//------------------------------// // Out of the Rain and Into the Library // Story: Filmatic Escapades: The Pagemaster // by Toonwriter //------------------------------// When we last left Twilight and the gang, they had gotten news of a brand new movie theater opening up in Hope Hollow. Naturally, they decided to go check it out. They were surprised to find that this particular movie theater was unlike any they had ever gone to. For the theater’s screens were actually portals into the movies they could see. And speaking of portals, our Equestrian friends came out of one and stepped into a brand new world. Every pony, Spike and Phobos looked around upon exiting the portal. From the look of things, they were in what looked like a forest. But something about it seemed… different. “What’s up with this place? Everything looks so… so…” Rainbow spoke, trying to figure out the right word she wanted to say. “Bulgy?” Pinkie asked out of the blue. "Something like that." Rainbow replied. "Kinda looks... live-action or something." Nyx remarked as she looked around Twilight walked up to a tree and inspected it. “Hmm… you’re not wrong. A lot of things here look like they have more dimension compared to back in Equestria.” "I have to agree, Twilight." Ben said, "Kinda reminds me of that one dimension with that puppet Discord attempted to send Tree Hugger to back at the Grand Galloping Gala one time." “But why have the portal drop us in the middle of the woods?” Rarity asked out of curiosity, but then suddenly looked worried, “You don’t think we’ll be pitted against a beast, do you?!” "If we are, we'll be ready for it." Twilight assured Rarity, "Because we're all here together." "I sure hope we don't actually encounter a beast..." Fluttershy said nervously. Just then, lightning flashed up in the sky before a loud clap of thunder followed. "EEK!!!" Fluttershy squeaked in fear as she hid behind Applejack. Pretty soon, rain began to fall on them, practically drenching them all. “Aww, man!” Spike groaned. "Just what we need; a thunderstorm." Ben remarked sarcastically. Before any of them could say another word, the sound of a child crying out in alarm, followed by a crash, caught their attention. “What was that?” Twilight asked. "I don't know," Nyx replied. "Sounds like someone crashed into a tree." Applejack stated. Being the curious one, Twilight was first to head off into the direction of the source of the sound. Fortunately, she didn’t have to go far at all because she saw what looked like a human boy removing his helmet as he sat next to his crashed bike. For whatever reason, the bike had headlights and was beeping. The lilac alicorn’s attention quickly went from the bike to the young boy, who had blond hair and was wearing round glasses. He checked his head for any injuries upon removing his helmet. “No cranial damage.” He muttered to himself as he got to his feet. Twilight walked up to the boy as she asked in concern, "Hey, are you all right?" “I guess so.” The boy replied, not looking at Twilight at first. When he looked up, he ended up doing a double-take at realizing the 'person' who asked him if he was okay was an animal. The young boy just double blinked at first and removed his glasses to rub his eyes before looking again to see Twilight still there. “… am I dreaming this?” He asked in confusion. Twilight just gave him an equally confused look. “Not that I know of.” "Wait...so...you're....you're...actually talking? No, no, no...this can't be right." The boy said as he backed away in shock. "What can't be right? That I'm talking to you?" Twilight asked. "I'm sorry...it's just...it's just...normally...I've never seen...whatever you are...that can talk." The boy stammered a bit. “A pony?” Twilight responded, raising an eyebrow. The young blonde nodded, not saying anything at first. “The only time I’ve seen animals talk was in movies.” “I guess that makes sense.” Spike said, coming up next to Twilight with a shrug. "No way...a dragon, too?" The boy asked in both surprise and shock. “Yep!” Spike replied, smiling proudly. Just then, another loud clap of thunder sounded its way across the sky, startling all of them. “We should probably save introductions till we get someplace dry.” Applejack commented. "And fast! A storm is blowing in!" Rainbow remarked. Twilight looked about the forest frantically for a safe haven. If they didn’t find one soon, they’d be in for a very messy day. All of a sudden, the lilac Alicorn spotted something she hadn’t noticed earlier; a building of some sort and it happened to be just next to them. “Everybody, follow me to that building!” She spoke, gesturing to the building in the distance. Not needing to be told twice, the