It was a dark and stormy night, and deep within the bowels of the Golden Oak Library madness crouched. Seething tentacles of horror and pain twisted and writhed withing the confines of their worldly cage, fighting to free themselves and strike back against the puny mortal that dared summon them forth from the depths of the ancient grimoires from whence they came. Long they fought their most vile war, and most viciously did they resist the will of the single unicorn who stood in their way, holding back the terrors they would unleash with sheer force of will.
It was a battle of attrition that had been waged every night for months, unbeknownst to the general population. Each night the brave unicorn would venture down to the bowels of the library and do battle with forces eldritch and ineffable, never once giving an inch, never conceding. Though his mind was battered and his body weakened by his ongoing struggle he knew in his heart of hearts that he could never give up, never show fear, lest his foes scent his weakness and devour him.
Long was the struggle in the depths of the library, two great armadas of mind and will clashing over and over again, each seeking victory in hopeless battle after hopeless battle, only to come away battered and wounded with the cold comfort that they had given to their opponent just as good as they had gotten. Yes, it was a mutual siege, one that would shrivel the hearts of the average citizen of Ponyville with terror and twist their minds with agony, ultimately leaving them broken and piteous, gibbering nonsensically in pain and fear. It would take a miracle to change the course of the war, something new to break the endless cycle of unstoppable force meeting immovable object, something powerful enough to tip the balance in a battle more deadly than mortal minds could comprehend, and both sides knew it. It was the Unicorn's greatest hope and his enemy's worst fear, for though the Unicorn could, at desperate need, summon unto himself many a relic and ally of unimaginable power, the eldritch monstrosities had no such recourse, as all it's contemporaries were locked in pitched battles of their own. Their entire race was on the front lines, leaving no reinforcements.
It was to their great dismay, then, that the Unicorn found his siege-breaker.
They knew when he first brought forth the new power into their battle, they knew its form and its radiance. Many times had they faced it in the past and every time it had cast them down. They knew their battle was over, yet like the wild beasts they fought all the harder for knowing that their end was nigh, and though the Unicorn knew that victory was finally within his grasp he was in more peril than ever, but despite his enemy's greatest efforts and cleverest tricks he stood firm and with his ally by his side he pierced their defenses, scoring the first blow that would lead to their downfall.
After they were first struck it was only a matter of time, but though they continued to fight on they were unable to muster the same terrible power they once had. Their strikes became less and less coordinated, more feeble, as they bled and strength left them until they succumbed to their wounds and fell, awaiting the final blow they knew was coming, yet had no power to resist. The Unicorn did not keep them waiting.
217. Beaker, B., Titrate, C., Distiller, W., & Nitor, N. (1217 AC, 1ALR) Thaumaturgic Resonance Factors and their effects on Medical Potions and the Pony Body. Canterlot Journal of Medicine, 56(14), 1147-1223.
"Finally done." I groaned, letting my much-abused quill drop to the table. "I'm so glad I ordered the cheat sheet for the latest update in CAS citation. Whoever decided that each citation should have to be cited in the appropriate version of the style according to the year they were written in should be institutionalized." The base of my horn had been aching something fierce for the past hour and my bed was singing a sweet sweet siren song. "Ugh, I'll mail this out to the University later, it can wait."
Slowly ascending the stairs and listening to my joints creak and pop as they were forced into mobility after hours of being locked in the same position as I finished my graduate thesis on the alchemical effects of magically enhanced opiates. It had been sent back 'for revisions' a dozen times over the past half year, though since the pony who had to approve it didn't have a good history with my family I expected that. My problem had been when she decided to apply the new citation rules that shouldn't have gone into effect until the current semester was over. Obstructive bureaucracy was, is, and forever shall be the foundation upon which all of Canterlot was built, but some ponies take it to an extreme. Fortunately I've kept records of all the 'errors' that she found in my paper and with the latest fixes and the new citation I can bring my case to the Dean who, while not exactly a friend of mine, hates the head of medicine passionately. As I understand it the two of them had a fling that ended badly and never forgave each other, which (while an apalling breach of professional etiquette) worked well enough for me.
