The Next Day
We arrived at a large tree in the middle of town, windows scattered about and a large telescope poking out from the canopy.
"This is it - Ponyville Library. This is where Spike and I live. There are tons of books around here so if you ever feel the need to indulge yourself with some knowledge, feel free to grab a book and relax!" said Twilight as we walked in, getting excited just by saying the word "book".
"I never had time to read books, being a DJ and all..." I said. "But I guess I got plenty of time to read since I'm not one... yet".
"Great!" she cheered, "If I'm not around you can ask Spike to help you grab a book you're interested in, but I think you'd rather sleep than read right now."
I nodded and looked around the library. Man what a huge place! The library walls were made from the tree itself, and the floor was made of wood tiles. The shelves went up to the ceiling and every single slot had a book in it. There were a few tables around for reading and at the back I could see what looked like the kitchen door. Next to it was a staircase that probably led to the bedrooms and the observatory with the telescope. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and I saw a small purple and green-scaled creature about half my size walking down the stairs.
"Hey Twi." said the creature with big green snake-like eyes. "Who's the new pony?"
"Hi Spike. This is Johnny, he'll be spending a while with us while he finds a place to live." said Twilight, and turned to me. "Johnny, this is Spike, my number one assistant!" Spike scratched the back of his head and smiled at her.
"Wait, what is he anyways?", I whispered to Twilight, "He kinda looks like a dragon or something"
"He is a dragon, Johnny." As she said that I felt a chill crawl through my spine. A motherbucking dragon, oh god I am so dead... again.
"He's not going to set me on fire is he?" I asked nervously.
She giggled for a moment at my question. "He's nice to everypony Johnny. he would never hurt anypony at all. Even if he accidentally spits out fire it won't set anything ablaze."
"Accidentally?" I said with a tone of fear in my voice.
"Only when he sneezes, but his "sneeze flames", as I now call them, aren’t even hot - they're just as a warm as a hot summer wind."
"Oh, but you gotta see how fast I can bake cupcakes and stuff like that." Spiked joined in. "I can bake them to perfection in less than 2 seconds!"
"Remind me not to stay in the way when you do that." I said.
"Nah, don't worry. I may be a baby dragon but I got my fire all under control," he smirked. "Not to mention these bad boys over here." He said while wiggling his claws. "They're really great at cooking! I can't imagine how I would be able to do stuff without them!"
I know that feeling bro... I thought to myself and sighed mentally.
"Well we should get going to bed now." Twilight interrupted and looked at Spike. "We got re-shelving to do tomorrow morning, and I don't want to force you out of bed because you were up too late."
"Alright." he grunted and headed back upstairs.
"And now to show you where you'll be sleeping." She turned to me and motioned me to follow her upstairs.
She opened the door with her magic and let me walk in for a better look. Not only there were tons of books at the main parts of the library, but the guest room looked like a miniature version of it! Except it was a bedroom, of course. The side walls had shelves filled with books. The back wall had a bed big enough for two ponies; it had a lavender-coloured sheet on it and two large pillows. A study table was next to it, along with a feather quill, an ink pot, a pile of paper and a few scattered books on top. There was a window next to the bed, and I could see the moon outside.
"Sorry it looks kind of messy." Twilight said, "I was going to have it cleaned up tomorrow after re-shelving, but then you showed up."
"Messy!?" I laughed, "You should have seen MY bedroom back on my world! The only thing that seems out of place here are the open books on the table, and that's it! I can put them back in the shelves if you wa-"
"Oh nononono..." she cut me off, "You need to put the books in the right place or else they won't be sorted by author name, and then we'll have to re-organize everything! Don't worry about this - I'll have Spike put them in the shelves tomorrow."
"Ookay, I guess I'll just go to sleep now." I yawned, "I think I'll go look around the town a bit more and meet some new faces in the morning."
"If you want we can make a checklist of things you have to do tomorrow." she suggested.
"But I only got like... three things to do tomorrow: meet new ponies, flight lessons with Rainbow and Pinkie's party."
I saw a paper fly out of the table covered in a purple aura, followed by the quill getting dumped into the ink and started scribbling onto the paper by itself.
"There you go, your checklist for tomorrow." She placed the checklist on the table and smiled at me.
"Uh, thanks I guess." I said quietly.
"You're welcome. Good night Johnny!" she trotted away to her bedroom next door.
Wait... how am I going to write on that checklist? Ugh... I'll worry about that later, I'm dead tired...
I jumped on the bed and let out a huge sigh. I needed a good rest. Man this bed is comfortable!
*********
It was my birthday. I woke up bed with a full smile on my face. I recently graduated from university, had a job interview scheduled in a few days and I was spending the weekend with my parents. Life was going great!
"Johnny! We got something for you downstairs!" yelled my parents from the living room.
I slowly walked downstairs, still drowsy but smiling. There was a large box covered in gift wrapping on the dining table. My eyes shot wide open. I've gotten big presents before, but this is just insane!
I slowly ripped open the paper wrapping, revealing a DJ mixer set, complete with a new laptop and a headset.
"For our little DJ." mom said.
"Yeah, little" my dad said to her. And we all started laughing together.
