Rainbow Dash stayed still as the blade held steady, the blade pointed directly between her eyes as the new creature looked her over. The figure’s eyes never changed as it tilted its head, looking across the rest of Rainbow’s body.
“Well, mind telling me what you are?” the thing interrogated. “I have to assume you’re sentient. Are you another abnormality?”
Rainbow Dash looked back at the hands behind her, wounded and harmless in their current state, before shaking her head. “No! I’m here to help you,” she retorted.
“Oh good, so you can speak,” it muttered while keeping its eyes trained on her. “Alright then, you’re clearly not going to try to attack me. Tell me, what’s a creature like you doing in L. Corp?”
Rainbow tilted her head as her brow furrowed. “L. Corp?”
“Oh, you don’t know. You must be a new one,” the figure spoke, “I should try to get some data from the information team after this then. How about you recap what’s going on then? I don’t remember having to contain an abnormality like that before?”
Rainbow Dash was about to retort, getting back to her hooves when the figure leaned close to her face, bringing its large sword closer to her neck. “Don’t try to lie to me either. I don’t like getting false data, it means I have to fight more.”
Looking at it closer, the sword wasn’t just bloody, its blade was held together by pulsing flesh, bones protruding from the sides of the hilt. Her inspection slowly stopped and she shivered as a large eye opened on the side of the blade, spinning wildly before focusing on her.
“Now tell me,” the creature ordered, “what’s happening here?”
Rainbow moved backwards as she glared at the creature, who had since returned to a standing position. “Geez, no need to get so violent,” she huffed. “First Angela, now you, are all of you creatures like that?” Rainbow sat as she looked at the creature. It had raised an eyebrow and looked at her in confusion.
“You know Angela?” the creature spoke, a smirk beginning to break through her straight facade.
“Uh, Yeah, she’s why I’m here,” Rainbow answered. As she explained, “Look, I Don’t know what this ‘L. Corp’ is but I was just going about my day when I ended up in a library. I was attacked by Angela, and now I’m trapped in this library and I’m being forced to help her. I was having trouble so she forced me to go into this book to find you, saying you can help us.”
“Well damn, looks like she did it after all,” it chuckled. Placing its sword on the ground, the creature sat down, bending its legs as it slouched forward. “Fine, I’ll believe you for now, but then, if you aren’t an abnormality, what are you?”
“I’m Rainbow Dash!” she boasted, “best flyer in all of Equestria.” a moment of silence passed before she realized what she had said. “I’m a Pegasus,” she added sheepishly.
“Never heard of an Equestria, but seeing as I’m sitting in front of a real Pegasus, I guess I’m just going to have to believe you,” it muttered.
“Well, I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you if we weren’t in a bloody testing chamber. I’m Evangeline,” it greeted awkwardly. “So, how do we get out of here?”
~☁~
Thankfully, the process of leaving was not an issue as Angela brought them out. It was a weird sensation for Rainbow Dash to enter and leave the book, but the new creature, Evangeline, did not seem so perplexed.
After a bit of talking and discussion, Evangeline had been brought up to speed about the library, about it being in Equestria and about receiving guests. Throughout all of it, Evangeline had kept to only a few words as they spoke, simply nodding and asking small questions here and there.
There was one thing Rainbow Dash still Didn’t know anything about though. What was this L. Corp, and how did it tie to Evangeline and Angela. She was brought out of her musings as Evangeline finally spoke up.
“Angela, what happened to L. Corp and everyone else?” she spoke, her voice unfaltering in tone.
Angela sighed, the same kind of sigh Rainbow had heard time and time again. “L. Corp was destroyed in the process of releasing all of the accumulated light,” she explained. “Meanwhile, all of the employees have been contained in books, waiting to be released.”
Evangeline tensed, her hands reaching her mouth as she held her breath. Rainbow Dash did not understand the gesture but could sense the tension in the air as the two figures stared each other down.
“Fine, I won’t look into it any further,” Evangeline relented, “but we will talk about this more, Angela.”
“I will explain in more detail later,” Angela conceded.
As Evangeline began to make her way out of the room, she stopped to look at Rainbow Dash, a slight smile visible on her face. “Are you going to show me around or what?”
~☁~
It was quiet as the two new librarians walked through the halls of Keter floor, the sound of their steps echoing behind them. An unknown tension had grown between the two as Rainbow Dash wondered how to ask her question.
“So,” she started, looking to the new creature walking beside her, “what are you two?”
“I’m a human,” Evangeline answered.
“And Angela?” Rainbow questioned.
