//------------------------------// // Reading Day // Story: School Days // by Dai Kirai //------------------------------// Sunny waited for Stormy to enter before closing the door behind him. Inside stood a circular room, books not only filling the walls but quite a bit of the floor space. A single lavender unicorn sat square in the middle of it all, reading while shelving books by the dozen and then pulling more off the shelves. She was somehow reading them all at the same time. Stormy had never seen anything like it and was hesitant to step closer for fear of disturbing whatever the mare was involved in. The mare muttered maniacally moving manuscripts. Her striped mane was out of place and frazzled. “No! Who put you in 3? you are obviously a 4!” she mumbled a few curses. “Why did I volunteer for this?!” the mare questioned the air. Now closer Stormy noticed a six pointed star for her cutie mark. Another outburst sent books flying in every direction. One errant book slammed into the door behind the mustard yellow pegasus who gave an “EEP!” in response before jumping forward and spinning to eye the errant missile. The violet unicorn jerked her head in his direction. “Oh! I am so sorry. Nopony else was scheduled to be here today,” her cheeks brightened a few shades as she picked up the errant books in her magic. “Are you here to help organize? If so somepony needs to tell you how to organize books. Graphic history tomes, especially those with pictures, are an eight and not a five. We don’t want to scare ponies now do we?” Stormy took this latest incident in stride. His life had become weird enough, so why not an insane unicorn throwing around books and ranting? Who knew why despite the book hitting the door with enough velocity the pegasus was particularly glad it hadn’t hit him, considering somehow there was no damage to the book. Or it could be that his mind froze in the onslaught. He closed his mouth, blinked a few times, and took a breath before answering. “Uhhh……” Stormy took a look at the door behind him to see a dent in the wall created by one of the books turned  projectile.  “You aren’t with the library are you?” The mare facehoofed. “Of course not.” She turned, picking up more books and putting them in piles as if she knew exactly where each one had come from by instinct alone. “Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle. What brings you to this section of the library?” “I wanted to study some texts on Earth culture before leaving for school.” Stormy explained hesitantly, still stood rooted by the door, his heart rate picked up again. “I already have some idea of what books-” Twilight’s ears perked up and her books dropped, her eyes went wide, followed by her mouth as it grew into an eager smile. “Nopony has come in here looking for information outside of a lone zebra a few months ago and a griffon. What were you interested in?” Stormy pulled out his to-do list which was immediately wrapped in an amethyst glow. The pegasus leapt and grabbed the paper in his hooves. Twilight dropped the parchment and the clinging pegasus, giving a sheepish grin in the process. “Sorry.” He took a quick look at the list, some things on there were private, and just looked at the subjects he wanted to read. “History. Medical conditions and how they affect ponies and humans. Beliefs.” Twilight’s expression changed, the humor and dorkiness left, replaced by a manager’s face. “Any history tome you want will be at least level 6, these others are not practical enough for what you will need. That is why students cannot take history classes until their second year, it is not for the faint of heart. Religion is also a seven but requires a base understanding of human society to access. What medical information in particular? That can range from a three to a nine.” Stormy played with his wings in trepidation and stared at a random book on the ground, Ars Goetia, the same book Ed had. “A friend there is deaf. . .” He let his sentence trail off, unsure what the reaction to such a disease would bring. By the time he looked back up there was a stack of at least a dozen books at his hooves. Picking up the first one, it was hard backed, the spine had a number “6” on it, the title said something about anatomy and history. “The numbers are more of a guide.” The purple pony had gone back to her eccentric ritual of sorting her books, the smile she had upon meeting him was still firmly ensconced if a bit smaller. The unicorn picking up and sorting several books at once. “Sunny will be here in a few minutes with others books that will help.” *** Stormy never noticed when the new books arrived, just a sense of someone saying his name and then a door closing. He was maybe halfway through a biography on a doctor Philip Zazove and was simply stunned. This man with good grades and a positive demeanor was rejected from so many places but kept it up, one of only three of his kind. He was deaf, and a successful doctor helping out others. There was this innate warmth to his writing, the care he took towards each patient, it was impressive. It filled the pony with its own kind of warmth and love. The list of books was starting to seem insurmountable, he didn’t even know any of these names; Edison, Keller, Ferrigno, and the list went on. Those, Stormy decided would be optional. The next pile was a stack on human medical diseases, leafing through it though, it included a lot more than just deafness but also paralysis, blindness, loss of limbs, and a few things that he had to skip past. Next was a pile on pony medical diseases, but also what remedies there were, almost none he had ever heard of. All of a sudden that first stack filled him with determination. It blended perfectly with his book. “Um, Twilight?” Stormy asked into the silence, “Have you heard of a book called The Hunger Games?” Twilight looked up, having finished her sorting to start on her own pile of reading, three books at a time. Her look was sour. “Unfortunately. Not sure how you heard about it but nopony around here has or will ever see it. That is an eight, bordering on nine for its senseless violence and blood. How did you hear about it?” “It was recommended to me on Earth. At one of the shops.” Stormy wanted badly to ignore the question and goes back to his book, or any book. The mare gave a low growl. “I hope you didn’t read it. It paints a very poor picture of humans as cruel beasts.” Stormy grasped a new book in his wings to ignore what Twilight had said, but he found himself unable. “Then why was it recommended? Why is it popular?” “Nopony really knows.” The mare was reading and holding a conversation, the stallion was a little in awe. “They have a history of war and a lot of their media depicts grotesque violence.” “What if it isn’t about the violence?” Stormy heard his own voice cracking. This pony is much more experienced and probably has some say on who can visit Earth. Do I really want to argue with her? A cold tingle shot up the pegasi’s spine, his feathers started shuffling and shifting to trap more air against his body. “W-w-what if it’s about conflict?” Her pile of books clattered to the floor, as Twilight stared into the distance. She was just still, no movement outside of her chest rising and falling. “Spike? SPIKE! Where are you?” His throat closed and he stumbled back at the sudden outburst, his heart beating as fast as a hummingbird’s. “Thank you.” The lavender mare squeed before moving off to unknown parts, or at least parts of the library Stormy couldn’t see. “I need to check with Parchment on some issues.” Like that Stormy was alone. “Maybe this would be a good time to leave for the evening.” He was splayed out of the floor talking to nopony in particular and waiting until his hooves no longer felt like fog.