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The Idea2,234 words
Sugarcube Corner1,698 words
Carousel Boutique1,271 words
Sweet Apple Acres2,234 words
Fluttershy's Cottage1,350 words
Interlude1,449 words
An Unexpected Delay2,346 words
The First Annual Book Fair3,944 words

The Idea

“Good morning Spike!” Princess Twilight Sparkle chimed happily on one bright Tuesday morning. She had felt fantastic when she had woken up – the birds were chirping merrily outside of her window, friendly smiles could be seen everywhere on the streets, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. “How are you this fine morning?”

“Great, Twi! I took your advice and went to bed earlier last night, and I feel fantastic!” Spike replied happily, waving to his adopted older sister as she trotted down the stairs of their home, the Golden Oak Library. Even though the little dragon had been hard at work ever since he had woken up, cleaning up the library and re-sorting books, he was feeling unusually cheerful. “What about you?”

“Oh, I’m doing just fine as well! Isn’t it a beautiful day out?” Twilight looked wistfully out the window. “Rainbow and the weather team did a really fantastic job today.”

“They sure did,” Spike agreed, nodding and putting his feather duster down. He skipped over to the window and joined the alicorn. “So, what are your plans for today?”

“Honestly Spike, I’m not sure.” Twilight shrugged. “There are no impending disasters, either natural or pony-made, and Prin- Celestia hasn’t contacted me for anything. I might go talk to the girls and see if they want to get together for anything. Perhaps a picnic? We might as well take advantage of this nice weather!”

“Well, I hope that works out for you. Mind if I have the day off too, then?” Spike mumbled hopefully, giving Twilight his best winning smile. He began fidgeting with his hands as he saw Twilight begin to bite her lower lip, and her brow start furrowing.

“Well, normally it wouldn’t matter, but if both of us are gone, who’s going to be here to help the patrons?” She pointed out, raising an eyebrow at her assistant. Spike stared blankly at her.

“Patrons?” He asked slowly, enunciating the word. He pursed his lips. Twilight blinked at him.

“Ye-es, patrons… you know, those ponies that come down to our quaint little library and take out books?” Twilight clocked him gently on the head. Spike flinched away from her and batted her hoof away
.

“Twilight, I hate to break it to you, but we don’t have patrons.” He informed her in a monotone voice. Silence reigned in the library. Alicorn and dragon stared at each other, neither batting an eye. Finally, Twilight laughed and shook her head.

“Oh Spike, don’t be so silly. Stay here until one o’clock, and then you can take the afternoon off. Does that sound fair? Just remember to put up the ‘closed’ sign when you go, alright?” She left the window and walked over to one of the recently shelved shelves. “You’ve been doing a really good job with the shelving, you know. It’s almost as if nopony except for you touches them!”

“Twilight.” Spike followed her to the shelf, where she was delicately touching the spines of each book, reading their titles in her mind. “Seriously, I’m not joking around-”

“But you should really dust a little more. I don’t know if it’s you not dusting enough or what, but there’s a perpetual layer of dust on all of the shelves, I’ve noticed.”

“Twilight…”

“But you’re still doing great! You’ve been updating the log book, correct? You can’t forget to do that every single time a book is checked out-”

“Twilight!” Spike yelled, snapping her out of her rant. Twilight immediately stopped and looked towards her assistant.

“Yes, Spike? What is it?” She huffed, annoyed at the interruption.

“I wasn’t lying. No one comes in here.” Spike crossed his arms.

“How is that even possible?” Twilight scoffed with a harsh laugh. “This is a library! Ponies come in here all the time!”

“When have you ever seen any ponies in here, Twi?”

“Once again, ponies come in here all the time!”

“I mean other than our friends.” It wasn’t like Spike felt good telling Twilight that nopony else in Ponyville shared her love of literature, but it had to be done. Twilight’s eyes went wide, and Spike could see the obvious gears in her mind turning frantically trying to think of somepony else who had taken out a book at one point or another.

“But… books are awesome…” Twilight whimpered, staring straight ahead past Spike. “Everypony should love books…”

“Equestria to Twilight? Snap out of it!” Spike waved his arm in front of the alicorn’s face, trying desperately to get her attention. “What’s the matter?” Twilight shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

“I don’t believe you! Lots of ponies love books! Look, I’ll show you!” She yelled, stomping over to the front desk near the entrance of the library. On it, a large, bound black tome sat untouched by pony hooves. “Just open that book and you’ll see!”

“Twilight, I’m the one who fills out that stupid book, and I can tell you right now, there have been three books and seven short novels taken out.” Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Spike lifted a claw. “And before you jump to conclusions, the seven novels were all Daring Do books, taken out by Rainbow Dash.”

“Still… there are three books out right now, that’s something!” Twilight exclaimed happily, flipping the book open. She flipped a page. On it was written ‘Super Naturals’, ‘The Origins of Hearts and Hooves Day’ and ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.’

“No, Twi, when I said that there have been three books taken out, I meant that there have been three books taken out in total. That’s it. No more.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed at his words.

“This is a library, Spike. There is literally no possible way that only three books in total have ever been taken out.”

“Keep looking then, and you’ll see that I’m right.” Spike crossed his arms and fixed Twilight with a look. Twilight resumed her lip biting and flipped a page over. And another page. And another. And another. And another.

Blank, blank, blank, blank, blank.

Twilight’s eye twitched suspiciously.

“Where are all the logs?!” Twilight screeched, rapidly throwing page after page over, seeking out any form of words. “There has to be something here! The library couldn’t have just leant out three books – and two of them to me!”

