“This place has seen better days.”
“And worse.”
Starlight and Spike said as they looked around the nearly run-down insides of the Golden Oak Library. It practically looked abandoned when they first walked in and a thin layer of dust coated all the bookshelves. Did nopony take care of it at the moment? If Starlight was being honest the ponies of Ponyville never came across to her as being big on reading in the first place but this was a little extreme. Maybe Mayor Mare would know why it’s like this? Assuming she even was the mayor at the moment.
“Twilight would throw a fit if she saw the library like this, any library.” Starlight said as she walked along one of the rows of books, gently dragging a hoof along and leaving a broken trail in the dust.
It had still looked so pretty from the outside. Just as Spike remembered it as he said. Aside from a couple small differences like the branches not reaching quite as high and the lack of a beehive hanging from it. But Starlight had to admit it was a real cozy looking place to live, it had that nice Ponyville charm to it and that quaint simplistic feeling that just suited Twilight so well. Starlight could see herself enjoying it too, spending day after day reading books in here and studying magic with her teacher. Although the lack of space and flammability of the library may have made that a bad idea.
Unfortunately the charm was only on the outside as the library was still clearly neglected and in need of some serious care and cleaning. Spike shook his head as he thought about how long it would’ve taken him to clean this whole place up as Twilight’s assistant. He’d never let it get this bad in the first place if he was on the job.
“We could probably just crash in here until Twilight finds us, I somehow doubt anypony would even realize it.” Starlight mused.
“Maybe, but knowing that would probably just bother Twilight too anyways.” Spike said as he surveyed the library. Sighing, he placed his hands on his hips in annoyance. “Where’s my apron when I need it?”
Starlight chuckled. “Thinking of cleaning?”
“Yep.” Spike replied simply.
Starlight tilted her head to the side as she looked down at him, slightly worried. “Wait, really?”
“Yes, Starlight. And you’re going to help me. It may be a little early but this was still my home, I can’t stand to see it like this. Twilight would feel the same way.”
As much as Starlight really didn’t want to clean up the whole library Spike had a point there. Besides it would just be a nice thing to do for the citizens of Ponyville in general, even though its current sad state implied they wouldn’t really care in the first place. And if one of the first things Starlight said to Twilight when they got back to their own time was how they helped clean up her beloved library that might go a long way to appeasing her too.
“Alright.” Starlight finally acquiesced. “I’ll be able to take care of most of this pretty quickly with my magic anyways.”
“Come on, you should do things the old-fashioned way.” Spike said as he wandered off into the library’s kitchen, looking for anything that might help with cleaning up.
“If the books weren’t already all on their shelves I would’ve used my sorting spell on them.” Starlight replied, not a big fan of cleaning.
“You know speaking of that we should make sure they’re sorted correctly too.” Spike said,
“Ughhh.”
“Oh come on Starlight.” Spike snapped at her. “You wanted to do something nice didn’t you?”
Starlight rolled her eyes, she couldn’t really disagree with him though. “Fine, fine. Did you find anything in the kitchen? And why does a library have a kitchen?”
“Because the librarian would live here.” Spike said, walking back out of the kitchen with a pair of brooms and some rags.
So much to Starlight’s dismay she got to work, trying to keep positive and thinking about how proud Twilight would be to hear that she cleaned up the library. Well Twilight would probably be proud to hear that she had cleaned up any library. She used her magic to levitate a rag all over the various books, fully ridding them of their coat of dust this time. Luckily for her there weren’t nearly as many books in the Golden Oak Library right now as there were in Twilight’s personal library back in her castle. Go figure.
“Alright, once we’re done down here we can go upstairs and clean up the bedrooms and then check out the basement too. Hopefully there’s not too much stuff down there.” Spike said while he swept from one side of the floor to another.
“Sounds like a blast, it’s just like how I wanted to spend my time in the past.” Starlight sarcastically replied but Spike just ignored her.
The cleaning continued on in quiet, Starlight mostly paying attention to the books and shelves while Spike took care of the rest. The dragon was far more diligent and invested in doing a good job and a part of him wanted to see the library look like how it was when he was living here. It would bring back more than a few good memories.
While he scrubbed down the windows Starlight decided to take the time to check and make sure that all the books actually were in their right place.
They weren’t.
With a sigh, Starlight’s horn lit up and she quickly organized the shelves, giving it all a once over to make sure things were clean and in order.
“Mind if I head upstairs now?” She asked Spike.
“Go for it, I’ll be up in a jiffy and then we can tackle the basement together.”
Starlight hopped up the stairs and checked out the former living quarters of Spike and Twilight. Nice and cozy like the rest of the library but dirty as well. There weren’t any personal affects dotting the bedrooms like there should be and it just gave Starlight an empty feeling to look at it like this. Even though she had never been here before her heart was just telling her that this place should be full of so much more life than it was. To think of what went on here, the Golden Oak Library deserved better.
Straightening up a bit she decided to put a bit more effort into cleaning and had already done quite a good job of the upstairs before Spike made his way up.
“Hey, good to see you’re taking this a little more seriously.”
