The layout of the library was easy to plan. Amber had dreams of what it'd look like, and working with the contractors, she soon had a lovely layout planned, and, with pony industriousness, the library took form as if on its own before her. "This is amazing..."
Comforting ruffled her friendly unicorn friend stop the head. "But! You're missing the most important part for a library."
"The books!" Amber clopped a hoof to the side of her head. "We do need those... Okay. Okay. Books..." She stroked her chin with a hoof. "I'd ask you, but you'd give me a bunch of very old books that'd be super amazing but also confusing to a lot of ponies. No, we need modern books."
Comforting smiled as she listened to Amber plan and worry. "Glad you realized that without me telling you. This is a library, not an antiquated book store. So, where do ponies sell books these days?"
"I have no idea." Amber hopped up to her hooves and circled in a panic. "But we have to find out, now!"
Comforting held up her phone. "Why not ask this?"
Amber blinked at it. "Who are you going to call?"
Comforting inclined her head. "We could call somepony, but..."
"But..." One could almost see the gears turning, and it clicked. "Oh! Right! I'm new to these things." Amber floated out her own phone and got to tapping away, searching the Internet. "If you ask, it can answer, um... If you know the right question."
Comforting zipped in behind Amber, watching her search curiously. Amber hummed and hawed. "Well, There are book stores."
"That's a start. So let's start?" Comforting put down a shopping cart she hadn't had a moment before. "Let's shop! And ask questions. Those book stores have to get books from somewhere, right?"
Amber brightened at the sight of the cart. "Oh yes, excellent thinking!" She eagerly took up position behind it, horn glowing as she levitated the handlebar. "Let us be off to the nearest bookshop and see what we can discover about the mysterious supply chain of literature!"
With an encouraging wave from Comforting, Amber trotted purposefully forward, cart trailing dutifully behind her. But they hadn't gotten halfway down the newly paved street before the unicorn was frowning in consternation, phone hovering before her as she attempted to access her maps app with limited dexterity.
"Oh fiddlesticks, how do I search for the location again?" Amber huffed in frustration. "I know the basics of using this confounded device but anything more complex still vexes me."
With an amused chuckle, Comforting gently extricated the phone from Amber's magical grip and tapped open the maps herself. "Worry not, it takes time. The ways of this modern age shall become second nature soon enough!"
A few more pokes and prods had the nearest bookstore pinned on the screen. "There we are! Just a few blocks yonder by the looks of it." Comforting traced the glowing route with a talon.
"Shall I transport us to save your hooves...or would you prefer the scenic route?" she asked with a playful eyebrow waggle. Amber just laughed.
"Let's walk - no shortcuts today!" the unicorn proclaimed, setting off once more. "We have books to find and so much still to discuss. Tell me what you remember of libraries and bookshops from your time. How similar do you think they shall be?"
And so the odd duo ambled on through town. "I am actually really glad I met you specifically."
Amber perked at that. "Me?! I'm nopony special. Why me?"
Comforting swam idly along beside Amber, even if the air was not something one normally swam through. "You're keeping me real. You say no to shortcuts. I appreciate that. After so long of a pause, I think I might have gotten way out of hand if I didn't have a nice pony balancing me out. So, thanks."
Amber colored faintly, but she was smiling. "Glad to help. Now, here's our first store." She turned towards what looked to be one dedicated to airport reading. Light adventure novels, romances, and other things to enjoy casually. "Ooo." Amber peered at a thrilling spy tale she was passing. "Interesting books already..."
The shop stallion stepped forward as if drawn by Amber. "We have all kinds of books for all kinds of ponies! What sort are you looking for today?"
Amber clapped her hooves. "Hello! I'm... I want books, a lot of books. I want to open a library, so I need so many books."
The stallion blinked in surprise. "That's a tall order! But I love it. Maretime Bay could use a real library. You should talk to the mayor."
Amber recoiled at that. "Mayor? Why?"
The stallion crossed his hooves. "I hear libraries are paid for by the town they're in. If you told her what it was, I bet she'd help. But, back to what you asked. I could give you a the contacts of the book suppliers I use, but don't go stealing all my customers." He looked not too worried about that as he fished up those contacts and held his phone out at the end of his hoof.
Comforting grabbed Amber's phone and touched it to the offered phone. A jingle played as contacts hopped across the divide and Comforting gave it back. "Modern conveniences."
Amber stared at the new contacts in her phone as if the stallion had just gifted her a treasure chest brimming with gold. "Oh my stars, this is tremendously helpful, sir! Thank you ever so much."
She clutched the device to her chest. "With these suppliers on our side, I can see the shelves filling already. Why, Comforting and I shall have this library bursting with books in no time!"
Thinking of that mayor, Amber nibbled her lip uncertainly. "I suppose we ought speak to her as well and make things official. Can't have the town funding a rogue book depository!"
