//------------------------------//
// 6: "That was faster than I expected." 
// Story: Strange Letters from a Queen Bug Horse 
// by Roadie 
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Just after Twilight had closed the letter box and stepped back inside the library tree, there was a knock at the door.

The one knocking was a narrow-faced unicorn mare, remarkably tall and slender, with a pristine pink-white coat and tired eyes. Her mane was dark green, pulled up into a bun with a few strands trying to escape. Her cutie mark was a pair of outlined masks, one happy and the other sad, though her own expression was set into happily relaxed unhappiness.

"Twilight Sparkle?" said the mare on the doorstep, holding out a hoof. "Liminal State. I just got your reply."

Twilight looked over at the post box, looked back at the mare, briefly thought over the mathematics of postal delivery from Ponyville to Canterlot and travel time in the reverse direction, and then considered that earlier that same day she had seen Pinkie Pie exit a building through a closed kitchen cabinet. "That was faster than I expected," she said, and stepped back. "You can come in, it is a public library."

The library was in a state of organized chaos. Twilight guided her guest between stacks of books left in flux by a half-finished reindexing, realized that every table and chair was taken, and finally swept all the books aside in a whirl of magenta magic that left half the ground floor clear and the other half filled floor-to-ceiling with books.

"Well," Liminal State said, staring at the occupied half of the room, her ears back. But she spready out her papers on one of the cleared tables. "I've got templates for sign-up sheets, purchase orders, a provisional schedule for the next few months' books—everything is subject to change, of course, it depends on what we can get out of the publishers—"

Twilight had her nose nearly pressed against the sheet listing the future selection of books. "The Princess Bridle, Of Ponies and Prejudice, Perfection: The Impossible Pursuit... you have some interesting selections here, miss State."

"Oh, no," the mare said, her tone dry. "Misstate was my father." Twilight made a noise somewhere between a cough and a laugh. "Do call me Liminal," the mare continued. "And we do try and make our selections more consequential than the usual fluff you get from the usual book club. Books that really get at the... pony condition, so to speak." A broad, almost smug grin had spread across her face.

"It does seem nice," Twilight allowed. "But I've never run a book club before, even using materials provided by somepony. Is there a book on book clubs that you would recommend?"

"Why don't I tell you about it instead?" Liminal said. "I'll take you to lunch." The smile that had flattened out raised again. "My treat. I could really use the break, and—I do get the feeling you could, too."

"...okay, but I really can't take all that long," Twilight said. "The library does need a proper reopening sooner more than later."

"Excellent!" Liminal said, and all but pushed Twilight out the door.





"...hello?" drifted a faint, boyish voice out of the heaps of books filling half the library. "Anypony? I just woke up and I'm kind of stuck..."