//------------------------------// // Chapter 79; To The Library!...Again! And Beyond! // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// As soon as Star Shine left the house he headed straight towards the library. He had a few ideas of what to do himself but wanted to make sure that everypony had a good idea of what they were doing and they were all willing to do it. He imagined there wouldn’t be a problem, and just wanted them all to be on the same page. Step one to him was to go to Feather Quill and find out just why he would print such a thing. No self respecting journalist would print something like that in his mind and, despite how their initial meeting had gone, Star Shine felt that Feather Quill probably had a lot of integrity. He made his way to the library as quick as he could and as soon as he got there began rapping frantically on the door. “Alright, alright, hold your horses.” Spike said from inside the library. “Heh, horses.” he added, smirking at his own joke as he opened the door. He had no time to welcome Star Shine as Star Shine just ran straight past him and into the main room, hitting Spike as he did. “Twilight? Twilight are you here?” Star Shine called out, still panicking. “Oh sure, it’s not like you ran into me or anything…” Spike commented drily, rubbing his head. Twilight came down the stairs in a bit of a hurry given how panicked Star Shine had sounded. Spike walked off to make himself a drink. “What’s up?” Twilight asked, looking him up and down. He looked very out of breath and was even sweaty. He’d clearly been in a hurry, and he was on his own. “Where’s Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo?” Star Shine took a second to catch his breath before replying. “They’re still in the house. I need your help with something. Have you seen the Ponyville Times yet?” Star Shine said quickly. “No, I haven’t seen anything yet.” Twilight said, taking a seat at the table. “What can I help you with?” Star Shine joined her at the table and flopped his head down on it. “You need to see what’s in the paper before I can really explain anything.” Star Shine replied. He’d managed to catch his breath and was breathing much slower than he had been when he first arrived. “Spike? Have you seen the Ponyville Times?” Twilight called out to the kitchen where Spike still was. “Yeah, it’s in here. Just a sec.” Spike called back. Twilight heard a breath and smelled a familiar smell before something dropped out of the air from just above her and dropped onto her head, landing on the table in front of her. “Well that was pretty lazy.” Twilight commented, rolling her eyes. Twilight opened the paper up and scanned through it for a few pages until she found what she was most likely looking for; an article on Scootaloo. “This is...what? This…” Twilight said, completely flabbergasted by what she was reading. She couldn’t really believe what she was reading. That someone would write it. That someone would print it. That anypony would believe it. It certainly painted a very different picture of Scootaloo than the one she knew. Her eyes went wide when she read the note. “Is...this true?” she asked when she had finished reading it all and put the paper down. Star Shine picked himself up but his eyes went back to the floor. “The note is real but everything else is fake. Scootaloo wasn’t a problem child or anything, and her dad isn’t some kind of sympathetic figure. He abused her and her legs got broken once. She was abandoned and abused, and probably better off in the orphanage.” Star Shine explained. “You know she can’t fly and everything else has come out now, no point in hiding it anymore.” he added. Twilight was more shocked at that than she was reading the note itself. “You know who wrote this and how?” Twilight asked. “How’d nothing happen to her dad?” “What her dad did was technically not illegal. He used a common training practice that’s been used forever and even happens in Flight Schools. It’s just dangerous when a pony can’t fly and when he realised she couldn’t fly, he should have stopped.” Star Shine explained. “ As for who did this; it has to have been Diamond Tiara. She’s the only one who coulda found that note when she came to Rainbow Dash’s house. The note was hidden really well in the house and only me and Rainbow Dash have seen it.” Star Shine replied. “That’s why I’m here; Scootaloo is a mess and Diamond Tiara has definitely gone too far this time. We gotta do something about it. I was gonna go and get the rest of Rainbow’s friends and bring them here so we can do something. I have some ideas and I’m sure together we can come up with more.” he explained. Twilight got up out of her seat and started pacing around, her mind working. “Well we need to find out why it was printed...we could do with having some proof it was