******
I woke up, sun shining through a slit in the window curtain and hitting a section of the wall. I felt slightly sad for my parents for losing their son, but it felt good to know that their son was "in a better place", as they said the same about grandma Rita a few years back. I felt a tear slipping out from my eye. I rubbed it off and and headed downstairs for some breakfast. Twilight and Spike were already in the kitchen.
"Good morning." I said. They turned to me and gave me a smile and a nod. Spike was preparing sandwiches, and Twilight was filling three cups of apple juice and reading a book at the same time.
"Good morning, Johnny." they said in unison.
"So what are you reading Twi?" I asked.
"Just a book on psychology", she replied. "I've read all the books in this library, so I like to re-read them once in a while to keep my mind fresh."
"All of them!?"
"Twice." she smirked.
My left eye twitched. This is just crazy! There must be thousands of books in this place and she read all of them twice? One would think her cutie mark should've been a book instead!
"Well... I listened to over 24 hours of the Gareth Emery Podcast twice in a row!" I chuckled. Who am I kidding? That's nothing compared to reading millions of words... twice!
"I take it he's a DJ back in your world?" she asked.
"A producer, and he makes weekly mixes showcasing the latest electronic music."
"Interesting, I bet Vinyl would like to meet him." she said.
"I bet she would." I nodded.
"Still nothing compared to the millions of words she read... twice!" Spike said with a chuckle.
I hope to god he doesn't read minds and this was just coincidence...
"Are you going for a walk after breakfast, Johnny?", Twilight asked.
"Yeah, I think I'll go visit Vinyl Scratch after I pass the market and talk to the ponies around there."
"Well it's pretty early right now. It's still 8:30am," Twilight said, "she usually wakes up at 11am according to her roommate, Octavia."
"Wait, 8:30am??? Did I get up THAT early already??"
"Is that a problem?", she asked.
"It's just that I'm used to waking up near noon, too.", I forced a laugh. "I'm a ‘night owl’ kind of guy, waking up late and staying up late. The only reason I went to bed early was because I was so tired from these recent events."
"You can always change your sleep patterns - waking up early means you get more time to do stuff during the day." said Spike. "For me it means more time to see her..." He sighed and stared out the window looking at a white unicorn that was walking past the window at the time. Twilight rolled her eyes and picked up the sandwiches and placed them on the kitchen table for us to eat.
"Wow Spike, this is really good!", I said, complimenting his sandwich, "I think it's on par with the Daisy and Rose sandwiches, if not better!"
"Yeah, well I wouldn't want to throw them out of business because of my skills, so I just keep it between Twi and her friends." he boasted.
"So is it like a family recipe or something?" I asked. Spike lowered his head and went back to eating his sandwich, which had a few gems in it. Twilight let a small sigh and looked at me.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Did I say something wrong? Twilight moved her head next to mine and whispered:
"He never met his real family, I've had him since he was a hatchling." she said.
"Oh... ok I'll try to lighten up the topic then..." I whispered back, and turned to Spike. "So do you dragons grow wings at an early age or what?"
He looked up, a smile grew on his face, "Twilight said that according to some of her books we are supposed to grow wings once we hit our teenage years, but that's still a long way to g." he said, "But walking is just as good. I like the feel of kicking rocks around when I got nothing to do."
"Speaking of stuff to do, we got re-shelving to do before noon!" said Twilight in a gasp, "After that we have to head over to Sugar Cube Corner to help Pinkie with the food for Johnny's welcome party." Spike grunted at the word "re-shelving".
"Don't worry Spike..." I said, "Twilight seems pretty good at moving stuff around so it shouldn't take too long to finish it. If you want you can come watch me try to fly over at the park."
"Alright." he cheered up ,"That way I can see you perform crash landings all afternoon!" He laughed. I didn't... but I just forced one seeing that Twilight was giggling a bit behind her breath and I felt that laughing with them would ease up my frustration. I still haven’t figured out how to open my wings! I guess I'll just try them out while I walk around town.
"Okay Spike, The sooner we finish this the more time you get to hang out with Johnny." said Twilight. "You should check out the bulletin board at the Town Centre for any job openings, Johnny." she turned to me while holding a saddlebag with her magic. "Take this - I put a quill, ink and your checklist in here. Just ask any unicorn to help you out."
"Thanks Twilight! See you at the park Spike!" I said while walking out the door with my saddlebag strapped to my back.
So this is how it feels to have something strapped around your belly... It kinda tickles... Wait, where is the Town Centre?
"Uhh... which way is the Town Centre?" I said as I turned back to the door.
"It's a few minutes past Sugar Cube Corner, the giant ginger bread house. You might even see Pinkie Pie there, maybe you can help her there." said Twilight while she floated some books and giving them to Spike, who was on the top of a ladder next to the shelves.
"Okey dokey! See you later then!" I said, and went back outside.
I didn't notice it before, but this world was VERY colorful... It's like someone turned up the saturation dial on my vision. Not that I didn't like it - in fact, I enjoyed it. I've lived in a world where metal boxes on wheels roamed the black street pavements and the grey sidewalks and the occasional trees...
Time to meet this new pony folk. Today will be a new day... Now let's begin by trying to flap these wings...