple Bloom with her magic, cloths and all, upstairs into her bathroom. Apple Bloom wasn’t inclined to complain about the overreaction when the water was warm, the suds were thick and the steam was fragrant. The finer things in life weren’t to be sniffed at.
“Found her,” said Scootaloo, walking in with Sweetie Belle.
“Why are you in my sister’s tub?” asked Sweetie Belle, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Rarity using her magic to scrub Apple Bloom’s coat and pour water over her head, all in silence.
“Guess I got a little dirty on my way over here,” Apple Bloom said. Mud was easy to avoid in Ponyville even during heavy rain. Sweet Apple Acres was another story.
“A little dirty?” Rarity repeated in a tone that suggested Apple Bloom had surfed into the boutique on a mudslide.
“Sorry, Rarity,” Apple Bloom apologised. “We went by your house looking for you, Sweetie. Your mom and dad said you were here.”
“Is your designing going well?” Scootaloo asked. “Are you done yet? Can we see the dress?”
Sweetie Belle’s ears canted backwards. She gave her friends a small, apologetic smile. “No. Sorry.” Rarity had begged her not to tell anypony that she’d fallen asleep in the middle of lunch and ended up with metaphorical egg (literal cucumber) on her face (horn). So it would be difficult to explain in detail why they hadn’t finished the design.
Rarity swivelled her head in Sweetie Belle’s direction. “Dresses can’t be made that quickly, dear,” she said distractedly to Scootaloo.
“Oh… we were hoping you would have finished so you could come to Twilight’s with us for re-shelving day,” Scootaloo said dejectedly.
Sweetie Belle shook her head and looked at the ground guiltily. A few seconds of sombre silence passed. It became clear to Rarity that Sweetie Belle wasn’t going to utilise the opportunity to speak to her friends about her feelings, so she drew their attention by clearing her throat. “Twilight is having re-shelving day today, girls?”
Apple Bloom recognised the leading tone and answered with, “She hasn’t had time to do it all winter. There’s books all over the place.”
“Even for a library it’s crazy,” Scootaloo said, crossing her eyes for emphasis. “There might be more books off shelves than on them. So we’re going to help her sort out them all out and re-shelve them.”
“We might get our cutie marks in it,” Apple Bloom added with a smile, reaching for a towel. Rarity gave Sweetie Belle a measuring look. She looked even sadder than she previously had. Despite her preference for remaining as far from the rain as possible, Rarity knew she must do the right thing for the sake of her sister.
“I believe I shall join you,” Rarity decided.
“Huh?” said Apple Bloom, dropping the towel into the bath water in surprise.
“What?” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said together.
“But Twilight’s dress!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
“It all makes sense,” Rarity said unequivocally, retrieving the sodden towel with a small harrumph. “Twilight and Spike will need plenty of help with the books,” she enlightened the three. “I could do with a little break from the boutique, beautiful as it is. It will be lovely to visit a friend. Sweetie Belle and I can also use our time in the castle to gather inspiration for our dress for Twilight.”
“You do know that it’s raining, don’t you?” Sweetie Belle inquired sceptically. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom didn’t associate her growing scowl with anything more than understandable doubt.
Rarity glowered back at Sweetie Belle, because she did know, and it would be nice to be shown a little appreciation for being willing to do what was necessary to solve Sweetie Belle’s problem. “I have many clothes that are suitable for inclement weather, Sweetie Belle,” she said staunchly. Rarity pulled the plug out of the tub, satisfied to see the dirty water draining away, and left the bathroom, mentally comparing the outfits she had in mind.
“Well that was unexpected,” Scootaloo commented.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle agreed. “Rarity never goes out in the rain if she can avoid it.” As much as Sweetie Belle enjoyed getting her hooves dirty, she’d grown to accept that it truly bothered Rarity. She wanted Rarity to like doing things with her, not consider her a herald of muddy torment.
“Aw, it’ll be fine,” Apple Bloom said, towelling her mane dry and adjusting her bow. “It don’t take long to get to the castle. And this way you can spend time with us as well as your sister!”