“Angela’s a machine,” Evangeline responded.
“Wait, what?” Rainbow gaped. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, that’s got to be a joke,” Dash chuckled.
“No. Though she may look human, Angela is an Artificial Intelligence. Have you not seen a robot before?”
Rainbow gulped nervously, “No, I’ve never met anything like you two. I don’t think there’s anything like you two anywhere in Equestria. There are a few stories about evil robot’s though.”
“I see,” Evangeline considered. “Well, aside from Angela’s current goals, you have nothing to worry about. The laws around automated combat make it illegal to give a weapon to a machine, much less use a machine to fight. If another machine somehow ended up in your ‘Equestria’ you would have nothing to worry about,” Evangeline spoke. Her answer was more so a lecture than reassurance and did little to comfort Dash.
An awkward silence pervaded between the two as they continued before Rainbow Dash spoke again. “You said something about an ‘L. Corp’ when we met. What is that?”
There was a moment of pause as Evangeline thought to herself, momentarily slowing her pace before responding. “Well, the Lobotomy Corporation was the company I used to work for, generally, it was an energy company.” she smiled for a moment before continuing to walk as before.
“Wait, why are they called Lobotomy Corp?” Rainbow questioned.
Evangeline pondered, “Well, I’m not sure of the specifics but I remember it having something to do with the way the abnormalities were made.”
“And those are like those hand things?” Rainbow queried.
“Oh, right,” Evangeline spoke. “Abnormalities are strange monsters and creatures that the Lobotomy Corporation contained and tested on to make Enkephalin, which was used to power The City. Some people also used it recreationally but that’s a story for another time.”
“Back in the Lobotomy Corporation, we had a set of rankings for them based on their level of danger, though I’m unsure how effective those grades would be now. If I were to grade those hands, I would say they would be Teth level.”
“Uh, Teth? Lady, I have no idea what that means,” Rainbow pointed out, “if you’re just going to bring this stuff up, don’t you think you might want to explain it?”
Evangeline chuckled into her hand as she looked at the confused mare. “Right, sorry, I forgot you’re new to all of this for a moment. It’s not quite as important anymore but the grades from easiest to hardest go like this: Zayin, Teth, He, Waw and Aleph.”
A lump formed in Rainbow’s throat as she heard this, “wait, and those hands were just Teth level?” she paled.
Regaining her composure, Evangeline nodded, “they can still be quite dangerous and deadly, but compared to some abnormalities I saw back in the day, those hands were only a bit stronger than most Teth’s.”
“I’m not going to have to fight more of those things am I?” Rainbow tensed.
“I have no clue, I wouldn’t bet on it, however,” she responded.
“Uh, how about we talk about something else,” Rainbow stammered. “What’s the deal with your sword and suit?” she pointed out warily.
Rainbow Dash had not noticed it before but the suit that Evangeline wore was not just red. It seemed to pulse and move, as though twitching impatiently. Bone like protrusions broke out from the cuffs where the suit’s material bent around them like muscles. Most unnervingly was the blue eye on the suit’s shoulder that kept looking down at her, staring with a predatory gaze.
“Right,” Evangeline sighed. “To help with handling abnormalities, armours and weapons were made from some of the enkephalin they released called E.G.O, such as what I am wearing now. Through my work in handling abnormalities, and being one of the only ones to be able to handle the one that created the suit you see here, I was given the only working E.G.O for this particular Abnormality. I guess the Manager of the facility thought I had earned it.”
“You’ve fought those monsters in the past?” Rainbow Marveled.
“Yes, I nearly died a few times, though thankfully it was never enough to put me down for good,” Evangeline answered.
Their conversation continued like this until eventually reaching Rainbow Dash’s room. The curious pegasus asked questions, and the former employee responded. Rainbow still knew of the danger that would come in the future but at least for now, having these conversations, Rainbow relaxed and took the time to put her mind at ease.
~מ~
Rainbow Dash had barely noticed the steps to the second floor of the library when she had run past them earlier but standing in front of them, with warm candles lighting the polished wooden staircase, it seemed almost inviting.
Trudging up the steps, Rainbow Dash was careful not to drop the books piled on her back as she followed the steps. As she reached the second level, however, her eyes widened in awe.
Before her were rows upon rows of wooden bookshelves, each filled from top to bottom with books. The polished dark wood floor glistened under the glowing warm light coming from the roof and tables with 6 chairs were placed in larger reading spaces every few rows of shelves. Overall, the space was quite inviting.
