I had to ask around about where the library was. It turned out that it wasn’t actually on campus. It was next door–not towards the dorms, the other direction. It was in the palace.
Going there and coming back would cut into my lunchtime if I spent more than a few minutes in the library. I supposed I could reach it and introduce myself to the librarian. At least I would know the way and could get there faster next time.
There was a road that curved behind the school towards a drawbridge that led into the palace. Two lines of ponies were crossing the bridge. One line was moving quickly, the other much slower. Four guards and a trio of officials stood at the front of the line. One official seemed to be interviewing each pony as they reached the front of the slower line. The other two officials appeared to be paying half attention to who was being interviewed in the slow line while at the same time briefly nodding through ponies in the faster line without an interview.
I walked up to the slower line. “Hello, I’ve never been here before. What’s with the two lines?”
An earth pony mare at the end of the line looked at me. “If they know you and know your general business at the palace, then you get in the fast line, and they let you straight through. If you’ve never been here or don’t have regular business, you must get in this line so they can determine who you are and why you are coming to the palace.”
Well, I would have regular business here, but those guards and officials probably didn’t know who the students were if they never interviewed them. That meant that I had to stand in the slow line. No wonder Lunar Light had been at the library so late last night. It probably took him forever to get in.
Then again, the line wasn’t moving too slowly. Maybe I might not have the time to do much, but I could at least get through the line this time and find the library. In the future, I could go in through the fast lane.
I got in line behind the mare. She looked back at me.
“And what brings you here, colt?” she asked. “You seem a little young to be on a mission.”
“I’m a student, and I’m going to the library,” I explained. “My name is Turnip Jones. Who are you, and why are you here?”
“I’m Clover Leaf,” she answered. “I’m on my way to make a petition on behalf of my village. The main road in and out of our village needs repair. We’ve been repairing it ourselves, but it’s badly eroded, and our materials are poor, so the repairs never last long. Our carts keep getting stuck in the holes and the mud. It is seriously hurting our town’s ability to trade. I’m here to ask the princess for aid in fixing the road.”
I smiled. “I hope she approves your petition.”
The mare sighed. “I hope so, too. Our town mainly produces exotic flowers. They trade well when we can get them to other towns, but it's been hard lately. We need to trade; otherwise, they’re all we have to eat, and just eating flowers isn’t very healthy. There’s also no trees in the area, so there’s no wood other than what we get through trade. We need that road functional.” She gave me an appraising look. “What kind of school do you go to that you need to go to the palace library?”
I pointed a leg across the street. “The School of Magic. I just found out that the palace library is our library. I guess that saves space.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You go to the School of Magic? Are you pulling my tail? Earth ponies don't go to the School of Magic.”
“I do, and I have an earth pony professor. Professor Apple Bloom teaches alchemy—that’s what I want to learn,” I replied.
“That's like potions and stuff, right?” she asked.
“Among other things,” I answered. “There's a long history of non-unicorns doing alchemy. Professor Apple Bloom is a great alchemist, and she learned the art from a zebra who had studied the works of the great mage Meadowbrook, who was also an earth pony.”
“I never heard of that,” Clover said with a hint of wonder. “I didn't know earth ponies could be mages.”
“Sure you have. You heard of Wild Growth, right?” I asked.
“Oh, yes!” Clover replied. “Her picture used to be on all those products from Earth when I was a foal. I heard that she was a powerful pony, but my parents told me that she had to be just a mascot that was made up.”
I shook my head. “No, I'm from Earth, and I've seen her…well, seen her on TV. She could grow forests in seconds, raise mountains from flat ground, and cause earthquakes. She could even tell where everyone was around her by feeling them moving on the ground because she was so connected to the Earth…but she burnt her power out while saving a city. She can't do that stuff anymore.”
“Did she save the city?” Clover asked.
“Well…the city was kind of a wreck after, but parts of it still stood, and most people survived. If she hadn't been there, it would have been one giant crater, and everyone would have died,” I explained.
“A city is made up of its ponies, not the buildings. You can rebuild buildings, but not ponies,” Clover said sagely. “I'm sorry to hear she burnt herself out. She sounds like a great pony. My parents and grandparents told me stories of Tirek and how he stole all the pony magic. They said losing their magic was the worst feeling ever, and you feel like you want to die without it. That was before I was born, but I believe them, and I imagine being burnt out feels like that. If you are going to that school, you'll probably push yourself very hard. Be careful so you don't burn out, too.”
I chuckled. “I don't think that will happen to me. Alchemy relies on the magic of other things. It can't use me up.”
“If you say so,” Clover said with a smile.
More people got in line behind me as the line slowed down, and everyone in line seemed to grumble as the officials up front seemed to be having trouble with a pair of unicorns who appeared to be making a fuss. My guess was they weren't being admitted or not getting their way about something. I didn't have a phone since coming to Equestria, so I was unsure what time it was or how much was passing. There was a clock face on the school building, but that wasn't visible from where I stood. The line needed to start moving, or I might as well head back to school. I didn't want to cut my lunch short. I could already imagine Headmaster pulling the same stunt again, only this time, he wouldn't arrange for himself to be last.
