"Is this seat free?" a voice asked.
Loose Leaf blinked his eyes as he woke up from the nap he had apparently fallen into during this extended train trip. Looking up he saw an Earth Pony mare with a peach cream coat and arctic blue mane with matching coloured eyes.
But it was her smile that he noticed first.
"Oh, uh..." Loose Leaf started to say before clearing his throat. "Yeah, it is."
The mare's smile widened as she put her suitcase on the luggage rack above and sat down.
"Hi, I'm Peachy Keen." She said, introducing herself.
"Loose Leaf,"
"Next stop, Ponyville," The conductor announced, loud enough to wake Loose Leaf from his slumber. It's been years since dreamt about the train ride to University... He thought, then shook his head to clear the thought away.
Getting up from his seat, he grabbed his duffle bag from the luggage rack with his aquamarine coloured magic and looked out the train car window as it pulled into the small train station that served the small hamlet.
He had heard all about this town, all second-hand knowledge of course. Hard to not hear about it, to be honest, with nearly every major headline in the newspapers the last few years having something to do with the town or its residents.
When the train came to a halt, he made his way to the car's exit and stepped onto the platform, placed his bag on the ground and stretched. It was a long train trip from Vanhoover, and he was glad that it was at an end. Stroking his light brown goatee that contrasted sharply with his eggshell white coat, he looked around.
"I thought somepony was supposed to meet me," He said aloud, searching the street that led away from the station before he noticed a pink unicorn with a purple and green mane galloping towards him.
"Hi..." the mare said in-between breaths. "Hoo... I got to get in shape..."
Without saying anything, Loose Leaf fished his water bottle out of his bag and offered it to the winded unicorn, which she accepted and took a long draught before giving the bottle back.
"Thank you, and sorry I wasn't here to meet you, my friend got it into her head again that she could bake and I got stuck cleaning the mess," the unicorn explained. "I'm Starlight Glimmer, you must be Loose Leaf."
"That I am, it's nice to meet you Starlight," Loose said. "I thought the Princess or the Mayor was supposed to meet me."
"Yeah, Twilight was supposed to meet you, excited to even, but she was called to Canterlot for something, and the Mayor is still in a town council meeting, something about allocating budget."
"Not away from my Library, I hope," Loose said in mock horror. "I just got here."
Starlight laughed. "Oh, no, your budget is coming right from the Crown, Twilight made sure of that. Rather insistent actually." She explained. "Anyways, I'm sure you're eager to get settled in, right?"
"Considering that I've been riding trains for the last few days all the way from Vanhoover, you could say that." Loose responded and started to follow Starlight's directions through town.
"You're from Vanhoover?" Starlight asked.
"Canterlot actually, I settled in Vanhoover after I graduated University. I was the assistant librarian there for the last couple years."
"I hear VanU is a great university, what did you study?"
"Library and Information Science. I have a masters degree." Loose said flatly, then let out a slight chuckle. Starlight face-hoofed.
"That was an incredibly dumb thing to ask."
"Look, as somepony who has spent years of his life cataloguing, classifying, preserving, referencing, and disseminating information, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that there are no 'dumb' questions. To pursue knowledge is never dumb." Loose Leaf explained. "Answers on the other hoof..."
"That's very true." Starlight agreed, then came to a stop in front of a building that looked pretty much like every other in the town. "Here we are."
"It used to be a store, so I'm told, but the owner moved away after Tirek, what they sold, I have no idea." Starlight explained as she fished a set of keys from her saddlebag then opened the front door. "The entire bottom floor and half the top floor has been renovated to be the library, the rest of the top floor has been set up as your living space." She continued to explain as she stepped aside to let Loose Leaf enter the building first.
Stepping into the foyer, Loose was met with a typical layout for a small library. In front of him was a large U shaped desk where he would be spending a lot of his time working. To his left was an empty area where he was already planning to put a large table and chairs for ponies to work, as well as comfy chairs and couches for reading. To his right and extending to the back of the floor and behind the central staircase that led to the second floor were several bookcases, either lining the walls save for where there was a window, or spaced evenly on the floor. On the back wall were two doors, one with the letters 'WC' painted on it, which was self-explanatory and he would be making use of that room shortly, the other had frosted glass with his name and title painted in gold letters. Obviously an office. His office.
"Huh, I would have thought that Twilight would have had some books to go on the shelves by now," Starlight said aloud.
"She wanted too, but I told her in my acceptance letter for the position that I wanted to curate the collection myself," Loose said, placing his bag on top of the large desk and making his way to the washroom in the back. "I'll be a few," Loose explained.
After taking care of business, Loose Leaf came out to see Starlight flipping through some letters and holding a package aloft with her magic.
"What's that?" Loose asked.
"Seems you got mail already." She explained, and floated the letters over to him and putting the package on the desk. The first two were from Vanhoover University and Canterlot Royal Libraries, no doubt with lists of books they would be sending from his requests he had forwarded to them a month ago. The third was from his mother. He put them aside to read later, then pulled the package towards him, and it too was from his mother, which was immediately opened to find a cookie jar packed in padding.
"Love you too, Mom," Loose said as he read the small note attached to the cookie jar that told him that they were his favourite, and sure enough the jar was full of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Popping one in his mouth, he floated another towards Starlight.
"Cookie?" He asked.
"Wha-" Starlight started to respond before she was interrupted by a round baked good being put in her mouth. "Oh my..." She said, rolling her eyes slightly at the heavenly taste currently assaulting her senses.
"I know, right," Loose said. "My Mom's recipe, that she still refuses to tell me."
"Yeah, well she gives Pinkie a run for her money..." Starlight quipped, still chewing on the cookie. "Speaking of the pink one, you're lucky she's visiting family at the moment, or she'd be throwing you a party right now. Just... don't open any brightly wrapped boxes you find in here. I may have been the only one with a key, but doors, locks... physics... they don't seem to stop her..."
"Her reputation precedes her, I'll keep that in mind."
"Anyways, you said you were tired, I'll let you get settled, I made sure the linens were freshly cleaned and Twilight paid for a new bed."
"Thank you,"
"Don't mention it," Starlight said with a smile. "Oh, the Apples have invited me over for dinner, if it's ok, I'll ask if you can come too," She continued. "I'm sure you could use a home-cooked meal after all that travelling."
"That would be great, what time?"
"I'll be by around... six?"
"See you then."
"It's good meeting you, Loose."
"My friends call me Louie," He responded. "Nickname I picked up when I was backpacking in Prance."
"Certainly rolls off the tongue better,"
"Don't tell my mom that," Louie responded. "It was good meeting you too, Starlight, see you at Six."
Starlight lowered her head slightly and smiled, then turned to exit through the front door after leaving the keys on the desk.
After watching her leave, Louie grabbed his bag and another cookie then walked up the stairs to the second floor.
To the right of the top of the stairs mirrored the layout of bookshelves on the bottom floor. To the left was a single door that had the word 'Private' painted on it. Walking through, Louie found a modest living space. A small kitchenette in the far corner along with a small dining table, and in the other corner sat two easy chairs and a small (empty) bookshelf. On the other side lay two doors, inside one was another washroom, and the second was the bedroom.
Finishing his cookie, Louie dropped his bag next to the bed and then flopped down onto the mattress.
"Mmm... soft..." he said, before drifting off to sleep.
"Hi, I'm Peachy Keen,"
"Loose Leaf,"
Loose Leaf's mouth curled into a slight smile, while a single tear beaded on the corner of his eye.