”with a few beanbag chairs and a cup of hot chocolate, this would be a great place to read some Daring Do,” Rainbow thought happily. She pushed the thoughts aside for now however, she had a job to do.
“Hello, Anypony here?” Rainbow spoke out. She was unsure who was here but she knew she had to talk with whoever took care of this floor. Her only hope was she wouldn’t be meeting anyone as bad as Angela.
“Hello?” called out a lighter, more lively voice, “give me just a moment!” it called out. With the sound of footsteps coming from ahead, Rainbow Dash waited, tracing circles on the floor as she did.
It was only a few seconds before another human appeared from behind a bookshelf, her hazel hair flowing down her shoulders behind a brown coat. She wore a white shirt, black waistcoat and pants, with a brown bow tied around her shirt collar and a red headband lay in her hair. “Hello, I’m the patron librarian of the floor of history, Malkuth!” she exclaimed happily.
“Um, nice to meet you, I’m Rainbow Dash,” she returned. Rainbow dash raised a hoof forward for a greeting.
“Oh, so you’re a pegasus, right?” Malkuth wondered, shaking Rainbow's hoof gently as she looked curiously at the blue equestrian before her. “I haven’t seen a pony before but stories about you were always an enjoyable read.”
“Wait, you’ve heard of us?” Rainbow questioned.
“Why yes! Well, not you specifically but The City has a few records of stories about horses with wings from some ancient civilizations,” Malkuth explained.
“Wait, back up. This isn’t a trick right, you’re actually being nice? Because when Angela first met me, she tried to kill me, and Evangeline interrogated me,” Rainbow Examined incredulously.
“Oh, you know them both.” Malkuth’s smile lowered a little as she looked to the pony in front of her. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”
A pang of guilt hit Rainbow Dash for a moment. Recognizing the genuine response, Rainbow relented. “Alright then. Well, it’s nice to meet a friendly face,” she replied. “Angela asked me to come up here and give you some books to start sorting.”
Malkuth gave a relieved sigh before seeing the books on Rainbows back. Picking them up, she placed them on the table before giving a warm smile. “Thank you, I’m sure Angela will want me to sort these books quickly. Would you like to stay and talk for a bit?”
“Uh, sure, how about I help with the books while we’re at it?” Rainbow responded, flying to the books, and picking one up to begin organizing.
“Oh, thank you! It will be nice to have some company up here,” Malkuth beamed.
Sorting the books was an easy task, and though Rainbow still had trouble sorting them, she had become much better at it since entering The Library. Malkuth however was much faster in comparison, even taking a moment to read the first page before seemingly knowing exactly where to put it. All the while, Malkuth kept a happy smile, quietly humming to herself as they placed the books away. It was a completely different environment to helping Twilight sort them.
Breaking the ice, Rainbow spoke up first, “so, what’s your connection to Angela?”
A sigh left Malkuths lips again as she thought of a response. “How do I put this. Well, Angela and I have some unfinished business. I’m not quite happy with it but I have to follow her orders, no matter how I feel,” she explained. “I used to work with her once but, since waking up, I’ve been rather upset with her.”
Rainbow chuckled, “yeah, it’s a similar story here. I just kind of woke up in this library a few weeks ago and since then I’ve been forced to work all day long.”
“You also said Evangeline earlier,” Malkuth remembered, “is she awake as well?”
“Yeah, actually,” Rainbow answered. “You seem to know her, has she always been so quick to fight?”
That made Malkuth giggle. “She must have thought you were a monster in disguise or something. When she used to work with me, she was always trying to do her best. If she ever heard there was danger, she would always run right in to fight it off.”
“Oh, you worked together?” Rainbow wondered.
“Well, she and her teammates worked in my department, though eventually, they all were moved to a different department,” she clarified.
“So you were like the team leader?” Rainbow estimated. She got a quick nod as Malkuth placed another book into place,
Once they were finally done, Rainbow lay down and the floor and gave a happy sigh. “Man, that was tiring. How do ponies find organizing fun?”
Malkuth smiled down at the cyan pegasus as she took a seat at a nearby chair. “Well, it’s definitely a lot of work, but I like reading through the books here, so I try to have a quick look before putting them away to see if I might find something I will want to read after,” she responded. “Thank you for all the help Rainbow Dash, it was nice to talk with you.”
Getting up, Rainbow Dash smiled back. “No problem, I’m always happy to help a friend. If you want to talk again sometime, you could always come downstairs and we can hang out.”
Malkuth smiled happily as she waved the pegasus goodbye. Perhaps things would get better in the future. “I would love to.”