Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

17 The Polymath, Part Two

Twilight Sparkle grimaces briefly, quickly forcing a smile as she relishes the bitter taste of the coffee in front of her. Black, just like the ink on the pages, the heady aroma by itself enough to clobber the sleepiness out of her mind like a well aimed tome. Not that she would ever throw a book at somepony (literally, that is; she throws books around figuratively like they are going out of style (not that that would ever happen, of course)) but occasionally she might leave a book precariously balanced. And then when Spike or a wayward levitated tome happens to bump into the bookshelf, the inevitable result, well, results.

She scans around the ground floor of her new home, the Golden Oaks Library. And it is finally starting to look like a library! She smiles at the newly washed floors and walls, not a hint of the dust remaining after yesterday's cleaning. Fluttershy and her flock of animals really came through, though her stock of carrots had mysteriously disappeared. Then, when she got home and was able to start going through the books? Twilight sighs happily; a day spent in the library was a day well spent.

Yesterday, the three of them had sorted through the titles of every book. Courtesy of Spike, she has a basic inventory started with the title and very brief synopsis of each book. As they went through the library Meringue helped sort each book into one of two piles: the Star Swirl the Bearded section, comprised of history, biographies, autobiographies, magic, sciences, the magical sciences, science of magic, astronomical charts, pictographs, ancient pictographs, poetry, adventures, and foal-level books for learning to read. And then there is the non-Star Swirl the Bearded section, comprised of the complete Daring Do series. Actually, maybe they belonged in the Star Swirl section, with the rest of the young mare literature.

As Twilight ponders this latest conundrum there comes a knock at the door. Spike hops away from the breakfast table and his plate of greens and a sickly green gem (where did he get that from?) and goes to the door. On the other side stands Meringue, with Pinkie Pie waving in the background. Spike waves at Pinkie Pie, who scans the sky before pronking off.

Spike opens the door further, inviting Meringue inside with his arm as he says, "Morning, Meringue! Didn't get enough time at the library yesterday, huh?" He pauses as Meringue stares at him, waiting for a response that never comes. He tries again, "So... you, uh, looking to help out again?" At the lack of immediate response Spike glances back to Twilight, the mare taking another sip of her coffee. He glumly adds, "I mean, we always appreciate any help. I guess."

"School commences: one hour. Organism: Meringue, offer assistance."

Twilight smiles, "Of course! We're always grateful for any pony willing to pitch in around here!" She takes another sip of her coffee as Meringue steps inside, happily sighing as she finishes off her morning treat. She levitates her empty mug to the sink, along with the rest of the dirty dishes, turning to the stack of books piled high in the middle of the library.

Spike sighs as he closes the door, his angry glare at the filly's backside going unnoticed by the ponies. "No, no," he mutters to himself, "She's just here to help. Only for a little. Then it'll go back to just being you and Twilight." He goes over to the sink, quickly cleaning off the dishes.

Twilight and Meringue stop, staring up at the giant pile of books. Twilight chuckles to herself, saying, "Oops! Almost forgot." Her horn lights, the twenty books of the Daring Do collection joining the rest. After all, they do deal with ancient temples and locations probably built by Star Swirl the Bearded himself. "Now, I guess we could start by sorting those books in with the rest. Although most of them start with 'D', so it should be pretty easy."

Meringue stands still, staring at the Daring Do books for several seconds before looking up at Twilight, a cross between bemusement, if a rock could smile, and a query for more instruction.

"Was I not clear enough?" Twilight says, a touch of her annoyance at the lack of compliance. "Daring Do books, over by the other D's."

Meringue stares at the stack of books towering above her for a few seconds before grabbing a dictionary and flipping through the pages.

"Ugh, fine, I'll do it myself," grunts Twilight, the several foot stack of Daring Do books levitating over to join the many others. She huffs at the filly still flipping through the pages, "I don't suppose you have a suggestion for me? Or did you just want to sit there reading?" Twilight slumps down, "I mean, I'm fine if that's what you wanted to do, I just thought you'd be helping me organize these books."

"Course of action ill advised."

"What?" Twilight says, turning and looking at Meringue. Spike hops down from the sink, drying off his claws as he walks over. "Why is that?"

"Insufficient leverage."

"Oh." Twilight grins, "You're just trying to say you can't lift all those books at once. I get it!"

Meringue stares blankly at Twilight for a few seconds before turning back to the dictionary.

"So, Twilight, you figured out how you are going to sort the books yet?" Spike holds up the long list he had made, several long scrolls of parchment spilling out from wherever he had been keeping them. He raises an eye at the lack of response, "Or are you done with that and ready to start shelving?"

Twilight sighs, "I'm still not happy with any of the systems I've been thinking through. So, my plan is to just shelve them all by title, alphabetically, and then reorganize once I'm able to figure it out." Twilight levitates over three easels, each with a different system drawn up. "There's pros and cons to each, of course, and I'm going to keep going over them. Make any changes as I need to." She glances over to Meringue, "What do you think? We went over each of them yesterday, and I only made a few iterations since then." Meringue glances up, slowly reading through the three before pointing a hoof at the furthest left.

