An Afternoon With Twi
As I stood in the middle of the square, just watching the other ponies milling about, occasionally taking a bite of my apple, I became overtaken by that feeling that haunted nearly my every waking moment: uncertain indecisiveness. Honestly, it could be either uncertainty or indecisiveness, but I felt like combining the two was a much more appropriate term. This was where I had a lot of options open before me, but I had no idea which to take. Sometimes it was because I didn’t want to favor one choice over the other, especially if I had done it so many times before. Sometimes it was because I was trying to think out of concern for my peers. I was the sort of person who hated letting people down or disappointing them, so I most often had to go along with doing something I didn’t particularly enjoy or want to do, just for the sake of keeping them from feeling disappointed.
Call it whatever, but I just preferred to think that I was just trying to look out for others, even if it didn’t always look that way on the surface. Should I visit Fluttershy? Was she even awake after the party last night? Applejack was probably still trying to sleep off that apple-eating contest. Rainbow Dash was out of the question, since I had no way of accessing the skies.
And then it hit me. I even smacked myself in the forehead for not thinking of it before.
Twilight! The library! I could head on over there, spend some time with her and Spike, let myself get lost in a good book. With this plan in mind, I finished off my apple, tossed away the core into a trash can, and directed my steps to the Ponyville library.
***
Within minutes, I was standing outside the library, and I knocked on the door. There was a small clatter, like someone putting a book down on a stand, and then the sound of hooves. If that wasn’t evidence that Twilight was up and about again, I didn’t know what was.
Sure enough, the door opened, the knob surrounded by a purplish glow, and there she stood, all tiredness removed from her face. She looked a bit annoyed at first, but she brightened almost immediately upon seeing me.
“Dave! Hello again!”
“Hi, Twilight. Feeling better?”
“Completely! Zecora’s herbs really do the trick, even if they are an acquired taste.”
“Did I interrupt something?" I asked. "You looked a little out of sorts.”
“Huh? Oh! I’m sorry. I kind of get a little antsy when I’m jerked out of being ‘in the zone’. Funny," she added, reflectively, "that’s usually Rarity’s thing.”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry. If you want, I could just leave you to it-”
“No-no-no, it’s ok, you don’t have to leave!" said Twilight, hurriedly. "Was there something you needed?”
“Well, I have an appointment with Rarity at 2, and Pinkie’s going to be busy, so I thought I’d just stop over here, see you and Spike, maybe, I don't know, read for a while.”
“Oh! Well, come in, come in!”
She stepped back inside, and I followed, ducking once again to avoid conking my head on the door frame. A very thick volume sat on a stand, while another was occupied by a scrap of parchment and an inkwell with a quill in it. The scroll had several lines written on it, but all in a language I couldn’t understand.
“Is this part of your studies?”
“Yep! I’m researching the ancient alphabet of Old Equestria. Just imagine how surprised the Princess will be when I send my next report written in the kingdom’s early letters!”
She beamed at me with absolute shimmering-eyed excitement, a face too adorable to be witnessed by those with weak hearts.
“That would make a nice surprise,” I agreed. “So, you mind if I browse the shelves?”
“Of course not, go ahead! This is a library, after all.”
So I started at the shelves closest to the door and began working my way along them. Every book was neatly shelved and grouped according to genre or author, wherever applicable. A good majority were the kind you’d be expected to find as part of a school’s required list of textbooks: history, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, politics, English. Then I came to ones that were more concerned with the history and knowhow of Equestria: the history of the kingdom itself, tales of the wars against Nightmare Moon and Discord (whoever those were), the flora and fauna of the Everfree Forest, and even a book of speculation on the existence of creatures called ‘sea-ponies’.
Then I came to the fictional literature, novels and such. Some had groaningly corny, pun-tastic names, like The Adventures of Hucklepony Finn, Frankenstallion, Lord of the Reins, just to name a few. Some had normal titles, however, and just had equine substitutions to the characters I would have been familiar with: Around the World in 80 Days, Treasure Island, Great Expectations, etc. There was also a collection of many books about the adventures of Daring Do, apparently a pegasus version of Indiana Jones, from the look of the covers.
I looked over at Twilight. She was still scribbling away at her paper, occasionally glancing at the book for reference. I figured it might be better to leave her to her work, so I headed upstairs to find Spike.
“Spike? Hey, Spike?”
“Whuh? Oh! Hi, Dave!”
I found the little dragon seated on the floor, a claw-full of bird seed in his palm. A very small bird chick was pecking at it hungrily. Its feathers were orange, with a tiny red plume on its head, and its eyes were yellow and beady. It looked up as I entered, tilting its head quizzically.
“Is this your pet?” I asked.
“Yep!" said Spike. "This is Peewee, my pet phoenix.”
I had been walking over to take a closer look, but stumbled back at Spike’s reply.
