A Young Twilight Goes to the Book Store

by kuma2564

This is the last straw

She was tired of it. Oh, so tired of it. The gum stuck between pages. The spilled milk, the tea, the water, and who knows what else ruining pages! The bent corners, the mistreated covers, and don’t forget the out of place books! The way ponies treated library books was horrible.

Not to mention the ones who just sat there and grabbed at the tables or in the corners, interrupting her concentration.

Enough is enough, Twilight thought as she shut a book on ocean waves affecting shorelines she was so thoroughly enjoying before two gossipers sat at the table next to hers. With a frustrated sigh Twilight collected her saddle bag and shelved the book before storming out.

Her love for the library was boundless, but other ponies? They infuriated her. If she had a library of her own, things would be different! Then again… that would probably mean her cutie mark would end up being library related… which she didn’t want…

******

Sun bearing down on the hot cobblestone roads of Canterlot, she made her way home, disappointed in herself for storming out. Her mind drifted back to the circular motion of waves, the thought of an unfinished book jabbing at her like a splinter. Frustrating, just absolutely frustrating!

Sighing, she returned to walking, only to find she had managed to go down the wrong street.

“Vales street,” she muttered, looking at a sign. “Where in the hay is that?” Wandering down the unfamiliar road, many different shops lined its path. Smells of baking bread, sounds of metal smithing, and windows showing off flowing dresses bombarded her senses. It was all so much to take in! And all so boring to her…

Out of the corner of her eye, she spies something intriguing. A simple, warn, hanging sign of a pony reading a book. “Bound Adventures” it read it elegant script. Displayed behind its small window, was a Daring Do book, and deeper in the small shop she could see an absolutely bored clerk, and shelves of fresh, non-molested tomes.

“A BOOK STORE!” she gasped with joy and galloped over to its hoof-carved door, and with a push of magic opened it. Chilled air rushed out of the doorway like fillies released from school early, and the scent of freshly printed books greeted her. Oh, what a wonderus smell! It was always a treat to smell when she could find a fresh, untouched book at the library, but never has her nostrils been welcomed with it on this level!

Her head felt light, and smile wide. This must be paradise! Walking deeper in the dry-cavern like store, she explores the shelves of books. Familiar titles float by her vision, a few she’s only heard rumor about, some she’s never even heard of! But all pristine, newly bound hardbacks.

The filly could barely hold her excitement! Pulling out multiple books out, holding them aloft with a lavender cloud of magic, and looks over them. Sliding back the ones she doesn’t want, she piles some for review.

Soon she has a nice pile of twenty or so books stacked up. Turning from the remarkable shelves, and sitting on the hard carpet, she lifts the first of the books for inspection.

“’To Glance in on a Mares Soul’, sounds like an interesting one.” she opens the cover to see crisp white paper with clean, legible text. I’m in love. Caressing the page, she reads a few lines. And promptly shuts the book with a mortified look. I… I… didn’t… know a stallion could do THAT to a mare! Shivering, she sends the book on its way to the shelves as her flushed cheeks died down to their normal color.

Next in the pile was a book of jokes, a paperback. Why in Equestria did she pull out this one? And more importantly, where from? No mater, back to the shelves it goes. As with a few others that seem dry, even for her. Down to eight, and all of them sound soo good.

“The Story of Adjacent Towns,” three William Shakehoof’s, “The Pomegranates of Wrath,” “Oddipus rex,” and “Invisible Zebra.” All great titles and wonderful reads, but she’s read them all. She’s never owned book before, though. Biting at her hoof, she can’t seem to make up her mind, knowing that any of these would make a great first book in any collection! Or even all of them would make a great starting one!

Collecting them into a neat floating stack, she moves towards the clerk to make her purchase. However, a small sack of coins in her saddle bag, grinding at her blank flank, reminds her that she received only twenty bits for this week’s allowance… Six of the books were four bits, with two of them being five.

On top of that, a new book catches her eye. She had seen it before came in, but why is she just now thinking about it? Every foal was talking about it at school, even if it did annoy the studying Twilight at lunch and on the playground, she couldn’t help but be excited about it. The library has not acquired a copy yet, and despite her asking for it every day, the book still will not arrive for another week. But here it is, in this small little shop on a street she’s never heard of. She must make it hers.

There is one little problem: What about the books she’s holding… do I really want to give these classics up for something that I’ve heard other fillies talk about? Stepping closer to the stack at the window, she lifts a copy up.

“’Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone.’ Sounds… interesting.” Flipping it over, she reads the back, “Downed in the jungle, wings broken, can this brave pegasus manage to complete her quest to find the legendary sapphire stone before her arch nemesis Ahuizotl?” Really interesting.

Another issue arises, she sees the price. Twelve bits! Why is it so expensive? Now, she panics.

