Prologue: A Trip to the Library
The Doctor paced back and forth in the control room of his TARDIS.
"Where to go next?" He muttered to himself. “Telos? No, too dusty... Poosh? No, that’s gone...”
What the Doctor really wanted was to go somewhere...different. A place where he could relax and not be chased by daleks or cybermen...What he really needed was a perpendicular universe.
“Ponyville?” The Doctor shuddered as horrible memories came flooding back. “I can’t go back there, not after what happened to Derpy...”
But wait! What if he went to the same universe, but to a time and place where Derpy could never exist?
“Brilliant!” cried the Doctor. “Allons-y!”
And he rushed for the control panel.
New Manehattan—5,000,000,073
Shine Stardust was, in two words, completely exasperated. She had been trying to perform a fetching spell to find all of the books related to time manipulation, but her efforts and several attempts had turned up absolutely nothing. It looked like, although she considered it a crutch, she’d have to use the Automated Magic Assistance. She crossed her reading room to the AMA Console.
“Starswirl?” she spoke directly to the glowing emerald screen. A perfect holographic replica of Starswirl the Bearded appeared in front of her.
The ancient, ghostly wizard’s golden eyes fixed upon Shine Stardust. “What is your request, Miss Stardust?”
“Starswirl, I want you to locate and bring up all the books concerning time manipulation.”
The wizard’s look seemed to lose focus for a moment, then his gaze became as sharp as ever.
“Unfortunately, I can locate no books related to that subject. Would you like me to search again?”
“No, thanks, Starswirl,” sighed Shine Stardust. “I guess I’ll have to look somewhere else for information.”
It was time for a trip to the library.
Chrysler Building, Mark VIII
The Chrysler building was a library.
Now, historically, the skyscraper had never been anything of the sort, but at least the chromium outside was authentic. The 777-story edifice towered over the surrounding buildings, so tall that it needed an Atmosphere Extension spell on the tip of its ninety-foot antenna. The polished curves of the upper seven floors housed the genealogy sections. Underneath was a seventy story block of Fiction, and below it ten blocks of seventy stories each dedicated to different classes of the Dewhoof Decimal System. Below ground was library storage, because in a city of 8,000,000,000 ponies, there were far, far more books than could be housed in a 777 story building. The below-ground Secondary Shelving unit stretched fifty floors underneath the skyscraper.
First Edition knew all this and more. She had been one of the Elite Librarian Force (ELF) since her second year at the New Manehattan Public Library. Now she was fulfilling the request of a long-time patron of the library and a friend of hers, Surehoof. He had asked her to find him a very rare title, Legendary Wars and Battles of Ancient Equestria. It was indeed a rare title—in the entire library there was only one copy, and it was stored on the –50th floor.
First Edition stepped off of the Speedlift onto the –40th floor. She wasn’t sure why the pony who had designed the building hadn’t made the lift go all the way to the bottom floor. It would have been much more convenient for her not to have to take the stairs ten flights down.
Ah well, she thought. I need to get some exercise anyway...
She began the long trek down the stairs. Somepony really needs to come down here more often and clean, she mused to herself. The lowermost floors of the Chrysler building were filled with dust.
What’s more, mused First Edition as she passed floor –43, It’s so poorly lit down here I can barely see.
The stairs could really use some upkeep as well. She listened to their creaking, wondering when the last time was that anypony had been down here. Most of the ponies in New Manehattan were more interested in things like celebrity gossip magazines and movies, which were stocked very near the library entrance. But there was still a handful of ponies who truly appreciated good literature. Like Surehoof. He may have been a little outside the norm for a New Manehattan pony, but he had never been one to care much what other ponies thought of him. He was always absolutely certain where he stood. That was why First Edition liked him. He knew himself inside and out.
First Edition stepped off the staircase and rounded the corner. She passed her gaze over the dark, dusty shelves before her and shuddered. She had to admit, the lower floors were a little spooky. She began to walk toward a large circular clearing in the middle of the floor.
“Lights.” First Edition knew there was a voice-reading spell that should turn on the chandeliers installed in the distant high ceiling.
Oddly enough, nothing happened. She decided to try again.
“Lights.”
Still nothing. She ambled forward, all the time edging closer to the center clearing.
“Lights!” First Edition was beginning to become frustrated. She knew nopony had been down here in a while. Maybe she should have taken somepony with her to recast the spell. Too bad she was an earth pony and not a unicorn like most of the rest of ELF. She blew a lock of her light blue mane out of her eyes and tried it again.
“Lights!”
The chandeliers did not flame, but a sound of metal on stone answered her. She stopped.
“Hello?”
The same clank, like a strange footstep, sounded distantly.
“Anypony there?”
This time, there was silence. First Edition cautiously edged herself forward. A bead of sweat dripped down her navy neck. She carefully approached the center clearing. If anypony was there, she decided, she would catch them by surprise and have them thrown out of the library. Only librarians were authorized to use the lower floors. She crept up to the edge of the last shelf.
“A-HA!” First Edition jumped into the clearing.
Nopony was there. She glanced about herself, confused.
Suddenly, a steel hoof clamped itself across her mouth. First Edition moved her eyes fearfully to one side—and tried to scream.
She was meeting the gaze of a soulless metal mask. A panel on its forehead retracted with a hydraulic hiss. A metallic horn sprang forth, crackling with electricity.
The thing’s voice sounded in her ear.
“YOU WILL BE UPGRADED.”
Then First Edition knew no more.
The Abduction of First Edition