Once I got to the top of the stairs I went through the long process of deactivating the security seals and other various barriers that protected my lab from unwanted intruders, or protected unwanted intruders from my lab, it all depended on how you wanted to look at it. I had originally asked for permission to install some automatic defense systems of a more ballistic nature in addition to the shields, but all that had won me was the horribly disappointed look Celestia gives me when I try to install military point-defense weapons in a civilian area, so I had to make do with hermetic seals and a heavy duty kinetic barrier.
With that finally done I opened up the heavy duty steel door and entered into the back office of the library where I found quite possibly the most horrible thing I had ever seen.
Sunlight.
It was morning. Not just early morning, morning enough that I would actually have to do things in the library. Somehow I had completely lost track of time while I was working. What the hay? That hadn't happened in a week and a half, I thought I had finally gotten the hang of checking the time while I worked.
"Dammit. There's no way I can deal with the usual horseapples after being awake for..." I checked the clock in the room, which had a built in calendar. "Twenty seven hours. Buck. And it's saturday too, so students are going to be coming in to try and find books for their assignments all day long...and the new Daring Do just came out so there's going to be the rush for that. Buck me sideways." I snarled, grateful for the energy that frustrated rage provided. "That tears it, Dusk Shine needs caffiene. Stat."
It was almost seven, so I'd barely have the time to heat to heat the water for tea, much less go through the hour long process of preparing proper coffee, so I had no time to waste. I quickmarched up the stairs to my apartment and made a beeline for the kitchenette and my hoofmade heater urn. Like a store bought electric kettle, but more magical and thus better. It even had a built in oxygen monitor so I could use an oxygenation wand to make sure my water was exactly perfect for tea brewing. It stood out in the kitchen for being the only thing on the wooden countertops that wasn't a technological device.
I filled it with water from another urn with a built-in water filter and primed the heating sigils that I had oh-so-carefully scored into the interior surface of the brown pottery jug. Then I left it to do its thing while I opened the pantry and perused my tea selection.
Row upon row of clearly labeled but otherwise identical circular tins took up an entire shelf of the pantry, organized not by alphabet or by flavor, but by caffiene content. Weaker brews on the left, beginning with the ginger/mint medley I used to allay my virulent motion sickness and running the spectrum to the far right in the back, specimens of difficult to find tea blends that had been specifically grown to be extremely potent and actually required a license to buy. I grabbed two tins, first was the most hideously caffinated blend I had, a black tea with no flavor profile whatsoever, and a lemongrass/spearmint herbal that I kept on hoof just for flavor purposes. After that came my hoofmade pewter teapot, extra large with heating sigils just like the heater urn, and I measured out large spoonfuls of both teas and dumped them in the bottom of the pot, trusting to the built-in strainer to catch any particulates. All I had to do then was wait, though that was always the hardest part.
Celestia had gotten me started on tea back when I was a foal, as a way to break me of an (admitted) addiction to Island Nectar, a cheap citrus soda which I had been consuming on the order of roughly two liters a day. She had been smart about it too, in the beginning she had the royal chef make pitchers of sweetened fruit tea (not too different than flat soda or commercial fruit juice now that I look back on it) and heavily sweetened hot chai. Once I had accepted that without complaint the tea slowly got less sweet and less fruity until about a year after she took me on as her apprentice I was drinking straight green tea by the pot. I still drank Island Nectar occasionally, but nowhere near as much as I used to, and I had recently taken to carrying a thermos full of iced tea with me wherever I went.
