Joseph was bored.
This was no exception for him; actually it was the rule more than any other feeling. Little could challenge him, little could push the limits of his intellect or aptitude for more than a few moments. When those moments were over, it was back to playing Pokémon.
That was what he wanted to be doing now; what he would’ve been doing if he hadn’t been dragged into the library too early in the morning by the neediest pony in the whole colony. “Why don’t you have your boyfriend do this?” he muttered, his voice as sour as he could make it. Unfortunately he hadn’t slept properly in days, and it barely came out as decipherable English.
Alex shoved him in the side, harder than her little body would’ve suggested was possible. No, not little. She would see that thought, and take revenge. She was sixteen. That was an “adult”, and she would wrestle anyone who told her otherwise. “Oliver and I aren’t seeing each other. And he isn’t a computer expert. Just because you taught him how to scan the books doesn’t mean he knows how to search them.”
Joseph contented himself with the thought of the mare waiting for him in his warm bed back in the fancy RV he lived in now. It still smelled like a new car, though he liked the other smells better. All he had to do was figure out a way to get Alex off his back. One look at her fiery glare, and he quickly ruled the best thing to do was solve whatever problem she had as quickly as possible. It might sting his pride, but… Alex hadn’t exactly been this insistent on something when it didn’t matter before. Whatever this was about, it had to be important.
Joseph had only been awake for ten minutes or so, just long enough to roll out of bed still smelling like the night before, not washing his mane or even brushing it. He’d at least remembered to pull on a pair of pants, which wasn’t always a constant if Moriah wasn’t there to suggest it.
The library they had chosen wouldn’t surprise anyone; it was the county library. The entirety of their modifications consisted of 5kW of solar panels on the roof to keep the lights on and run the hardware the HPI had given them. No AC, no other computers, and nothing at all at night. It was practically the stone age.
Still, the library had become another of their unofficial meeting spots. The building was very old, with stone and mortar dating all the way back to 1858. Joseph ignored the huge pile of random books that was Alex’s spot, or the neatly arranged Equestrian volumes where Oliver usually sat. He passed the magical saddle-bags containing the Equestrian library without even a second glance, though they remained fascinating to him when he was awake. He passed his own corner, where he had put together a fort with a knocked-over table and posters of spell diagrams he had copied. No, he wasn’t going to be learning anymore magic today.
When they learned about the Equestrian library, the HPI had transported several machines at once to help digitize the books. They were nothing special really, just scanners with light-plates to get as clear a read on the text as possible, along with a database computer. It was that computer that was his target.
“If anyone paid attention when I explained things, I wouldn’t have to do this.” He hopped up into the chair, landing on his haunches and jittering the mouse about with his magic.
There was something otherworldly about the feeling, even now. Time had not made the act of commanding reality itself seem more mundane. The rush of energy, the brief sensation that the mouse or the chair was a part of him, his substance to command. It was tearing control away from the laws of the universe themselves. Was it like programming? That comparison felt like comparing his smartphone to a similarly-sized abacus.
Alex didn’t sit, instead propping her hooves up on the edge of the table so she could see the screen more clearly. He shoved her to one side, since of course she’d chosen to stand right in the way. “You’re going to find it!”
He rolled his eyes, though each passing second made him more awake. If he kept at this much longer he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep! That made him want to kick something, but instead all he did was briefly shout. “Gaaaaaaah! Alex, you’re… you’re… you haven’t even told me what I’m looking for!” The keyboard shimmered with his magic too, and a few keystrokes brought him to the right directory. “Hell, it’s probably not in here! There are only a few hundred; most of the library is still in there!” He pointed back at the saddle-bags with a hoof, fuming. “Go in and look yourself! It’s your magicsack!”
Alex turned over her shoulder, glaring at him. “Don’t think I haven’t. This will only take a second. Search for “magical creatures”.
Joseph complied. “Four thousand hits.” The scroll-bar had become so slim on the one side that he would’ve had trouble clicking it accurately without his magic. “Anything else?”
“Insect.”
Joseph’s eyes widened a little, though he didn’t look around. “You’re trying to find out more about the freak, huh?” He added the term, and many more results vanished. Books with those two terms in proximity were not nearly as numerous. “Two hundred. Mostly in… three different books, it looks like. Which one do you want to look at?”
Alex’s eyes barely seemed to even see the page, and she answered without hesitation. It unnerved him a little. “How about ‘Guide to Preservation Biology’.”
“Why?” Maybe if she explained, he would be able to follow her logic.