“Twilight, please, stop. You’re gonna hurt yourself.” Spike shook his head and put a reassuring hand on Twilight’s shoulder, pulling her back gently. She slowly let go of the book the farther away she got from it. “Seriously, it’s not that big of a deal, trust me. Lots of ponies come in here; they just don’t take anything out!”

“Spike, this is a library. The sole reason for its existence is to give out books to others, so everypony might enjoy the wonders of literature! If it can’t even do that, what’s the point of having it here? Why did Ponyville even build it?!”

“Uh, I don’t think Ponyville built it. I think a giant tree just sprouted from the ground and ponies started storing their unwanted books in here…”

“Spike? Not helping.” Twilight growled without looking at him as she resumed her usual pacing. Spike threw up his arms defensively and stepped backwards, away from her.

“I had no idea that this would bother you so much, Twi.” He muttered, rolling his eyes subtly when she wasn’t looking. “You’ve been happy enough living here with all these books, I don’t know why this is so upsetting for you.”

“The Golden Oak Library is supposed to provide hours of entertainment and knowledge for ponies of all ages! Not just me! I have to do something to make sure that ponies want to come here!”

“Fine, what do you want to do then?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Twilight stopped her pacing and narrowed her eyes, thinking hard about her options.

“Well, it’s not like we can force ponies to come here against their will… we have to show them that reading can be fun!” The alicorn declared, turning to Spike and swooping him up into her arms, hugging him tightly. Spike gasped for air at the sudden movement.

“What do you mean, ‘we’? I’m perfectly fine with ponies not coming here. Less shelving for me, that way.” Spike scoffed, shoving her off of him. “And besides, how would you show them that, if you can’t force them to come here?” Twilight stopped and pondered the thought a little more.

“That’s true… maybe… maybe I can just take my books around town and read them in public, and laugh really loudly, and when ponies ask me what I’m laughing at, I’ll tell them that I’m laughing at the book!” Spike pinched the top of his nose as he sighed.

“You really think that would work?” He asked cautiously. Twilight fixed him with a stare.

“Of course it would! If ponies see how much fun I’m having, then they’ll want to have fun too!” The alicorn stomped on the ground to emphasize her point. “What’s the flaw in that plan?”

“Oh, just the fact that you can’t take two steps outside without the paparazzi swarming over you. You can’t really expect to be able to find a quiet place to read!” Twilight pursed her lips and nodded slowly.

“True facts, Spike. True facts. Well, if I can’t do that, I don’t know what I can do, then! Do you have any ideas?” Twilight slumped down, her mood having plummeted. I have to find some way to make everypony love books!

“Well, what about that stupid… thing… that the library back in Canterlot does every year?” He shrugged. A silence filled the air. Twilight’s ear flapped once as she stared straight ahead, thinking.

“That… stupid… thing?” She asked, not looking at him.

“Yeah, remember, that big event that they would host? They would put up posters everywhere in town, and there were big booths outside the library doors? Oh, what was it called…” Spike thought hard for the name, but it wouldn’t come to him. “Oh well, it’s probably a silly idea anyways.” He shrugged and started walking away.

“You mean… The Canterlot Annual Book Fair?” She mumbled, sitting up slowly.

“Oh, yeah, that was it!” Spike nodded. “They publicised it all over town and lots of ponies showed up, if I remember correctly.” Spike eyed Twilight playfully. “I remember carrying your stacks of books out of that building every single day that it was going on for.”

“The Canterlot Annual Book Fair…” Twilight repeated, the gears in her mind turning rapidly.

“Yeah, the book fair… is everything alright?” Spike turned around, eyeing Twilight suspiciously. “You seem… broken.”

“The Canterlot Annual Book Fair!” The alicorn yelled, thrusting her hoof into the air and cheering. “The Canterlot Annual Book Fair! Spike, that’s a fantastic idea!” Spike was swept up into another hug.

“Whoa, whoa, watch the scales! Calm down, Twi!” Spike laughed, gently shoving his sister off of him.

“Spike, this may be the single best idea that you’ve ever had! I can host a book fair here! I can call it… The First Annual Golden Oaks Library Book Fair! And everypony will come and see how awesome books are, and they’ll be willing to read! Oh, and I can get Pinkie Pie and Applejack to help with the food, and Rarity to help with the booths and décor! Maybe Fluttershy can get her bird choir to play! Ooh, and of course it would have to be a clear, sunny day, so we better go talk to Rainbow Dash too! Oh Spike, this is going to be so much fun!”

“Cant… breathe…” Spike choked, turning even more purple than usual. Twilight flinched and dropped him immediately, grinning slightly as he gasped comically for air.

“What do you think, Spike? Do you think we can do this?” Twilight asked hopefully, biting her lip. Spike thought about the idea for a moment, tapping a claw to his chin.

“I guess.” He mumbled nonchalantly, shrugging. Twilight squealed and resisted the urge to hug him again.

“Then the two of us, with the help of our five friends, will make the greatest book fair that Ponyville has ever seen! Let’s get to work Spike!” She demanded, levitating him off the ground with her magic and putting him onto her back.

“Wait what, already?! I thought today was going to be our day off!” Spike complained, already knowing that he couldn’t get out of Twilight’s latest crazy plan.

“There’s no time like the present, Spike! The faster we can go talk to everypony, the better! Don’t you want to go see Rarity?” A purple blur whizzed by Twilight’s vision.

“What are you waiting for, slowpoke! Let’s go!” Twilight blinked, and Spike was in front of her, standing on the front doorstep, tapping his foot impatiently. Twilight laughed and shook her head, trotting after him.

This is gonna be the best book fair ever!

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