As I waited for the urn to heat I heard an odd sound from my bedroom across the apartment and went to investigate. Inside the darkened room I saw my bed (sweet, sweet, wonderful bed) was still neatly made, just as I had left it. Spike's basket was another story. The small dragon had kicked the blanket off himself and was sprawled halfway out with his limbs hanging over the edges, twitching periodically. When I walked closer he started squirming and bumped a clawed paw into my nightstand, the source of the noise from earlier. His face was scrunched up into a grimace.
"Spike?" I called softly, walking over to him. "Spike, you okay?"
"Hunh? Dusk?" He slurred sleepily, his eyes cracking open slightly. "Wha's wrong? Time'ta work?"
"No, it's too early. What's wrong bud?" Normally he would have been up and ambulatory by now, since baby dragons were crepuscular, seeing him still sleeping at this time worried me.
"Couldn' sleep." He whimpered. " Guardponies got me."
"Everything's fine Spike." I laid down next to his basket and nuzzled his cheek. "No guardsponies here, you're okay Spike." The follow-up investigation into the vandal I'd had to deal with had meant that some town guard ponies had been in and out of the apartment a lot and I'd been afraid that would trigger his nightmares again.
"Y'sure?" His sleep deprived mannerisms reminded me uncomfortably of Applejack's debacle just a week previous, but I suppressed my discomfort so he wouldn't pick up on it and nuzzled him again.
"I'm sure. You can go back to sleep." I let him wrap his arms around my neck and hold onto me for reassurance, the water and the library could wait. Technically he was supposed to assist me by re-shelving the books and other things like that, but if he was this out of it he could stay in bed. He'd done plenty of work the previous night when I'd briefly come up from my lab to help him get the new Daring Do books shelved and entered into the ledger anyway.
"Stay here?" He asked hopefully.
"Sorry, but I gotta go down work the library." If I hadn't had anything to do I would've let him curl up with me on my bed and taken a nice long nap, but as tempting as that was I simply didn't have that option. "You'll be okay Spike, I promise."
"Dun' want you ta go." He tightened his grip.
"I know Spike, but I don't have a choice." I reluctantly pulled my head back and he unhappily let me go. "Go back to sleep, everything will be fine, you're totally safe." As I said that I helped him get back into his basket all the way and wrapped his heavy denim blanket snugly around him, simulating the inner membrane of a dragon's egg, and laid a gentle heating spell on it to make the similarities even stronger. The effect was immediate, his eyelids drooped and with one last indecipherable mumble he was hovering on the edge of dreamland. Seeing him like that made the urge to ignore the library and stay with him even stronger, but I ignored it, knowing that would only cause problems. "You can sleep on my bed tonight, I promise. Sleep well Spike." I kissed his forehead and tiredly walked out, closing the door silently behind me.
Back in the kitchenette the water was ready, so I prepared my teapot, dumped in the leaves, grabbed my favorite mug, a large black one with an artful rendering of the caffiene molecule on it (a birthday gift from my brother), and marched downstairs to face the day. My level of optimism, directly tied as it always was to the amount of caffiene in my bloodstream, was nonexistent.
Downstairs I was faced with a group of chagrined ponies standing outside the front doors, mostly staring at the Daring Do display Spike had set up, and some of them even were even wearing shirts with the titular heroine on them. Great, fanponies my favorite things in the world. Thankfully it was still a few minutes before opening time so I had a chance to get myself set up.
Urn and mug went down behind the librarian's desk, register book came out, quills lined up, and a quick inspection of my Cloudsdale Thundersteel Battery Baton was performed. I was as ready as I was ever going to be. Wearily and with great reluctance I opened the doors to the library and unleashed the stampede.
The instant the doors started moving the crowd of Daring Dunces rushed for the display and promptly began fighting, bowling over a mother and two foals in the process. Then the mother started yelling at the rabid fanponies while her foals cried, and it was my job to deal with it. Such is the life of a small town librarian. Sighing, I left the counter and walked over after glancing at the timer on my urn, not much longer thank Celestia.
