Marshmallow Dreams

by Halira

Chapter 82: The Crystal Empire Library

The big library in New York was famous for having two giant lion statues right outside it. My visit to New York had been brief—going from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the portal, so I never got to see the library. I wasn't much of a library pony. Books are great, but I preferred reading them in a digital format, most of the time. Aside from my school books, I owned about seven books of my own; five of those books were books about architecture, and the last two were my copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass. So I basically just owned a few books related to my field of study and my favorite stories from growing up. I wasn't exactly what anyone would call a book nerd. Libraries were interesting for how they were built, not for all the books inside.

The main building of the New York Public Library was done in a Beaux-Arts style. That was a popular style developed in France in the nineteenth century and was brought over to the United States. It combined many parts from neoclassical and renaissance structures with more modern building elements like glass and iron to create something that looked both old and new. Some of the things that tip you off to the style are they tend to have the first floor not sit right on the foundation, but instead is raised off the ground, the roof is flat, there is a lot of ornamentation on the building, everything is always built a little 'too big', tends to have grand impractical entrances that move into more practical spaces, lots of symmetry, and arched doors and windows. Oh, and they tend to have columns near the entrance as well. This all adds up to make an imposing-looking building that radiates the message of being important with a strong hint of permanency. It's the type of building someone like me would drool over the prospect of designing.

The lion statues? They were a nice touch that added to that whole 'grand entrance I mentioned. They were as much part of the design of the building as the rest, even if they were statues outside. I could go on about them too, but they were more Blanche's thing. Where they would be placed outside is more of mine—if that makes sense.

Why blather on about the library in New York? The reason was that as Roger and I stood outside the imposing Crystal Library, I couldn't help but notice many similar elements—the imposing size, the elevated first floor, the flat roof, and the two giant griffin statues guarding the entrance.

Now, that wasn't to say that it was Beaux-Arts style, not by any means. It still sported what I had labeled in my head, lacking the proper term, as Contemporary Crystal Empire style. That involved the complete lack of right angles even on the stairs leading up to the entrance, the use of bright crystal as a building material, the diamond-shaped windows, and the jagged edges on their statues with the dead-eyed stares. Seriously, would it kill them to make the eyes more expressive?

Okay, I'm a nerd, just not a book nerd.

"This building is bigger than most of the rest," Roger observed dryly. I could forgive him for not commenting on the full range of style because he wasn't an architecture student. Heck, Roger wasn't even an art student. He was all about silly things, like practicality.

I giggled to myself, and he arched an eyebrow at me as if asking what I was laughing at. I shook my head. "You wouldn't get it. Let's head inside and see what it looks like in there. I think you wanted to see the books, not the merger of Contemporary Crystal Empire with Beaux-Arts."

"Merger of Contemporary Crystal Empire with what?" he asked in confusion.

I flew up the short flight of stairs and therefore bypassing my need to walk up the stairs that lacked all right angles or symmetry, which I was sure I would trip on and embarrass myself.

"Architecture stuff," I answered as I came in for a landing in front of the door. It was a perfect landing, no splats, leaving me very pleased with myself.

We walked in and immediately gaped. The entire building was one huge room, split into multiple levels with glass rimmed staircases and surprisingly ordinary-looking ladders. The layout of the bookshelves was set up in a way that when you entered the building, you were immediately blown away by the sheer volume of...well… volumes that the library had.

"Wow," Roger said as we turned our heads this way and that to take it all in. I nodded my silent agreement.

"Can I help you?"

We turned to see an elderly crystal pony mare with a scroll for a cutie mark looking us over.

I waited for Roger to say something since he was the one who wanted to come to the library, but after a few seconds of silence, I remembered that he was shy. "We are from Earth," I stated with a smile. "We aren't looking for anything in particular…." I turned and looked at Roger for confirmation, and he shrugged, so I looked at the old mare again. "We're just browsing. Do you have a computer or card catalog we can use to browse titles?"

The mare blinked and then pointed to what I assumed was a computer. "We have one of those computer doohickies. I don't know how it works. It just sits there, gathering dust. I'm not sure if that is what it is supposed to do or how that helps. We have a mechanical catalog if that's what you mean by card catalog."

We both looked at the odd-looking computer. The screen was tiny, and the keyboard was giant—and used Equestrian script. The translation spell did carry over to writing, but I had a feeling we would be hunting for keys, especially since they had many letters and signs that our alphabet had, and they also lacked comparable letters and symbols in many cases. Add to that, I had no idea how those would be laid out on a keyboard, and I doubted that we would be making much use of it. Actually, I could see from where I was standing that it wasn't even plugged in, and I didn't even see a place to plug it in.

The mare turned to walk away. "Well, if you need anything, just find me."

