//------------------------------// // 41 - On books // Story: A Penny for your thought // by Damaged //------------------------------// Moon Dancer was more than a little disheartened. She had visited all the magical colleges and not a single one had taken her seriously. Her former student, of just one lesson, would not be happy about this. "What to do?" She tapped at a book on teaching she had found, there were now almost a dozen bookmarks in it, one of which was the letter Penny had sent. She flicked back to that page to reread it. How could one little mare, not even fully trained herself, build such a grand plan for ponies to learn? She almost spoke like she wanted every unicorn to be taught spells. Moon Dancer tilted her head. "And why not at least give them the chance?" The Crystal empire would be first. A new school, one that accepts not just foals, but anypony who wants to learn. "I am definitely going to need more books…" Rising to her hooves and closing the book carefully, Moon Dancer clopped her way as quietly as she could to where the head librarian sat at their desk. The bookish unicorn had been reading but some vague sense got their attention to the approaching Moon Dancer. "Can I help you, dear?" "I need to borrow some books." The librarian nodded. "What book do you need?" "Ones to teach unicorns how to use their horn, how to form runes and how to cast basic spells. I need… well, I think about fifty should do it." The librarian's jaw dropped open, the world spinning for them a moment. "I, err, the library doesn't have that many…" "Then where can I get them? I assume somepony makes them?" "Indeed they do. Here, this is the address of one of the publishers we get most of our reprints from." The stallion started scrawling a note. "They will be able to get you all fixed up with what you need… may I ask, why do you need so many?" "I'm opening a new school. One that anypony with a horn can learn at." Moon Dancer smiled and bid the librarian goodbye. It was a bright day outside and despite her eyes narrowing initially, she soon felt the warmth of Celestia's namesake warming her up. Thoughts of the princess were a touch soured by her inability to even secure support from the school Twilight and herself had attended. Moon trotted to the publisher, trying to distract herself from that flat response and she greeted a few ponies she knew, and even some she didn't who just seemed to be enjoying the wonderful day. Equestria Fine Books Moon Dancer smiled, some of her favorites had been printed here. She opened the door to the shop and stepped inside. There was some noise, the back half of the store taken up by a large machine with a big crank handle on it. Four ponies were there, turning the crank and driving the huge printing press. Beside it, two unicorns worked with fine thread and glue, binding the pages together and assembling the books. "Can I help you?" A stallion with so many ink splatters on him it was almost impossible to tell that he had a yellow coat with light blue mane and tail, was waiting at the counter. She did, however, spot a book splattered with ink on his flank and had the sudden urge to want to wash him just to find out if the ink splatter was part of his cutie mark or just his trade. "I need some books printed. My name is Moon Dancer." She gave her newly-reflexive flick of her head. Getting used to letting her fringe down was getting to be a problem, maybe she should get it trimmed. She did have at least four friends in Ponyville now, and they had one of the best day spas in all Equestria. "Well, just what book did you want, you know that one-off runs are expensive?" The stallion reached over and lifted down a hugely thick book, setting it on the table and opening it. It was a directory, it listed so many books that Moon Dancer was temporarily overcome with the desire to ask him to print them all. Flicking through it, she realized it was actually the same list three times, first by name, then by author, and lastly by subject. It was this that she flicked to, heading right to educational. It was a large section, books in Equestria were mainly used to teach and, thankfully, there were sublists. She spotted one she remembered. "Okay, I want… fifty of this book." "'I did a spell'? Fifty? That is an introductory book for foals learning to work magic…" He sounded a little surprised and not a bit confused. "Indeed." Moon adjusted her glasses. "I am starting a school and need teaching material… is there any chance of a sample? It might be an idea to break it up into more than one actual book, so tempted foals don't read ahead." The stallion lifted a hoof that, despite having ink stains on it, proved to not smudge the page. "Ah, sure, give me a moment." He stepped out into a side room and came back with a different book, but along the same lines. "This is the closest I have in stock, I would need to send out for the plates to do that other one anyway, I can do a cheaper rate on this one." Moon Dancer took the book from him and started flicking through it. "This will be perfect, could I get each book printed in three parts?" "I follow you, I think. So break it at the major topics. What kind of binding, they will be a bit thin for regular stitching." "What is the cheapest?" The stallion shook his head. "I can gather you don't have a lot of funds for this?" He had hit his mark, noticing Moon Dancer looking a little defeated at the accusation. Her nod cemented his opinion. "Well, how about this. We have the plates, we have some spare paper. We can run off thirty of these without any problem, and since it is for little'uns to learn, we will do that for free. When you need to get more books made, and if you are running a school you will, you come back here and we will do them as cheap as we can." His offer stunned Moon Dancer, that a pony would just… She smiled. "Thank you, uh…" "Ink Blot." He raised a hoof over the counter and she met it with a clop. "Thank you Ink Blot, I will send you a picture of the school once I have something going." The good mood really blasted out all the down feelings of the rejections by the big schools. Ink perked up at