"Alright alright, stop fighting. There are more copies in the Action/Adventure section." I was immediately innundated by a flood of painful noise as the ponies who got copies of Daring Do and the Sorcerous Goblet of the Phoenix Prince yammered at me to let them check it out, the other ones urgently asking me where the Action/Adventure section was, and the mother yelling at me for not yelling at them. Oh, and the foals had only gotten louder. I was tempted to silence them all with magic, and in my pre-caffeine haze I nearly did, but after weighing the (tremendous) satisfaction of doing so against that dissapointed look Celestia gives me when I use morally dubious magic on other ponies just to make my day easier I decided it wasn't worth it.
The foals were silenced by hard candy (which I keep behind the desk for just such emergencies, even though it technically violates library rules) and the mother was silenced by a firm remonstration to the Fanponies and a threat not to let them check out. The threat also had the fringe benefit of shutting up the Daring Dolts, which was always satisfying. After that it was back behind the counter to attend to the already long line of ponies waiting to check out.
I thought about Spike as I went through the tedious rigamarole that was the bulk of my job. We hadn't done anything fun together in a while and he deserved a bit of a break from the late hours in the library we'd been sharing. I felt kind of guilty for letting him help me so often, especially since he had his own education to worry about, but his grades (sent back via flame to his tutor) were top-notch and he had never taken well to being on his own for a long time at a stretch. He had just passed a mathematics test with flying colors as I recalled, that was more than reason enough to go into town and Celebrate. Horte's for dinner and then Sugarcube Corner for dessert maybe. Ever since Pinkie started making gemstone laced cupcakes he'd been begging to go. Yes, that sounded nice. I could get something a little less detrimental to my intestinal integrity and we could enjoy a sugar high together.
"Bit for your thoughts Darling?" I was snapped out of my wool gathering to see Rarity across the desk with one prim eyebrow raised and a small smile on her muzzle as her library card floated onto my desk.
"Just making plans for later, was it that obvious?" I checked out her books Mareabian Culture, a Study in Sand, Stars, and Caravans, Comparative Studies of Earth Pony, Pegasus and Unicorn History, and Textiles of the Ancient World.
"You did not recognize me when you looked up dear."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to." I glanced behind her to find that there was nopony else in line, so I felt comfortable talking a little more. "I didn't expect you to get these, except maybe the last one. What's the event."
"Why, Renaissance fashion has been coming back into vogue darling. Didn't you hear? Just yesterday I saw the most exquisite dress in an old book and I was struck by inspiration! My next line will be inspired by Mareabian Nights!" Her eyes got starry as she trotted off into fantasy. "Just imagine it Dusk! Flowing robes, starry nights in the desert, romantic flying carpet rides..."
"I see you've gotten a few ideas from pop culture." I noted. "I think you'll find reality to be a whole new world. A world filled with inter-tribal raiding, decidedly non-romantic hostage taking, and dry trade records."
"Oh hush." She sniffed primly. "You musn't always be such a spoilsport you know, besides, my customers do not want reality, they want to be swept away on the winds of fantasy, to feel bold and beautiful, and if I must suffer through dry treatises such as these in order to give them that, then that is what I will do."
"Ah, I see, you're taking a page out of my book and studying." My joke was met with dead silence and a flat stare. "Get it? We're talking about books, I'm a librarian, we're in a library, it's funny on three levels!"
"Yes dear, I am aware that it was meant to be a joke, I just did not want to dignify it with a response."
"You're just jealous that I'm naturally punny." I felt a spontaneous grin form on my face and I giggled like Pinkie Pie reading a cookbook.
"One would think an extensive education at the hooves of the princess herself would have included the study of humor at some point." Rarity said as she gathered her books, not quite intending me to overhear.
"Oh, Celestia tried to stop me. Plenty of times, but I'm puntamable."
"It has been nice talking to you Dusk Shine, I will see you later this week for our usual get together."