ponies, dragons and boy almost immediately ran towards the building. The boy, of course, attempted to pull his bike up, but left it when he figured he’d rather not try and get any wetter trying to bring it along. In his rush following Twilight and the gang to the mysterious building, he threw off what they realized was a safety vest that they recalled many crossing guards wearing back in Equestria. The group barely noticed the lion statues flanking the stairs and somehow realized that this place was a library. The young boy stopped to look at one of the lion statues and when the lightning flashed, he could have sworn he heard the statue snarl at him. This had prompted him to keep running to the top of the stairs where the ponies and dragons were waiting for him before they rushed to the door. Much to their relief, it was unlocked and they hurried inside. Some of the ponies shook themselves dry, Rarity doing her best to ring whatever water she could out of her mane. The young boy simply unbuttoned his yellow rain jacket as he and the others walked into what looked like a lobby. It was eerily silent and dark. Deciding to break the silence, Twilight turned to the young boy. “So… who are you and why were you out in this weather?” She couldn’t help but ask. "Uh... Richard. Richard Tyler." The boy replied, "I was out biking to the store to buy a pound of nails for my dad on an errand." “Ah don’t get it. Couldn’t he have gone to the store and get ‘em himself?” Applejack inquired, raising an eyebrow. “He could have, but… I don’t think he’s in the best condition to drive.” Richard answered, looking nervous all of a sudden, “Not after he fell from the treehouse he was building.” "Oh." Applejack said sheepishly. “Yeah, he tries to get me to do a lot of things that seem dangerous, like trying out for the Little League.” Richard explained to them, “But there’s always a chance you can get injured or poisoned doing anything at any time. Ya can’t argue with statistics.” Rainbow leaned in to Twilight, “Next thing ya know, he’ll say he’s afraid of tuna sandwiches.” “Well, he wouldn’t be wrong. There’s Mercury in fish sometimes and there’s a chance you’d get Mercury poisoning if you’re not careful.” Twilight pointed out. "Mercury poisoning?!" Nyx asked in shock. “… sorry I said that.” Spike, deciding to distract the others from that, looked about the lobby. “Say, shouldn’t there be somebody in here?” He asked. "You have a point, Spike." Rarity said, "This place seems abandoned." Richard stepped further into the middle of the lobby. “Hello?!” He called out, the only response being his echo. Just then, a door creaking sound was heard along with a light illuminating the group. "W... what's that?" Fluttershy asked, feeling scared as she sees a shadow on the floor cast by the light. The ponies, Spike and Phobos stood at the ready. Whatever was coming their way, they would fight it if necessary. But the shadow came from a book cart that was being pushed in by an old man walking into the dark room. At seeing this, they dropped their defenses. Even Richard looked less uneasy at seeing the elder man. Soon, the elderly man stopped just near a desk. At first, the only hint he had of someone- namely Richard, Spike, Phobos and the ponies being there- was a flash of lightning from outside that barely and briefly illuminated the entire lobby. As he made his way closer to the desk, he kept his eyes on the apparent visitors until reaching the desk and flicking a switch. Almost immediately, a couple of overhead lights turned on around the entire lobby and the rest of the building. The first thing they noticed past the old man was shelf after shelf of books, confirming to them that they were indeed inside a library. Smiling warmly, the old man approached Richard and the others before shaking the boy’s hand. “Welcome to the library, young man.” He spoke, then continued before giving any of them a chance to speak, “Don’t tell me. You and your friends are here for a special book.” Spike leaned over to Twilight as he whispered, “He doesn’t seem to notice we’re not really from here.” “Well, actually-“ Twilight began, looking to the elder man that she assumed must have been a librarian. "Stop, stop, stop. Allow me to guess." The man said, cutting Twilight off, "I have a talent for guessing what people need." He turned to the boy as he spoke, "You're in need of... a fantasy. Brave knights, mythical fairies, ferocious dragons." “Technically, we have a dragon with us.” Applejack replied, gesturing to Spike. “Two dragons.” Nyx corrected. Richard took his turn to speak. “L- look. All I want is-.” "Adventure! Of course!" The old man exclaimed in excitement, cutting him off. Hearing this got Rainbow