//------------------------------//
// Books of Memories 
// Story: All Aboard 
// by Squeak-anon 
//------------------------------//

After waiting several minutes and adjusting his glasses he asked again.
“How may I help you?” 
Applebloom sat on the floor, staring open mouthed at the newly restored library. Where there had once been damp and decay now lay a beautiful interior. The shelves were lined with golden vines, climbing all the way to the roof, there were chairs, deeply padded and very comfortable looking, spaced everywhere around the building. Beneath her hooves was a plush carpet designed to look like the spine of a gigantic book leading up the hallway. Applebloom stared at the nearest shelf, looking closely she read the words: “The small pony retracted her statement about the library simply bragging, feeling rather foolish.” 
Applebloom quickly closed her mouth, blushing slightly. “Oh...um...sorry.” 
Tome tapped a hoof against the desk, and asked a third time. 
“May I help you? 
She looked up at him. The flower on his head was still in full bloom, bending slightly in a non-existent breeze. Other than this oddity he looked every bit the librarian, a stark change from the raving zebra she’d met a few minutes earlier. 
“Yes?...” she hazarded. 
“Very good, how may I assist you today?” 
Applebloom thought for a moment. “Well...could you explain what just happened? I ain’t rightly sure.” 
“Of course,” he said. “Which part of ‘What Just Happened’ would you like an explanation on?” 
Sty came out from his hiding place and stood next to Applebloom. 
“Well whatd’ya know. You fixed him.” 
Applebloom looked down at the small pig. “I think I liked him better when he was a dinner plate...”
“Please state which part of ‘What Just Happened’, you would like an explanation on.” 
Sty snorted. “Librarians, always so literal.” 
“All of it?” Applebloom attempted. 
“Very good,” said Tome. “In the beginning there was nothing. Then, around fourteen billion years ago the great Princess of Nothing decided there ought to be Something and thus there was the universe. The universe was rather boring until around four billion years ago when the Princess of the sun came into existence, and decided it would be a lot nicer if she gave some light to a small rock floating in the milky wa-”
“Not all of it!” Applebloom yelled. “I mean everything that just happened in the last few minutes.”
“Last few minutes?” Tome cocked his head to one side. “What part of the last few minutes?” 
Applebloom sighed, exasperated. “All of that!”
“Very good.” He took a breath. “In ‘The Last Few Minutes’, a small pony, not quite a mare but not quite a filly, in a red bow bumped into the library sign, read the building into visibility, walked inside with a disagreeable talking pig, met a zebra who was sure he wasn’t an end table, then thought he was a puddle, then thought he was a dinner plate before getting his memory jogged by said kind small filly. In this act of jogging he repaired the library and asked her if she needed any help. She said she did then asked ‘What Just Happened’ the librarian, now named Tome sa-” 
“Um...that’s enough.” said Applebloom. “Can you explain...how you fixed the library?”
“How?” Tome momentarily looked a up and to the left. The flower on top of his head jiggled slightly. “Well, I am a part of the library, when I was fixed, it followed suit. A library cannot be fixed without a librarian.”
Applebloom thought this didn’t explain anything at all, but decided to let it drop. 
“All right then...Well, glad we could help. Now, we probably ought’a mosey on. Right Sty?” 
“Yeah, the faster the better.”
Tome looked down his glasses at them. “Might I enquire as to where it is you are ‘Moseying On’ to?”
Sty wiggled his ears. “None of your busines-”
“I’m going to see the Unsure,” said Applebloom.
Sty slapped his forehead with a tiny hoof.
The zebra pulled back a bit. “Now why would you want to do that? Did you not see what he did to me?” 
Applebloom puffed out her chest a bit, trying to appear confident. “He sent me here, and I plan on finding out why. Not to mention I think he needs to have a word with my back hooves.” 
Tome looked confused. “You back hooves cannot talk. And it is not a ‘He’ as gender specific pronouns are not grammatically correct.”
Applebloom’s ears twitched. “Huh?” 
Tome sighed. “If you are going on such a foolish errand, let me at least equip you properly.”  He stepped back from behind his desk, sunflower bobbing in a way that somehow managed to be orderly and serious. “Follow me.” 
Applebloom fell in step behind him, while Sty busied himself sniffing the newly restored carpet. 
“Equip me?” she asked. “You mean with some kind of weapon?” 
“The best weapon of all, young filly.” Tome nodded. 
This intrested Applebloom. “Really!?” 
“Yes.” Tome nodded again. “Knowledge.” 
Applebloom deflated. “Oh.” 
“Never underestimate the power of a good book.” 
Applebloom tried not to stare as the twin leaves of Tome’s sunflower reached out and grabbed a dusty book from its shelf. He held it like it was precious, carefully setting it on the ground next to Applebloom. It was almost as thick as her foreleg, and appeared to Applebloom to be the kind of book that one doesn’t actually read, so much as let sit on the bookself and claim to have read. 
“There you go,” he said expectantly. 
Applebloom waited for him to say something else, but he did not. 
“Well....aren’t you going to tell me what’s in it?” 
Tome shook his head. “I am a librarian, it is my job to catalog books, and keep them safe. It is your job as the reader, to find out what’s in them.” 
Applebloom resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and attempted to open the book, only to find it was sealed shut. 
“Well how am I supposed to do that if it’s stuck!?” she asked, getting slightly annoyed. 
Tome cocked his head to the side once more. Applebloom was beginning to grow tired of the gesture. 
“This is a library,” he said simply. “If you want to read it, you have to check it out.” He began to walk back towards the desk at a brisk pace, leaving her staring at large book at her hoof. 
“How am I supposed to carry this!?” she asked. 
“Read it smaller,” Tome replied. 
Applebloom stared at it for a moment. The mare side of her brain regected the idea that a zebra librarian with a bit of flora growing out of his head and just instructed her to change the size of a book by ‘Reading it smaller’. The filly side shrugged and did as it was told. 
The book responded immediately as it was quite obedient. It shrunk until it was about the size of a candy bar, sprouting a long red bookmark to match her bow. 
Applebloom smiled at this despite herself, picked up the book, and headed to the desk. She found Tome waiting as though he had never moved. He nodded to her, and she sat the book on the desk. 
“Excellent selection.” Tome bowed his head. The Sunflower on his head bent over, its petals enveloping the book for a moment before releasing it. “Please return it on time.” 
“When’s that?” asked Applebloom.
“Within the next three billion years.” 
“Oh...” Applebloom paused. “What happens then?”
“The end of the world.” 
Applebloom blinked. She thought about replying, but she felt a familiar hoof on the side of her leg.  She looked down to find Sty brooding impatiently. 
“Kid, we gotta go. It’ll be sundown soon, and if you’re set on doing this we gotta do it soon.”
Applebloom nodded, taking another look at the Zebra librarian, who regarded her passively. “Um...thanks...” 
For the first time since the flower on his head had opened, Tome smiled. 
“You’re welcome, Applebloom. And thank you for helping me. I shall offer you two last bits of advice.” 
“What are they?”
“One, do not open the book until you need to. You will know when that is. Two Remember your kindness, because something horrible is going to happen about seven hundred and eighty words from now.”
Applebloom stared at him for a moment. 
“Um...thanks...” she attempted. 
“You’re welcome,” he said, still smiling. 
Feeling Sty’s hoof once again at her leg, Applebloom turned and left. The library vanished behind her the second her hoof left the stairs.