Diamond Tiara too...I wonder if we can get some kind of warrant...maybe I’ll ask Shining about it…” Twilight muttered to herself, still walking in a circle. Star Shine watched her, almost completely entranced by her actions. Spike nudged him and drew his attention. “Yeah she’s lost. If you want to get her friends go get them. She’ll probably be done by then and full of ideas.” Spike explained. Star Shine nodded and headed out the door. He wondered if he should go to Rarity or Pinkie Pie first and, remembering her had promised Pinkie that he would visit her, decided to go to see her first. He was about to leave when he realised he had no idea where she lived. He poked his head back into the door. “Hey, Spike, where does Pinkie Pie live?” he asked the little dragon. Spike was trying to keep the place clean as books were flying everywhere as Twilight had begun doing research as well as thinking. “She lives at Sugarcube Corner, the bakery. It’s built like a gingerbread house, so I doubt you’ll miss it.” Spike replied, picking up any books that fell to the floor. “Thanks, I’ll be back soon.” Star Shine replied, tipping his metaphorical hat and closing the door behind him. The reason he was going only to Rarity and Pinkie Pie was because they were the only two he had met. He had heard of Applejack and Fluttershy but hadn’t met them. Even if he thought about them and remembered them as Elements of Harmony (and thus more than likely Rainbow Dash’s friends on the level of Rarity and Pinkie Pie) he would have definitely been too unsure to visit them. He didn’t even know if they knew him. Applejack had heard of him, having asked Scootaloo about him, but Fluttershy had no idea he existed. After the original Gabby Gums incident she had been afraid to read a paper incase she was in it again. Her friends would almost keep her up to date on what was happening. The things she wasn’t directly involved in at least. Star Shine took off into the air to get a better view and had a good look around. Spike was right; it didn’t take him very long to spot the bakery, even from the library. He flew on over and landed outside and tapped on the door gentler than he had on the library door. “Just a second dear,” came a voice from inside the building. The door was opened by an Earth pony with a very light cerulean coat and a mane with two different shades of crimson. Despite looking a little tired she also had a very friendly smile as Mrs. Cup Cake usually did. “Yes, can I help you? We’re closed for Sunday I’m afraid.” she said, looking Star Shine up and down. He was much calmer now and hadn’t rushed so much so wasn’t even out of breath. “I’m here to talk to Pinkie Pie, is she in?” Star Shine replied. “I know that voice!” came a very excited voice from inside the bakery. Just as his own voice had been recognised, Star Shine recognised the voice he just heard. He tensed up a little as Mrs. Cake was bounded to the side and her place was taken by a very excitable pink pony. “You came! You came! You really came! I mean, I knew you’d come because you promised and all but it’s been a few days so I wasn’t sure but here you are and I knew you wouldn’t break a Pinkie Promise because nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise and you didn’t seem like the kind of pony to break a promise anyway-” Pinkie Pie began excitedly before Star Shine put a hoof in her mouth to quieten her. “I’m sorry but I need your help with something, can you go to the library? Twilight’s waiting there and she can explain everything, and I’m going to go get Rarity too.” Star Shine said. He really did feel bad about quieting Pinkie Pie like that. Pinkie Pie nodded and Star Shine took his hoof out of her mouth. He felt bad about putting his hoof in there in the first place but that quickly went away as he began regretting releasing her. “I can go there sure but what are we doing? Why are you getting Rarity? Are you getting App-” Pinkie Pie began before her mouth was once again forced closed. “I’m sorry Pinkie, again, but I’m kinda in a hurry. Twilight can explain everything. There’s been a bit of an emergency and Rainbow Dash needs help.” Star Shine explained. Pinkie Pie nodded again and Star Shine released her again. “Rainbow Dash needs help? Well I can’t say no to that. I’m going to go then. I’ll see you later. Good luck with it all.” Pinkie Pie said to Star Shine. “I’m going out. Rainbow Dash needs help. Star Shine’s going out again. His hoof tastes like strawberries. Kinda odd. Anyway. I’ll be back later.” Pinkie Pie said, turning her head around and presumably talking to one of the Cake’s. Thankfully it wasn’t either of the twins. With that said, Pinkie Pie set off for the library. Star Shine watched her leave, utterly bemused. He shook his head, snapped back to reality, and headed for the Boutique.