“What are you talking about?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Twilight ‘splained it all,” Apple Bloom said reassuringly. “You spent all week with Rarity without fightin’. And I know it’s important to you that you and Rarity get along. When you didn’t want to come crusading with us I didn’t know what to think. I thought maybe you was lying about wanting to design a dress for Twilight,” she said sheepishly. “But now I see you wanted to keep having a good time with Rarity, and just because you wanted to do that instead of crusading doesn’t mean you don’t like us anymore. I guess I didn’t understand that at first, what with Applejack being such an awesome sister.”
Sweetie Belle frowned. Among other things, Apple Bloom’s praise for Applejack rubbed her the wrong way. Her behaviour wasn’t about that at all.
But Scootaloo was making gagging motions, and Sweetie Belle snickered, her frustration alleviated.
“I’m sorry I doubted you,” Apple Bloom said, smiling brilliantly at Sweetie Belle. When Scootaloo started smiling as well a warm feeling spread through Sweetie Belle’s body. She found that she was smiling too.
None of what Apple Bloom had said was strictly untrue, and Sweetie Belle didn’t have any interest in ruining the moment. She hugged them both quickly and said, “That’s okay. Thanks for telling me how you feel.”
“That’s not all we’ve got to tell you,” Scootaloo said with a wicked grin. “But it’ll have to be later. Don’t want your sister overhearing.”
Sweetie Belle’s fleeting disappointment was overwhelmed by the good feeling of standing beside her best friends again ready to enjoy whatever the day threw at them.
“Let’s crusade,” Apple Bloom said happily, and the three of them high-hoofed one another enthusiastically.
Sweetie Belle was glad the crusading was going to be mild, though.
Twilight opened the door of the castle so swiftly that Rarity absently wondered if she had been waiting for them, similar to how Opalescence would immediately pounce on her if Rarity had gone out for the day and Opal felt neglected.
“Oh, Rarity, hi!” she heard Twilight say with delight, but getting out of the rain took priority over returning the greeting.
Inconveniently, Pinkie Pie actually did pounce on the four guests, impeding Rarity’s swift entry. They collided and Rarity’s momentum carried them several metres forwards in a tumble of manes and limbs. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo dashed in out of the rain behind Rarity.
Pinkie Pie and Rarity came to rest in an inadvertent hug that nonetheless looked entirely intentional.
“Hi, Rarity, I’m glad to see you as well!” Pinkie Pie beamed at her friend. “It’s a good thing I knew you were coming or this hug could have really hurt. Although I’m not sure it would be a hug then.”
“Nothing short of Equestria’s total destruction could harm you, I’m sure.” Rarity stood, shook herself off, and cast a cleansing spell almost immediately.
“Destruction, creation, it’s all the same super-duper energetic overload, isn’t it?” Pinkie Pie asked rhetorically. She stood up as well and in the process her head infringed on Rarity’s magical aura. “Oooh, it tickles,” Pinkie said, her teeth chattering. She didn’t try to move her head.
Rarity shot a smile at Twilight as she extinguished her spell. “I’m flattered, but I’m not the pony to ask about magical energy surges.”
“It’s not magic,” Pinkie and Twilight said at the same time.
“Yeeeeees,” Rarity acknowledged awkwardly. “Well, anyway, how are you both?”
“I’m good,” Pinkie answered, jittering on the spot even though Rarity’s spell was over. She bounced over to Apple Bloom, delighted to see her umbrella hat put to such practical use, and looking so bright too!
“Me too,” Twilight said. “It’s so nice to see you.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Rarity said distractedly. Half of her attention was ensnared by Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell dripping all over the floor. “Now, we can’t have this,” she chided. “What kinds of guests are we?”
“Uncouth ones?” Sweetie Belle hazarded a guess as Rarity cast her cleansing spell on the two fillies, drying their manes and coats. Sweetie Belle shook out her mane and tail daintily while Scootaloo gave herself a critical twice-over, first checking for magical injuries and secondly wondering if she had been primped in any manner.
“Sorry about that,” Rarity said to Twilight. “The rain is simply dreadful. Anyway, I should explain myself. I thought you could use another set of hooves to help you to re-shelve your books, Twilight, and it was high-time to get out of the boutique. A change of scenery is good for my creative muse.”
“That means a lot considering the weather,” Twilight said bashfully.
Scootaloo groaned dramatically and let her tongue loll out of her mouth. “Uugghhh, give me a break!” A chorus of giggling rewarded her theatrics and she smiled.
“All right, all right,” Twilight relented. “Come on through. Spike was just setting a few things up. We should be good to go.”
