C'est La Vie

by Indie Cred

Chapter 8

He found the library empty when he arrived. He placed his pack in a corner and began searching for the book he had been reading earlier. After a few moments, he found it back on the shelf. Luckily his bookmark was still in its place. He pulled it out, sat down on the floor, and began to read.

He was almost finished with the book when the front door opened and Twilight walked in, Spike on her back. Spike glared at Padlock, still upset about feeling replaced. Twilight rolled her eyes and walked over to him.

“Wow, you’ve been busy.” She said, glancing at the book in front of him.

“Yeah. I haven’t had much time to read lately. That and I haven’t had any books around either.”

“Well, feel free to read as much as you want. I’m going to go start dinner” She said, walking into the kitchen.

Spike stood in front of Padlock and pointed at him. “Don’t get any funny ideas, mister. This is my job.”

“Spiiiiike!” Twilight yelled from the kitchen.

“Don’t worry about it. I just cleaned the place up as a favor. It’s not going to be a regular thing.” Padlock said, trying to ease the tension in the room.

“Well, alright. But I’ve got my eye on you…” Spike said, walking away.

“Jeez… And I thought city folk were nuts…” Padlock murmured, picking the book up.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were seated at the dinner table, a generous helping of food in front of Padlock.

“I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but I appear to have significantly more in front of me than either of you.” He said, looking over the table.

“Consider it payment for services rendered.” Twilight said, beginning to eat. “No more complaining. Eat up.”

Padlock managed to keep the dinner conversation to general pleasantries. He was thankful that the young unicorn seemed to have let go of trying to get into his past. Afterwards, Twilight and Spike went upstairs to write a letter, leaving Padlock alone again. He busied himself by washing the dishes and tidying up around the kitchen a bit.

“Twiiiliiight! He’s doing it again!” Spike called up the stairs from the entrance to the kitchen.

“Oh, sorry bud. Didn’t mean to step on your toes again… Just wanted to make myself useful. I’m not used to this living inside thing anymore.”

Spike sighed. “It’s okay. It’s just that with you doing everything, I don’t have anything to do anymore.”

“Kid, I feel your pain.” Padlock replied, chuckling. “How about this, I won’t put away any of the books I read. I’ll leave them on the table for ya.”

“Hmm… alright.”

Padlock found his spot on the floor and began reading again. Before long, he had finished the book and started rummaging around for another. He noticed a familiar tome on the history of locksmithing, and settled down to read.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he looked up, but saw that it was dark outside. Hearing hoofsteps on the stairs, he turned to see Twilight coming down, eyes half closed with sleep.

“Padlock, it’s three in the morning. Why are you still awake?” She said, yawning.

“Sorry. I hope I didn’t keep you up or anything. I haven’t been able to just sit down and read like this in years. I guess I got caught up in it…”

“It’s okay. I get like that a lot actually. What are you reading?”

Padlock put the piece of paper he had been using as a bookmark into place and closed the book to show her the cover.

“A History of Lock Making? That’s an interesting choice.” She said, looking volume over.

“It’s the book that got me interested in working with locks in the first place. Haven’t seen a copy since I was a colt.”

“Was that one of the books you borrowed” She asked, a sly tone in her voice.

“Yep. And I gave it back too, just like I said.”

“The perfect crime, eh?”

“Nah. I got caught putting it back. Mr. Keystone caught me leaving it on his doorstep, but instead of being angry he was curious. He asked me if I’d actually read it. I ended up getting a job working for him after that.”

“Wow… I still don’t understand why you had to steal the books in the first place though.” Twilight said, sitting down next to him.

Padlock sighed. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Probably not, no. You’re like a mystery that I just can’t solve.”

“Alright. I’ll make us some coffee. It’s going to be a bit of a tale, and I’m sure you’ll have questions.”