She sighed but quickly bolstered herself with the thought of children happily reading storybooks. This was for them after all! "Very well, let's pay this mayor a visit after we've placed some orders. Need to show proper progress if we expect bits from the public purse."
Glancing sidelong at Comforting swimming circles around her, Amber had to chuckle. "And I should perhaps leave you out of that first meeting. We want funding approved swiftly, not endless questions about what manner of creature my benefactress might be!"
Comforting blew a raspberry. "But I like answering questions."
Amber winked playfully, then turned back to the patient shopkeeper with a smile. "We truly can't thank you enough for pointing us in the proper directions. Once open, the library shall send regular customers your way too!"
Bidding the affable pony adieu for the moment, Amber struck out once more down the lane, nose already buried in her phone as she began happily contacting potential suppliers.
Comforting put a hand over the phone, interrupting that. "I love the eagerness. Love it. But... if that mayor does help fund the library, you could have the bits to pay for those books. Otherwise, you're the one paying for it, and you're not rich by every word you've said so far."
Amber looked blank a moment. "Right! Right... I feel dumb today." She bonked her head with that phone. "Get the funding, then get the books... We're already serious, we have a library! An empty library... But a library! That's more than most ponies have when they start this, I bet..."
She offered spread arms and Comforting took the hint. The two hugged warmly with a little nuzzle. "I'll go see that mayor. You... Um..." She looked around the city. "Could go visit Sparky? You two seem to get along really well."
"He's adorable." Comforting twirled at the thought of the baby dragon. "But... I'd rather visit a different dragon. You go on and talk with the mayor." She waved Amber off. "I can handle myself."
With Amber wandering off towards downtown, Comforting pulled out her phone and got to typing.
Hey, Together!
Is Spike around? He's a dragon, so... I hope so?
Hugs and Kisses to the Tree That Refuses to Hug Back,
Comforting
The reply was swift. "Wow." Comforting gladly hit the message button.
Hello, Comforting,
Spike is well. He is with the other dragons. I have sent a location to your phone. Those phones are very popular with ponies of this age. Do not share this information with any pony that doesn't already have it.
I'm Very Proud of You,
Together
Comforting giggled warmly. "Aw." She kissed the phone for lack of having Together there to smooch. "Love ya!" She pulled up the map with the location sent. "Look at you, hiding way out there." She zoomed in and in and in so hard, she was there, popping into being on the island.
"Who are you?" And the dragons noticed her immediately. "This is the Isle of Scaley, and you... are only a little scaley?"
Comforting reached out her dragon arm. "I'm part dragon, and I'm here to see Spike. He knows me."
The she-dragon raised a doubting brow. "You know the boss? And he knows you? This is... unexpected... Still, if you're part dragon, I guess that's alright, this way." They took flight, and Comforting easily kept at their side. "I wasn't sure if those mismatched wings would get you off the ground."
Not that those wings were doing the work, but Comforting kept that to herself, just smiling. They came on Spike, lounging, and so much bigger than long before. "Spike!"
Spike looked up, confusion on his face. "Huh?" He sat up, peering at the chimera that was Comforting. "You... are familiar... Where am I losing it...?"
"Comforting?" She did a twirl before him. "Used to be a friend of Twilight's too, remember?"
"Wow." He sank to his belly. "It's been ages. How are you doing?" With his official seal of recognition given, the other dragons relaxed.
"Better, now that I see my Spikey-Wikey!"
Spike colored brightly. "It's... I thought that term was long gone." He huffed softly. "Like she is..."
"Sorry." Comforting awkwardly shuffled. "I didn't come to make you feel bad."
"And you didn't." He casually grabbed Comforting to nuzzle her belly, making her squeal and wriggle. "Old news is old. Let's leave that in the past."
"You are chill, and I like it." Comforting wriggled free of his grip to float in front of him. "But I wanted to see how one of my favorite dragons is doing. Oh! I ran into a baby dragon. He's so cute! Even younger than you were when I met you."
Spike snorted a little smoke, thinking back to such distant times. "I was a kid. They... If they're the one I think you're talking about, they're a hatchling. Cute... yeah, they pass that test." He touched his nose to most of Comforting's fronts. "Since we're talking about that, I see you stayed grown up. Chaos spirit, I know you could have done whatever you wanted, but you're still grown."
Comforting grabbed his snout, or however much of it her arms allowed. "Taking on other forms is fun... But my own lady friend left a mark on me, as she did for you. I don't feel right retreating all the way back to foal for too long. I'm an adult."
Spike wrinkled his snout. "If I had the option... Nah, I'm an adult too. No point trying to hide that." He sat up slowly. "The dragons around here depend on me, and I have to protect them... Speaking of that... We have somepony trying to steal our magic. That's a mess."
"What?! Oh." Comforting thought back to the test in progress. "You can handle it, I know you can." Getting directly involved in that felt wrong. It was her place to guide and build, not solve problems for creatures. "You're Spike! What can't Spike deal with?"
"You have a high opinion of me." He shook her off gently. "Keep it up."