Eventually, the pair of discontent unicorns relented and walked away, grumbling. As they walked by the back of the line, I heard their mutters to each other. They weren't speaking to one another in Equestrian; It sounded like some sort of Chinese language. I wasn't sure if it was Mandarin or Cantonese or what; it was all Chinese to me, but it definitely had that kind of feel to it. I supposed that if there were people visiting from the United States, there were just as likely to be people visiting from other Earth nations. It was just odd seeing Chinese ponies in general. China was very closed off and secretive, aside from their regular declarations that all ponies and all humans that wished to be ponies were welcome and that they would cover the costs of migration and travel for ponies (humans had to fend for themselves on that front, even if they wanted to be ponies). China had become diplomatically and economically cut off from much of the world due to their overt belief that they should convert all humans to ponies. They still did trade through neutral countries—primarily ones who couldn't afford not to trade with China, but for most of the world, what happened in China was a mystery. Equestria must still have diplomatic relations with them if they were visiting here.
“They speak oddly; never heard that tongue,” Clover commented.
“They sound Chinese. It's a big nation on Earth,” I replied, adding the last bit in case someone from Equestria might not know.
“Oh! I heard of that place,” Clover said. “The princesses have to meet with their delegates regularly, and they always ask Equestria to turn over some ponies to them that we have given sanctuary to, even if they were talking about other stuff first, and the princesses always refuse. The fuss those ponies make has become so legendary that I doubt a pony in Equestria hasn't heard talk about the ponies that dare to get in yelling matches with the princesses in the throne room. Even for a farm pony like me, that's scandalous!”
“Equestria is harboring Chinese refugees?” I asked in surprise.
“There's five of them—I’ve also heard it is six. I don't know anything else about them other than that, but it's always the same five or six ponies they ask for—the story changes about how many. I don't know why they want them so badly. They can come to talk about trade, but before the talk is done, they’re demanding those ponies be turned over to them. I can't imagine what they did that they want them so badly. It's not like the princesses would shelter criminals,” Clover explained.
That was confusing. Why would China care so much about a few ponies? I was sure plenty of people defected or migrated away from China every year, maybe even important people who knew state secrets. What made these five special that they'd jeopardize a rocky relationship with the most powerful nation that would still talk to them? Well…they must care a little about that relationship; otherwise, they'd try taking the ponies directly.
Actually, maybe it wasn't all ponies. Clover said she knew nothing about the ponies they were after; perhaps she assumed it was all ponies. That was an easy mistake for an Equestrian to make. Headmaster looked like he was Chinese, and he had a powerful artifact that no one knew where it came from. It seemed unlikely China could make something like that, but maybe he had figured out how and run away to Equestria, where he did make it. Being able to make something like that would be extremely valuable to China—extremely valuable for anyone. That could make Headmaster one of those they were after, especially if they needed him to have it work at full power.
That was all speculation on my part. I'd tell Professor Neighsay about it at the end of the week. Hopefully, that would help my standing with him a little. He was right; I was an opportunist who wouldn't pass up something that could help me. I wasn't the only pony like that. I could tell when Hannah spoke that she cared a lot about weighing costs. Maybe it was more a financial thing with her, but it wasn't that different. I didn't make it to Equestria without jumping on an opportunity…and maybe defying a few people who were likely very VERY angry at me right now. I wouldn't be shocked if the school got a letter. I still hadn't quite figured out how I would deal with that if it came. I should probably be glad I had to take summer classes and do everything I could to make friends with as much of the faculty as possible before that letter inevitably came. I hoped it was just a letter.
The line was moving much faster now, even faster than it had before the Chinese ponies brought it to a screeching halt. Maybe the guards were trying to make up for the inconvenience while the ponies in line were also making every attempt to be quick and clear about who they were and why they wanted to be admitted. No one wanted to be THAT pony after what we just waited through.
Most ponies ended up getting in. I only noticed one who was sent away, who was standing two spots ahead of me and was asked to come back tomorrow instead. Clover was let through with no issue and directed to where there would be another line of ponies waiting to present their petitions to Celestia. Then it was my turn.
“Name?” the official asked.
“Turnip Jones,” I answered.
The official jotted it down. “Business at the palace?”
“I need to use the library for school,” I answered.
He jotted that down as well. “Name and location of your school?”
“The School of Magic,” I answered before pointing across the street. “Right there.”
The official looked up at me from his scroll. “An earth pony at that school? You're joking, right?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I'm the first earth pony admitted.”
The official frowned and pulled out a scroll from a pile he had below his desk. He unrolled it and spent a moment looking it over.
“Pull my tail and call me a daisy; you are listed among the students,” he said in amazement. He then rolled up the scroll and put it away. “Very well. In the future, you may take the fast line but will still need to state your business. There's a map to the library as soon as you walk into the main hall. Follow that, and you should have no trouble. Do not wander anywhere else—you will be detained if you do. Carry on.”
I grinned sheepishly. “I actually need to get back to school for lunch now. I just wanted to get this over with so I could use the fast line in the future.”
“Well, carry on with that then. Just get out of my line,” the official said with a dismissive flick of his tail.