Chapter 3: Unbound
Ink Nose was as giddy as a filly at a Sapphire Shores concert. The crystal castle in Ponyville was said to have an impressive library. Maybe not as large as the Canterlot Royal Archives, but it had a number of unique, rare, and otherwise-hard-to-find books, tomes, librams, grimoires, scrolls, treaties, dissertations, and… she caught her breath.
This was a rare opportunity. She had heard the Princess didn’t turn ponies away, but to let ponies have free reign in the castle? There were guards to be sure, but just to keep people from sensitive areas, such as the Princess’s bedroom where it was rumored she had a fortress built out of arcane books just for casual reading.
She had to calm herself. The bookworm in her was ravenous. She’d worked on a few personal collections, identifying potentially rare books. It saddened her that these books were just going to be sold, but she needed the bits to keep herself alive. Ever since the theft, she had developed a sense of paranoia that she knew was irrational but persisted regardless. Her roadwork had gotten her a small reputation as a reliable connoisseur of books, allowing her to at least hide in plain sight. It afforded her the ability to peruse works that may otherwise never seen the light of day.
She would give it all up, if only she could work at a library again. The smell of the collection of knowledge, just waiting to be explored, devoured greedily by hungry eyes and minds. O, lament ye forsaken, for hers is loss terrible to behold. … She frowned as she remembered why she had to quit that job.
It was a simple job. Find a scroll. The pay was good, but they would be stealing it. Everything hurt her to agree, but it hurt her more that her best friend was looking at losing her bookstore because of a small clause. She wanted to renew her lease on the store, but the owner wanted to kick her out for some restaurant who wanted to move in. The owner had the right to not renew and everything was on her to move out. The owner didn’t care, said the only option was to buy him out as stated on the lease. Binder almost, but not quite, had enough money to buy the property.
Along comes a blue unicorn, with an offer. Specifically for Ink Nose. She rather hoped he wanted to ask her out, but he wanted her to find a scroll. She almost said no, but the bits were just the right amount with a little left over to leave town.
She went to buy the lease. The owner refused, but Luna herself enforced the contract. Binder didn’t like having to go to night court for it, but she wasn’t giving up on her dream. The owner had to accept payment since the contract already said he would. Binder owned her bookstore and it had been doing well, especially once the restaurant decided to move just across the street.
Binder promised Ink Nose free picks from her store any time she wanted. However, Ink Nose never went back to Canterlot. All that time and now she was here, looking at a royal library.
She squeed.
Spike kept looking around. He knew that book had to be somewhere. Starswirl’s Manuscript for Astral Contingencies. He could have sworn he’d seen something like it. Twilight’s personal library had grown quite a bit and it was getting harder for him to find the books she wanted.
Suddenly, he heard a squee. Looking over at the door, he saw a purple unicorn with a purple mane, though it alternated shades of purple. What really stood out was the black markings on her muzzle. It was like she rubbed her face in ink.
He hopped down off the ladder and walked up to her. “Hi there! Are you lost?”
A bit glassy-eyed, she replied, “No, I’m right where I want to be.” A dreamy look on her face said something Twilight had done so many time before.
“Let me guess, bookworm?”
Ink Nose blinked. Bookworm? She looked down at the pon… wait. That’s not a pony. That was a… She gasped. “Oh my goodness! You’re a dragon? Wait, are you Spike? THE Spike? Hero of the Crystal Empire? Personal assistant to her majesty Twilight Sparkle?”
Spike just blushed a little. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“I always pictured you taller.”
If Spike’s anger could burn things, the castle would be a slagheap. “I’m a baby dragon, OK? It takes longer for me to grow! What did you want anyway?”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just… Well, I heard the castle has an open invitation to the public and I really wanted to see the library. I heard it has quite the rare collection.”
“Yeah, it does. Twilight could get lost in here for hours if I let her. Were you looking for something specific or can I get back to my hunting?”
“Oh, please don’t let me stop you. I just wish I was in your position. I used to work in a library and…” She inhaled and let out a contented sigh. “I do miss the stacks so.”
Spike saw an opportunity. “Weeeeeell, I’m trying to find a book for Twilight. If you want, I wouldn’t mind the help.”
Ink Nose felt giddy again, only this time, she couldn’t contain herself. She picked Spike up, hugged him and danced a little “Eeeeee! Thank you thank you thank you! What’s it called?”
Spike blushed again. Maybe he had made a mistake. “Uh… It’s called Starswirl’s Manual for Astral Contingencies. I think.”
Ink Nose looked quizzically. “You think?”