As a group they proceeded into the castle towards the library. “Twilight, d’ya think Sweetie Belle could write in the journal about Appleoosa if we have to wait at all today?” Apple Bloom asked.
A fleeting grimace crossed Twilight’s face. “I don’t think there will be a lot of time for that, girls. A lot’s changed since yesterday afternoon.” They passed a sideboard in the hallway and Twilight collected her organisational notes for the day with her magic.
“The lamps do look brighter,” Apple Bloom said courteously.
Pinkie Pie bounced along beside them while Rarity and Twilight exchanged small-talk. Rarity’s presence hadn’t given the Crusaders a chance to talk deeply during their journey to the castle, so they bent their heads together immediately.
“Can you tell me what’s going on now?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“It’s easier to explain once you’ve read the journal,” Apple Bloom said. Since Pinkie was singing to herself Apple Bloom doubted she was listening to them, but one could never tell with Pinkie.
“Yeah, it took me ages to get it yesterday,” Scootaloo confessed.
“I can’t get anything until you tell me what you’re talking about,” Sweetie Belle muttered.
A sequence of bangs interjected, too many to count, becoming one overriding crash as they listened: the sounds of a great many hardcover books hitting the ground and one another. Spike started shouting indistinctly. Twilight gasped and broke into a canter, followed by the other ponies.
When Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo reached the doorway that opened into the library, a cloud of dust was dissipating slowly through the air, like a wing gently and slowly unfurling.
“Whoa,” Scootaloo said. “Twilight wasn’t kidding when she said a lot had changed.”
The contents of every shelf in the library were now scattered across the floor, creating a vast sea of literature. Whatever system they’d previously been categorised by was no longer in effect. Scootaloo’s mind boggled to see so many books open at the same time. Spike was nowhere in sight.
“Try to breathe like Cadance taught you, darling!” Rarity hissed in Twilight’s ear, to no avail.
“Spike!” Twilight yelled, galloping into the room, magic trained on the space in front of her to clear a path. Books rained down on both left and right behind her. “What happened?” she shouted.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Spike answered, sounding fraught. He remained unseen. Twilight looked around frantically.
“Oopsies,” Pinkie Pie said in a small voice.
Twilight rounded on her. “Pinkie!” she rasped. “What do you know about this?” She was extending her right front hoof back and forth from her chest so frequently Rarity was certain she wasn’t implementing Princess Cadance’s technique correctly.
“I think it was Gummy,” Pinkie admitted, anxiously rubbing her hoof in circles against the ground.
“Gummy?” Unless she was in the bath, Twilight rarely gave any thought to the location of Pinkie Pie’s pet alligator. She’d actually forgotten that Pinkie had bounced back into the kitchen earlier with an invisibility spell and Gummy attached to her tail.
“He just loves book forts.”
“He loves book forts?!” Twilight repeated in disbelief. She started mechanically grinding her jaw, a typical growl of vexation emanating from her throat.
“He likes knocking them down.” Pinkie curled in on herself somehow, existing in a smaller space than ponies were supposed to.
Twilight threw her head back and groaned much more loudly and angrily. Apple Bloom noticed Rarity flexing her hind legs and instinctively stepped away, reminded of Applejack readying herself to buck her way to her goal heedless of obstacles.
“Pinkie Pie, perhaps you could locate your errant alligator,” Rarity suggested, keeping her tone low. Pinkie Pie looked at her mournfully. To Rarity’s consternation Pinkie’s mane actually began to deflate in front of her.
Fortunately at that moment a series of muted snapping sounds emerged from the ocean of books. It clearly wasn’t so fortunate for Spike as his familiar shout followed. Pinkie Pie rocketed into the scholarly mountain, a pink contrail framed by flying books forming behind her.
“How were the books arranged before this?” Rarity asked calmly. To her ears, the answering sound that came out of Twilight’s throat bordered on dangerous.
“Stand back, girls. I’m going in,” she declared.
Twilight was working herself into a righteous fury, face turning red and steam pouring out of her ears, when Rarity tackled her abruptly. She rarely appreciated Rarity’s strength, despite having seen Rarity buck a manticore in the face one day after meeting her.
Twilight gave an exclamation of surprise as they crashed to the floor. Twilight stared up at Rarity incredulously. Rarity gazed back down at her in concern.