"Puncontrollable!" I blurted, unable to stop myself. The continuing giggles I had made me think I was a bit more sleep deprived than I thought.
"Good bye Dusk." Rarity deadpanned on her way out.
"Some ponies just can't appreciate humor." I chuckled. A brief look over at my teapot revealed that the timer was ten seconds off. I flicked it off with my magic and counted off the remaining time in my head before pouring steamy caffeinated goodness into my mug.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to savor it, at least not the first mug anyway, so I magically cooled it down to a safe temperature and slammed it back, downing the whole thing in five long gulps. The effects wouldn't be instant, but the warmth in my belly and the knowledge that I had a massive dose of my favorite stimulant headed straight towards my intestinal villi would be enough to keep me going until it actually kicked in.
"I'd like to check out please!" I looked up from pouring myself a refill and was greeted by the grey coat and misaligned yellow eyes of the town mailmare. She had a copy of the new Daring Do book as well as a do-it-yourself fireproofing guide.
"Sure, just a second." Register came out, card got checked. "I didn't figure you for a Daring Do fan Mrs. Doo."
"I'm not, but my oldest daughter, Sparkler, is." She chirped. Of all the ponies in Ponyville she was the only one who could give Pinky a run for her bits in the bubbly department. "She's been having a rough few days so I wanted to do something nice for her."
"Well hopefully things get better." I felt kinda proud of myself, even a year ago small talk was completely foreign to me. I was holding my own pretty decently by now. "Here you go."
"Thanks Dusk!" She waved with a wing as she walked out.
No one in line checking out books meant I had time to pour myself more tea, and soon the delightful scent of lemongrass was wafting ever so pleasantly up from my mug. Celestia was an earl grey fanatic, but bergamot never did it for me. It smelled nice enough, but it was so unpleasantly bitter to my palate that I've never been able to enjoy it. My favorite kind of tea was a white tea that was flavored with spearmint and lime. Iced and lightly sweetened: heaven. It's only made by one little tea shop in Canterlot, and it's extravagantly expensive, so I saved it for special occasions. I had been tempted to make some since I'd finally finished my paper, but it didn't have nearly enough caffiene for my needs.
"Hiya Dusk!" I looked up from a swallow of hot tea to see golden eyes staring intently back at me.
"Ah...Ms. Heartstrings?" Lyra wasn't easy to forget, not with her coat color.
"Yep! Lyra Harpflank, that's me! I wanna check this out!" A Beginner's Guide to Cocktails
"Alright, can I see your library card?"
"Nope." She smiled cheerfully back at me.
"Well then I'm afraid I can't check you out." I said after a long, awkward pause.
"I don't have a card." Sweet Celestia, is she related to Pinky or something?
"Here, sign this." I floated one of the blank cards I kept under the desk up and let her use my quill. While she (sloppily) signed the card I checked her out and stuck a free bookmark in the book, trying not to cringe at the ink that spilled onto the desk.
"There! Oh, awesome! How long until I gotta bring this back?"
"One week."
"Cool, now, let's see, where's the whiskey section? Heheheh...Beaker isn't gonna know what hit him." I ignored the creepy laugh and focused on removing ink from my desk. At our last weekly get-together Rarity had been thrilled to talk about Lyra and Bon Bon getting together with Bunsen Beaker after what had apparently been a long and involved courtship. Since I knew none of them I didn't really care that much, but after hearing Lyra laugh like that I might warn Beaker if I ran into him, out of male solidarity if nothing else.
Also, now that I thought about it, we were each supposed to pick something to do for our weekly get togethers and I had been...lax in my planning. As I checked out a procession of Daring Dumbells, whose behavior was eerily similar to drug addicts now that I took a closer look at it, I pondered plans for my turn.