this thought. "That'd be great." He certainly sounded happy about the idea and started scrawling something down on a pad. "We'll have 'em done in about three days." Moon pondered, that would be perfect, she could visit Ponyville, spend a day or two there, and come back to pick them up. Then she would be off to the Crystal Empire. It seemed so shocking, she was leaving her home, her books… well, she would bring her books. But she was leaving Canterlot! She pranced, it felt great to be doing all this, her heart was racing with the strong feelings as she ended up back at her house. Moon was a whirlwind of packing, she tucked four books away in a case, just to have something to read. A fifth joined them, a book she had already given her friend but wanted to do so again. Principles of Magic. With two cases packed, she was back out of her house, her poor old house, and trotting toward the train station. Twilight had flipped her world around, since that visit she had been spending more time with her old friends, making new ones and just exploring more of the world around her. Which was why she wanted to go and find that mare and tell her how good a friend she was. In her focus she saw one of the odd humans that seemed to be dotting the city more and more. They were staring at her in surprise. Moon was too caught up in her journey to really think about it too much. She was a little embarrassed at using Penny's bits for the trip, but it had been a payment for doing the research into the schools. This reminded her that she would need to write a letter back, explaining what happened and the new plan. It seemed like nothing could or would stop her buying her ticket and getting on the train, but once seated a sense of newness wrapped around Moon. For once the mare didn't pull out a book and sink her snout into it, she watched Equestria fly by outside the train and focused on the future. She got off the train, her two cases beside her. Moon Dancer was suddenly worried about where she would be staying. Was there even somewhere to stay here? "Well hi there!" A pegasi with gray fur and blonde mane and tail approached. "You look a little lost, can I help you?" She had the mailmare pouches on and Moon could see she was in the process of getting some things off the train. "A bit lost. I was looking to find some old friends of mine." "Well, I can help you with that, I know everyone who lives in Ponyville! My name is Muffins." The infectiously happy tone the mare had bolstered Moon and she smiled back. "Moon Dancer. I am trying to find Lyra Heartstrings, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Twilight… uh, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Muffins nodded. "First two are easy-peasy, Lyra lives with her special somepony at her store, Sweetie Drops Candies. Pinkie Pie works at the Cake's store in town. Spike and Twilight live in their castle." She raised a hoof, pointing to the horizon and the lofty towers of a castle outside of town. Moon's jaw dropped a moment before she got her wits back. A castle, she lived in a castle? Of course she did, she was a princess, where was she going to live, a library? "Wow, well I guess I can meet up with my friends living actually in Ponyville first, then. Besides, if Twilight and I get distracted in books I won't have any time left for anypony else." The mailmare looked happy at having helped. "Thank you Muffins, I hope you have a great day!" The wall-eyed mare nodded. "You too, it is hard to not have a good day in Ponyville!" With her legs in an easy trot, Moon made her way toward the first place that Muffins had told her. It was easy to find the sweets shop, it had a big sign out the front and, entering the door a little bell chimed. "Coming!" A sweet voice called from the back. There was a giggle too and a slight surprised sound before a mare with beige fur was standing behind the counter. "Welcome to Sweetie Drops Candies, what can I help you with?" She looked like she was having the best day ever. "I was looking for Lyra Heartstrings, actually." A head poked out from the back room. "Moon Dancer?" The mint mare in question didn't wait for confirmation and dashed out and over the counter. "Hey Moon Dancer, it is great to see you! Twilight and the girls were telling me all about you!" She beamed with happiness, eyes closing and teeth on display. "I wanted to say hello. A new friend has me heading off to the Crystal Empire and didn't want to leave before catching back up." Moon Dancer felt the two other mare's happiness rubbing off on her. It certainly wasn't a bad feeling. "Oh, wow, I heard they were needing help with some things. I was in Canterlot until recently, working in one of the schools there." Lyra's words had Moon's attention. Fate seemed an odd thing and full of 'coincidence' once it had you in motion. Moon pondered asking the mare if she would come with her but discarded that, it was obvious she had a thing going with her special somepony here. The doorbell rang again and a bright pink pony bounced in. "Hey Sweetie, do you have any spare sugar I can-" Pinkie Pie was suddenly distracted. "Moon Dancer!" The bookish mare was trapped in the almost legendary 'Pinkie Hug'. "How are you doing?" Bereft of air, the pink party pony suddenly noticed the unicorn couldn't breathe from the hug and released Moon. Of course, it was impossible to be mad at Pinkie Pie, Moon had only met her once, at her party, but the mare had proved herself a good friend then. "I am doing well, thanks Pinkie." Moon magically adjusted her glasses again, not raising them, but tilting them down a bit so she could see a bit better. "Was going to be coming around to see you next actually, but you have saved me the trouble." "Oh? It's always great to see friends!" Moon wondered why the mare would need sugar when she practically leaked sweetness. "You will need to excuse me, I need to plan a party!" She was just in time for Sweetie Drops to lug over a big bag of sugar to her. "Thanks, bye bye now!" Moon was left blinking at the encounter. "Is she always like that?" The looks she got back from Lyra and Sweetie confirmed it. "So much energy…"