What if she doesn’t like it?

She knows she likes the others but doesn’t have enough for them all…

And even if she did decide on the classics, she would have to give at least three of them up, and how could she chose which one!

Aaarrrgggg! At least at the library they’re all free! Now, she’s frustrated. Again, twice in one day. Over the things she loves almost as much as her BBBFF!

“Mam? You seem to be having a hard time deciding.” Twilight snapped out of her self-induced trance when the store’s clerk spoke, only to find in her aggravation she caused a small storm of books, and littering every inch of the floor. “I would recommend that Daring Do book. It’s quite popular, and those are the last copies of it in town for the next month. Those others will always be available.”

******

“So in the end I bought the Daring Do book, after helping him clean up.” As Twilight finished up her story, she notices Rarity looking off at one of the dress stores. “Rarity!”

“Oh, sorry dearie, I had just seen the most beautiful dress go up in the window of that little shop over there. And I just had to check it out. But you were saying something about getting lost on the way home?”

“NO! I was telling you about the book store that I spent most of my fillyhood allowance in. Its closing down and I came to Canterlot with today to reminisce.” She turns to look at her favorite book store, missing its sign, and the windows boarded up. She sips her tea, and sighs. “Good bye old friend.”

Comments

[Dan]

Stained and ragged library books have character.

Now library CDs and DVDs on the other hand... it's like asshole patrons take sandpaper to them as soon as they get them home.

Used bookstores are the best. Like a treasure trove of old and out-of-print classics just waiting to be stumbled upon. None of the fancy-schmancy displays with cardboard cutouts selling the newest NY Times bestsellers that are only of interest to pretentious yuppies blindly obeying the whims of Oprah Winfrey.

And don't get me started on that very special lignin smell.

[kuma2564]

5170716
But the GOPSIPERS. I hate them and so does Twilight.
I've frankly stopped going to the local one, and now there's legislator to shut it down, going to vote against it, but there's never enough votes to keep them open in WV.
Sad to see it go, if it does.

I do see your point, although my town had one. It closed shortly after, but their selection was terrible. Just bad romance and out of date science history. I've been to a better one and found it was nice.

[Wacky]

I really liked this. It was a great little read and reminds me of saying goodbye to a couple of bookstores that really molded my youth.

Well done, well done indeed.

[kuma2564]

5170832
Thank you. And I miss being able to sit down and read in quite (mostly in class, but that's beside the point), now adays, I can never find the time to...

[Sprocket Jockey]

5170843 BOOOOOKS-AAAAA-MILLLIOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!

Why?

[kuma2564]

5171047
I feel they push E-readers to much. Those things do not have the same essence as a book. But sadly the only place to buy books where I live...

[Sprocket Jockey]

5171061 AAANNNNNNNNNND that's why I prefer amazon!!!

[Sprocket Jockey]

5170716 I raise a glass to you, my well read and educated friend.

*sips Unidentified Red Substance

[heavy weapons brony]

reminds me of the first time i ever entered a books a million when i was twelve, i bough my first book there, it was "Tarzan king of apes, by Edgar em Burroughs (I think that how you spell it to lazy to Google.)

half my manga collection came from that store along with all my mlp graphic novels. As long as tablets have limited battery reading will never die.

[Dan]

5171346

Not to mention DRM. A pox on ereaders.

[kuma2564]

5171346
I cant even remember my first book, thanks to it being when I was 3 or 4, and some pretty much mind zapping ADHD medicine that whipped a lot of my memories, and even after I stopped taking it the effects lasted tell 7th grade. everything before that point, weird blur.
I'm fine now though [or at least that's what the voices tell me] shut up yellow box.

[Shachza]

5171370

The first full book I read was a writeup of Disney's "The Little Mermaid." I can remember sitting in the cushy red chair my parents had gotten from my grandmother and being so proud of myself for finishing the book.

[soulknight13]

I have to agree with twilight on this the lost of a book store is a crying shame some of the best things that happened in my life was from a bookstore.

[dragonjek]

Hm... "A Tale of Two Cities" (I think), "Grapes of Wrath", "Oedipus Rex", and... I should recognize the last, but it isn't coming to me.

(Also, I think "Shakespur" is a better ponification of Shakespeare, but that's just me.)

I like it, and completely agree about the unsuitability of library books... although in my case, it's because they always expect me to give the books back.

[kuma2564]

5172831
the last one is a parody of the book the invisible man.
And shakespur would be. if only I thought of it at the time

[Mondoblasto]

Reminded me of the one time I actually lost a library book. It was from my high school library, a paperback of DragonLance's Kaz the Minotaur by Richard A. Knaak. When I found out that one of my options was to replace the book, I went to a book store and was quite happy to find a pristine copy with the same cover available. Proudly took it back to school and they thanked me.