Starlight shrugged. “Eh. I guess I was just thinking about how much it meant to you. And since you’ll never see the library like this again once we go back...” She trailed off.
“Thanks, Starlight.” Spike said, giving her a hug that she was more than happy to return.
“So what was it like, living in a tree?” She asked him.
“Well I had to be careful about breathing fire but aside from that not much different than living in a huge crystal castle.” He winked at her, nudging her in the side.
“You’ve certainly lived in a lot more interesting places than most creatures have.” She giggled.
“Hero of Equestria after all. Gotta have a cooler life story than most.” Spike puffed out his chest as he said this.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, let’s just get back to cleaning. I want to be done before night falls at least.”
“Same here, I really wanna spruce up the place. Get it?” Spike said, wiggling his eyebrows.
A loud groan was the answer he got as Starlight shook her head. “Spike, that joke was terrible. And we’re inside an oak tree.”
“It’s still a tree, it works.” Spike defended himself.
After a few more barbs they finished with cleaning the upstairs of the library and moved down to the basement. Spike had no idea what might’ve been down here before Twilight turned it into a miniature laboratory but if he had to venture a guess it would be dust, dust, and more dust. Was Mayor Mare really okay with the library being in this condition? A better question might be if she was okay with letting complete strangers scurry about it like they owned the place.
“Wow, it’s pitch black down there.” Starlight said from on top of the stairs leading down to the basement.
And right she was as there wasn’t a single light or anywhere to place lanterns that either she or Spike could tell from where they stood. Likely nopony had been down here in some time.
“Hang on, I know there are some candles in here for late-night reading.” Spike said and went into another room, rummaging through some cabinets to find the candles he spoke of.
“You sure they’re gonna be there? I mean this is a long time ago after all.”
“Why wouldn’t they be? They’re something that should always be in the library.”
Spike was proven correct as Starlight shortly heard an “Aha!” and the dragon came waddling back over with an unlit candle on a holder. With a smug look on his face he held it out to Starlight.
“I was going to give you the honor.” He said.
Starlight smirked and took the candle holder in her magic, a minuscule beam of magic then shot from the tip of her horn to the candle, cleanly lighting it. “I suppose I have the right tool for the job.”
With how proud Spike was Starlight decided not to mention that she could probably have just illuminated the basement with her magic.
Now with the candle being levitated by Starlight the two of them made their way down into the dark basement, being careful to watch their step in case anything was piled up on the stairs or there was an unstable step. The air was stale and murky the further down they went and Starlight was starting to wonder why a library had such a big basement in the first place. Slowly the two finished their descent and came to rest at the floor of the basement, the candle not providing much for illumination but still enough to show them the few boxes stacked up on the floor. Covered in dust and cobwebs they made everything else in the library look clean. Starlight sighed and put the candle down on a side table that was in the basement and made her way over to the boxes with Spike to check them out.
“You think they’re just old books or something?” Spike asked as he started to pull open one of the boxes.
“Probably. Either that or whatever other old kind of stuff you keep in a library.” Starlight grabbed and sorted the boxes in her magic, pulling off the cobwebs and placing them all evenly on the floor.
Opening up the one nearest to her she saw that it was full of old records keeping track of who had borrowed a book and when it was taken/returned. Might as well just keep that down here. Spike too only found a box full of stamps and dried out ink pads.
“You know I’m thinking we can just leave this stuff here for now.” Starlight said. “We can still clean up down here but it’s probably best to just keep it as storage space anyways, right?”
“Yeah.” Spike replied, nodding along.
“I guess that’s it for the cleaning today? Did we need to do anything else here?”
Spike rubbed his chin for a moment, thinking. “No, but spending all this time in here and seeing how yucky it is gave me an idea. Come on.” Spike hopped back up the stairs, waving for Starlight to follow him.
It was almost evening now, the meager orange sunlight pouring through the windows of the library at a slant.
“So what is it?” Starlight asked Spike as they made it back up to the main room of the library.
Spike turned to her and smirked, the expression on his face saying he had just gotten a great idea. Pointing a claw at Starlight he opened his mouth. “You’re going to become Ponyville’s new librarian.”
“Excuse me?!” Starlight backpedaled from the dragon.
“Think about it Starlight, it’s perfect!” Spike said, running out into the middle of the library and gesturing around it with wide-open arms. “First off it’s clear that no one uses it so we don’t have a problem there, it can be our source of income when you officially get the job, it’s something to do to keep us from getting bored without making any massive changes to the past, and whenever Twilight does find us back here I bet it’ll be one of the first places she checks cause I’m here. Not to mention that I don’t like how neglected this place is in the first place.”
“Well… yeah.” Starlight was vaguely considering it. The idea did make some sense and it would give them a place to live while they were stuck here. “How am I going to become the librarian though? I can’t just start staying here and say, “Hey Ponyville! I’m your new librarian!” you know?”
“And that’s why we’re going to go talk to Mayor Mare about it right now. I’m sure she’ll be glad that somepony is offering to take care of and mind the library.” Spike said.
“I guess so...” Starlight rubbed her chin while mulling it over.