“Well, Twilight wasn’t sure either. She remember reading it long ago, but she couldn’t remember that exact title.”
Ink Nose rubbed her chin a little. “So it might be something similar. All right, let’s see what I can do.” Her horn started glowing, causing the shelves to light up ever so faintly. “Hmm… wow, this is rather… um…”
“Disorganized?” Lost in the spell, Ink Nose didn’t notice that not only was the voice from behind her, but was female as well.
“That’s too kind a word. It’s like Discord went to town on this place. There’s absolutely no… wait… I found it!” A book on one of the back shelves was glowing bright purple and floated towards her. She brought it down to Spike. “There we are, Starswirl’s Essay on Ethereal Emergencies. I’m sure that’s the book she’s looking for.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Now she noticed it didn’t come from Spike. She looked behind her. The wings, the horn, the crown… Ink Nose spun around and kneeled.
“Your highness! Forgive me, I didn’t notice…”
The alicorn smiled and said, “It’s perfectly all right. Please don’t kneel. And call me Twilight. And you are?”
Getting up rather sheepishly, she introduced herself. “My name is Ink Nose, your hi… I mean, Twilight.”
Twilight chuckled just a bit. “A pleasure, Ink Nose. I overheard some of your conversation. You used to work in a library?”
“Yes, one of the smaller public collections, the Starry Sky Memorial Library.”
“I remember that library. Mostly books for children. I spent some time there as a filly. Why did you quit?”
Uh oh, she hadn’t thought of that part of her cover story. Thinking quickly she replied, “I needed to get out of Canterlot for a while.” Wait, what? Why not confess while you’re at it. “To see… more of the world. Yes, there are some nice private collections.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “I thought I recognized the name.” Oh no, all this time, free and now she was going to be banished. Or thrown in a dungeon. Or banished and thrown into a dungeon in the place she was banished to! “You’re the one who identified that old manuscript written by Sunspot on cross-lattice elemental formulas!”
Ink Nose started breathing again. “Uh, yes, I remember that. Was in the personal collection of Dashing Pride. He had no idea what it was.”
Twilight smiled. “But you did. He sold it, but it was to the Canterlot Royal Archives, so it’ll have a good home.” Twilight looked thoughtful and looked at Spike. “You know, my Number One Assistant and I have been having a lot of trouble with this library. We want to go through and reshelf everything so we can get some kind of system in place, but we haven’t had time.” Spike just groaned at the idea of so much work. “I was thinking of hiring some help. Would you be willing to consider working here? I know you’re on the road, and if you want to be temporary, I understand, but we could really use the help.”
Ink Nose was frozen. Did she just hear that right? Librarian? To a Princess?
Spike snapped a claw in front of her. No response. “Twilight, I think you broke her.”
Twilight raised a hoof to her mouth as she laughed. “I think that’s her way of saying yes.”
Ink Nose finally came out of her overload. “I would be honored,” came the reply, as casually as if she had been asked if she wanted some lemon with her tea.
Twilight smiled, even seemed giddy. “This is exciting. I’ve never hired a librarian before. We can start tomorrow, and we’ll work on the old-”
“Twilight! We can’t!” Spike seemed a tad upset. “Tomorrow’s Winter Wrap-Up and all the ponies are depending on you to keep things organized. Well, depending on us.”
Twilight looked shocked. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I could forget so easily. I’m sorry Spike. I guess I just got a little carried away. We’ll have to continue this discussion in a couple days, Ink Nose. Hmmm… In fact, would you be willing to help? We could use another hoof. Just going around, making sure everyone’s on schedule and see where we can adjust if things fall behind.”
Ink Nose could have been asked if she wanted a lightly grilled weasel in a bun with hay fries and she still would have said, “Sure. Love to.”
“Then it’s settled. If you don’t have any place to stay yet, I have a guest room you can use tonight.”
“Okay.” She was still in a bit of a daze.
“Spike would you show her to the room? I’m gonna finish up the checklists.”
“Okay Twilight. Come on, Ink Nose.” No response. “Ink Nose?” No response. He took a breath and blew a bright green flame right in front of her.
“AH! What? Who? Where? Huh?” Ink Nose finally processed everything and looked down at the small dragon. “Wait, did I just agree to what I think I did?”
“Heh. Yeah, you did. You kinda look like I’d imagine Scootaloo would if Rainbow Dash suddenly told her she was her mother.”
“Huh?”
“Eh, never mind. Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
“Oh, uh, yes sir!”
Spike smiled for a moment. “Sir, huh? … Nah, just call me Spike.”