For some time after, I would keep an eye out for it but didn't see it (had to be cataloged and all before adding it to the system) until one day, I spotted it in one of the rotating wire paperback racks. I was pleased to have contributed it.

Then later in the school year, I spotted a paperback with the front cover page missing, and It looks rather new... and yup, it's Kaz the Minotaur, the very copy I had bought. Apparently, some s#!thead liked the artwork so much, they decided they would just steal the front cover by ripping it from the spine instead of getting their own copy.

I would describe my emotional state at that moment as "pissed" combined with "white hot outrage".

[kuma2564]

5179259
Back in middle school bullies would take my books and trash them while I was reading them. Wrote mean things, throwing them in the trash, out the two and three story classroom windows, and even burning one right in front of me.
Lucky for me the school had video of most of the incidents and made them pay for the books, but several books I never got to finish, and I just cant bring myself to pick them back up. Like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the one they burned)

[StormyVenture]

5170716
They may have character, but there is definitely a point where it ceases to be character and becomes abuse or lack of concern. For what it's worth, cd cases are, though reasonably sturdy, somewhat fragile. They scratch easily and stepping on them will cause them to break... (and probably cause you to slip and fall). I like used bookstores, mostly because they have books I haven't read and sometimes they are better and more interesting books than those presently being written. Yay for reading fiction by increasingly obscure authors.

5171061
Maybe they'll be worth the effort somedays, but there is something distasteful about e-readers. Maybe it's the devaluing of paper books? Books-a-million is a mediocre sort of bookstore that's at least a couple notches below barnes and noble.

5172173
Indeed, it is rather sad. I have a bookmark or two somewhere around from a bookstore that I only visited once or twice and isn't there any more. It's rather unfortunate that, with a few notable exceptions, it is usually the small, independently owned places that disappear.

[Dan]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jenniferschaffer/great-american-bookstores
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicaprobus/ten-people-get-to-sleep-in-a-bookstore-overnight-because-of

[The Feline Bard]

5179287 On one hand anyone who dares to defile books are the lowest of the low...But on the other hand there's some irony in which book they burnt...

[kuma2564]

5180453
Sadly I know... its the reason they burned it. Some how it was funny to them...

5179589
I used to love Books-A-Million when I was a kid. Now, going in there I can never find anything, plus I get e-readers shoved in my face. So I don't go in there anymore.

[Wing Dancer]

Quite some grammar errors, but enjoyable overall. Good job.

[kuma2564]

5181084
Thank you. Maybe I should have my editor look over it. Glad you enjoyed It though!

[Wing Dancer]

5181096
If you'd like and would have a gdoc nearby, I could look it over for you.

[kuma2564]

5181147
I don't have one for this story. Just transferred it from word. And that's ok, I have an editor. But thank you for the offer! And if you like, I can keep in touch in case I need help. (I ways need help... )

[Wing Dancer]

5181192
Sure, hit me up whenever.

And it wouldn't be trouble at all, I could just copy it over to a gdoc and work from there, then provide you with a link with the changes

[kuma2564]

5181332
I'll do it and pm you a link.

[Shadow of the Night]

The Invisible Zebra

I'm sorry, I had to

[StormyVenture]

5180563
Bummer that. Another sad reality about large commercial operations is that they're mostly about making money. If books became a negative profit for them, overnight, they'd disappear overnight as well. That is, if they couldn't make a profit, like if it cost more to acquire than they could sell it for.

[Algernon97]

There's a used book store in my town. It's owned and operated by these two old ladies, who are the nicest people on the planet, and it has tons of old books that aren't in print anymore. I found a copy of Alien's novelization, a copy of Kon-Tiki, and a beat-up copy of Emergence by David R. Palmer. The last one is so hard to find nowadays, and it'll cost you about $140 or so to get a used paperback copy from Amazon or Ebay. And among the books lying around on the second story, I found a math textbook that was printed in 1890, in pristine condition.

I'll probably cry like a baby if that place ever shuts down...

[goaway]

5189080

There was a shop just like that near where I used to live that did close down. I was broken up about it for ages afterwards.

[DUBMAR3000]

25.media.tumblr.com/1d03f638cb43e6d38fdf04210591998b/tumblr_moac0l70Es1soks1io1_400.gif
great story man

[Luna Aeterna Solutae]

That was me at age 7. A stack of books with legs.

[Christovski]

Some of the perspective and grammar make it a little odd to read, but the core of this story is too cute to pass up, thanks for sharing this one with us

We only have one bookstore left in our town and it's only got used books (some as bad as the library books Twilight describes!) and is only open a few days a week, but with most bookstores closing it is better than nothing
Unfortunately this also means if they don't have something, I have to resort to ebay/amazon because there are no other options