Aguamelon away from home

by Khampostel

Chapter I

Hello, Mentalina! Did you rest well? I hope so. It's a brand new day!

Mentalina remained silent. Although she didn't feel aversion towards ponies, she didn't feel a great affection for them either. However, the particular pony who was talking to her had been greeting her in the same way all week. She had ignored her at first, but now she was starting to wonder if she was actually a good person, just like her previous owner had been.

"You know, the leaves I took from you yesterday helped me a lot to recover. I hope it didn't hurt you to have them taken away."

Mentalina couldn't have refused. She also didn't have any way to prevent it. Losing leaves was common among plants of her species. And the ones she lost were so old and heavy that she was grateful they were gone.

"I really feel brand new. And as a thank you, today you'll have extra nutrient water," the pony said cheerfully as she sprayed water onto the stem and leaves of the plant.

Mentalina liked the attention to detail that pony took. Not many knew that she preferred the use of a sprayer instead of being directly given water. The other caretakers hadn't been as considerate with her.

"Well, it's time for me to start my work. I'll go greet your cousin. See you tonight."

Mentalina didn't understand those last words. She didn't have cousins. She knew the meaning of that word, but she didn't believe it applied to someone of her species.

Shortly after, the sentient plant sensed that the earth pony who had been taking care of her had left.

Mentalina had a feeling. Her previous owner had taught her that kindness should be reciprocated in the same way. If she took the whole day, perhaps she could surprise that considerate pony.

---

Aguamelon trotted slowly towards the library reception. She had just finished watering the last of Mindmet's flowerpots, completing all her morning tasks. Although she was used to carrying out her tasks alone, there were moments when she wished she had a loyal assistant to help her keep track of her daily tasks. She didn't think her memory was failing her, but she couldn't help but wonder if she had forgotten something.

"Should I double-check for the third time?" The anxious pony stopped to reflect halfway there. But she quickly dismissed the idea. Leaving a task unfinished would be a problem, but not arriving on time would be an even bigger problem.

She quickened her trot and soon arrived at the reception. She swiftly checked her appearance in the mirror near her seat. Her lemon-colored mane was as neatly groomed as always. But her light melon-colored coat looked a bit pale. She had been sick the previous day and after taking medicine at night, she had woken up feeling better. There wasn't much she could do about it except wait for her color to return to normal, so she ignored that detail. Finally, she adjusted her glasses and her pink bow. She looked at herself in the mirror and nodded. She was ready now.

The clock in the grand Golden Half library solemnly struck 9 in the morning. Aguamelon took her seat and rang the welcoming bell that announced the opening of that section of the library. Soon, all the ponies waiting for assistance would flood her with their requests and inquiries. The backlog of overdue books and search requests would continue until the end of the day.

Yes, that's how it should have been in the past.

Aguamelon smiled in an empty and silent room. There was no pony waiting. There hadn't been any pony waiting all that week.

The library wasn't going through a good time. Despite being the largest in all of Yeguadelfia, the number of visitors had dangerously decreased in the past year, and shortly after the partial closure due to maintenance of the main wings was announced, practically all visits had ceased. Only the youth wing was operational. And that was the one she was taking care of. Aguamelon leaned back bored at her desk. Apart from the occasional visits of some couples who came just to chat in the common room and the mischiefs of some foals, nothing relevant had happened. It wasn't so bad for her; she had access to the entire collection of books in the city, even the forbidden books section. However, the lack of visitors left her with a feeling of sadness. When she was a foal, she remembered how those halls were filled with the laughter of her classmates and their secret adventures.

The effects of the medicine she had taken last night were still present, combined with the tranquility of the place, and she soon fell asleep.

A dream of laughter gently crossed her face. There was a lot of ice cream scattered like snow among the trees. She soon saw her friends from Ponyville in the distance, having a picnic and playing poker with three bears.

"Hey, girls, what are you doing here?" she said as she approached them.

"We're playing poker here," replied one of the bears, who had a polar bear appearance.

Baffled, Aguamelon had nothing to respond to that. Then, a blue butterfly landed on her nose and asked, "Hey, shouldn't you be awake?"

"ACHOO!" Aguamelon sneezed loudly throughout the room. She quickly stood up and looked around in panic.

There was no one there. Aguamelon sighed in relief and took a seat.

"PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" echoed throughout the library wing, leaving Aguamelon completely frozen at her desk. It didn't take much imagination to know where that vulgar sound was coming from.

"Hehehe. Hahaha." laughter filled the room afterwards.

Annoyed, Aguamelon stood up and removed the prank from her seat. She already knew who was responsible. "KIT, LIA! I know you're there, come out right now," she exclaimed indignantly.

A pair of unicorn foals emerged from behind one of the flowerpots in the room. One had a red hat, and the other had a blue hat.

"Hello, Mr. Melon. How's your day going?" asked the foal with the red hat, laughing.

"Yeah, how are you? You look very handsome today!" added the foal with the blue hat, practically crying with laughter.

Confused, Aguamelon looked at herself in the mirror again. There were noticeable marker marks on her face that gave her the appearance of having a mustache and chin. That was the most basic prank in the book, and Aguamelon had fallen unsuspectingly for it.

"You two...!" Aguamelon turned around now genuinely annoyed. But the pair of siblings were already disappearing through one of the entrances of the room.

Once again, the room fell silent. Aguamelon looked disheartened at the other doodles on her desk and the walls of the reception area. She wasn't a unicorn to magically clean up that mess. It would take her a while to clean everything. The earth pony sighed wearily. When she was young, she played pranks on her elders too, but never on the library custodian. That was a serious violation of conduct rules. This time, those kids had gone too far, and something had to be done about it. She was the only one who could do something, quite literally the only one on duty in that place. As she lifted her gaze, she observed the large mosaic adorning the top of the room. There was the figure of a majestic white alicorn handing a golden book to an emerald-colored pony. "I swear by Celestia and Dayan Melody. I have to discipline them. I don't know how, but I must do it for the sake of those kids," Aguamelon told herself as she wiped off the marks on her face. Her determination grew stronger when she discovered that the marker the foals had used was one that didn't come off with just water and soap.

Comments

[Khampostel]

11608901
thank you, it is a story that takes time to finish I think ... but thank you