"Hey Spike, are you still working?"
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. Deep breathing is notorious for calming nerves and keeping oneself collected. But for some reason, it wasn't doing me any good. "For the 8th time, yes"
"Why?"
"Because I have to."
"Why?"
"Because Twilight asked me to."
"Why?"
This girl has been here far too long. Doesn't she see that I have things to do? "Scootaloo. You have been asking me questions for over an hour. What do you want? I'm trying to shelve these books "
The small pegasus flared her nostrils a bit to show her dissatisfaction and turned her head sideways. "If you didn't ignore me for the first twenty minutes I was here, then you wouldn't be asking me why I'm here."
I couldn't help but sneer. What an obviously dumb remark. "I didn't ask you why you were here. I merely asked you what you wanted."
"That's totally the same thing."
"Nope, it is a different concept. You could be here for any reason if I asked why you were here. Even if those reasons were something that you didn't *ehem* want. I asked you what you wanted. Not to mention-"
"Well I'm here. So I must be here for a reason. And that reason is something I want to get done. Even if I don't like the reason. SO, why I'm here is the same thing." Scootaloo stated with annoyance in her voice.
Interrupting me. How polite Scootaloo."How do you know I didn't just ask you what you wanted sincerely."
"If you were being sincere then you wouldn't have ignored me."
Who does she think she is? I'm very busy and cannot spend all my time listening to an annoying filly. Guess i'm going to have to deal with her now. "Fine, just tell me why you're here then."
"Well don't you know who I am?"
No duh. "Of course I know who you are. I only called you by name several times today alone."
"So you know what club I helped found?"
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
"No, the chocolate eating club." She said with sarcasm dripping in her voice.
Grr, she's so aggravating it's painful."Fine, so you're looking for a cutie mark right?"
The annoyed look on Scootaloo mimicked that of Rainbow Dash, when woken early from her midday nap. It's obvious that she must have seen that look many times. "We wanted to know if we could send a letter to Princess Celestia so we can ask her how she got her cutie mark."
I guess that makes some sense. Why did it take so long to explain? "Why didn't you just say so?"
"I was telling you, but I realized that you zoned out and were only concentrating on shelving those stupid books."
"If it didn't take you twenty minutes to describe that then I wouldn't have zoned out. I'm a very busy dragon you know."
"It wasn't twenty minutes it was only like six and a half. And I thought the story of how we thought to ask the Princess would be interesting enough for normal ponies to, I don't know, not zone out? I mean it involved a runaway golden label cheese wheel, several gallons of parchment ink, and setting the local floral shop on fire."
I think I missed something. "Where did you get a golden label cheese wheel?"
Scootaloo let out a snort. "You. Zoned. Out."
"Well what happened then?"
"I'm not going to tell you again. It was probably the best story you've ever zoned out of."
Oh, you think you got me? I showed a toothy smiled. "I wouldn't know. Because I did zone out."
If Scootaloo's flared wings didn't indicate her frustration then her angry eyes certainly did the job "I'm not telling you, alright? Can we just send that letter?"
I turned around and continued my work of shelving various books. "Sorry, Scootaloo. Not just anyone is allowed to send personal messages via dragon to the princess."
"Twilight gets to send her letters via dragon. Applejack gets to send her letters via dragon. Rainbow dash gets to send her letters via dragon. Even Sweetie Belle got-"
I interrupted while pointing one talon in the air, without turning around. "Buuuuuuut, those letters were friendship reports. Friendship reports and emergencies. Nothing else."
Scootaloo put a hoof to her face in thought. "Hmmm. What if I wrote a friendship report and just added the question at the end? Maybe the Princess would answer our question then."
"You can't just fake a friendship report. That's kind of going against the whole friendship thing." I state while making air quotes around "Friendship thing".
"We wouldn't fake it. We will just have to wait until we get through a friendship problem."
"You and the other crusaders are inseparable. I doubt you would find any problems."
Scootaloo stated condescendingly "Twilight and her friends are Elements of Harmony, right? The ideal set of friends. And how many friendship reports did they write about each other?"
I had to turn around and couldn't help feeling a little shocked from being outsmarted by the small filly. With a dissatisfied grunt I responded. "You're right. I guess if you actually had something that would be beneficial for the Princess to know then there shouldn't be any problems."
"Awesome. I'm pretty sure we don't have anything now, but me and the other Crusaders should have something in a few days."
"You have friendship problems every few days?" I asked incredulously.
"No, of course not. I'm just thinking it will take us a few days to think of something worthwhile to write to the princess."
"Couldn't you guys write about the story you told me just now? Setting a floral shop on fire seems interesting enough." How did they manage to set the floral shop on fire anyways? That place is filled with so much water you could flood the town square with it.
"If you were listening you would know why we can't tell her that. We'd prefer to wait for something a little less embarrassing."
Kinda wished I listen to at least part of that. Wonder what role the others had in it."Speaking of the other Crusaders. Where are they now?"
The little filly grinned sheepishly. "They may be at the clubhouse. And they may be cleaning it up. Because they might be expecting Princess Celestia to visit us."