She shrugged. “It was one of the red-cover books, the ones they wanted us to read first. Back cover said…” Her eyes glazed over a little, as if she could see something he couldn’t. “‘A comprehensive guide to the species assigned by the Preservation Spell, from hooves to tail...’” She trailed off. “I didn’t actually read it. I meant to, but…” She glanced at the huge pile of books that were at her workstation. The entire Harvard Classics collection was on the top of the stack, a rickety table barely standing under the weight. “Human books were more interesting. I was gonna get to it!”
He raised a hoof, silencing her. “I don’t care why you didn’t read it. Let’s both read it right now.” He opened the book, or at least the scanned copy. Text filled the screen, accompanied by crude illustrations. The highlights were from the same paragraph of text under a heading called “Changelings”. Joseph jumped quickly to the header, where somepony had sketched a horrific-looking image.
The pony depicted was a great deal like Riley, if Riley was five feet tall with the body of a majestic monster. Elegant, lean, and powerful. Another sketch beside it showed a much smaller member of the same species, much more in proportion with a regular pony. “Next page.”
Joseph was indignant. “What? I’m still-”
She reached up, forcing the mouse down manually. She clicked through several more pages, past the section about changelings into the next strange species. “This can’t be right.” She let herself fall onto her hooves, glaring at Joseph. “Can you check to see if there was a problem with the scan? I think maybe Oliver must’ve not turned the pages right or something… Damnit, that isn’t right, they’ve got numbers! Why are there only three pages about changelings when there are sixteen about diamond dogs? How is that fair? There should be whole books!”
“Most of the library isn’t scanned yet, maybe it’s with the rest of the books,” he suggested, reversing through the pages she had skipped past. Sure enough, they were about griffons for all but the last three.
“If it is, the ‘Further Reading’ section lied about there not being anything. Information scarce my flank!” She turned away. “Oh, thanks for your help, Joseph. It would help even more if you don’t call Riley a freak next time.” She galloped off, kicking the double-doors open and practically flying out onto the street. He groaned, but a few seconds later he heard the sound of a car starting. The car that had brought him to the library.
He nearly fell out of his seat in his desire to make it to the doors as fast as possible. He didn’t stand a chance; by the time he made it out to the parking lot, not even brake lights were visible down the road.
He swore loudly, shaking the empty village with the most inventive profanity he could think of. Unfortunately nobody was around to compliment him on his cleverness, not even Huan. A noble, yet ultimately fruitless endeavor. When he was done, he stomped back inside, fumbling around until he found the walkie-talkie in its charging stand. “Joe here; is anyone else awake yet? I’ve been dumped in the library by an inconsiderate pony, and I need someone to come and pick me up.”
He waited, hoping Moriah at least would be awake. She would’ve come and got him, no question in his mind. Unfortunately, she liked the early mornings about as much as he did, and made no sign she’d heard him. Even Alex hadn’t had a radio with her, not that he’d seen in the car. She was going to get a sternly worded piece of his mind when he saw her next, and he was going to get an apology.
It was only fair.
He wasn’t left completely without response, though. After a few seconds, he heard Oliver’s voice. “Hey, Joseph! You at the library?”
“Yes.” He tried to keep his annoyance from showing through. He failed dismally.
“I was headed there anyway. Sky made doughnuts, you want me to bring you any?”
That cut his terse response short. “Y-yeah, I would. Maple bars?”
“I’ll bring two.”
Joseph saw no sense in waiting outside in the sun, so he headed back into the library proper and over to his workstation. It was hard to say if he or Alex kept their area least clean; Joseph had fewer books, but he had also written on every nearby surface with permanent marker. The strange letters of the runic alphabet covered everything, each with their own supernatural meaning. Learning a language often meant first mastering the keywords and the differences in syntax between the languages he knew. Joseph postulated he could thus learn magic quickest by first mastering the language of magic.
He didn’t return to the computer, not right away. He already felt sour about Alex leaving him behind, and he knew if he tried to read anything new he wouldn’t really get much out of the experience. He had to be calm to read.
He did, on the other hand, have three Equestrian books, each weighted down to various pages. All three had red covers, which meant they belonged to the set Alex called “READ FIRST.” Unlike the strange book on species they had located during a search, “Mastering Unicorn Magic for Foals and Beyond” made no reference to humanity, Earth, or the Preservation Spell. Nor did “A Beginner’s Guide to Runes” or “Levitation for Dullponies.” Joseph had read each in their entirety, sometimes several times.
Unfortunately, just reading something did not mean he understood. Joseph got himself comfortable on a pile of cushions he had stolen from a nearby church, resting his back against the wall as he levitated the first book down from the table and into his field of view. If nothing else, all this reading was great practice for his endurance; levitating even something very light for hours at a time was not nearly so easy as merely holding it.
The simple illumination charm will be one of the most versatile enchantments in your repertoire, and requires very little practice to master. Any unicorn wishing to…