"Elegant design. Simple, adaptable."

Twilight's face falls, "You like the Canterlot Archives Classification System the most? Aww."

Spike laughs to himself, "Hey, it's better than my plan to just shelve the books wherever I feel like at the time."

Twilight ignores Spike, pointing a hoof at easily the most intricate (convoluted) of the designs on the furthest right, a veritable swarm of lines traversing this way and that but managing to never cross. "But I really liked my own take on what I'm terming The Starkle System. Created by myself, it sorts the books based on when Star Swirl wrote about the topic, going in chronological order! After all, everypony should be familiar with that, right?"

Spike groans, his claw slapping his face, "Twilight! Nopony else is going to be able to find anything if you sort the library like that. I only know it because you can't stop talking about it! Just give it a rest! I know Star Swirl was great, and your idol and all, but he disappeared a thousand years ago! Surely somepony else did anything relevant since then!"

Twilight snorts, "Please. If they don't know it, then they should. And this could be my chance to spread awareness of Star Swirl the Bearded!"

"Stressors reveal flaws. Flaws reveal potential."

Twilight grins, "See? Meringue agrees with me! I should go with my system, and then based on what feedback I get I can change my design!" Twilight begins scribbling on the newly labeled 'Starkle Sorting System'.

"Intent static. Implementation... less so. Must improve. Must."

"Yeah, you'd be getting a lot of feedback if you chose that idea," Spike snorts, shaking his head. Maybe having Meringue around wouldn't be so bad. "I mean, you'd get about as much improvement in their knowledge as if you wore a Star Swirl the Bearded costume to Nightmare Night." Twilight perks up as Spike gags, "Anyway, I guess we better get to shelving, huh?" Spike walks over to the stack of books, debating how to best scale the pile without creating an even larger mess.

"A Star Swirl the Bearded costume? Spike, you're a genius!" Twilight glances towards the front door, her slightly panicky tone slowly growing from 'I can't find a reference for a footnote' to 'Princess Celestia's Pop Quiz Day'. "And I have less than four months to plan it out! I'll need to gather all my reference guides!" Twilight levitates various stacks of books, a growing collection surrounding her as she digs deeper and deeper into the pile.

Meringue moves over to the abandoned easel, standing up on her hind legs in order to pull the paper down. Twilight doesn't react as the easel comes crashing down, the filly taking a few of Twilight's colored pencils. She begins doodling in the margins, small symbols mirroring the insignia and diagrams found on the books swirling around Twilight.

After a few minutes Spike pokes Meringue in the side, the fillies glancing up at him. "Hey, you should probably get to school. No telling how long Twilight will be sucked on this particular project." He points a claw at Twilight, a vortex of volumes veering in their vicinity. Meringue glances up, barely repositioning herself as a book comes a tad too close for comfort.

"Must continue work. Must."

"Ugh, fine. You don't want to be late, right?" Spike glances down, noting that Meringue is only missing symbols on two of the ten broad categories. He shrugs, "Eh, I guess I better start helping Twilight shelve. Even if she's going to be absorbed in yet another distraction."

"Lack of focus inefficient. Must improve."

"Well, I don't know about that," Spike says, glancing over at Twilight. He sighs as he grabs a stack of books, walking it over to the ladder and climbing to the top. "Sometimes, she has a really hard time pulling herself away from whatever project she's working on. Like, she gets so focused on something she ignores everything else going on around her." Spikes sighs as Meringue stops drawing, her gaze set on Twilight.

"Priorities undefined. Determine goals, intent."

Spike snorts, which almost breaks Twilight out of her trance. "What do you think these are?" He points to a large stack of scrolls, neatly wound up. Meringue glances over, then up at Spike. "Those are all of her completed checklists. For the most trivial of things! She shouldn't need so many reminders."

"Perplexing. Little value. Must improve."

Spike rolls his eyes as he walks to the next stack of books, "Yeah, when you figure that out, let me know." He glances over as Meringue gets up from her papers.

"Much work complete. Must not delay."

"Hey, nice having you over here. You need any help getting to school?"

"Determining efficient route."

Spike waves as she snags her saddlebags, a slow, scrupulous stroll slightly aside avoiding the amalgam of articles accelerating around. Meringue turns, waving back to him from the doorway, Twilight still involved in her reading and oblivious to the world. He sighs, returning to the shelving, though he'll need to take those scrolls outside at some point.

Some hours later Twilight has finally finished the preliminary design for her authentic Star Swirl the Bearded costume. She smiles at the library floor; Spike has come through again, managing to shelve all of the books she wasn't using! What a fantastic assistant. She glances down at the symbols Meringue drew on her classification plan. Her annoyance is quickly replaced by a relapse of Stargasming. These symbols would be perfect on her costume! Now to figure out exactly where each will go, instead of the basic stars and moons she was originally going to use.