“Twilight, I’m sorry, but I think it would be best not to immolate Spike, or your entire library.”
Brusque as it was Rarity’s technique successfully snapped Twilight out of her untargeted anger.
“There, there; it’s going to be okay,” Rarity said kindly. “With a bit of hard work and our friends to help we can still make this the most impressive re-shelving day ever! Girls,” Rarity said, now in an authoritarian voice that resonated throughout the library.
They all snapped to attention. “Yes, Rarity?”
“Please fetch Twilight’s checklists and plans. I believe she dropped them when we came in.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders meekly did so.
“Pinkie, can you please put Gummy somewhere that he will not be tempted to break any more book forts?” The way that her voice lifted at the end of her sentence technically indicated a request, but it was not.
“Gotcha!” Pinkie cried, though whether in reply to Rarity or as a sheer expression of satisfaction was unknown. A second pink contrail zipped past the three fillies still standing near the library door. Another downpour of books promptly followed.
“Spike, I think we can agree that this has become an emergency situation,” Rarity said. “We need more ponies.”
“Right!” came Spike’s avid and relieved agreement. “Hey, Owlowiscious?”
Owlowiscious had a variety of perches throughout the castle, including one somewhere in the empty ceiling space of the library. His answering hoot echoed ever so slightly.
“Go and get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy,” Spike told him. “Appl—”
“Applejack can’t come yet,” Apple Bloom blurted. “But she was gonna come later anyway.”
“Very well,” Rarity said curtly. “Thank you, Owlowiscious.”
The fillies startled despite themselves when Owlowiscious swooped down silently and flew over their heads. Another hoot echoed in the hallway outside the library.
“Feeling any better?” Rarity asked Twilight compassionately.
Twilight had tears in her eyes. Rarity released her, and Twilight rolled onto her front before standing up. She dolefully surveyed the mess in her library. Several seconds passed. Rarity stood by her shoulder, eventually giving her an affectionate nudge.
Twilight turned around and walked back towards the Crusaders. “This is going to be a lot of work, girls.” She repossessed her scrolls and quill gratefully. “Are you still up for it?”
Scootaloo buzzed her wings in preparation. “Ready! Just give us the word.”
“I’m always ready to get my cutie mark,” Apple Bloom affirmed.
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, an action that made Rarity frown. Twilight filed those two observations in the back of her mind for later consideration. “I’m ready too, Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said.
Twilight looked at Rarity at the same time as Spike finally emerged, tumbling out of the books into clear space. The books were heaped higher than he was tall. He brushed lint off his body and then looked expectantly at Twilight.
“Are you all right?” she checked.
“Of course. I’m sorry I didn’t see Gummy until it was too late.” Spike wrung his claws together.
“Oh Spike, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Twilight slightly emphasised the word ‘your’. “I daresay re-shelving was going to take all day anyway.”
Spike nodded, biting back his compulsion to make an abysmal pun about their schedules being totally booked up for the rest of the day. Neither Rarity nor Twilight would be remotely impressed.
“We are yours to command, Twilight,” Rarity said with a smile.
“Spike, you remember what we’d planned?” asked Twilight.
“Absolutely.” Spike snapped his claws at Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. “You three are on shelving duty with me. We’ll need to clear space around at the bottom of the shelves so we can move the ladders. Let’s go.”
“We should keep an eye out for the journal,” Apple Bloom whispered to the other two as they trotted towards the books.
“It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack,” Sweetie Belle retorted.
“More like finding hay in a haystack,” Scootaloo remarked.
“That’s why I said ‘keep an eye out’,” Apple Bloom answered.
“Whatever,” Scootaloo responded, grinning with anticipation because they would soon be implementing their re-shelving plan. “Come on!” she encouraged, ploughing into the books with the exuberance of inexperience. The other two followed her.
Spike, thinking of the work ahead, sighed with resignation. He went last, following the path that the Crusaders cleared, happy to benefit from their enthusiasm for as long as it lasted.
“You and I are going to sort the books into piles for shelving according to these categories,” Twilight told Rarity. “Pinkie too.”
Rarity looked at the list Twilight gave her. She was briefly flabbergasted. At least a dozen categories had been penned. Even if Twilight and Spike had done some rudimentary organisation, it would still have been a long day. She collected herself. “You can count on me,” she promised.