Book club? No, Rainbow Dash alone made that impossible, to hyper to sit still and too impatient to read something that wasn't licensed by the Wonderbolts. Stargazing? Maybe, I have a very nice collection of telescopes, but somehow I doubt that would go over well. Rarity has a very strict bed time after all, and once again Rainbow would be a problem. Perhaps we could just have some tea? No, best not, tea and gossip was almost assuredly Rarity's plan. Games maybe? Spike is a board game fanatic so there's a copy of just about every board game known to ponies upstairs in a closet. Sure, that could work. I'd have to pick something mentally stimulating, yet simple, otherwise Rainbow would whine and Pinky wouldn't be able to focus.
Alright, activity was partially nailed down, now for the food. Since I don't have nearly the sweet tooth the others do I'd probably have to order some cupcakes from Pinkie at the very least. I'd definitely have some smoked almonds and cashews, though I doubt the others would like them. My culinary repertiore didn't include many snacky things, but apple cinnamon bread was hard to argue with, and it would go nicely with some spiced tea. A tomato and olive salad wouldn't go amiss either. As for Spike, I'd talk to Rarity about getting some of the more exotic gemstones for him to munch on, and now that I thought about it some new research suggested that tourmaline plays an important role in the growth of young dragons and I don't have any on hoof.
Another lull in the action gave me enough time to re-fill my mug with the last of the tea and survey the library to see if there was anything suspect going on. Ever since that brat carved a phallus into my shelves I started scanning much more frequently. In Canterlot no librarian would've had to worry about that kind of graffiti, but in Ponyville I found it depressingly common for young ponies to try and 'mark their territory' as it were. My first notable eviction made the youngsters a bit more wary of trying anything in the library, but it didn't stop them unfortunately.
Sure enough, my weary eyes caught sight of a group of secritive looking teenagers huddling around an end cap muttering and laughing to themselves. Sighing, I grabbed my Battery Baton and cloaked it before walking over. It was nothing but a knobbly eighteen inch Thundersteel rod, but it was heavy and heavily enchanted. A minor application of magic would charge the whole length with electricity. The bumps periodically spaced across its length would give the buildup a chance to arc dramatically. It was mana-inefficient, but it was designed as a self-defense weapon and as such intimidation was as much a factor in its design as functionality. I'd picked it up on the advice of a local guardspony after my recent run-in with them. It had been expensive, but I figured it was worth it if I could use it to avoid fines for 'excessive force' in the future.
"Excuse me?" I asked when I got within conversational distance of the three shifty looking ponies. Two mares, one stallion sandwiched between them. The mare on the left had a dull orange coat and a comb Cutie Mark, the stallion was off-white with a barrel Cutie Mark, and the mare on the right was dark blue with a tool I didn't recognize for her Cutie Mark. Both mares were earth ponies and the stallion was a unicorn. They all jumped about three feet in the air and whirled around to face me with the speed of the guilty.
"What do you want?" The stallion asked defensively, he was sweating and he couldn't look me directly in the eye.
"You three looked like you needed some help." I lied, looking at the end cap and finding it blocked by a wall of pony.
"We're fine." Tool mare said.
"You sure?" I leaned to the left, only to be blocked again. Very subtle.
"Yeah, so leave us alone." The stallion said gruffly, trying to puff himself up.
"Mind if I take a look at the shelf?" No need to beat around the bush.
"Why?" Tool mare asked querulously.
"Because I'm the librarian and I'd like to see what you were all so interested in." They were all sweating now, but handling it differently.Tool mare and stallion were looking increasingly belligerent while comb mare was looking terrified.
"We weren't interested in nothin'." Stallion said, taking a step closer to me and getting into my personal space bubble.
"'Weren't interested in anything'." I corrected absently, taking a step to the side to see if I could get a view of the end cap only to find my view blocked by stallion, who took another step towards me.
"Cooper, don't..." Comb mare said nervously, edging away slightly. By now Cooper's not-very-subtle posturing and loud protests had gotten a minor crowd. Damn, if he was anything like the other brats I've had to deal with he'd be even less likely to be reasonable when he thought he stood to publicly lose face.