Twilight nervously hums to herself as she considers; it wouldn't be as authentic then. Star Swirl's cloak and hat were adorned with bells, stars, and moons only. While these stylized designs are beautiful, they wouldn't be appropriate. Right? Twilight flips open her book to check again the placement of the stars she will be replacing. She skims through the pages to check the design, and how it might compare.

Well, it isn't like she has to stick to the original. After all, if something draws more attention to a subject, then a few alterations can be okay, right? It would be like she, Twilight Sparkle, is improving on Star Swirl's work! Even if it is just with regard to his dress, unimportant as that is.

Hmm, better not let Rarity hear her say something like that.

The door slamming open startles Twilight; her annoyed look at the intruder fades as she realizes that she is in a public library, and only the top floor would really be off-limits to them. She turns, forcing a pleasant smile at the library's first patron of the day. Her smile becomes even more forced as Pinkie Pie walks in, a rare scowl on the pink pony.

Pinkie Pie launches into her tirade unbidden, recklessly pacing around the library. "Oh my Celestia! This new friend of Rainbow Dash's!" Pinkie Pie drops down, sitting human style and crossing her forelegs in front of her, "She's the worst!" One hoof comes up to rest on her chin, "Well, she's not really a new friend, more like an old friend that she hasn't seen in years." Pinkie Pie shakes her head, throwing her forelegs into the air, "Anyway, she's super mean! She's a mean meanie pants! She not only mean, she's not very nice!" Pinkie Pie nods once, as if the matter is settled now that she has decided.

"Well, Pinkie," Twilight says, idly flipping through the pages of her book, "Are you sure this friend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?"

"Um, yeah. I mean, have you seen her?" Pinkie Pie begins pacing around, her hoof stomping to punctuate her accusations, "She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away!" *stomp* "She pops my balloons!" *stomp* "She told me to buzz off!" *stomp* "Have you seen what she did to Scootaloo's scooter?"

"Uh uh." Twilight glances over at Spike as he walks into the room, holding a plate of vegetables, a green gem, and a blue piece of crystal. Where does he keep getting those?

"Well, it wasn't very nice at all! She even tried to hide it, cover for her dam's friend, the sneaky little sneak! But I tickled the truth out of her." Pinkie Pie snorts, "I've never met a griffon this mean!" The hoof comes back up to Pinkie's chin as she considers, "Well, actually, I've never met a griffon at all."

"Uh huh." Twilight flips through another page, her face briefly brightening as she spots a good place to incorporate a few of Meringue's designs.

"I bet if I had, she wouldn't have been as mean and grumpy as Gilda!" Pinkie Pie looks over at the designs Twilight is comparing. "Ooh, pretty! I like that one!" She taps a hoof on one of the designs, eyes growing large as her mouth ooo's.

"Me too! Meringue drew them." Twilight turns to Pinkie Pie, the pink mare alternating between glee at the drawings and grief when she looks anywhere else. "You know what I think, Pinkie?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, I think you're jealous."

"Me? Jealous?" Pinkie Pie scoffs, grumpily shaking her head.

Spike smirks, "Green with envy!" as he pops the green gem into his mouth. One contented sigh later and he glances up to his green crest, then over at Pinkie Pie, noising chewing as he says, "Well, in your case, pink with envy." He places the plate next to Twilight, savoring the crystal as he bites down.

Twilight sighs, putting her book off to the side to regard Pinkie Pie. "Yes, jealous. Look, Pinkie, just because Rainbow has another friend doesn't mean she isn't going to spend time with you. Especially if she's just visiting, and won't be here very long! I mean, I bet Doug isn't always able to do whatever you want to do together, or any of the other members of the herd. Right? And just because Dash has a new friend doesn't make Gilda a grump. No more than anypony else who has to split their time among lots of their friends, right? Perhaps it's you, Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude."

Pinkie Pie sputters, "Me? Improve my attitude?! But! It's Gilda that... AH!" Pinkie Pie screams as she walks out of the library, leaving Twilight and Spike to stare at each other for a few seconds.

"Well, back to work," Twilight says, glancing at her notes. "What are you up to? Need another assignment?" Her gaze stays fixed on the book, her horn lighting and finding a bit of the lunch Spike brought in.

Spike shrugs, "Eh, not really anything needs to be cleaned, and until you figure out how you want your books sorted I don't have much to do. Maybe I could get you some more quills and paper, or head over to Rarity's, or I can nap upstairs."

"You don't need another nap, do you?" Twilight says, munching on the greens, still focused on her book. "I always like more quills, or whatever that last one was. Just be back in time for dinner."

"Okay!" Spike says as he walks out, salivating as he fantasizes about all the gems Rarity has but can't find a use for.

Comments

[superwestor123]

sens when did Meringue turn in to Abathur from ''Starcraft 2''?

[AnormalUnicornPony]

9351546
Definitely! Also thank you for the confirmation. No reason for self torture. Ugh. Better to resolve that quickly.

[Not so New Brony]

9351292
Ever since Nightmare Moon came at them with a dagger and 'silencing' them to teach Doug a lesson though her coping mechanism, while slowly becoming charming to me, is rather worrying given how exuberant she was before the incident.