As she walked away, I heard her mutter, "Tourists."

I was pretty used to the college library at this point and knew what the primary purpose of a library was other than checking out books. "So, do you want to find a nice secluded corner to go talk in?" I asked.

Roger nodded but didn't say anything. He also didn't move, which meant it was up to me to lead the way. That puzzled me. I might not be the most take-charge leader-type person—Blanche seemed to be the one of us who excelled at that most, but I still could step up and take charge of a situation if I needed to. It seemed like a skill a Dreamwarden would need. Even Sunflower would do so on occasion. Roger didn't seem interested in talking to people or taking the initiative about saying what to do. He said he was an introvert, and the idea of an introverted pony was still a new one to me, but Dreamwardens were supposed to be guides and leaders. Maybe not leaders in any political sense, but still people that others looked to for direction. Roger's mom.was right; that did seem to be his biggest weakness.

Since it seemed like it fell to me, I picked a direction that didn't seem to have many ponies browsing around and started leading him.

The stacks extended much further to the sides than I had initially thought or seen. Every shelf went all the way up to near the ceiling, with only a tiny foot or two of space between them and the ceiling. Spaces to walk between stacks were placed irregularly, and the sum effect was a labyrinthine maze where you quickly could lose track of how far you were from the entrance or any of the building walls. I didn't have a great sense of direction, and there weren't any shelf labels to indicate what the books on the shelves were or where you were. It didn't take long at all for us to reach a point where I wasn't sure where we were anymore, and I hoped that Roger had been paying better attention, so we didn't take forever to find our way back out.

Reading titles as I walked by, I realized there was a method to the madness. The books were in what I assumed were alphabetical order. I say I assumed because I didn't know what order the letters in the Equestrian alphabet went, but books always seemed to be sectioned together with other titles that also began with the same letter, rather than by subject matter. I saw books involving magic smashed up next to books involving history as well as what were clearly novels. If you were looking for a book on a particular subject, then you had better know what book specifically that you were looking for; otherwise, you might be here for weeks looking for something relevant. There were a few oddities—I didn't see any books for foals or any really old books. Maybe those things had their own special section? Old books were probably valuable and needed to be treated with extra care, and the books for kids they might want all together, so they didn't have kids wandering everywhere in the library.

We'd reached a point in the stacks where I hadn't seen any ponies around for a good minute and decided we had gone far enough. I brought us to a halt.

Still keeping my voice low—we were in a library; after all, I whispered to Roger in English, "Okay, I think we're good. We can talk more freely. Jimsonweed said most ponies wouldn't know what we were talking about anyway, but it feels safe here."

Roger nodded but didn't say anything, leaving me to take the initiative again.

I absently fluffed my wings a little. "So… you said you learned to be an introvert because of your powers? What are your powers? I can tell you about mine. I sort of astral project. I can send my consciousness out to go places in kinda a half-in-dream half-in-waking-world state. I can make that projection visible or invisible or change its shape. I'm not always sure what's going on with my body when that is happening. I can also be spied out by crystal ponies...um, our crystal ponies on Earth and sometimes some night ponies. I can also talk to the Dreamwardens when in that state, and they can see and hear what I can see and hear. I can't touch anything in projected form; I pass right through."

He blinked and then put on a thoughtful expression. "I can see where that could be useful to the Dreamwardens." He pursed his lips briefly before continuing. "You said you could make yourself visible. Can you be heard as well?"

I nodded. "Yep! I can talk to people."

He gave me an odd look. "But you said you couldn't touch anything."

"I can't."

He shook his head. "That doesn't line up. Sound is made through vibrations in the air. If you can be heard, that would indicate you are vibrating the air—which is a physical interaction. Even being visible indicates you are blocking and absorbing light—again, another physical interaction."

I blinked. "I never thought of that."

He sat in thought. "Two questions. First, are you picked up on audio and visual recordings when this is happening, and, second, are you licensed by the OMMR?"

"No, and yes, in that order," I answered quickly.

He nodded. "That explains it. You aren't actually visible or making a sound. You're sending the image of yourself and the phantom sound directly into the observer's brain with mind magic. It's passive and nonharmful, so the OMMR doesn't punish you for it. They should have explained this to you when you were getting licensed, though. It's in the name—Office of Mind Magic Regulation."

I gave a sheepish grin. "I might have dozed off when they were reading all the paperwork and disclosures to me. I was only a foal at the time. I haven't sat down and read my paperwork and terms. I just recently learned I was allowed to tell people about my powers now that I'm no longer a minor and was told that is in my paperwork. I should probably read that when I get time, huh?"

His expression showed disbelief that I was that negligent in keeping up with that. "That would be a good idea, yes."