"We weren't doin' anything wrong, so buzz off." His Phillydelphia accent was coming to the fore.
"If there's anything wrong with the end cap I need to know. It's my job to take care of the library." I said with what I thought was admirable decency given how annoyed I was.
"Just 'cause-hey!" My patience ran out mid sentence and I moved past him to find that my shelves had been vandalized yet again. The names 'Cooper , Bouffant, and Lathe had been burned into the wood of the shelf. Ugh, that was going to take at least an hour to fix. Stupid foals. "Whaddya think you're doin'?"
"Did you burn my shelves?" I asked evenly, turning around to find the group of them on the opposite side of the aisle.
"No!" Lathe and Cooper lied simultaneously.
"Really." I deadpanned. "Because I know that wasn't there last night and I'm willing to bet if I ping your horn I'll see that the last spell you used was a branding technique used to etch barrels."
Not giving them any time to react I flared my horn and sent a tiny bolt of magic right into Cooper's. It was a fairly simple spell that called forth an echo of the last spell a unicorn used. It's standard training for any Guard and fairly easy once you get the hang of it. It's intrusive and rude to use on somepony without permission, but I couldn't care less at this point. These brats had extended my working day longer than it had to be. Sure enough, when the spell connected the tip of Cooper's horn glowed red. He yelped and shook his head back and forth, charging his own magic to dispel mine.
"You can't do that!" Lathe shouted indignantly.
"Yeah, okay, I etched the shelf. So what? You can't do nothin' about it." Cooper said confidently. Lathe was definitely backing him up, but Bouffant was slinking backwards miserably.
"What gives you that idea?" I asked, taking the time to charge the cloaked baton since I had a feeling I was going to need it.
"You got busted for throwing Flan out! The guards fined you and everything, you ain't gonna do squat!" That other moron's name was Flan? Huh, learn something new every day.
"Yeah, you're right, I can't throw you out. I'm going to summon the Guards and let them deal with you." I had to fight not to smirk at the way his face dropped. Defacing public property carried a hefty fine and some community service and it was much harder to look cool while cleaning up trash while wearing an orange vest than it was to look cool marching defiantly out of a library.
"F-forget that!" Cooper said, still trying to be tough. "We're out of here."
"Cooper, please don't!" Bouffant pleaded.
"I can't let you leave Cooper." I sighed. At least the crowd was getting a good show out of this.
"What're you gonna do? Bind us? You'd get sent to jail. You ain't stopping me, scrawny. Outta my way, or do you want this to go bad?" He growled, getting right in my face. My eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Foal," I growled right back, de-cloaking the baton and floating it right next to his ear. "I have no patience for your brand of horseapples. You have two choices: wait quietly in my office for the Guardsponies to appear, or I use the rod." Arcs of electricity pulsed up and down its length, shockingly loud in the normally-quiet library. "I'm fine with either outcome, just make up your mind so I can get on with my job."
I could see the gear turning in his head, weighing his fear of electrocution vs his fear of backing down. For a second I thought I was going to have to zap him, or bludgeon him, which would make me feel even better, but Bouffant broke in again just as he was about to take a swing at me.
"Cooper, please! You're only gonna make it worse! Come on, let's go wait for the Guards. I don't wanna get in trouble for assault too."
"Y-yeah, I mean, he's stupid and all," Lathe said, licking her lips and staring at the charged baton. "But it isn't worth getting zapped. T-the guards'll probably have to fine him for using that thing right? We can just tell them about that that and they'll ignore us."
A few long moments passed as he processed the changed situation. I stared him down steadily the whole time, not budging an inch. Finally, after a tense few seconds he lowered his gaze and backed up a step.
"Fine." He grumbled, glaring in my general direction.
"Good choice." I powered down the rod, but kept it visible, just to keep him from getting any ideas. "Follow me."