Dash excited, "You're a boy who loves adventure! Brimming with wicked demons, cutthroat pirates!" Rainbow smiled to the others, “Sounds like something up my alley!” “N-n-no! That’s not it!” Richard protested, still nervous. "Horror!" The man suggested. Lightning flashed, illuminating his face, making the boy and Fluttershy nervous as he spoke, backing him and the other Equestrians to the desk as he spoke in a dramatic tone, "Ah, horror! Evil demons! Wretched monsters! Haunted houses! Graveyards!" Fluttershy could feel herself shaking a bit with fear. “I- I- I don’t l-l-l-l-like the s-s-s-sound of t-t-t-t-t-that…” While the librarian spoke his little monologue, Richard slowly backed up until he felt his back meet the lobby desk. "Yes. It's horror for you, boy. I'm sure of it." The librarian said, "Your library card, please." "I don't have one." Richard said. “And neither do we.” Twilight added, feeling a bit awkward. Seemingly not acknowledging Twilight’s words, the librarian- his attention on Richard- flicked his wrist. All of a sudden, a blank library card was in his hand. "You do now." He replied to Richard, a grin on his face. This had wowed not only the young boy, but also Twilight and the gang. Pinkie’s mouth was practically hanging from its jaw. Rarity, of course, closed her pink friend’s jaw for her without even looking at her. The gang then walked up next to Richard as the librarian picked up a pen and clipboard that was sitting atop the desk before he handed it to the young boy. “Sign here.” The elder man instructed, gesturing to a line on the paper clipped to the clipboard. Richard hesitantly accepted the pen and began to write his name where he was told to. For a brief second, Twilight looked at the desk to see a name plaque with the name “Mr. Dewey” on it. She immediately assumed that this was the name of the librarian, who then turned to the ponies and dragons. “Don’t think I forgot about all of you.” Mr. Dewey spoke, handing them each their own library cards. “Thank you, Mr. Dewey.” Twilight replied politely, accepting the library card as it was handed to her. "Yeah, thanks." Nyx said while accepting her own library card. After giving the ponies and dragons each their own cards, Mr. Dewey accepted the clipboard from Richard once he was finished writing his name on it. The others soon followed suite and signed their own names where they were supposed to. Once they were all done, the librarian smiled to Richard. “Richard Tyler,” He spoke, handing the boy his own library card, “Consider this your passport to the wonderful, quite unpredictable world of books.” “But… we don’t want any books.” Richard replied, shaking his head. "Hmm?" Mr. Dewey asked in confusion on hearing this. "That's what we're trying to tell you." Richard said, "We only came here because of the storm." “Ah mean, he ain’t entirely wrong.” Applejack agreed, “It’s rainin’ cats and dogs out there.” “You mean you don’t need…?” Mr. Dewey began, the others shaking their heads before he continued in disappointment, “Oh. I see.” And with that, he walked behind the desk to get to work. “… is there a phone where I can call my parents?” Richard asked. Rainbow looked to the others with disappointment. “Why do I get the feeling this is gonna be a really short movie?” She whispered to them. “Through there.” Mr. Dewey replied to Richard, apparently not hearing what Rainbow said as he gestured past the rows of bookshelves. "Proceed in a northeasterly direction until you all get to the rotunda, and from there, head west through the fiction section. And you'll find it. The public telephone. You can't miss it." As Mr. Dewey spoke that, Richard- with the ponies and dragons following suite- walked past the desk and past the rows of shelves in the direction the elderly human pointed them towards. The glasses-wearing boy briefly stopped and turned to look back in Mr. Dewey’s direction as Twilight also stopped and looked back while the others slowly continued ahead. The librarian stopped what he was doing and looked in the two’s direction. “Don’t be afraid, boy. If you or your friends lose your way, merely direct yourselves back to the exit sign.” As he said that, he gestured to the illuminated sign in question above the entrance and exit to the library. Twilight nodded, “Will do, Mr. Dewey. And thank you.” And with that, the Alicorn and Richard continued further into the library, going in the direction Mr. Dewey pointed them to. In their walk, they managed to catch up with the others who had been waiting for them up ahead. “So are we really going to just go to the phone to call his folks?” Applejack whispered to Twilight. "I don't know, Applejack." Twilight replied as she looked around, "Something