Of course they are. "And they sent you to contact her right?"
"How was I supposed to know you'd be so lame about everything?"
Who's being lame? I'm just trying to finish cleaning this mess! I placed my claw on my chest."What? I'm not being lame about everything. I am merely doing my job."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes "Yeah, if being an egghead is a job."
I stepped back, trying to show how clearly offended I felt. "I am not an egghead."
Scootaloo waved a hoof off handedly. "Yeah, eggheads totally don't lecture ponies for boring amounts of time about sentence structure."
"You mean grammar."
"Exactly. Only an egghead would care."
Grammar is pretty important but even so I just said that to clarify."I don't really care. I was just trying to make a point."
"Aaaand you totally know more on quote unquote grammar than the average pony. I mean, it's almost on the same level as Twilight."
This is really starting to bug me. I'm not an egghead Scootaloo. "I live in a library. Of course I learn some things."
"Well so does Twilight, and she's the biggest egghead I've ever met. You guys are so similar I can't believe I didn't notice it before"
"She's a pony and I'm a dragon. Dragon." I emphasized. Seriously, me and Twilight are so different its comical.
"Dragons can be eggheads, but that's not the point. You both live in a library, you both know too much on grammar, and are both purple." Scootaloo stated while clapping her hoof along the other during each point.
"What does purple have to do with being an egghead?"
"It shows how similar you are to Twilight. Who is the biggest egghead I know. Come to think of it, you're just like a mini Twilight." Scootaloo gleamed at her conclusion.
I glared hard at Scootaloo's, 'trying to hold in her laughter', face. "I am not a mini Twilight."
To my dismay, Scootaloo burst out laughing. She closed her eyes to stop the happy tears from falling. She then wiped her hoof along her eye to catch the pesky tear. "Anyways, I've got to get going. See you later *chuckle* Mini Twilight."
Scootaloo starting walking away as I shouted "I AM NOT A MINI TWILIGHT!" She then closed the library's front door behind her. " Confound you Scootaloo and your devious arguments."
Right then Twilight walked down the flight of stairs that lead from her room. She smiled at my angry form and asked. "Hey Spike. Finish sorting those books yet?"
"I would have had them done if Scootaloo wasn't talking my ear off for an hour."
Twilight showed a small frown. "Maybe you should try to hang out after you're done with the chores?"
I slumped my shoulders a bit, trying to shift the weight of my stress to a different set of muscle groups. "We weren't hanging out. She was just here trying to make my work more miserable."
Twilight chuckled. "I don't know Spike. I have heard you mention her a few times this month."
I groaned in frustration. "No Twilight. I'm just a little peeved that she and the other Crusaders keep tricking me into saying embarrassing things."
Twilight chuckled again. "Well it is three against one."
I looked down. "Plus every time they do it, they just find another thing to tease me about."
Twilight walked over and patted my back. She's always trying to comfort me. "Spike, you do know they're just kidding with you. That's how kids interact with each other."
"Yeah, I guess." I lifted my head and looked Twilight in the eye. "Just wish the teasing wouldn't happen so often."
"What are they teasing you about this time?"
I shuddered and moved my foot nervously. I'm not sure Twilight would be so understanding if I was being insulted just by being compared to her. "I'd rather not say."
"That's ok." She ruffled my head as if I had hair. "So how is the shelving coming along? I need this place organized for my research project."
"If you didn't keep pulling so many random books and then placing them all over the place it would be a little easier." I said while motioning my arm towards the mess.
Twilight blushed just enough for me to notice. "I'm sorry Spike. But I'm doing an extensive research project, and you know the long process that comes with it."
"What's your project on this time? The effects of seemingly random but consistent disasters on a normal working class citizen?"
"Hmm, no but that is a good suggestion." Twilight pulled a notepad and quickly jotted down some thoughts. "Maybe the cabbage guy on main street..."
"Well what's your research on then?"
"Oh, just the life cycle of pre-evolved subspecies to form a hypothesis for when said species reaches distinguished maturity."
Spike rolled his eyes "That sounds fun."
"Yeah! Hopefully I can discover something that will further our knowledge in this field."
Spiked deadpanned "I was being sarcastic."
"I know." Twilight smiled and started walking towards the door. "I'm going to get some lunch with the girls. Would you like anything?"
"Can you pick up some potato wedges from the Rolf food cart? Those are delicious." Spike licked his lips in an undignified manner.
"Consider it done."
"What time are you guys going to be back."
Twilight raised a hoof to her face. "Hmmm, about the time you finish shelving those books."
Spike slumped his shoulders down. Twilight winked at him as she closed the door.
Dumb Scootaloo distracting me *grumble* Twilight pointing it out *grumble* leaving me alone to do it *grumble grumble*
Twilight suddenly popped her head back in. "What was that Spike?"
Whoops! I stood at attention and raised my claw to my forehead in a salute. "It'll be done in a jiffy!"
"Thanks Spike. See ya later." She then closed the door.