I led them to my ground floor office. It was nothing special really, just a room with a desk and some filing cabinets I used to keep track of inter-library loans and new book orders. The walls were unadorned and you could clearly see the grain of the wood in the tree, there was a small window to the left of the door and the blue carpet was old and battered, but clean. Stacks of scrolls, folders, and seven ink bottles each of a different color sat on the desk, all neatly arranged for efficiency.
"How long will we have to wait?" Bouffant asked timidly when I finally got them in.
"As long as it takes." She was the voice of reason, apparently, but I wasn't in a forgiving mood. "And don't get any ideas about breaking anything. The whole room is warded and I will know if you've done something, which will only make things worse for you."
Now that he wasn't in front of a group of ponies Cooper wasn't nearly as brave, and he settled for glaring at me sullenly.
"It wasn't that bad." Lathe blurted. I fixed her with a steady stare, which made her flounder for a second before she decided to commit herself. "I-I mean come on, it was just three names!"
"Three names burned into living wood. You can't just scrub that off. I'm going to have to scrape out all the burnt wood, plus some extra to get the cells that were destroyed by the heat but didn't actively burn, then I'm going to have to feed the tree extra energy to repair the damage, cut down any over growth, sand the shelf and re-seal it."
"How were we supposed to know?" She responded, a bit of teenage self-righteousness coming back.
"Irrelevant." I glared her down. "You acted without thinking and you're going to have to face the consequences. Welcome to life, enjoy your stay. Now stay here and be quiet until the Guards come."
With that I abruptly marched out of the office and closed the door behind me, laying a seal on it to prevent them from leaving and making sure it was visible on both sides of the door just to keep them from getting any brilliant ideas. When I came out I found half the occupants of the library staring at me almost greedily. Ugh, small towns and their bucking gossips.
"Show's over." I said, trotting back to the front desk and returning the baton to its shelf. "Anyone who needs to check out form a line please."
Nopony moved at first, but then one of them trotted over with a book, and then a second, and after a few minutes everything was more or less back to normal. News of my little escapade would be all over Ponyville by nightfall, and I could hear the other patrons yapping about it, but at least this time I wouldn't be fined. In the brief space between one pony and another I charged a small crystal under my desk that would have a Guardspony at the library in a few minutes. Then it became a short waiting game until the armored ponies showed up to get a report and gather their new charges. When they arrived I showed them the names, gave them a brief testimony, and hoofed the brats over to them, happy to see them out of the library, making a mental note to make a list of ponies not allowed into the library.
When all that was finally done I glanced at the clock to see how much time had passed. Two and a half hours from my lunch break, most or all of which would probably have to be sacrificed in order to fix the damage to the shelf. Then I would have six more hours of work until closing, when I'd have to fix finish the work on the shelf if I hadn't already.
Buck me.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that teenagers are bucking stupid and shouldn't be allowed in public spaces. Three of them vandalized my library today, though at least I didn't have to remove the image of an erect phallus this time. On the plus side, I'm finally done with my paper for the University so I can spend more time with Spike. Speaking of Spike, he's having some nightmares about Guardsponies coming to get him, which worries me a bit. They were bad enough to disturb his sleep last night so he ended up sleeping late, and when he did come down to the library he immediately hopped up on my back and refused to move for most of the day. As I write this, at ten in the evening, he's curled up with me and just now getting to sleep. I'm planning to do something special later this week, just the two of us, and I've decided I'm going to let him sleep in bed with me for a few nights. Hopefully that will take care of the nightmares. I hope you're doing well, and please give my regards to Luna,
Your faithful student, Dusk Shine.
P.S: If you can, please get in contact with my thick-headed brother and have him contact me. He's been ignoring me recently and I know it doesn't have anything to do with any of his Guard duties. It's entirely possible that he may have finally taken one to many blows to the head during practice and forgotten how to use a quill, but I'm pretty sure he's just being himself.