“A phoenix??”
Spike seemed confused by my reaction.
“Sure. Why, is something wrong?”
“No, no. It's just, phoenixes aren’t native creatures in my world, so I never expected to see a live one. Then again, Pinkie said there are manticores and cockatrices in the Everfree Forest, so I really shouldn’t be surprised. How did you find him?”
“That’s kind of a long story,” said Spike. “Let's just say I found him as an egg and saved him from being scrambled. He's been with us ever since."
Peewee fluttered his tiny wings and cheeped happily. He certainly was an energetic little fella.
“Dave?”
All three of us jumped. Twilight had come up so softly that I hadn’t heard her.
“Is everything ok?” she asked.
“Yeah, of course. I just came up to see Spike, and got to meet his pet phoenix.”
"Ah, yes," said Twilight, grinning. "It's been a lot more active around here with him in the house. Owlowiscious has taken on double-duty as junior assistant and Peewee's babysitter when Spike's busy."
"But I am training him to help out, too!" said Spike. "We'll have the most efficient library in Equestria once he's old enough!"
Peewee twittered cheerfully, and Twilight giggled.
"Well, I've got some time to kill before my appointment with Rarity," I said, "so I thought maybe we could just sit down and chat, if that's all right."
“Of course!" said Twilight. "I actually just finished recording that ancient Equestrian alphabet, which is why I came up to look for you.”
“Great! Lead on, then.”
With that, Twilight took me downstairs, leaving Spike and Peewee to themselves. With her magic, she drew up a plush-cushioned sofa, perfect for reclining on when reading deeply. I sat myself on one end, and she settled herself, pony-fashion, on the other.
"You've really got it lucky, Twi," I said, before catching myself. "Er, you don't mind me calling you that, do you?"
"Not at all!" said Twilight. "My friends do sometimes."
"All right. You've got it lucky, Twi: living in a library, surrounded by books. I'll bet you've read each one at least once."
"Oh, at least," said Twilight, unashamedly. "You wouldn't believe how many dog-ears I've accumulated. I've actually been trying to master a spell to fix that."
"Oh?"
"A bookmarking spell," Twilight explained. "When cast on a single book, if I have to set it down, it'll automatically reopen to where I left off when I pick it up again."
"Wow!" I said, impressed. "That's incredible!"
"But," Twilight warned, "you can only do it on one book at a time. Use it on more than one, and they'd all open to the same page, regardless."
"Ohh, I see," I mused. "Still, that sounds amazing, not to mention useful. I go through a lot of books, believe me, and it'd be nice not to have to find so many things to use for bookmarks."
"Tell me about it," said Twilight. "So, anything on the shelves catch your eye while you were browsing?"
“You mean besides the fact that a lot of those books have similar titles and storylines to those back in my world?” I asked.
“Do they?" asked Twilight, fascinated. "Amazing! Was there any you wanted to read in particular?"
“Well, I did always like Around the World in 80 Days. I wouldn’t mind seeing it, er, pony-fied.”
Twilight grinned and, her horn glowing with a pinkish-purple light, summoned that very book from the shelves. The cover had the title printed in stately, ornate letters. On it was illustrated a globe and two ponies. One was a stallion with an impassive, almost bored, white-bearded face, wearing a top hat and suit. The second was a younger stallion with a flustered face, dressed like a butler, with a gold watch in his hoof. I no doubt guessed that these were the equivalents of Phileas Fogg and Passepartout. The book was placed in my hands, and I opened it up.
“Um, Twi?" I asked, tentatively.
"Mm?"
"This isn’t something I normally ask, but, would you mind if I read out loud? It's kind of a habit of mine, when I'm alone. Maybe we could read together.”
Twilight looked at me for a moment, then smiled.
“That sounds like a fun idea, Dave. Nopony’s ever asked that before. Then again, not a lot of ponies show such a passion for reading,” she added, as an almost bitter afterthought. “I mean, I only recently got Rainbow Dash to want to read.”
“She reads?” I asked, a little perplexed.
“Shocking, isn’t it? But yes, she's very much into the Daring Do series.”
“Huh. I might have to look into that.”
“You’d love it! If it can make a reader out of a pony like Rainbow Dash, I know you’d enjoy it.”
As I got myself comfortable in my position, Twilight inched over until she was right beside me. It was kind of amusing, almost like a large dog settling down next to you to get warm. I turned to the first page.
“Chapter 1: In Which Phileas Fogg and Passepartout Agree Their Relationship, That of Master and Servant…”
***
I wasn't really keeping track of time, but it didn’t matter. I was having a heck of a time with Twilight, and I never had this much fun reading aloud before. We took turns narrating, while I did most of the dialogue. She was in stitches with some of the voices I chose for the characters, like a British monotone for Phileas Fogg, an excitable French voice for Passepartout, and a somewhat jowly Cockney voice for Inspector Fix, similar to ones I had heard from an old audio book version of the story. The story itself played out very similarly to the humanized version, only with minor appropriate changes to accommodate the equine atmosphere. Since I was terrible at female voices, I let her read out the parts spoken by Mrs. Aouda, which she did surprisingly well.