“Come on, Starlight! You wanted to do something fun and new while we were stuck in the past, didn’t you? Well this is also something that won’t cause any big problems and will make Twilight happy to hear.” Spike pleaded with her.
Starlight finally sighed in acceptance. “Well you’re definitely right about that. I guess we can go to town hall now?”
“I suppose I don’t really see a problem with it.” A much younger Mayor Mare said to the two strangers who had walked through the doors to town hall late in the day. It was certainly an odd occurrence to see a dragon in the first place and this one supposedly wanted to become a library assistant to the smiling unicorn with him. Really she should’ve found somepony to take care of that library a while ago anyways.
“Great!” Spike said, he and Starlight high-fiving.
“Do you have any credentials as a librarian?” The mayor asked Starlight. Even though it was hardly something like being a nurse and the library had been unattended for too long she didn’t want to hoof it off to just anypony.
Starlight winced and she and Spike shared a look. “Uhh… not exactly.” Starlight said as she nervously rubbed the back of her head. “But I’ve got a lot of experience with books and sorting and taking care of them, I used to live somewhere with a big library.”
The mayor raised an eyebrow and for a moment Spike and Starlight weren’t sure if she was going to be okay with them.
But at last she just shrugged. “Well it’s better than nothing.”
“Yes!” Spike pumped his fist and even Starlight looked pleased.
“You don’t need a key from me or anything to get in, the library is unlocked.” Mayor Mare told them.
“Oh, we already know.” Starlight replied nonchalantly as she and Spike walked back outside. Completely unaware that Mayor Mare might wonder why they already knew that.
After their talk inside it was late in the day now, practically night time. Starlight and Spike were feeling pretty good about things now. For the first time all day Spike wasn’t feeling annoyed at being stuck in the past thanks to some poor decisions by Starlight and Starlight was feeling pretty happy with her “vacation”. Helped that Ponyville was such a nice place and the library held so many great memories for Spike, and it was really the perfect place for Starlight to relax too and not have to worry about things. Even if she wasn’t getting to do anything major like she initially wanted.
“Maybe we should have asked for some pay upfront. Then we could’ve grabbed a bite to eat before we head back to the library.” Spike said.
“Eh, I’m fine either way.” Starlight said. “Gonna be happy to just get back and rest after today.”
“I hear that.”
Immediately after Spike had said that and before either one of them could take another step Starlight’s vision went white and a strange shaking sensation overtook her body. Her hooves felt like they had left the ground and a brief bout of vertigo passed through her.
And in another second it was over, her vision blurred back into focus and she found herself standing right where she had been. Her body seemed perfectly fine and the only thing that was off was that she could hear what sounded like yelling and the sounds of lots of ponies running off in the distance.
“Spike, did you just-” She began, looking over at him to see the dragon confusedly patting down his whole body, as if to check that he was really still there.
“Yeah, yeah I did. What was that?” Spike asked her, done making sure he was okay.
Starlight grimaced. “I don’t know, but it can’t be good.”
“Uh, Starlight.” Spike said, looking past Starlight and pointing a claw down the street. “Please tell me our luck can’t possibly be this bad?”
Unsure if she wanted to look at whatever he saw Starlight turned her head to see a billowing plume of smoke rising into the sky from the direction that the Golden Oak Library was in.
In short. Their luck was that bad.
Starlight and Spike raced through the streets of Ponyville back to the library to find it engulfed in an inferno, the firefighters of Ponyville futilely trying their hardest to put it out. They stared at it in shock, mouths agape as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Numerous other ponies stood around the library wondering how this could have happened, a few even crying at the soon to be burnt to a crisp tree.
Starlight and Spike nervously glanced at each other and with a quick teleport Starlight took the both of them into an alleyway away from the commotion.
“How did this happen?!” Spike blurted out immediately.
Starlight wailed and collapsed to the ground, holding her head in her hooves. “Ohhh! I’m so stupid! The candle, Spike! I forgot to blow out the candle I left in the basement!”
Spike held his head in horror. “We burned down Twilight’s home!”
With a gasp, Starlight shot right back up. “That’s what that was! That shaking and everything going white must’ve been because of the library! We just changed the past!”
“But then why didn’t we go back to our own time?!” Spike asked in fear at what had happened.
“I don’t know! Maybe because it’s not the same spell?” Starlight almost started hyperventilating but luckily she wasn’t that similar to Twilight. “I can’t believe I decide to not mess around with the past and then I accidentally do this! I wanted to mess around in good ways!” Starlight reached forward and shook Spike by the shoulders. “This is bad! Forget Twilight being angry at me, I just burned down a library. I just burnt books! She’s going to kill me!”
“Uh, yeah. That’s pretty bad.” Spike said, basically in shock at this point. “You know something else just occurred to me but we should probably skip town for a while before Mayor Mare puts two and two together and realizes it was us who did this.”
“Aghhhhh!”
And after that yell of frustration Starlight teleported them both to the edge of town. Neither of them were entirely sure of what to do now but it would probably be a good idea to steer clear of Ponyville for the foreseeable future. Lest another terrible mishap take place.