“Me too.” Pinkie trotted back into the library. Her mane was still partially flat, but she looked ready to make it up to Twilight. “I put Gummy in your tub. He can spend hours in there.”
“He’ll probably have to,” Rarity said before Twilight could get riled up again. “Well, shall we begin?”
“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash said, scanning the library. “Looks like the sort of mess Tank would make.”
Twilight’s eyelid twitched. “Did you bring Tank?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about animals right now,” Fluttershy murmured in Rainbow’s ear. Owlowiscious had informed her of Gummy’s misdeeds.
Rainbow Dash absorbed both Fluttershy’s comment and Twilight’s glare. “Uh, nah, he was still eating breakfast,” she said nervously. “Takes him hours. Heh. Oh, hey!” she exclaimed suddenly, flying up to the level of the largest Daring Do poster she had hung from the wall months before. “Looking good, Daring!” she praised her hero. “Heh.”
“How can we help, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, you can either join the sorting team, that’s us, or the re-shelving team, that’s them.” Twilight nodded at the activity going on deeper within the library.
Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity had cleared a large space around one of the tables. Each had a pile of books on the table that she was currently sorting. Every category had been assigned a space on the floor, neatly labelled by Twilight, and each space contained a varying amount of books that had been assigned to it.
Apple Bloom stood beside the sorted ‘Pony Society’ books, which she’d split into smaller piles. She bucked the two books at the top of one pile, sending them flying towards Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, balanced on one of the library’s rolling ladders.
“Gosh, that looks… dangerous,” Fluttershy said as Scootaloo hovered briefly and caught one book in her teeth, while Sweetie Belle successfully caught the book with her magic. They each shelved their book and gave Apple Bloom a wave. She bucked two more books in response.
Spike gained momentum on his own rolling ladder by pushing against the shelves. He hurtled towards Apple Bloom, leaping off at the last second.
“Spike!” Fluttershy cried out worriedly.
Spike landed safely on all claws and picked up one of the small piles of books beside Apple Bloom. “Hey, Fluttershy,” he said, apparently not realising that Fluttershy was concerned for his well-being. “What’s up?”
“Oh, um, nothing. I just wanted to say hi,” Fluttershy whispered, blushing.
“Oh, cool. Hi.” Spike ran back to his rolling ladder.
“Forget dangerous, it looks awesome!” Rainbow Dash said eagerly, and swooped down to pick up another group of ‘Pony Society’ books. “Hey Apple Bloom, mind if I help out?”
“I think I’ll help you,” Fluttershy said to Twilight. Her heartrate had still not quite returned to normal.
Twilight was surrounded by scrolls, her magic engaged in three tasks at once. “Thanks, Fluttershy,” she said gratefully. “Sorry to pull you away from whatever you were supposed to be doing.”
“Not at all. This is nice,” Fluttershy said, taking her place on the unused side of the table.
“Nice?” Twilight queried with an annoyed whinny. Rarity shot an incredulous glance at Fluttershy.
“I-I mean, um, all of us working together to do something,” Fluttershy explained quickly.
“Yeah, if only Applejack was here then we’d have the whole gang helping,” Pinkie Pie agreed eagerly. Her mane had long since returned to full curliness. “Talk about making new memories!”
Pinkie was surrounded by books. Since she had to carry sorted books to their assigned floor space, she took them in multiples. Any other pony would have been tired by the back-and-forth. Not Pinkie Pie. She was rather enjoying herself. But Owlowiscious hooted and started carrying her sorted books to their respective piles anyway.
“Even Owlowiscious is joining in,” she pointed out, smiling.
Twilight looked around: at Sweetie Belle’s satisfaction each time she captured a fast-moving book with her magic, at Rainbow enjoying the chance to use her speed to help, at Spike relishing the opportunity to lead the ponies to the relevant shelves each time they completed one category for the time being and moved onto the next. She remembered chasing a cure for Discord’s fake blue flu with Cadance and learning that even a chaotic day one hadn’t planned could become a great experience, if shared with friends.
Her lingering frustration eased. She was still a bit annoyed by the extra work Gummy had caused, but there was no reason not to make the silver lining the most important part of her memory of the day.
“I guess you’re right,” Twilight allowed with a small smile. “Now let’s get back to work.”