We were about midway through when Spike came down to check on us, and he found me in the middle of reading the chapter in which Fix revealed his plan to detain Phileas Fogg, suspected of robbing the Bank of England, and Passepartout was refusing his involvement. As the Frenchman was drunk during this scene, I was slurring myself all over the place, to Twilight’s amusement.
“‘Mister Fix’, he stammered, ‘even if everything you have said is true, even if my master is the thief you are after, which I don’t believe for a moment, I have worked for him! I still work for him! I know how kind and generous he is! Betray him? Never! No, not for all the money in the world! Where I come from, that’s just not the sort of thing people go in for!’”
I paused to take a breath, and Twilight applauded, and so did Spike, to our surprise.
“Oh! Spike!’ said Twilight. “What brings you down here?”
“Just came to see what you guys wanted for lunch. Sounds like you were having a blast down here.”
“Heh, yeah,” I said, “though I could use a break. My throat’s never had this much of a workout in a long time.”
“You were doing very well, though!" said Twilight. "You’ve got quite a talent for voices!”
“Aw, shucks, Twi, you’re embarrassing me.”
I never did like to brag, but I did like to think I was pretty good with impressions, especially with certain accents.
“In any case, I’ll be fine with whatever you guys want,” I added.
“Great! It’ll be ready in a jiffy!” said Spike, and he walked off into the kitchen.
“While we’re waiting, Twi, there’s something else I wanted to ask about.” I said.
“Yes?”
“You know that sit-down we talked about yesterday, with me answering questions about the human world?”
“Of course!” said Twilight, keenly.
“Well, would you object to us having a guest during it?”
“Not at all! Who is it?”
“Lyra Heartstrings.”
“Lyra?" asked Twilight, puzzled. "Why would-" She then stopped herself a look of dawning comprehension on her face. "Ohh, that’s right.”
“Yeah, her thing with humans," I said. "You knew her in Canterlot, right? Was she always like that?”
“Excitable and human-fanatical? Well, yes, as far as I know. We never really hung out much. She grew up on those kinds of stories, and now wants to prove they’re real. She’s really harmless, though.”
“Yeah, her friend Bon Bon said so yesterday," I said. "They’re roommates, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are. They’ve been super-close ever since Lyra moved to Ponyville, and they both found they have quite a bit in common. Bon Bon likes Lyra’s lyre-playing, and Lyra loves Bon Bon’s sweets.”
“Heh, yeah, Bon Bon mentioned that, too," I chuckled. "So, you don’t object to her listening in?”
“No, of course not. It’d be nice for her to finally get the answers she’s looking for.”
Twilight suddenly looked very thoughtful.
“Say...I wonder...”
“What?” I asked.
Twilight gasped happily.
“Why stop at a simple interview? After this, we could have you give a guest lecture at the schoolhouse! Miss Cheerilee would love it, I’m sure!”
“Whoa-whoa, slow down, Twi,” I began, but she didn’t slow down.
“And after that, we could even hold a seminar in Canterlot! For Princess Celestia herself! Can you imagine?”
Her eyes were twinkling with such intense enthusiasm, but I was feeling no such thing on my part.
Me?
Public speeches?
In front of a school?
In front of an entire city?
In front of a princess??
The last thing I saw was Twilight’s gleeful face before everything went black.
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Stage fright eh?
Good job Twi, you broke Dave.
Nice now would be a good time for Dave to tell Twilight that he isn't very good infront of large crowds.
And this will be the last thing he sees when he meets Lyra static.fimfiction.net/images/story_images/25249.png?1336535358
"thud"
uhh....dave.... davie.... hmm... if you dont want me to preform experiments on you say something!
966548
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Just recently found this series of stories and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm also mildly surprised no one mentioned the Twilight Zone reference at the beginning.
One of my favorite episodes I might add.
And then it hit me. I even smacked myself in the forehead for not thinking of it before. Twilight! The library!
4006434 I'm surprised you used Sokka, since it is painfully obvious you are a Whovian, as am I. If I could figure out how to work it, I would have used a clip from SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY. Remember, "Donna Noble has left The Library. Donna Noble has been Saved.
4067118 HOW DO YOU SAVE PEOPLE WITH NO SURVIVORS?! The great mystery of the library planet 0_0
I wonder if these are older than the letters used to record The Tale of the Royal Pony Sisters, since those were also used on the poster for the talent show.
i hate being interrupted from notepad++, just let me fix these bugs please