about this library is getting me... interested." “What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked. "Well... this reminds me of the library back in Canterlot, but almost better." "I have to agree with Mommy." Nyx said, "This also almost feels like the Canterlot Archives." A few minutes later, the group found themselves in a large rotunda. Upon reaching the center, they looked up to the ceiling and were in so much awe at what looked like four murals surrounding a circular one in the middle. "Wow!" Richard exclaimed. “Whoa…” Spike let out as they reached the center of the rotunda. Neither of them had noticed that the display on the ground resembled a compass. For they were too focused on the murals on the ceiling. Their eyes wandered first to the mural of a valiant knight fighting against a ferocious fire-breathing dragon. "Cool!" Nyx exclaimed in astonishment. Their eyes shifted to the mural on the right side of the rotunda. This one displayed a scene with pirates on a beach, one of which was carrying what looked like a treasure chest. One of the pirates had a red coat and a black captain’s hat. Under one arm was what looked like a crutch and he was missing a leg, a green parrot perched on his shoulder. Richard and the others naturally guessed this particular pirate was the captain of the motley crew. "Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed on seeing what was on the mural. “Ooooh!” Twilight, Spike and Nyx let out in awe. "Amazing!" Ben exclaimed. As they gazed up at the murals, Richard failed to notice that the water dripping from his jacket slowly began to form a puddle under his feet. Even the ponies and dragons hadn’t noticed the water dripping from their fur and scales forming puddles underneath them. But their attention soon came to the top mural, depicting a scene of a silver-haired man standing in a boat in the sea. He was brandishing a harpoon in the direction of what looked like a giant white whale. "Hoo-wee! That is one big whale!" Applejack remarked. “I’ll say!” Pinkie agreed. "And it's white!" Rarity gasped. And the further they gazed at the murals, the puddles under their feet/hooves got bigger. The next mural displayed what looked like a scientist working on an experiment with a bubbling liquid in one of the beakers. Cast on the wall behind the scientist was the shadow of a deranged-looking man looking as though it were laughing maniacally. Upon seeing this mural in particular, especially the deranged shadow, Fluttershy let out a frightened squeak and backed behind Rarity, who looked frightened yet intrigued. "Geez." Richard commented in intrigue. "Freaky." Phobos remarked. "You said it." Nyx agreed. And finally, their gaze fell on the central and final mural. This one portrayed an elderly man wearing what looked like a large blue hat with robes that matched in color. In one hand, he held a staff that mostly resembled a rolled up scroll and in the other, he held what looked like a tome. "That looks like a wizard!" Nyx exclaimed. Twilight wasn’t sure why, but the wizard reminded her of Star Swirl the Bearded. Then again, he actually seemed to bare a strong resemblance to Mr. Dewey. "I wonder who that guy is?" Rarity said aloud. Richard himself began to step back to get a better look at the mural of the wizard. However, he stepped on the puddle and ended up slipping, falling back with a cry. "Richard!" Twilight cried upon noticing this. But the instant she turned around, the purple alicorn stepped on the puddle and slipped on it also. “Twilight!” Spike exclaimed, turning around, only to step on the puddle before accidentally bumping into Nyx so hard that they both fell as well. "Whoa!" Nyx exclaimed the instant the purple dragon bumped into her, causing her to bump Phobos. "Hey! Watch i-" Phobos started, but yelled out when he slipped on the puddle as well. "Twiley! Guys!" Ben shouted on noticing this, but as he turned to check, he stepped on the puddle and found himself slipping. This in turn caused a domino effect with him bumping into Applejack, who slipped and knocked over Rainbow Dash. She, of course, slipped and bumped into Rarity, who bumped into Fluttershy, who bumped into Pinkie Pie. And as soon as they fell, they all hit their heads on the ground so hard, Richard, the ponies and the dragons all lost consciousness. As lightning flashed, it felt like the room spun around them while it turned completely dark. What felt like hours later, Richard was the first to come to and noticed the entire library was dark. “HELLO?!” He called out, only his echo greeting him back. Twilight groaned as she then came to, rubbing her head where she bumped it. “Ohhh. My head.” "What a nasty fall." Ben groaned