I was a little flustered that I was making myself look like an idiot and that looking like an idiot had nothing to do with being clumsy. That was the worst kind of looking foolish. It was time to change the subject. "You haven't told me about your powers. Tell me, tell me! Pretty please?"

He sighed. "The OMMR also licenses me. I have an ability I can't turn off. I can tell if someone believes what is being said or not."

"Like a lie detector?" I asked.

"In part…" he replied warily. "If they don't believe what they are saying, they could be lying. However, they could just be repeating something someone else said and still not believe it themselves. It isn't just the person speaking my power involves. It also involves those listening. I can tell if someone believes what they are being told too."

"Why does that make you get introverted?" I asked, still confused about the connection.

"Because people are fake!" a new voice rang out in outrage.

Roger and I looked up and found a tiny pony perched up on top of one of the bookshelves. There wasn't a lot of space up between that and the ceiling, but our observer wasn't that big.

"Jimsonweed?" I asked in confusion.

The filly unfurled her wings and launched herself off the bookshelf, and did a few quick flaps before landing gently beside us.

Jimsonweed gave us both dirty looks. "So, that's why the Dreamwardens think you're special, despite one of you having fat suffocating her brain and the other looking for nonexistent dicks on mares."

Roger flattened his ears. "I apologized right away about that!"

Jimsonweed gave him an ugly grin. "Right away, or was it after she started screaming in outrage? Hmmm?"

Roger blushed and took a few steps back. Jimsonweed gave him a smug look. "Thought so," she said.

"How much did you hear?" I apprehensively asked her.

"Everything," she answered quickly. "Don't worry. I wasn't following you. I happened to be on my way somewhere in the library, but I happened upon you two along the way."

"She's telling the truth," Roger confirmed.

"Of course I am," Jimsonweed said with a half-snarl before giving him a considering look. "Although, I suppose I should watch what I'm saying around you since you have the same powers as me."

I blinked and looked at Roger. "Is she telling the truth about that?"

Roger returned her considering look with a thoughtful one. "She believes it."

Jimsonweed stomped a hoof. "Why would I lie if I was going to be caught in one immediately? Yes, I have the same powers. If you weren't such an idiot, I would feel some kinship with you."

Roger frowned. "You don't believe everything you said there, but not sure which parts."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "There's always a way to circumvent things, and mixing things you believe with what you don't is one of them for circumventing our powers. At least, until further questioning is done to clarify it."

That would explain why the princesses wanted her as a diplomat. Powers like those would be invaluable during negotiations between countries. The thing was, Jimsonweed didn't want to be forced into a role just because of her powers. Her acting out could be partly a reaction to constantly hearing lies in everyone around her, but also somewhat to express how much she hated people forcing her to do things.

"I don't think you believe all those insults you fling around," I said and looked to Roger for confirmation. He nodded his head to me in agreement. He would know.

Her face contorted into another nasty sneer. "Urgh! So aggravating! Not fun being on the other end of the stick—not that either end is a fun place to be in this case."

"What were you doing in this part of the library?" Roger asked. "This is fairly deep in the stacks and doesn't seem that popular an area. Why were you climbing along the tops of bookcases instead of walking through? Were you trying to go unnoticed?"

"Yes, I was trying to go unnoticed, obviously," Jimsonweed snapped. "And it is none of your—" She paused and seemed to reconsider. "Actually… do you want to see something cool?"

"Cool? Not dangerous or cruel, right?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Definitely cool. As for dangerous, that depends on if you're careful or not. You'd have to do something stupid to make it dangerous."

"She's not lying," Roger said.

"Why would I?" Jimsonweed asked defensively. "I promise you'll find it interesting and be glad I showed you."

"It's nothing illegal, right?" I asked, considering her offer.

"Technically, no," Jimsonweed answered. "The princesses might not be happy about it, but if they wanted to forbid it, they should have made a law...or not stuck it in a public library. It's why I'm here."

Roger looked at me. "She's still not lying. What should we do?"

I sat and considered. "Well, we are on another world and want to see amazing and interesting things. If it isn't going to be dangerous if we are careful, I suppose it is okay."

She smiled. "Great, follow me. We're almost there."

Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

I wasn't exactly what anyone would call a book nerd. Libraries were interesting for how they were built, not for all the books inside.

Personally, my first love was of encyclopediae. You could say I was practically in-fact-uated!

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Jimsonweed?" I asked in confusion.

Oh, no.

[Chrome Masquerade]

I sat and considered. "Well, we are on another world and want to see amazing and interesting things. If it isn't going to be dangerous if we are careful, I suppose it is okay."

What could possibly go wrong?

[harts fire]

this is a vary interesting chapter.
what ever Jimsonweed is going to show them is going to be way cool.