Cyberponies in New Manehattan!

by RadarLakeKosh

Chapter One: Fiction Section

The Chrysler Building, Mark VIII—Floor 0

On the ground floor of the New Manehattan Public Library, a tall orange pony with dark brown hooves and a blonde mane waited.

And waited.

For nearly an hour.

Surehoof was absolutely certain that First Edition would have found Legendary Wars and Battles of Ancient Equestria by now. In fact, he had guessed that she would have found his book in the first ten minutes! So where was she?

Surehoof glanced about himself and noticed a pony passing by with the familiar ELF badge. He stopped the unicorn as it walked by.

“Excuse me, miss—?”

The spotlessly white unicorn looked back at him. “Flyleaf.”

“Flyleaf. You wouldn’t happen to know where First Edition went, would you?”

“No,” replied the librarian. “Last I heard, she was headed to Secondary Shelving to find some old history book. Would you like me to go and look for her?”

“That would be great,” said Surehoof.

Flyleaf stepped onto the Speedlift and began the descent to floor –40. She had worked in the library about two months longer than First Edition, and they had become fast friends when she joined the staff. In fact, she and First Edition had been promoted to ELF on the same day. She figured that First Edition was probably having some trouble with the lighting—it had been a while since anyone had been on floor –50.

Flyleaf looked around. No wonder it was taking First Edition so long. All of these floors were obviously in a state beyond disrepair. It was rather saddening to see the library in such poor condition, even the sections that were rarely, if ever, used.

Perhaps if she found First Edition Flyleaf could help her repower the lighting. Then First Edition would certainly have no trouble locating whatever volume she had trekked down this far to retrieve.

She stepped forth into the darkness.

The Chrysler Building, Mark VIII—floor 700

In a closet in back of the 700th story of the Manehattan Public Library, the once still air vibrated with energy and sound. The shelves and cleaning supplies rattled slightly as a faint blue tinge filled the air in front of them. The haze darkened, and a solid form filled into the space where before there had been empty air. The pulsing light of the TARDIS's lamp seemed to drive its materialization. The TARDIS engines boomed to a halt, and its doors swung open.

It's a good thing no one thought to make any significant improvements upon the janitor's closet since the twentieth century, thought the Doctor. He peeked carefully out the closet door and then walked out into the library.

"Ah, fiction!" cried the Doctor. "I love a bit of good fiction. So much better than real life. Tamer. More... Predictable, really."

The Doctor frowned. "Hmm, I seem to talk to myself much more in this form than as a humanoid. I shall have to remember that."

He turned around, marveling at the countless literary works surrounding him.

"Where to start...?"

Three shelves down, an exasperated Shine Stardust followed grudgingly behind a young pony with a forest coat and a grass green mane. His cutie mark displayed an open book with a page missing.

"Right this way, miss Moonrock. There's got to be some books on time manipulation somewhere around here."

"There can't possibly be time manipulation books on this floor, Dampstain." replied Shine. "This is the fiction section. And my name is Shine Stardust."

"That's just what I said," retorted Dampstain. "Mist Moonrock. And you've got to trust my judgment, miss Moonrock. I am a member of the library's Elite Librarian Force!"

Celestia knows why, thought Shine. The pony had been leading her through all the wrong sections for hours, and it was clear he didn't know a book from a breadbox. What was more, he didn't seem to know how to give up, either!

"Just a few more blocks to search, miss Moondust," said Dampstain. "Then we can look on the next floor! What kind of books did you want again?" He turned around to face Shine and began walking backwards. A librarian pushing a cart full of heavy-looking volumes suddenly emerged from an aisle behind Dampstain. He took three more steps backward and crashed right into the cart. Books flew in all directions.

Dampstain's head emerged from under the pile of fallen manuscripts.

"I'm sorry, miss Moonrock. I just don't know what went wrong."

In the next aisle, the Doctor's ears perked up as a strangely familiar phrase caught his attention. Who had said that before?

"Derpy?" cried the Doctor. "Derpy!"

He rounded the shelf to see two dazed librarian ponies sitting on the floor, surrounded by what appeared to be the entire Daring Do series. A bemused library patron stood watch over the scene, and was trying not to giggle as the Doctor screeched to a halt, nearly tripping over one of the fallen ponies.

"You're not Derpy." said the Doctor to the green librarian.

"Of course I'm not Derpy, silly! I'm Dampstain!"

Dampstain looked confused for a moment, then turned to face the Doctor. "Are you Derpy?"

The second librarian glanced around nervously. "Well, I'll just... Um... Get going... I think my shift's almost over..."

She turned and bolted.

The Doctor watched the librarian retreat for a few seconds, then looked back at Dampstain.

"No, I'm not Derpy either. I'm the Doctor." He turned to the blue and pink bystander. "Who are you?"

"I'm—"

"Mist Moonrock!" interrupted Dampstain.

"Not Mist Moonrock, Shine Stardust. I'm trying to find books related to the subject of time—"

Shine was interrupted yet again as the librarian who had just left galloped back into the aisle.

"Dampstain!" cried the worker. "All librarians are to report to the lower floors at once. There's been a disturbance."

The Doctor pushed ahead of Dampstain. "What sort of disturbance?"

The librarian looked at them grimly.

"The lights are going out."