as he followed suit, shaking his head before rubbing where he bumped it. Twilight immediately turned her attention to the unconscious Nyx and Spike. “Nyx? Spike? Are you okay?” She asked, gently nudging them both. The two kids slowly regained consciousness as they moaned. "Yeah, I'm okay, Mommy." Nyx replied. "Me too." Spike added. "Are you girls all right?" Ben called out to the other girls in concern. "Yeah... I'm all right." Rainbow said as she woke up. "Man, that was quite a bump we all had." Applejack remarked. "No worries, MLP fans, no ponies were made in the making of this film." Pinkie spoke playfully to the camera. "Pinkie, you are so random." Rainbow remarked. As the others woke up from the nasty fall, the whole group could have sworn they heard the sound of swords swinging and clashing. "Boy, I must've hit my head hard." Rainbow commented as she rubbed her head, "I'm hearing a sword fight." "Ah don't think you're the only one who heard it, Rainbow Dash." Applejack remarked in slight concern. "Mr. Dewey?" Twilight called out as she looked around, wondering if the librarian overheard the commotion. What followed after was the sounds of a man roaring and an eagle screeching, along with the sound of horses neighing and galloping. The group looked around, wondering where the sounds were coming from. "Uh-oh." Richard said in concern. Applejack noticed the concern in Richard’s voice. “You okay, Suga-?” She was interrupted when she felt something drip on her leg. “Consarnit, don’t tell me the roof is lea-!” The cow pony began to complain, lifting her leg to see the supposed raindrop, but instead found that what leaked on her was a bit of green paint. "Uh... I don't think that's rainwater, Applejack." Fluttershy said in confusion. “… yeah. I just figured that out.” Richard felt something drip on his hand. He looked to see a drip of green paint on there as well. He simply shrugged it off and wiped it onto his rain jacket. Twilight heard dripping and turned to see yellow and purple paint dripping on the floor. She cocked an eyebrow before speaking. “Well, that’s weird.” She commented aloud. As Nyx turned to see blue and purple paint dripping on the floor, she asked aloud, "What's going on?" Out of confusion, Spike looked up to the murals. “Twilight! The murals are melting!” "What?!" Ben asked in startlement as he looked up with his marefriend. The rest of the group looked up to see that the murals were indeed melting. Almost immediately, paint began falling from the ceiling in torrents. Richard looked to his jacket to see the small splotch of green paint grow, turning it from yellow to green. He tossed off the jacket in panic and ran down one of the shelf corridors with the ponies and dragons following suit. "Talk about a reading rainbow!" Pinkie remarked in a frantic tone as they ran. “Less commenting, more running!” Rainbow exclaimed urgently. They then stopped to look back and see all the fallen paint began to merge, forming the head and neck of a ferocious dragon. The paint dragon turned in the direction of Richard and our heroes before letting loose with a vicious growl. Only one word ran through all their minds: Run! "DRAGON!!!" Fluttershy screamed in fear on seeing the paint dragon. "EVERYPONY RUN!!!" Pinkie cried. "This way!" Ben shouted urgently as he ran with the others following him almost immediately. The paint dragon shifted into a wave of paint and followed after the group. As it splashed against the shelves in its pursuit, the shelves the paint wave splashed became more animated, literally. Each time Richard looked back, he screamed and ran further along the corridors of shelves with the others. “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!!!” Spike shouted in panic as they ran/flew. "Run run run away!" Fluttershy cried out with a squeak. "Get away from us!" Nyx shouted as she tried blasting the paint wave back with her magic. Unfortunately, the blast had no effect on the paint wave and it continued to pursue our heroes. The chase eventually led them back to the rotunda. “MISTER, MISTER! WHERE’S THE EXIT?!” Richard exclaimed in panic. "Oh, Celestia, I think we've gone in circles!" Phobos panicked. "We gotta find the exit and get outta here fast!" Rarity cried. Before they even could think to do that, they turned to see the paint wave come down one corridor of shelves. They turned to another corridor to see another wave coming their way, eliciting a scream from all of them. “We’re surrounded!” Applejack shouted. "There's no way out!" Rainbow shouted. All they could think to do in the moment was huddle together and brace themselves for the worst. And before they knew it, they were splashed on all sides by the paint waves.